Top 39 Bassem Youssef Quotes
#1. I chose the Egyptian dream: the dream to make a TV show, and then be called an infidel by the end.
Bassem Youssef
#2. We have dealt with the Arab/Muslim problem in the American media in every single way but through comedy. Hollywood has always been lagging behind comedy ... We can make fun of ourselves, too, and I'm inviting us to laugh with us - and all the misconceptions.
Bassem Youssef
#3. 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
#4. People say, 'Are you afraid? Are you scared for your life?' and I tell them: If I choose today to tone it down, if I choose today to shut up, tomorrow me, you, and all of us will be forced to.
Bassem Youssef
#5. 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
#6. We have Internet now and people are not stupid. But it seems that some people are trying to push the same agenda of the Cold War of conspiracy theories and amazing achievements that are very easily traced and validated.
Bassem Youssef
#7. The Dark Satirist, like the Dark Knight - that could be a good name for a superhero.
Bassem Youssef
#8. 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
#9. It doesn't matter if the truth is right there out in front of your eyes. You will find a way, a mechanism, in order to keep your own system of denial. So as I always say it, denial is a river that runs in the - in Egypt. So we became very good in that.
Bassem Youssef
#10. Everybody grows up with comedy. I mean, Egyptian comedy has a very, very old tradition. Our theater and our movies are just, like, amazing.
Bassem Youssef
#12. There are people who believe in Egypt that I - I'm actually - I'm getting paid by external powers and external intelligence entities in order to use satire to bring down the government.
Bassem Youssef
#13. 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
#14. Sarcasm all around the world is always against right wing and against people in power. That's the definition of political sarcasm.
Bassem Youssef
#16. We are two brothers: I am a doctor; my brother is an engineer.
Bassem Youssef
#17. People would believe propagate, spread rumors or conspiracy theories in order to protect their own system of denial.
Bassem Youssef
#18. I never thought of myself as a comedian. That is a label - make me laugh. I want to make you think.
Bassem Youssef
#19. 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
#20. It's kinda me and Jon Stewart have a pact together - so he's making me famous in the Western world and I'm making him famous in Egypt!
Bassem Youssef
#21. I think by the time I left Egypt, there was about like 400 accusations against me in the drawer of the public persecutor office. It's a way for them to exhaust you, to push you, to put you under pressure, to distract you.
Bassem Youssef
#22. 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
#23. I always tell people that a revolution is not an event, it's a process. It is a struggle. And it doesn't usually go smoothly.
Bassem Youssef
#25. I was accused of insulting the president, insulting Islam, insulting - spreading rumors, disturbing the peace.
Bassem Youssef
#26. I think that the religious and the military right wings are just two sides of the same coin if somebody uses God and religion and somebody uses country and security.
Bassem Youssef
#27. Islam's not just about covering your hair. It's about how you treat other people.
Bassem Youssef
#28. I pity Americans for their very bad fruits. Your 'mango' is cucumber. The only thing I really miss about Egypt is mangoes.
Bassem Youssef
#29. A revolution is not an event. It's a process. And it takes its time.
Bassem Youssef
#30. 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
#31. I'm sure even in America, where you have, like, free speech people self-censor themself. And it's not - it happens because of different reasons. Because maybe it's politically incorrect, it doesn't have to really to be put in jail.
Bassem Youssef
#32. 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
#33. 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
#34. 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
#35. There's no glory and no respect in making fun of the weak, the powerless.
Bassem Youssef
#36. The only the way that you can live and function without seeing the facts in front of you is to put yourself in a constant state of denial.
Bassem Youssef
#37. It is very depressing to see that in the 21st century people are still using the same 1950s and '60s style of propaganda.
Bassem Youssef
#38. Theocratic and military authorities share one thing: they have no sense of humour.
Bassem Youssef
#39. 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
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