
Key insights:
- Youssef and his co-creators decided to jettison many typical TV show conventions when making Ramy.
- He tackles hot-button topics in comedy by focusing on the "humanity" behind them.
- The pandemic shut down Ramy's Season 2 production three days early, prompting creative solutions to complete the episodes.
One of last year’s best new series was Ramy, which creator/star Ramy Youssef based on his life as part of an Arab-Muslim family living in New Jersey. While Ramy was a critical success, the Hulu comedy—which is TV’s first scripted show to center on a Muslim-American family—didn’t really break through until January’s Golden Globes. That night, Youssef was the unexpected winner of best actor in a TV musical or comedy series, over bigger names like Michael Douglas (from Netflix’s The Kominsky Method) and Bill Hader (HBO’s Barry).