The Indian American

asan Minhaj has officially joined the crowded landscape of news-dri- ven comedy shows. Some of these topical shows have thrived, while others have withered away after brief stints. Can the for- mer “Daily Show” correspondent crack the code with his new Netflix show, “Patriot Act”? Minhaj’s show – which premiered with two episodes Sunday but will continue at an episode-a-week pace – naturally shares a lot of qualities with other comedians’ shows. But here are a few ways “Patriot Act” departs from the pack. A lot of these shows are based off the news of the day or week. Minhaj tackles just one story per episode, which lasts a little more than 20 minutes, and it seems there is some loose peg to the news, if any at all. But while talk of President Trump dominates a lot of comedy shows, that’s not the case (so far, at least) with “Patriot Act.” The approach is somewhat reminis- cent of HBO’s “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver,” which focuses on one big story for the majority of its show, with a heavily researched Hasan Minhaj’s new Netflix series is different from other comedy shows By Elahe Izadi H 45 THE INDIAN AMERICAN OCTOBER-DECEMBER 2018 Entertainment “Daily Show” correspondent Hasan Minhaj giving the keynote roast at the White House Correspondents Dinner 2017 in Washington, D.C. Photo by Marvin Joseph, The Washington Post