Bassem Youssef heads to Dubai’s Coca-Cola Arena.
Few comedians have gone from working in a surgery room to working a crowd, or from exile to the mainstream. Egyptian comedian Bassem Youssef is not your typical performer — and he’s all the more interesting for it. He has been redefining what it means to be an Arab comedian, bringing a sharp, unique perspective to every stage he steps on. Now on a world tour with Belly of the Beast, he’s taking the show across the United States and the Middle East, including a performance in Dubai on 16 November at the Coca-Cola Arena. FACT spoke to him about politics, people and performing.
From surgery to satire
Bassem Youssef was born and raised in Cairo, Egypt. In 1988, he graduated from Cairo University’s Faculty of Medicine, majoring in cardiothoracic surgery. He practised as a cardiac surgeon for thirteen years in Egypt before moving into comedy and political satire.
Bassem rose to fame in the Middle East from his YouTube show B+. He then became the host of the late-night programme El-Bernameg. It was later taken off the air after the Egyptian president, Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, became the subject of several jokes – and what followed was Bassem’s exile from Egypt.
Breaking boundaries
If you’ve seen a Bassem show before, this tour will be different from his usual style. He shares, “I’m a little bit worried about this show because it’s heavier. It’s a more personal journey that a lot of Arab immigrants feel right now, which is why I named the show Belly of the Beast. I talk about what it means to be living in today’s superpower. To be part of a country that is inflicting a lot of pain onto the rest of the world. You’re in it and don’t approve of it, but also get to enjoy the perks of being in a rich superpower.”
Bassem is referencing the United States, where he currently resides after being exiled. For him, living in the West as an Arab – even 24 years after 9/11 – is a complex experience, and even more so as a comedian. In 2014, he moved to the United States and became a naturalised citizen. Are the rules on stage different for him compared to his Western counterparts?
He answers: “The material I use in the States is not different from what I use in the Middle East. I don’t edit out. I don’t think from an ethical point of view that it’s controversial. Also, for some reason, profanity in English is accepted in the Middle East and in the West. Arabs don’t seem to be phased when they hear profanity in English, but when it’s in Arabic they completely flip. It’s a very interesting dynamic.”
So, does he have to dilute his set for Western crowds? He replies: “No. This new hour has been developed in the United States, and I’ve been speaking to fellow Arab immigrants who are in the same position as me, because it resonates with them. I think the challenge is to have Arabs who live in the Middle East understand what we’re going through, without having to be preachy. It’s not about the humour being translated as much as the feeling of being in the same position, translated.”
From social media to social issues
Social media can transform the careers of comedians. Overnight, a clip can go viral and suddenly an unknown becomes a household name. In 2023, he appeared on Piers Morgan Uncensored, and clips of him talking about the war in Gaza went viral. The result: 23 million views and counting, and sudden recognition from a new audience.
Bassem’s nickname has been the “Jon Stewart of the Arab World”. How does it feel when mainstream media “discovers” you and sees you through a Western lens? He comments: “It’s funny you mention that, because that’s a part of my show – the hilarity of me being a comedian, and people coming to my show not because of my comedy but because of my politics. For other comedians, people pay for their comedy, but many people don’t want mine, they want my political contribution. It’s a unique position to be in.”
He has been an outspoken supporter of Palestine and spoken openly about his wife’s family living in Gaza. He recalls: “You just need to be aware of dishonest questions. Questions are not asked to get answers or clarity, they are asked to cause confusion and often to ruin the interview on purpose. Whenever you ask the right questions, they avoid them and instead take you down a rabbit hole of unrelated questions to get a reaction out of you.”
The role of the interview
Bassem is acutely aware of the role of the interviewer and the interviewee, and that he’s often asked questions that highlight his position as a minority. He has had to bear the responsibility of representing marginalised groups. For him, this responsibility comes with both burdens and opportunities.
“It’s an honour that people would put me on such a high pedestal, but it’s not sustainable. Now people don’t see me as just a comedian, but also as someone who speaks on their behalf. One cannot maintain that. Now people might want me to speak on every single global conflict, drug war or civil war,” he explains.
After Bassem and I meet, his Instagram floods with requests for him to speak up about the violence in Sudan. We touched on the existing expectation for him to speak about humanitarian crises. He surmises, “I cannot be the authority that speaks about that. If I keep talking about these things, it’ll take away from my credibility. I’m a comedian, not a political commentator. I’m a comedian who happened to be put in that position, but I cannot be in it forever.”
During our conversation, Bassem thanked me for asking interesting questions — something he probably doesn’t get often after his appearance on Piers Morgan. Despite this, I sensed he was conscious that he was speaking to a Middle East–based publication due to his reserved nature. So much so, he decided to keep his camera off throughout the interview – a first for FACT.
Bassem Youssef: comical, complex and, above all, compelling.
GO: Follow @bassem on Instagram for more information.