Jon Stewart’s brilliant appearance on Egypt’s version of ‘The Daily Show’

[babylonsister]

Jon Stewart’s brilliant appearance on Egypt’s version of ‘The Daily Show’

By Max Fisher, Published: June 25, 2013

Video at link~


There were a number of remarkable moments during Jon Stewart’s Friday appearance on “Al Bernameg,” a popular Egyptian political satire show often compared to “The Daily Show” and hosted by a doctor-turned-commentator, Bassem Youssef, who is often compared to Stewart. Probably my favorite comes at about four minutes and 29 seconds into the above video, when Stewart proves that you can make a Jewish joke in Egypt. Youssef ribs Stewart for his break from “The Daily Show,” joking that the TV host is now jobless and aimless, to which Stewart quips, “As you know, my people like to wander the desert.” The audience laughs and claps, albeit a bit tepidly (one guy in the back guffaws). “It’s been two weeks, I’ve got 50 weeks and 38 years left.”

Having two internationally known political satirists sit down together turns out to be just as funny, and just as poignant, as you might hope. It begins with “guards” escorting Stewart into the studio, dressed as a foreign spy prepped for interrogation (don’t worry, they switch to English almost immediately). Youssef, at one point, turns to the audience to introduce Stewart in their native language: “They say he is the Bassem Youssef of America. He imitates me,” he says in Arabic.

snip//

More poignantly, the two discuss, to applause, of Stewart’s documentary project with an Iranian journalist who had been jailed after the 2009 protests. It’s worth pausing to appreciate the symbolism, as sectarian tensions deepen across the Middle East, of a TV audience in predominantly Sunni Egypt clapping their support for a Jewish American and an Iranian Shia.

Of course, this little audience does not represent all of Egypt, but Youssef’s show is popular and a reminder that his country has plenty of liberal-minded people who push back on intolerance. In a similar vein, Youssef nods to Stewart’s own defense of the Islamic cultural center planned for lower Manhattan and his campaign against Islamophobia in the United States.

The 20-minute interview, conducted primarily in English, shows off the friendship between the two political satirists, but both Stewart and Youssef manage to demonstrate their – and their audiences’ – shared values. They return, many times, to issues of tolerance, stereotyping and mutual understanding. Their comedy is similar, as are the formats of their shows. They often find similar things to mock in their respective political systems, a reminder that some things are universal: outrage at government overreach, eye-rolling at political scandals, gleeful exposure of the hypocrisies, large and small, we’ve all come to expect from our systems.

more...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/06/25/jon-stewarts-brilliant-appearance-on-egypts-version-of-the-daily-show/

[baldguy]

1. Starting at 15:10 "I don't like assholes. And so, I try to speak out against assholes. ..."

"... And isn't that all that government is? We all get together and decide as a majority who the assholes are. That's all it is! Government is always a lottery; you put your money down, it's a bet. 'I put down some money on this guy', in the hopes that he'll turn out to be something good. And a lot of times, he doesn't - as it appears to be in this case."

It's too bad so many DUers follow the libertarians and the Tea Baggers & believe that Barack Obama is an asshole.

[liberal_at_heart]

3. You just don't get it do you. Too bad. Unlike people on DU who never criticize Obama for anything

Stewart has criticized Obama when he screws up. That is the brilliance of Jon Stewart. He criticizes all politicians when they screw up. It doesn't matter who they are. When they mess up, he criticizes them. And considering almost all of our government has been bought by the corporations, I would definitely agree with Stewart that that is what government is, a bunch of assholes that we get the luxury of gambling on and most of the time losing.

[babylonsister]

4. I surely don't

believe President Obama is an asshole.

[eissa]

2. Loved it!

Jon was his usual brilliant self, and it was great seeing how much the Egyptians enjoyed his humor. Plus, Bassem is easy on the eyes

[DreamGypsy]

5. Clear evidence that the phenomenon of humor is universal for humans ...

...even though the content and delivery of humor and satire can be very culturally based.

We all laugh, and feel better when we laugh. We learn a lot about other people and cultures when we discover what they think is funny...and why... and what we think is funny but they think is not funny...and why. It's very difficult to laugh together with someone and be angry at them simultaneously.

Thanks for the post, babylonsister. Shake it.

[babylonsister]

6. Other cultures...if only this

country as a whole would embrace them instead of revile them.

And you're welcome! Keep laughing; I try.

[annabanana]

7. Can't believe it took two days to get to "greatest"!. . .n/t

[SidDithers]

8. DU rec...

Thanks for posting.



Sid