Davis-born Hasan Minhaj is reportedly being eyed to host ‘The Daily Show’

Davis-born comedian Hasan Minhaj is considered a leading candidate to host Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” Variety reported this week. 

Three people familiar with the matter told Variety a deal has not been finalized, but said Minhaj is a likely successor to Trevor Noah. 

The show has yet to name a new permanent host since Noah’s last episode in December. If selected, Minhaj would be the fourth host of “The Daily Show” since it began airing in 1996. 

Minhaj served as a temporary guest host for the show earlier this year and appeared as a correspondent between 2014 and 2018. He has hosted his own talk show, “The Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj” on Netflix and appeared in other television shows and movies. 

A publicist for Minhaj did not immediately respond to a CapRadio email requesting comment on Thursday. A spokesperson for “The Daily Show” could not immediately be reached through a press phone line for Paramount Global, which owns Comedy Central. 

Minhaj grew up in Davis and graduated from Davis Senior High School. He talked about his experience as a child of Muslim Indian immigrants in his show “Homecoming King,” which was filmed at UC Davis in 2017 after performances in other cities. Minhaj graduated from UC Davis in 2007 with a degree in political science. 

He told a UC Davis admissions blog that he started performing standup while he was a college student. 

“It felt like I was a superhero,” Minhaj told the blog. “I would put on my costume and go out into the city. By day I’m a political science student, and by night [I’m] getting in my Nissan Stanza and hoping my car won’t break down on the way to San Francisco and doing open mics.”

Minhaj is also a noted Sacramento Kings fan. In 2021, he threw his one-year-old son a Kings-themed birthday party. He was also spotted at a playoff game between the Kings and the Golden State Warriors this April.