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In his new Netflixspecial,Off With His Head, comedianHasan Minhajbegins the show with a fake-out.
You know what I love when I look out here tonight?
he asks the audience at the San Jose Civic.
I love the diversity.
Its only natural the comedian should want to distance himself from that image now.
He takes steps two, three, and four inOff With His Head.
Gone are the PowerPoint comedy and theatrical solo-show framings with which Minhaj burnished his reputation.
How successfully he pulls off this pivot varies from bit to bit.
It begins with Minhaj implicating himself.
he asks, shedding the holier-than-thou progressive image hes built.
After listing the four issues on which these communities vote No.
1: Give me a green card, No.
2: Believe in God, No.
3: I dont like paying taxes, and No.
1, Ill let you do No.
At a few points inOff With His Head, Minhaj addresses theNew Yorkerfact-checking debacle directly.
I dont know if you saw this last year hes forced to add before teeing up the story.
The joke he delivers to address it, then, feels almost like an afterthought.
Now I have a Controversies tab on my Wikipedia, he says, exasperated.
Its a dorky controversy!
Its not even a good one.
I didnt fuck a porn star.
I didnt diddle a boy.
I got caught embellishing for dramatic effect.
More striking than the joke itself are the reference points he uses within it.
The once-moralistic Minhaj is joking about fucking sex workers and molesting kids.
Lying, by extension, seems quaint.
