The pandemic has kept many of us from leaving the house, but honestly, why would you want to? There is too much TV to watch to go outside. Outside doesn’t have Hulu or Netflix or HBO Max. To encourage you to stay home and stay safe, comedian/writer Rima Parikh and myself (two people who watched just as much TV in the before times) will be diving deep into the shows we’re loving or lovingly hate-watching, social-distance-style, over Google chat.
BW: I actually don’t think I was fully on board with the series until I saw the episodes in season one that focused on other characters. It’s rare for these self-titled, comic-driven shows to shift focus completely like that, and in this case it actually provided a much better and deeper understanding of Ramy himself. But even with Ramy’s storylines, though there were some of the expected punchlines and sort of strong male stand-up energy that comes with having your own show, the actual story was something that I’ve never seen before.
RP: I think my instinct is to be annoyed with them, because like anything that focuses on yourself (I mean stand-up included, so I’m calling myself out here), it’s gonna risk being circle-jerk-y or narcissistic. And especially with the other factors here, like an Arab American and Muslim comedian talking about his perspective as a guy, like there’s definitely the issue of like, “OK, is this going to turn into this guy being like, woe is me, my life is hard” and ignoring women/marginalized people within those communities, so I’m wary of that. And that is a criticism that a variety of Brown women have had with male stand-up comic shows/projects—like I’m thinking about when The Big Sick came out, and a lot of Brown women being like, “OK, way to throw us under the bus and show us as undesirable while you’re sad about not being able to date a white girl.” And I remember there was pushback from South Asian American men who were like, “You don’t understand, all my life I’ve never fit in, blah blah, white girl blah blah” without recognizing that, yes sweetie, South Asian American women have ALSO experienced what you’re talking about. You’re entitled to your own experience, of course, but it’s OK to acknowledge that your experience has blind spots.
BW: I do think it helps, too, that Ramy, whether he meant to or not, made himself the least likable character on the show somehow, and that self-awareness of how disingenuous the “woe is me” of it all is makes that much more bearable. (Even the extremely unlikable Uncle Naseem got a redemption story this season, making him more sympathetic than Ramy at times.)
BW: The way this season ended, it could go anywhere. I can even see, based on this season, even more attention being given to the other characters.
