Skip to content
Brick Wall Comedy
Brick Wall Comedy
Promotional art for Off With His Head
Cover image credit:

Source

Off With His Head

Hasan Minhaj

Netflix · 2024 · 62 min

Hasan Minhaj returns with straightforward stand-up and self-deprecating damage control.

Watch on Netflix(opens in a new tab)

or watch it free on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Hasan Minhaj strips away the digital screens, PowerPoint graphics, and high-concept theatricality of his previous work to deliver a straightforward stand-up set that relies entirely on mic-and-stool mechanics.

The shift in format is a direct response to a very public reckoning. After a 2023 New Yorker article fact-checked the autobiographical details of his previous specials, Minhaj uses this hour to adjust his posture, trading the self-righteousness of a political moralist for the self-deprecation of a wealthy parent. He addresses the controversy head-on about eighteen minutes in, shrugging off the scandal with a joke about how comedians are not wizards.

Filmed at the San Jose Civic in San Jose, California, the special finds Minhaj playing to a home-state crowd, which allows him to poke fun at the regional hypocrisies of the Silicon Valley tech elite. He targets the Bay Area housing crisis by pointing out that the room contains landlords with three homes sitting next to engineers with only three hoodies, and jokes about how Zillow has become a tool of suburban emasculation for middle-aged men. Other segments touch on the absurdities of modern therapy, inter-minority racism, and the lingering instinct in men to believe they could beat a WNBA player in a game of basketball.

While some critics noted that the pivot to a more traditional stand-up structure meant fewer of the narrative high points that defined his early success, the set showcases a more relaxed, conversational version of Minhaj. He is less concerned with lecturing the audience and more interested in acknowledging his own complicity in the upper-middle-class race to the top.

The set list

6 bits

  1. The New Yorker fact-checking controversy and Wikipedia entry

    Mocks the scandal as a 'dorky controversy' over embellishing for dramatic effect rather than a serious crime, joking that as a heterosexual man he lies all the time.

  2. Voting habits of 'Beige-istan'

    Explores how brown immigrants prioritize practicality over progressive ideals, voting based on taxes, green cards, religion, and foreign policy.

  3. Pet antidepressants and weaponizing therapy

    Points out the absurdity of his director's dog taking fluoxetine for anxiety, noting the pet has better healthcare than many humans, and critiques people who use therapy to excuse bad behavior.

  4. The housing crisis and COVID-19 pandemic

    Jokes that millennials missed an opportunity to solve the housing crisis during the pandemic by preserving the elderly who dominate homeownership.

  5. Correcting Ellen DeGeneres

    Calls his 2019 Ellen interview pedantic, lamenting that fighting over the pronunciation of his name only led to people pronouncing it worse.

  6. The closer (spoiler). Show it

    Treating Ruth Bader Ginsburg like Tom Brady closer

    Argues that if Ruth Bader Ginsburg had been pressured to retire the way Tom Brady was, abortion would still be legal in all 50 states.

How it plays

Tone
Irreverent, provocative, self-deprecating, and prickly.
On stage
Pivots away from a morally righteous, didact persona to an irreverent, self-deprecating figure who openly admits to being a privileged, flawed man.
Pace
Energetic, buoyant, and sharp, combining bold personal storytelling with rapid crowd interactions.
About
politics and the gerontocracy, The New Yorker fact-checking controversy, Beige-istan and immigrant voting patterns, therapy and pet antidepressants, housing crisis and generational divides, family inheritance and aging parents

What the critics said

Critics noted a deliberate and mostly effective reinvention from theatrical storyteller to conventional standup comic, finding the set buoyant and sharp when examining race and politics, though occasionally uneven when addressing his personal controversy.

In the room: Taped in front of a packed, intimate crowd in an arena set up reminiscent of professional wrestling, with lively engagement during crowd work.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: tylerbabin.com, forbes.com, bbfc.co.uk, vulture.com, decider.com, slate.com, cnbctv18.com, en.wikipedia.org, esquire.com, latimes.com.

Backstory

Arrived roughly a year after a September 2023 New Yorker expose scrutinized the truthfulness of Minhaj's personal stage anecdotes and revisited workplace claims from Patriot Act; taped amidst the backdrop of the 2024 U.S. presidential election.

Details

Released
Taped
San Jose Civic
Runtime
62 min
Where
Netflix
Director
Tyler Babin
Topics
Before
The King's Jester (2022)

More from Hasan Minhaj

If you liked this