Copyright © 2020 Penske Business Media, LLC. And as you do that, yeah, there are things that might come up. These were a lot of the conversations people were having. It’s exciting, especially in such a crowded landscape, to put a little bit of a checkmark on something like, “Look, I know there’s 600 shows, but really, you should watch this one.” And that’s what it did for us. She’d been with me, coming to my show since my first show, doing standup. Gold Derby said it’s not mine.”RY: (Laughs.) There’s a lot about “Ramy” that’s welcoming — that makes it feel like audiences can jump in at any time. Rather than being precious about the words, he wants to find the most honest path through a scene, including listening to his actors and incorporating their approach into scenes. When he came initially, I told him, I was like, “Look, man, our blueprint here is this needs to be as seamless as RY: Immediately. Watch the full interview with Ramy Youssef on the “Variety After-Show” above. But then when we follow his perspective, we’re suddenly in his shoes and he suddenly becomes this 3D character that is delivering so much emotion and he’s not the funny part anymore.
Just a dream. So we don’t hang our hat on political opposition. Just really, really grateful. And he was like, ‘Let’s do it. I think that his character certainly, though, in many episodes, is bringing that comedy. So we’re already kind of on this tightrope whether we want to be or not. Is it going to actually help us?” And it really was a dream, just on a personal level and on the level of what we got to put out on screen. He’s been through so much. I think Steve really speaks to that subconscious and I think that they both see each other in a way that no one else sees the other. No, he certainly has fun doing it on the show, but he is definitely one of the most awful sweetest people I know.
And it, again, felt like an interesting shade for Ramy to run into. '” Youssef said. RY: It kind of started to feel clear to me towards the end of the first season.
We meet him, he’s very aggressive.
It’s really exciting for us to dig into.
Youssef, who won a Golden Globe for his performance earlier this year, knows better than to overstate or overemphasize their humorous exchanges, trusting Ali’s gravitas and his instincts toward the scene’s purpose — like in the scene above, when the Sheikh asks, “How do I know I’m not just another one of your desires?” and Ramy deadpans, “I don’t want to have sex with you.”“He’s such a good performer,” Youssef said about Ali.
I think that Ramy is driven between both, between his good intentions and his belief, but also subconsciously by his ego and him trying not to face some pain. I think it’s interesting because so much of this is derived from my standup and so much of it comes from stuff that I’m brainstorming, obviously, in between Season 1 and Season 2. I kind of had to deal with that. No, really, it was so funny because I got there and I was in this corner table and I was boxed into this corner and there were people on each side of me. And I know people can really talk about awards and be like, “Who cares?
I mean, I think everyone kind of has their moment. All rights reserved. We have enough groundwork to get to this sooner’ — which made it more exciting for me.”Ali plays Sheikh Ali Malik, the leader of a Sufi mosque who Ramy meets in the Season 2 premiere. He said Ali was completely on board with the process and added a lot to the Sheikh through their continued conversations.“We really developed a shorthand,” Youssef said. “I don’t want to fully enter the dark comedy space where it’s like, ‘Fuck jokes’ — I feel like that’s a tendency that can happen, and I get it, [but] I really wanted the emotion to always remain real.”Interviews with leading film and TV creators about their process and craft.Get The Latest IndieWire Alerts And Newsletters Delivered Directly To Your Inbox It’s just an award.” But it is and it isn’t.