Quotes from Ramy Youssef

I feel very much rooted in being Egyptian, and I also feel very rooted in being a guy from New Jersey.

I think so much of real life is this avoidance of getting into the not knowing. So much of my life, I've been running from just admitting that I don't know.

And so I remember moving to LA, going to the Islamic center in Hollywood and feeling like the cultural element wasn't what we were operating from as much as the spiritual one, and that was really cool. That was really good for, you know, my growth and my development.

In general, the Arab world is an artistic hub that has such a variety, whether it be music, film, poetry.

I'm a clown. I'm a comedian. Comedy, by design, is a place to explore the subconscious.

I don't really like comedy that gives you answers.

I try to be as specific as possible when saying 'Arab Muslims' because there are a lot of different Muslims. I've never really seen stories about us in America, at least where you had versions of our characters that weren't framed by violence.

The stories I always see about a first-generation kid trying to erase where they came from, or trying to just be white, I would watch those shows or movies and I was like, 'I don't get this.' This isn't how I feel.

I would get a lot of roles for the ethnic friend and then I would go in for that and not be ethnic enough. They wanted an Indian accent. They wanted something more very visually, clearly specific.

There's this idea that when you say you're Muslim, that you're either all in or you're trying to escape it. I love the idea of gradations and levels, just like everybody else has.