Photo: Marissa Mooney
ORIGINS
Like the character he plays on his Hulu series, Ramy, comedian Ramy Youssef grew up the son of Egyptian Muslim immigrants in suburban New Jersey. But unlike his aimlessly searching TV alter ego, the real-life Youssef, 29, found his passion early on. “I’ve been making things since I was 16,” he says. “I’ve always been the kid with a camera.” After taking a TV production class in high school, he began writing and performing sketch comedy. He dropped out of college to pursue acting, moving to Los Angeles in 2012 for a role on Nick at Nite’s See Dad Run. He decided to try stand-up as a way to meet new people in LA and found that he loved its immediacy. “You think of a joke in the morning,” he says, “and you know at 10 p.m. that night if it has legs or if it’s offensive—or if it’s both, which is ideal.”
FROM STAGE TO SCREEN
Many of the ideas Youssef was working through in his stand-up—such as what it means to be a good Muslim in the age of Tinder—have gone into Ramy, which premiered last spring. “I wanted to see a character on-screen who is wrestling with their faith in a way that felt nuanced,” he says. “We have what we believe, and then what we actually do, and I think that gap is pretty universal for anyone who’s trying to be a higher version of themselves.” The 10-episode first season, which earned Youssef a surprise Best Actor Golden Globe in January, follows his character as he navigates this tension in everyday situations, from work to dating to drinking. As the character sums it up in one episode: “There’s Friday prayer, and then there’s Friday night, and I’m at both.”
UP NEXT
Season two, which premieres on May 29, follows Ramy through the aftermath of a tumultuous trip to visit family in Egypt. “He gets a reality check on his behavior,” Youssef says. It also features a high-profile guest star: two-time-Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali, who plays Ramy’s sheikh, or spiritual teacher. “He’s a practicing Muslim,” Youssef says of Ali, “and he called me and was like, ‘This is the show I’ve always wanted to see. I just want you to know how proud I am of you.’” Youssef adds that the key to the show’s success, and its resonance with a population used to being depicted in one-dimensional stereotypes, is its specificity: “When there’s such underrepresentation of Arab Muslims, you feel this weight at first where you’re like, ‘I gotta do this.’ That’s bad for the process. It should always be, ‘I want to…’ or ‘I’m interested in…’ or ‘this makes me laugh.’
