In this interview, Hasan Minhaj walks through his detailed three‑hour preparation routine that shifts him from a head‑filled, anxious state into a focused, embodied performer. He begins with physical exercise—running, pull‑ups, core work—to get his body moving and break a sweat, which he says helps him exit his thoughts. After the workout he showers, dresses in a deliberately chosen “stage uniform” that serves as armor and confidence‑boosting attire. He then eats, drinks a double espresso, and uses a brief bathroom break to settle nerves. A 10‑15 minute meditation via Headspace follows, paired with a prayer that sets an intention of love and joy for the audience. He spends time loosely interacting with staff, fostering a sense of service and grounding. About thirty minutes before the show he retreats to the green room, where he writes down new joke tags and ideas on a hotel notepad, reviewing past material and adding fresh lines (e.g., a fertility joke referencing Woody from Toy Story). This iterative note‑taking builds a library of variations over years. Finally, on stage he reminds himself to control tempo, bring the audience toward him rather than shouting, and treat the performance as pure play. The routine blends physical conditioning, ritualized clothing, mindfulness, intention‑setting, social connection, and material preparation to achieve a body‑centered, confident performance state.
Chapters
what's the system you've developed to get on stage and have that switch flipped? 'Cause when you came on, within 2 seconds it's like, this guy's in a state of mind, he's in a state, as we say, of like, he's here to perform. He knows what he's here to do. There's no like tiptoeing into it. So I was wondering, what do you do the 5, 10 minutes before or an hour before? I don't know what your kind of like warmup routine is.
Routine, yeah.
Yeah.
How do you get ready? 3 hours before, what I do is I like to do some form of exercise and I try to get out of my head.
Like a workout workout, or you're just trying to break a sweat? What do you— what's the—
Yeah, trying to do— on tour, it's just about body maintenance. So I'll do running, I'll do some pull-ups, some core stuff, just stuff to get my body going and start breaking a sweat. And what I love about like right around minute 30 to 45 is I'll get out of my head and into my body. In so much of life right now, getting out of your head. And it's funny, I called you randomly. I appreciate you picking up the phone the other day. We had a long conversation. We can get into that later. But so much of, I think, what you do and what you put out in the world, and I call it like tech Twitter talk, it's all in your head.
Intellectual.
It's all just heady, anxiety-inducing stuff. Ethereum's up, Solana's this. It's like it's all head shit, right? It's not a body feeling thing. Like grounding yourself 2 feet on the ground. I'm here in this moment. What do I do? And so much of performance and to be great at it, the best Chappelle, the best performers, they're not in their head, they're in their body. They're really there, right? Somebody screams, somebody says something, somebody heckles, they're in their body. When you watch Steph Curry play, when I watch Devin Booker play, these guys are so in their body, right? Luka is the best at this. He's in his body. He's in the He's in flow. Right.
And so Luca's like a kid and kids do this well.
Yeah.
Kids do this pretty naturally.
I love that.
The older you get, the more heady you get, which is you got to fight that.
Yeah. You got to fight that. Right. And so that's a great way to get out of my head, get into my body. Then I'll probably eat something. I take a shower and then I put on the outfit. And for me, it's like being on stage uniform and putting on that. It feels like a uniform. And like, for me, it feels like I want it to feel like a show. Like from the watch to the jacket to the pants. I'm like, there's a level of confidence that you have when you move into a room and you're like, hey, from, from my heels all the way up to my head, I'm wearing my armor, right? Like, I'm coming correct, right? And you just, you carry yourself with a little bop. You're like, no, I feel better about myself. My shit isn't slouching. There's no stains on my stuff. You know what I mean? Like the moment I saw you today, you walked in, you're wearing your tech pants. I could tell you washed them a few times, but there's some stains on the backside. You know what I'm saying? But that feeling of like, no, man, when I'm coming in here, I'm going to be fresher than Sean. Yeah, I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm just gonna be fresh. Yeah. That already gives me a feeling of like confidence. I know what I'm doing, you know? And by the way, the opener, Marcela, like Marcela was just like dressed to the nines, you know? It's a feeling. Then I get to the show, I finish eating, I'll meditate. So meditation for 10 to 15 minutes will allow me to just again get out of my head. And drop into my body and something simple, just Headspace, right? Like, I'm not getting too crazy about it. And what I love about Headspace specifically is so much of it is just basic breathing, establishing a level of intention. I'll meditate, then I'll pray. And for me, like, prayer is really important because it's got to be about something bigger than just myself and my corporal being. I'm like, what am I doing this for? And just establishing an intention. And for me, the intention is like love. Let me give joy to people. Right. And I want the seed of everything that I'm doing to come from that. Not be like, not be petty energy, angry energy. I'm going to prove you wrong energy. Like, I'm in the laughter business, right? Like, I'm here to make you feel joy, right? And that warm feeling. So establishing an intention there, I get to the I'll get to the venue about an hour before. I'll have a double shot of espresso. I'll let my bowels do what they do. You always get those jitters, like you got to pee, you got to do what you got to do. And then about like 30 to 45 minutes before, I like to be loose just with the, with the staff. Right. Let them know like, hey, what's up? How are you? Door guy, security guy, openers.
Right.
You know what I mean?
Another way to get out of your head, by the way. Yeah. Be with others, be there. Yeah. Serving others in a way.
Yeah. And then About a half an hour before, I'll go to my green room. I usually write it down. I'll write down, it'll just be on hotel notepad paper. Hey, what are a couple new tags that I'm working on tonight? Right. Just move the ball forward a little bit. Remind myself, yo, I'm going to do this. For example, last night, one of the things I talk about in Act 1 of the show is fertility. And a new joke that I did was like, you know what it's like being infertile as a man? I felt like Woody in Toy Story when his arm got ripped off.
Right.
That was just one line. And I was like, hey, make sure you do the Woody Toy Story line. Right. You know? And every show I try to add a few of these extra moments. And you add that up over the course of like a year, 2 years, 3 years, you start to see what works and what doesn't work. And I'll have 1,000, 3,000 different variations of that, right? And then I get on stage, and by the time I get on stage, there's just this feeling of like, now it's just pure play. Whatever happens, happens.
Right.
And when I'm on stage, what I try to do is I try to remember when, when I'm opening in front of my crowd, they're like really hot. And one of the things I try to remember is don't yell, don't scream. Try to actually bring them to you. Like, set the tempo of the game, right? Don't get, like, too excited or too hot. Like, you can whip them up, but then, like, sit down at the stool, bring them to you, and, like, make the room feel like it's coming to you. You know what I'm saying?
Do you ever watch film of yourself? Basically?
Yeah, I watch tape all the time. Yeah. And so I see bad habits. It's kind of brutal, huh? Yeah. Yeah. But it's cool though, actually. Like, those moments where you, like, is very painful for your ego. And but there's a lot of growth in that. The only way to break through and get to like the next part is, is that part.
