Bassem Youssef’s “The Middle Beast” tour starts
Egyptian American comedian Bassem Youssef’s “The Middle Beast” European tour kicked off in London on April 6, Africa News reported.
A packed-out Apollo, the heart of British comedy, set the tone for what is a hotly anticipated tour which will draw its curtains in Paris on May 5. He will perform on 16 different days across the continent.
Youssef, a former surgeon, has been dubbed “The Jon Stewart of the Arab world”, a nod of course to the well-known American comedian and political commentator who has hosted the The Daily Show on American TV channel Comedy Central for over a decade.
Youssef, 50, is certainly no stranger when it comes to political talk, vocally opposing Israel’s brutal actions in Gaza over the past six months and clashing with controversial media pundit Piers Morgan in October on the matter.
Just as recently as April 8, Youssef angrily wrote on X, where he has 11.6 million followers, “Enough with the blackmailing and the intimidation. You can’t continue guilt tripping people with the ‘antisemitism’ accusation. Your victimhood has expired. You even call Jewish people and Rabbis antisemites. Yes we can attack and criticize Israel and we can hold Zionists accountable. Go ahead and call me an antisemite, like you call anyone who calls out your b*****it. I don’t care anymore. The world doesn’t care anymore.
READ: US comedian faces backlash over pro Israel posts
Reflecting on his successful satirical career, he recalled, “I did a few videos after the Arab Spring satirizing the state-run media, and then it went viral, and then suddenly I’ve been offering my own television show, and it started from there,”
His The Middle Beast show will be performed in his second language, English, throughout the month and the satirist expects that he will be performing to spectators who also have English as their second language, or perhaps even third.
The comedic icon also commented on his previous life as a surgeon saying, “At a certain point, I was doing both, which was funny because I started to get famous and I would go to the hospital and people would recognise me, and I don’t think that they took me seriously because, like, they want you to laugh and then I’m coming here to talk to them about their heart operation,”
Africa News
