(CNN) — Ramy Youssef made his “Saturday Night Live” hosting debut this weekend, and managed to strike a balance between humor and heart in his opening monologue.
After coming out on stage at Studio 8H in New York City on Saturday night, Youssef said it was “an incredibly spiritual weekend,” mentioning that it’s “the holy month of Ramadan, tomorrow is Easter, and yesterday Beyoncé released a new album.”
“There’s just so many religions celebrating all at once,” he added jokingly.
Toward the end of the monologue, the “Ramy” star hit a more heartfelt tone with a joke about how among his friend group, he’s the one that’s often called upon to pray. He then said a friend called him asking him to pray for his dog who is the pawn of a bitter custody feud between the friend and the friend’s ex.
He then told the story of another friend named Ahmed, who called him asking him to pray for his whole family in Gaza.
“He goes, ’Ramy, they’re suffering, I don’t know where half of them are. I don’t know what to do. Please, pray for them,’” Youssef said.
When he went to pray, he continued, his prayers were “complicated,” as the prayer requests from his friends ran quite the gamut. “I’ve got a lot to fit in,” he added.
“God please, help Ahmed’s family, please stop the suffering, stop the violence. Please free the people of Palestine,” he said.
He then added, “And please free the hostages, all the hostages. Please.”
“And while you’re at it, free Mr. Bojangles,” the “Poor Things” actor continued. “He’s a beautiful dog.”
Travis Scott was the musical guest on Youssef’s episode. “SNL” returns next weekend with cast alum and “Palm Royale” star Kristen Wiig as host.
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