Ramy Youssef will release his first animated series, #1 Happy Family USA, this April.
Youssef tells The National: “This is a premise I had wanted to see come to life for a long time".
Co-created by Youssef and Pam Brady (South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut, Team America: World Police, Hamlet 2) and produced by British-Iraqi journalist and illustrator Mona Chalabi, the series was helmed by Youssef’s own production company Cairo Cowboy, as well as A24 and Amazon MGM Studios. The eight-episode first season will be released on April 17 on Amazon Prime Video.
Set in the early 2000s, the show follows the “manically upbeat” Hussein family – “the most patriotic, most peaceful and most-definitely-not-suspicious Muslim family in post 9/11 ‘Amreeka’,” according to the official description.
Youssef adds: “It’s set in the early 2000s, which is an exciting time to look at from this vantage point. Surprisingly, a lot of the same tensions exist. So it’s been fun just looking at that era with 20 years of experience.”
Youssef headlines the cast opposite Alia Shawkat (Arrested Development, Search Party). Youssef voices Rumi, described as a hopeful 12-year-old-boy with a big imagination and a desire to fit in. The comedian also takes the role of Hussein Hussein, the family's patriarch, a former cardiothoracic surgeon, who now runs a halal cart. Shawkat plays his older sister Mona, the family's "golden child".
Also starring are rising comedian Salma Hindy, author Randa Jarrar, as well as comedian Akaash Singh, Chris Redd, Whitmer Thomas and Mandy Moore. Hindy plays the family's mother, Sharia, who is equally obsessed with being a good mum and solving the conspiracy around Princess Diana's death. Jarrar plays Grandma, a blunt, talk-show obsessed niqabi woman.
The subject matter is something Youssef has explored in his own work before, including in his stand-up comedy specials and in the fourth episode of the series Ramy’s first season. While the show was inspired by his existing comedic material, it has grown due to the input of his collaborators and their own experiences.
“Much of it is spilling over from my stand-up and my own inner stuff, but this is very much a comedy collective,” Youssef explains. “For me, this cartoon is a great collection of people that I’ve been wanting to work with for the last few years coming together – some of my favourite emerging comedians and writers’ fingerprints are on it.”
Youssef notes that it was particularly exciting to work with Chalabi, who won a Pulitzer Prize in 2023 for her work with the New York Times.
“She’s an amazing journalist and political cartoonist. And she very much has her own style, so this is modern political cartoon show that is really dope.”
Youssef doesn’t think the show compares to any animated series to date, saying: “I just want it to be its own thing".
The comedian is set to have a busy 2025. In addition to his coming cartoon, he co-wrote each episode of Mo season two, a series he co-created with Mo Amer, which released in January to great acclaim. He also has a show titled Golf, set to premiere on Netflix at an unannounced date, the first project under his current first-look deal with the streaming platform.
Youssef will next perform comedy as part of a benefit event to support those affected by the Los Angeles fires on March 4. His latest comedy special, Ramy Youssef: More Feelings, was nominated for a Golden Globe in January.
