The Daily Show’s Hasan Minhaj to Host White House Correspondents’ Dinner

Hasan Minhaj, senior correspondent for The Daily Show With Trevor Noah, will host the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on April 29.

The president may not be attending, but the rest of the guest list is coming together for the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Host Hasan Minhaj acknowledged as much with a press release riffing on Trump’s Twitter style, saying, “It is a tremendous honor to be part of such a historic event even though the president has chosen not to attend this year. SAD!”

For his part, WHCA President Jeff Mason told MSNBC’s Morning Joe that Minhaj wouldn’t “roast the president in absentia” and the focus of the night would be on the importance of the First Amendment. He does, however, hope Minhaj takes on fake news given his first hand experience with subject on The Daily Show.

Still, if history is any indication, guests can anticipate a few sharp barbs directed at the president. Minhaj is considered one of Trump’s most direct critics, particularly with respect to Islamophobic policy and the Muslim ban. In December 2015, he went so far as to compare Trump to ISIS:

"Donald Trump is an extremist leader who came out of nowhere. He’s self-financed, recruits through social media, attracts his followers with a radical ideology to take over the world, and is actively trying to promote a war between Islam and the West…That’s right, Trevor. Donald Trump is white ISIS. WISIS."

See the full segment below.

Before The Daily Show, which he joined in 2014, Minhaj was on the Arrested Development reboot, HBO’s Getting On and @midnight. He also toured – and continues to tour – as a stand up.

Which is to say, Minhaj should be well-equipped to throw his hat in with the best of recent White House Correspondents’ Dinner hosts. From Larry Wilmore’s lightening-rod use of the n-word and Keegan-Michael Key’s cameo as President Obama’s anger translator to Seth Meyers mocking Trump in 2011 and Stephen Colbert’s night entirely in character for Bush, the bar is high.

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Everything about this particular dinner will be different. No president has skipped since the 70s, Trump’s staff is skipping as well. Vanity Fair and Bloomberg both canceled their infamous after parties as well. Minhaj will make of that what he will.