ABSTRACT
A few weeks after the events that precipitated the ousting of president Hosni Mubarak in 2011, Egyptian satirist Bassem Youssef premiered his success ful show B+ on YouTube and used the social media platform to mock the old political and cultural elite and expose the hypocrisy of their statements after the demise of Mubarak’s threedecade reign in Egypt. Shot in Youssef’s laundry room using cheap props, a handheld camera, and a background made up of a collage of photos of protesters in Tahrir Square, B+ quickly developed a massive following of millions of viewers in its first months. Youssef’s witty sarcasm and creative parody of political leaders, journalists, and artists strongly reflected the newly found spirit of popular affront and disruption which had characterized the uprisings across Egypt earlier that year. Youssef’s background story as a heart surgeon who gave up a promis ing offer to work at the Mayo Clinic in the United States to staff a makeshift clinic to assist injured protesters in Tahrir Square deeply resonated with a new Egypt that was enraged by the puppetry of the wellestablished media elite and their blatantly antirevolution coverage in the official press and on state television. The viral success of B+ quickly led to multiple offers from private television channels in Egypt, and in the summer of 2011, Youssef debuted his show Al Bernameg (‘The Program’) on ONTV, a private news television channel owned by Egyptian media mogul and billionaire Naguib Sawiris. With a much bigger budget and an unprecedented live audience, the new show became an overnight sensation breaking all kinds of viewing records in Egyptian television history. Often dubbed the “Jon Stewart of Egypt” by American media, Youssef developed a unique political commen tary style, which equally parodied the military regime, the postrevolution president Mohammed Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood, and the new polit ical elite of the country. Amidst constant controversy and death threats, Al Bernameg continued for almost three seasons on three different television channels before Youssef and his editorial team decided to pull the plug in 2014, citing relentless pressures against the show and the airing channel.
