Saturday Night Live recap: Ramy Youssef is let down by lazy writing
The comedian is a spirited—and spiritual—host, even with tired jokes about Trump and Tiny Desk Concerts
TV Reviews Ramy
Spring break is over, at least where Saturday Night Live is concerned. After two weeks of reruns (the last live episode was the gleefully odd Josh Brolin edition on March 9), the NBC sketch show returned with brand-new material this week and a shiny new host: actor-comedian Ramy Youssef, with rapper Travis Scott joining him as musical guest.
Although he recently popped up opposite Emma Stone in Poor Things, Youssef is best-known for his Golden Globe-winning turn as Ramy Hassan in Ramy, the Hulu comedy series that follows an Egyptian American family navigating religious differences and political divide in New Jersey. Given that the comic tackled similarly provocative subjects in his latest stand-up special Ramy Youssef: More Feelings—which premiered on HBO on Saturday, March 23—it’s not a surprise that Youssef’s hosting debut dabbled in spirituality and Gaza as readily as it did podcasts and Ozempic.
Alas, despite Ramy’s efforts, that multi-week hiatus didn’t do much to pep up a night of flat writing.
Cold open: The second coming of Donald
Mother Mary, Mary Magdalene and, uh, another Mary (Catholic school was a long time ago, folks) are at Jesus’ tomb to anoint the late prophet. When they arrive, however, they discover that the resurrected messiah is of the MAGA sort, with James Austin Johnson back as the Bible-hawking Donald Trump.
JAJ’s Don impersonation is reliably excellent (maybe the series’ best?) and there are some punchy lines about the former’s president’s fake-worship (“Definitely read it. My favorite part is probably the ending, how it all it wraps up!”) but after a few weeks off, starting with a Trump cold open feels tired. Plus, Don’s original Trump Bible commercial was so batshit, the show’s riff simply can’t compete with reality.
Opening monologue: Red hats and Ramadan
The holy vibes continued in Ramy Youssef’s monologue: “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.” He quickly segued from piety to politics, discussing the Biden campaign (more old Joe jokes) and his wish that America’s next president should not only be a woman but specifically a trans woman. (Of the more subdued studio-audience applause: “New York’s like, ‘We’re liberal…but we’re Italian.”)
But, movingly, he ended on a call of prayer and peace: “Please stop the suffering. Stop the violence. Please free the people of Palestine. And please free the hostages, all the hostages.” Like much of Youssef’s work, it’s altogether a great example of humor interjected with humanity.
The sketch genre we need a break from:
Aside from marking Heidi Gardener’s 500th sketch on SNL, there wasn’t much to cheer about with this snoozy start to our skits-and-bits portion of the evening. This week’s “Couples Goals” concept was funny—a reprisal of an April 2023 sketch, it featured Youssef as a husband revealing that his worst fear isn’t actually heights but that his wife will die in a bizarre accident and leave him to contend with investigators and incriminating texts—but dulled by that early reveal and exhausting repetition. (That cue card budget puts Love Actually to shame.) The game-show spoof is a favorite of the show but a formulaic one, and even with the recent time off, we can do with a few more weeks without it.
The most “Ramy Youssef” sketch of the night:
Ramy regularly razzes his real-life Egyptian dad during his stand-up specials, so this talk show about immigrant fathers had Youssef all over it. Sitting in matching lawn chairs with matching butt-whooping belts, Marcello Hernández’s Joaquin Antonio and our host’s Hahmed Ahmed Mahmoud are busy bemoaning their sons’ life choices (“Thesis? Thesis a waste of time!”)—that is, until they meet the son of their neighbor Kevin (Mikey Day), who has a penchant for parkour and pecking his dad on the lips. (Between this and the “Protective Mom” recurring bit, Hernández has officially cornered the show’s market on immigrant-parent humor.)
The best topical twist of the night:
Smart move to skip a garden-variety Ozempic spoof and instead poke fun at the diabetes medication—which has been coopted as a hunger suppressant and weight-loss aid—through the lens of Youssef’s Muslim upbringing. “I used to rush to eat a whole meal before dawn,” Ramy announces in the faux-mercial, which also features Kenan Thompson as a street-meat vendor. “Now, I just grab my prayer beads and Ozempic needle. As long as I shoot up before the sun rises, it’s halal!”
Stray observations
- “Weekend Update” can get away with some biting commentary—this week’s edition featured a whole bit revolving around the Princess of Wales’ tragic recent diagnosis—but that joke about the Key Bridge collapse was downright brutal, especially with several individuals still missing.
- Who else needed to pop a Dramamine (or two) during Travis Scott’s dizzying performance of “Fe!n” with Playboi Carti?
- For the love of God, can we get Chloe Troast something to do other than hit a high note and shake a milk carton in a blink-and-you-missed-it cameo? She’s a featured player—let the woman play.
61 Comments
“And please free the hostages, all the hostages.”Who exactly are the non-Israeli hostages? Or is he referring to like a random home invasion somewhere?
He may be referring to the thousands of Palestinian civilians, many of them children, that Israel routinely “detains” and has been doing for years. But I suppose that would go against the never ending victimhood of Israel and it’s supporters.https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/palestinians-arrested-under-israeli-occupation-childhood-disrupted-2023-12-30/
Israel doesn’t see them as hostages. Hostages are held in anticipation they will be released and Israel has no plans to release the captives. They are held captive to extort Palestinians with the threat that Israel will simply capture more of them.
Israel also doesn’t see mass starvation of particular ethnic group as genocide, but here we are.
Maybe. Those aren’t “hostages,” but that could be who Youssef’s talking about.Also, if he’s really going to try to swing Arab voters in Michigan, I’d cut down on the “I want a trans president” bits. Even the “I want a woman president” ones are probably not going to play great.
Just straight up racism lol
My least favorite brand of wokeism (which is really saying something) is “we all know this thing is true, but it’s not nice to say out loud”
“My least favorite brand of wokeism” we get it you’re insufferable
See, I have a feeling that if you had an actual refutation to the point I made, you’d have made it. Instead you resort to name-calling.
You didn’t make a point. You kindly shared with us what your “least favorite brand of wokeism” was. How was he supposed to refute that? “Nuh uh! That’s not your least favorite brand of wokeism!”
You should definitely reply to Prognosis Negative at least 6 more times in a row, ya know, so you don’t come off looking “unhinged”.Oh wait…
My least favorite racism is the “We actually don’t know shit about what we are talking about but we are going to act like it’s true anyways”
I gave you a star because you seem to want it. And, like the other guy replying to me, if you want to make the case that a group of Arab-Americans would be, in general, welcoming to the trans community, I invite you to do that.Then again, my guess is you’re one of those people who holds up signs like “LGBTQ Allies for Palestine” with no awareness of the irony.
“if you want to make the case that a group of Arab-Americans would be, in general, welcoming to the trans community”Again…it’s just that absolutely no one was attempting to make that case.
Then don’t imply that I’m a racist (as someone else here did) or that I hate Arabs (as you did) because I’m making what I consider an inarguable point about the predominant attitude of a general community. There are, of course, plenty of exceptions, not to mention actual transgender people of Arab descent, but the community overall? The foremost viewpoint is not going to be favorable.
Why would you make an inarguable point? I don’t pad my arguments with inarguable non-sequiturs like “eating causes cancer”. Can’t you see how your shitty attempt to rile people up with your dumb opinions on Israel for the fiftieth time got entirely sidetracked because you couldn’t maintain focus?
Eating causes cancer…is arguable. My point about the Arab community’s overall attitude toward the trans community wasn’t.And I wasn’t trying to rile anyone up. The pro-Palestinian side wakes up riled.
There are, of course, many exceptions, but it’s inarguable that eating causes cancer.
I mean…if you consider that his focus is how much he hates Arabs, he stayed pretty on track.
I didn’t imply that you hate Arabs. I said you did. Actually, I said you dislike them, but I’ll allow “hate” as a suitable substitute in this case. If the point you’re making is so inarguable, why are you making it? Literally (*LITERALLY*) no one said otherwise, and yet you felt the need to bring it up. For what purpose? I could make the same point that white conservatives, libertarians, and independents (and lots of white people who call themselves liberals) have a “foremost viewpoint” that is also “not going to be favorable” to a trans or female president, but why would I do that, and why did you choose to point it out about Arabs and not about white folks? You don’t have to answer these questions to me, but you can choose to interrogate yourself in private.
You could bring those things up, a lot of people in those groups absolutely would have a problem with a trans president; the difference is that progressives don’t throw a tantrum when someone points this obvious thing out when it involves white people. And my point about Arab-Americans and the trans community was directly related to Youssef’s monologue. It wasn’t just plucked out of thin air.
The thing you’re missing is that if I brought that up apropos of absolutely nothing, which is what you did, since again, literally no one, not even Youssef, was making the case that Arab Americans were clamoring for a trans president, then people would correctly assume that I disliked that population of people, and I couldn’t with any amount of intellectual integrity deny that I disliked that population of people. Whether they would throw a “tantrum” (which…is the tantrum in the room with us?) is neither here nor there.Speaking of what I could deny, it’s worth noting here that you haven’t denied it once. Don’t bother now, of course, since we all know it would be a lie, but I did want to note it for the record. All you’ve said is that you don’t think there’s enough evidence to conclude that you have a problem with Arabs, which is exactly what I’d say if I was guilty of something I’d been accused of.
“We all.” Everyone else left a long time ago. And now I am too. The good news for you is that as long as you revert knee-jerk to progressive talking points, there will always be a place for you on social media. It won’t be with impressive people, by and large, but it will be a place.
I’m elated to hear of your departure. I trust you are headed for the greener pastures of Truth Social, which I’m sure you already know will always have a place for you.
“Also, if he’s really going to try to swing Arab voters in Michigan”He’s not “really” trying to swing Arab voters in Michigan. He’s a comedian doing his job of making jokes. Also…dang, you really dislike Arabs.
The thousands of Palestinians being held hostage by Israel.
How do you even know he was talking about non-Israeli hostages? All he said was “all the hostages,” meaning not just some of the hostages, not just a few, all of the hostages of whatever ethnicity they may be. What dictionary did you look at to determine that “all” meant “non-Israeli”?
If starting with a Trump cold open feels tired, imagine how most of us feel every fucking day having to see him cold open every bit of news on every media platform.
We feel tired also, which is why I too am sick of the trump cold opens. When I’m trying to relax and laugh I don’t want to hear or see anything that sounds like him.
Well, I get that.
My special tip is I don’t watch news and I record SNL so I can fast forward. Sometimes he still gets ya! But he’s easier to avoid this way.
I have started watching sketches quickly the next morning on YT. Takes about a third of the time the show takes.
I just can’t take the never-ending imitations. If Colbert starts doing his stupid thing where he reads Trump’s tweets for 30 seconds and then drops an obvious and mediocre one-liner I’m going to break my TV (that’ll show him!).
Surely he won’t. Surely he’s realized that we’re all well past the point of finding humor anything trump-related. Surely. :/ He’s just not funny anymore. Just depressing.
What’s worse is that 1. EVERYONE had their own terrible impersonation; they were unavoidable; and 2. way too many comedians / hosts decided they needed to be the one to get serious for a minute, because people this was just too important to joke about. Pretty much every show was the same.
I stopped watching anything where stuff like that was becoming common back in 2016. I knew it wasn’t going to be good for my sanity.
I read a lot of political news (probably more than I should), but I decided a long time ago that it just wasn’t necessary for me to hear Trump’s voice. I don’t need to listen to his convention speech. I don’t need to watch the debates. To the extent he or anyone else says anything important at these events, I can read about it later. I think I listened to the statement Trump made on January 6, after everyone was urging him to try to stop the rioting, but other than that, I’m not sure I’ve heard more than a second or two of the man talking in nine years.
It’s definitely easier to consume in written form, if it must be consumed at all.
Gillis got trashed on extremely liberal sites like this but this sleepy, zero energy snoozefest monologue devoid of any humor whatsoever gets a free pass? Wonder why…? 🤔
the episode mostly sucked and they did give it a C, but with that username I’m thinking you’re not a serious person
My username is a joke with some friends of mine about stereotypical black people, of which, I suppose, I am one. I’m strictly talking about the respective monologues where Gillis absolutely murdered compared to this drag snore but somehow was the only person who got lambasted as if there were nothing but crickets during his entire set.
This episode definitely felt like all the Christian writers got to take the day off. (I have no proof of this I am just kidding)C is an “average” episode then this episode was way overrated. I would give a solid D. There is no sketch that would be considered rewatchable. A couple chuckle worthy. Travis Scott is terrible, the production happening in his songs made his music much worse. For me the musical guest is part of the show and so it has to affect the score. Isn’t all rap music now just scary almost neo-Nazi imagery and mean looking man in dark room being disturbed these days? Gosh, I miss party hiphop and jumping around!I absolutely hate Weekend Update now (sometimes I love it too, it’s a love/hate relationship). It has now become two sneering near 40-year-old frat boys trying to tell the most hideous jokes they can think of and shrugging off any boos treating as a badge of honor. These guys will never quit, never be fired. They can mock Baltimore dead and won’t get fired.Comparing Ramadan to Easter is very annoying, you guys have an entire month, and it happens to rub up against a holiday because it’s so LONG. It doesn’t even mean anything, there is no connection, in fact Islam its entire thing is denying Jesus died on a cross, please stop gaslighting America. We can be friendly without lying about what we believe in.Also, I am getting a little sick of the look of some of these people. Please Don’t Destroy they all show up to work, they don’t cut their hair, they don’t shave, the redhead doesn’t even seem to wash his hair. And Remy Yousseff comes in he has a mustache and some very lazy shadow and unwashed uncut hair. Almost the entire cast is either strangely whitebread or beyond a hippie. Maybe consider a stylist for your cast Lorne?Don’t let the length and negative tone of this post mean that I hate the show I think a couple of the episodes this season were As and Bs!
“in fact Islam its entire thing is denying Jesus died on a cross, please stop gaslighting America”lol, what?
“in fact Islam its entire thing is denying Jesus died on a cross, please stop gaslighting America”Muslims believe Jesus(aka Isa) was crucified. And that he died(or at least appeared dead) and later came back. What Muslims do not believe is that he was the son of God. They also belief that God spared Jesus suffering on the cross. Not sure anyone is “gaslighting” anyone else’s about these facts. And it’s worth noting Ramadan and Easter happening the same time is noteworthy because Ramadan moves back 11 days every year because of the Lunar calendar in Islam. So it usually happens 2 or 3 times in a row and then not again for 30 year. They don’t have anything to do with each other but it can still be brought up as two major religions having a big holy month. And that’s not even discussing that Ramadan is far more like Lent than Easter and you all do Lent for 6 weeks. It would be much more interesting if Easter and Eid el Fitr landed on the same day.
these factsLet’s not get carried away, now. (But don’t get me wrong, VRTY reeks of Islamophobia.)
These guys [Che/Jost] will never quit, never be fired.There have been rumors of them leaving for a few years now.
I agree with you that this episode deserves a D. Every single thing else you said…is basically nuts?
The crazy part is that avclub has to approve comments for them to be seen. They approved all of that???
Ramy was fine and game for the sketches, the material just wasn’t that good. I did like the Ramadan sketch, it’s nice to see parodies of religions other than Christianity and Judaism.
My problem with the Ozempic thing is that I’m not sure what the point of view is. Is it that using Ozempic to fast without suffering misses the point of the fast? Maybe! But I had to work a bit to find that meaning. Was it a joke about marketing? Maybe!
From what I hear, it’s been a “pro-tip” going around for Gen Z Muslims to fast easier. Which does defeat the purpose of why Muslims do it. Also thought it wasn’t trafficking in stereotypes until the convert stuff at the end mentioned cab drivers. Like they just couldn’t go a full three minutes without defaulting to the old shitty jokes about Muslims.
I think it was just a low-hanging fruit take on Ozempic, using it for something other than weight loss. Maybe saying Ozempic is trying to improve its reputation after making a bunch of people sick when they used it for weight loss.
This episode was dire. The prerecorded weed bit was pretty funny but guest hosts that don’t fit the cast are dragging this show into cancellation territory. Maybe we need to relegate bad hosts to only a couple skits and let the cast fill the rest out. The show didn’t always feel the need to fit every sketch with the host. Maybe it’s time to go back to that.
The Sarah Sherman owl bit was ok. That’s the only positive thing I have to say about this episode.
Any amount of set-up would have been worth it just to have her call Jost a “nocturnal predator.” The physical comedy of imitating an owl was just a bonus.
You left a lot out of this review. The basketball team sketch, the one with the police investigations, the Tiny Desk.I get that this was a slow and boring episode, but I still wish you’d watch the whole thing if it’s your job to review it.
In all seriousness, “lazy writing” for SNL has been the vast majority of the shows the past 6+ years at least. This show and Lorne are absolutely crawling to the 50th anniversary. They really should “Rinse/Repeat” what they did for the 40th Anniversary for the 50th because the last 10 years have been irrelevent culturally.
I hate Trump so much I can’t even stand parodies of him anymore. Unless your impression is mumbling racial slurs and loudly shitting your pants, you’re helping him.
“America’s next president should not only be a woman but specifically a trans woman”It’s funny to see pandering received so well that essentially amounts to him saying “There should be a man in the White House”.
How is this corporation (Giz) getting away with outright stealing Dennis Perkins’ very long-running SNL review structure, style, content, opinions, etc?This is just a terrible, plagiarized, pale imitation of Dennis Perkins’ excellent, weird, long-running SNL review column (which is now published by Paste Magazine ever since he quit working for the AVClub, where he previously published his unique and reliable SNL review column).Seriously, why isn’t there a lawsuit over this?Also check out D.P.’s SNL review for this week over at paste magazine:https://www.pastemagazine.com/comedy/saturday-night-live/snl-youssef-review