Bassem Youssef
speaker
1,048 appearances
3 recordings
3 series
first heard Apr 2024
last heard 5 Jun
Bassem Youssef’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 1 in all, peaking in Jun 2026 with 1.
Appearances
You shouldn't say the truth out loud. You shouldn't say it out loud.
Well, after the Muslim Brotherhood were removed- You have to understand, like when the military coup happened, it was a very popular coup. Like people loved the army. In Egypt, the army is more sacred than the religion. People love the army. But the army can go in the wrong. So me going against the army was, I mean, the Muslim Brotherhood was not very popular.
They were popular for their own basis. But people accepted the fact that like we make fun of them. But Sisi at that time, he was a god. And I used to go to this high class club called Gizir Club. And this is basically kind of like the kind of upper middle class, upper class kind of people. And during that year of the Muslim Brotherhood, I was the most popular ever. People come, yay!
When the military came in, people were walking to me like pointing their fingers like, don't speak about CCU. Don't speak about the army. We love you now, but don't you? They were like that. So I called John Stewart. I was like, I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do.
And at that time, all of the channels were like closed down, all of the independent, I was the only one left, because it was difficult for them to get rid of me very quickly, because I was too popular. It was kind of like peace, peace milling kind of like go. And I remember something like, I don't know what to do. He said, like, you don't have to do anything, just your safety comes first.
And so but I can't, I mean, I've been doing that for two years. And I kind of just like, say, Bye, bye, guys. I have a responsibility, I have a team, I have people working for me. And I also, I cannot just like disappear. And he said the most interesting thing ever. And say, if you're afraid of something, make fun of it.
about the fact that you're afraid of it, instead of talking about that something. So there was like a whole episode that we did not even mention Sisi. We did not even mention him, but the videos did all the thing. And the whole episode was me trying to avoid talking about him. And that how the comedy was created. The fact that I don't wanna be here.
So he said like, you will be surprised how people can relate to that because there was a lot of kind of like, oh, we love him, but we feel we cannot speak. So just by doing the simple thing about mirroring the society, that goes a long way. And I kind of tried to do what I can under the military. I mean, they came up with...
a machine that treats AIDS and hepatitis C virus, and basically every single, and I went to town with that. Because people think, it doesn't really have to go in, to go to the bigger parts like, you're an asshole, no. You talk about their propaganda. You talk about what they want people to perceive them at. And it's a failure. And for that, that kind of hit them even more.
Because what do authoritarian figures do? They work on two things. Fear. and propaganda, and from that, it gets the respect. So when you go into their propaganda and expose them, they have nothing else.
And this is why comedy is very specific, because people say, you were not as hard on him as you were on the Muslim Brotherhood. Yes, because on the Muslim Brotherhood, we were just like saying shit for each other. Yeah. But now the ceiling was like here. So it's kind of like, how can you do something from here? Yeah, exactly.
That means other stuff.
And that's why I was canceled twice.
Actually, an army during peace is much more dangerous. Because think about it. I don't really have an enemy to fight. But I have all of this power, all of this tank. Why does this actor have more money than me? I'm protecting him. Why does this businessman think that he can get on his private plane and go to Paris? And why am I here sitting like not having all of these things?
And there's a lot of time on your hand because your job is to go fight.
when you don't go fight and we when you have the lack of that's why that's one of the things I love the United States about is the fact that the army cannot really get power but they kind of like the army is the power is actually in the military industrial complex which is a different issue yeah it's kind of like a different kind of issue but if you have all of that power like why am I sitting around just like playing guard for you guys that's why Iran is terrifying because you have this military that it just becomes a police force that turns against its own people yeah
Yeah. And when I left, I went through a very dark side. Dark, dark, dark. Because all of the insecurities, all of the stuff that had been like working in my head now came to life. And now I'm in America and I'm a nobody.
And now it's like I have to do something. I have to earn some money. So I started to do stand-up comedy five years ago. And I sucked because it was my second language and it was new. And now I will go to these comedy clubs with like kids and 21, 22 people. And then I'm there with a family to support that. I'm going there to do it for $15, $20. And I was bad. How bad? You're bombing.
Bombing big time. Eating shit. Eating shit big time. Dying up there big time. And I would go back home and I would cry. And then what made it worse is sometimes, like a fan. Not a fan. A bunch of fans from Egypt.
That kind of face of adoration that goes... Yeah. And I could see it in their face. I think he's gonna drive an Uber in a couple of weeks.
Showing 841–860 of 1,048 · page 43 of 53
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