Comedian Hasan Minhaj is doing more with his stand-up act than just making people laugh. He’s representing a vision of America that celebrates a multiplicity of voices. With the release of the album "The Hamilton Instrumentals," super fans like the people behind Hamiltunes LA get their wish. And keyboardist Benmont Tench, plays his ode to LA in the backseat of a car.
Hasan Minhaj on being an Indian-American Muslim comedian in the Trump Era
UPDATE: Hasan Minhaj's Netflix special, "Homecoming King," has won a 2018 Peabody Award.
This interview originally aired in June 2017.
Comedian Hasan Minhaj is doing more with his stand-up act than just making people laugh. He’s representing a vision of America, "We're at this crazy turning point for the country. We're fighting, are we the nativist narrative or are we the immigrant narrative?"
In 2017, Minhaj has had a few big stages where he could discuss that question and make the case for the narrative he represents. He has his regular gig as a correspondent on "The Daily Show" and there was his performance at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. Then last month he released his comedy special “Homecoming King" on Netflix.
The special is about Minhaj's life as an Indian-American kid growing up in predominantly white Davis, California, and pursuing his dream of doing comedy, despite his parents wishes to the contrary.
INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS:
On the competing narratives in America today:
The nativist narrative means there's certain iconic "American" ideals. We are Norman Rockwell, We are Coca-Cola, We're the Dallas Cowboys we're Support The Troops. We are these things that you don't mess with these foundational concepts. Or are we the immigrant narrative? Are we the great marketplace of ideas? Come one, come all. Come with your ideas and may the best idea win. We don't care what you look like, as long as you have the best idea and that's why we're America. The home of Apple, the home of Tesla, the home of, name whoever you want, who came from another part of the world, or another face or background, but bring your best ideas here, that's what makes America great.
So I feel like I'm part of this generation of people who look slightly different or who have slightly different names, but we're adding these amazing ideas to America. That to me is the narrative I'm fighting for. The things I'm fighting for are actually American ideals.
On what inspired him to make "Homecoming King":
On "The Daily Show," we get so caught up in the day-to-day news cycle. A story breaks and then the piranhas in late night, we all jump to the headline and we dissect it, and then we have to move on to the next day. And one of the things that I wanted to do was to work on something that’s a little bit more evergreen. The things that I talk about in the show – falling in love, not being able to be with somebody you care about because of variables that you can’t control – those themes are still so relevant in 2017. That’s what I wanted to do — have real, real stories that are based on events from my life. But then if you extrapolate them, that’s what 2017 Trump’s America is like.
On challenging the idea of a post-racial America
A lot of times, we as a country don’t want to talk about these things because we’re living our day-to-day lives. So when you read [about] something like the Muslim ban, or [that] we’re going to build a wall, people are like, Look, man, I’m just trying to go to work, drop my kids off at school, and live my life. The story that I’m telling in "Homecoming King" about falling in love, these are things that happened to me — that actually happen everyday in our backyards and in our communities. The reason why I think that the story is so powerful – and I think we’ve all experienced this, regardless of race, color, creed, or class or sexuality – [is] we’ve all dealt with these doorstep moments where we’ve put ourselves on the line and we weren’t accepted because of something we can’t control. Now, for me, it was the color of my skin. But for other people it’s a myriad of other reasons. It was the first We’re going to go in a different direction moment, where you put your heart on the line and people say, Hey, because of variables you can’t control, we just have to do something different because, you know, if you’re seen with our daughter at prom, we’re going to take photos, what are people going to think? And that moment in my life captured so much. And I think it speaks to a lot of moments people are having now.
On deciding to perform at the 2017 White House Correspondents' Dinner:
A lot of times in life, it's personal choices that you're making, actively, and then there's a myriad of forces and circumstances that are out of our control. And without even realizing it, you're riding a wave of events that you have no control of. So, I am who I am. I'm Hasan Minhaj. I'm this this Indian-American Muslim comedian in America during the Trump Administration. Now, a series of circumstances unfold where Donald Trump is the president, he pulls out of the event, the Administration has boycotted, all these variables happen. A bunch of comedians had passed on the gig because it's too contentious. There's just a lot of, Will the event still happen? Is the event going to implode on itself? And then I get asked three weeks before the gig: "Do you want to do the dinner?" And I felt, Wow! What amazing timing and circumstances that, given the current administration, I would be asked to be the comedian to comment. I thought, This is a hell of an opportunity.
To hear the full interview, click the blue player above.
Hamiltunes LA is the ultimate singalong party for 'Hamilton' fans
Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the past year, you’re probably well aware of the global phenomenon that is the Broadway musical, "Hamilton."
Created by Lin-Manuel Miranda, the show brought hip-hop to the Broadway musical and features a cast made up almost entirely of non-white performers.
The show also has a wildly popular soundtrack that is at the top of the Billboard chart for Cast Album, and is currently number two on the Rap Album chart, right below Drake.
Only those lucky enough to score a ticket have been able to see the show. But now a group of fans have formed Hamiltunes LA, a people united under a common passion for singing along to the show's music.
Frame producer Michelle Lanz has the story.
The Clubhouse theater in Los Feliz may be thousands of miles from the glitz of Broadway, but the crowd that gathers for the monthly "Hamilton" singalong is no less enthusiastic. They call it Hamiltunes.
The Clubhouse isn’t even a theater in the traditional sense. It’s a converted retail shop next to a Radio Shack in a rundown mini-mall. On the other hand, the audiences on Broadway definitely aren’t allowed to belt out lyrics from their seats.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xfT5i54Umc
Like the location itself, Hamiltunes LA is a mash up of sorts. Co-founder Liz Kerin describes it like this:
A quasi-karaoke party, also a singalong in the vein of "Rocky Horror" where there’s a lot of fun, drunken audience participation. Everybody has their specific lines they like to shout out, and when “My Shot” begins, we walk out with trays of shot glasses.
On this night, 80 or so rabid "Hamilton" fans are crammed into the tiny space. One participant marches across the stage waving a giant American flag. Then a woman decked out in Colonial-era garb grabs the mic. More than one person is sporting an ironic "Hamilton" t-shirt.
When it comes to the show's die-hard fans, Paul Krueger is in a class of his own. Sometimes he plays several characters at once in Hamiltunes.
I wore different colored ties depending on which character I was playing. I played [Thomas] Jefferson, I played [Aaron] Burr and I played Alexander Hamilton...I just know a lot of the show by heart, so they know they can plug me in anywhere if somebody doesn’t show up on their cue, so I’m kind of their Swiss army player.
The idea was originally conceived as a house party for Kerin and her musical theater-loving friends to scratch the "Hamilton" itch. But as word spread, the organizers quickly realized it couldn’t be contained.
“So many people wanted to come we had to rent a little theater space," Kerin says. "Now, a couple months later, we’re saying we have to rent a little bigger theater space.”
The organizers have had three of these events since starting in late 2015. Thanks to the Hamiltunes LA Facebook page, fans from all over the country have reached out to these pioneers for advice on how to do their own events in their cities.
"We’ve got people in D.C., New York, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Chicago, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, Connecticut, Orange County who’ve all contacted us," says Hamiltunes organizer Jack Kelly. "It keeps growing and it’s really really cool."
Attending a Hamiltunes singalong almost feels like watching the real thing, except the production design is sparse and it’s a whole lot more affordable.
“We are very unsure about the legality of it," Kelly says. "This is not a show we're not making money from, this is just a fan run event with a suggested $5 donation to cover our costs. We sold out this event completely in 48 hours. So it goes fast."
What makes a Hamiltunes event work so well is how the musical is written itself. Most other musicals are essentially plays punctuated by musical numbers, but Hamilton is almost entirely made up of rapping and music.
“One thing that helps is you can feel like you’ve seen it by listening to the soundtrack because almost everything is sung," says co-founder Mia Resella. "And if you listen to the whole thing, you feel like you saw the play. The music is really great, and because of the hip-hop inspiration it’s accessible to more people.”
To participate in Hamiltunes, you also don’t have to worry about hitting that perfect high note. Kelly knows this first hand:
I’ve had a different struggle than a lot of people, I’ve recently started transitioning and taking testosterone, so my voice has been changing. So I’m going through second puberty and relearning how to sing, because I was still trying to find out how to use my voice."
It’s clear that the music is attracting people who might otherwise not be into Broadway shows. But is there something beyond the music that has people so in love with "Hamilton"?
Mia Resella has a theory:
I think for me and a lot of people in my family, we really like that it’s an immigrant story. I think that taps into something where you feel like, yes, this is the story that I associate with The American Dream, someone working really, really hard and having the hardest time and building their way to the top.
And, of course, Paul Krueger has his theory:
I’m a person of color, and I think for Broadway, which is an incredible storytelling medium — but nonetheless one that tends to be very white — for it to be so much more inclusive than its contemporaries and everything that came before it [is great]. I think that brings a lot of people into the fold that would not have previously been interested or invested in something like Broadway theater.
So what does Tommy Kail, the director of Hamilton think of all this?
The thing that’s so meaningful to all of us, to Lin and to ["Hamilton" musical director] Alex Lacamoire and the folks that worked on this show, the fact that it’s out in the world and it’s making people want to be heard or express themselves, that’s all you’re trying to do. Every night we’re not trying to make 1,340 people want to work in the theater, we’re trying to make people say, Theater is for me, or I’m inspired to go and find my voice.
The "Hamilton" touring production is getting ready to hit the road. So in August, 2017, Angelenos will get to see the real show. But Hamiltunes regular Paul Krueger isn’t waiting that long.
I’m from Chicago and I’m hoping my parents will be able to get me tickets to the Chicago show. I’m going to be in New York this summer and I’m hoping to get tickets there too. I want to follow "Hamilton" the way an aimless baby boomer followed the Grateful Dead.