Bassem Youssef

Bassem Raafat Mohamed Youssef (born 22 March 1974) is an Egyptian-American comedian, television host, and former surgeon. Beginning his career with ''The B+ Show'' (2011), which was inspired by his experiences during the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, he later rose to prominence as the host of '' El Bernameg'' (2011–2014), a satirical comedy show focused on Egyptian politics. In 2015, Youssef hosted the 43rd International Emmy Awards in New York City.

In 2013, Youssef was named on the ''Time'' 100 and on ''Foreign Policy'''s 100 Leading Global Thinkers. His life and career were profiled in the 2017 American documentary film '' Tickling Giants,'' and he also authored the book ''Revolution For Dummies'' that same year. In 2023, Youssef drew international media attention after engaging in a virtual interview on the British talk show '' Piers Morgan Uncensored'' to discuss the October 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel and the ensuing Gaza war in the context of the broader Israeli–Palestinian conflict.

Education and medical career

Youssef graduated from Cairo University's Faculty of Medicine, majoring in cardiothoracic surgery, in 1998. He passed the United States Medical Licensing Examination and has been a member of the Royal College of Surgeons ( MRCS) since February 2007. He practiced as a cardiothoracic surgeon in Egypt for 13 years, until his move into comedy and political satire. He also received training in cardiac and lung transplantation in Germany, after which he spent a year and a half in the United States working for a company that produces medical equipment related to cardiothoracic surgery. In January 2011, Youssef assisted the wounded in Tahrir Square during the Egyptian revolution. Youssef has credited surgery for making him "a much harder working person, a nerd, a perfectionist."

Media career

2011–2014: Breakthrough in Egypt

''The B+ Show'' (2011)

Inspired by the 2011 Egyptian revolution, Youssef created his first satirical show in March 2011. The initial idea came from his friend Tarek El Kazzaz. Entitled ''The B+ Show'' after his blood type, the program, at 5 minutes per episode, was uploaded to his YouTube channel in May 2011 and gained more than five million views in the first three months alone. The show was shot in Youssef's laundry room using a table, a chair, one camera, and a mural of amateur photos from Tahrir Square that cost $100. The show was a collaboration by Youssef with Tarek El Kazzaz, Amr Ismail, Mohamed Khalifa, and Mostafa Al-Halawany. Youssef used social media to showcase his talent and his show gave a voice to the millions of Egyptians who were seething with anger from the traditional media's coverage of the Egyptian Revolution.

''Al Bernameg'' (2011–2014)

After the success of ''The B+ Show'', Egyptian channel ONTV, owned by Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris, offered Youssef a deal for ''Al Bernameg'' (literally,''The Program'') a news satire show. Youssef had planned to move to Cleveland to practice medicine but instead signed his show's contract. With a budget of roughly half a million dollars, the series made him the first Internet-to-TV conversion in the Middle East. The show, which consisted of 104 episodes, premiered during Ramadan 1432 (2011) with Egyptian-American engineer Muhammad Radwan as its first guest. In his show, Youssef has parodied such Egyptian celebrities as show host Tawfik Okasha, composer Amr Mostafa, Salafist presidential candidate Hazem Salah Abu Ismail, and Mohamed ElBaradei, former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency and onetime presidential candidate. The show became the platform for many writers, artists, and politicians to speak freely about the social and political scene. ''Al-Bernameg'' success inspired a number of amateur initiatives on various social media channels, who credit ''The B+ Show'' as their inspiration. In June 2012, Jon Stewart invited Youssef to ''The Daily Show'' for an extended interview, "I do know a little something about the humour business; your show is sharp, you're really good on it, it's smart, it's well executed, I think the world of what you're doing down there", Stewart said to Youssef.

Tarek ElKazzaz convinced an old friend, Ahmed Abbas, to join QSoft as chief operations officer and Project Director for Al Bernameg. The show was renewed for a second season after a contract with a second channel, CBC, which premiered on 23 November 2012. The second season consisted of 29 episodes and has recorded one of the highest viewership ratings on both TV and internet with 40 million viewers on TV and more than 184 million combined views for his show on YouTube alone. The program, which began with a small group working at home with Youssef, moved from ONTV's smallest studio to Radio Theatre in Cairo's downtown, a theatre redesigned in the likeness of New York's Radio City, making it the first live audience show in Egypt. The contents of a typical show's broadcast have evolved, which began with a sarcastic take on current political events, and eventually incorporating the hosting of public figures and stars from various fields, as well as various artists' performances. Following the move, Youssef succeeded in increasing the show's worth by eight times in one year. The show gained tremendous success through its criticism of former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi.

On the season's premiere, Youssef made the owner and coworkers of his channel the subject of his show, as an assurance that he is granted full freedom of expression, and that no topic was off limits. CBC did not, however, air his second episode, which also featured further criticism of a TV show host who filed a lawsuit against Youssef. The show returned to its regular schedule for the third episode. Just three episodes into the show, several lawsuits were filed against Youssef and his show, accusing him of insulting Islam, Morsi and disrupting public order and peace. In March 2013, Youssef started writing a weekly column expressing his views for '' Al-Shorouk''; one of Egypt's most prominent and independent daily newspapers. Youssef also wrote newspaper columns, where he tackled taboo subjects such as atheism and questioning the commonly held view that apostasy from Islam should be punishable by death. On 18 March 2014, he faced plagiarism accusations when he submitted an article to Al-Shorouk, an Egyptian newspaper. Entitled ‘Why Putin does not care,’ the piece was a comment on the events unfolding in Russia. Although it was written in Arabic, sharp-eyed Twitter users spotted striking similarities to a piece called ‘Why Russia No Longer Fears the West,’ by British writer Ben Judah, who wrote the article for ''Politico'' magazine. He later published an apology in ''Al-Shorouk'' newspaper for initially publishing an article without citing any references.

As Al Bernameg continued with its growing success, Jon Stewart appeared as a guest on the show in June 2013. On 1 July 2013 ''America in Arabic'' (United Arab Emirates) debuted. He appeared for the second time on ''The Daily Show''. After a four-month break, ''Al Bernameg'' returned to air on CBC for its third series on 25 October 2013. The season premiere marked the first broadcast for the show since the 2013 Egyptian coup d'état had deposed Mohamed Morsi from the Egyptian presidency. Youssef criticised both the Morsi administration and the people's idolization of the Egyptian Defense Minister Abdul Fatah al-Sisi. The following day the CBC network issued a statement distancing the channel from the political stance taken by Youssef. The CBC network issued another statement, and decided to stop broadcasting ''Al Bernameg'' because of violations in the contract signed. Meanwhile, more than 30 complaints against Youssef and the show were filed at the General Prosecutor's office, accusing him of insulting the Egyptian Armed Forces and President Adly Mansour and describing the June 30 protests as a military coup, in addition to disrupting public order and peace. The General Prosecutor transferred some of the complaints for investigation, which were subject to the prosecutor's decision and judgment.

After terminating the contract with CBC, the production company behind ''Al Bernameg'' received offers from different TV channels. The third season was scheduled to air during the first quarter of 2014. In February 2014 it was announced that Youssef had signed a deal with the Middle East Broadcasting Center and that they would start broadcasting ''Al Bernameg'' from 7 February on MBC MASR satellite channel. ''Al-Bernameg'' achieved unprecedented weekly viewership ratings for 11 consecutive weeks. On one of the shows, Youssef mocked the Egyptian military's claims to be able to cure hepatitis C and AIDS. In June 2014, after a six-week break during the 2014 Egyptian presidential election campaign, the ''Al-Bernameg'' team held a press conference where Youssef announced the termination of the show due to pressure on both the show and the airing channel. He felt that the political climate in Egypt was too dangerous to continue the show.

Arrest and investigation (2013)

On 1 January 2013, the daily newspaper '' Al-Masry Al-Youm'' reported that an Egyptian prosecutor was investigating Youssef on charges of maligning President Mohamed Morsi

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