Comedian Ramy Youssef gets ‘free Ph.D.’ from Rutgers — 14 years after dropping out

Golden Globe-winning comedian Ramy Youssef celebrated nearly 3,000 Rutgers-Newark graduates Thursday for accomplishing something he could not.

Youssef — an actor and producer best-known for Hulu’s “Ramy” — left Rutgers-Newark in 2011 after three semesters, without a degree.

The 34-year-old, now a Golden Globe winner, was invited back to deliver the commencement speech before the Class of 2025 at the Prudential Center in Newark.

Clothed in full Rutgers graduation regalia, he accepted an honorary doctor of fine arts degree as his parents watched from the audience.

“I just want you to know, part of why I dropped out was because of how expensive it was,” Youssef told his parents in his speech, referring to the price of college tuition.

“And now here I am with a Ph.D. that I got for free,” he said as the crowd laughed. “And I believe it is the greatest and the biggest Arab discount of all time.”

Youssef’s speech was applauded at the ceremony despite criticism earlier this month by a New Jersey lawmaker who asked Rutgers officials to rescind their invitation to the comedian to speak at commencement.

Assemblyman Avi Schnall, who is a rabbi, wrote a letter to Rutgers President Jonathan Holloway that said Youssef is “widely seen as polarizing.”

Schnall’s letter did not offer specifics, but Youssef has advocated for a ceasefire in Gaza. He also said during an appearance on “Saturday Night Live” last year that he prayed to “free the people of Palestine.”

• MORE: Rutgers defends commencement speaker after lawmaker says pick is ‘deeply hurtful’ for Jewish students

Schnall, D-30th Dist., is one of two Orthodox Jewish state legislators in New Jersey. His district in Monmouth and Ocean counties includes a large number of Orthodox Jewish residents in Lakewood.

Rutgers officials stood by their choice.

“Ramy Youssef is a celebrated writer and artist who has deep ties to New Jersey and to Rutgers-Newark, which he attended. His selection as commencement speaker at Rutgers-Newark reflects a tradition of honoring individuals who embody resilience, creativity, and connection to our community,” the university said in a statement.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations’s New Jersey chapter applauded Rutgers. The nonprofit advocacy group said it has seen a pattern of people who are allied with Muslims, Arabs, and Palestinians “being silenced and disinvited from public platforms for expressing views critical of Israeli government policy.”

• MORE: Rutgers celebrates over 13K grads at commencement amid pro-Palestinian protesters

Youssef only briefly mentioned Palestinians in his speech, when speaking about his late grandfather.

Youssef said his grandfather died about a month ago, but not before the actor told him about his “free Ph.D.”

He said his grandfather was always praising current college students.

“He would look at me and say, ‘These kids are amazing. Look at the way these kids stand up for what they know is right. They stand up for Black lives. They stand up for Palestinian freedom. They stand up for equality. They stand up for what they know is right,’” Youssef said.

Youssef, 34, was born in Queens, New York, and moved with his family to Rutherford in Bergen County when he was young.

After dropping out of Rutgers-Newark, he was a regular on “See Dad Run,” a Nickelodeon series in which he played one of the lead character’s best friends.

By 2019, Youssef was starring in “Ramy,” a series he created for Hulu. The show was based on his life growing up in New Jersey as the son of Egyptian immigrants. In it, the character “Ramy” is pulled between the values and religious beliefs of his Muslim community and those of his millennial friends.

Youssef won a Golden Globe for his acting on the show in 2020.

His latest autobiographical creation is the adult-animated series “#1 Happy Family USA“, which came out in April on Prime Video. The series follows “the maniacally upbeat Husseins” as they strive to be the most patriotic and peaceful Muslim family in post-9/11 America.

He will soon appear in “Succession” creator Jesse Armstrong’s debut movie “Mountainhead.”

Youssef said his reasons for dropping out of Rutgers-Newark 14 years ago were not funny. He was taking classes, going to off-campus acting classes and working shifts at the Apple Store.

Tired and stressed, he was diagnosed with Bell’s Palsy, a condition that paralyzed the side of his face for seven months.

“I made a decision inside that if my face healed, I would act. That God was actually showing me that I should pause and pick the thing that I knew I really wanted to do,” Youseff said.

His message to graduates was to find a way to be “radically present.”

“You guys live in this era of projections and statistics and all these really concrete things where people tell you, ‘Hey, this is what the tech is going to do in the next two years,’” Youssef said. “You cannot listen to any of it. You have to look inwards.”

Rutgers-Newark’s commencement celebrated 2,947 graduates this year. About 12% of the graduates are international students. About 1,244 earned master’s or doctorate degrees, campus officials said.

The Rutgers-Newark ceremony was among several held around the state this week. Rutgers-Camden held its commencement Tuesday.

The university celebrated 13,133 graduates receiving degrees from Rutgers University-New Brunswick and Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences at a ceremony at SHI Stadium in Piscataway on Sunday.

Staff writer Rob Jennings contributed to this report.