REVIEW: Hasan Minhaj informs, intrigues in Netflix debut despite growing pains

Past its initial awkwardness, “Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj,” a new 32-episode variety show from Netflix, proved to be both timely and informative in the contemporary political landscape.

Netflix debuted the show’s first two episodes, “Affirmative Action” and “Saudi Arabia,” on Sunday and the remaining episodes will air in subsequent weeks.

Comedian and former “The Daily Show” correspondent Hasan Minhaj not only stars in “Patriot Act,” but also serves as its showrunner. In his attempt to do it all, Minhaj successfully produces striking content, yet falls short when it comes to his on-stage delivery. His appearance — from his perfectly groomed beard to his carelessly stylish outfit — in the pilot episode was too rehearsed and meticulously fabricated to feel organic.

Minhaj’s stage presence seemed stiff and unnatural as well. Standing in the middle of a enormous stage, Minhaj used overly flamboyant hand gestures that didn’t match the topics the show centered on.

Even his walking and positioning was rigid, as viewers could see exactly where he rehearsed to stop and speak.

However, Minhaj’s delivery was strong from the get-go, as he recited specific facts about affirmative action in a way that assumed his audience already knew the basics. He stared deeply into the camera, imploring audiences to buy into what he was saying.

After overcoming Minhaj’s learning curve of hosting a show for the first time, the pertinent content featured in the first episode became digestible. Minhaj used a recognizable format, a comedic segment with video interludes, à la “Last  Week Tonight with John Oliver,” to explain essential information.

In addition, “Affirmative Action” offered a deep dive into Supreme Court case on Harvard’s affirmative action policies.

While Minhaj skimped on reporting the bare essentials of affirmative action, he did highlight Edward Blum, conservative legal activist and founder of the case’s plaintiff, Students for Fair Admissions. Using self-deprecating humor — like getting rejected from Stanford not because of race but because of his 1310 SAT score, Minhaj cleverly explained the gist of the pivotal case.

At times, Minhaj’s analogies fell flat — for example, comparing plaintiffs parties to The Hulk — but the former “Daily Show” correspondent got his point across in the show: Banning affirmative action would not just get rid of racial quotas, but it would also take away the holistic approach to college admissions that allows for rich, yet fair, diversity on campuses across the country.

Minhaj achieved what he set out to do — get audiences to think beyond the surface of topical political issues. He asked pertinent questions about race and identity with relation to education in the United States and sparked an important conversation about standards used for college admissions.

In “Patriot Act,” Minhaj has taken a step toward balancing his comedic endeavors with political ambitions. But only time and future episodes will reveal if he can learn to loosen up. For now, though, “Patriot Act” is a place to learn about highly relevant political and cultural topics — that is, if the viewer doesn’t mind occasionally looking away due to the Minhaj’s awkwardness.