Bassem Youssef on How To Laugh In the Face of Danger (Replay)

Summary

Podcast Summary: Impact Theory with Tom Bilyeu

Episode: Bassem Youssef on How To Laugh In the Face of Danger (Replay)

Release Date: March 15, 2024
Guest: Bassem Youssef

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Episode Overview

This episode features Bassem Youssef, once a heart surgeon in Egypt, who became a revolutionary TV satirist during the Arab Spring. Dubbed the "Jon Stewart of Egypt," Bassem used satire as a courageous means to challenge authority and spark public discourse under highly authoritarian regimes, even amid threats to his safety and family. The conversation, led by Tom Bilyeu, explores Bassem’s journey from medicine to comedy, how humor can be a weapon against fear, and the costs—personal, professional, and emotional—of standing up to oppressive systems.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Bassem’s Origin Story: From Surgeon to Satirist

• Background: Heart surgeon in Egypt, set to go to Cleveland for a pediatric heart surgery fellowship when the 2011 revolution broke out.
• Start of Satire: Began a satirical YouTube show out of his laundry room with no expectations—“just a trial.”
• Immediate Impact:
  • 5 million YouTube views in 3 months (rare in 2011 for Arabic content).
  • Led to TV show "El-Bernameg," which reached 30–40 million viewers per episode—nearly 40% of Egypt’s population.
• Cultural Phenomenon:
  • “It was like Super Bowl every Friday.” [08:48]
  • The show brought people together across the nation, even pausing street clashes.

“People would send me videos of their two-year-olds watching, three-year-olds playing my songs… it’s just incredible.”
—Bassem Youssef [08:33]

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2. Comedy Under Authoritarianism & Rising Dangers

• Inspiration & Fearlessness:
  Tom admires Bassem’s courage—"It was scary… to watch someone do such an aggressively satirical show in the time of Mussolini, as you said.” [04:51]
• Turning Point: Bassem discusses how initially he thought it was play; the danger didn’t feel real at first. Once the threats grew serious, fear became constant but secondary to his obsession with making a great show.

“I was worried more about doing a bad show than having something bad happening to me… I was so into the job that we have to deliver every episode more than anything else.”
—Bassem Youssef [16:14–16:55]

• Regime Change and Persecution:
  • Mocked both Islamist and military regimes; became a national hero, later branded a traitor.
  • Show got jammed; lawsuits and arrest warrant forced him to flee Egypt in hours.

“The people who liked me yesterday hated my guts today—even members of my family disowned me and considered me a traitor.”
—Bassem Youssef [09:22]

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3. The Limits and Power of Satire

• Satire as Catharsis but not Persuasion:
  • Satire relieves those who agree with you; it rarely changes the minds of those blinded by ideology.
  • “When you are blinded by ideology, nothing else matters. Facts don’t matter. Real news don’t matter… all of these Western media are conspiring against us.” [22:10]
  • Satire can only thrive where regimes are weak enough to tolerate some dissent. Once power consolidates, satire is among the first things to be crushed.

“Satire is a great weapon… if you’re laughing, you’re not afraid anymore, but you have to do that in a climate that allows that.”
—Bassem Youssef [39:12]

• Preaching to the Choir:
  • “Do you think these people believe them? ... We’re preaching for the choir.” [23:24]
  • On why polarization is so hard to fix: “They see the truth, they choose not to accept it. They are blinded by ideology.” [22:23]

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4. Identity, Reinvention, and Personal Growth

• Continuous Reinvention:
  • Bassem has reinvented himself multiple times: surgeon → YouTube satirist → TV megastar → exile → US-based entertainer and activist.
  • Now in the US, learning English-language entertainment as a middle-aged immigrant.

“I live here now in LA, and I live my life as a student. At the age of 43, I’m taking acting classes, improv classes, writing classes… I’ve reinvented myself three, four times in the last six years.”
—Bassem Youssef [29:12–29:56]

• Lessons for Children:
  • “I would teach them to be open… that the world is full of so many different things, and you should keep an open mind.” [26:55]
• Ego and Perspective:
  • “We cover all of this with ego… we think we are so important in such a vast universe that we have to create stories for us to believe.” [27:37]

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5. On Courage, Consequence, and Legacy

• Why He Refused to Become ‘State-Sponsored’ Entertainment:
  • Turned down lucrative offers to return as an apolitical entertainer:
    “I can’t do this. It has to mean something.” [18:34]
• True Heroes:
  • He credits activists still in Egypt as the true heroes—those who suffered imprisonment and torture.
• What Scared and Inspired Him about Human Nature:
  • Scariest: People flipping overnight, even close acquaintances turning based on ideology.
  • Most Inspiring: The resilience and bravery of activists who continue under harsher circumstances.

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6. Parallels between Egypt and US Politics

• Similar Patterns:
  • Creation of enemies, fear-mongering, and justification for repressive measures exist both among Egyptian regimes and Trump-era US politics.
• The Power of Fear:
  • “Security comes as the number one priority… play with that concept and people are mushy in your hands.” [38:31]

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7. New Mission: Food, Health, and Education

• Current Focus:
  • Advocating for healthier dietary habits; wants to use media to educate about plant-based diets and their health/environmental benefits, especially for Arabic-speaking audiences.
  • Developing a bilingual digital show and possibly a food company.
• Critique of Modern Diets:
  • “What we have thought that is healthy food is actually making us sick.” [43:25]
• Connection to Broader Activism:
  • Cites the impact of industry lobbying and rise of chronic diseases as issues that need more public attention and pushback.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the stakes of satire:
  “Can you imagine trying to have a political satire show in the time of Mussolini? Well, that was exactly what he was doing.”
  —Tom Bilyeu [01:26]

• On audience devotion:
  “One Friday, there were clashes in the streets… when the show came, they stopped, watched the show, then continued killing each other—which is like, freaking amazing.”
  —Bassem Youssef [09:03]

• On reinvention:
  “We're born into a society that just wants to put you into molds. And it's a struggle to continuously break those molds, which is interesting but very scary.”
  —Bassem Youssef [29:57]

• On ideological blindness:
  “When you are blinded by ideology, nothing else matters. Facts don’t matter. Real news don’t matter… numbers, statistics, don’t matter.”
  —Bassem Youssef [22:23]

• On why he did not take easy money:
  “I was offered many times… to come back. I said, I can't do this. It has to mean something.”
  —Bassem Youssef [18:34]

• On his legacy:
  “The impact I want to have on the world is that I would like to have people laughing at their problems instead of killing themselves because of it.”
  —Bassem Youssef [47:45]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

| Timestamp | Topic/Quote | |------------|--------------------------------------------------------| | 03:52 | Bassem’s reaction to Tom’s introduction | | 05:26 | How the show started and the inspiration to create it | | 08:33 | On audience scale and cultural impact | | 09:22 | How public/family turned on him overnight | | 15:54 | Birthday party during riots; “so funny” attitude | | 16:14 | On detaching from fear, attached to show quality | | 18:34 | Why he refused lucrative, apolitical entertainment | | 22:10 | Ideology vs facts and futility of satire for opponents | | 26:55 | Teaching his kids to be open-minded | | 29:56 | On reinventing himself repeatedly | | 38:31 | How rulers use fear and why it’s effective | | 39:12 | Satire as a weapon for laughter over fear | | 41:07 | Admiration for activists who stayed in Egypt | | 42:31 | Wearing the joker hat to his own interrogation | | 43:25 | Veg advocacy and new health mission | | 47:45 | The legacy he wants: “laughing at their problems…” |

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Final Thoughts

This episode is a moving and deeply insightful look at the price and power of comedy, satire, and truth against authoritarianism, as well as a meditation on personal reinvention. Bassem Youssef’s story is not just about political bravery, but the ongoing struggle to retain one’s integrity and continually evolve, even in exile. His closing wish—for people to laugh at their problems instead of killing themselves over them—encapsulates the enduring hope he brings as both a comic and a survivor.

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Recommended:

• Watch the documentary Tickling Giants
• Read the book Revolution for Dummies by Bassem Youssef

Follow Bassem:

• Twitter: @Byoussef
• Instagram: @byoussef
• Facebook: bassem.youssef.official
• Upcoming website: bassem-youssef.net

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Summary by Impact Theory Podcast Summarizer

Transcript

[Bassem Youssef]

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[Tom Bilyeu]

You're listening to the Impact Theory podcast, your source of empowering ideas and actionable techniques from the world's highest achievers. Join host Tom Bilyeu, serial entrepreneur and co founder of the billion dollar brand Quest Nutrition, on a journey to unlock your potential and realize your vision of success. Welcome to Impact Theory,

[Bassem Youssef]

everybody.

[Tom Bilyeu]

Welcome to Impact Theory. You are here my because you believe that human potential is nearly limitless, but you know that having potential is not the same as actually doing something with it. So our goal with this show and company is to introduce you to the people and ideas that will help you actually execute on your dreams. All right, today's guest is a former heart surgeon turned massive TV celebrity. When Revolution broke out in Egypt in 2011, he and his friend launched a satirical YouTube show that brazenly mocked the powers of B, saying outrageous stuff that had never been seen on Egyptian TV before. The show touched on an explosive nerve and became an overnight sensation, getting 5 million views in just the first three months. Television operas started pouring in and suddenly this heart surgeon found himself wildly famous and center stage during one of the most violent and tumultuous times in his country's recent history. His newly minted TV show, named simply the show, was a bona fide cultural phenomenon, becoming the most watched show in Egyptian television history, with 30 to 40 million viewers per episode. His social following ballooned up to over 15 million people, and he couldn't walk through a crowd without getting mobbed. But the government that formed in the wake of the revolution wasn't exactly a democracy, and as he said, can you imagine trying to have a political satire show in the time of Mussolini well, that was exactly what he was doing. And the pressure began to mount. In 2013, at about the same time that Time magazine named him one of the world's most influential pioneers, a warrant was issued for his arrest. His detractors began burning his photo and calling for his death. Yes, death. But armed with cojones the size of the pyramids of Giza, he continued to produce his show until it became so dangerous that he couldn't get a station to carry it anymore. And he began to fear not just for his own safety, but for the safety of those around him. Eventually, things got so bad that with only four hours to pack and catch a flight, he had to flee the country. I have come across few stories that have inspired me more than this, so please help me in welcoming the subject of the documentary Tickling Giants and the author of Revolution for Dummies, the man who proved a joke truly can be more powerful than a gun, the Jon Stewart of Egypt himself, Bassem Youssef. I mean,

[Bassem Youssef]

what an intro. I should come here every day and, like. And you've got, like, live audience, like. I mean, thank you for having me. And I really appreciate that you got inspired by my story, but, like, what are the other few stories that got you inspired more than mine? I feel jealous already.

[Tom Bilyeu]

You know what's interesting?

[Bassem Youssef]

It's like, we started on the wrong foot. It's horrible.

[Tom Bilyeu]

No, I like it. Let's go down the path. Who's inspired me more. That would be a tough order to answer in seriousness. And so the way that you and I met was weird. So I don't know how it was for you, but I got invited to this random party with a really, like, bizarre invitation, which was meant to build, like, all this mystery. And it had my curiosity peak. So I go, and I show up. Now in this party, we're not allowed to say who we are, so no one knows anybody's name, and you happen to be first. And so we go around, we guess what we think each person does. And I said, I think you're a famous hair salon stylist, which you were

[Bassem Youssef]

mortified by because I have horrible hair.

[Tom Bilyeu]

I'll disagree with that. And then you said who you were. Yes, and I freaked out because I had seen the trailer for Tickling Giants, and I remember watching that documentary going, this guy has a death wish. Like, it was scary. From this country, from all the safety in the world, to watch somebody do such an aggressively satirical show in the time of Mussolini. As you said, give us a bit of the history. Like, normally I don't do the, like, what's the setup? But I think it's actually pretty important for people to understand what the time was like and what you were doing.

[Bassem Youssef]

Well, I mean, it just as you said, I was a heart surgeon, I was getting ready to go to Cleveland, and because I got a pediatric heart surgery fellowship there, and revolution started. And like many doctors, I just went to the streets of Cairo to fix people's wounds because I had a very terrible aim. So instead of throwing stones, I just, like, fixed the wounds that they would inflict. And the revolution ended. Mubarak stepped down, and our dictator for 30 years, which is known in the Middle east as the very short first term, and me and my friend, we were contemplating about creating YouTube original content. And I was there as his guinea pig because I was his friend and I wouldn't charge him money. And then when the revolution comes, kind of the opportunity presented itself. So I thought, all right, you know what? I'm just waiting for the visa papers to come and I'm just going to do the show on YouTube from the laundry room of my home. And I did that. And I just like, you know, it's just like a trial and then I'm gonna go and maybe a couple of years later, some producer will discover that content on YouTube. And then, as you said, 5 million people in three months. And I know that now when you say 5 million, I mean, my cat gets 5 million views. But at that time, 2011, with no precedent of having original Arabic content on YouTube, that was unprecedented. And before I know it, every single network wanted to get me on their airwaves. And. And today I was signing the papers of a TV deal. The visa papers from Cleveland arrived, and here I was. I had the choice to do it. And because I come from a very traditionally Middle Eastern family, my mom didn't mind at all that I would stay because, you know, all the mothers of the Middle east would keep their enemies close and their children closer. Sorry. Their friends close and the children closer. And they wanted us. She didn't mind at all that I would stay. And I did. And for the first season, it was a very small pre recorded show and we did very well. But I wanted to go further. I wanted to do the Jon Stewart experience. I want to do the live audience. And this is yet another thing that was not being done in the Arabic media. I mean, nobody heard what you're going to do. Live audience, and. And they will have to laugh on your. Are you gonna rent them? No. Are you gonna pay them? No, they have to laugh. What if they didn't laugh? Well, we have to write better jokes. And everybody was putting us down. It's like, oh my God, this is too expensive. You're not gonna get any money for that. Even if you got all the sponsors, the market, you're not gonna have enough money to cover the budget. And I said, well, if you create good content, people will come. And we did it. And we ended up having 30, 40 million people watching this. And at that time, that was the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist government, really fast.

[Tom Bilyeu]

What percentage of the population is 40 million?

[Bassem Youssef]

Like 40%.

[Tom Bilyeu]

And that's crazy.

[Bassem Youssef]

I mean, there were like, people would send me videos of their 2 years old watching, 3 years old watching, playing my songs, and it's just incredible.

[Tom Bilyeu]

And in the documentary Tickling Giants, they show some of the viewing parties.

[Bassem Youssef]

Oh yeah. And it was like, it was super bowl every Friday.

[Tom Bilyeu]

Yeah, it was crazy. Like so many people gathered around indoors, outdoors, just like everywhere.

[Bassem Youssef]

And there's actually one Friday there was clashes in the streets between the security forces and some of the protesters. And then when the show came, they stopped. They sat on the coffee shop next door, watched the show, then continued killing each other, which is like freaking amazing. And like people were sending me these videos and I was like, this is, this is like this, this is really surreal. And so everybody was watching it. And then the SMS came and of course they didn't like what I have to say about them. And fast forward a year later, they were toppled by the military. And then now, and I was considered a national hero because I'm the one who stood against the Muslim Brotherhood. And then I, I had my show and I made one episode making fun of the military. That was enough to take me off the air. And the people who like me yesterday hated my guts today, even part, even members of my family disowned me basically and consider me as a traitor and a secret operative, of course. And, and then I, I found another channel and then they, I started getting more harassed, even more. And my, my show got like this. The satellite signal got jammed a couple of times and then pressure on the channel stopped. Couldn't find any channel to carry the show. Everybody was scared. And then lawsuits starting like coming in and they just like I was. And the lawsuits that like, against me, they were like all ridiculous. But it was just like a way of the regime to get you. And then there was a verdict against me. At 12 noon, 5 o', clock, I was on a plane and I left the country. So that is the not so concise story.

[Tom Bilyeu]

Well, I mean, compared to the detail that you go in the book, which, by the way, is amazing, it does an amazing job of walking you through the story. And I want to pick apart some of the things because I know sort of where they go in the book. Like when you have the choice to go to Cleveland, which you'd been trying to get to for years. You wanted to get out of Egypt, I'm guessing, because you didn't like the political climate.

[Bassem Youssef]

No, I didn't like the medical climate. At that time, I was not politically. I was not a politically active person. And this is what happens to you when you're under the same dictator for 30 years. You just give up. You just, like, focus on your career. And I wanted to, because I wanted to have a better life, a better practice, and this is why I wanted to go.

[Tom Bilyeu]

So finally that comes, and now you've got the uprising, which at the time, I'm sure feels truly like a revolution. You've maybe had different thoughts about what it takes to really be a revolution since then, but what was it? Which seems like a time of wild instability, maybe the perfect time to leave. What made you decide to stay, other than your mom, which I'm sure was real.

[Bassem Youssef]

Well, I mean, when the revolution happened, there was like this, like, window between the papers arriving and the revolution. And this is where I started the YouTube videos. And what made me stay is like, well, TV, why not?

[Tom Bilyeu]

Was it at all, like, the sense that I could be a meaningful voice? Or was it just, I know I'm gonna be good at this. I'm gonna love it?

[Bassem Youssef]

I had no idea what I was doing. We were reverse engineering everything that we would see on American comedy shows. Colbert Stewart, and we were trying to. How do they do that? I thought I would last one season. This was like a case of if you trying to build a Ferrari in a place where there was no highways and no factory to give you the element, the primary elements of the car, because it was like. Like a totally a virgin scene. Nobody knew what was happening. We hired people who were supposedly were the best at their field, and we fired them after eight weeks because that was not the kind of job work that we wanted.

[Tom Bilyeu]

You burned, like, through three technical crews. Right. Just trying to get them to figure this stuff out.

[Bassem Youssef]

Yeah. And at the end of the day, I mean, I just went to. I got people who had absolutely no experience in media. The only thing that they had was passion. They had a passion to do this. And we just, like, we Learned together. Like, I was like on top of the pyramid of that learning process. I was learning, they were learning, we were learning together. It was a trial and error and we were just like, we were scrambling. I mean, now if you do a show here, you have an industry, you have the basics. You know, who's the showrunner you're gonna get, you know, who are the producer with the experience at that. There was no experience. There was no showrunners. There was nothing that nobody. We can go in and tell them we are going to do a political satire show in front of a real life audience, right?

[Tom Bilyeu]

What gave you the passion and the energy to. And I'll break that into two parts at first, just to pull the show off. And then second, when people are actually threatening to kill you in a place where people actually get killed.

[Bassem Youssef]

Well, at the beginning when I did this YouTube videos, I really didn't think that this will go anywhere. I was just trying, right? I was just trying. It's like, you know what? This is the weekend. I have like hospital shifts all the whole week, the whole week. I come the weekend, I do and I shoot the video at my home. And that's it. I didn't really think. When it got serious, I was like, I'm going to get the. And now I'm getting paid for this. I better be good. And then you just get locked in and you just have to up your game every single time. When things got ugly and it was more of a threatening situation, I have to be honest with you, I didn't know what made me going until I saw the movie Tickling Giants because I didn't. I had no idea what was going on with this movie because there was an agreement that. With Sarah Texler, who was the director of the. Of Tickling Giants and who was a senior producer of the Daily show, she followed me for four years. And the agreement was that I will have no creative control. I am just the subject of the movie, right? Like any endangered species, a panda or a palooka whale. And I was there. And I watched the movie for the first time ever with the general audience in the Tribeca Film Festival last year in New York. I went in, didn't know what to expect. And I told Sarah as I went in, did you make me look good? Because this is what I'm leaving back for my family. And I said like, don't worry. I was like, I hope you like it. So I went in and I saw those scenes of me with my team celebrating a birthday, one of the crew and writing and doing all of stuff. And there are like riots outside and people threatening to kill me and the crew and whatever.

[Tom Bilyeu]

Literally during the birthday party. Yeah, that was so weird.

[Bassem Youssef]

Yeah. And it's just like. It was like. And I was like, huh, it's so funny. And I discovered, like.

[Tom Bilyeu]

Which, by the way, is actually what he says in that moment in the documentary, trying to have a birthday party over here. They, in the same shot, walk over to the window, look out a mass of people out there, threatening, threatening, threatening. Turns away from the window, goes. So funny.

[Bassem Youssef]

And now I'm looking at these scenes, and now it comes to me. I chose to detach myself from this kind of reality because I was worried more about doing a bad show than having something bad happening to me. Wow, that's amazing. Because we were just like, all right, we have to get these ratings. We have to get people. We have to write the best jokes. We have to. It's like, it seems that I was worried about the backlash of Twitter not liking my show than being actually killed. Social media, baby. So I was actually so into the job that we have to deliver every single episode more than anything else.

[Tom Bilyeu]

Would you have been into it like that, though, if it had been pure entertainment versus a political satire which had real cathartic meaning for the country?

[Bassem Youssef]

I can't answer this question because a job is a job. I mean, I come from a medical background. And you have to do your job. And when you do your job, you have to be perfect at it. You have to do the. I mean, it's like you have a patient, you cut him open, you have to sew him back, and everything has to be perfect.

[Tom Bilyeu]

Reading your book, I know you're not oblivious to what the show meant to the country. So I know that weighs some amount. And then the other amount is you're also a legitimate entertainer who's very good at this and has a passion for just entertaining. And we'll get to what I think from your actions anyway, answers this question, but what would you say is sort of the ratio between what was driving you, even if it's only now looking back? Like, what percentage was. This is important. And what percentage was. I want to be Just like, I was a great surgeon. I want to be a great entertainer.

[Bassem Youssef]

No, I think it is not just being an entertainer. An entertainer because when everything ended, I was offered to go back on the airwaves and just to do late night show. Right? Just like, go easy on the politics. Just do. Just do a simple game and fun.

[Tom Bilyeu]

And this was actually the government that reached out.

[Bassem Youssef]

Yeah, yeah. They were like offering me like real offers. Like after I escaped, it's like come back and we.

[Tom Bilyeu]

Big money offers, if I'm not mistaken.

[Bassem Youssef]

Oh my God. Huge, huge, huge, huge. It's like money that I have never thought that I would even like, have negotiated this amount of numbers. But this is like government money, right? And, and, but when I say government money, I'm not talking about like shitty government money here, talking about authoritarian money. Like, they have absolutely no limits. And I was offered many times by many entities to come back. I'm just like, oh, you know, here's a game show. Boom, do it. And this is like an X million number amount of money that you can do. And I said, I can't do this. It has to mean something. When you manage procurement for multiple facilities, every order matters. But when it's for a hospital system, they matter even more. Grainger gets it and knows there's no time for managing multiple suppliers and no room for shipping delays. That's why Grainger offers millions of products in fast, dependable delivery. So you can keep your facility stocked, safe and running smoothly. Call 1-800-GRAINGER Click grainger.com or just stop by Grainger for the ones who get it done. If you work in university maintenance, Grainger considers you an MVP because your playbook ensures your arena is always ready for tip off. And Grainger is your trusted partner, offering the products you need all in one place, from H vac and plumbing supplies to lighting and more. And all delivered with plenty of time left on the clock. So your team always gets the win. Call 1-800-granger. Visit granger.com or just stop by Granger

[Tom Bilyeu]

for the ones who get it done.

[Bassem Youssef]

So I, I think, like, maybe I didn't think about it at that time, but I think that this question was put to the test after the show was taken away from me because I had more than one chance to go back and do the show as pure entertainment and I didn't do it.

[Tom Bilyeu]

So from the outside, you're very humble, which I really, really respect. But from the outside, one of the reasons that your story is so inspiring is it is ultimately a tale of courage, of action. Even if internally all you felt was fear, that's fine. It's just the way that you actually behaved, the way that you presented yourself is that sense of, I hope if faced in similar circumstances, I'd have the courage to make the same decisions. And there's an awes. I don't remember who it's by, but it Says, if ever, faced with the choice of having to betray my country or betray my friend, I hope I have the courage to betray my country. And that like really resonated with me. Watching you from, again, I know this isn't how you see yourself, but watching it and saying like, whoa, he's a voice for the country, he's a relief valve for them. And even if it's just, just cathartic laughter or if it's actually seeing a path out of this and looking at the, how crazy the ideology is, it really seems important. And it suddenly made me stop taking for granted what we're able to do in our media.

[Bassem Youssef]

Yeah, well, I mean, after all the good things that you said about me, the nice things that you said, you will find a lot of people in Egypt that do not agree with you. They hate my guts.

[Tom Bilyeu]

Correct.

[Bassem Youssef]

So the Islamists think that I am like the devil who single handedly destroyed the only democratic experience that Egypt had.

[Tom Bilyeu]

So that's one of the things that's actually interesting about your approach, which was when you really pissed people off, was when they realized you weren't just making fun of one group, you were an equal opportunity offender. And so when the next regime came into power, you started making fun of them as well.

[Bassem Youssef]

Yeah, but for them, oh, you didn't make fun of them enough. It was not the same, Joe. Not. It's just like, I mean, it's just like, come on. It's like, you will never win with these people because for them. And you talked about ideology. When you are blinded by ideology, nothing else matters. Facts don't matter. Real news don't matter. Numbers, statistics don't matter. That's why when everybody's like, oh, it's fake news or feel whatever, like, how can we change those people so they can see? It's like they won't see. I mean, do they think they, I mean, a lot of. And this is something I want to relate here, what I've seen here in America. People have, like, always have this burning question, how can we make those people see the truth? Like, who told them that they don't see the truth? They see the truth, they choose not to accept it. They are blinded by that kind of ideology. They don't care. And even if you brought them like all of the sources, these sources are flawed. Flawed. These sources are biased. These sources have an agenda. So we will choose not to look at them. And this is why when people say like, oh, how can, like all of those political satirists, the Olivers, the Noah's the Colbert's, the Sambi, wonderful people. But you think these people watch them? Do you think these people believe them? Do you think, like, the more jokes that you make about them, it risks. We're preaching for the choir. And this is why when people say, like, how can we reach to the other side? And this comedy and satire is a good tool, I said no. And I'm pretty much blunt about this. No, they don't care. If you put, I mean, by numbers, what Obama did in the last eight years was phenomenal compared to Bush. And they still believe that Obama brought the country down. It doesn't matter. Numbers, facts, news don't matter. In Egypt, when they give you like a piece of crazy news and say, like, what? Where the hell did you get this from? Did you get it from cnn? Did you get it from BBC? Did you get it from. Did you have anything? No, no, no, no, no. All of these Western media are conspiring against. That's it. Alienated, it doesn't matter. So the whole, this fantasy, this like, perfect scenario of reaching to the other side, it doesn't matter. It will not happen.

[Tom Bilyeu]

Why do you think ideology trumps facts?

[Bassem Youssef]

Because it's an ideology. It's part of you, it is part of your thinking. It's the same thing when, if someone have a. I mean, look at what happened to Galileo, right? That was an idea, that was science and that was ideology. And the guy was punished because he came up with science that went against the ideology. All right? And doesn't matter if this was a military ideology, it's a conservative ideology, if it was a religious ideology, and sometimes some like, you know, crazy liberal ideology kind of like don't want to listen to you. I mean, it's like, it's. I mean, the disease is there on both sides because if you allow yourself to question that ideology with those facts, your whole ideology could actually come crumbling down. And this is why the most people who are very hard and very adamant about, like, not having anything questioned, the most conservative religious people, their first job is to stop questioning. Because if you start questioning this and that changes, then you gotta question another thing and then question another thing. And ideology is very rigid. It is not meant to be flexible, and it's just gonna implode. So this ideology for them is everything for them. It's their identity, it's for their whole universe, and nobody wants their universe to implode.

[Tom Bilyeu]

Do you think at all about that in your own life? Do you worry that you have an ideology that you protect too much or do you actively try to keep it fresh?

[Bassem Youssef]

No, I changed a lot. Things that I have. I thought that I knew. I thought I believed in. I thought that, like, I really knew for a fact for over 40 years of my life. My God, the changes that I have done. I think that we just, like, we have to break free from so many things that's holding us back. And I'm kind of like more of. I'm more accepting than ever.

[Tom Bilyeu]

And do you have a process for breaking free from some of those things? Like, what would you teach your kids about that?

[Bassem Youssef]

I would teach him to be open, and I would teach him that the world is full of so many different things, and you should, like, keep an open mind. I'm now, like, keeping an open mind only the things that I used to think about. Social norms, relationships, equalities for certain people. And just like all of that, it's changed dramatically for me. And I think we are. Whatever time that we have in this life, we just. We're here to learn and we're to accept. And we were. We're just like. We're too. As humans, we're too fragile. We're too.

[Tom Bilyeu]

What do you mean by that?

[Bassem Youssef]

We're too unimportant. We are. I mean, we're too fragile, too vulnerable, too unimportant. We have this ego that just. Like, we cover all of this with ego. We cover all of this with. I mean, even if you look to human history, all of these rituals and all of the ideas about death and what will happen, all of that comes from ego. We think that we are so important in such a vast universe that we have to create stories for us to believe.

[Tom Bilyeu]

And do you think that holds us back from living a fulfilled life?

[Bassem Youssef]

Yeah, absolutely. Because, like, who the hell are you to think that you are important? I mean, this whole planet can explode tomorrow. Even your own solar system wouldn't just, like. Like, wouldn't, like, wait to stop or they wouldn't matter. I mean, like, now. And now you have, like, the galaxies. And like, we're. We're so small, you know, who the hell are we to think that we are. We. We matter for anything.

[Tom Bilyeu]

What do you hope your kids take from your story?

[Bassem Youssef]

I think acceptance.

[Tom Bilyeu]

So what in your story do you think is about acceptance?

[Bassem Youssef]

Accepting the fact that I am continuously learning and continuously changing my mind and continuously flexible. I mean, even for the smaller things that I do on daily basis. I live here now in Los Angeles, and I live my life as a student. At the age of 43, I'm taking acting Classes, improv classes, writing classes. And I'm always the oldest guy in the class. I'm double the age of anybody in the class. And I'm not. And I'm not shy. It's like. And is it. And I'm doing stuff that I never thought me, the doctor, the surgeon, that I would be on that path for the rest of my life. And I've reinvented myself three, four times in the last six years. And which is. I think it's a blessing. And I think your story is like that too. You invented yourself, invented your career like three or four times also in a very over a period of time. And so it's just like, I think we are born into a society that just want to put you into molds. And it's a struggle to continuously break those molds, which is very interesting, but very scary.

[Tom Bilyeu]

Talk to me about that. So reinvention is amazing. And I love that that's your outlook. You went from being a surgeon to being a YouTube guy. Absurdly famous.

[Bassem Youssef]

No, first of all a YouTube guy and then like a TV guy, then a bigger TV guy than an outcast. Then I come here now and I'm trying to build a career in a country where I have English as a second language, trying to get through audience who's not my primary audience, and trying to do something that I have never had formal training in doing.

[Tom Bilyeu]

Is it weird though, going from. So fame is like lightning in a bottle and you had massive fame. You don't seem hung up on it got taken away from you, but it has to be, at a minimum, intriguing. The difference between if I were in Egypt, that I can't walk down the street without people mobbing me, taking photos, kissing my cheeks, and now I'm here in Los Angeles and most people don't know who you are.

[Bassem Youssef]

Yeah, it is very nice and very humbling.

[Tom Bilyeu]

You prefer that or it's just useful?

[Bassem Youssef]

No, of course. Like, of course you prefer to be famous and successful and everything. But as you said, I. And this takes me back to a conversation that I had with Jon Stewart and I told him, like, I don't know what to do after everything was like taken away. And he said, don't get hung on on that because what you have done is already being carved in history. You have to go move forward. And it doesn't have to be the same thing.

[Tom Bilyeu]

What do you want the fame in the US to. To be for?

[Bassem Youssef]

I want to be a different voice. I represent a sub type of a population which is usually portrayed in A very negative way, Middle Easterners and I. And I'm not even born here. So there's a lot of people from the Middle east who have been born here.

[Tom Bilyeu]

Right.

[Bassem Youssef]

So they don't have the accent. They are like pretty much, you know, can pass for at least vocally for an American. I am literally fresh off the boat and I'm trying to make it here, which is I think very unique and maybe to give a different voice, a different perspective what's happening in the world and what's happening to people like me.

[Tom Bilyeu]

Are you proud of what you did back in Egypt?

[Bassem Youssef]

I am proud that we have created something that was never there most of anything. I mean, I'm not going to talk to you about like the patriotism or the political activism, whatever. Like technically as like what we have done to entertainment has changed the landscape of entertainment. Before we came in, the only shows were there were like boring daily nightly shows, talk shows that like all Egyptian television and most of Arab television was locked in 1980s. It's boring, it's horrible, it's redundant. What we did that we brought in high quality entertainment, we made everybody follow it. And even after we left, the landscape of the media there has changed.

[Tom Bilyeu]

Talk to me a little bit about your mom, I think, and your decision to become a surgeon.

[Bassem Youssef]

Yeah, well, in the Middle east you're only allowed to be a surgeon or an engineer. That's it. Anything else doesn't count. Like the only thing that gives pride to most families, not all families, but like many families, is like being a doctor, a dentist, an engineer, and I didn't like math, so I went to medicine.

[Tom Bilyeu]

Fair enough. And all that same work ethic that you had to really do a great show. Did you look at being a surgeon the same?

[Bassem Youssef]

Yeah, I mean, I'm a nerd. I had to have high marks. You have to be in and you have to just like know your stuff as a matter. So I brought as I broke medicine into the show. The long hours, the brutal work style, it was all medicine. I was like one of the first people to come in the morning and the last person to leave at night.

[Tom Bilyeu]

Did your parents teach you that work ethic or was that something that you picked up in medicine?

[Bassem Youssef]

I was not allowed to be anything but one of the top of the class even at school. So it just. Or else they're going to be very disappointed. So nobody wants to disappoint their parents. So I just like carried that nerdy lifestyle all through my life.

[Tom Bilyeu]

How did you deal with that as the show's getting bigger. And obviously it starts to become an issue. Right. For your family. How did you deal with that tension?

[Bassem Youssef]

Well, my dad was pretty cool as long as he had free tickets to the show. He didn't care for him and his family had friends, so he can like brag about it. My mom was a different case. My mom, what her relation with me is defined by one thing, that she is constantly worried about me. That's it. She's worried about me. It doesn't matter if you're successful. I'm worried that you're not married. It doesn't matter if you marry. I'm worried that you don't have kids. It doesn't matter anything. Constant worry the whole time. And when I did my show, I never actually saw her 100% elated or happy because of the show, just doing well. But I'm worried about you. I'm worried of that what will happen to you always because I was there, just like heading butts with the authority all the time. And that was like a constant issue for her. There's three stages of the show. First, right after the revolution when the military took over for an interim period. Then the second was the Islamists took over. And the third one, the military took it back. And with the Islamists, she was happy but worried. With the military part, she was furious because the military is untouchable. You can't make fun of the military. The military for many Egyptians is even more sacred and more holy than religion itself. And it's like, how can you make fun of. And it really caused tension between us. It defined the relationship all through the time that I was having my show on the air.

[Tom Bilyeu]

What do you think are the similarities between what's happened in Egypt and what's going on in the political climate here

[Bassem Youssef]

in the US I can't say similarity, but there's certain scenes that especially when you see the Trump supporters, the whole idea of the right wing conservative movement, the narrative is pretty much similar to what I've seen in the right wing conservative movement in Egypt, which is the military and the Islamic movement. The whole idea of about creating an enemy, creating a distraction, creating fear, making everybody afraid. And because they are afraid, I can push my agenda. And because of that, it's fine to take away somebody else's liberties or somebody's right. And it's the whole thing, it's the, it's the oldest trick in the book. Create an enemy, make everybody afraid and just like push your agenda. The whole idea about fear from the other here you create the Enemy of the Mexicans, the Muslims, the refugees. There it is, everybody else.

[Tom Bilyeu]

And why is fear so powerful? This was something that really distressed me reading Revolution for Dummies was the idea of just how effective it was to use fear and how easy it was to get people to behave essentially and fall in line behind a radical government. But they were using fear to keep people in line.

[Bassem Youssef]

Security comes in the priority, number one priority of people's need, even before food. If you play with that concept in people's minds, they're mushy in your hands. You can do whatever you want. And because if you have no security, the whole other thing. So you can have famine, you cannot have. But you can have food, but no security. So it's going to be gone. So fear is the number one motivation. It's a magic weapon. Look at all the wars. All the tensions happen in human history. It is based on those people are coming to kill us. We have to kill them first.

[Tom Bilyeu]

Is there anything that you've ever seen that can be used to combat that? What do you think, if there is one, is the secret weapon to hold that at bay?

[Bassem Youssef]

Well, I would say satire is a great weapon because, like, if you are. If you're. If you're laughing, you're not afraid anymore, but you have to do that in a climate that allows that. So when under the Islamists, the Islamists were not powerful enough to stop my show, so I could make fun of that. And that kind of holy image of, like, the very pious religious man was just, like, being ridiculed. The military, I continued doing that for a while, and I was starting to actually, like, take punches against them, and they were just, like, too fast to take me off the air. And this is why in any dictatorship, you will never find satire. There's comedy and satire, but it is directed towards the people. Like, oh, let's make fun of ourselves about our social behaviors. Let's make fun of the traffic about marriage, about divorce, about the bureaucracy. But how bad we are as human being. But never up there.

[Tom Bilyeu]

Yeah, that's. Watching the documentary, reading the book, and really looking at sort of the human nature elements that they spoke to was deeply distressing. Is there anything in everything that you went through about human nature? Like, what was the thing about human nature that scared you the most? What was the thing about human nature that you found the most beautiful and inspiring?

[Bassem Youssef]

What scared me the most is, like, how people can just, like, flip overnight. And I had family members, I had people that went with me to school, people that I have known for 20, 25 years. And who, because I said something that would threaten their ideology, believed the most hideous gossip about me. I mean, there were people who really believed that I was a secret operative, that I have a secret agenda, that I'm being paid by the American government to bring down the country. It is ridiculous.

[Tom Bilyeu]

And what was the most beautiful thing that you saw in all of this?

[Bassem Youssef]

The resilience of some people. There are people back in Egypt, amazing political activists who were jailed, had their loved one jailed, tortured. And they still. I mean, we sit here and talk about how brave and how courageous I am. That means that is dwarfed by those people back there who are stuck, who couldn't do. Who couldn't get out, who have their family in jail because of something they said or because of Facebook posts or because of position, a political position. And this is. It is not beautiful. It is admirable. It is impressive. It is worthy of all of the wonderful compliments that you have been pouring on me the whole time here and much more. They are the real heroes. I was just like, a guy who's telling jokes, and I had to leave because of that. But these are the people who are suffering.

[Tom Bilyeu]

What made you. When the warrant for your arrest came out, and the arrest warrant essentially came out because you wore the big hat to mock the then president, and when you were. You turned yourself in, and when you turned yourself in, you wore that hat again. What gave you the guts to do that?

[Bassem Youssef]

Well, I decided to take that hat and go to the. To my interrogation. And people said, are you crazy? It's like, oh, you know, just like, this is what you get when you mess with the Joker. You get made fun of. And it was just like, there's two way ways out of this. Either I'm gonna get out, I'm gonna be arrested, and this. Me doing the hat will do nothing but just make them feel, like, look worse. So it's my mission to make them look worse. And it was just. It was just, like, my way to tell them, like, f you, basically.

[Tom Bilyeu]

And it worked.

[Bassem Youssef]

It worked.

[Tom Bilyeu]

All right, so. Because sadly, we're running out of time. Let's talk about your mission to. Do you want to create a company around launching vegan foods? Like, what's the driving force?

[Bassem Youssef]

I am more of, like, creating a movement. I'm a big believer that, like, whatever we. What we have thought that is healthy food is actually making us sick. I'm not going around people. You have to be vegan. You have to be vegan. I don't do that. Of course, there's, like, amazing benefits of this about, like, saving the planet and, like, being good to other creatures. But I am really concerned about changing people's behavior because I don't think that we are made to. Even. Even if you're. If you decide that you're not gonna be vegan, but, like, I don't think that we should consume that amount of dairy and meat that much. This is like, our. Our consumption has increased dramatically in the past hundred years, and then it's like, oh, where did this all, like, chronic diseases are coming from? This spike, this increase of the chronic disease have to come from somewhere. And I just want to educate people in Arabic and in English about what their food choices. And I'm not the first one to do this. Like, the amazing people who've done, like, for sure knives, cowspiracy, what the Health food Inc. All of these people. This is something that has already been done before, but I want to make it more mainstream.

[Tom Bilyeu]

And are you pushing a show around this, or do you actually want to create a food company?

[Bassem Youssef]

I want to start first with a digital show in Arabic and in English so I can speak. So, like, the two sides of the world that they wouldn't think they have anything in common. You guys are eating the same thing, and you're dying with the same shit. And then I want to create kind of a brand in order to guide people how to deal with their illness and their diseases. And hopefully when people see people in their households getting better and getting rid of things like Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, we think, oh, my God, I have to. I mean, this is, like, diseases that actually created because of the food choices, but you go to the doctor and they give you steroids. I don't understand.

[Tom Bilyeu]

Are you following the whole functional medicine movement, for lack of a better word?

[Bassem Youssef]

No.

[Tom Bilyeu]

It's interesting. I'd be really curious, with your history as a surgeon to see what you think about it. Basically, they're saying very much the same things, like, it's not. Genetics are not causing this problem. This is a problem of diet, lifestyle in general. And until we address that, if you have Crohn's disease or something like that and you go and you're taking steroids, you're masking the symptom, not the cause, and actually getting to root cause. Looking at the human body as a superorganism, in a sense, in essence, yeah.

[Bassem Youssef]

I mean, the whole idea about, like, blaming genetics on it, it's just, like, the easy way, just, like, to Kind of like put the guilt on something else. You see, for example, first generation Japanese or Chinese, right? They are pretty much loyal to the kind of food that they are eating, so they stay slim. Now look at the second third generation. They're getting fatter, they're getting sicker, they're having more propaganda to get like diabetes or any of the other chronic disease. So how so suddenly genetics exchange because you came here, it's because what you put in your mouth. So I'm a big believer of that. And I'm sure it's like a lot of backlash, Ibaco pushover. But like, at the end of the day, you have the big pharma and the food industry, they spend so much money lobbying in the Congress in order to make pizza classified as vegetables or French fries as vegetables. And this is the stuff that you're giving to your kids. And this is why, like. And this is like a very. I'm sure that everybody would like a circle of people who have kids now, they have the same things, like, oh, my. My daughter or my son is 7 years old and he's already allergic to half of the things in our kitchen. Right. Where did this food allergies come from? You have. You have altered their immune system by what you're giving them as food, thinking it's healthy.

[Tom Bilyeu]

Agreed. All right, where can these guys find you online?

[Bassem Youssef]

All right, Twitter, isef, Instagram, basimusive. And I'm launching my website soon that will get. And of course, basimusive has Facebook and I'm doing a website soon that will do everything. It's called bassimusive.net so.

[Tom Bilyeu]

All right, my final question. What's the impact that you want to have on the world?

[Bassem Youssef]

The impact that I want to have of the world that I would like to have people laughing at their problems instead of killing themselves because of it.

[Tom Bilyeu]

That's a pretty damn good answer.

[Bassem Youssef]

Yes.

[Tom Bilyeu]

Basim, thank you so much for coming on, man.

[Bassem Youssef]

Thank you so much.

[Tom Bilyeu]

What a pleasure, guys. You're going to love digging deep into his world. It is really astonishing. Absolutely. Go watch the documentary Tickling giants. Read the book.

[Bassem Youssef]

99 cents on iTunes right now. Document. It's a sale. 99 cents. It's number four now on iTunes. Go get it.

[Tom Bilyeu]

It is absolutely fantastic. And to have gone through what he's gone through and to now get a chance to watch him and see what he does now that he's here in the US to see how he reinvents himself, which is absolutely astonishing. And just getting to go on that journey with him and ask yourself the questions along the way. Where would you tap out? And I do fear that I would have tapped out a long time before he did. Which is why, while I fully understand that there's always a hero that's done even more, it was an astonishing story, and it was very inspiring to me to see somebody stand by their guns. If he'd been just about the entertainment, he would have taken the money. And it sounds like he was offered a lot of money, but he didn't. And he's here now. He's a student again, starting from scratch, going from insanely famous to back at the ground floor without a loss of step, without losing that sparkle in his eye, without the amazing or loss of amazing ideas that he's had all throughout his career and the willingness to pursue them and chase him forward. So I am very eager to see what he does from this point forward. So go and do as I have done, my friends, and subscribe to all his social feeds. Keep an eye on this man. It's absolutely fascinating.

[Bassem Youssef]

I should come here every day. This is amazing. This is like. This is like. This is like an ego boost. Like, amazing, man.

[Tom Bilyeu]

All right, guys, if you haven't already, be sure to subscribe. And until next time, my friends, be legendary. Take care. Thank you. Thank you guys so much for watching. And if you haven't already, be sure to subscribe. And for exclusive content, be sure to sign up for our newsletter. All of that stuff helps us get even more amazing guests on the the show and helps us continue to build this community, which, at the end of the day, is all we care about. So thank you guys so much for being a part of the impact theory community.

[Bassem Youssef]

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[Tom Bilyeu]

If my teenager starts calling me Leslie, that's a family thing. Leslie.

[Bassem Youssef]

Verbocare and 247 life support. If you know you verbo terms apply.

[Tom Bilyeu]

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