Express Newark to Host Screening and Conversation with Ramy Youssef

Rutgers Newark’s 2025 commencement speaker Ramy Youssef – creative force behind the new animated series #1 Happy Family USA and several award-winning film and comic performances – will be at Express Newark on Monday for a screening of his new show and a conversation with Salamishah Tillet, Express Newark’s director.

Youssef, a former Rutgers-Newark student, is the creator of #1 Happy Family USA, an adult-animated series following the maniacally upbeat Husseins -- the most patriotic, most peaceful, and most definitely-not-suspicious Muslim family in post-9/11 "Amreeka." With satire and absurdity, it redefines finding humor in hardship as the family navigates the early 2000s under the watchful eyes of their terrified neighbors.
 
Following the screening, Youssef will be in conversation with Tillet, Executive Director of Express Newark and Pulitzer Prize-winning critic, for an intimate discussion about the film’s themes, his creative process, and the intersections of art, identity, and storytelling.

Exhibitions and programs this year at Express Newark celebrate Muslim artists and Islamic culture in the U.S. and beyond, including Ritual,  a series of exhibitions and events that explore the relationship between Islamic spiritual practices, rituals, and art—featuring experimentations in photography, film, sound art, and textiles.

Youssef, whose vibrant voice and unique perspective in storytelling have led him to become a leading artist of his generation, attended Rutgers-Newark from 2009 to 2011 and majored in Political Science. He left before graduating to embark on his career as an actor and comedian. Next week, he will receive an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree at the Rutgers-Newark commencement ceremony.

Youssef is perhaps best known for Hulu’s Peabody Award-winning comedy and Emmy-nominated series, Ramy which he created, produces, directs and stars in. Inspired by his own experiences, it centers around a first-generation Egyptian-American Muslim on a spiritual journey in the politically divided New Jersey neighborhood of Rutherford, where Youssef was raised.