The Heart Surgeon Turned Comedian: The Connection to Kambiz Hosseini

Sept 25, 2019

Entertainment, Culture and Politics Blog, Kodoom.com Editorial:
Many Iranians in the Bay area plan to attend the stand up comedy event by Bassem Youssef in San Francisco (event link). Like Kambiz Hosseini, Iranian political satirist TV show/video Blogger, Youssef was also inspired and supported by American comedian Jon Stewart, host of The Daily Show. But Youssef is perhaps the world's only heart surgeon-turned-comedian, political-satirist! He has also been a guest on Maz Jobrani's podcast (see video later in the article).

Bassem Youssef (left) and Jon Stewart

Youssef practiced as a cardiothoracic surgeon in Egypt for 13 years, until his move into comedy and political satire. 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." In 2013, Youssef was named as one of the "100 most influential people in the world" by Time magazine.

Inspired by the Egyptian revolution of 2011, Youssef created his first satirical show in 2011. The program, shot in Youssef's laundry room using a table, a chair, one camera, and a mural of amateur photos from Tahrir Square, at 5 minutes per episode gained more than five million views on Youtube in the first three months alone.

Bassem Youssef (left) and Maz Jobrani

After the success of his first show, Egyptian channel ONTV, owned by Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris, offered Youssef a deal for Al Bernameg (literally, "The Program"). 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. In his show, Youssef has parodied Egyptian celebrities and politicians such as 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.

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. The segment was one of the highest in viewership on the Daily Show's website. Jon Stewart also traveled to Cairo in 2013 to appear as a guest on Youssef's show.

Al-Bernameg became the most watched show in the history of Egyptian TV with an average of 40 million viewers every week, in addition to over 2 million subscribers on YouTube and 1.2 billion views on his own channel and other channels.

Under the Muslim Brotherhood regime, a warrant for Youssef's arrest was issued and Bassem went through a 6 hours interrogation after which he was released on bail.

Bassem continued to poke fun of the people in power and he didn’t stop even after the military took over, costing him to be cancelled twice and pushed to terminate his show. Harassment and threats continued, pushing Bassem to flee to the United States. Youssef lives in the Bay Area with his wife and their children. When asked if he will ever return to Egypt and if he misses Egypt he has responded "NO!"

Bassem is now reinventing his career as a satirist comedian and a story teller, but in a different country and a different language that is not his own. When he is not touring around doing his live performances he is hosting his podcast “Remade in America.” In 2019, Bassem Youssef began the Youtube channel PlantBtv. His new online show combines his comedic, medical, and vegan background. It seeks to educate both Arabic and English audiences on nutrition and food science as it connects to health and well being.

Youssef will be performing on October 11-12 in San Francisco. His own favorite comedian is George Carlin.

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