LOS ANGELES — 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.
YOUSSEF: I think actually what’s really interesting about the special is that it appears more topical than it is. There’s definitely jokes in there that were written in the last few months, and there’s some of them that were even written a few days before. But I think that the bedrock of a lot of the stories that you would think I was writing in terms of a response to what was happening, I had been actually workshopping for years. I think that there’s a lot of focus on Oct. 7, rightfully so, because it was obviously a horrific day. And Oct. 6 was horrific, you know?
I think that’s kind of the point I’m making in terms of like this not being topical material. I think there actually is some press from that first week of October that talks about it being the deadliest year ever for children anywhere, in regards to Palestinian children. So, you know, this is something that’s heavy. And I think in terms of trying to find light and trying to find commonality between people, which I think is the goal of the special and kind of the goal of what I’ve always done.
YOUSSEF: Yeah. I think for me personally it’s a processing thing. It’s a place again to kind of create an alternative space that is kind of without logic. Obviously, I kind of go out of my way to be pretty dumb when I’m doing stand-up. I think there’s something in just figuring out, you know, is there a pocket here to let the air out somehow in terms of it being healing? It might be. It could also not be. It also could be part of the problem. I actually have no idea, to be honest with you.
And I think I’m constantly interrogating myself of like, is this helpful? And I don’t think I’ll ever really know. But I do know that there’s a feeling that I get when I do a live show and people kind of walk out and the things that I get from the people who I meet and I get to shake their hand, or the people who write where they kind of feel, like we’ve kind of recharged a little bit. But yeah, no tangible answers or solutions or anything like that. Just maybe, a bit of a recharge, hopefully.
