First of all, few comedy sets legitimately give you goosebumps and makes you teary. Hannah Gadsby created the mood in Nanette but it had all soul and little laughs. Hasan succeeds on both, it's a set with a lot of heart, and a lot of laughs.
But more importantly, Hasan changes the game of stand up in a significant way with this set. When this set will be closely examined by art historians in the future, they should be able to delineate the new era Hasan heralds with the show. This is my version of it. Without going into any spoiler, the show broadly consists of two stories, Hasan growing up in a Indian Muslim community and Hasan antagonizing world's most powerfuls through his Netflix show "The Patriot Act" and earning fame in the process. The show starts with a narrative on his marriage, having his first child and it is a recurring thread that gives the two main stories some context.
In the first half, Hasan fully embraces his racial-religious identity and talks about his personal experience. In the second half, Hasan dons the hat of the presenter as in his Netflix show and go behind the scenes.
Hasan, never a very keen observational comic, goes high on drama through the set. His body language is exaggerated, expressions loud, movements are theatrical. His props appear at the right times behind him in a large screen. Hasan even name calls Aziz and Kumail in his set.
However, the real reason the set reaches the unbelievable crescendo, the epic high, is how the set incorporates all the tropes and tricks of a summer blockbuster. It has named and identified villains, it has the villains menacing with others and attacking his family, it has a story where the underdog Minhaj smokes them in his own way. It has the revenge drama, the satisfaction of a earned victory, the adulations of the crowd, the jubilations and the actual cheer of the audience. This is a new style of stand up. Stand-up traditionally stayed true to everyday experience of a common man, but Hasan with his theatrics, gives his story a dramatic high and makes it a terrific production.
I do not know whether some of the future comedians will venture into this dramatics, but this set is thoroughly enjoyable. Jokes are few and far between but the atmosphere is electric and you enjoy delivery of every single line which are precise and punchy. It is like you bought a ticket for a pop concert and you get the production value of a super bowl halftime show. Nice work, Hasan! Great job.
