EGYPT'S JON STEWART' IN EXILE: Bassem Youssef's comedy news show had 30 million viewers. Then he was forced to flee.

• Author: Monticello, Justin
• Position: Al-Bernameg

BASSEM YOUSSEF, KNOWN as the Jon Stewart of Egypt, hosted the most popular television show in the history of the Arab world. A heart surgeon by training, he was inspired by the Daily Show front man to start a weekly YouTube series in 2011, just as the Arab Spring was getting underway. He taped it from his laundry room.

Called Al-Bernameg, which means The Show, its audience grew to 30 million per episode. The "value of satire," Youssef says, "is that it humanizes people in power"--those "considered holy."

Youssef's downfall began with a viral segment mocking President Mohamed Morsi's hat in 2013. In March, a warrant was issued for his arrest for insulting the president and Islam. So Youssef offered to turn himself in--wearing his Morsi hat. Though he was released on bail, it was the beginning of the end. Three months later, the military deposed and jailed Morsi, dissolved the constitution, and silenced the critical press. General Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi became the new ruler of Egypt, and his regime didn't take kindly to mockery.

What followed is the subject of Youssef's new memoir, Revolution for Dummies (HarperCollins), and the documentary Tickling Giants by Daily Show Senior Producer Sara Taksler, which is available online.

The Show lasted just one episode after Sisi became president. Youssef was slapped with the largest fine in the history of Egyptian media. Sensing that he might soon be arrested and prevented from leaving the country, he threw a few personal belongings into a suitcase and rushed to the airport.

This summer, Youssef sat down with Reason's Justin Monticello in Los Angeles, where they discussed political correctness, comedy on college campuses, Donald Trump, the limits of satire, and more.

Reason: What inspired you to start The Show?

Bassem Youssef: What really inspired me was the discrepancy between what you saw in the street and what you saw on television. There was a very deliberate method of brainwashing and fooling the public and giving them alternative facts or fake news. And that angered me. I wanted to do something about it. So I started these shows in my laundry room. I didn't think it would mean anything or go anywhere. But a few weeks later I was signing my first TV deal.

You're often called the Jon Stewart of Egypt. But Jon Stewart reached 2 million people. You reached 30 million.

It's not a question of numbers. He really has a lot of competition. [In America] you have a saturated medium, a huge industry. When we did it, we were the only ones. I think the value that Jon Stewart left [is that he] inspired millions of people, not just in the United States but outside, to follow in his footsteps.

About 18 months after you started The Show, you criticized then-President Mohamed Morsi and a warrant was issued for your arrest.

They have to [claim] you are insulting certain sacred ideologies, whether religion or military. It's the same thing that the Muslim Brotherhood did, and the military did later. They want to divert the attention of me criticizing someone's policy [by saying I'm] insulting the faith, or our troops.

You describe in your book this really amazing sketch where you satirized Morsi's enormous, peculiar hat.

Yeah. And it's like, it's just a hat. People are too sensitive. I didn't call him names. I didn't talk about his family. It's just like how the Islamists react in a violent way, because they're not used to being criticized, so to kind of break that mold and make fun of them--they couldn't handle it.

So you showed up at the courthouse wearing a comically oversized hat.

I was spiting them.

But you describe how you went in and the police officers and court employees and prosecutor's employees were asking to take seines with you.

At the end of the day, I was a TV joker. I was a comedian. People were watching me. Even people who hated me watched, because it was entertaining. It was almost surreal to be in a place where I am being questioned while the people who are in charge of questioning me are fans and taking pictures.

After the military coup led by Sisi--I guess we can call it a coup now; I know you took great pains to explain that that word was not allowed.

Oh, yeah. That was the c word.

So after the coup, there was martial law and you couldn't broadcast for a couple of months. And even your staff were fighting with their parents about whether they should continue to do The Show now that the military was in power, which, at least among the older generation, is this widely respected institution in Egypt. How did you find the inspiration to keep making fun of them?

Well, part of me was scared to come back [on the air]. Like, how can we make fun of the new regime? I mean, the army is popular. It's part of our culture. I mention in the book that people would consider the army even more sacred than religion. And I almost made the decision of stopping The Show, but there were all of these people behind me and I couldn't. I discovered, when I was speaking to Jon [Stewart], that I was afraid of losing my popularity. And Jon said, "Well...