Bassem Youssef: Why we should laugh at leaders

Bassem Youssef has been called “the Jon Stewart of the Middle East”. On the seventh anniversary of Egypt’s Arab Spring he talks to The Economist’s award-winning cartoonist, KAL, about political satire and what it means for democracy. Click here to subscribe to The Economist on YouTube: http://econ.st/2GgGB8d Dr Bassem Yousef is a television comedian. He used satirical comedy to hold the authorities to account during the Egyptian revolution. Dr Bassem Yousef was a symbol of the promise of the Arab spring and of its ultimate failure. When demonstrations became in 2011, Dr Yousef quit his job as a heart surgeon to start a comedy show on YouTube. Bassem Youssef s wit and satire poked fun at the hypocrisy of the state run media which tried to discredit the protests. And it quickly became a smash hit. Bassem Youssef was one man standing against the regime with no weapons but his jokes and it soon made him an enemy of the state. Daily Watch: mind-stretching short films throughout the working week. For more from Economist Films visit: http://econ.st/2Gh0g8g Check out The Economist’s full video catalogue: http://econ.st/20IehQk Like The Economist on Facebook: http://econ.st/2GeCRUK Follow The Economist on Twitter: http://econ.st/2GfXiRj Follow us on Instagram: http://econ.st/2Gir2wY Follow us on LINE: http://econ.st/1WXkOo6 Follow us on Medium: http://econ.st/2Gir3B2