Chronicles that. Protesters. Known as something we just dont do. 30Million Viewers. What they were saying with each other. I think its very brave. They had ordered the arrest. They are saying that he insulted islam. In and the committee would be a wanted man gets into trouble. Doesnt get me into the kind of trouble and gets you into. I have no manual to do this. Theyre waiting for that to happen. The show is about holding them accountable regardless of who is in charge. We are the voice of the people. Ladies and gentlemen please welcome the cofounder madison media. In bassem youssef. Hi. That is a beautiful crowd, thank you. Nothing much going on in chicago on a monday night. Did you get to know each other. Can you tell me something. Were both big fans i will be calling on people. Boston is often called the jon stewart of egypt. Dont get me wrong i am a huge jon stewart fan but when it comes to reach, influence in risking your life bassem wins. The weekly show broke many barriers. Filmed in front of a Live Audience and it was the most viewed Television Program in egypt with 30 Million Viewers per episode at its peak. That is more viewers than donald trump has twitter foowers. And on top of all of that his show was produced under an authoritative regime under the middle of a resolution. So we do have nearly enough time tonight john for me as an idol. To be in the same sentence its phenomenal. To inspire a lot of people. How many common it shows came out of that powerhouse numbers our nothing. The only reason we have more numbers if you have a couple of millions you are amazing. That even changed in the 90s. Weve a lot of confidence. Just to be in the same sentence. As a greatest, i can ever get. It was inspiration. How was it is ithen they shut up on your show. The jon stewart of egypt i planted that. I was still doing the show on youtube. I was inspired by him. I have this wild dream that maybe someday i would go to the United States i would be in the audience and watch them. So i have a scheme and a plan which by the way is in my book did you see how i shamelessly promoted myself. Isnt that so american. I will tie how it happened. What happened was what inspired you, what made you go on i would just mention jon stewart in any context. The article about that. That was the first ever english speaking. Will you backup for a second. Your surgeon, your waiting for a visa to come to the states to work in cleveland as a dr. Dr. Anyone. The only guy from cleveland that i can speak to. So than then youtube happened. Explained what happened. Heres the thing. There is a story about how i started this show and youtube. In 2010 where there is no revolution in sight i was a heart surgeon and i wanted to really get out of egypt because i was very frustrated of how the system was working there. I get accepted i came to the unitedtate and did many interviews. I got accepted in cleveland. I was very happy. Nothing tells you how desperate i was to leave the country. Ive been excited to go to cleveland. In my defense even the lebron james at that time left. I was just biding my time waiting. And then a friend of mine he was into youtube and youtube management. It was just stuff we see from other people. That sounds weird to think of it. We didnt have anything that was originally made for you too. So he said and he came to me because first of all i was his friend. I said according to him we have a it with people. And i would listen. I wanted to read a lot about weird stuff. At that time politics was on the table. You could not not do it. So iame witthis idea it was called searching for god. I would show people that you just looking at the words thinking there was your religion and your belief in other people you are willing to die for that kind of conviction. It was very interested to do it. So i did it before Morgan Freeman did it. Then i was supposed to be released. 200011. But something happened. There was a Church Bombing and of course they could not speak about religion. This is how we celebrate christmas. Its not just starbucks cups is also in other places. We will hold back and wait for a couple months. Twentyfive date we have the revolution. And i said lets do something. I give longer answers im sorry. So, we do the youtube videos after the revolution ends. And what happens when you release the youtube videos. I ended up with 5 million. At that time it was a big deal. At that time it was huge. And in three weeks every Single Network in egypt now wants to hire me. It has to be a difficult decision at the time. I always say in may 2011 the same day i was signing the papers from cleveland of brides. And Something Like the People Like Us would never see again. And so this is how it started. I sought saw and i said i will give it a try. I uld put cleveland on a sign and i will give it a year. And since my mom is this very strong middle eastern lady who has walk of the fact that i will not leave her. To please her i continued doing my hospital shifts. And i it was very difficult for the patients to take me seriously. Like i reviewed them. All those things. For helping that arab spring. Is bypassed. It became irrelevant. As a good thing or it could be a bad thing. Made people feel like they were nylon. At that time. They were able to get the networks to agree to use that show. This is what was special about the show. There were people deciding what other people should say. I was and an already tried a concept on youtube i know this sounds very redundant like this is what happens now. And this is why my relationship. So, it is a kind of humbleness that comes with. Is satire the medium through which you will do whatever it is youre going to do whether it is religion or politics . It is a big part of all of our lives that we always enter the lives because we didnt speak of politics but there are dictatorships so there is a lot to learn. It was wild spoken out against and then you continued to critique the government and things started to change and the tide turned so how is it trying to do comedy or satire when it doesnt feel the same . Theres always pressure associated with doing the show and if any of you saw a movie, i didnt have the chance to see. I went in not knowing what to expect and it was an emotional experience. I can see how impressed i was with the camera and its a totally different creature to perform and its almost like living with a split personality. Having to bury this kind of pressure with me and my team and my family. When the camera rolls, there is no excuse you cant say im sorry im under a lot of stress or im not feeling well. It was the show. But what you mentioned even added an additional layer of stress because the people who were closer to you who turned against you, people who considered me an enemy of the state and believed all this crazy propaganda said about me including i was a spy and one of the craziest stories i said before in my book is that its too absurd to be true and it was in print they accused the of being an operative in the cia working with jon stewart. You have to think either hes extremely smart or the cia is broke. People believe a lot of this stuff. They believe im someone that is an antiislam, atheist operative of the last. It seems everybody is operative in that way. So heres the other question i have. Watching the movie and it is a good movie if you get the chance to watch it it is terrific you do get this sense that things turned and it was difficult for you in the end and you are very protective and supportive of the team that you felt was doing the show and i was struck by how many women there were doing the show with you and im curious is that indicative of how things were in egypt . We hired them because they were better we couldnt think of anything. They worked harder and stuck around and did the job. We hired men and women alike and hired men and women alike it just happened to the people that stuck it out for better than this job were women and my senior producer i called her the mother hen because she was basically the mother of the team and i trusted her with my life that i didnt think of them as men and women just people thinkt could do the job. [applause] so today can you return to egypt its like california you can check in anytime you want. [laughter] is there something official, no. Everyday every day i hear aboutr friend that is banned from flying or have things confisca confiscate. Whwod i myself in this situation and brisket and plus why would i go back . Theres two reasons, i do kite surfing and we have the best place in the world and i miss that at least you can go there in the water without a wetsuit which is something i miss. The second thing i miss his egyptian menu. What you have as men go tastes like cucumber. You need to be re educated about your definition. [laughter] otherwise all the things i have that i loved and cared about in the country, might my family both of my parents are dead and died peacefully. Ever since i worked for this success was taken away from me so why would i go back. Everything that i had is not there anymore. You could be in exile while you were living in your own country. You never expected to leave egypt early on. No but now im in los angeles and its great. You are raising a daughter and how is that raising a daughter in exile in another country . Children dont feel exiled. They know that there is something called egypt and that this is america but she is comfortable. Children are very flexible and she hardly speaks arabic and thats why when she goes back to egypt but she tells good jokes in english. Do you want to hear one . Yesterday she went to her mom and steand stepand said mommy we boy eat his homework and she said because the teacher told him its a piece of cake. [laughter] and shes five. Shes smarter than me. Do you counsel her towards medical or standup . Never medical. That is a death sentence. Why. Just know. But if she wants to do if she can do whatever she wants. During the last president ial elections continued travel to the country and did a series for fusion and i think the wouldbe periods to find out what he learned about us doing those interviews and traveling to the country use all things a lot of us dont actually see. I didnt learn anything new because i was a big follower of american politics. It just was george w. Bush 2. 0 0 but much worse and so its the same rhetoric but what is new this time i came from a place where everybody is also living in his own ego chamber if they refuse to deal with facts and if it would contradict their ideology so for them ideology is much more important. If you are using facts an and wanting total truth, you need to convince people that theres others that dont care it doesnt matter as long as they confuse people. So that was the thing. It wasnt about who is believable anymore its what kind of confusion can i cause. I find this interesting. There was a rally i went to in a small town in georgia and trump was there and i remember the guy that came before him. Then he said if trump didnt repeal obamacare or do this or this but he built the wall would you still vote for him and people said this. Its this hyperbole. We have the same thing in egypt like we are greater than everybody and everybody hates us and wants to take us out and they are jealous of us and its the same thing. We have the same narrative in the media. Its the same rhetoric, no difference whatsoever. Do you have pointers for us . You want to take pointers from me . This is for them to bite the buck. Since we are doi well in egypt, yes. The only thing i can say coming and i repeat myself a lot and not its from a political satire point of view, people have the view that it can solve everything and that it is a subject that is a starting point where you get more people aware of what is happening but we have a limit. We are not activists freedom fighters. We have a limit and that ends with you. If the people continue using it as just a catharsis and they laugh and are very happy, its not going to make a difference. But if you use it as one of many tools to organize and go out and vote and cast your vote, now that can make a difference. In california after all this, the turnout was 20 although people were so up on killing 750,000 people but when it came to casting the vote, people were lazy. Thats how john kerry lost in 2004. People just stayed home and at the same thinthesame thing happn and pennsylvania. And i had this come as you mac people were watching me and laughing but they wouldnt go first. So you are just updating in a vacuuoperating in avacuum and t. On that note, one last question before questions from the audience and that is what are you going to do now that you are here . As i said, im in Los Angeles July the previous. [laughter] [applause] im trying to become sensitive. [laughter] i wake up every morning finding a new thing to offend me. Living the california life. But right now im trying to find my own foothold in American Media and its hard to come at the age of 43 and leave everything behind and start from ground zero again. Its difficult. Its not my native language and its like i have to learn stuff again from the beginning. And as someone with a prayer on his phone. Lets not get people scared here. [laughter] think that you do pretty well with english. You live in los angeles and cultural competition people for people that call this a marriage crisis and i do stuff that people do. I take lessons and try not to be casted into her wrist number three. [laughter] im having live shows around the country. Five years ago the only theater that was operating. On that note, thank you very much. [applause] you are here. I thought that was staged laughter. Anyone with questions, and youre supposed to walk to the microphone and there will be a book signing afterwards. You dont have to buy the book if you want a picture, take a picture id be happy to take home with every single one of you but if you buy into pushing up to the New York Times best seller [inaudible] [laughter] in the america that you love, but to those having common . People are trying to make a change and still have the freedom of expression. Its the same chamber, going home and having dreams of donald trump began in peach but its not going to happen and even if you did and you would have mike pence. You started something important in egypt and now youre not doing it anymore. What is your opinion about the media and satire packs political satire now has people that attended the taping of comedy shows and i was offered to come back to egypt for the higher up officials to come back for the certain understanding but it wasnt going to happen so they are not going to allow this kind of political satire or there are these wonderful comedians but they are only allowed to do social satire. If comedy doesnt deal with the everyday things with people it isnt comedy, its a distracti distraction. This is how comedy is used where i come from, a distraction. An example, we had a big issue in egypt lasyear the biggest thing on the news we woke up on thinthe morning and they found r government is giving to the strategic islands to saudi arabia so people went and protested and were arrested for protesting about land being given to another country and not a single, you should mentioned so if you have a hot political environment and you cracked jokes about traffic or marriage or bureaucracy you are betraying your oath and this is why it is totally impossible. [inaudible] many of them were picked up and actually listed. I cant even imagine myself being in a political fight and your family gets even more effective when that happens. Do you have any advice now and im asking this because right now in the past few years theres been a wave of depression and they dont know if we should fight the government on or leave it as a whole because they dont respect peoples ideas. I try to stay away from giving people advice. I think it is going to be stupid to fight the government have on right now. What you can do is make yourself better at what youo and you should focus on yourself right now instead of being pulled into this endless oppression. [applause] a big clap for depression. [laughter] we need to work at being better if the time allows tha but the circumstances are not right. I only ask this because ive met so many that are professionals and have told me the government doesnt allow me to go further. When we had connections or basic empathy is theres a lot of excitement and a lot of the promise and even some of the things happening with the sobering reality up to that with a transition to the regime and as taken down but even wse things happening and looking ba at that process what you think we can learn as the critics and observers for what might have gone differently or what might have been. The worst thing that happens is people dont put it like an account. Revolutions dont work. They were like that so yesterday now we are going to move over. It doesnt work. I wonder what the twitter and facebook feeds will be lecturing the frenclikeduring the french n 20 years. [laughter] 70 years ago europeans were killing each other [inaudible] and religious dictatorship. Its a process and we were naive to think you are dealing with a deeper state of. It was always in the hands of the military the true rulers of the country looking back we never had a chance. They were included in the military and the same for us. So it is a learning process and a generationalssue. Maybe itll take longer than just the 18 days. In all of your time in social media what is your definition of success and theres a lot of young adults here so what is your number one advice for them . What works for me doesnt necessarily work for you because what works for me didnt work for the people before me. Everyone has their own personal experience. This wasnt a book to tell you how to do it, in my book it is my story and maybe if i did the exact same thing six months later or before it would work. It was just a circumstance and the right time. I cant advise you. There is no manual for success of people would just read books to get their. You find your own experience and voice and success. Your definition of success could be different than mine. Is it money, popularity. Thats why i try not to give advice. 19. You are already in a different set of circumstances with stuff not available to me so you have a better understanding of what works for you. Thats when i go to college and people safe is your advice i told him my advice is dont anyones advice. [applause] and then if they think my mind is blown right now. If i could get some advice. [laughter] i host a latenight talk show and a shameless promotion, best evening after. Com. A couple questions, starting as a doctor and a surge in moving into comedy writing more to it than just being witty and you understand the equipment youre dealing with. I wondered if you have something that is difficult in that transition getting into it and the other one that is a little deeper to take your time theres a couple of ways of going about the satire. If you could have someone on from the Bush Administration and the iraq war and then you have your show thats more we are not going to have people on the peoplwilltalk about what they ag so i feel like theres a difference between satire and access in what you feel is more effectivdefective or better or t you like more. Coming from a doctor into comedy writing, i didnt depend on talent as much as the process. So being who i am as a doctor it was a brutal process a then we would come up with something good so its managing people who might be funnier than me, more talented but sometimes they are not very disciplined so i was the one with a wet. The second question, im sorry. [inaudible] do you like more satire as in writing about people or access and having them on . Thank you. Thank you for your wonderful talk. I have a question. Since then i we know it is a question and not an opinion, its not 15 minutes so it starts with whywith why, when, how andn a question that takes 15 secon seconds. Its kind of philosophical. [laughter] you said why go back and its very thoughtprovoking with a sense of giving back to the place that we call home and this day in age is it a natural sense or something that you get over as a surgeon you can go back to egypt and the overloaded with the patient and obligations or see published articles and have quality time in doing what has the impact. Why go back. Is the question valid in the first place. And the first part is there any reason to give back to the place you came from . If you are allowed to get back to that place i was there and stayed as long as possible. If the own the safety of the people around me so its become counterproductive. All these beautiful phrases of getting back you have to look at the circumstances and decide. So yes i would love to giv bac to the. [inaudible] being from kuwait personally i migrated from chicago streets today. The culture and of the living over there in the 60s [inaudible] it has nothing to do with the poverty level. Going back to believe tha the wy parents lived in egypt. The military dictatorships dont allow any of this so when people think it is a religious thing, who do you think about it and controlled the Educational Program and it was in the 1970s people have this idea that the military has the same brutality because you cannot speak back or lk to the higher ranking suited to hi so they woe religion and it happened before when they felt the country was stripping away so it is a mixture of everything if the military dictatorships are incompetent in all kinds of ways you have the decline of awareness and decline of everything and then thats what he did in the 1970s they did it to combat the Muslim Brotherhood ironically so how we got back or declined as a product of the military dictatorship. If you take the car to sinai so it is of course. I do not read the comments on the comment section. That is the only thing because i used to read them and it depressed me. I think that we have time for one more. [inaudible] we have a lot of freedom to express ourselves. If you were an american or going to be an american or living in the United States now you have a great deal of freedom and we have a great deal of freedom. We should basically be going crazy on social media shouldnt we just be expressing ourselves with much less restraint than we even offer . We are more free than we know and have more liberty than we take advantage of. What do you think would happen . Are you going to close it down. Yet the internet. To 24 hours the opinion that you would like. Its part of the process. If you dont like it you can choose what not to see. But it is people expecting opinions. Many of the ideas that kept in someones mind all of the social media a scary place to be. Thats human nature. People are expressing themselves and say whatever the hell they want. It is absolutely impossible. It is the way it is. There is absolutely no practical way to stifle the freedom of expression on social media no matter how annoying and how horrible and excruciating it can get. The gist of it is. You can just give up technology. [applause]. Im going to be in the lobby then. [inaudible] book tv tapes hundreds of other programs all year long. Heres a look at some of the events we are covering this week