Bassem Youssef

Youssef’s English and Arabic stand-up shows are different bodies of material, which makes him a useful corrective to the idea that touring abroad simply means translating the script. His interviews about the Middle Beast and Belly of the Beast shows discuss dialect, audience expectations and the work of explaining a new context. Choose him for politically engaged comedy with an Egyptian-American perspective. Check the advertised language of a performance; familiarity with his Arabic television satire does not tell you exactly what the English stage show will contain.