“Saudi Arabia” is an episode from the “Patriot Act”, a show dedicated to spreading news and stories from around the world using comedy. The host, Hasan Minhaj, presents serious topics with a twist of comedy, delivering news in a more entertaining way. This episode talks about the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist, and the involvement of Prince Muhammad bin Salman of Saudi Arabia in his death. Throughout the episode, Minhaj portrays various tropes of Islam, the most prominent one being that Islam is uniquely sexist.
The sequence starts with the host explaining that Prince Salman was seen as being “a reformer of the Arab world” by the west, and he sarcastically mentions that he lifted the ban on women driving in Saudi Arabia. Following this claim, the music video of a female singer wearing a hijab is shown, as she sings about being able to drive legally. The tone of the music video seems satirical, since the singer incorporates comedy into her lyrics, talking about how the gear shift works and how she doesn’t have to ask for a ride anymore since she has a license. This confuses the listener on whether the singer is trying to be comedic or if she’s trying to be serious but people find it funny. After the clip, Minhaj proceeds to mock the video, implying that as a hip-hop fan, this is “straight garbage”, he then comments on the flaws of the video, such as the dirtiness of the car, the brand of the car that’s used and how the singer never actually drives the car in the video. The humour of the host comes through as being a little rough, as he’s very clearly trying to make a joke out of a topic that has been affecting women for years in Saudi Arabia, and that is clear proof of how women are being oppressed under Islamic beliefs.
Minhaj uses comedy to respond to the trope, it’s clear that making a joke about this topic while the ban was happening would’ve been seen as harsh and unfunny by the audience, but now he can highlight how extreme the Islamic laws in Saudi Arabia used to be and in a way ridicules such a harsh law. I believe the intent of having a comedic approach was to draw attention to the topic, making it more engaging to the audience with the use of comedy. I believe the strategy of mocking something serious is effective because it causes controversy, and it gets people talking about the subject and spreading awareness, which is the purpose of the show.