logo
episode-header-image
Feb 2022
23m 37s

Bassem Youssef: Do we expect too much fr...

Bbc World Service
About this episode

Stephen Sackur speaks to comedian and writer Bassem Youssef. He made his name and won an audience of tens of millions with a satirical comedy show during Egypt’s popular uprising more than a decade ago. But the revolution quickly morphed into authoritarianism and Youssef fled to the US, taking his gift for comedy with him. Did he, and do we still, expect too much from political satire?

Up next
Jul 6
Sir Keir Starmer, UK Prime Minister: The UK needs strong international relationships
The UK needs strong international relationships Nick Robinson, presenter of the BBC Today programme and Political Thinking podcast, speaks to Sir Keir Starmer, UK Prime Minister, about the importance of maintaining strong international relationships.In an interview recorded to ma ... Show More
22m 59s
Jul 1
Majid Takht-Ravanchi, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister: Regime change is a futile exercise
Lyse Doucet speaks to Majid Takht-Ravanchi, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister, about the future of Iran’s nuclear programme and its government. The interview took place in the country’s capital Tehran after Iran’s twelve-day war with Israel. Both sides fired missiles into each other ... Show More
22m 59s
Jun 29
Philippe Kehren, CEO of multinational Solvay: Reducing reliance on China’s rare earth metals
Jonathan Josephs speaks to Philippe Kehren, CEO of chemical multinational company Solvay. His firm sits at the forefront of Europe’s efforts to diversify its supply of rare earth metals. These elements are essential to much of modern technology, from mobile phones to medical equi ... Show More
22m 59s
Recommended Episodes
Mar 2024
Bassem Youssef's Piers Morgan Appearance
This week on Good One, host Jesse David Fox welcomes the “Egyptian Jon Stewart” Bassem Youssef to the podcast. A decade ago Youssef was a key figure in the Egyptian Revolution, hosting a satirical comedy show throughout it. But more recently Youssef garnered attention for his int ... Show More
1h 14m
Apr 2024
Bassem Youssef: Egypt's Jon Stewart on Palestine, the press and Piers Morgan
In 2011 Bassem Youssef was a little-known heart surgeon in Cairo. A year later, he was hosting his own political satire TV show, Al-Bernameg, drawing in 30 million weekly viewers as he made fun of the Egyptian regime. Bassem's comedy was groundbreaking but it proved too controver ... Show More
52m 23s
May 2019
Bassem Youssef
I always fear that maybe I was just lucky. Bassem Youssef is a heart surgeon turned political satirist and the creator of the most popular television show in Egypt's history. He is the author of the book Revolution for Dummies: Laughing Through the Arab Spring. Join the "10 Thing ... Show More
6m 56s
Apr 2018
Coming Soon: Remade in America with Bassem Youssef
Join Bassem Youssef, formerly an Egyptian satirical talk show host often called the "Jon Stewart of Egypt" who recently arrived in the United States, as he explores being an outsider in America and figuring out what it means to belong. 
1m 53s
Sep 2022
Feature interview: Scottish satirist Armando Iannucci
The UK has been swept up in a week of economic and political turmoil, with Prime Minister Liz Truss’s Conservative government coming under increasing pressure over its controversial tax cut plan. Financial markets are roiled, the British pound tanked, and the IMF issued a rare re ... Show More
55m 7s
Aug 2016
The Satire Paradox
In the political turmoil of mid-1990s Britain, a brilliant young comic named Harry Enfield set out to satirize the ideology and politics of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. His parodies became famous. He wrote and performed a vicious sendup of the typical Thatcherite nouveau ric ... Show More
36m 50s
Oct 2017
It's Just a Joke, Comrade: 100 Years of Russian Satire
The Russian Revolution unleashed a brand of humour that continues to this day. In this two-part series, comedian and Russophile Viv Groskop explores a century of revolutionary comedy and asks how it continues to shape the national psyche. The series will rediscover comedy of the ... Show More
30m 22s