CNN
CNN
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Whoopi Goldberg defends Hasan Minhaj amid admission of embellished stories in his standup sets.
Goldberg addresses the topic during her appearance on “The View,” stating, “That’s what we do.”
“That’s what we do, we tell stories and we embellish them,” Goldberg defends the nature of comedy.
Goldberg explains that original stories can sometimes be dull, giving comics the right to exaggerate on stage.
“If you’re gonna hold a comic accountable, you have to understand that a lot of it is not exactly what happened because why would we tell exactly what happened? It’s not that interesting,” Goldberg emphasizes the creative leeway in comedy.
Goldberg concludes, “Comics provide information with grains of truth, but don’t take it to the bank. We provide a seed of truth, sometimes mixed with total BS.”
A recent New Yorker piece delves into Minhaj’s comedic approach and raises questions about some of his harrowing stories.
Minhaj tells The New Yorker, “Every story in my style is built around a seed of truth. My comedy is 70% emotional truth — this happened — and then 30% hyperbole, exaggeration, fiction.”
In his special “The King’s Jester,” Minhaj recounts the incident of rushing his young daughter to the hospital for possible anthrax exposure, albeit with some embellishment.
Minhaj admits that while he did receive an envelope with white powder, his daughter was never exposed to it or hospitalized.
Speaking to Variety, Minhaj reaffirms, “All my standup stories are based on events that happened to me.”
“I use the tools of standup comedy—hyperbole, changing names and locations, and compressing timelines to tell entertaining stories. That’s inherent to the art form,” Minhaj explains. “You wouldn’t go to a Haunted House and say ‘Why are these people lying to me?’—The point is the ride. Standup is the same.”
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