Call These Times What They Are: Janky with Hasan Minhaj

24:19I actually judge these things because I have my son on the weekend and I have to spend time with him. But you made it really, really fun. And that was really awesome. And then Ms. Taki, she told me on our drive back to Davis, she was like, you're really, you kind of have this gift of gab and it's useful. And if you could not say things in class and say things here, that would be very, very beneficial to me.

24:41Craig Robinson:What a good teacher, Mrs. T. in touch with Mrs. T? I recently got her phone number and I've been trying to get a hold of her. Oh, that'd be great. Yeah, so she retired, but Mrs. T is, you know, life-changing. And I just want to let her know because the irony is she's my computer's teacher, but she's very offline. But up until that point in my life, up 15, 16, and I didn't realize this until much later, I was looking to be seen. The reason why I think I was being so talkative or trying to interject in classes, I felt like I had something to say. Yeah. And I had something to share with the world.

25:20And I felt like I wasn't heard. And she saw something in me. All my other teachers thought I was too talkative. They thought I was a bit of a, not a knucklehead, but just he's not a great student or he can't focus. He moves around too much in his chair. and my report card would be filled with all these almost like behavioral issues and Miss T was the first person that said I think you're incredibly capable and I think you have this skill set that I think would be really useful and helpful and she also helped me get to national competitions and then we lost I lost and I was really upset and she also helped me lose graciously and understand how to come back from losses as well.

26:10So she really changed the trajectory of my life because I really thought great things weren't going to be in my destiny.

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27:46Well, I want to talk about that. You know, we are very close to our mom. Yeah. And you and your dad lived in Davis by yourselves while your mom was still in school. Yeah, school during her residency and everything. Can you just talk to me about how you felt about that? And I don't know what I would have done if I knew nothing was wrong with my mom and she was somewhere not with me. Yeah, I think as a kid, it was, you just know what you're living through. So basically, my dad has a job with the state. My mother is finishing her medical degree and her residency. and then my sister's being raised by our grandparents in Delhi.

28:38So both my grandfather and my grandmother are raising her. And then when I'm eight, my grandparents were able to bring my younger sister back to the US. She was born in the States, but then she went over there and she was raised by them. And really what my parents were putting together was their version of the American dream. It wasn't until later that I realized, oh, this was quite different than the way a lot of people grew up. Okay. But also as an adult, I think the thing that I really seeked and maybe I'm making up for it in my life is I want our place to be the sleepover house. Like I want our home and the situation for my children to be in and my nephews to be in is that they have a place that's always stable.

29:25They don't have to constantly be in transit. Yeah. So, I mean, the thing that I'm trying to change is when you're a child of immigrants, everything that your parents have, basically like wealth, money, or opportunity is a depreciating thing. Yes. So, if you have money, every dollar you spend, you're actually losing money. Yeah. Right. And that asset, i.e. money, is the only asset that matters. Your time is valued at zero. And so my parents spent so much time trying to build themselves in this country that they didn't get to spend a ton of quality time. And I'm trying to make up for that now. Now that I'm older.

30:10All right, we're all going to. That's been the greatest joy of my career. Being able to do stuff with them. Even us meeting over All-Star Weekend. My parents are in India right now, but otherwise I would have brought them. It's just, hey, let's just all be together. Unless we don't have to worry about, I don't know this is a very common thing in immigrant households you go to round table pizza you stuff all the red crushed peppers into the purse and we don't have to we don't have to rob Domino's for Parmesan cheese yeah

30:38Craig Robinson:that drawer next to the silverware that has all the packets it's like why why are we doing this yeah mom's a Parmesan cheese drug lord so I read I read in the research that your comedic awakening came with seeing Chris Rock yes Yeah. Never scared. I remember that. Yeah. It was a brilliant special. It was an amazing special. Yeah. Yeah. A friend of mine, I was supposed to go to a college party with a friend of mine and he was getting ready and he was like putting on his outfit and he's like, man, like go hang out with my roommate, Imran. He's a bit of a square bear but like go hang out with him.

31:14I thought that like term was so funny. Like square bear is such a funny way to describe a nerdy person. And Imran was like, he was in his room but he was, it was an insane thing to see like a grown man do this but he was lying on his tummy like he was like he's my five year old son he's lying on his stomach on the carpet and he has two laptops open and he's watching Futurama the animated series on one laptop and on the other laptop he's watching Chris Rock Never Scared boy that's dynamically opposed yeah but he was one of the first like multi-screen people to be doing this in 2004 this is like way ahead of its time we talk about what multi-screen is now but like Imran's been on that forever right So I was like, what are you watching?

31:54And Chris Rock was in this like, oh my God, it's one of my favorite specials ever. But he's in this maroon suit and he's performing at Dahr Constitution Hall. And he's being so irreverent. And that, the way he's talking about politics and society and culture and race. He's being so honest. And he's stalking on the stage. And people are like applauding him. And so the way I saw it is like as a freshman in college, I had a job at OfficeMax. I was selling printers at OfficeMax and then I'm going to college. And obviously high school, everybody's telling me from the moment I was in kindergarten, be obedient, like color in between the lines.

32:43And I got to see someone basically be irreverent and disobedient. That's really what comedy is. It is a release on the pressure valve. And he's being rewarded for it. He gets to say whatever he wants to say. He gets to behave the way he wants to behave. He gets to say the way we all kind of feel. And just the theater looked so big. And I was like, I want to do that. I think Miss Takeuchi was getting me ready to do something like this. Because he's basically constructing an argument in a funny way. So we were already kind of doing that in a forensic. But there's also something about you that is very committed to the authentic truth of things.

33:27Or just like the feeling of it. I remember even in the thing of wanting to say what it feels like. I remember even in like third grade, when people are like, when did you know you wanted to be a comedian? I had this teacher. This is in the year, it's 1993. Diet soda is a huge deal. And my teacher, Miss Anderson, who's in the third, fourth combination class, she would crush a 12-pack of Diet Pepsi over the course of the day. So you're just watching it happen. And I'm like watching her just crush a dozen cases.

33:58Craig Robinson:Yeah, yeah. And in the early 90s, there was this big thing with like, kids can't drink soda. Only adults can drink soda. And I remember asking, like Miss Anderson, as a joke once, I was like, I know you had 11 sodas. Can I get the 12th? And she was like, Hassan. like cut it out or whatever I don't know she barked at me she said something and she was like sit down like no and I was like okay fine I remember then that night my dad loved watching 60 Minutes and it was like this news package of like aspartame it may be in your soda but it also may be giving you cancer you know and then I remember being in class the next day and I was like Ms.

34:40Anderson I was like Ms. Anderson can I get I know you had 11 diapopsis Can I get the 12th? And she's like, Hassan, will you cut it out please? And I was like, you're totally right, Ms. Anderson. I think adults should be the only people getting cancer. And she sent me to the principal's office. I bet she did. And she was like, what she said was inappropriate and it was all wrong. But I felt like what I did say was wrong and it was super disrespectful. And I hope Ms. Anderson didn't get cancer. But she's working on it. But she's working on it hard. But I was always searching for that place to be…

35:19Articulate how I really feel.

35:21Craig Robinson:Yeah. And that was what comedy was for me. It finally gave me a place to take a lot of these thoughts that are running around in my head. And it gave me a productive channel to put them in. So once you started… Like, this is going to be my career. I'm off to LA or wherever you go. Talk about how hard it was to make it. and what helped you get through that? Yeah. So yeah, it is a... Trying to make it in show business is a very strange, elusive thing. Because what is it? How do you even define that? So if you're a nightclub comedian, I really kind of just broke it down into monkey bars. And this is where the playing sports and actually failing at sports, quite frankly.

36:06Craig Robinson:And also the go figure it out. Go figure it out. Yeah. Yeah. Or like, what is the next thing that you'd like to do? Okay. So you, you can do 10 minutes on stage. All right. Now you want to get to 30 minutes and then eventually want to be a headliner. You want to tour, you want to do 60 minutes and headline a club. All right. Well, the first thing you got to do is you got to be an opening act. You got to be, be really good at becoming an opening act. So you need to figure out 15 killer minutes that you can do in front of any, you can do it in front of Mike Epps. You can do it in front of Gabriel Iglesias.

36:31You can play any room. You can play a white room. You can play a black room. You can play a casino. And then you have to move to a city where there's a ton of clubs. So then I moved to San Francisco, you know, and I get a day job and I'm just pursuing and I just took it one monkey bar at a time. And what I really loved about it, and I've come to now I've been doing comedy 20 plus years, but it really did save my life because the whole art form in and of itself is completely made up. Comedians, if you think about it, if you want to be a working comedian, we're we're below magicians, but we're above clowns.

37:06Yeah, right. You know? Like, if you can do magic, I'm very impressed. I'm like, I tip my hat to David Copperfield. If you're a clown, I have zero respect for you. Like, I think you're terrifying. I think you are using people's fear against them. Like, I think you're possibly demonic and or the Chupacabra. Like, you are participating in the dark arts in some way. And I don't, if there are any clowns watching, I have zero respect for you. Magicians, I tip my hat and I I stand below you sir but clowns this room knows what I'm about to ask

37:40Craig Robinson:oh my god just ask where do ventriloquists fall oh my god

37:48ventriloquists are technically stage performers I'll give them that the fact that they don't do face makeup or try to scare you through the right paint on the face I would consider them to be on par with comedians again working comedians. Slightly below us though. Yeah. I feel you. Slightly below. Yeah, they're like the ugly cousin of a comedian. Thank you. So actually, let me just put it in all seriousness. Yes. In San Francisco, there was a laundromat called the Brainwash Cafe, which is literally a laundromat where people are doing their laundry, but they did an open mic there. Oh, wow. And so when you go to the open mic, you would have this like Indian Muslim kid, me, then you would have a drag queen, you might have a ventriloquist, you might have someone literally clowning on stage someone doing like a super blue like Atlee Wong would do this really blue material then W.

38:42Kamau Bell would come on and do this very like political material then I would come on and do this like I live at home material and then people were just doing their laundry they're folding laundry but what it you learn how to get an audience's attention keep their attention but you also learn this whole thing is made up

39:01Craig Robinson:Yeah. This whole thing, it's not even a real thing. Yeah. We essentially perform in basements, bars, or laundromats. We create a show out of nothing. And then we go away. We're these traveling kind of entertainment vagabonds, essentially. And it really did prepare me then for what showbiz is and was. You know, all these things that you're auditioning for are, you know, what is the Tonight Show? What is, you know, what, these things are like these sandcastles that exist, but then they go away. I think you're being a bit cynical about it. Really? Maybe you're not. Well, because I do. I think it's the sort of the most clever form of op-ed, you know, storytelling, cultural, which is what we are grounded in.

39:47Craig Robinson:I mean, which is why I think people are drawn to it. Because it's like, I think comedians are fascinating and brilliant, weaving together. And I don't think it's made up. I think it is a series of let me talk about life in whatever form that I want to talk about it in a way. Because if you were going to say, I'm going to stand in front of you and lecture you about my thoughts, no one would hang in there. Politicians barely get an audience, right? But a comedian can weave together a story. And like you said with Chris Rock, can turn it into now you're teaching and now you're educating and people remember it and they'll come back to it.

40:27Yeah, I agree with you. But I also, I think what I was trying to get at is what it really means to me that was really beautiful is that all of the answers that you're looking for exist within you. You're the source material for everything. So you are the writer, the director, the producer, the head coach, you're everything. The promoter. And it is a really beautiful thing that calls for your own personal agency. And so that's what I think is really powerful about it.

41:13Craig Robinson:What is it healed in you so far? And maybe healed is too strong of a word. But when you say that, you know, the art form is about what the comedian gets out of it. Yeah. What have you found out about yourself in this process? I think growing up Indian American, growing up Muslim, you're usually one of the few people in the room. Yes. And the great black comedians and actors, musicians, the Muhammad Ali's, the Dick Gregory's, what they showed me, the Dave Chappelle's, is through the gift of oration, through the gift of using your words and language. You can navigate any room. Yeah. And you have something to say that matters.

42:03And you can add your chapter to the book of what that genre is. so growing up in school I just didn't see myself in popular culture I didn't see myself in sports I just didn't see myself there but I and some people could see that as a weakness but I was like maybe this could be my strength because so much about being a unique act on stage what do you have to say and being different is probably the most powerful thing you could be if you don't want to be an act that's similar to another act and so these things that you can see as limitations might be the biggest breakthrough that you have. So it showed me in the work that I do now and the specials that I put out, oh, this chapter is worth adding to the canon that is American stand-up comedy or this film that you're working on is worth adding to.

42:55So I'm working on this film right now with Netflix about the competitive world of collegiate Bollywood dance, which is like a big, it's like a very competitive thing at colleges. Collegiate? Collegiate Bollywood dance. It's very serious I didn't know there was such a thing It's a real thing It's the biggest world You've ever heard of Greg

43:12Craig Robinson:Yeah But we're gonna know about it People are very passionate about it So there's these kids that are like Pre-pharmacy majors But they're like dancing at night And the vibes and the love And the intensity is real Yeah But I was shocked that This thing that I participated in in college Was never added to the canon of American musicals So when you think of the great American musicals, Chicago and La La Land, I mean, there's a singing in the rain. There's a long history. But our culture has this deep history with magical realism and song and dance. And there's generations of kids that have basically grown up dancing.

43:51There's video footage of every Indian kid you know dancing as a child for some reason. And to me, this is like a love letter to the culture. But if I didn't grow up this way, I would have never been able to write this movie and share it with the world. So we're in post-production on it and I'm sitting in the edit. And I think about all the things that have happened to me in my life. It is only because of my lived experience. It is only because of how often I went back and forth between America and Delhi and India. It's only through my immersion as this bridge between both American culture, totally understanding American popular culture and understanding Bollywood culture that I'm able to talk about this this way as this kind of like third culture kid.

44:36And maybe this thing can be a bridge to help, again, add my chapter to what the American musical can be.

44:45Craig Robinson:How have you felt the growth change, lack of growth in this country when it comes to the immigrant community experience. I know that's a lot of your stand-up, but when you were coming up, growing up in Davis, that great town outside of Sacramento, have you felt any growth in this country in terms of how immigrants are viewed, seen, welcomed? What has that experience been like for you? I mean, the weirdest thing for me is that, and Black Americans have been talking about this for a long time, is that there's the America that it presents itself to be and then what America is. And so when my dad came in the 80s, there was this word that was talked about very proudly when it comes to the United States of America.

45:50It's the M word. It's merit. This is a country that values merit. And what I'm seeing, what has happened and the actions that the country has now taken in regards to the rollback of civil liberties, civil rights, African-American history, ICE, the illegal seizure and deportations of particular people of melanin. is that merit only matters for a particular type of American. Yes. I call it white valedictorian energy. I was told just be the best and you get to be the valedictorian.

46:29Craig Robinson:That's right. But what America is basically saying is we got to have a white valedictorian. Yeah. So I don't care if there's an Indian kid, a Chinese kid, a Korean kid, a Vietnamese kid, a black kid. No, no, no. We're going to go down the list until we get to a white valedictorian. So excellence and being an American looks and feels a particular way. And that's very different than what the country was that my dad came to, which was it doesn't matter what language you speak. We're here to compete in the Olympics of excellence and of merit. And now at age 40, I've gotten to see over the course of many different presidents, oh, it hasn't always been this way.

47:08Where do we go from here? I mean, this is where I would call, I want to call you Mrs. Obama. Emma, where do you think they go from?

47:16Craig Robinson:You know, my awakening to that truth came when I went to Princeton, right? Because here I am, this kid. Now, my brother had gone there. I'm a straight-A student, do well in class from a public school. You know, the mystique of what Princeton is and how great the kids are. So I don't test well, but I have great grades. I get in, but I get in feeling like an affirmative action kid. Like somehow I'm, you know, on merit alone, my merit alone, I didn't get in. That's sort of how you sort of feel. Yeah. And then you get to campus and you realize, oh my God, there are a whole bunch of different forms of affirmative action that are not labeled.

48:06Legacy admission. Legacy.

48:07Craig Robinson:I start realizing, oh, you're the granddaughter of the person whose dorm you're in. Oh, you're an athlete. You're a football player. You're a jock, but they need you on the team, so you're here. And I started, which kind of was empowering to me because I came in feeling inferior, but I realized, oh, you are just making my otherness feel less than when there are all kinds of ways that kids get in, you know? But I found that that is a powerful thing just to know and understand. And so in answer to your question, I think we're still growing as a country. We're very young and adolescent in many ways.

48:50Craig Robinson:And a lot of the mistakes that we're making, the things that we do, they feel very juvenile, right? It feels like, you know, it's just not mature. But we're not yet really a mature country. We're a young country. And just like in comedy, when you're young, you've got to fail. You know, you got to try out some theories and fail. And we've grown up in the winning part, right? This is what Barack says, sort of that hopefulness thing of his that says, you know, there are a lot of dips and valleys in the growth of this country. And we've been on this clear trajectory through most of our adult life where things were increasingly getting better, which is why a lot of immigrants came over, because they saw the America that was - Yeah, what was possible.

49:44Craig Robinson:What was possible. And now we're in a dip. What did you tell your kids? My children are still so young and I'm navigating this new chapter of parenthood. Yeah. You got to meet my kids. I'm still in the put your shoes on phase. Yeah. Just get your shoes on, man. I'm in that phase of it. Can you? But there's an innocence to them. Yeah. The biggest thing when they met you, Mrs. Obama, was I was just like, please look her in the eyes, shake her hand. You saw my daughter shed her braids. She was really excited to meet you in her dress. And that's my goal of like, do they have good decorum? Are they super polite?

50:17But they still have this innocence. And I don't know how I'm going to cross. I don't know how I'm going to teach them or cross the path of, I haven't told them about the fact that they may be perceived as different in this country or other in this country. How did you navigate that?

50:35Craig Robinson:What did your father tell you?

50:41Don't talk about politics and don't tell people you're Muslim. But I mean, I said, I mean, you named me Hasan. I mean, it's really hard.

50:47Craig Robinson:You were really, it's hey dude. I mean, I'm sure, you know, your husband had to go through that with his middle name. I mean, it's pretty, it's there, you know. It's pretty laughing. Absolutely. I was into it. I loved having a Muslim president, but Fox News did it. I loved it. I believe you tell your kids the truth. The truth, yeah. You know, about— Is there an age, though? No, I think— What you will find is the time will come, and you will decide if this is the right time or the wrong time. And it's usually— I don't think it's the same for everyone. But for us, and we've got four kids, middle school, when kids start to sort of separate, that's when they come home with questions.

51:37And fortunately for our family, we were always in sports. So I think sports helps you bridge that discussion. and you could have a discussion about what's happening on the field, on the court, and sort of help that turn into what's going on off the court. Your kids will, you'll know when your kids are ready for the discussion. So I talked about this with my wife. So my daughter who you met, she recently asked me a few months ago, can we get married? And I was like, I don't know if mommy would be okay with that. I mean, I love you, but I don't know if we can get married. But I appreciate you asking if we can get married.

52:25I'm glad.

52:26Craig Robinson:If mommy, something happens to her, I got you. Yeah. So I'm navigating that. Daddies can love you so much. Yeah. But I don't think we should get married. But I actually love you to infinity and more. My son tells my wife, he goes, I love you all the way to Allah and back. And I was like, that's pretty cool too. Yeah. To God and back. It's really cool. So I don't know how to hard pivot from that to racism. That's a hard pivot. I would start with telling her you can't marry me. Yeah, it's like I would like to. I said, I love you, but I can't get married. It's illegal. That's a whole other thing.

53:06Yeah, I think you can tell it. But I was talking to Bina about this. And basically, what's really beautiful is their hope and their optimism right now is infinite. And I want them to operate from that idea of possibility and abundance and belief in yourself. The thing that I have to teach them is in regards to, I'm going to use, like, they talk about this in business. When one is starting a business or taking a loan is tail risk. And what is the worst case scenario? and black Americans have known this for a long time is that when things go south, there is, the floor is lower than you could ever imagine.

53:50They don't play with the kid gloves with you. There is no real benefit of the doubt. If you, if something goes missing in the class or something bad happens or somebody acts up, you're going to be looked at a particular way and you're going to be treated. There's no yellow cards. They're going to give you the red card. I haven't had that conversation with them about tail risk of that, hey, when they pull the rug out underneath you, you have no idea how deep it can go. And I don't want to sugarcoat that for them. It is real. And they're my children. I love them more than anything. But I haven't prepared myself to have a combo with them yet.

54:24I'm just thinking back. I've got three boys and one girl. And I probably had the discussion with the boys sooner. and for the boys it's you have to watch everything. That was the way I started. I start the discussion. Everything, absolutely everything's important and then from there we talk about the differences in the people in their class because we've always been in a school where we're the only people of color or we're the diversity. Right. And to your point about when things go bad, they're going to go really bad. I'd rather, I've always rather err on the side of caution that they know the potential downfalls, the potential risk, rather than not being afraid to hurt their ability to have hope.

55:24Because kids are more, I think kids are more resilient than we give them credit for.

55:30Craig Robinson:But kids will also let you know what they, you know, when they need to know. The more they start interacting with other kids, it's like, that's why it's like staying close to your kids, being aware. Yeah. You know, knowing what's happening in class, making sure that they feel comfortable coming home and telling you about something the teacher said or a friend said. You know, things will start to come up, right? Especially in this day and age where the tone is so blatant. And, you know, sadly, I think your kids are probably going to hear and feel more than maybe even you did coming up. Right. Because we we've kind of unlocked that that that dirty part of the American way.

56:11Craig Robinson:Right. There isn't one size fits all. You know, as you find when you when you are one of only, when you are not the majority culture, it is a constant responsibility to be vigilant about what is going on in the world when it comes to your kids. Because I agree with Craig, how we were raised is it's better to know what's coming and start getting prepared for it. And I don't think that that drowns out their hope. But I think it's better for them to be a little, like Craig, a little cautious, but prepared. How have you enjoyed parenthood? Your kids are, they're beautiful. Let me just say this. They are polite.

56:54Craig Robinson:They are outgoing. They can't, they didn't look me in the eye because they were down by my knees, but they looked me straight in the knees. Yeah, they looked you right in the knees. Yeah, they really did. Yeah, and they were super excited. And my son was wearing a tan suit in honor of your husband. Oh, yeah. He really wanted to stir the controversy. Yeah, he was wearing a tan suit. I was so focused on the suede loafers. Yeah, the suede loafers. I mean, with no socks. Yeah, with no socks. Yeah. That I was just… Very elegant. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Very Laurel P.M. We got it from Marshalls though. I'm not trying to up-rat the Marshalls here in Studio City.

57:30Yeah, it's… The things that sometimes break my heart is when I have to go. Yeah. So like I was in the edit on something and I'm sliding in these… It's like an insert shot of someone's hand clicking something. My son walked in and he was like, Dad, what are you doing? And I was like, yeah, what am I doing? Like, what am I doing? He wants to play with me. I'm like, what? I'm going through a bin of insert shots. Like, what am I doing? So those are the tough parts where I know they just want to spend time with me. And I'm so glad that they want to spend time. They still like mommy more, but they really do want to spend time with me.

58:10And I love spending time with them. And the thing that I, the software update that I'm trying to do with them is that I didn't necessarily get from my parents. And it's very common in kind of strict Desi culture, which is you got to audition for this love. This thing is unconditional. Now, there's a condition. The condition is that you're smart and you're capable. And the condition is I got to be able to show you off in front of other people. Because I don't have a nice car. I don't have a nice watch. but I do have a really smart daughter. And you're my flex. So I can't have you be weak because you're my flex.

58:50And so this desire to like, you know, my dad is going to watch this interview and analyze it. Oh, you cut, how could you cut off Mrs. Obama? So unlikable. This is wrong. All this, he's going to analyze the game. Yeah. And I'm his flex. Yeah. But the thing that I was always looking for was, you know, Dad, do you know what my favorite color is? Do you know my favorite basketball team? Do you know? Do you see me? Yeah. I see my kids. Yeah. And I just want to let them know that I see the things that they're interested in. My son is really into maps and dinosaurs right now. My daughter is like really into crocheting and K-pop demon hunters.

59:29Like somehow she's simultaneously 88 and a seven-year-old. Yeah, she mentioned something, some character. And I'm like, who is that? Yeah, yeah, really. I thought you would have either picked up the poet, No. The famous poet? Well, I was just confused.

59:42Craig Robinson:I was totally confused. So yeah, I see them for what they, who they are and what they, but also their temperament. Like with my daughter, I can, we can, we can totally blow the whistle and be like, you got to run line drills? Like she gets, she loves the, she loves the, almost the confrontation. She's got that dog in her. And my son is a little bit more gentle. You got to walk him through it. So I want them to, that's where I'm trying to spend as much time with them as I can. But I also want them to know like, daddy loves you regardless. I don't know if that was quite true with me. Yeah. Well, that's the 2.0 of life.

1:00:27Craig Robinson:And when we talk about how do you feel about the country? You know, there are versions of the country that happened. Yeah. Right. and the new version doesn't make the old one bad. It's necessary for growth. And I think we're in just a janky version, right? Yeah, janky's right. It's a janky version right now. May I curse, Mrs. Obama? You may. Yeah, shit is jank right now. Yeah, shit, yeah. It's super jank. Yes. Your dad's not going to be happy. He's not going to be happy with that. But I couldn't find another adjective. I couldn't find another similar metaphor here. But with each version, we learned something about ourselves as a country.

1:01:07Craig Robinson:And right now, I'm kind of digging the way folks are beginning to respond, right? I mean, Minnesota, powerful stuff. I mean, it was a powerful reminder of what a community of people can do and are willing to do to protect one another. You know, when you're not so janky, you don't have to prove that, right? And so we haven't been this janky for a while. And I think our muscle of understanding our truth just got a little lax. We started taking things for granted, right? But as you are becoming a better version of a father, you know, all respect to your dad, we already said he did what he had to do.

1:01:52Craig Robinson:We improve upon that with the learning. That doesn't make what you had bad. It just means that you're noting it and you're making the necessary changes. I think that's what I'm hoping will happen in this country. You are becoming a better version through the stuff that you didn't get. I mean, yeah. And how are your parents now? What do they make of your life and what you've become? Have you become the flex that they so desperately wanted? I've been told in private, they're very proud. Okay. When I'm not there, they're very proud. They can't even admit it. Yeah. Poor kid. So like all my Du Bois that I grew up with, they'll be like, dude, you always do this in your act where you talk about like your dad dunking on you.

1:02:48He's really proud of you. He talks about you. And I'm like, but that's in private. He never told me this. You know, like Mufasa's out here telling everybody else about how proud he is of Simba. But I'm in the elephant graveyard being like, my dad, my dad doesn't like me. You know? And like Zazu has to come and be like, your dad likes you. And I'm like, shut up, Zazu. So yeah, they are really proud. And bringing them to this stuff means a lot to them. So that's really beautiful. the parts that are tough for me are the speed bumps that you hit in your career. Yeah. And watching your parents worry that's the only thing that breaks my heart.

1:03:30Is that anytime I've gone through oh that gig didn't go my way. Or that review of my show went poorly. They really the internet and boomers is not a good combination.

1:03:41Craig Robinson:Yeah they shouldn't be on it. Because they Okay get parent hey stop get off social Just don't let them. Can you take it away from them? So the problem is with 75-year-olds and five-year-olds, social media is really ruining their brains. Right, it is. How are they as grandparents? Oh, they're like... Totally different. They're totally different. Who are these people? Yeah, who are these people? Who are they? My mom was like that. Why are you so strict? I was like, these are your rules. Like, these are the exact rules. You told me not to jump on the couch. When they were little, they'd go to her house and tear up the couch.

1:04:23Craig Robinson:Forts. Cushions everywhere. My mom would sleep on the couch and let the girl sleep in her bed because there was a TV in there. So what is it? I don't know. Is there a term for this? We should, let's coin a term. We could probably come up with one because it is consistent across cultures. Grandparent dystopia. I don't know what. Because they become these like spiritual like roomy poets. Like of course children. This is what children do. Who are we but grandparents here to channel the energies of the youth. Be gentle with them for they are gentleness. I'm like who is this person? You would literally monitor my calls with girls like you're the NSA.

1:05:12and be like you know infinite money they have infinite we're at Target just like oh you want that Lego sure I'm like where is this coming from yeah who are these people but you know the good thing though is that fortunately they're still they're still alive yeah and and all

1:05:32Craig Robinson:the kids have all their grandparents they have all their grandparents but I got them I got the chance for them to meet one of their great grandparents oh that's weird which was like a promise that I made to my father-in-law, my mother-in-law, that if we get married, I will have your grandchildren meet your parents. And that was something that I was super proud of. I don't know if they fully understand it yet, but I would love for them to, when they're of the right age, for them to understand the world that their grandparents and their great-grandparents lived in, pre-partition India, the freedom of India, than their arrival in America and to how we got here.

1:06:13Craig Robinson:I think that would be just a very meaningful thing for them to understand. Absolutely, absolutely. That I didn't fully get as a child. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But understanding it, and shout out to Dr. Henry Louis Gates for the work that he's doing because it gives your life meaning. You're able to even, I was able to just see my own life with a level of grace and understanding. Yeah, yeah. Like, isn't it a miracle that this happened? and isn't it a miracle that you're related to such amazing people? And hey, that's the hope, right? That's where they get the hope in a janky time, right? Because that's real and it's important, you know?

1:06:53Craig Robinson:And that's true and it's their history, you know? And that's the hopeful. You point to them and you make sure they know this is the hope because look at where your grandparents were and your great-grandparents. So that arc of today, as janky as it is, it's still forward movement. I think we found the title for this episode, by the way. It's janky. Janky. So we do try to do some good here on IMO by taking a listener question. That's how we started. We started with, you know, let's give some advice out to the people. And you as a guest, we gave you a lot of advice today. Yeah. So now it's your turn to give back to our listener.

1:07:31All right. Let's take it.

1:07:32Craig Robinson:Who do we have? We have Marcel from Honolulu. Okay. Oh. I'm an immigrant and LGBTQ person who has spent much of my life adapting, moving across countries, shifting careers, and learning how to survive within systems that were not designed with people like me in mind. Adaptation has helped me stay alive, build skills, and remain hopeful. Sometimes it also feels like I've learned to bend more than how to belong. How do you tell the difference between healthy adaptation that helps you grow an over-adaptation that slowly pulls you away from yourself. Thank you. That's a good question. Well, I mean, I think we've all navigated rooms where we might be the only one or we feel like an outsider.

1:08:21Do you want to share how you would navigate that?

1:08:28Craig Robinson:I'm trying to be completely honest.

1:08:35Craig Robinson:I don't think that I have ever shown up in a way that I didn't feel good about. I've never let my otherness make me adapt so much that I don't feel like I see myself. So I'm trying to relate to that and relate to people who are made to feel that insecure about themselves that they are becoming something that they aren't. And I would imagine that in this day and age of social media where all these signs of this is who you should be, this is who you should compare yourself to, I would imagine that maybe this generation has a tougher time maybe than I did. But I think at some level, when you're young, you are adapting to a whole bunch of stuff that you don't have control over.

1:09:34Craig Robinson:You've got to keep your job. You've got to listen to your parents. You're new at school. You're new at school. You're new in the class. You're trying to make friends. You're trying to make friends. For me, I found it. There's two things that I was thinking about when I heard the question, which is I remember being in class and quickly trying to find your group. And I thought it was a weakness to try to find, oh, I like the shoes that you're wearing. Oh, you're into this? I'm into that too. I noticed, is that a Mickey Mouse watch? I really like, you know, you try to find these moments of connection and you may be changing a little bit about yourself to try to please others, but you could also see it as a strength.

1:10:17Meaning I can go into any situation and through my interests, through my hobbies, through what I know about the world,

1:10:26Craig Robinson:I can find a way to talk to anybody. Even for me touring in any city that I land in from Ames, Iowa, St. Louis, Missouri, and Bozeman, Montana, Albuquerque, New Mexico. It doesn't matter where I land. I can always talk to the bar back or the cab driver or the Uber. And they will tell you what's going on in the city or the town. And there will always be this connective tissue. And that's not always a bad thing to be like, hey, how are things here in Albuquerque right now? What's going on with the mayor? What's happening with this? You're just trying to find common ground. And I think that's a cool, that's a strength to be able to go into any playground of life.

1:11:10And the two things I found the most is everybody says the rent is too damn high and gas is way too much. Yeah. But if somebody has an opinion about, you know, the Yankees, something is happening in sports or in culture that you can just, you can start chatting about and find a way to have common ground. But in regards to your identity, sometimes there's this feeling. And I was having a conversation with Riz Ahmed about this, who's an incredible British Pakistani actor. He said, sometimes you'll go into the room thinking that you can change the room. He went to Oxford, British. He's talking about the most elite of elite institutions.

1:11:50But sometimes the room changes you. You don't change the room, but the room changes you. And I think the thing that is most important is to have the moral clarity and personal conviction that, hey, just no matter what, this is who I am. So I'm willing to get into it with you about Yankees, Red Sox, or Kings versus Lakers. But there's just certain things in my personal convictions. These are things I just don't do. And know that, that's your line. and don't change it for anybody.

1:12:21Craig Robinson:Yeah. Well. Thanks, Hasan. Thanks. Appreciate it. We appreciate you. Thanks for having me. That was a lovely conversation. Yeah, it's great. Yeah, it's good stuff. Yeah. Good stuff. So you've got this Netflix special. Is it a special or is it a series? I have a series called Hasan Minhaj Doesn't Know, which is a great interview podcast series. And then I'm on tour right now with Hasan Hates Ronnie. Ronnie Hates Hasan. Hatred is the answer. Okay. Pettiness over peace. We're on tour right now. Me and my arch nemesis. Are we going to get that televised? We're working on that? I can't tell you just yet, but yes.

1:12:59The fight will be coming to you.

1:13:01Craig Robinson:Nice. Very soon. And then, yeah. I'm working on this Bollywood dance movie called Best of the Best. That sounds great. Very soon. So is that an episodic? It's a movie. It's a movie. Yeah. Okay. So I'm very excited about that. Okay. That sounds great. It's really beautiful to also be at this chapter of my career where I can see all this really great young talent emerge and make something for them. And that's been really, really enriching and beautiful. Well, I enjoy your comedy. I really do. You are smart. You are a beautiful storyteller. Oh, thank you. And not every stand-up comedian can take you on that journey and land you safely in a way.

1:13:47Craig Robinson:and it takes a level of vulnerability to let us inside your life. It's really, it's a gift. You had me at smart. I'm just going to take it. Yeah. Smart's really great. You're funny. You're funny. Oh, thank you. You guys, this is very sweet. We got to get out right now. You have to know when to end the set. We have to end right now. We got smart and funny. That's my time. Tip your barn weights out. Thank you guys so much. Hassan, thank you so much. Thank you, Mrs. Obama. Thanks for bringing your family. Thank you so much. Thanks, man. Appreciate you. Appreciate you. Thank you.