Egypt's top satirist and former "Al Bernameg" TV host Bassem Youssef joked about being passed over as "The Daily Show" host, reported The Hollywood Reporter.
Bassem's bestie Jon Stewart, who quit his Daily Show presenter job after 16 years, was replaced by South African comedian Trevor Noah. El problemo? Youssef joked that, like Noah, he is African too. So why didn't the show's producers make him the next Stewart?
Since Al Bernameg aired in 2011, Youssef has been referred to as "The Jon Stewart of the Middle East" because of his likeness to the former Daily Show host. He even appeared multiple times as guest on Stewart's show.
“I’m a local personality in the Middle East, and suddenly all these people were like, ‘You should be the next Jon Stewart',” he said at MIPCOM in Cannes. “I got my hopes up but then they gave it to Trevor Noah. I’m fine with it, I’m over it, I mean I’m African too, but that’s OK," he joked.
The heart surgeon-turned-talk show host told the crowd at MIPCOM that the Middle East has millions of undiscovered talented people.
"The Middle East is the most undiscovered, highest potential in the world," he said. "I think it’s like the only undiscovered territory. We have a huge gap between producers and consumers of content."
He added, “There are millions of people in the Arab world and amazing talents to be discovered and they’d like a path to be discovered, they are working very hard on [building] digital platforms” that can circumvent any government interference.
