'Egypt's Jon Stewart' Plans to Continue Spoofing Morsi

Bassem Youssef, Egypt’s version of Jon Stewart, was arrested last weekend in Cairo, the latest and most public step in a growing crackdown by the country’s Islamist rulers on all forms of dissent. Youssef’s alleged crimes include, among other things, “insulting the president.” He has a history of poking fun at Mohammed Morsi—and long before the Muslim Brotherhood leader took power as President of Egypt.

During a visit to the set of Youssef’s popular satirical show, El Bernameg, last spring, I watched professional make-up artists transform him from a middle-aged cardio-thoracic surgeon who first found his comedic voice on YouTube into a succession of Egypt’s would-be rulers. The skit was designed to highlight the absurdity of the various presidential candidates’ electoral platforms, and Youssef’s impersonation of the bearded, bespectacled Morsi was eerily accurate and no less entertaining for it.