patriot act

Why Hasan Minhaj Is Renting Out DVDs of His Patriot Act Season Finale

The final episode of the comedian’s third season on Netflix is all about internet equality. But those affected by the issue can’t easily stream Netflix—so Minhaj got in touch with the company’s somehow-still-functioning DVD rental service.
Patriot Act
By Cara Howe/Netflix.

When a member of Hasan Minhaj’s news team told the Patriot Act host that millions of Americans still don’t have adequate internet access, he was shocked. As Minhaj notes in the show’s third-season finale, which premiered on Netflix Sunday, the U.S. government claims the number of underserved Americans is around 21 million—but a private study by Microsoft placed the figure at roughly 163 million. “How do you screw up your numbers by the entire population of Russia?!” Minhaj wonders aloud.

The finale perfectly encapsulates what made Patriot Act a winning proposition from the start. Minhaj walks his viewers through the infuriating bureaucracy and laughably surreal details that underpin a somewhat dry but important issue, underscoring how his show puts a new spin on the opinion-driven, politically aware format largely invented by The Daily Show (where Minhaj used to work). The problem? It’s unlikely that most of the people affected by this particular issue—those who have to drive to McDonald’s and order French fries just so they can sit down and use Wi-Fi for a few minutes—will be able to casually stream the episode.

When Minhaj realized this another member of his news team offered him a helpful reminder: Netflix still has a DVD service.

Speaking with V.F., Minhaj admitted that at first he didn’t believe his employer still mailed out DVDs to a certain subset of subscribers. “I’m like, ‘There’s no way they have a DVD service.’ They were like, ‘Yeah, 2.7 million people subscribe and pay every month to get those little red envelopes! They’re signing up to get season four, disc three of The Wire,’” Minhaj said with a laugh. So he and his team shot the company’s DVD rental department a message.

Unsurprisingly the person on the other end was somewhat shocked to hear from them. “They were like, ‘Oh my God—thank you so much for reaching out!’” Minhaj recalled. “It really did feel like this Toy Story moment where they’re like, ‘Nobody’s played with us in so many years!’”

And so Patriot Act will let viewers watch physical copies of this episode—though you’ll have to subscribe to Netflix’s DVD service to access it.

Regardless of the manner in which you watch, the episode, aptly titled “Why Your Internet Sucks,” is a handy reminder of why shows like Patriot Act have become so popular. It’s both amusing and informative, thorough but concise. Some of the realities Minhaj uncovers must be seen to be believed—like a Coachella, California, initiative that allows students to access Wi-Fi in parked buses around the area so that they can complete their homework. (“That was really shocking and sad and disheartening,” Minhaj said.) Even more confounding, however, are the portions that cover the government and telecom giants’ fight against small, underserved cities that have begun to set up their own networks, known as “municipal broadband.”

“That to me was the most alarming piece of information,” Minhaj said. “Because when it comes to infrastructure, America has generally sided with the good of the public over large corporations.” As the episode points out, Congress passed the Rural Electrification Act in 1936, which solved a similar issue with electricity. In this case, however, it seems the scales have tipped in favor of corporate giants, especially thanks to FCC chairman and former Verizon associate general counsel Ajit Pai. Still, some areas have been able to fight back—like Chattanooga, Tennessee, which managed to create its own internet despite two lawsuits. That in turn forced Comcast to compete by offering better broadband, after the corporate giant had batted away years of complaints.

Minhaj said that those local battles—and the victories many small towns were able to secure for their residents—are what he views as the ultimate takeaway of the episode. “It all of a sudden forced the hand of Comcast,” he said. “Overnight they were magically able to provide their fastest service and their best service. And to me that is a testament to conviction and persistence over apathy.”

Late-night and talk show hosts have increasingly seen their jobs come to include an advocacy component. Years after leaving The Daily Show, Jon Stewart is still fighting Congress on the 9/11 first responders bill. Jimmy Kimmel took up the fight on health care, while John Oliver lobbied for net neutrality so hard that his viewers crashed the FCC site on two occasions.

The reason for this shift is obvious: As Minhaj noted, “Things are definitely more politically charged right now.” Many of the shows that take up these sorts of causes are also host-driven programs—and several are led by former Stewart correspondents who presumably learned a thing or two by watching him. While not every host is political, Minhaj has embraced the opportunity to use his international platform to speak on issues like censorship in China or protests in Sudan. “Those are things that I think the world should be talking about, and Americans should be talking about,” Minhaj said. “Because if you haven’t been watching the news, we’re all interconnected.… That’s the way I approach it. To me that matters. If I have 25 minutes of your time, I want it to mean something.”

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