On November 8, the Arabic Program hosted Sara Taksler for her talk, ‘Are You Brave Enough to Tell a Joke.’ Roughly 40 members of the Duke Community made the trek to the John Hope Franklin Center to hear from the producer of the documentary, ‘Tickling Giants’ as she shared her experience producing and writing for four late-night shows, and the three years she spent visiting Egypt and creating the film.
‘Tickling Giants,’ follows the story of Bassem Youssef, known as the “Egyptian Jon Stewart.” Central to the narrative is Bassem’s rise to incredible fame in Egypt, achieved through his unabashed criticisms of Hosni Mubarak, Muhammad Morsi, and Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Before being forced into exile, his show gained mass viewership between 2011 and 2014, averaging approximately 40 million viewers per night, with Jon Stewart’s average viewership of 2 million paling in comparison.
However, with Youssef’s show, ‘The Show’ premiering only shortly after the rise of the Arab Spring, the regimes of Morsi and especially el-Sisi did not share in the enthusiasm of the masses. In October 2012, Youssef was under investigation on charges of maligning President Mohammed Morsi, due to comments made on ‘The Show.’ Morsi claimed that ‘The Show’ was sharing false information about the administration that was likely to disturb the public’s peace and security. Later on in 2013, a warrant for the arrest of Youssef was made, citing his alleged combined insults of Islam and Morsi.
After nearly a year of imposed legal hurdles and an increasing fear of a rising violent threat during the tenure of el-Sisi, Youssef announced that ‘The Show’ would not continue. Almost simultaneously, the Egyptian court released its verdict, levying a 50 million Egyptian pound fine against Youssef, due to a contract dispute with ‘The Show’s’ original broadcasting network, CBC. The court’s decision came with official, legal condemnation of political satire, implying that it agreed with the Morsi administration—that Youssef’s show posed a threat to the maintenance of public peace. Due to inability to pay the fine and fearing arrest in Egypt, Youssef fled the country with his family in November, 2014.
However, the takeaway from the film is far from one of personal struggle. Rather, the story culminates in an overall review of satire, freedom of speech, and political pressure. Within the narrative of the movie, Youssef is far from a single star. His colleagues are portrayed as incredibly loyal—not singularly to Youssef, but to the ideals of freedom of speech and expression. Taksler’s creation goes far beyond giving a timeline of this political fault line in then-contemporary Egypt. As such, the focus is not one of historical firsts, but rather one of immediate and ongoing challenge.
Throughout her talk, Taksler referenced the title of the film ‘Tickling Giants,’ as it eludes to the strength of speech, and in particular—the strength of the joke. As she fielded questions, a theme emerged questioning the right of the joke—how do you joke about incredible tragedy, is it right to laugh about painful events?
In response, Taksler says that using comedy to challenge authority is “a way to process major bummers.” She went on to say that the goal of satire can be to process and to heal. Off of this, she says that the satirical shows she finds most effective are those limited to weekly or bi-weekly airings, as shows with time to choose between topics are also able to write more thoughtfully; enabling them to be more reflective than reactive.
Following this line, in the context of Youssef, ‘Tickling Giants’ finds the overarching goal in the employment of satire to be one of truth and freedom through reflection. In the face of an authority working to systematically subvert liberty while maintaining the wide perception of popularity (el-sisi was first elected president in 2014, winning 97% of the vote), ‘The Show’s’ use of comedy is revealing—questioning the realty that the government purported and finding hilarity in its absurd declared ‘truths’.
Department of Asian & Middle Eastern Studies
