Ramy Youssef Talks Testing Jokes on His Dog & Exposing ‘Wife Thoughts’ for HBO Special ‘In Love’

Ramy Youssef is graduating from Feelings and More Feelings to being In Love for his latest HBO standup special, Ramy Youssef: In Love.

Debuting on April 17, and streaming now on HBO Max, In Love was filmed in The Hideout, an intimate and historic Chicago venue, where Youssef is getting candid about the most important things in his life, including his wife and their dog Basha. Directed by Christopher Storer, the special puts viewers in the room with Youssef as he discusses a desire to understand what his dog is saying, revealing “Wife Thoughts,” a.k.a. things shares with his wife, and navigating the dangers of A.I. with  your parents. Below, Youssef answers some of our questions surrounding the special.

This special was filmed in February and is extremely topical to current events. How close to the shoot were you fine-tuning material?

Ramy Youssef: I think that there’s the bedrock of the set that are things that I know I want to hit, and I think for me, from a performance perspective, it’s really important for it to feel like it’s happening in a way that when you’re filming a special, it’s a tough balance because you are playing for a crowd that’s right in front of you, and you’re playing for everyone else in their living room.