Hasan Minhaj faced an uphill task taking on the keynote speech at the 2017 White House Correspondents Association dinner, the first in 36 years to not feature the sitting president (and that, in 1981, was because President Reagan had been shot in an assassination attempt). No Trump. No Trump lackeys in his stead.
And Samantha Bee, host of Full Frontal on TBS, was throwing a star-studded Not The White House Correspondents Dinner a few blocks away.
Minhaj, a correspondent for The Daily Show with Trevor Noah on Comedy Central, joked about how many other top comedians passed on the chance to deliver the WHCD speech this year. He also got in plenty of jabs at Trump’s House Slytherin and the three main cable news networks in FOX News, MSNBC and CNN, the latter of which he described as watching people watch the news. But his most lasting remarks came near the end of his address, when he challenged the media to view themselves as a true minority, and not merely the enemy of the state. What does it mean to be asked to speak for an entire group, to have the masses place expectations on you based on the actions of others in your minority group? Those remarks begin at about minute 20 and worth your full attention and consideration.
Of course, I’ve got the whole speech for you to enjoy, too. Roll it!