ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
Every week, a guest draws a card from NPR's Wild Card deck and answers a big question about their life. Comedian Ramy Youssef rose to fame for his semi-autobiographical Hulu series, "Ramy." Lately, he's branched out into roles that do not draw from his personal life, like in HBO's "Mountainhead." Youssef plays one of four tech executives holed up in a mountain resort as a global crisis unfolds. He says he was drawn to how the script grappled with the ways technology is blowing up old power dynamics.
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RAMY YOUSSEF: For a long time, we've had this dynamic of power versus people, and then now entering the conversation is the tech. And in a way, what we start to understand in this story is just, yeah, that has a mind of its own. And what is that going to do?
SHAPIRO: When Youssef sat down with Wild Card host Rachel Martin, he shared more of his personal history, including his relationship with his parents.
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RACHEL MARTIN: Was there a moment when you started seeing your parents as people?
YOUSSEF: Wow. Yeah. I think when I saw my grandfather - my father's father - pass, my dad shifted into a whole different role after his father passed 'cause, you know, I think it's that thing of, well, yeah, now that in my life, I am the elder, you know? But I saw my dad go through that, and I remember thinking, oh, whoa, you know, he's a son like I am...
MARTIN: Yeah.
YOUSSEF: ...And he was a kid. And I think I knew these things, but there was something about that moment...
MARTIN: Totally.
YOUSSEF: ...Where I really felt it. And then I started to see everything that they were dealing with with us with a whole different kind of compassion, even if I felt, you know, like all kids do that - you know, why do I have any guardrails or why are you, you know, telling me - you know, you could have all those frustrations, but I kind of - I really did understand it, you know, through a different lens.
MARTIN: When that happens, you lose some of - if you have a relationship where you put your parents on a pedestal - I did to some degree - and then you see them emote, like a human...
YOUSSEF: Yeah.
MARTIN: ...And not - and in that is a vulnerability. Does that - I don't know. Was there a grief associated for yourself of seeing your dad, not lose stature, but just become vulnerable that way to you?
YOUSSEF: It was just - it was - vulnerable is the perfect word 'cause there was no stature loss. If anything, I almost feel like I loved him and my mother even more, you know, 'cause it was just - it was - you know, when you're a kid, you kind of, if you're lucky - if you're lucky - you know death as a concept, but you don't have to know it too intimately. And then when you start to know it, you start to feel, oh, wow. Well, I really want to love as much as I can while I can...
MARTIN: Yeah.
YOUSSEF: ...You know? - because, you know, you don't want to have the thought, but algebraically, you go, OK, then, you know, I'll lose him at some point. But, yeah, so that was really, oh, yeah, they're - these are people, you know?
SHAPIRO: You can watch that full conversation by following Wild Card with Rachel Martin on YouTube, and you can see Ramy Youssef in "Mountainhead" on HBO Max now.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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