‘Incredibly Spiritual Weekend’: Ramy Youssef Quips About Politics And Religious Holidays In SNL Monologue

Ramy Youssef's SNL monologue was a blend of humor and insight on politics and religion. The comedian, who is known for his work on Hulu's Ramy, touched on a range of topics. Read below to know more.

By Sweta Choudhury

Published on Apr 01, 2024 | 10:32 AM IST | 104.2K

Ramy Youssef- (Instagram)

Ramy Youssef took center stage on Saturday Night Live, delivering a monologue that blended humor with quirky commentary on politics and religious observances. The actor and comedian, known for his work on Hulu's Ramy, touched on a range of topics, from the upcoming presidential election to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

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 buddy of mine who was like, man, I’ve been hanging out with this girl, dude, and I told her I loved her. It’s only been nine months,” he said. “I was like, dude, I just said that to my Uber driver. I gave him my number. I was like, bro, let’s get off the app. I wanna get to know you. You mean something to me. [After] nine months, you should have a kid.”

(Later in the show, Youssef appeared in a pre-recorded commercial parody for “Ozempic for Ramadan” designed to help with fasting.)

Challenging political perceptions in his speech

Further, in his set Youssef shifted his focus to politics, challenging the common perception that support for Republican candidate Donald Trump is confined to the South. Reflecting on his experiences living in New York,

“So I live in New York; we’re in this bubble and, and we think like everything we disagree with is in the South, but I don’t believe in the South. There is no South. Like the South is 45 minutes away from wherever you are. I had a show in upstate New York. I was walking through the neighborhood. There’s all this Trump stuff. Flags, red hats. I was like, yo, I went north but I’m south, and I could feel it. “

Banter about President Joe Biden

Transitioning to another target, Youssef playfully directed his humor towards President Joe Biden, who is currently vying for re-election on the Democratic ticket. With a touch of jest, Youssef anticipated an interaction with Biden, envisioning a humorous exchange where he poked fun at Biden's awareness and recounted past amusing encounters and comprehended them with entertaining anecdotes.

“I know Biden’s gonna call, I know he’s gonna call me. I mean, well, he probably, he’ll probably forget, but I think somebody will call,” he joked. “Like in 2020, I got a call from Mohammed Biden. He goes, ‘Ramy, habibi, we love you. We love everything that you’ve done for Arab America, right?’ He said it like it was a country. ‘Everyone on the campaign is such a big fan of your work.’ And Joe’s aware. That’s huge, right? Because Joe has an awareness issue. I mean, Joe’s aware — that’s like a Nobel Peace Prize.”

Youssef's show was a massive hit, and as he ended the live show, a roaring applause came from the audience, acknowledging his birillant comic time.

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