The worst thing ever that you have to explain your joke because I was very disappointed trying to explain why the joke is funny for the interrogator. Bassem Youssef More Quotes by Bassem Youssef More Quotes From Bassem Youssef It is very difficult to imagine that you can actually get rid of a dictatorship that has been there for 60 years only in 18 days. Bassem Youssef difficult imagine years You can do funny to be a distraction and you can do funny to effect people and this is the difference, What I miss in the show is the political satire as an effective weapon against the brainwashing and the empty propaganda. And I think it's very important… to enable the media and force the authority to be more responsible for the people. Bassem Youssef entertainment We are living in the most glorious years of democracy in Egypt, and may the tongue of the person who does not agree with that be cut off. Bassem Youssef world There's no glory and no respect in making fun of the weak, the powerless. Bassem Youssef respect glory weak fun The bigger you become of a celebrity, the bigger the expectations, the pressure on you - to make change, to say what people want, to target the people they want to target. Fame is toxic; it is quite toxic. Bassem Youssef you change pressure people My show in Egypt was called, 'The Show,' or, 'Al Bernameg' in Arabic. Basically, it was a political satire show. It started on Internet by three, four-minute episodes, and then it evolved into a live show in a theater, which was something that was unprecedented in the Arab world. Bassem Youssef live internet political world A revolution is not an event. It's a process. And it takes its time. Bassem Youssef event revolution process time I can go back to Egypt anytime I want. Can I leave Egypt anytime I want? I think I can. I think I can. Bassem Youssef back think i-can want Countries aren't built by boring people. Bassem Youssef boring-people countries boring people When we overthrew Mubarak, we did this in 18 days. And because we were very naive and very unexperienced in revolutions, we thought that that was it. It is very difficult to imagine that you can actually get rid of a dictatorship that has been there for 60 years only in 18 days. So we were very naive. Bassem Youssef thought you difficult dictatorship Egyptian comedy has a very, very old tradition. Our theater and our movies are just, like, amazing. And Egypt is kind of like the Hollywood of the Middle East. I mean, we had cinema maybe decades before the other Arab countries ever got independence. Bassem Youssef amazing comedy tradition cinema I didn't invent satire. I didn't come up with it. And it will continue to be a very powerful tool to disrupt political taboos and social taboos and religious taboos, because those taboos are always used to control and to curb people's way of creativity and thinking, by making them feel guilty because they want to make a change. Bassem Youssef creativity change people thinking A lot of people tend to glorify the role of satire and comedians. They put them up as role models, as fighters for the truth and against tyranny, and I think that's overrated. Bassem Youssef think tyranny truth people The importance of satire is bringing more people to the table. There are a lot of average citizens who aren't interested in politics and would be more interested if it's brought to them in a comedic, funny, satirical way. Bassem Youssef politics funny people way This is the conundrum of the present regimes in the Arab world. They still want to control youth; they want to be in control as they did in the 1950s and '60s. But that doesn't work anymore. Now with just a Wi-Fi link, you can understand what's happening in the world. Bassem Youssef you youth work world What I hope to do in the States is to break up this stereotyping of Muslims and Arabs. I mean, we are basically the only sub-culture that is not represented in Hollywood. And it's funny because everybody is talking about the Muslim world and the Arab world, and we are not represented. Bassem Youssef hope talking funny world Part of the reason why people get radicalized is because they feel they are disenfranchised; that they not there; that they are bullied. But if they are represented, they can't go and say to themselves: 'Oh, this society hates us!' Bassem Youssef feel go society people The joke is mightier than the sword. Bassem Youssef mightier sword joke than We are two brothers: I am a doctor; my brother is an engineer. Bassem Youssef doctor i-am brother two Theocratic and military authorities share one thing: they have no sense of humour. Bassem Youssef no-sense sense humour military
