Indian-American comedian Hasan Minhaj announced on Tuesday that his Netflix series Patriot Act had been cancelled after six seasons on the streaming platform. Each episode of the weekly show tackled a different news topic, with Hasan offering in-depth analysis and his own brand of comedy and satire on the subjects, which ranged from India’s 2019 elections to drug pricing in the United States.
The show premiered in October 2018, and went on to win an Emmy for Outstanding Motion Design and a Peabody Award.
What a run. @patriotact has come to an end. I got to work with the best writers, producers, researchers, and animators in the game. My 2 babies were born and grew up with the show. TY to @Netflix and everyone who watched. Now it’s time to return these screens to Best Buy pic.twitter.com/4s4TrsKWe6
— Hasan Minhaj (@hasanminhaj) August 18, 2020
What a run. @patriotact has come to an end. I got to work with the best writers, producers, researchers, and animators in the game. My 2 babies were born and grew up with the show. TY to @Netflix and everyone who watched. Now it’s time to return these screens to Best Buy,” Hasan tweeted.
Born and raised in Davis, California, Hasan, 34, began his career as a stand-up comedian, first gaining popularity as a senior correspondent for The Daily Show, which was being hosted by Jon Stewart at the time. He later hosted the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in Washington DC., a high-profile annual gathering of DC journalists and politicians.
In 2017, his comedy special Homecoming King debuted on Netflix, where Hasan drew on his personal life and stories of his childhood, as the son of immigrants from Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh to growing up in the United States and getting his big break in comedy.
Hasan left The Daily Show in 2018 for Patriot Act, which follows in the footsteps of several successful shows that weave stand-up comedy and news analysis together, including John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight, Stephen Colbert’s The Colbert Report and Weekend Update on SNL.
Through the show, Hasan drew attention to his sharp commentary on a range of subjects that concerned both India and the United States. That included corruption in Indian cricket, mental health and censorship in China. For his episode on the Indian elections last year, Hasan faced immense backlash from some quarters.