Bassem Youssef Quotes

I don't want to do 20 minutes on Donald Trump. I want to do 10 minutes and move on. I wouldn't even do that with a live show, because I don't want it to feel like "An Evening Of Political Comedy."

I've always been interested in socially political, or overtly political, comedy. And I guess I've always liked to channel some kind of personal element to that.

Lenny Bruce is a very moral man trying to improve the world and trying to make audiences think.

I think it's important for comedians to do our little part. I don't do it carelessly. I do it thoughtfully. I don't try to just shock. I try to make a statement.

The Irish and British, they love satire, it's a large part of the culture.

Mixing humor and politics is something that works.

I've always been interested in socially political, or overtly political, comedy.

If I say 'political comedian,' then people think you're talking about you, the Senate and Congress, and what's going on in Washington D.C. If I say 'comedian,' people automatically assume that you're a comedian who talks about how his wife won't listen to him and that dummy down at the mechanic who wouldn't fix his car.

I really want to do what 'Veep' did. 'Veep,' in a very comical way, gave us a look inside the political machine, but I want to do it for the average American family.

People go, 'Oh, Trump must be good for comedy,' and I go, 'Ehhh.'

This is not an easy time for humorists because the government is far funnier than we are.

Comedy is the only weapon I have to battle totalitarianism.

A friend of mine was asked to a costume ball a short time ago. He slapped some egg on his face and went as a liberal economist.

In a live environment, the more bodies you put in a room, the more energy there will be. That's a real big payoff. That's really important, the live show, it's a big cycle of energy. If the audience is boring, it's tough to get excited about it.

I don't do a lot of political jokes. Too many are getting elected.

Kennedy didn't beat Nixon. Satire beat Nixon.

In the present state of the world it is difficult not to write lampoons.

You can't write good satirical fiction in America because reality will quickly outdo anything you might invent.

That's the beauty of our show. Comedy or politics. We're sort of a mix. A space age polymer of both. A synthetic comedy-like material.

As a comedian, I think we all look for those areas where the truth diverts from what people are saying. That's why politics is such a rich area for us, because politicians make promises, and they don't keep them, and when we point out the difference, we get the laugh.

It doesn't matter what happened last night or the night - or tomorrow night. It's all about what you're doing with this audience right now.

When you're onstage you have a certain faith that somebody's gonna yell somethin' back. Some nights it's louder than other nights and some nights they do, and on some songs they don't. But that's the idea. I think when you begin to expect a reaction from an audience, it's a mistake.

I know everybody wants humor to be subversive and speak truth to power. I don't think power's been listening, incidentally.

It is within the established American tradition of satire, if America surrenders on this point, the freedom of speech is a relic of history.

I'd rather do comedies that strike at some bigger ideas.