5 years after Homecoming King, Hasan Minhaj is back at it again, this time with The King's Jester. He talks about being a father and the difficulties of it aka sucking the snot out of your own daughter's nose with a Starbucks straw. Not to mention how just a couple hours after he visits a Saudi embassy, a reporter is murdered in a Saudi consulate. He mixes the perfect blend of sincerity and satire while still being "I'm laughing so hard I can't breath" funny. He also talks about becoming an internet sensation and how it can take over people, even with this heavy topic he still manages to stay light hearted and funny. All in all I think this is an amazing comedy show that is essential for anyone who like his other special "Homecoming King".
Hasan Minhaj: The King's Jester
2022
Comedy / Documentary
Hasan Minhaj: The King's Jester
2022
Comedy / Documentary
Keywords: stand-up comedystand-up
Plot summary
Features comedian Hasan Minhaj as he shares his thoughts on fertility, fatherhood, and freedom of speech by discussing some of his recent life events.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
Director
Top cast
Tech specs
720p.WEB 1080p.WEBMovie Reviews
It's good
Comedy Worthy of a King!
'The King's Jester' is not quite the 'Homecoming King' but it is brilliant nonetheless.
Hasan Minhaj is a master storyteller, an excellent comedian, and the way he holds onto your attention--never to let it go--is a rare ability indeed.
He has weaved the personal with the politic here again, the satire with the sincere, and the ecstatic with the horrific. You learn when you listen to him, and you laugh, you cry, and you feel. You feel all the joy, the anger and the grief, the irony and the stupidity, and everything and anything else he wants you to feel.
I loved this piece nearly as much as I loved his 'Homecoming King', and I cannot wait to watch and listen and learn when he does another special. Here's hoping he does it soon.
Hasan Minhaj pursues high drama in an epic comedy set
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 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.