Chicago, IL-based Ramina Odicho is a multi-talented Assyrian-American writer, content creator, and comedian who goes by the name RaminaRated. With her hilarious content featuring original characters and sketches, Ramina has taken the Middle Eastern community by storm. Her work as an artist delves into pop culture and the subtleties within the Assyrian and larger Middle Eastern community.
As a first-generation Assyrian American, Ramina’s comedy touches on the taboo topics and culture shocks experienced by her community. Her videos have transcended borders and cultures, amassing millions of views and thousands of followers on over the course of just a year and a half. Ramina’s brand of comedy is enjoyed by all, and she has become a household name within different ethnic communities.
On stage for her comedy show “Mum” or “Yome“, Ramina has gained widespread popularity among Assyrians and Middle Eastern communities globally, primarily through her short but witty videos on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. She has accumulated millions of views and thousands of followers over the very short period of a year and a half.
RaminaRated portrays the character of an Assyrian migrant mother named Yome, who resides in Chicago, USA. Yome is highly conservative and often disagrees with her daughter Ramina’s actions. She frequently criticises Ramina for not helping with household chores and sleeping in. Despite her strict nature, Yome enjoys gossiping and is adept at matchmaking. In some of her videos, Ramina steps out of the house and parodies various behaviours of Assyrian women in a satirical manner. These videos have become viral, and Ramina has amassed tens of thousands of Assyrian followers, mainly women, in Europe, the Middle East, Australia, and the US.
The Assyrian community in Australia was treated to a historic event as Ramina performed in the country for the first time. The momentous occasion took place on Thursday, 16 March 2023, at the Bryan Brown Theatre in Bankstown, Sydney. This marked the first time an Assyrian female comedian had taken to the stage to entertain the community. On her recent tour, Keeping News Local’s Senior journalist, Suzy Michael, gained access to an exclusive interview with Ramina.
S: Ramina, give us a snapshot of your upbringing, education, faith and family.
R: I grew up heavily involved in my church youth group. I’m the middle child, have a younger brother and older sister who is my best friend. I’m very family oriented. I’ve always been close to my very lively and entertaining family. I have a master’s degree in teaching English and taught high school English for eight years before I decided to leave the profession to do comedy full time.
S: What influenced you to pursue comedy?
R: It was during the pandemic when I had extra free time, teaching from home. TikTok was picking up at the time, so I decided to play around with the app. I’ve always liked creating and editing videos and had been doing it for my youth group, so I gave it a go on TikTok. One video led to another, and I committed myself to creating relatable and comedic Middle Eastern, specifically Assyrian, videos. Yome and all of my other characters were born, and the rest is history.
S: What inspires your material?
R: I can sit around family and come up with video ideas, or think about childhood experiences or highly relatable shared experiences within the middle eastern community. Sometimes my friends will give me ideas, and sometimes I’ll see a viral trend and think, how can I put a middle eastern twist to this? I describe my mind as a jumbled mess full of ideas that sometimes don’t even make it to the screen. I have a running notepad of ideas that I haven’t gotten around to yet!
S: Take us through the process involved with your performances and viral videos.
R: My performances consist of crowd work as Yome, the mother figure, which is all improvised comedy and crowd work. This looks different at every show and depending on the crowd; different people, different jokes. I usually premiere a never-before-seen video of other characters to pay homage to how my journey started (comedic videos) and I end my shows with stand-up comedy act as myself. My team works very closely with promoters/venues to make sure the production is delivered in the most ideal way possible. As far as my videos go, sometimes I plan recording content days, sometimes an idea comes to my mind and I spring into action right then and there.
S: What have been some challenges that you have faced and how did you overcome these?
R: The first challenge I can think of that came up at the start of this journey was just breaking out of the middle Eastern woman expectations. My parents weren’t fans of my videos at the start, I think they were worried about how I was representing myself and how people would take to my videos, however, after receiving great feedback from the community, they realised that people appreciated and loved what I was doing and they became supportive of my work. My parents, like many typical Assyrian parents, were worried I’d forget my education and wanted me to focus on my career, so it wasn’t easy for them to get on board with what I was doing at the very start. Everything has been happening so fast, so we’re taking the blessings one day at a time.
S: What is your bucket list?
R: Performing in Europe; Creating a show with my characters; Featuring on Netflix; Learning from and collaborating with other comedians; Giving back to my community one day – I’m not sure what this will look like, but I think I’ll know when the time comes.
S: Your shows impact a range of nationalities – how does that feel, and did you ever think you would be globally influential to so many ethnicities?
R: I never thought creating funny videos would have ever taken off the way that it has. Putting Assyrians on the map, no matter how small scale that is, is a beautiful thing. Providing people with the medicine of laughter is humbling. Reaching and educating other nationalities has been the sweetest bonus.
S: What do you anticipate your future to look like?
R: Manifesting love, laughter, and success. The love from the fans keeps me going. I don’t know what opportunities will come my way, but I’m willing to take the risk and commit myself fully to the journey. The future looks bright.
Ramina’s charisma, wit and comedic brilliance delivers a shared experience to her followers. It’s evident the Assyrian and Middle Eastern community are gripped by Ramina’s pure entertainment and authentic scenarios she brings into her audience’s lives. Such tenacity and visceral talents are born once-in-a-lifetime.