How Ramy devised its disability masturbation scene

Mel Magazine

Ramy Youssef has known his real-life best friend Steve Way, who lives with muscular dystrophy, since they were in 5th grade. Way, who plays a version of himself on Ramy, once told Youssef that he sometimes suffered from blue balls. So Youssef brought up the topic in his Ramy writers' room. One of the writers, Kate Thulin, jokingly asked if Way ever considered requesting that Youssef help relieve him. “It was a massive light bulb moment for all of us,” says Youssef. “I was like, ‘Hey, did you ever think of asking me?’ And there was just this, like, pause for a second, and he was like, ‘I mean, I kind of thought about it for a second once, but I wasn’t seriously going to ask you.’” Way says of the scene: “Obviously, when you hear that, on the surface, it’s like, ‘Oh, man, that’s going to be weird.' But knowing that it was from Ramy, it would be done right; it would be done in a fun way."

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