SNL101

Ramy Youssef’s first time hosting SNL was unapologetically intersectional. We talk about how the comedic style of marginalized honesty is received in Youssef’s Opening Monologue, normalizing Islam in Ozempic for Ramadan, inter generational narratives with Immigrant Dad Talk Show, and gallows humor in Murder Detective. Readings include the psychology of gallows humor and holiday imagery, recent books on the intersection of comedy resistance and activism, and an autocritography from Charisse on Margaret Cho’s All American Girl. 

Listen on Libsyn: https://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/id/30708943
Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-15-ramy-youssef-s49e15/id1712886779?i=1000651624939

Readings

Chattoo, C. B., & Feldman, L. (2020). A comedian and an activist walk into a bar: The serious role of comedy in social justice (Vol. 1). University of California Press. https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520299764/a-comedian-and-an-activist-walk-into-a-bar

Corsbie-Massay, C. L. (2021). Am I an All-American Girl? An Autocritography of Ethnicity, Gender, and Acculturation via Margaret Cho’s All-American Girl (1994–1995). In O. Banjo, Ed. Immigrant Generations, Media Representations, and Audiences, Palgrave Macmillan (203-218). https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-75311-5_10 

Matloff, J. (2020). In Praise of Gallows Humor. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/crisis-control/202006/in-praise-gallows-humor 

Pérez, R. (2022). The souls of white jokes: How racist humor fuels white supremacy. Stanford University Press. https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=30308 

Schmitt, M. T., Davies, K., Hung, M., & Wright, S. C. (2010). Identity moderates the effects of Christmas displays on mood, self-esteem, and inclusion. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 46(6), 1017-1022. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1016/j.jesp.2010.05.026 

Vasquez, Z. (2024). Saturday Night Live: host Ramy Youssef calls for ceasefire in otherwise muted episode. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2024/mar/31/saturday-night-live-ramy-youssef-host