Egyptian-American stand-up comedian, actor, writer and director Ramy Youssef created a culturally significant moment when he hosted Saturday Night Live this weekend.
“This is an incredibly spiritual weekend, we’re in the holy month of Ramadan,” Youssef began his monologue.
“Tomorrow is Easter, and yesterday, Beyonce released a new album. It’s just so many religions celebrating all at once. I’m doing the Ramadan one.”
Youssef’s opening monologue for the popular live sketch show, displayed his unique sense of humour, which blends personal experiences, cultural identity and political issues, often focusing on the Muslim American experience.
From the punchy first line, Youssef elaborated on his experience of Ramadan in America, using a narrative style to break stereotypes about Muslims.
“I love Ramadan because I love hanging out with Muslims,” he addressed the audience.
“We’re so loving and I feel that people don’t know that about us. We love to love, we’re so free with it.”
He then compared how some of his childhood friends from the Muslim community will take nine months to tell a girl they love them while he uses the word freely to his Uber driver.
From there, he moved into politics, starting with the regional differences in New York, pointing out that Donald Trump has supporters all over the US, not just in the south.
He then took jibes at President Joe Biden, who will be running for re-election as a Democratic.
“I know Biden’s gonna call, I know he’s gonna call me. I mean, well, 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?’ 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.”
From there, Youssef admitted that he didn’t like either option for the next president and that America should elect a woman instead.
True to his style, he moved from joke, personal anecdote to poignant reality and then back into a punch line.
“I’m out of ideas. All I have are prayers. That’s all I can do right now,” he said solemnly before revealing that from his friends, he’s the only one who prays.
He elaborated that while one friend, going through a divorce, asked Youssef to pray from him to win custody of his dog, another friend asked Ramy to pray for his family in Gaza.
“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. And please free the hostages, all of the hostages, please.”
Youssef’s call for a free Palestine received loud applause and cheering from the audience before he added the punchline:
“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 is the creator and star of Hulu’s Golden Globe Award winning show Ramy, for which he won Best Actor. Delving into the themes of faith, family and cultural identity, the series has been praised for its nuanced approach in representing the Muslim-American experience.
Youssef also appeared in the Oscar-winning film Poor Things, starring Emma Stone. At the Oscars red carpet this year, Youssef wore an Artists for Ceasefire pin and was vocal about calls for peace.
“It's about 'stop killing kids',” he said. “We're using our voices to speak to people's hearts. We want people to have safety and justice.”
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The biog
Name: Sari Al Zubaidi
Occupation: co-founder of Cafe di Rosati
Age: 42
Marital status: single
Favourite drink: drip coffee V60
Favourite destination: Bali, Indonesia
Favourite book: 100 Years of Solitude
GOLF’S RAHMBO
- 5 wins in 22 months as pro
- Three wins in past 10 starts
- 45 pro starts worldwide: 5 wins, 17 top 5s
- Ranked 551th in world on debut, now No 4 (was No 2 earlier this year)
- 5th player in last 30 years to win 3 European Tour and 2 PGA Tour titles before age 24 (Woods, Garcia, McIlroy, Spieth)
ENGLAND SQUAD
Team: 15 Mike Brown, 14 Anthony Watson, 13 Ben Te'o, 12 Owen Farrell, 11 Jonny May, 10 George Ford, 9 Ben Youngs, 1 Mako Vunipola, 2 Dylan Hartley, 3 Dan Cole, 4 Joe Launchbury, 5 Maro Itoje, 6 Courtney Lawes, 7 Chris Robshaw, 8 Sam Simmonds
Replacements 16 Jamie George, 17 Alec Hepburn, 18 Harry Williams, 19 George Kruis, 20 Sam Underhill, 21 Danny Care, 22 Jonathan Joseph, 23 Jack Nowell
Key Points
- Protests against President Omar Al Bashir enter their sixth day
- Reports of President Bashir's resignation and arrests of senior government officials
Various Artists
Habibi Funk: An Eclectic Selection Of Music From The Arab World (Habibi Funk)
Abandon
Sangeeta Bandyopadhyay
Translated by Arunava Sinha
Tilted Axis Press
RESULTS
1.45pm: Handicap (TB) Dh80,000 (Dirt) 1,400m
Winners: Hyde Park, Royston Ffrench (jockey), Salem bin Ghadayer (trainer)
2.15pm: Conditions (TB) Dh100,000 (D) 1,400m
Winner: Shamikh, Ryan Curatolo, Nicholas Bachalard
2.45pm: Conditions (TB) Dh100,000 (D) 1,200m
Winner: Hurry Up, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer.
3.15pm: Shadwell Jebel Ali Mile Group 3 (TB) Dh575,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner: Blown by Wind, Xavier Ziani, Salem bin Ghadayer
3.45pm: Handicap (TB) Dh72,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner: Mazagran, Tadhg O’Shea, Satish Seemar.
4.15pm: Handicap (TB) Dh64,000 (D) 1,950m
Winner: Obeyaan, Adrie de Vries, Mujeeb Rehman
4.45pm: Handicap (TB) Dh84,000 (D) 1,000m
Winner: Shanaghai City, Fabrice Veron, Rashed Bouresly.
