"I'm in America. I don't know myself. I don't know what to do."
Ramy is an American dramedy series. It stars Ramy Youssef as the titular Ramy Hassan, a millennial Muslim Egyptian-American living with his family in New Jersey, as he grapples with his faith, family, romantic relationships, and position in life.The series also stars Mohammed Amer and Dave Merheje as Ramy's friends Mo and Ahmed and Amr Waked, Hiam Abbass, May Calamawy, and Laith Nakli as Ramy's family. Mahershala Ali has a major role in the second season as Ramy's sheikh. The show premiered on Hulu in April 2019 and its second season premiered in May 2020.
Tropes in this series:
- Actually a Good Idea: Averted, almost everything Ramy does results in someone getting hurt, pissed off, or worse.
- A Day in the Limelight: Episodes will occasionally spotlight others in Ramy's close circle.
- About Ramy's sister Dena:
- "Refugees": Dena who struggles with the differing ways her parents treat her and her brother, her attitude towards sex, and her short-lived relationship with a white man who exoticizes and fetishizes her in bed.
- "3riana grande": Dena gets a full ride to law school, but her parents warn her that talking up her success leads to bad luck.
- About Ramy's mother Maysa:
- "Ne Me Quitte Pas": She is feeling alone and neglected and becomes a Lyft driver to assuage the loneliness and neglect she feels.
- "They": Maysa is close to getting her American citizenship, but panics when her Lyft account is suspended due to a passenger report.
- "Frank in the Future" is a focus episode for Ramy's father Farouk, who falls into a funk after he loses his job and doesn't tell the family, especially when confronted with Ramy's potential wedding expenses.
- "Uncle Naseem" is a focus episode for, well, Uncle Naseem, showing him as a heavily closeted gay man.
- About Ramy's sister Dena:
- All Muslims Are Arab: Discussed in the second season, which introduces several black Muslim characters (Sheikh Malik and his daughter Zainab, the former of whom is played by Mahershala Ali), who discuss some of the cultural differences between the black and Arabic Islamic communities. There's also a white character, Dennis, who becomes an Islamic convert thanks to Ramy's influence. However, Dennis finds himself largely ostracized by the community after he assaults an anti-Muslim protestor.
- Armored Closet Gay: The second season reveals that Ramy's extremely homophobic (in addition to other bigotry) uncle Naseem is gay.
- Bedroom Adultery Scene: One scene in the first season has Ramy engaging in an affair with a married woman, that he met at the temple.
- Facial Profiling: The Jewish Sarah assumes Ramy is also Jewish because of his curly hair. He clarifies that he's "the other Middle Eastern thing" (Muslim).
- Fake Period Excuse: In the second episode, Ramy's sister Dena tells their sexist uncle Naseem that she's on her period. Uncle Naseem immediately excuses her "attitude" and tells her to go for a walk, an opportunity she immediately seizes to get out of the family dinner.
- Foreign Fanservice: Deconstructed in "Refugees", where the white Kyle can't help but sexualize Dena's Egyptian heritage, such as by asking her to speak Arabic in bed and engaging in roleplay. Dena finds it humiliating and dehumanizing and ends their sexual encounter.Kyle: I think [being Egyptian is] a cool part of you. I think it's interesting. It's just, like, so... unknown, and I just want to know it.
Dena: Mm. Yeah. Um, does everything have to be about me being Arab? - Immigrant Parents: Ramy and Dena's parents Maysa and Farouk are Middle Eastern immigrants who have never really acclimated to New Jersey, especially after 9/11. They're prominent figures in Ramy's personal conflicts about culture.
- Innocently Insensitive: Maysa is a fundamentally good person who was raised conservatively, which comes out in her interactions with her Lyft passengers. In attempts to make conversation with them, she commits microaggressions like telling a black woman she would be prettier if her hair was straight and misgendering a trans passenger.
- Inspirationally Disadvantaged: Parodied in the second episode, when Ramy and Steve's techbro ex-boss tells Steve (who has muscular dystrophy and requires a special wheelchair to get around) that when he looks at Steve, he is reminded that life could be so much worse.
- Intoxication Ensues: In the third episode, Ramy impulsively takes an entire CBD gummy. He did not know it was well above the recommended intake amount, especially for someone who has never done drugs, and spends the rest of the episode high.
- Kissing Cousins: While visiting extended family in Egypt, Ramy has an instant connection with his first cousin Amani, and they proceed to have a sexual relationship. This comes back to bite him when he reveals it to his new wife Zainab, who then leaves him.Ramy: What part of marrying my cousin don't you get?
Mo: What do you mean? It's perfect[...]No in-laws, everyone's just in. - Lonely Together: The ending of the fourth episode implies that this is the basis for Ramy and Steve's friendship. Steve is an outcast due to his muscular dystrophy forcing him to use a wheelchair, while Ramy was shunned by his friends in the aftermath of 9/11.
- Magical Minority Person: Inverted in the third episode. Facing a personal crisis after taking drugs for the first time, the Egyptian-American Ramy finds comfort and advice in the mosque's white custodian, who has converted to Islam.
- Madonna-Whore Complex: Ramy is fine with hooking up with non-Muslim women, but can't help but see Muslim women as wives and mothers. After their date in the first episode, the sexually forward Nour accuses him of putting her in a "Muslim box", ie. he can't see her as a sexual being.
- Mistaken Ethnicity: The titular character's season one fling Sarah, who is a Jewish American Princess, initially assumes Ramy is also Jewish because of his curly hair. He informs her that he's an Egyptian-American Muslim ("the other Middle Eastern thing").
- Protagonist Title: The show, like its main character, is titled Ramy.
- "Rediscovering Roots" Trip: Late in the first season, aimless millennial Ramy visits his parents' home country of Egypt to become more in touch with his heritage.
- Sex Is Evil: In one sense, people are extremely hard on Ramy on his sexual promiscuity, and Ramy also sees it as evil. On the other, it's dissected rather thoughtfully in conversations between Yuval and Ramy at times.
- Sizable Semitic Nose: Arab-American Dena tells her therapist that her grandmother told her she'd get her a nose job at sixteen. She didn't get one only because said grandma died when Dena was fourteen.
- Tech Bro: Ramy used to work at some sort of tech startup with this type of boss. He was a casually dressed "bro" type whose ineptitude promptly led to the whole enterprise being shut down in the second episode. He (being abled and white) made insensitive comments about tokenizing Ramy (who is Egyptian-American) and Steve (who is disabled).
- Those Two Guys: Ramy's best friends Mo and Ahmed, whose roles mainly consist of following him around and offering commentary on his life, sometimes humorously. Lampshaded in season 2; they are in disbelief that Ramy is asking about their lives because he tends to make things revolve around him.
- Token Minority: Parodied in the second episode. Right after firing Ramy, his techbro boss thanks him for providing the office with "Mediterranean flair".
- Whole Episode Flashback: The fourth episode "Strawberries" is an extended flashback showing how 9/11 affected Ramy.
