Bassem Youssef (; born 21 March 1974) is an Egyptian-American comedian, television host, actor, political commentator, and former cardiothoracic surgeon. He rose to international prominence for hosting the satirical news program Al Bernameg (2011–2014), which emerged following the 2011 Egyptian revolution. Youssef faced significant legal and political pressure in Egypt owing to his style of political satire, leading him to flee the country in late 2014 and relocate to the United States.
In the U.S., Youssef has maintained his media career, including hosting the 43rd International Emmy Awards in 2015. In 2017 he was profiled in the documentary Tickling Giants and published his memoir, Revolution for Dummies. Beginning in late 2023, he drew renewed global media attention for his outspoken, pro-Palestinian advocacy during the Gaza war, frequently engaging in high-profile media debates on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.
Early life and education Bassem Youssef was born on 21 March 1974 in Cairo, Egypt. He graduated from Cairo University Faculty of Medicine. Then he completed his residency in cardiothoracic surgery.
In 1998, Youssef passed the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE), he is also a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons (MRCS). 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.
Medical career Youssef practised as a cardiothoracic surgeon in Egypt for 13 years before moving into comedy and political satire. In January 2011, Youssef assisted the wounded in Tahrir Square during the Egyptian revolution. Youssef 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 practise 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 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 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 broadcast evolved from a sarcastic take on current political events into 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.ONTV (Egypt) The show gained tremendous success through its criticism of former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, representing the Muslim Brotherhood.
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 30 June 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 Mohammed Morsi, whose office claimed that Youssef's show was "circulating false news likely to disturb public peace and public security and affect the administration." Despite all of the controversy it sparked, Al Bernameg was a major success. It constantly topped the regional YouTube charts, making Youssef's YouTube channel the most subscribed to in Egypt.
On 30 March 2013, an arrest warrant was issued for Youssef for allegedly insulting Islam and Morsi. The move was seen by opponents as part of an effort to silence dissent against Morsi's government. Youssef confirmed the arrest warrant on his Twitter account and said he would hand himself in to the prosecutor's office, jokingly adding, "Unless they kindly send a police van today and save me the transportation hassle." The following day, he was questioned by authorities before being released on bail of 15,000 Egyptian pounds. The event sparked international media attention as well as a segment on Jon Stewart's The Daily Show in which he declared his support for Youssef, calling him a "friend" and "brother".
Coup d'état (2013) Youssef had been a consistent supporter of the 2013 Egyptian coup d'état and was supportive of the media clampdown which included the arrests of several employees of various stations, despite it being carried out by the military with no due process, and celebrated the coup's aftermath in a song and dance number sung to the tune of Old MacDonald.
Youssef backed the forcible removal of Morsi, declaring himself "very glad" with the putsch. As news reports were trickling in that dozens of Muslim Brotherhood supporters had been shot dead by security forces, he tweeted that the entire incident amounted to nothing more than "blood for publicity" and blamed the organisation itself for its supporters being murdered.
Youssef was widely recognised for his bold criticism of the Morsi government; however, his approach also extended to labelling many of his opponents as being "Muslim Brotherhood", regardless of their actual affiliations. According to Vox, "The Youssef who we do not typically see in the United States is the satirist who didn't just challenge the Muslim Brotherhood government — but who went a step further, vilifying the regular Egyptians who supported the Islamist government, characterizing them as lesser citizens or internal enemies in a way that played into Egypt's hate-filled political polarization, Sisi's coup, and the disastrous consequences of both. Indeed, Youssef cheered on the military coup — as well as the bloodshed of anti-coup protesters, because unlike him they were Islamists".