All posts tagged: Ramy

Ramy Youssef’s ‘SNL’ Monologue Was a Prayer for Peace

Ramy Youssef’s ‘SNL’ Monologue Was a Prayer for Peace

Published by skeptic

Ramy Youssef brought a politics of care to his first time hosting the show. Will Heath / NBC March 31, 2024, 1:14 PM ET Ramy Youssef has spent much of his career mining heartfelt humor from experiences that straddle the sacred and the profane. So it was no surprise that the actor, writer, and comedian opened last night’s Saturday Night Live monologue with an amusingly wide-ranging celebration of worship: “This is an incredibly spiritual weekend,” he said. “We’re in the holy month of Ramadan. Tomorrow is Easter. And yesterday, Beyoncé released a new album.” Youssef added that he was looking forward to Ramadan in part because Muslims are so loving. Other people don’t understand this about Muslims, he lamented, adding that in our divided nation, Muslims face the ramifications of others’ misguided views about them all the time. He recalled an experience in upstate New York that made him reluctant to speak Arabic on the phone with his mother. Surrounded by MAGA flags and other visible signs of Trump country, he responded to her standard …

SNL host Ramy Youssef calls for free Palestine and release of ‘all hostages’ in monologue

SNL host Ramy Youssef calls for free Palestine and release of ‘all hostages’ in monologue

Published by Sam

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Ramy Youssef used his Saturday Night Live platform to call for a Gaza ceasfire and the release of “all the hostages” in the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict. The comedian, writer and actor, who recently starred in Yorgos Lanthimos film Poor Things, hosted the US sketch show’s latest episode, which aired on Saturday (30 March) and roasted Trump over his recent bizarre attempts to sell Bibles. Yousef addressed his faith and the situation in war-torn Gaza in his opening monologue, telling the audience that his friends regularly ask him to pray on their behalf. One prayer he was recently asked to make for was for his friend Ahmed’s family, who are based in Palestine. Yousef said: “I’m like, ‘Dude, I got you.’ So that night, I go to pray, and my prayers are complicated. I’ve got a lot to fit in.” Youssef continued: “I’m like, ‘God, please, please help Ahmed’s …

Saturday Night Live Got Spiritual  (and High) With Ramy Youssef

Saturday Night Live Got Spiritual  (and High) With Ramy Youssef

Published by skeptic

This week’s Saturday Night Live began, predictably enough, with James Austin Johnson’s Donald Trump hawking Bibles. “It’s Easter, the time of year I compare myself to Jesus Christ—that’s just a thing I do now, and people seem to be okay with it,” he said, before pitching his $60 Good Book— “100% Bible, made from 100% Bible”—alongside miracle toasters that seared a reflection of his mug onto bread. “Let us bow our heads. I’m not going to,” he told the audience before butchering The Lord’s Prayer. Before the mood could turn too sour, comedian and actor Ramy Youssef came down the stairs of 8H in a beautiful black suit. His monologue was a gulp of fresh air. “This is an incredibly spiritual weekend,” he said, his gentle voice melodious, his rhythm patient. “We’re in the holy month of Ramadan, tomorrow is Easter, and yesterday, Beyoncé released a new album.” His best joke of the set was about New Yorkers’ tendency to villainize and other the American South. “I don’t believe in the South. There is no …

‘SNL’ cold open revels in politics; Ramy Youssef prays for Palestinians and hostages

‘SNL’ cold open revels in politics; Ramy Youssef prays for Palestinians and hostages

Published by skeptic

Amid an election year with promises of divergent visions of America, “Saturday Night Live” dove in to the politics of 2024 to find punchlines. The show opened with a satirical television special celebrating Easter, “The Resurrection,” which recounts the story of three women who witnessed the return of Jesus. It was quickly interrupted by a flash of light and smoke, with one of the characters asking, “Is it Jesus?” “Basically, yes,” said James Austin Johnson as former President Donald Trump as he emerged from the flash. He dismissed the three: “All right girls, you can go.” Then he proceeded to peddle $60 Trump-branded bibles, which the real Trump unveiled Tuesday. They include copies of the nation’s founding documents and lyrics from the Lee Greenwood country song, “God Bless the U.S.A.” “If you think this is a bad look, imagine how weird it would be if I started selling bibles,” Johnson’s Trump said. “Well, I’m selling bibles.” He said God is the Beyoncé of the Trinity, presented a fit, muscular image of himself in the Garden …

Ramy Youssef SNL Monologue: Politics, Palestine, Presidential Election

Ramy Youssef SNL Monologue: Politics, Palestine, Presidential Election

Published by Sam

Ramy Youssef riffed on politics and religious holidays during his Saturday Night Live monologue, saying a trans woman should be the next president and later calling for the people of Palestine and the hostages to be freed. Youssef, the creator and star of Hulu’s Ramy who recently appeared in the Oscar-winning film Poor Things, hit studio 8H on Saturday for his first stint hosting NBC’s sketch show. He started his monologue by noting that “this is an incredibly spiritual weekend. We’re in the holy month of Ramadan, tomorrow is Easter, and yesterday Beyoncé released a new album. There’s just so many religions celebrating all at once.” Youssef, who is Muslim, noted that he’s “doing the Ramadan one.” “I love Ramadan because I love hanging out with Muslims,” he said. “We’re so loving and I feel like people don’t know that about us. They know all these other things. But man, we love to love and we’re so free with it.” He relayed that his longtime friends growing up are “weird about love” “I have a …

Ramy Youssef constantly asks if jokes are harmful or helpful. He keeps telling them anyway

Ramy Youssef constantly asks if jokes are harmful or helpful. He keeps telling them anyway

Published by Sam

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Fresh off his awards season high after attending the Oscars with his fellow “Poor Things” stars — and presenting — Ramy Youssef is heading back into more familiar territory. The actor and comedian, known for the critically acclaimed Hulu series “Ramy,” will premiere his latest stand-up special Saturday on HBO and Max. In keeping with much of his previous work, “Ramy Youssef: More Feelings” doesn’t shy away from fraught topics, including religion, the upcoming presidential election and the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. Although Youssef says he is “constantly interrogating” whether tackling these subjects through comedy is a good use of his time, he thinks there is enough reason to keep doing it — for now. The interview has been edited for clarity and brevity. AP: This special felt very timely. I wondered how soon after Oct. 7 and the war in Gaza began that you started working on it. YOUSSEF: I think actually what’s really interesting about the special is that it appears more topical than it is. There’s …

Ramy Youssef’s Big Year: ‘Poor Things,’ ‘The Bear,’ Taylor Swift, and More

Ramy Youssef’s Big Year: ‘Poor Things,’ ‘The Bear,’ Taylor Swift, and More

Published by skeptic

Speaking of new friends, the first time I saw your name linked with Taylor Swift’s was when she attended one of your comedy shows. What’s that been like for you? She’s so cool and so funny. We met organically through Emma [Stone], and then kind of hit it off and hung out a bit…. I’m not used to that, and I couldn’t have anticipated it or even thought that [it would end up as a headline]. But then I think the funny thing, too, is even stuff at the Globes, there’s this really funny thing of seeing how things that feel incredibly friendly and small and kind of intimate then suddenly are headlines. She’s really smart, and it’s kind of wild how genuine and normal, I guess is the word to say, [she is] for someone who’s a global star. And I think, too, the piece of this that has been really exciting, even kind of going out to all these awards things, even meeting someone like Taylor…when you’re making art, you kind of hope …

‘No one knew what to do with me’: Ramy Youssef on privilege, fear and his friend Taylor Swift | Film

‘No one knew what to do with me’: Ramy Youssef on privilege, fear and his friend Taylor Swift | Film

Published by skeptic

These are strange times for Ramy Youssef. On the one hand, he is about to appear in his first big movie role, in the delightfully surreal and sexed-up fantasia Poor Things. After his hit comedy drama series Ramy, it looks like the beginning of a new phase in his career. On the other hand, the Israel-Gaza war is dominating the news, and as one of the most prominent Muslim entertainers out there, Egyptian American Youssef is very much in the spotlight. These two worlds are colliding the day we meet in December. Youssef is tangentially in the headlines as a result of Taylor Swift having attended his standup show in New York a few days previously, with celebrity friends Selena Gomez and Cara Delevingne. Youssef is donating all the proceeds from the remainder of his standup tour to the Palestinian NGO American Near East Refugee Aid. This was too much for the rightwing presenter Megyn Kelly, who declared that Swift “owes Israelis and Jewish Americans an apology”, and urged people to “boycott her events until …