Do we like Ramy Youssef?
Our score: 8 out of 10. He's on the right side of every issue we found, with nothing against him on the record, but the evidence we could open is thinner than a 9 or 10 needs.
Ramy Youssef is best known for Ramy, the semi-autobiographical series about a first-generation Muslim American in New Jersey. He has since moved between stand-up, writing, directing and acting. His latest HBO special, In Love, came out in April 2026.
The moment that made some people cross was his 2024 Saturday Night Live monologue. He told a story about a friend worried about relatives in Gaza, prayed for an end to the violence, for Palestinian liberation and for the release of the hostages, and joked the US should elect a trans woman as president. Some viewers questioned whether it was the place for politics; others praised the candour.
On the harm check, nothing nasty turned up. His own words are about peace, hostages released and Palestinians looked after, and a joke that backs a trans woman for the top job. Where you land on his Gaza remarks depends on whether you read them as a call for peace for everyone, which is how he put it, or as the wrong place for politics, which is how some viewers saw it.
He didn't back down when asked about it. He told The New York Times “What I said is completely inoffensive”, and said it was “more nerve-racking” not to speak. That is a bloke who knows the cost of speaking up and does it anyway.
The recent stoush is the Sesame Street one. Fox News went after the April 2026 episode, where he taught Elmo some Arabic words, and he responded. Being slagged off by a cable network for teaching a puppet to say hello in another language says more about the critics than about him.
On company, we found him in Mountainhead, the HBO film from Succession creator Jesse Armstrong, which parodies the ultra-wealthy and also stars Steve Carell and Jason Schwartzman. His new special even takes a swing at the Riyadh Comedy Festival, a joke about not being invited. Nothing there suggests he keeps nasty company.