Prime Video’s recent release of #1 Happy Family USA has caught the world by storm since its release of the first season last week on April 17. Egyptian-American actor and co-creator Ramy Youssef (Travel Ban, Mr. Robot) has teamed up with American film producer Pam Brady(Hot Rod,Hamlet 2) to produce the animated series. In an article on the IndieWire which discusses the disclaimers that present at the beginning of the series due to possible sensitive content, also dives deep into the problems of Islamophobia which sparked enormously after the 9/11 terror attacks, and why Youssef felt the need to voice the father on the show.

The series opens with a disclaimer that is usually seen in a movie theater, warning of sensitive or possibly offensive content.

“The first thing you see is something that just kind of takes the air out of the conversation,” Youssef said, as he spoke with IndieWire. The disclaimer begins with a large red banner at the start of the first episode, entitled ‘Representation Warning’. Following this, the notice continues, “Do not use this animated show as cultural representation for the following communities: Muslims, Arabs,” and a third category that, depending on the episode, could be “People from New Jersey,” “White girls named Courtney,” or “Men”. A rating box at the bottom reads “H” for “Haram,” along with text that says “Allah please forgive mistakes in this program.”

“Please allow this to be dumb and stupid,” Youssef continued via IndieWire. “Please allow this to not have to be some emblem for everything. There will be a lot of people who connect with it, and those that won’t. And that’s kind of the whole point.”

Youssef also recollected when he first had the idea for the show in 2019, remembering his zoom call with Pam Brady as they discussed ideas to bring the series to life. “I loved his show and his comedic voice so much that I was begging my manager, ‘Can you please just get me a meeting?’ And that’s all I thought was gonna happen. It was really a fan meeting.” Brady said in her interview. Since hitting it off and getting their series off the ground, Brady has since joined Youssef on his journey to reach out to kids, highlighting that sometimes growing up and being a child can be a scary thing. She continues, “We’re playing around with how scary it is just to be a kid growing up anyway. And then you add this extra layer that the world is suspicious of you. We just want it to make people feel what that was like.”

In addition, Youssef also opened up about their process in finding a voice for Hussein, Rumi’s father on the show. After several auditions, Brady encouraged Youssef to voice the character himself. After a long process of experimenting musically, Youssef finally felt that he found the right voice. “The voice was found organically oscillating between this kind of introspective, haunting music, and then this like manifestation of a manic love for everyone in his life,” Youssef says. “After a couple of months, I was able to do a whole session or a whole scene going between the two, because I figured out how to do them physically.” Between both Brady and Youssef, both agreed that in voicing Hussein himself, it added a more unique point of view to the character and the show.

#1 Happy Family USA is now streaming on Prime Video with the full eight seasons, with a confirmed second season by the platform to be announced soon.