LISTEN ON:
Ramy creator and star Ramy Youssef talks about the inspiration behind the show’s memorable characters and how saying you believe in God is one of the edgiest things you can do as a millennial.
Episode Description
In this episode, we ask the question, “Can faith help us find our place in an increasingly broken world?” Comedian and host Gabe González connects with Ramy Youssef over how he’s used his career in stand-up comedy to push boundaries around taboo subjects like religion and as a catalyst for his show Ramy. They dig into Ramy’s three-dimensional portrayal of an Egyptian, Muslim-American family in all their flaws and the way faith influences each character’s arc in profound ways. After the interview, Gabe sits down with Arij Mikati, Managing Director of Culture Change at Pillars Fund and consultant on Ramy to dig into the importance of showing an array of flawed, funny, fundamentally human Muslim Americans and how the women of Ramy are moving the conversation forward.
What to Listen For
- The importance of “faith journeys”
- How much of his character’s performance is rooted in a disconnected, that diasporic identity
- The fight to shift perspective within the show to center some of the women within the cast ensemble
- Illustrating the journey and rebirth of Ramy’s character across three seasons of the show
- Using the Ramy character as a navigating avatar to explore the Israeli occupation in Palestine
- Emphasis on making things you really care about and are topics of the heart
Show Resources
The Reasons We Love Ramy – #PeabodyFinds newsletter