Bassem Youssef: from surgeon to satirist to stand-up

The catalyst for this remarkable career trajectory was the Arab Spring. The March 2011 uprising which centred on Cairo’s Tahrir Square, catapulted Youssef from hospital ward to guest appearances on US institution The Daily Show. Turns out good things really do come from protest movements.

Youssef had attended those protests, helping to treat wounded protestors, but he grew frustrated at their inaccurate portrayal by the state media. In response he decided to set up his own YouTube channel to satirise the reports, hoping the short videos, filmed in his home, might strike a chord with a few thousand of his fellow protestors. They far surpassed that, attracting millions of views, and prompting an Egyptian television network to give him his own satirical show, Al Bernameg.

But success also brought Youssef attention of an unwanted kind. In 2014 he was forced to flee Egypt for the United States, where he has since had to work to re-establish his career in a new home and a new language. In recent years Youssef has stepped out from behind the desk to become a stand-up comedian – touring his one-man show Late for Democracy around the world in 2020 – and in March 2023 we were delighted to welcome his latest stand-up show to our Royal Festival Hall.

Ahead of the gig we caught up with Youssef to ask him about his route into comedy, the pressures of being a satirist in Egypt, and what it was like to work with his inspiration, Jon Stewart.

What prompted you to swap being a surgeon for being a comedian? And was comedy something you always wanted to do?

I didn’t really plan for it. I was in Egypt waiting for my papers to arrive to start a paediatric heart surgery fellowship in America when the Arab Spring uprising happened. I’d always followed Jon Stewart, and I’d dreamt of a version of what he was doing with The Daily Show being done in Egypt. It was a time of political fluidity, and so I just put some videos on YouTube satirising the state run media and they went viral. Next thing I know, I am being offered a TV show to host, and so I decided to hold off the US trip for a year. And then I just never went back.

From those short five minute videos shot in your own home, did you ever expect it to take off in the way it did?

Not even in my wildest dreams did I imagine it to be that big.

Little more than a year after starting in comedy you were invited to appear on The Daily Show; how did that feel?

It was like a validation. Here’s someone you watch and admire from afar and suddenly you are on his show. But what really topped that was that one year after being hosted on The Daily Show I promised Jon that I would have a live show in a theatre, like his, and if that happened I hoped he could make it to Egypt. And Jon came to Egypt, and he was on my show, and that was my best night ever.

All political satirists are taking a risk, but can you explain just how risky it was to be a satirist in Egypt at that time, particularly a very public one?

Well there was a warrant for my arrest under the Islamists, and I was interrogated for six hours following jokes I told on the show. The military were even stronger, and they had my show cancelled a couple of times before I finally fled Egypt. It was very tough to do a show like that in a place where the rules of satire and freedom of speech are not established. But then the best thing about all that is that it gave me plenty of hilarious material for my stand-up.

Can you ever envisage a time when you would be able to return to Egypt? And would you want to?

Honestly I don’t think about it. I am more focused on my new life doing live shows and finding myself in America as a performer. I don’t waste time looking back reminiscing.

‘There was a warrant for my arrest, and I was interrogated for six hours following jokes I told on the show.’

What’s the best thing about being a professional comedian?

It’s a great blessing to connect with people, to share stories they relate to. My comedy is my personal story and you will be surprised how people can connect and relate to you despite coming from different paths and lives.

Jon Stewart has undoubtedly been an influence on you, but which other comedians do you look up to? And which comedians constantly make you laugh?

George Carlin of course, I relate to him a lot. In terms of other comedians I enjoy; Dave Chappelle, Jim Jeffries, Bill Burr and Trevor Noah.

Your comedy arc is a little different to most, in that you’ve started behind a desk, before moving on to stand-up; how have you found that transition?

The transition was very difficult . Bear in mind I was hosting a desk-based TV show in my native language and now I do stand-up in English. I have only been doing stand-up for four years and now I am on a world tour so it’s quite overwhelming. It is scary, nerve wracking, fun and beautiful, all at the same time.

How do you feel about hecklers?

No one likes them, they are either too angry, too sensitive or too drunk

What’s the inspiration behind the stand-up show you’re bringing to the Southbank Centre?

As I said, it is my own personal story. A heart surgeon finding himself in the middle of a revolution, coming up against both radical Islamists and the military with only jokes to tell, then having to leave for the US in the most interesting four years the world has ever seen. And all that whilst trying to find myself, my identity and my destiny in a new country, with a new audience and new language. It’s a very interesting and funny story, but most importantly it’s a very human story. And I promise you, it’s going to be hilarious.