Ramy Youssef

“Any useful diversion from someone’s attention to say watch this, listen to this — I take very seriously. If I’m going to ask them to take an hour to watch my special, or thirty minutes to watch an episode of Ramy, it better be worth it. I have to be providing a unique essence of something.”

-Ramy Youssef, episode 333 of Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso

This weekend, comedian Ramy Youssef released a powerful and personal new HBO special, More Feelings.

To commemorate the one-year anniversary of our first talk, we begin with a phone call with Ramy (5:35). Then, we dive into our talk from 2023, discussing the third season of his Hulu show Ramy (32:59), a timely scene from the show (35:46), and the questions that shaped it (39:37). Then, we walk through his coming of age as a first-generation Egyptian-American in New Jersey (42:28), his early forays into film (47:07), and the sketch inspired by his life-altering Bell’s palsy diagnosis (48:25).

On the back-half, we discuss Youssef’s television debut in the sitcom See Dad Run (59:00), how he found his “essence” as a performer (1:00:54), and the politics of his stand-up comedy (1:03:50). To close, he describes the influences behind Ramy, from The Carmichael Show to Curb Your Enthusiasm (1:08:25), a philosophy that guides his work (1:14:58), and the future of the series (1:21:36).

For questions, comments, or to join our mailing list, reach me at sf@talkeasypod.com. This conversation was recorded at Spotify Studios in Los Angeles.

• • Show-notes:

    • Watch Ramy’s new HBO special More Feelings.
    • Find all the seasons of Ramy on Hulu and Mo on Netflix.
    • Watch Ramy’s previous HBO special Feelings.
    • See his short film Bell’s Palsy.
    • Follow Ramy on Instagram.
    • For more talks, hear our conversations with Dan Levy, Quinta Brunson, Hiro Murai, Abbi Jacobson, Natasha Lyonne, and Bill Hader.
      
    • Order your Talk Easy mug in cream and navy or our vinyl record with Fran Lebowitz.

    Illustrations by Krishna Shenoi. Reference image by Julius Chiu.

    Subscribe, rate, and review: Apple Podcasts and Spotify.