Ramy Youssef Finds the ‘Magic’ in ‘Living on a Prayer’

The Parting Shot with H. Alan Scott

Describing Ramy Youssef’s work isn’t easy, because the multi-hyphenated talent refuses to settle on just one thing. “I feel really inspired to connect in the way that it makes sense.” That started out with stand-up, but has since morphed into acting, writing, directing and producing. The New Jersey native’s next endeavor, right on the heels of his appearance in the Oscar-winning film ‘Poor Things,’ is a new stand-up special called ‘More Feelings.’ “I'm definitely living on a prayer, and that's probably the magic piece in this special, where it kind of feels like everything's just hanging by this really thin string.” The key to his material “taking time off” and “always looking for what allows it to feel like almost a weird, linear thought, but going into a lot of different things, but somehow it's kind of all one thought.” But when working on material, for Youssef, it doesn’t matter if it’s for stand-up, his Hulu series ‘Ramy,’ or Netflix’s ‘Mo’—which Youssef co-created—the process is what dictates his creativity. “Some ideas are just so good for stand-up and then some you want to put on TV. I've started to think of what ideas would really be best fit for film. I've been dabbling in how to take my first swing at that.”

Visit Newsweek.com to learn more about the podcasts we offer and to catch up on the latest news. While you’re there, subscribe to Newsweek’s ‘For the Culture newsletter. Follow H. Alan Scott on everything at @HAlanScott.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.