LAST MAN STANDING

Egypt’s answer to Jon Stewart, Bassem Youssef

Bassem Youssef is proof that you really can’t keep a good man down. A year ago, the TV satirist, who many called Egypt’s answer to Thedaily

Show’s Jon Stewart, shut down his own series Albernameg (Theshow), claiming he no longer felt safe satirising the country’s politics. “I’m tired of struggling and worrying about my safety and that of my family,” he said. Fast forward to this year and Youssef’s star is well and truly on the rise again – in May, it was announced that he will host the 2015 International Emmy Awards. “I am extremely honoured to be chosen following the footsteps of incredibly funny and distinguished comedians like John Oliver and Matt Lucas, who hosted the ceremony in the last two years,” said Youssef, a former heart surgeon who is also currently a esident Fellow at arvard’s Institute Of olitics. It’s not the rst time Youssef’s uni ue style of political commentary has been noticed on a global scale. In 2013, Youssef walked away with the International Press Freedom Award by the ommittee To Protect Journalists in recognition of his “courageous reporting that de nes free media”. e’s also working on a feature lm called

The Comedy Of Arabs and he’s hopeful Albernameg might return some day to spark debate and controversy on Egyptian TV screens. “I hope it will come back some day, I don’t think it will come back now. I don’t think the circumstances are suitable for the show to come back, it’s really out of my hands.” Finally, there’s still plenty of his own story to tell – he’s also helped raise funds for a documentary about his rise to fame, and the delicate matter of satire in Egypt, called Tickling Giants. “We have dealt with the Arab/Muslim problem in the American media in every single way but through comedy,” he says. “We can make fun of ourselves too, and I’m inviting us to laugh with us – and all the misconceptions.”