“This is a show about a Muslim Arab man from New Jersey who masturbates too much and we got three Emmy nominations,” says Youssef, with nods to the lead comedy actor, comedy series director, and supporting actor nomination for Mahershala Ali.
Emmy nominations on Tuesday morning brought Ramy Youssef, the star and creator of the hit Hulu comedy. Ramy his first nods, gaining recognition in the lead actor in a comedy series and directing for a series of comedy series. After winning the Golden Globe this year for his performance, Youssef’s nominations mark the first for an American Muslim sitcom, in a series that follows a first-generation Egyptian-American who navigates the balance between his religion and family culture with your everyday life like a millennium in New Jersey
Youssef spoke to THR after her nomination for her first Emmy morning experience, the impact of the show and her commitment to a virtual ceremony this year for the sake of her fellow nominees: “I will stay home to keep Michael Douglas, the community, safe. Egyptian values it very much. “
You got your first two Emmys this morning, how are you feeling?
I am super grateful, it is definitely very surreal. It’s great because really any nomination on this, and being able to get three, is simply representative of everyone who has worked so hard on the show. To me, even an acting nomination is a nomination for the entire show and for everyone who worked so hard on it. I see that nomination and just think about the cold New York winter and how well it was worth staying out, and that everyone, those are the people who have to be out in the cold much longer than I am. So very, very grateful and it’s super surreal that a show of our size can get three Emmy nominations, it’s crazy.
What was it like getting not only an acting nomination, but also one for directing and a supporting actor nomination for Mahershala Ali?
He was very concerned about Mahershala: he really felt he needed to get some recognition, it seemed like he probably needed it more and, as a friend, very happy that they finally recognized him. To be recognized for directing, it is a great honor, especially because this season I was able to direct four episodes and even as the first creator, directing something you have to fight to be able to do it, even on your own show, is a difficult thing; and rightly so, I don’t blame people but I can go [directing] one [episode] in the first season and then being able to do four of them in the second season and be recognized: that really surprised me, I’ll be honest with you. It was really cool.
Where were you when you heard the news, were you seeing the ad live?
There was, yes, of course. I was writing, but then I said, “I can’t write, I just have to look,” so yes, I saw it at home on my laptop.
This does Ramy the first American Muslim sitcom to be nominated, what does that mean to you?
It is really exciting because we are very specific. I think you look at our program, you realize in a good way that we are not even close to covering the entire Muslim experience. For a show that only shows a small part of it to be recognized, I think that should mean that we are going to get a lot more green light Muslim stories because the umbrella of the Muslim experience is so vast: there are so many different groups, so many kinds of people This is a show about an Arab Muslim man from New Jersey who masturbates too much and we got three Emmy nominations. I mean, that’s a lot, that’s so wild. There are so many more stories that could be told, so I’m excited by the bigger picture, one that doesn’t even include me.
