Why “Patriot Act” is the best new political talk show
While Jon Stewart handed over the keys to The Daily Show to Trevor Noah in 2015, it seems that Noah has never really reached the same reverence that Stewart had in his seventeen-year run as host. However, I think The Daily Show with Trevor Noah is still an important show, especially during these strange past few years and equally bizarre present. Even if the masses don’t view The Daily Show as being of the same quality it was in the past, it’s importance as a launching point for other shows of the same ilk is still just as impressive. In the past, The Colbert Report was one of the best and most successful “spinoffs” of the political satire, featuring Daily Show alum Stephen Colbert. Years later, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver captured the same energy of The Daily Show and featured another alum with John Oliver. More recently, ex-Daily Show correspondent Hasan Minhaj has created yet another spiritual successor to Jon Stewart’s show with his own series on Netflix called Patriot Act.
Beginning in 2018, Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj is the newest trailblazing effort to combine well-written humor with informing audiences on important social and political injustices. The most recent season or ‘volume’ has been released on Netflix and covers a lot of issues surrounding the Coronavirus and all its baggage. This volume, like many other talk shows of late, has removed the element of the live studio audience due to the pandemic, having Minhaj rattle off facts and jokes alone in front of a green screen. Luckily, losing the live audience isn’t a huge blow to the show as most of the jokes are genuinely funny and work well in the scripts. Even jokes that would normally be bombs can sometimes sneak by, as there’s no audience to not laugh at them; so they kind of just happen and Minhaj quickly moves on. Patriot Act takes on Coronavirus, elections, and problems you didn’t even know about in 2020, showing that it can be nice to infuse humor into a time that isn’t exactly easy for everyone right now. Part of what makes this show and others like it work so well is that the audience isn’t put off by the grim subjects as the writers mix jokes in to make it more bearable; something that is much needed this year.
What’s missing from Volume 6 are the sketches the show would sometimes have in previous volumes, which would lead into the bulk of the show, or somehow tie into the show later in the episode. These sketches were pretty funny at times and not having them definitely detracts a little from the fun, comedic aspects of the show, but the main ‘investigation’ segment is largely unchanged.
What sets Patriot Act apart from the other political satire shows on right now is its rapid-fire nature. The show is only about 22–25 minutes and it packs every second with information. One of the most impressive things about it is the writing and its ability to throw a lot of information at the audience quickly while making very clear. You’ll walk away from every episode with at least a few new nuggets of knowledge on problems that are currently affecting the United States and the rest of the world. It’s almost as if they took the main story section from Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, where Oliver talks about one large issue for roughly half an hour, and made it into its own show. And while I do feel like Last Week Tonight has better investigative writing overall, Patriot Act still does a great job at making that kind of in-depth analysis of politics feel very accessible and digestible.
As a host, Hasan Minhaj is very good. His comedic delivery works well even without the audience and he seems very comfortable doing what he does. With his background in standup comedy, Hasan seems like a perfect fit for this kind of political satire. The articulation he uses is fast but understandable and again, makes it easy to take in a lot of information without being overwhelmed. Hasan Minhaj is also a great choice as host for breaking up the monotony of middle-aged White guys being hosts to politically charged shows. While Jon Stewart and John Oliver are great, I think it’s still important to have a variety of people with different cultures and backgrounds to give their takes on politics. As the show is on Netflix and uploads all of its episodes with bonus content to YouTube, Patriot Act will widely be consumed by younger viewers. I think the wider variety of people these younger generations see talking about political and social problems the better, as U.S. politics has a particularly nasty case of old-White-guy-fever that will hopefully be examined more closely by millennials and Gen Z in the future.
If you’re not already watching Patriot Act, Volume 6 is a great place to pick it up. For my money, it’s the most streamlined take on the investigative political comedy show made popular by The Daily Show and Last Week Tonight, but has a little bit more of a youthful feeling that may give it more of an edge going forward.
