Bassem Youssef, heart-surgeon-turned comedian, chatted about his latest endeavors, comedy shows, and the digital age.
Background on Bassem Youssef
Youssef is affectionately known as the “Jon Stewart of the Middle East.” In 2013, he made the “Time 100” influential people list.
“I am honored to be called that because that was the name of my hero growing up, and watching him,” he said. “It’s a privilege and an honor, and I hope he doesn’t get bored or annoyed having his name attached to mine.”
“It was an honor to be chosen by him to present him with the Mark Twain Prize. That was great, and it was wonderful meeting all of the other stand-up comedians there. It was a great honor,” he added.
“Making the Time 100 list was great,” he exclaimed. “That was 11 years ago. It was another great honor that I didn’t expect at the time. I am grateful that it happened.”
An Egyptian-born comic and social influencer, Youssef was the host of the popular TV show “Al Bernameg,” which was the first political satire show in the Middle East that was successful.
He went on to describe “Al Bernameg,” as a career-defining moment. “That defined a lot of my path,” he said. “I was very grateful to have that kind of career because it was very unexpected.
Dual-language comedy shows
Presently, he is bringing his comedy to fans across the globe through his dual-language shows. He is performing back-to-back one-hour shows with the first being in English and the later show in Arabic. To date, he is the only comic touring the world doing two different hours in two different languages a night.
“My comedy shows are going wonderful,” he said. “I just finished a show in San Jose; it was great and it was sold-out for the entire weekend. I am looking forward to my next stop.”
“Doing the show in Arabic and English is a vastly different experience. It s not the same show, it is not a translation. It is easier for me to do the English show because English is a very unifying language whereas in Arabic, you are dealing with many dialects with people of different experiences in the Arab world,” he elaborated.
“In the future, I hope I can tour more, and perhaps send my shows to Netflix. I would love to do more acting as well,” he added.
Transition from being a physician to comedy
Youssef noted that it was a smooth transition going from heart surgeon to comedian. “It was something that I didn’t expect,” he said. “Again, it was a privilege and it was nice. It gave me an opportunity that I never thought of.”
“Prior to this, my life was full of emergency calls, night shits and operating stitches, and then, I found myself in the real theaters so I am quite grateful,” he added.
He has appeared as a Senior Middle East Correspondent on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” hosted a digital series, “The Democracy Handbook,” and starred in “Tickling Giants,“ a documentary by Sara Taksler featuring Youssef’s story with “Al Bernameg.”
Youssef also released a book about his experience “Revolution for Dummies: Laughing Through the Arab Spring.”
The digital age
On being an entertainer in the digital age, Youssef said, “I am someone who grew up when there was no Internet. I have a rotary phone. To go through this and find the advances is interesting. Now, they are planting the first micro-chip in humans, it’s scary times.”
AI on the future of the entertainment business
“I think people are scared of things, especially in the beginning stages,” he said about artificial intelligence on the future of the entertainment industry. “People are just scared of advances, and we will either do it in order to improve our lives or destroy it completely.”
Stage of his life
On the title of the current chapter of his life, he said, “Rebirth.”
Best advice that he was ever given
Regarding the best advice that he was ever given, he said, “You need to remind your entitled self that the world owes you nothing.”
Superpowers of choice
His superpowers of choice would be time travel or mind control. “I would go back in time or I would have the ability to control people’s minds. If you could do that, you can control the world,” he admitted.
Inspirations for his comedy routine
Regarding his comedy inspirations, he said, “People say write about what you know. My personal experiences have been interesting stories that I went through: ups and downs, and ridiculous stories sometime. I am grateful that my life was a source of a lot of comedy.”
Hoping to turn his children’s book into an animated series
Youssef performs his one-man show, “Late for Democracy,” around the globe. He hopes to have his children’s book series, “The Magical Reality of Nadia” developed into an animated series.
“Hopefully, that will happen someday,” he said. “I am very honored to be able to have this opportunity.”
Advice for hopefuls that wish to go into entertaining
For young and aspiring entertainers, he said, “Watch a lot of comedy. I think people learn a lot by watching, emulating, and imitating. I learned a lot from that, and I even modeled my show after Jon Stewart. I watched a lot of his shows and a lot of his reactions. I think it is very interesting to do that because you need to learn from the people who are ahead of you.”
“You have to be humble and know that you don’t know anything. The moment you that think you know everything is the moment you lose,” he added.
Acting work on streaming platforms
Youssef was a part of “Mo” on Netflix and “Ramy” on Hulu. He also had a recurring role on “Upload” for Amazon Prime Video, and he made an appeared on the Paramount+ series “Special Ops: Lioness,” which was created by Taylor Sheridan.
“Mo and Ramy are my friends,” he said. “I’ve known them for a long time, and I am very happy for them and all of the opportunities that have come their way. I am grateful that both of them invited me on their shows. I did small cameos on each of their shows, and I was very happy to be included in those, and to be a small part of their amazing success stories.”
“I did one scene in ‘Lioness’ and it was good. I gave her gelato and then she ended up killing me. She was not thankful for the gelato I gave her. I am very sad,” he said with a sweet laugh.
Success
On his definition of the word success, he said, “Success means to be content and happy with what you have. That is real success.”
To learn more about comedian, TV host, and surgeon Bassem Youssef, follow him on Instagram.
