TIME has named Bassem Youssef, the Egyptian satirist, to the 2013 TIME 100, the magazine's annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. Bassem Youssef will be attending the Time 100 gala hosted on April 23,2013 in New York City in the U.S. For the special issue of the magazine, the “Daily Show" host writes: My job is hard. I have to sift through pages of political- and media-themed satirical material from exceptional writers and figure out what amusing face I can make to accompany each jab. Then I must perform them, 22 minutes a day, four days a week, with only our caterer's spread to sustain me. Bassem Youssef does my job in Egypt. The only real difference between him and me is that he performs his satire in a country still testing the limits of its hard-earned freedom, where those who speak out against the powerful still have much to fear. Yet even under these difficult circumstances, he manages to produce an incredible show: a hilarious blend of mimicry, confusion, outrage and bemusement, highlighting the absurdities and hypocrisies of his country's rebirth, all wielded with the precision of a scalpel, which, by the way, he should know how to wield because he's a former heart surgeon. Yeah. And his family is beautiful and he's a kind and generous friend. I am an American satirist, and Bassem Youssef is my hero. It is noteworthy that the Egyptian satirist Bassem Youssef was questioned at the beginning of April over insulting President Mohamed Morsi and was released on EGP 15.000 after reporting to the Public Prosecution's Office. Bassem Youssef, on his Twitter account, thanked all his fans and followers around the world for their continuous support.
