By Tori Preston | Streaming | October 25, 2018 |
By Tori Preston | Streaming | October 25, 2018 |
Amongst the pile of exciting originals that Netflix will be debuting this month, there’s one title that people seem to keep forgetting about: Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj, a new topical comedy series that’ll be rolling out weekly starting October 28. So maybe that’s why Netflix decided to shine a spotlight on Minhaj with a clever bit of cross-promotion, by setting him up for a wardrobe consultation with Queer Eye’s fashion guru, Tan France.
And what follows is… a hilarious and strangely heartwarming 10 minutes, and exactly what I needed after two solid days of this trashy Twilight Zone fanfic called “But Is Blackface Really Racist, Though?” Now, normally these kinds of promotional clips are, you know, maybe cute or mildly amusing — but they’re selling you something and you know it. But this? This feels downright necessary:
Look, it should in no way be revolutionary to see two grown men discuss their heritage with such pride. It should not feel exciting and new to see them bond over how they can wear whatever they want because, “We’ve got beautiful brown skin. We’ve got, like, the nicest skin.” But it does! And the fact that this charmingly breezy 10-minute Netflix promo feels so surprising is, in and of itself, a huge testament to why representation matters.
Take this bit, which is a nice little litmus test:
“America is becoming South Asia. Yoga, meditation, chai tea at Starbucks, us… And by the way, chai tea is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard of. You’re saying the same thing! You’re saying ‘tea tea!’”
Did you start out nodding along with Minhaj, only to end up cringing? It’s ok to raise your hands, you’re not alone. That chai tea truth bomb definitely made more than one Overlord wanna crawl into a hole out of embarrassment because… yeah, we’ve said that.
Don’t get me wrong — the video isn’t trying to be groundbreaking. It’s just trying to be a natural and funny teaser, to get you interested in Minhaj’s new show. And it works! Minhaj at one point tells Tan, “I cannot look like an Indian fuckboi” — and then has to get someone to define the term “fuckboi” because Tan has never heard it before. Then Tan shifts gears and tries to sell Minhaj on wearing a cropped sweatshirt.
The good news is, I was already looking forward to checking out Patriot Act — and now I’m even more excited. But the bad news is I’m more than a little disappointed that we aren’t getting a Hasan/Tan fashion series too, because I could watch them hang for HOURS.