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Ramy Youssef’s Animated Sitcom ‘#1 Happy Family USA’ Is More Poignant Than Funny: TV Review
Set in the aftermath of 9/11, the adult animated sitcom from comedian Ramy Youssef and studio A24 is more poignant than funny.
Co-created with Pam Brady (“South Park,” “Lady Dynamite”), the Amazon Prime Video series “#1 Happy Family USA ” uses animation to heighten the absurdity facing Youssef’s surrogate, here named Rumi, even further. This doomed desperation to earn acceptance is the most compelling strain of “#1 Happy Family USA,” capably expressed in the theme song: “Hello, hello neighbors / You’re afraid of us near you / But the only blood we want / Is to bleed red, white and blue!” Hussein’s sweaty insistence on his love for “Amrika” only intensifies the suspicion of neighbors like the newly divorced FBI agent across the street, voiced by Timothy Olyphant — though it does earn him praise from a colleague as “one of the good ones.” When the Husseins’ garage gets graffitied, Sharia tearfully wishes these people understood that “We’re upset too. Many bits traffic in broad clichés, like Sharia using a sandal to inflict corporal punishment or Rumi attending “Gabagool School.” The animation style, partially informed by the work of executive producer and visual journalist Mona Chalabi, skews simplistic, with character design dominated by big, football-shaped eyes.
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