🏆 Recognizing #StoriesThatMatter. Never miss a newsletter! Sign up and have #PeabodyFinds delivered to your inbox.
Over the last decade or so, a new strand of personal reflection has crept into comedy, from Hannah Gadsby’s confessional style to Marc Maron’s vulnerability about his partner’s death. This evolution has also coincided with discussions of religion gaining more prominence in popular culture, specifically in television shows such as Fleabag, Long Story Short, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, The Mindy Project, Never Have I Ever, Nobody Wants This, and Transparent.
Enter Alex Edelman and Ramy Youssef, two Peabody honorees. Both of these comedians combine these two trends masterfully in their recent standup specials, leading with their religious identities and using them as a launching point for storytelling that makes us laugh and consider crucial truths about what it means to be Jewish or Muslim in the modern world. Hint: It’s complicated. Here, a closer look at both.
‘Alex Edelman: Just for Us’
Edelman’s performance, which appeared on Broadway before becoming an HBO Max comedy special, tells the story of the time he decided to crash a white supremacist meeting—a potentially awkward encounter, being that he’s Jewish. In fact, it does get quite awkward, and even a bit chilling, but not before it’s also strikingly mundane (there are muffins and jigsaw puzzles), a little flirty (with an attendee named Chelsea), and also laugh-out-loud funny. This brazen experiment takes the idea of “sitting down and talking with the other side” to the extreme, pointing out the unique bind (and, as Edelman notes, privilege) of a man who “looks white,” but is also unequivocally Jewish and thus the target of a specific kind of just-beneath-the-surface hate. In the end, he describes those at the gathering, with a touch of empathy, as mere “Nerf Nazis”—not really dangerous, though their bigotry is all too real.
Quotable line: When Edelman recalls a guy at the meeting saying, “Jews are sneaky, and they’re everywhere,” he then quips: “Kind of hard to argue with that one right now.”
The New York Times says: “By going ‘dumb and small’ about such a serious subject—Edelman describes the arrangement of chairs at the meeting as an ‘antisemicircle’—he lays the groundwork for a denouement in which he turns the critique on himself as he turns to the bigger issues at hand. For as he promised, Just for Us is not about Jewish victimhood, or anyone’s victimhood, except perhaps that of the aggrieved supremacists, who are too puny and whiny to constitute a real threat.”
Where to Watch: HBO Max
‘Ramy Youssef: More Feelings’
Youssef takes a more traditional standup route than Edelman, sharing a loose smattering of anecdotes and thoughts, but his perspective as a young, practicing Muslim—a demographic not often represented in American comedy—makes it quietly subversive at a time when his identity is at the center of global politics. Like he did in his brilliant, Peabody-winning dramedy Ramy, he demonstrates that there’s inherent humor in trying to stay true to Muslim practices in modern contexts like hookup culture and social media, as well as in the ways his existence is inherently political.
This special adds another layer to that construction, Youssef’s own fame, and specifically his stature as one of America’s most famous Muslims. He delivers his observations on this aspect of his life with a matter-of-fact shrug that steers clear of standard whining about the perils of fame, and, at times, offers a behind-the-scenes glimpse that other famous people might keep hidden, including his decision to decline President Biden’s team’s request for his endorsement and a friend asking him if he’d gotten Taylor Swift to convert when she attended his show. Youssef continues to be a singular voice who shows us why new perspectives make for good comedy. And his skill here is deft; consider the fact that he has a genuinely funny bit about grilling his wife, who’s from Saudi Arabia, about what happened to slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi. And I don’t laugh about that lightly.
Quotable line: Youssef tells a story about being on a date with a Jewish girl during his single years, then going back to her place to find an Israeli flag on her wall. He quips, “Have you ever been so horny you’re like: I can figure out Palestine?”
The New York Times says: “In his new special, More Feelings, a captivating comedy that speaks fiercely to this political moment, Ramy Youssef maintains a mannered tentativeness, tiptoeing from setup to punchline, becoming quieter as the laughs grow. Underneath his gentle cadence hides a firm conviction, one fed up not just with the horrific tragedy in Gaza, but also with the conversation in America in response to it.”
Where to Watch: HBO Max
Ramy Youssef on ‘We Disrupt This Broadcast’
Youssef joins the Peabody Awards podcast (in collaboration with the Center for Media and Social Impact) to discuss how his Muslim faith infuses everything he does, what made his show Ramy so special, and how he’s managed to focus his comedy career on the issues that are most important to him.
Where to Watch: PeabodyAwards.com