Revolution for Dummies: Laughing through the Arab Spring

With his incendiary satire and his knack for unabashedly mocking dictators, Bassem Youssef and his comedy television show rose to fame in the middle of the Egyptian Revolution. Eventually accused of insulting the Egyptian presidency, and even Islam itself, he was arrested in 2013. Though Youssef ‘s case was eventually dismissed, his show was terminated, and he fled Egypt in fear for his life.

In Revolution for Dummies, Youssef proudly and hysterically riffs on the hypocrisy, instability, and corruption manifest in Egyptian politics: everything from how the government tried to cover up the violent clashes in Tahrir Square to how the military announced they had created the world’s first AIDS machine that could cure anyone of the disease to how officials were convinced Youssef was a CIA operative recruited by Jon Stewart, on a secret mission to bring down the country through sarcasm. (Yes, it gets that insane.)

This is the version of the Arab Spring you’ve never heard, the one that doesn’t get glossed over by the media. This is the real story-a tale of of guts and glory, and of how jokes are often mightier than the sword.