#424 – Bassem Youssef: Israel-Palestine, Gaza, Hamas, Middle East, Satire & Fame

**Lex Fridman** (0:00)
The following is a conversation with Bassem Youssef, a legendary Egyptian-American comedian, the so-called Jon Stewart of the Middle East, who fearlessly satirized those in power, even when his job and life were on the line. Bassem is a beautiful human being. It was truly a pleasure for me to get to know him and to have this fun, fascinating, and challenging conversation.
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**SPEAKER_2** (1:02)
Maybe you will too.

**Lex Fridman** (1:04)
This episode is brought to you by AG1, an all-in-one daily drink to support better health and peak performance. I got hit pretty hard today by allergies, and I'm just in this place where nothing makes any sense. Nose is running, scratchy throat, all that kind of stuff. Just a mess. Just a beautiful, wonderful mess that makes me appreciate all the other days when such things are not felt. That's what I hear from people who suffer from migraines, that chronic migraines are so terrible that they make you intensely hate when the migraine is going on and intensely love when it's not. Every time anything goes wrong, it's a great chance to celebrate all the times when stuff didn't go wrong. But I say all that because I just drank AG1 and it gave me this little drop of happiness that I can cling to as I proceed to try to work through the day even though I feel like crap. And if you want to not feel like crap, try AG1. They'll give you one month supply of fish oil when you sign up at drinkag1.com/lex. This episode is also brought to you by Shopify, a platform designed for anyone to sell anywhere with a great looking online store. I used it at lexfridman.com/store to put up some shirts. I should be probably putting up a bunch of other shirts. I'm a big fan of being a fan of being a fan of podcasts, of bands, of shows, of movies, of specific concerts. I still have a Metallica. I have a few Metallica shirts. But anyway, I'm a big fan of celebrating and wearing your celebration of others on your shirt. It's like a great way to start conversation. So I love it. I also love wearing just the black shirt, but a little variety is good for the soul. So if you want to inject a little bit of variety into the metaverse of the internet by selling whatever stuff you wanna sell, I suggest you sign up for a $1 per month trial period at shopify.com/lex. That's all lowercase. Go to shopify.com/lex to take your business to the next level today. This episode is also brought to you by Eight Sleep. It cools or heats up each side of the bed separately. It's like a little piece of heaven. Cold bed surface with a warm blanket, whether I'm doing like a 10th or 20th minute nap, or I'm doing a full night sleep, it's just an incredible experience. Sleep is such an important component of life, not just for your health, sort of from a physiological, neurobiological perspective, but from a spiritual perspective. Wherever this need for sleep comes from, I think of sleep as a kind of celebration of our connection to nature. It's a mini death, but the beautiful version of that, especially when you dream, you travel to some place where your mind is reconfiguring itself to try to make sense of the world, to try to put together the puzzle in the most hallucinogenic way possible before you get to return to the real world where everything makes a little bit more sense. Like Alice in Wonderland, but it's Lex in Wonderland, in Eight Sleep Wonderland. Check them out and get special savings when you go to eightsleep.com/lex. This episode is also brought to you by Element. Electrolytes that I'm sipping on right now, sodium, potassium, and magnesium. My favorite flavor is watermelon salt. It's the only one I drink. I drink it many times a day. It's great when I'm fasting. My diet these days is almost always eat once a day, very low carb. For that, especially when you're starting out, you have to get the electrolytes right. Now, as it starts to warm up, and when I'm running long distance at Austin, Texas, I really have to get the electrolytes right. So you want to make sure you have a lot of salt in your body and a lot of water before you go on the long run. Unless we're talking about crazy distances, I tend to prefer not to drink on the run. I don't know, there's something super inconvenient about bringing a water bottle with you when you're out on the trail or just in the middle of nowhere. I just like to forget the world, forget the needs of the body, forget everything, forget time, and just focus on my thoughts. Or if I'm listening to an audiobook, focus on the thing that's being said and all the little tangents that my brain creates from what's being said, all of that. But before I go on the run, I drink a bunch of Element to get the electrolytes right. And again, it mixes the electrolytes and the water, so you get both. And you're all set. You can get a sample pack for free with any purchase. Try it at drinklmnt.com/lex.