TDS Time Machine | Arab American Heritage Month

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The Daily Show: Ears Edition 38 min 10 speakers 7 chapters transcribed
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Who is Bassem Youssef and how does he compare political comedy in Egypt and the US?

Unidentified Speaker (Brief Interjection) 0:47
Come and sit.
Bassem Youssef 0:54
Hey. Wow, you've got live audience. Yes.
Jon Stewart 0:57
All right.
Bassem Youssef 1:01
Now, you don't have an audience. Yeah, that's why I use puppets. You use puppets because you don't have an audience.
Jon Stewart 1:06
Yes. Are there any shows in Egypt that have an audience? No. Do they do live studio audience?
Bassem Youssef 1:11
No. We are actually trying to do that next year. We're going to be the first Arab historical political show with live audience, which is huge because we don't actually have this kind of industry.
Jon Stewart 1:21
The television and the live audiences and things like that? Yes. How difficult is it to do a show like you're doing, a comedy show, when the stability of the country is still in question? Because it's difficult for me, and we're pretty stable. But I still get the hate with the people. They don't like me. What happens with you? Death threats.
Bassem Youssef 1:48
Check. Check. We're not so different, you and I. Sometimes I get beaten. No, no, just kidding. It's actually, it's been quite a ride. And what we do is, has actually, we broke ground in the television programming. Because now people say, wow, he actually says what we want to say. And we're trying to be funny. We fail most of the time. But we try. Check. Yes. By the way, can I ask a question? Can I ask a question? Yes, yes, yes. Last week, did you have Catherine Zeta-Jones here?
Jon Stewart 2:23
Catherine Zeta-Jones was in your seat, sir.
Bassem Youssef 2:25
In this seat. Your very seat.
Jon Stewart 2:35
Is that an aspirin? You know what? Take it back with you. Take it to Cairo. We don't care. Nice, right? She's very sweet. That's nice. You're going to like TV. You're going to like it. Here's the thing that is very unusual to me. You are a very accomplished heart surgeon as well before you got into this. Now, obviously, Jews and Muslims, there is tension amongst the cultures at times, 2,000 years. But one thing we probably share is that going to your mother as a heart surgeon and saying, yeah, I think I'm going to be a comedian, would be a problem.
Bassem Youssef 3:19
It was a problem until actually she sold the money. And she sold my new big TV and living room. So she was okay with that.
Jon Stewart 3:30
So comedy, a little more lucrative than the heart surgery business. A lot. I knew I was smart not to do that.
Bassem Youssef 3:38
And you don't get sued every five seconds.
Jon Stewart 3:40
I think that's probably smart, too. How did this all begin? What... During the revolution, did you just decide this is the time to try and express this thought? This is the time to do something I've wanted to try for a while?
Bassem Youssef 3:53
Well, the 18 days of the revolution was incredible because you would go to Tahrir. you see what's happening. You come back, you open the TV, and it's a totally different world. It's amazing. And you know what? It's happening again now. It's like all these rumors about like aliens coming down and trying. They are the people who are driving the revolution and the Freemasons.
Jon Stewart 4:13
Is it really this type of conspiracy stuff? Because that's, we have a gentleman here. Does Glenn Beck have a show in Egypt or no?
Bassem Youssef 4:21
It's his evil twin.
Jon Stewart 4:23
Really?
Bassem Youssef 4:24
And there's a guy who's spreading sort of conspiracy stuff? He's a little bit kind of cloned everywhere. Oh, really? Yes. Even in sports programs. Imagine Glenn Beck actually doing a sports show, and that's what you'll get. That was a foul because...
Jon Stewart 4:40
Some blue ray came from the eyes of... So basically it's Freemason and the Americans and Israel have gathered together to hypnotize the Egyptian people to go to Tahrir Square to complain.

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