Ismael Loutfi is a comedian and TV writer currently working on the animated series Mating Season from the makers of Big Mouth. His previous credits include writing for After Midnight, Ramy Youssef’s #1 Happy Family USA, and Netflix’s Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj. As a stand-up, he has a half-hour on Comedy Central to his credit, along with appearances on Jimmy Kimmel Live and Bill Burr’s The Ringers showcase. His new one-hander, Heavenly Baba, documents his life growing up in central Florida with a Muslim father so devout he fully decorated the outside of the family car with Islamic messaging. Loutfi sat down with me at the start of the 2025 Edinburgh Fringe to talk about what his early comedy days and nights were like in Orlando and then Atlanta, what he has learned from the older Muslim-American comedians who came before him, and how he wants to use his voice comedically as part of our society’s current conversation. There’s a lot to get to, so let’s get to it!