Bassem Youssef is the most prominent example of political satire that emerged after the “Arab Spring." This is in and of itself one of the fruits of that “Spring," which has allowed the Egyptian satirist to defeat the public prosecutor and the authorities that stand behind him. The authorities, with their traditional tyrannical clout in Egypt, find themselves forced to accept being mocked. It is now possible for individual satirists, without being backed by a certain party or faction, or a “truth-holding" ideology, to win the battle against them. The magnitude of this gain becomes clear especially when compared to the extent of subservience seen in the Egyptian media and “national" press vis-à-vis the authorities, so much so that this had become an established tradition. Another comparison would be with the transformation affecting political satire itself: Before, satire was largely aimed at the “Americans and Jews"; now it is mainly aimed at rulers and their entourage. In truth, the transition from satire as expressed by the duo Sheikh Imam – Ahmed Fouad Negm, to that expressed by Bassem Youssef, tells us a lot about the attitudes of our present day. We are no longer dealing with local people, bereavement over Che Guevara, calls for wars, or glorification of scarcity and poverty combined with traditional appearance and clothing. Indeed, Youssef, by contrast, came to us from the world of YouTube and private TV channels, after he studied heart surgery in the U.S. where he lived. Youssef, in his appearance and his style, adopts what the tastes of certain social classes in Western countries have settled on. On top of this, Youssef is inspired by his “friend" Jon Stewart, host of The Daily Show in the U.S., who defended Youssef and his TV program. Being inspired by Jon Stewart rather than Che Guevara suggests that Bassem Youssef's satire comes from a professional position that involves the freedom of expression and the media, rather than radical and non-radical ideological axioms. Meanwhile, Bassem Youssef's popularity and rise to prominence can be partly attributed to an ideological group such as the Muslim Brotherhood assuming power in Egypt. To be sure, the Muslim Brotherhood, as the façade of a grim missionary-like segment that cannot bear sarcasm and satire, is the antithesis of what Bassem Youssef stands for – as he mocks, and calls on us to mock, incessantly. Egypt has for long been known for widespread Islamic conservatism. But it has also been known for giving sarcasm a central position in its popular culture. While these two features coexisted for long, and found many ways to find a middle ground, the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood to power is threatening this coexistence – as evident from the accusations made by the Brotherhood's administration against Bassem Youssef. But the Bassem Youssef phenomenon points in the direction of another kind of break in Egypt: The past two decades, following the decline of major ideological narratives, witnessed an astounding growth of both religiosity and consumerism, with a kind of a division of labor between the two – while they also intersected in many instances, most prominently with Muslim televangelists and their ever-multiplying fatwas. However, Youssef's satire, in this context, has ushered in the beginning of a divorce in this former marriage. Truly, these are all the fruits of the “Arab Spring," even if ultimately turns into an autumn.
