Hasan Minhaj Calls Out Congress At Correspondents’ Dinner

hasan minhaj

The Daily Show’s Hasan Minhaj made waves this week when he gave an address at Wednesday night’s Radio & Television Correspondents’ Association dinner in Washington D.C. Minhaj utilized his time at the event, which he referred to as “the correspondents’ dinner nobody cares about,” to take shots at a host of different targets, from the presidential candidates to the various news network representatives in attendance.

He spent most of the first half of his address summarizing the presidential election and making some spot-on metaphors about the candidates.

“I like Bernie, Bernie is like America’s cool substitute teacher. He came in like ‘Everybody’s getting pizza!’ and we were all like ‘Hell YES!’ And then Hillary’s like the regular teacher who’s like ‘Hey, who’s paying for the pizza?’ And we’re like ‘Shut up Mrs. C., the cool sub says we get pizza!’”

He harped on Clinton quite a bit, seemingly defending her against some of the vitriol that she’s received from the media, some of which he implied was because of her gender. We’re uncomfortable with Hillary as a presidential candidate, he said, because “Hillary is the dude in the relationship and we don’t know how to feel about it. We’re all in bed with Hillary late at night, and we’re looking at her cell phone, and we’re like ‘Hey, hey, who’s Wall Street?’ And she’s like ‘Don’t worry about it babe, it’s just a friend from work.’”

He referred to Donald Trump as “a racist Cheeto” and implied that Biff, the villain from Back to the Future 2, was based on Donald Trump, and that Trump might have a sports almanac from the future that’s helped get him to where he is today. Which would mean, of course, that what we’re currently experiencing is a warped alternate timeline from the one we’re supposed to be on (here’s hoping.)

He even took a few shots at Congress:

“Tonight’s event is brought to you by C-SPAN… C-SPAN is now in HD, which is great, so now you can see all that legislation not being passed in 1080p, all the wrinkles and inefficiencies, so crisp!” he mused early on in his speech. Later on, he joked that “Maybe things won’t change, because Congress’ approval rating is 12% . . . 12%. That’s not even 1 star on Yelp. There are restaurants with rat infestations that are rated better than Congress.”

With only a few minutes of his time left, Minhaj made an admittedly awkward pivot when he got serious and brought up the recent mass shooting at an Orlando gay club. The comic said that the events in Orlando, and the various other killings and civil rights violations that have taken place in recent years, are a result of across-the-board “homophobia, xenophobia, lack of mental health access, and a sheer lack of political will.” He stated that many people refuse to act and speak out against these things because it doesn’t effect their status quo, but “a rising tide lifts all boats” and it will effect all of us sooner or later.

“Whether you like it or not, we all have to step up and fight for each other, otherwise the whole thing is a sham. And until we do that, hijabis are going to get harassed in the streets, members from the trans community are going to be demonized for using the bathroom, and my brothers and sisters in the African-American community — their spines are going to continue to get shattered in the back of paddywagons until we stand up and say something,” Minhaj said.

Minhaj’s entire address was entertaining and energetic, and the comic handled himself extremely well on such a large stage and in front of such a tough crowd, despite admitting his nervousness. The whole speech is worth a watch, but the last 4 minutes even more so due to the eloquence and passion with which he delivered his plea to Congress to take action and prevent their legacy from being that of a “Could-have-done-something Congress.”

Minhaj’s entire speech can be seen below, and the complete dinner footage will be aired today (Saturday, 6/17) on C-SPAN for those interested.

[H/T] <a href=“http://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/comedian-hasan-minhaj-criticizes-congress-powerful-speech-orlando-n594486”>NBC News</a>

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Bill Tressler

Bill is a writer and comedy enthusiast from New York. An avid gamer and podcast fan, he strives to always toe the line between charming irreverence and grating honesty.
Bill Tressler
Bill Tressler
Bill is a writer and comedy enthusiast from New York. An avid gamer and podcast fan, he strives to always toe the line between charming irreverence and grating honesty.