How Ramy Youssef's Childhood Inspired '#1 Happy Family USA' (Exclusive)

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00:00It feels like a hostage situation when you talk to your family overseas and it's like you don't

00:05know who they are and you have to create this immediate bond and it was something I always

00:11felt as a kid and it was so fun to get to do it. Personally speaking as like a big South Park fan

00:21I wanted to know how was it like collaborating with like VP and Brady co-creating the series

00:27with her. It was great because I mean I think like it's also that's obviously as a kid like

00:32one of my favorite shows and I think that you know she was so good at just helping me expand

00:38the world and making it as crazy as possible. What I love about stand-up is you kind of hang

00:43in the green room and then you just make all these you know crazy jokes with people and I think Pam

00:48has that same exact energy where one little thing all of a sudden grows into a really big thing and

00:53then before you know it someone's animating it. This is like your big foray into doing voice

00:58acting. How is that like to be in the booth getting to do you know two separate voices like

01:04finding your comedic voice in those voices? It was really fun I mean like you know finding the roomy

01:10voice was really great. My sister Reem is a producer on the show and worked with me on the show

01:16she actually had pulled up all these videos of me when I was a kid because I was trying to find the

01:21voice and and I used to make these little video book reports and she kind of found these videos

01:27and she was like hey you had this really funny voice when you were 12 and you know you should

01:32just copy this voice and so she had kind of pulled all this stuff from me and I listened to it and I

01:38was like oh yeah and so I kind of just copied my young self and got really like raspy and kind of

01:43found it. None of us know what we're doing we're all insecure and scared all the time but I think it's just

01:48about showing compassion. You know finding the voice to play Hussein the dad it was really fun

01:54and trying to find something that felt emotional and raw and not like I was making fun of anybody

02:00but that it kind of had this manic sincerity you know where where he is like any parent he's kind

02:06of this personification of a parent's worries and and it's and it's bursting out of him at every

02:12moment. Tell me how uh the decision into making this somewhat into a musical series because there you

02:17have so many great numbers uh that are very emotional and also well sung too. It honestly came

02:23from being uh at the studio in Brooklyn just looking over to my my side and seeing all these guitars on

02:30the wall and you know in high school I grew up in Jersey so I grew up in the like emo music scene so we

02:36all kind of learned a little bit of guitar and tried to straighten our hair and do all that stuff and so

02:41I kind of felt oh man like I haven't played guitar in so long and I started just doing it as him and

02:48kind of finding this character and it was really exciting and and you know I kind of started by

02:54writing the halal card song and then felt oh I want to write the theme song and then it turned into

02:58this whole um element of the show. What was it uh to get these round up these different voice actors

03:03who are like big early 2000s folk because you have Aaliyah Sarkat and Randy Moore which I thought was

03:09hilarious. Yeah I mean it was really cool everyone in this cast is people that I've just been fans of

03:15and I've always wanted to kind of work with and a lot of them were like my first call for the role

03:19pretty much all of them actually I I was really floored I don't I feel like everyone we called

03:25that you know this was like our first go out and it all happened really quickly and people were

03:30excited to do it and I think it it it shows in their performance and kind of what what they bring to

03:36it and so it was a really exciting cast to put together from Aaliyah, Kieran Culkin, Mandy,

03:45Tim Olfant you know and then also even like Selma Hindi who plays Sharia who plays the mom she was our

03:52writer's assistant in the room and she'd always be saying the lines and it would sound really funny

03:56and then it just was such a natural like hey you should play this role so a lot of it was really

04:01uh organic and and how it came together. Each episode opens up on a representation disclaimer

04:07which I think is so funny yet there's so much relatability within the series like how was it

04:12uh for you and your team to like craft something that's so personalized in your experience yeah making

04:17it feel so universal. I think that sequence could be maybe like one of my favorite things in the first

04:22season because it was like I've never really seen that feeling it feels like a hostage situation

04:28when you have to talk to your family overseas and it's like you don't know who they are

04:33and you have to create this immediate bond and you're on the phone and it's just the pressure feels

04:39so high and it was something I always felt as a kid and it was so fun to get to do it and I think

04:45whether it's you know people who are kids of immigrants that will relate to this or I think

04:49really anyone in America will relate to the the the drive that this family has to just survive and make

04:56money and stay in the neighborhood that they're in and keep the lights on you know there's so many

05:03touch points that exist without needing to water anything down and I think that's something that

05:09I've definitely learned over the years and then I think kind of gets to come in in full force here too

05:14you know but really everything in the show is just this beautiful combination of everyone in the room

05:20being like yo remember that like that was crazy and then you kind of look at the moment that we're in

05:25this week and you go wow I mean Muslims are almost on the brink of being like hey leave us alone we're

05:32we're number one happy family USA I mean that is actually what's happening in this country to the point

05:37where I'm almost like are they going to bring back the Tanner scale like it kind of feels like we're like

05:41tracking towards uh in this really wild cycle speech is becoming so incredibly contested in this

05:50country at this moment I'm almost like is there any way to even talk about this stuff without like

05:55cartoon characters at this point you know because things are so and and really kind of it's unpredictable

06:01like what direction we're barreling in and to get to kind of cover these things in a cartoon I at least

06:06hope you know it'll be clear hey we're trying to find a respite in all of this you know it's not

06:12this is not designed to be inflammatory it's it's actually an invitation to talk about things that

06:17were forgotten and things that at this point now are currently being lived out you know we're looking

06:24to the future can you give us a little taste about Mountainhead like how was it working with

06:28Jeremy Armstrong and being in Utah with your incredible cast Jesse Armstrong's writing is something that

06:35really you know I think he's brilliant I think he's a genius you know I'm a diehard succession fan

06:40so the idea to like get to jump into his first film I didn't even I was like yes like where do I go and

06:46and um turns out that was Utah and so uh you know we we had this really great experience shooting a film

06:54for this moment and and the fact that it's coming out you know I just wrapped last week and it's coming

06:59out in six weeks is pretty wild his decision around doing it at this pace is incredibly deliberate and

07:07purposeful and and I think you know I'm really excited for for people to get to you know experience it

07:12for you

07:16you

07:17you

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