Bassem Raafat Muhammad Youssef (Arabic: باسم رأفت محمد يوسف, born 22 March 1974 is an Egyptian comedian, writer, producer, physician, media critic, and television host. He hosted Al-Bernameg (The Program), a satirical news program from 2011 to 2014. The press has compared Youssef with American comedian Jon Stewart, whose satire program The Daily Show inspired Youssef to begin his career. In 2013, he was named one of the "100 most influential people in the world" by Time magazine.
After the success of
The B+ Show, Egyptian channel
ONTV, owned by Egyptian billionaire
Naguib Sawiris, offered Youssef a deal for
Al Bernameg (literally, "The Program"). With a budget of roughly half a million dollars, the series made him the first internet to TV conversion in the Middle East.
[30] The show, which consisted of 104 episodes, premiered during
Ramadan 1432 (2011) with Egyptian-American engineer
Muhammad Radwan as its first guest.
[31] In his show, Youssef has parodied such Egyptian celebrities as show host
Tawfik Okasha, composer
Amr Mostafa,
Salafist presidential candidate
Hazem Salah Abu Ismail, and
Mohamed ElBaradei, former head of the
International Atomic Energy Agency and onetime presidential candidate. In June 2012, Jon Stewart invited Youssef to
The Daily Show for an extended interview, “...I do know a little something about the humor business; your show is sharp, you're really good on it, it's smart, it's well executed, I think the world of what you're doing down there." The segment was one of the highest in viewership on Jon Stewart’s site.