Hasan Minhaj Launches New Talk Show ‘Hasan Minhaj Doesn’t Know’ And Grills Elizabeth Warren About Biden On His Debut Episode

Hasan Minhaj is back in the host seat on Hasan Minhaj Doesn’t Know.

On Monday, Minhaj released the inaugural episode of his new digital series in which he “sits down with the biggest names in politics, culture, and tech with questions that are as thought-provoking as they are absurd,” per a press release obtained by Decider.

For his debut installment, Minhaj sat down with Senator Elizabeth Warren for an interview that took place in April 2024.

While Minhaj was seemingly primed to take over Trevor Noah‘s post as The Daily Show host, he lost the gig after a 2023 New Yorker profile suggested he fabricated stand-up stories; Minhaj himself admitted that his “comedy Arnold Palmer is seventy percent emotional truth—this happened—and then thirty percent hyperbole, exaggeration, fiction.”

An October 2023 Puck newsletter reported that the New Yorker story led to Minhaj losing the hosting gig. The comedian has since addressed the backlash he received, taking to YouTube in October 2023 to apologize to fans, while also claiming that the profile was “needlessly misleading.”

Fellow comedian and former Daily Show correspondent Roy Wood Jr. seemingly confirmed this report in February on Mike Birbiglia‘s Working It Out podcast, saying with respect to the New Yorker profile, “That’s literally why everything fell apart.”

“As far as I was told, Hasan was going to be the guy,” he shared.

By May, Minhaj was taking the experience in stride, joking along with Ronny Chieng about the debacle at the Netflix is a Joke Festival, per Variety.

Before his Daily Show deal fell apart, Minhaj hosted his own political show on Netflix titled Patriot Act. The show, which mixed current events with comedy much like The Daily Show — where Minhaj was a correspondent between 2014 and 2018 — won a Peabody Award and earned a loyal audience before its 2020 cancellation.

As noted by Deadline, in Monday’s episode of Hasan Minhaj Doesn’t Know, Minhaj tackled the topics on many Americans’ minds, asking Warren if America is “too dumb for democracy” and wondering, “how too old is too old to be president?” While Minhaj highlighted that it’s “about merit and mental acuity” and that “not all 75s are created equal,” he quipped that “one of the benefits of President Joe Biden being the president is that we don’t have to argue about whether or not he can drive.”

“We don’t have to fight with him over the driver’s license. No one has to go, ‘Let me drive home,” he continued. “If I saw him driving, I’d call the cops.”

Warren came to Biden’s defense, telling Minhaj, ” Now, look, I know you want to have fun here. But I just got to tell you this. I talk to the man.” However, the following disclaimer appeared on the screen as she continued speaking: “Remember that this was recorded before the first presidential debate.”

“And the man is sharp, ” she added. “The man knows what he’s talking about. He does the job.”

Arguing that people have “every right” to ask about age and “voters can ask about anything they want” and “can make decisions based on anything they want,” she highlighted “a sharpness and a pointedness about what [Biden] is trying to accomplish,” ultimately claiming that he is “delivering” for “young people,” as well as “people who are trying to build a future.”

“And he’s doing it in a real and tangible way,” she continued. “And I think that matters. And that’s why I’ll get out there and fight for him.”