Good One: Ramy Youssef

The comedian on the first Israel-Palestine joke he wrote after 10/7.

- JESSE DAVID FOX

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.