Defiant Hasan Minhaj Says His “Janky” Buzzer Was to Blame for Irritating ‘Jeopardy’ Performance: “History Will Vindicate Me”

Jeopardy fans, Hasan Minhaj is sorry. The comedian, who managed to tick off a large swath of game show viewers with his appearance on Celebrity Jeopardy Sunday (Oct. 30), apologized to the “dedicated nerds” while stopping by The Tonight Show yesterday.

Minhaj delivered a lengthy message to both host Jimmy Fallon and Jeopardy viewers, whom he admitted “hate my guts” after he brought a little too much energy to the show with his antics, which were “painful to watch” for some at home.

“I’m playing the show and I’m passionate … I was just playing with vigor and passion,” Minhaj told Fallon last night, defending his performance, but Fallon put him to the test by playing a compilation of Minhaj’s answers, during which he hammed it up for the camera and shouted.

“What was going on?” Fallon asked, and Minhaj replied, “I was into it, and if you get it right, yeah, hang on the rim,” but added, “the fans weren’t having it.”

Indeed, they were not. In response to being called “the most annoying” contestant to ever compete on Jeopardy, Minhaj quipped, “that one hurt because the show’s been on for over 58 years, and they’ve had 15,000 contestants on the show.”

Minhaj added, “Jimmy, I’m in the eye of the storm. And I can’t take it anymore, so I want to apologize to the fans of Jeopardy.”

He then took out a little notecard from his jacket and looked straight into the Tonight Show camera to deliver a speech, beginning, “I want to take this moment to apologize. Jeopardy fans, look at me. I’m sorry I desecrated an American institution. I’m sorry I ripped your 7 p.m. linear tv pacifier out of your geriatric mouth. And most importantly, I’m sorry for trying to make Jeopardy fun.”

In an attempt to explain his behavior, Minhaj placed blame on the Jeopardy buzzer, telling Fallon, “When you’re playing Jeopardy at home in your sweats, and you’re confident, and you got your plan with the shampoo or the remote [as a fake buzzer], you think you’re the shit. But you don’t know what that game does to you in the arena.”

Plain and simple, “the buzzer is janky,” according to Minhaj, who insisted he knew “all the techniques” for buzzing in, but couldn’t use them because his buzzer was “messed up.”

Fallon once again pulled up a clip from Sunday’s episode, which did support Minhaj’s theory. As he struggled to buzz in, his competitors got called on again and again, leaving him clicking away in the corner to no avail. When the clip ended, he leapt up in his chair, telling The Tonight Show audience, “history will vindicate me!”

It may, but something tells us those “nerds” won’t be so quick to forgive and forget.

Jeopardy airs weeknights at 7/6c on ABC, and Celebrity Jeopardy airs Sundays at 8/7c on ABC. Watch Minhaj’s full apology in the video above.