Ramy Youssef riffed on politics and religious holidays during his Saturday Night Live monologue, saying a trans woman should be the next president and later calling for the people of Palestine and the hostages to be freed.
Youssef, the creator and star of Hulu’s Ramy who recently appeared in the Oscar-winning film Poor Things, hit studio 8H on Saturday for his first stint hosting NBC’s sketch show.
He started his monologue by noting that “this is an incredibly spiritual weekend. We’re in the holy month of Ramadan, tomorrow is Easter and yesterday Beyoncé released a new album. There’s just so many religions celebrating all at once.”
Youssef, who is Muslim, noted that he’s “doing the Ramadan one.”
“I love Ramadan because I love hanging out with Muslims,” he said. “We’re so loving and I feel like people don’t know that about us. They know all these other things. But man, we love to love and we’re so free with it.”
He relayed that his longtime friends growing up are “weird about love”
“I have a buddy of mine who was like, man, I’ve been hanging out with this girl, dude, and I told her I loved her. It’s only been nine months,” he said. “I was like, dude, I just said that to my Uber driver. I gave him my number. I was like, bro, let’s get off the app. I wanna get to know you. You mean something to me. [After] nine months, you should have a kid.”
(Later in the show, Youssef appeared in a pre-recorded commercial parody for “Ozempic for Ramadan” designed to help with fasting.)
He then turned to politics, lamenting that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has supporters all over and not just in the South: “So I live in New York; we’re in this bubble and, and we think like everything we disagree with is in the South, but I don’t believe in the South. There is no South. Like the South is 45 minutes away from wherever you are. I had a show in upstate New York. I was walking through the neighborhood. There’s all this Trump stuff. Flags, red hats. I was like, yo, I went north but I’m south, and I could feel it. “
He then turned to President Joe Biden, who is running for re-election on the Democratic ticket.
“I know Biden’s gonna call, I know he’s gonna call me. I mean, well, he probably, he’ll probably forget, but I think somebody will call,” he joked. “Like in 2020, I got a call from Mohammed Biden. … He goes, ‘Ramy, habibi, we love you. We love everything that you’ve done for Arab America, right?’ He said it like it was a country. ‘Everyone on the campaign is such a big fan of your work.’ And Joe’s aware. That’s huge, right? Because Joe has an awareness issue. I mean, Joe’s aware — that’s like a Nobel Peace Prize.”
He continued joking about Biden: “Joe is good when he’s aware. You’ve seen him, right? And when he’s really, you know, those days when he just comes out and he’s just like thawed, like they give him an extra 10 in the microwave. He’s just lit up, he looks good, and he says stuff. It’s inspiring. It doesn’t mean anything but it’s like America, you know? It’s good. He would be like, ‘I ride the train,’ you’re like, ‘Sick. Where is it going?’ And you never find out.”
As for Biden vs. Trump, Youssef admitted: “I don’t like either option to be honest with you.” He said the next president should be a woman, to loud applause. Then he specified he thinks that the next president should be a trans woman, to slightly less applause. “A little less support. Yeah, that’s New York,” he quipped. “New York’s like, we’re liberal but we’re Italian.”
He continued: “I’ve been thinking about her. I really have, like, imagine her speech. It would be so inspiring. She’d be like, ‘A lot of politicians talk about change.’ Like you can see the bumper sticker, right? Like, ‘Real change.’”
Youssef went on to to note that he’s one of the few guys in his friend group who prays. “I’m friends with a lot of sinners,” he joked. “They’re just disgusting people and they call me when they’re in trouble because they want me to pray for them.”
He relayed that he got a call from a friend who is fighting with his ex over who gets the dog. “He goes, ‘Ramy, dude, she doesn’t take care of the dog. She feeds him kibble. She doesn’t even feed him wet food and I need him back. It’s just destroying my life. Please, man, pray for me. I need him.’”
He then got a call from another friend whose whole family is in Gaza: “He goes, ‘Ramy. They’re suffering. I don’t know where half of them are. I don’t know what to do. Please pray for them. It’s the only thing we can do.’”
Quipped Youssef: “So that night I go to pray and my prayers are … complicated. I’ve got a lot to fit in. My God, please, please help Ahmed’s family. Please stop the suffering. Stop the violence. Please free the people of Palestine. Please.” He received loud applause from the audience here.
“And please free the hostages, all of the hostages, please,” he added, to more loud applause. “And while you’re at it, I mean, you know, free Mr. Bojangles. I mean he is, he’s a beautiful dog. I’m praying for that dog.”
Youssef has been vocal in his calls for for peace between Israel and Gaza. He also wore an Artists for Ceasefire pin to the Oscars earlier this month.
Watch his monologue below.
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