Jon Stewart has been missing on The Daily Show for the past two weeks, since he’s in the Middle East making his film about a journalist jailed in Iran in 2009. While he’s in the region, Stewart met up with his friend Bassem Youssef, who is known as ‘Egypt’s Jon Stewart.’
Youssef is a cardiologist who had no experience in television before he began a news satire show on YouTube during the 2011 revolution in Egypt. He was inspired by Stewart and his show gained popularity to the point that he earned a primetime TV show. He’s appeared on tHe Daily Show a few times, most recently after he was briefly jailed.
To return the favor, Stewart appeared on Youssef’s show Friday night, reports Reuters. He joined Youssef in making fun of the current rulers of Egypt. “If your regime is not strong enough to handle a joke," Stewart said, "then you don't have a regime."
Al Jazeera reports that Stewart was introduced on the show as a foreign spy. When they took his hood off, he showed a scruffy beard and was welcomed with applause. Stewart spoke a little Arabic, saying, “Please sit down, I am a simple man who does not like to be fussed over.”
“I flew in three days ago and I have just arrived to do the show,” Stewart joked about Cairo’s traffic.
Stewart again showed how much he admires Youssef. He noted that any trouble he gets into with The Daily Show couldn’t compare with what Youssef has dealt with. “I tell you this, it doesn't get me into the kind of trouble it gets you into. I get in trouble, but nowhere near what happens to you,” Stewart said.
He continued, “What Bassem is doing ... is showing that satire can still be relevant, that it can carve out space in a country for people to express themselves. Because that's all democracy is.”
While Stewart is making Rosewater, John Oliver has been hosting the show. Stewart is expected back in September.