Kind: captions
Language: en
everybody welcome to impact Theory you
are here my friends 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 the 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 be 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 five million views in just the
first three months television opera
started pouring in and suddenly this
heart surgeon found himself wildly
famous in 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 thirty to forty
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 a show until it
became so dangerous 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've
come across few stories that have
inspired me more than this so please
help me in welcoming the subject of the
doc
entry tickling Giants and the author of
revolution for dummies
the man who proved a joke truly can be
more powerful than a gun the John
Stewart of Egypt himself Bassam music
what an interaction come here every day
and like and you've got like life
audience like I mean like thank you for
for having me and I really appreciate
that you inspire I got inspired by my
story but like what are the other few
stories that got you inspired more than
mine I feel jealous already you know
what's interesting we started on the
road that would be 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 piqued so I go and I
show up now in this party we're not
allowed to say who we are so no 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 like hair salon
like stylist which you were mortified by
because like I have horrible air oh it's
I'll disagree with that but 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 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's you said whoa give us a
bit of the history like normally don't
do that 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 well I mean
it just uh as you said that 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 I like many
doctors I just went to the streets of
Cairo to fix people's wounds because I
had a very
aim so instead of throwing stones I just
like fixed the ones that they would
inflict and the Revolution ended Mubarak
stepped down and our our dictator for 30
years which is known in the Middle East
as the very short first term and I me
and my friend we were contemplating
about creating a youtube original
content and I was there as his guinea
pig because I was his friend and I
wouldn't charge him money and yeah and
and then when the Lucian comes kind of
the opportunity presented itself so I
said alright you know what I'm just
waiting for the visa papers to come and
I'm just gonna do the show on YouTube
from the laundry room of my home and I
did that and I said yeah you know 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 five
million people in three months and I and
I know that now when you say 5 milli 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 on president and before
I know it every single network wanted to
get me on their airwaves and today I was
signing the papers of a TV deal the
visas from the visa papers won't even
right and here I was I had the choice to
do it and and because I come from a very
traditional 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 kill their enemies
close and their children closer than the
children closer and they wanted us she
didn't mind at all that I would stay and
at the 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 want you to do the Jon
Stewart experience I want to do del D
life audits and this is yet another
thing that was not being done in the
Arabic media I mean nobody hears of what
you're gonna do life audience and and
they will have to laugh on your
are you gonna rent them snow I'm are you
gonna pay them no they have to look what
about what if they didn't laughs a koala
we have to write better job and the
whole 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 no no you know even if you got
all the sponsors the market you're not
gonna have like enough money to cover
the budget and I said like well if you
create good content people will come
right and we did it and we we ended up
having 3040 million people watching this
and at that time that was the rise of
the Muslim Brotherhood the Islamist
government really fast what percentage
of the population is 40 million like 40
percent and that's crazy I mean there
were like III people who'd send me
videos of they're two years old watching
three years old watching playing my
songs and it's it's just incredible and
in the documentary tickling Giants they
show some of the viewing parties oh yeah
and it was like it's Super Bowl every
fart right yeah it's crazy like so many
people gathered around indoors outdoors
just like everywhere and there's
actually one Friday that was clashes in
the streets between the security forces
and some of the protesters and then when
the show came the stuff they set on the
coffee shop next door oh why did you
show then continued killing each other
which is like freaking amazing and like
his people who's sending me these videos
and everything it's like this is this is
like this this is really surreal and so
everybody was watching it and then this
and this 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
brothers right and then 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 liked me
yesterday hated my guts today even part
even members of my family disowned me
basically and considered me as a traitor
and a secret operative of course and and
then I found another channel and then
they I started getting harassed even
more and my my show got like this the
satellite signal got jammed a couple
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 they were like
all like ridiculous but it was just like
a way of the regime to get you and then
then there's a vertical 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 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've been
trying to get to for years you wanted to
get out of Egypt I'm guessing student
like the political climate no I didn't
like the medical client at that time I
was not politically I'm not I'm not 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 we just like focus on your
career and I wanted to because I want to
have a better life a better practice and
this is what I wanted to go 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 well I mean when the
ruching happened there was a dislike
window between the papers arriving and
and the revolution this is where I
started the YouTube videos and what made
me stay is like was TV hmm why not
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 I had no idea what I
was doing
we were reverse engineering everything
that we would see on the American comedy
shows colbert's Stewart and we were
trying to how do they do that
I I thought I would last one
season hmm this was like a case of if
who's 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 I did
a virgin scene nobody know knew what was
happening we hire 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 of
work that we wanted you burned like
through three technical crews right oh
yeah they get them to figure this stuff
out 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 liked we learned together mmm 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 we we
were just like we were scrambling I mean
now if you do a show here you have an
industry you have a basics you know
who's the showrunner are you gonna get
you know who are the producer you can
with the experience at that there was no
experience there was no short run errs
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
live audience all right what gave you
the the passion and the energy to and
I'll break down 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 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 said you know what this is
the weekend I have like Hospital shifts
all the whole week the whole week I come
in the weekend I do and I shoot the
video at my home and that's it I didn't
really think when it got seriously
mmm-hmm
now I'm gonna get there and now I'm
getting paid for this I better be good
and so and and then you got you you just
get locked in and you just have to up
your game
single time when things got ugly and it
was more of 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 joints because I
didn't I had no idea what was going on
with this movie because there was an
agreement that we see a tax lair who was
the director of the of tickling trance
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 specie a panda or
palooka wave and I was there and I
watched the movie for the first time
ever with the general audience in the
Tribeca Film Fest and last year in New
York I went in didn't know what to
expect I told Sarah as I went in did you
make me look good because this is what
I'm leaving for back for my family and I
said like don't worry I was like I hope
you like it and I went in and and I 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
they're like cries outside and people
threatening to kill me and the crew on
whatever literally during the birthday
party yeah it was so weird yeah and it's
just like it was late and I was like huh
so funny--i I and I discovered like
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 the
window look out a mass of people out
there threatening threatening
threatening turns away from the wind it
goes so funny and and I and now I'm
looking at these scenes and I think it
came and now it comes to me I chose to
be to detach myself from this kind of
reality because though I was worried
more about doing a bad show than having
something bad happening to me Wow
because because 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 I mean it's
like it seems that I was worried about
the backlash of Twitter not liking my
show and being edgy
and social media baby so I was I was I
was actually so into the job that we
have to deliver every single episode
right more than anything else 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 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 and if you have to do the I mean
it's like you have a patient you cut him
open you have to slow him back and
everything has to be perfect 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 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
I know I think it is not just being an
entertainer as an entertainer because
when everything ended I was offered to
go back on the airwaves and just to do
late-night show right just it just like
go easy with the politics mmm just do is
to like like a simple game and fun and
this was actually the government that we
yeah yeah they were like offering me
like real offers like after I come back
and we have I mean big money offers if
I'm not me oh my god huge huge huge
Mother's Day it's like money that I've
never thought that I would even like
have negotiated this amount of numbers
um but this is like government money
right and and but when I say government
money I'm not talking about like
over money
talk about authoritarian money like they
have absolutely no limits and I was
offered many times by many entities to
come back everything you know here's a
game show oh do it and this is like a an
X Million number among too many that you
can do and I said I can do this it has
to mean something it so 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 so
from the outside night 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 behave 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 awesome quote I
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 this 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 it really seems important and it
suddenly made me stop taking for granted
what we're able to do in our media 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 correct so the
Islamists think that I am like the devil
who single-handedly destroyed the only
democratic experience that Egypt had so
that's one of the things that's actually
interesting about your approach which
was when you
they piss people off as when they
realized we're just making fun of one
group you were an equal opportunity
offender and so when the next regime
came into power he started making fun of
them as well
yeah but for them oh he didn't make fun
with them lean off it was not the same
joke not that it's just like I mean it's
just like I mean it's like you will
never win deal 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 no matter
numbers statistics don't matter that's
why when everybody codes fake news we
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
they are like I mean they people a lot
of my and this is something I want to
relate here when I 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 do
you 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
are these sources are flawed these
sources are biased these sources have an
agenda so we we will choose not to look
at them and this is why when people say
like oh how can like all of those
political satirist that the Oliver's
that they know as the the Colbert is the
Sam be wonderful people but you think
these people watch them you simply think
these people believe them do you think
like the more jokes that you make about
the matrix we're taught we're preaching
for the for the choir and and 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 and I'm pretty much blunt about this
no they don't care they they will they
will be if you put it I mean by numbers
what Obama did in the last eight years
it was phenomenal compared to Bush and
they still believe that a woman brought
the country down it doesn't matter
number numbers facts new
don't matter in Egypt when you when they
give you like a piece of crazy news and
so like one where the hell did you could
get this from do you get it from CNN did
you get it from BBC did you get it from
France
Venkata did you have anything on all of
these Western Western media are
conspiring against us that's it
alienated it doesn't matter so it is it
the whole this fantasy this like perfect
scenario of reaching to the other side
it doesn't matter it will not it will
not have why do you think ideology
Trump's facts damn because it's an
ideology is part of you it is part of
your 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 you kind of like don't
want to listen to you I mean it's like
it's they means the diseases they're on
both sides because if you allow yourself
to question that ideology with those
facts your whole ideology could actually
come down come crumbling down and this
is why the most people who are very hard
and and very adamant about like not
having anything questioned the most
conservative religious people they their
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 other
thing and ideology is very rigid it is
mom not meant to be flexible and it's
just gonna implode so they they and this
ideology for them is everything for them
it's their identity it's for their their
whole universe and nobody wants there is
universe to implode 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 no I teach 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 oh 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 oh I'm more
accepting than ever and you have a
process for breaking free from some of
those things like what would you teach
your kids about that 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 and now I'm like keeping an open
mind only the things that I used to
think about social norms relationships
equalities of wood 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 yeah we were we're just like
we're too
as humans we too fragile worth do you
mean mother were too unimportant we are
I mean we're too fragile too vulnerable
to an important we have this ego that
just like we cover all of this with the
ego we cover all of this with I mean if
you even if you look to human history
all of these rituals and all of all 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 and do you think that
holds us back from absolutely fulfilled
life 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 the woods like wait to stop or
they wouldn't matter I mean like now I
know you have like the galaxies and like
weird were so small you know who the
hell are we to think that we are we
we matter for anything what do you what
do you hope your kids take from your
story
ai ai ai ai think acceptance so what in
your story do you think is about
acceptance accepting the fact that I am
continuously learning and continuously
changing my mind and continuously
flexible I mean even for the smallest
things that I do on daily basis I live
in that 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 class and I'm almost 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 an easy and
I'm doing stuff that I never thought
that me the doctor that 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
are how many you better matter you're
not yourself
invented your career like three or four
times also in a very in an over over a
period of time and so I we it's just
like I think like 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 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
hardly famous Oh first of all a YouTube
guy and then like a TV guy the bigger TV
guy then an outcast then I come here now
and I'm trying to build a career in a
country where I I have a like English as
a second language trying to get through
audiences not my primary audience and
trying to do something that I was never
trained had formal training in doing is
it we're the going from so famous 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
yeah it is very nice and very humbling
you prefer that or it's just use I know
of course like of course you prefer to
be famous and successful and everything
but as you said I die then this this
takes me back to a conversation when I
had with John Stewart and I told him
like I'm I don't know what to do
Wow 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 what do you want the fame
in the u.s. to be for I want to be a
different voice I represent a sub-type
of a population which is I usually
portrayed in a very negative way with
the 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 right 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 I am literally fresh off
the boat and I'm trying to make it here
which is I think very unique and make me
maybe to give a different voice a
different perspective what's happening
in the world
and what's happening to people like me
are you proud of what you did and yeah
what I can Egypt
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
that day
all Egyptian television and most of our
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 Blake
like follow it and after even after we
left the landscape of the the the media
there has changed
talk to me a little bit about your mom I
think and your decision to become a
surgeon 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 that
the only thing that gives pride to most
families not all fans but like many
families is like being a doctor a
dentist and engineer and I didn't like
math so I went to medicine and all that
same work ethic that you had to really
do a great show did you look at being a
surgeon the same 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 Isaac I
broke medicine into the show the long
hours the the brutal work style it was
it was all medicine I was like one of
the first people to come in the morning
and the last people person to leave at
night did your parents teach you that
work ethic or was that something that
you picked up in medicine 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 gonna be very
disappointed so nobody wants to
disappoint they're at their parents so I
just like carried that nerdy lifestyle
all through my life 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 well my 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
most 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 Nuria she's well 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 of anything just
constant worry the whole time and when I
did my show she never I never actually
saw her a hundred percent elated or
happy because of the shoulders doing
worldsuck hasn't put a more homogeneous
a mode of that what will happen to you
always because we were I was there just
like heading but with the authority all
time and that was like a constant issue
for her there's three stages of the show
first when them right after the
Revolution when the military took over
for an interim period then the second
was the Islamists took over and the
third when the military took it back and
with the Islamist she was happy but
worried with the military part she was
furious mm-hmm 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
than religion itself and how can you
make fun and it really caused tension
between between us it just it defined
the relationship all through the time
that I was having my shown there what do
you think are the similarities between
what's happening in Egypt and what's
going on in the political climate here
in the US I can't say similarity but
it's just yeah there are 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
Islam 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's else's liberties or
somebody's right and and it is it's the
whole thing it's that it's the oldest
trick in the book create an enemy make
everybody afraid and just let push your
agenda the whole idea about fear of from
the other here you create the enemy of
the Mexicans the Muslims the refugees
there it is everybody else 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 by the
radical government but they were using
fear to keep people in line security
comes in the the priority number-one
priority of people's need even before
food if you play with that concept of
people's mind their motion 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
food but you can have food but no
security so it's gonna be gone so fear
is the number one motivation it is it's
a magic weapon look at all the wars all
the tensions happen in human history it
is based over like those people are
coming to kill us we have to kill them
first
is there anything that you've ever seen
that can be used to combat that like
what do you think if there is one is
sort of the secret weapon to hold that a
bit well I always 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 Islam's 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
which is 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
time there's comedy and satire but it is
directed towards the penis like how
let's talk let's make fun of ourselves
about our social behaviors let's make
fun of the traffic about marriage but
divorce about the bureaucracy but how
bad we are as human being but never up
there 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 and
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 what scared me the most is
like how people can just like flip over
night and I had family members I had
people that went with me to school
people that have known for 20-25 years
and who bill who because I said
something that would threaten their
ideology believed the most hideous
gossip about me I mean they they were
there are people who really believed
that I I was an hour 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
and what was the most beautiful thing
that you saw in all of this 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 that's that this dwarfed by those
people back there who are stuck who
couldn't do who couldn't get out to have
their family in jail because of
something they said or because of
Facebook post so because of position a
political position and this is it is it
is not beautiful it is admirable it is
impressive it is it is worthy of all of
the wonderful compliments that you have
been pouring on me the whole
time here and much more there are the
rehears I was just like a guy who's
staining telling jokes and I had to
leave because of that but these are the
people who are suffering
what made you when the warrant for your
arrest came out and the arrest one
essentially came out because you wore
the big hat 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
well what I decided to take that hat and
go to the to my interrogation and
people's like are you crazy
just like the this is what you get when
you mess with a joker you get made fun
of and it was just like she's like yeah
there's two ways out of this so they
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 black
look worse so it's my mission to make
them look force and it was just it was
just like my way to tell them like f you
basically and it worked it worked
alright so because sadly we're running
out of time let's talk about your
mission to or do you want to create a
company around launching vegan foods
like what's arriving for I I am I am
more of creating a movement I'm a big
believer that like whatever we are what
we have thought that is healthy food is
actually making us sick
I'm not going around people so that 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 behavior because I don't think
that we are made to to 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 100 years and
then was like oh where did this all like
chronic disease
coming from this pipe this increase of
of the chronic disease I have to come
from somewhere and I just want to like
educate people in Arabic and in English
about whatever their food choices and
I'm not the first one to do this like
there are the amazing people who have
done like for Shore knives cowspiracy
what the health they're a Food Inc all
of these people this is something that
has already been done before but I want
to make it more mainstream and are
interesting a show around this or do you
actually melt rate of food I want to
start I want to start first with a
digital show in Arabic and in English
too so I can speak so like that two
sides of the word that they wouldn't
think they have anything in common there
you guys are eating the same thing and
if you're dining with the same so
and and then I want to create like 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 are you following the
whole functional medicine movement 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 we're not causing this
problem this is a problem of diet
lifestyle in general
oh yeah and until we address that like
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
super organism in us in essence yeah I
mean I don't like you I look 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 there 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 property to get like
diabetes or any of the other chronic
disease so how
so suddenly genetics changed because you
came here it's because what you put in
your mouth so I'm a big believer of that
and and I'm sure it's like a lot of
backlash I back up 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 it's classified
as vegetables or french fries as
vegetables and this is the stuff that
you've given to your kids and this is
why I like anyway and this is like a
very good 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 seven years old
and he's already allergic to half of
things oh and and in our kitchen right
where did this food allergies come from
you have we have altered their immune
system which by what you giving them as
food thinking it's something agreed
all right working these guys find you
online all right twitter is at B Yousef
Instagram bassem youssef
and I'm launching on my website soon
that will get and of course best music
as Facebook and I'm doing a website soon
that will do everything is called bassem
youssef dotnet so alright my final
question yes what's the impact that you
want to have on the world the impact
that I want to have of the word that I
would like to have people laughing at
their problems instead of killing
themselves because of digging deep into
his world it is really astonishing
absolutely go watch the documentary
tickling Giants read the book rub 99
cents on iTunes right now document it's
the sale 99 cents it's number four now
on iTunes go get it
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
u.s. 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
subscribed to all his social feeds keep
an eye on this man's absolutely
fascinating everything he this is
amazing this is like this is like this
is like an ego boost like amazing man
all right guys if you haven't already be
sure to subscribe and until next time my
friends be legendary take care 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 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