RAMY YOUSSEF has been writing comedy about Israel and > Palestine for years. Before October 7, he was touring an hourlong set that included a story about going home with a woman and finding she had an Israeli flag on the wall. "I'm horny, so I'm trying to justify it," he says. "This is the Star of David. That's their logo. It's just Jewish ... Big." Post-October 7, he didn't have to throw everything out and start over, but he knew he'd need to write about it after friends started reaching out. "October 10th, I get a call from a guy I know," starts a joke ten minutes into Youssef's new special, More Feelings. "Yo, bro, where you at with ... Hamas?"" Youssef is defiant: "Where I'm at? ... Are we fucking?" His tone turns serious. "You think any of us like what happened?" he says. "We hate seeing people die. It made me cry." The audience interrupts him, breaking into applause. Youssef returns to the conversation with his friend: "You know me. You think I'm Hamas? Bro, I'm a Taliban guy."
Was this the first joke you came up with after October 7?
That joke was the first thing that came out of a set soon after. I would start by saying, “I’m not sure we’re supposed to be here. I’ve been depressed. This has been really hard.” I would address the Jewish folks in the room, too: “Listen, I know you also have had a really hard time.” There’s so much generational trauma. We’re all sorting through a lot of feelings. It’s why my stand-up has always been called Feelings, because this is a space to do that. And then I’d talk about this phone call I had with a friend and get into that joke.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der March 25 - April 07, 2024-Ausgabe von New York magazine.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent ? Anmelden
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der March 25 - April 07, 2024-Ausgabe von New York magazine.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent? Anmelden
Drowning in Slop - A thriving underground economy is clogging the internet with AI garbage-and it's only going to get worse.
SLOP started seeping into Neil Clarke's life in late 2022. Something strange was happening at Clarkesworld, the magazine. Clarke had founded in 2006 and built into a pillar of the world of speculative fiction. Submissions were increasing rapidly, but “there was something off about them,” he told me recently. He summarized a typical example: “Usually, it begins with the phrase ‘In the year 2250-something’ and then it goes on to say the Earth’s environment is in collapse and there are only three scientists who can save us. Then it describes them in great detail, each one with its own paragraph. And then—they’ve solved it! You know, it skips a major plot element, and the final scene is a celebration out of the ending of Star Wars.” Clarke said he had received “dozens of this story in various incarnations.”
The City Politic- The Other Eric Adams Scandal The NYPD shot a fare evader, a cop, and two bystanders. He defends it.
On Sunday, September 15, Derell Mickles hopped a turnstile, got asked to leave by cops, then entered the subway again ten minutes later through an emergency exit. This was at the Sutter Avenue L station, out by his mother's house, five stops from the end of the line. Police said they noticed he was holding a folded knife. They followed him up the stairs to the elevated train, asking him 38 times to drop the weapon.
Can the Media Survive?
BIG TECH, Feckless Owners, CORD-CUTTERS, RESTIVE STAFF, Smaller Audiences ... and the Return of PRINT?
Status Update
Hannah Gadsby's fascinatingly untidy tour through life after fame and death.
A Matter of Perspective
A Matter of Perspective Steve McQueen's worst film is still a solid WWII drama.
Creator, Destroyer
A retrospective reveals an architect's vision, optimism, and supreme arrogance.
In Praise of Bad Readers
In a time of war, there is a danger in surveying the world as if it were a novel.
Trust the Kieran Culkin Process
First, he nearly dropped out of Oscar hopeful A Real Pain. Then he convinced Jesse Eisenberg to change the way he directs.
The Funniest Vampires on TV
What We Do in the Shadows is coming to an end. Its idiosyncratic brand of comedy may be too.
The Water-Tower Penthouse
Gigi Loizzo and Angel Molina's apartment on the Grand Concourse in the Bronx looks out on Yankee Stadium.
