The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - South Beach Sessions - Bassem Youssef

Episode Date: January 19, 2024

Bassem Youssef approaches his comedy with the precision of a heart surgeon - a profession he knows all too well, having left it behind in pursuit of comedy. In either case, he lives in constant fear of messing up... at this point, laughter better be the best damn medicine. While selling out shows across the world in both English and Arabic, Bassem joins Dan in Miami for an honest exploration of his transformative odyssey. Bassem’s journey, from despising his life as a surgeon to creating the most-watched, groundbreaking talk show in the Middle East, ultimately led to fleeing his homeland with only hours warning… all because of jokes he told about the Egyptian government. What happens when being called “the Jon Stewart of the Middle East” and a recent viral appearance with Piers Morgan leads to people pushing you to be a political activist? But between the heavy issues of politics and exile, Bassem truly just wants to make people laugh. Dan and Bassem bond over their shared family dynamics and search for happiness after finding unexpected success. For tickets and tour dates to see Bassem Yousef, go to BASSEMYOUSSEF.XYZ and follow him on Instagram @Bassem Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am very excited to do this. Welcome to South Beach Sessions. This man has an uncommon zest for life. It's not just that he was a surgeon and then became a comedian. It's not just that he writes children's books and autobiographies, not that he fled Egypt or is the John Stuart of the Middle East. He's also a salsa and tango teacher. He is a kite surfer. This man has lived a big life, Basem Yusef, with us. Thank you for making the time. Just flew in from Dubai, just got here two hours ago. Your life is big and impactful. I say nothing that's untrue here. It seems like I'm flattering you too much. You get uncomfortable with it. It seems like, but I am thrilled to be talking to you. I'm not getting as comfortable as just like you're the hype.

People are set up for this appointment. All right, let's see what that guy surfer dancer doctor Comedian has to say that I don't already know Well, I mean, I don't what do you regard as the most interesting parts of your story because I don't I don't know where to start with you Maybe I should be the the most mysterious man like the guy who does these commercial Do you think what's no second? Yeah, do say it's I'll be like I'm actually I'm getting what more right here So I'm getting you know what? Do you know what? Do you know what? Do you know what? Do you know what? Do you know what?

Do you know what? Do you know what? Do you know what? Do you know what? Do you know what? Do you know what? Do you know what? Do you know what?

Do you know what? Do you know what? Do you know what? Do you know what? Do you know what? Do you know what? Do you know what? Do you know what?

Do you know what? Do you know what? Do you know what? Do you know what? Do you know what? Do you know what? I'd like to stay away from challenges. My aim in life is to live a comfortable life, but it seems that I'm failing. Because I always find myself in situations that I don't want to be, but I end up being there. So, then people come to me and they put me in a pedestal, and they come to me with all of these questions and all of these aspirations and all of these hopes. And I said, like, I'm sorry, I'm going to disappoint you guys because I think I'm just like being like pushed

or thrown from one situation to the other with absolutely no planning. And it seems that it lands sometimes. Sometimes it does it, but sometimes it does. I mean, are you thinking, I don't know that you answered my question about what you regard as the most interesting part of your story because I don't know whether you answered my question about what you regard as the most interesting part of your story because I don't know whether you're talking about your offices being rated or you know trying to use comedy to

Have impact in Egypt where it's slightly less welcome I would imagine than it is in a place that's freer Well, I don't know what is the most interesting. I think it is interesting It's different from people from different places. So people who are from my part of the world from Egypt, they are like done with that. They already know my story is like, all right, this is yesterday news.

We're done. And there are people who are in the States are more interested what happened to me in Egypt because that's for them is very alien. And that is something new for them. And but if you want to ask about what I think, I'm in a constant state of fear of messing up because I always feel that I've been put into this career of comedy while I don't deserve it because I lived all my life as a doctor, 37 years as a doctor,

and then started the comedy show. And I always feel that I was in the wrong place, because I never planned for it, I never worked for it. And then I'm doing stand-up comedy. And I always feel that I haven't put the right amount of work to have my own show or to be touring while I know that a lot of like I go to comedy comedy shows and there's all of these comedians and I know that they're better than me and they've been English at least is their first language and they've been doing that for longer time and I feel that I'm getting more opportunities than them and I always have this kind of feeling that I don't deserve what I am and I don't deserve all of this like love and adoration and expectations because people always get disappointed. I mean that doesn't make any sense to me. A constant fear, you're living in constant fear.

Yeah, constant fear of messing up, constant fear of messing up my next show, constant fear of running out of material, constant fear of like when I'm Done With That Special Time Touring With, I'm Not Gonna Be Abel To Write The Second One. I don't know what will be, I am basically, I feel I am on a borrowed time and that time will end up anytime soon. And I felt that when I was on the height of my fame in Egypt and that three and a half years were, that show was crazy, it's like 40 million viewers each episode, that's like the Super Bowl every single Friday. And I was always depressed and the people are like, why don't you have, what would you just like enjoy it?

And I said, like, because I'm waiting for this to end. And it did. It's taken away from me. And then I'm here and I'm touring with this, of course, I have this kind of like new pump because of the piece Morgan show. And now everybody is like asking me to go and do all of these interviews and have all of these appearances and I'm in my mind. I'm thinking when is this gonna end? That seems more joyless than laughter should feel. Yeah, yeah. I'm I will say comedy comes from pain

Yeah, so I I I try to to kind of like keep a little bit of pain in my life So it can't be grateful though, it won't work. Grateful works against comedy. No, I don't know, I'm very grateful. That's what I'm trying to learn actually, to be actually more grateful. I mean, I'm always stressed between two things. The stress of not making it or not being up to the expectations.

And I'm afraid that I'm not going to be good enough. And the one thing that I'm trying to kind of insert more in my life is kind of like to try to enjoy what I have instead of trying to think of what will happen. But I can't because this is me always thinking about what will go wrong, what will go wrong. This like constant worrying, I have like these are like two forces in my mind working against each other. That what's gonna go wrong, I said like, what would you just enjoy it as it happens? So it's this is- I have trouble with what you're talking about. I've had, you know, I've gotten some of the things

that I've wanted, but I enjoy them less than I should because the mind is a plague, you know, fear is a plague, and it all gets in the way of joy. It's not, I wasn't saying that you weren't grateful, but I would think that gratitude would help you with joy, that gratitude would stop your mind from humming. This is probably part of what makes you great at things, is that you're a perfectionist this way way and the fear is fuel, but I would also think that you would have the confidence of success and be able to enjoy the moments while you're in them, but fear's not going to help you do that. Yeah, but so here's the thing, let's say I was just in Boston last week. I did three amazing show, one in Arabic and two in English. I feel amazing after each show. This is like

the, which is much better than I because when I started to send up comedy I sucked because I was new in it so now I'm grateful that I feel good about that show but it even when I had the television show back in Egypt I would say right what will I'm gonna do in the next show? Well I was gonna go. Well I feel seats. Well I be I have like a European tour coming up and I'm afraid I'm not gonna sell seats or sell tickets I'm afraid that people come and not not enjoy the show. I'm always having this idea of like When I think of myself is like people are paying tickets to come and see me and

They should get their the war their money worth and that's me, when I do, when I'm on stage, I always look to the people who are not laughing or smiling, it's like I'm gonna get them. Not because of that, because I want to give them a good time. So this kind of, I think it's a kind of a provider mentality in me, which I got from my dad, who always want people around him to be happy.

So that's the whole thing. I mean, again, it's a lot of expectations, a lot of people wanting me to do stuff or expecting me to be happy. So that's the whole thing. I mean, again, it's a lot of expectations, a lot of people wanting me to do stuff or expecting me to do stuff. And I'm just like afraid of not being up to it. Was it the same with surgery, with being a cardiothoracic surgery? I hated being a surgeon. I did it for 19 years and I hated every second of it. It's crazy. I was like seven years old medical school to have years of practicing. And I never liked a single day of it.

But I did it because that's what I was supposed to do. I had good grades, so I had to go to medical school. That's the exile parent stuff. Your father was a judge, your mother was a professor, like exile parents, immigrant parents, you sort of have four or five... No, but that was an Egypt. Right, right.

But what I'm saying is that I feel culturally, like a lot of cultures, you have like four or five Egypts. Right, right. But yeah, but what I'm saying is that that that I feel culturally like a lot of cultures, you have like four or five choices on what success looks like professionally. And medicine is one of them. Yeah, yeah. So medicine, if you got good grades, go to medical school. Why would you go to anywhere else? So I went to medical school seven years, and then I just, I just didn't enjoy that's why it's also because I needed the event. So I would go to my shifts and I finished my shifts and got to go teach salsa. And like people in my department, my Karjik Sergei department hated me. They always like, you know, it's like if you're not in misery with us,

if you're not having a bad time, like everyone knows, why do we have to have a good time and dance with women? Come here and just like deal with death like everybody else people were depressed and And Yeah, I always felt out of place. I always felt out of place I always felt when I was medical school. I felt out of place because I I know I just didn't like the I I looked to have My own social life outside. And when I was in my high school, my parents saved so much money to put me on an expensive

private school. And I went with the richest people in the country. And I wasn't as rich. So I always felt out of place. So I have this kind of feeling of feeling always out of place. I'm not rich, and then I'm in a rich kid's school. And I don't like medicine and I went to medical school. I went to salsa while I'm being a doctor.

So I was different from everybody. But the other side, I went to comedy in my late 30s, early 40s and everybody thought that I'm an intruder because I didn't come from that space. So I always feel that I'm out of place. I'm fish out of water and that's why I'm struggling to feel it. Like, will I be comfortable with who I am because I always feel that I'm doing these stuff while I'm not supposed to do. Even with the Peace Morgan show, I went viral and I'm not even a politician and

suddenly I won't viral for all of the things that you shouldn't go viral for. So I always feel that like I'm in a place where I'm, I don't know what I'm doing. I'm just like I'm being put into spaces that I don't belong to. And that's why this like continues discomfort that I have. Seems like a special kind of torturous prison to spend 20 years with the meticulousness of, and the obsessiveness that surgery requires

with lives in your hands to hate every day of that. Oh yeah, and then I went to comedy and I took the precision and I took the obsession. That's why I thought to enjoy it. A different kind of misery, right? I know, I know. I don't know, I think. Yeah, I don't know.

Well, which feels better? Praise, applause or laughter? I laughter. Because laughter, you cannot praise and applause. Applauses you can do just like out of, you know, being nice, praise that come from a hypocritical or just being, you know, but like laughter, you cannot think that. Do you examine your, what you call depression there?

No, I'm not depressed. No, the fact. I'm very, very happy. Why do you think I'm depressed? Is it because I'm telling you that I'm still living in constant fear, that I feel that I'm not going to do? Is that like a sign of depression? I don't think that's depression.

Also, that's like I'm being very that's also denial I only seized on it because you use the word you use the word depressed and what you're describing Sounds like it's really hard to be happy inside that because you can't be a surgeon flippantly or part-time You know you can like you're going thing you hate, you're immersed in it. And it's hard to get away, like salsa classes are nice, but it's hard to get away from it. It helped.

It also got me a lot of girls. Yeah, it helped. I mean, come on, listen, like a hard surgeon and a salsa teacher, that's a chick magnet. And a comedian. Like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, but you had the funny in you. You had to have the funny in you.

You weren't a comedian, but you're, well, you know, like, yeah, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no's nice being comedy, but like I like the travel. Again, it's not being different. I'm very, very grateful for what I've been going through, but it is just a lot of people when they come and they talk to me about my life, they think I'm like, oh, I'm like, you have to lay this great life. But deep inside, I always feel that I'm undeserving, which, you know, you can always, people say it's a imposter syndrome, whatever. But I always feel that I didn't, I wasn't prepared. I didn't study in that field. I don't deserve to be in that field for long because I see people who have been there longer than me. And they are not as established or as famous.

So I feel like there's something very wrong. I feel this is, I don't know, like I always feel there is, I'm always waiting for whatever I'm going through to crumble. Have you explored the roots of why you do that? I know, I don't know. No, I don't know. Maybe it's the, I have no, it's just like, again, this is, this is a very unusual life. I'm very grateful for it. But again, I don't know if I'm good enough to maintain it. As I said, I am now touring with two different specials, one in Arabic and one in English, and the one thing that is bugging me is like, what am I going to do if I sell my special?

What will be my second special? What I'm going to write about? That's the opposite of like that seems to be playing defense against anything that can resemble joy. If you're always afraid of what's next and you can't enjoy what's happening or it makes it harder to enjoy what's happening. That's why I come on podcasts and I do that as therapy instead of like paying it because it's very expensive to pay for therapy. So yeah, you're my therapist, man. Okay, well, take it. Well, you've got a lot to explore. I am fascinated by both your journey and your choices and your fight.

Like, I mean, I don't know if you would classify yourself as brave, maybe you'd just say circumstances forced me to be brave, but you were doing comedy that was attacking politicians arcastically in, I mean, John Stewart of the Middle East doesn't seem like something that can exist. Well, if here's the thing, there's two ways to look at it. There's just like, oh, you did these kind of political satire in a climate that was extremely unlikely to be there, and it went up against the powers that be,

you're so brave, but I look at it from a different place. After 2011, after the Arab Spring, there was a space where people were allowed, there was like a fluidity in politics and in freedom and everything. So I did the show and the show became bigger. Once the show became big, you always have to perform on a higher level. I did what I did not because I wanted to go against the government. I did what I did because that was good comedy because if you didn't do that, that would be like commanding comedy. So I tried to fight as much as possible, not because I wanted to prove a point,

or not because I wanted to be some sort of standing against the power, or the authority, it's just because this is what political style looks like. And I tried to push as much as I can until I couldn't do it anymore. So I did it against the Islamists, and there was like a much more freedom at the time because they had the freedom and we had the freedom and then the military came and then the freedom were less, not because the Islamists were more democratic, it's just because the atmosphere allowed everybody to have more freedom. And then under the military I tried to push as much as I can within the limits that I

can and at a certain point I couldn't. So I left. So the whole idea of like, I was not being there as a political activist or a freedom fighter. I was just trying to do comedy because that is the way to do comedy. So because if I didn't do it anywhere else, it would be bad comedy.

That's the whole thing. That was the driving force. Not being someone who is going against the authorities. And I think people in the Middle East mess this, they kind of confuse this. So when I stop doing it because I can't, they call me a coward, they call me a sell-out, you left and it's like, what am I supposed to do? Get in jail so you'll be happy. So why don't you do it from outside?

It's like political satire worse if you are in the country. If you do it from outside, it's not going to be the same. I don't want to be a political actor so just like throw rocks from outside. So when I started doing stand-up comedy, I did it in a way because that is the only way I could actually have any foothold of the American media scene. So basically I did everything as a base of survival, as a way to do the comedy that I want to do, but it was not about being brave or being...

I just like people put too much hope on comedians and that's wrong because they go to the people in the media and they go to people in politicians and they're doing a really bad job. So who's doing their job? Comedians, because we make fun of stuff. So they think that we have the answers, we don't, we just make fun of stuff. And that is the problem. I always say that the, this whole thing about like the infatuation of comedians, they are the new thought leaders, they are the new philosophers. Our role ends at the edge of our theater, the edge of the television. And this kind of

like hope that you put on comedians put a huge stress on them that they are shouldn't be there. So I think that's the whole thing about like conflating comedy and politics and activism with humor It's that time of year again the NFL is in full playoff mode and we will be watching every Single gaming to get the boys together get around the TV go to the local watering hole There's one beer that you need to reach for and it's the only beer that we drink and that's Miller light I'm actually here with Mike Ryan fellow Miller light Enthusiast. Yeah, I love Miller like Mike. Mike. I was just telling him when they take that Miller light on tap

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What was the most scared you were between the arrest warrants and the rating of your offices? There had to be some fear in there if you're not assigning bravery to it, there were consequences. Well, the interrogation was, for some reason, I just was, I was taking it lightly. And I don't know because I didn't believe the duel put me in jail because of that. So maybe inside of me, I didn't think I told myself there's nothing to be worried about. Although there was a lot of consues that will happen. The rating of the offices just to be honest, it happened to the offices of the production company that was doing this, or it didn't happen to me. But there was a kind of a certain fever I had to leave Egypt in four hours.

And I was wondering if they would stop me at the airport. And there was another incident where I was actually detained in another Arab country when I was still having my Egyptian passport in 2019 before I got my American passport. And I didn't know that this Arab country that was like a kind of a extradition agreement with Egypt. And I was going to be delivered to the Egyptians. But these kind of moments where you should be afraid of, I don't know why there's always like a voice inside of me saying like everything's gonna be okay. And I was kind of like I was I have this kind of like very optimistic. You see how pessimistic you think that I was at the beginning but I have this optimistic thing in

me that saying like nothing wrong will happen. So maybe at the height of success, I always this have this voice, of keeping me worried about the future. And when something really bad is happening to me, I have this voice telling me it's going to be okay and nothing harmful will happen to me. So maybe it's like all of these are defense mechanisms. Are you spiritual? Like what is happening there? Because that sounds like confidence.

I don't know. Well, I just told you when I'm at the height of my career I didn't have any kind of I'm always a friend. I know but if it may be at the top you're afraid of being at the bottom and at the bottom or wherever it is that you're afraid you're like everything's gonna be okay. Yeah maybe it is a defense mechanism maybe it's so maybe like when you're at the top you you don't want to be enamorated or in fact you're way to success, so it keeps you grounded.

And when you're at the bottom, you just want to feel that everything is okay so you don't go crazy. So maybe it's a defense mechanism that happens innately. Can you tell me about those four hours that you're talking about as you were ready to leave Egypt and change your life in a way that had to be pretty scary. Yeah, so a background for that, we went into an arbitration case between me and my ex-channel television station.

And of course things like that, and Egypt doesn't happen because of the TV channel, it happens because of bigger bigger powers do that. But they would didn't want to make it to appear as if it is like a curbing of freedom, but it's like a legal conflict, if you know what I mean. So... A curbing of freedom in disguise. Yeah, so my lawyer said like,

there was no way we would lose the case because basically what happened is they canceled my show. So we went into arbitration. And there was no way that I would lose the case because basically what happened is they canceled my show. So we went into arbitration and there was no way that I would lose it because we delivered everything and they are down who canceled and then my lord called me at 12 noon, 11th of November 2014 and he told me, you lost the case, now we have to pay 150 million pounds to them. I said like, he said like, we have never seen history of arbitration in Egypt, we have never seen that.

At the time that was about $50 million. And I said like, but that doesn't make any sense, it doesn't make any sense. But under the circumstances it does, you need to live right now, it's like, what wait? There is no jail time in arbitration. I said, he said, under normal circumstances there isn't. Now you need to jump on a plane and leave the country. So I got the 12 noon, four o'clock. I was in airport.

I put as many underwear I can in two suitcases. I took the plane to Dubai, stayed there for a few months, and then from Dubai, I went to the States. So in that four hours, all I had to time, I called my brother, went to my father, told him I'm leaving the country. And he said, well, good luck. Ha, ha, ha, ha.

I told my wife, every day, let's just give me out the bag, then just put stuff. It was the most chaotic thing ever. And when I went there, I was just hoping that they didn't have time to put my name on any list. So, and I left. Terrified walking through the airport.

Yeah, but for some reason, I... Everything's gonna be okay. For some reason, I was like, everything's gonna be okay. Nothing's gonna happen. What's a $15 million job? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You don't have the $15 million job. And I'm now presently fleeing my homeland, yes.

But everything's gonna be okay. Yeah, and I know that I... It's just when I talk about this, I talk about it, it's kind of, you know, people say, like, how do you talk about it, very calmness? I's just when I talk about this, I talk about it, it's kind of, you know, people say like, how do you talk about it very calmly? I said like, I don't know. I think something happens to me that will tell me that will keep me in a mood where I don't panic, although maybe inside I panic.

And I kind of like, that kind of panic comes out maybe days later. I had something like this happening. I don't know if it's similar or not, but my little brother recently passed away. Oh, I'm so sorry. Thank you. The last year of his life was had a lot of turbulence in it or last two years, really.

And there were so many instances where I was in places that were horrifying, heartbreaking, terrifying, and I felt like I was watching myself experience them and being like, you're doing okay here. You're being gentle with myself while I was in it, but it felt like somebody was happening to somebody else. It was so traumatic that it wasn't really, I didn't have any comfort in it, but I wasn't quite as scared of it as I should be

as I tell you the story and retrospect. Exactly, yeah, so you feel it. I think this is maybe a defense mechanism that our bodies, our brains do it in order to keep you sane or not making you completely freak out, because maybe your body wants you to be functional, your brain, your conscious wants you to be functional. So it gives you all of these fake kind of assurances

that everything is going to be okay. While it may be the other choices like to go completely to lose your mind. So... Yeah, no, that could have happened. I mean, I felt sometimes like to go completely to lose your mind. So yeah, no, that that could have happened to me. I felt sometimes like it was happening to me, but not in the moments that were most pressurized. Yeah. So you're telling your family, are you leaving by yourself? You're getting on there and and and and your wife and everybody understands. We, well, what can they say? I mean, like, I just like calling everybody,

like I called my brother, went to my father, and of course, my wife with me at home, and I just told them, and he said, and they were weirdly very understanding, and they, what the best thing that they did was, they didn't want to put any more pressure on me. They said, okay, when you just, when you arrive, just like tell us you're okay, it was that kind of thing.

And that is like maybe sometimes it's the best support you can get from your family, is that it's settled because you know how it is, like, oh my God, what's happening? It's like, you don't need to listen to that right now. You're already having a lot of stuff. My wife is the most grounded person ever. And I think because of her, maybe I just went through

a lot of stuff that usually people don't survive going through. It's the fact that she is extremely grounded, very understanding. And the same with my dad and the same with my brother, they were like all very grown. My mom passed away a year before that. And if it was my mom, my mom would be all over the place. My mom was like, she lived on her nerves. She lived just to worry about us. And so, you know, I had like the people who were more grounded to kind of support me within that journey.

How difficult or how much I'm not good enough comes from being raised by a judge and a professor and, you know, people who are accomplished and are going to expect perhaps culturally that you must be accomplished too. My dad was the most chilled person ever, he didn't care, so like do whatever you want. And my mom was the one who were the pants in the house, my mom was the strong person in the house, she lived with three men, me, my brother, my dad, and she was in control. So she was like a strong Egyptian Arab Muslim mother

who's established in her case. And for her, that is like where all the perfectionism come from. Oh, that sounds a little bit. That's my family. My dad's not quite chill. He worries a lot, but the mother was absolutely in charge. And the same, brother. And people were always surprised because my brother and my father and I are,

they think of us as big personalities, but anytime we'd walk into a place, it would be my mother, front as the lead. My mom is always the lead. And my dad, kind of like, didn't, he, my dad was not a guy who was confrontational. He was just like a guy who did his job, provided for his family, and he just wanted his time playing tennis and being and chilling with his friends. That is what my dad. He was like the most chilled, coolest person ever.

Very, he was just like a wonderful, wonderful person. My mom was the one who would push the family into, we need to put Bessim into a better school. We need to put to have a better thing. She was the one who's pushing the family forward always and she was the engine, the power in that family. But that came as a surprise because she was very difficult to deal with.

She was very high maintenance, very assertive, very, you cannot mess with her. You know, she was, there's like, you can't even raise your voice a little bit from front to back. She was scary, but also very loving, always worrying, a hundred percent, like just like all over the place, hands on. but also very loving, always worrying, 100% like just like all over the place hands on. And this is the, I think the duality between these two parents, like the very chilled and the very tense, finds its way through you. And now you, now I understand what I have in me from them, and I try to tweak these two elements in a way that kind of make me survive better.

So I need that perfectionism, that kind of like fire, and then I need that shield out to kind of like put me down a little bit. So these kind of, you play with the ingredients if you can, yeah. How many years, days, months did you spend trying to get out of medicine or thinking about getting out of medicine before you actually got out?

Every day. The thing with medicine is that I always think, all right, I'll get out of medicine, what will I do? Because I have to have a choice. And I remember when I finished medical school 1990 2000 and I borrowed money from my dad in order to make a chicken farm. I did a chicken farm Yeah, I bought 10,000 chicks and I said like I'm gonna do I said because I because there was a break between my

On the side. Yeah, yeah, but there was a break like a few few months before me finishing my medical school and me getting the residency. And there was also the army. So I had like a space to do something. So it's like, maybe I'll go into something to invest money into it. And yeah, and I made my dad lose a lot of money on that. And I felt so terrible about like making him lose the money. And it's all right. Maybe it's just medicine now.

And I went into medicine and I just went into the trajectory of being a resident doctor, to be an attending doctor, and I just accepted that as my destiny. But inside of me, I didn't want to do medicine, but also inside of me, I didn't feel that I was a good doctor. I did all of like, I did the my US Emily, my, my RCS, the British one, and I was an, an honor student, and I had like a residency and everything,

but I, I, I didn't like it. And I, and I didn't feel, I always say I was a hard doctor. I was a heart surgeon, but my heart wasn't in it. So, you can't do anything joyfully like that. Yeah, yeah. It's impossible. Yeah, so when I did the YouTube videos and it went viral and I had this television deal, it's like, yeah, that's my chance.

But even then, I didn't leave medicine right away because my mind was like, don't leave medicine, so I'm like, how about I take a leaf of absence for a year and see how it displays? Because at the time, I also had like, I was accepted in a fellowship in Cleveland and I was going to travel. And so I had the television deal, I had my residency, I had no no my,

I had my position in the university in Egypt and I had the fellowship in Cleveland. So I said, like, I'm going to put medicine on hold for a year and see how it goes. By the second year, I renewed for a second season. I had a lot of money. It's good. Now I can leave medicine. So I resigned.

Do you remember any of the details about where the light went off or where there was maximum illumination on something swelling in you. Here's my way out of the prison. Like you say when the YouTube show got popular, are there any details where a light goes on and you're like, oh, this is the path. I must chase this. It was the second season when I did the live audience. And I was just like, the show was like huge. And it was so huge and so big that you think oh, it's never gonna get canceled You had this a year and a half later did but But this is like good now. I'm I'm I'm earning that much money and it's all it's weird because

A big part of it was actually, it's a financial decision. If you're earning that much money, so I don't need medicine anymore. It is very basic. It can be as basic as this. Maybe I just needed something else to provide me with financial stability that I don't have to stay in medicine for it.

Maybe the only reason I was in medicine because it was just a known path, a guaranteed path into financial stability, and I didn't have any other option. And when I did, I left it. And I know it sounds very basic and very uninspiring, but maybe that's the reason. What was your assessment of the high end of what the show could become when you started it? Like you thought you were creating what to what end? of the high end of what the show could become when you started it. Like you thought you were creating what to what end? I all, when I started it, I said like,

oh, I want to be like a version of John Stewart in the Middle East. And I remember after the first season, the first season was a recorded, small television show. It didn't have life audience, it didn't have that dynamic energy that the budget, what's the budget for? All that the budget for very small, it's nothing. But when we

were about to renew the second season, I went to New York to shadow the production team of the daily show. And John caught me on the show. And I remember after, as I was leaving, and I told him, I'm trying to do a live audience. And I, if I do, would you please come to my show? And he did. And when he did, he attended my show. It's on YouTube, by the way. You can find the show, the whole show. And John was amazing. He came to Egypt and he said, I never thought that like a Jewish guy from New Jersey would have this kind of a, of a reception in the middle of Cairo. People were going crazy. And on that day, when I kind of fulfilled my promise to him, and he fulfilled his promise

to me, that for me was like the peak of my career in Egypt. I said, they can cancel the show now, I don't care. And I really thought that we had a chance. We did something that is very unique in the Arab world. It was watched not by the Egyptians, but all of the people in the Arab world, people, Arab people in the Asperer. And it was something very beautiful. And I felt very sad when it ended.

And at the same time I felt very relieved because the kind of stress that I was living in, day in, day out. I was very relieved because the kind of stress that I was living in, day in, day out, I was very depressed. The day that I got the phone, it's like we cannot have this show anymore, we're very sorry. I kind of like I had a sense of relief, or I don't have to go to the office next week. And I would have to go to the stress of trying to produce a very unique episode better than the one that we just did, because it is just a continuous stress. And it's very weird that like I left medicine because of the stress, because I didn't like it. And I went to a line of work that I thought it was nice, but I was also stressed out.

So it's just, again, it is the duality of the stress of the chilling out that I have to deal with all the time. How and why do you think the show caught on from your perspective? How and why did it become that big? Because people are not used for political satire and for the kind of comedy where you go and Criticize openly the government or the authority or the president or a starving for freedom or something that's not freer Creatively free. Yeah, it is. So, and this is why people didn't like the show. They like how the show made them feel.

And this is why when I escaped, when I left, when people tell me why don't you do the show online, so it's not going to be the same. People, this kind of hope that people had is gone. Because doing the show from inside Egypt, there was always this kind of hope that things can change. But when that is gone, it becomes a vent. And you cannot be a vent that long. And people who put so many hopes and dreams, and when things don't change, the love and the adoration and the aspiration turn into hate, because now that it's your fault. It's very difficult, seriously. I mean, I'm telling you, even what's happening now in Gaza,

and what's happening there, I went to the Pismorgan show and now people, because it's going now, it's going for a hundred days and people still being dead. It's like, why don't you do everything about Palestine? It's like, dude, what do you want me to do? Why don't you speak more? It's like, well, that's all the problem. I speak when I get asked about that. But it is just like people pushing you to be a political activist all the time. And you cannot fulfill that because it is very difficult position to attain because I am not a political activist. Your wife is half Palestinian. What does she say you should be doing or on this front with the platform?

She doesn't say, she doesn't tell me what I should do with anything. Because, again, even she's half Palestinian, she understands the reality of the situation and she understands that the reason why people there are having like a horrible time, big part of it is like how the Arab countries failed on their part. I mean, they're not, of course Israel is to blame in my opinion 100%. But also it's because the people there are left there because it's the collective failure of the Arab world. They left their Palestinian brother face that and they are not giving

you getting well support. So she understands and she knows that like me as a person, there isn't that much I can do. And she's happy that the opportunities that I got, that I spoke up, but also she's not an activist herself. Because she understands, she's a human, she is more concerned about her kids and about our raising our family. And she doesn't wanna be pulled every single day into this kind of misery on the online.

Because that's why she actually deactivated most of her social media because she knows. I think that's the best thing to do. Oh my God, it's such a poison. Because she knows that that poisoned their life. And she said, I need to be there for our family, for the kids. So she's choosing well. You struggle a little bit. Yeah, struggle. It's also the jet lag struggled with that a little bit. Yeah, struggled with it.

Choo choo choo choo choo choo choo choo. It's also the jet lag in the 16-hour flight. Yeah. Do you sort of fear the future? Are you hopeful about the future? Not just personally, but with everything you see happening everywhere that feels every day to me a little bit scarier when I've never been a person who's been terribly scared.

Oh, you mean the future of the planet? I'm just, oh, we're doomed. I see that to the nicest way possible. We are, can we say, we're fucked, can we say that? Okay, we're fucked. I mean, whether it's climate, whether it's like war, where it's like, I don't know the collapse of the moral system of the world. No, we're totally fucked.

Okay, well, we're here to make fun of it. Basically, we're here to make as much money as possible, so we can build a bunker and be safe from everyone. So we could have Zuckerberg's 100 acres in Hawaii. Exactly. And hiding, you know, it's survival now. Everyone for himself. You mentioned, you mentioned Pears Morgan, the show, the appearance,

you made a few different times here, explain to the audience for those who might not know what happened there, what you expected to happen there. And how afraid you were of being in the middle of all of that. So, I've been on a piece more than a couple of times, one to promote my show in Europe, Last March, and one when they asked me to talk about the Afro-Sensitive movement with the new Clipetra Netflix documentary, and I talked about it as an Egyptian about that. So, when the thing broke out in Palestine, they called me to talk about what happened, and

I was afraid because the propaganda on the 7th of October was crazy. And the stuff that was said to happen, and which actually turned out to be wrong, and a big part of it is propaganda, it was very difficult for me to speak about what's happening without appearing as I am supporting Hamas or supporting terrorism

or like being anti-Semite. So I kind of like I said no a couple of times. But then I saw that Ben Shapiro came on his show and he said the most viral, most horrible things and I got like very angry and they told me to come on the show. so I went on the show. And my first interview with him went very, went viral 23 million views on the first show. That was the biggest that he did in his YouTube channel. And then he asked me to come and to do like a sit down with him. And all I did was that I talked differently about what's happening there.

Try to humanize Palestinian because they're always looked upon as like lesser humans who should die. And right now there's like almost 30,000 people who got killed in less than a hundred days. And the whole world is doing nothing for it. And all of they are using Hamas, they're using terrorism. Even if ISIS lived in Gaza, there's no excuse of killing 30,000 people in a hundred days. That is, and that's no excuse of like dropping,000 people in 100 days. And that's no excuse of dropping what is equivalent to four nuclear bombs into a very congested, locked up,

open prison, with two half million people living there. And the dehumanization of a group of people like that, which is, this is like the even Holocaust Holocaust survivors talk against what's happening in Palestine. So you cannot do make this as an anti-Semite thing. There is like the Jewish voice for peace who have been arrested in New York and saying that this should not happen in my name. You cannot just label anybody who talks for the freedom of Palestinian people as anti-Semite. This is propaganda. This is a way to shut down conversation. Every time you talk about Islam, you're in Islamophobic. That's wrong. Every time you talk about like

what's happening with the LGBTQ only as a transphobic. That's that's not right. You cannot use labels or when you talk about what's wrong with American people tell you that you're an patriotic Because I've been there. I've been there when I talk about what's happening in Egypt and people told me like you're a spy or a traitor, when I talk about that against the Islam is they talk me into like you're an infidel you hate Islam. So I've been like with this kind of life. I've been called names by the Islamist. I've been called Koy. Games by the Nationalists. I've been called names by the pro-Israeli people, I've been even called names by the pro-Palestinian, but not being doing enough. So every time you talk and people kind of like throw stuff

at you as racist, slum of hope, you're anti-Semite, this is a way to shut down conversation. And this is like a very, very lazy way to intimidate people about not talking about issues, but just like throwing labels at you, instead of actually listening to a new one's deep comprehensive, subjective conversation. Can you tell me how much fear you had as a surgeon

or how much of a plague it was to hold human life in your hand and lose people. Oh yeah absolutely. You have this kind of fear of like messing up and if you mess up like, you know, the price you pay is someone's else's life. Thank God. I mean, I was an attending doctor. I was not a senior surgeon when I left. So I didn't, I only had a few patients of my own with thank God survived. I did like a few valve replacements and I'm part of like, you know, open heart surgery for cabbage or, you know, bypass. And, but I didn't do that many. And as a surgeon, you will have to have mortality somehow. So thank God I went out of medicine before killing anybody. Thank God there is no blood on my hands.

I came on time before messing up. And now I'm just like messing up jokes. That's what I know. It is slightly less pressure. But how did you deal with the pressure of that? Again, the calming voice inside of you telling you everything will be OK. And I think it's like, when you, hard surgery is a big process.

So you start by maybe extracting the vein and extracting the radial nerve from the hand kind of like for the bypasses or to open the skin, open the chest, you go up, you do parts of the operation. The main part of the operation, which is the valve replacement or the bypass itself, it is up to the senior surgeon or me as an attending doctor trying to learn. So I was always part of a bigger apparatus, bigger procedure.

So I always been like part of it. So I would be extracting a vein from a guy who would later die. It's not my fault, it's a senior surgeon, so I don't have that on my conscience. At least my vein worked. You did your... I did my job and I missed it up. I don't care. What a bad teaming.

Yeah, it's all about me. I just care about not missing up and killing other people. It's like, hey, why do I have to worry about that? Who's got a bigger God complex surgeons or comedians? See how I hesitate now? Because some comedians have very bad God complex, but usually surgeons, yeah, they have a lot of, yeah, yeah, that's why I couldn't stay there

because there's the egos in that surgery room, oh my God. There's no place for the patient. So thank God, yeah, there's too much ego going there. But also for comedians, actually for celebrities. It's not about comedians about how big you are as a celebrity. I've seen people's huge got complex. Yeah, and it's very difficult not to. When you have all of these people like adoring you

and it is very, I wonder why. I'm very happy that fame came to me at like late 30s, early 40s, and even when it came to me, it got, everything was taken away from me and I had to start again in my mid 40s, late 40s. So I thank God, like I have the check of some balances everything was taken away from me and I had to start again in my mid 40s, late 40s. So, I'm thank God, I have the check of some balances to tell me you're not that much of a big shit. But I've seen celebrities and the doc complexities. I don't even see celebrities influencers.

Just like people who's a few million followers on Instagram. Oh my God, they're like, and I see it. And I see when people come in and just like storm, having all of these people wanting to have selfies with you, I want to say, yeah, it messes up with your mind. How can you not be human? It's intoxicated. It's very, it's very, it's very toxic. It's terrible.

Can you take me through the beginnings of your stand-up comedy career? How much failure was there? How much embarrassment? How many times were you, how often were you going home? I'm bad at this. This I'm not going to see you. How many times I'll go home and cry? And because when I started doing stand-up comedy, like anything that you start, you suck at it it especially if you're doing it in second language and I chose to do set up comedy in my second language because I wanted to break free from the curse of my show in back in Egypt. The show is so big it was like a black hole it would suck anything that comes near to it so I said like I need to make a decision I will do a show that's not a television show I will do a show that is live in a language that's not Arabic

and I do it in a format that's different from the show. So people will come and have no expectations. But still my fans here in America will come with a lot of expectations. And I will come and see me and I suck. I suck big time. I was not good. And I see that there's a point in their eyes.

I was like, oh, Bethesim is done now. He's gone. He's a husband. He's only going to be six months from now. He's going to be driving in Uber. And, yeah, it was very, it is, it's terribly. I would go to these comedy clubs and perform very badly, because it's not just like about like finding the good jokes, it's finding the good delivery. And in your second language.

Yeah. And the delivery second language? Yeah. And the delivery and the cadence and the speed. And I was, yeah, at a certain point, I would be, I would just be, I remember like listening to recordings. It's like, oh, I'm just monotonous. I'm just like reciting the jokes because I have two. And it was terrible. And now it took time to kind of find

my voice in stand-up comedy. So yeah, there was a lot of failure, a lot of crying. I even my stand-up comedy at the beginning was not a stand-up comedy. It was more of like a PowerPoint presentation. I would use like videos and pictures with me and so because I would use them to make them laugh. Like, you know, like the Daily Show would use like videos and pictures with me. And so because I would use them to make them laugh, like you know, like the Daily Show would do, they have pictures. So because I needed a crutch to make me funny. And I didn't trust me myself as someone

who would actually do something. So I let the PowerPoint, I let everything. And now I'm doing the show just me. How did you do treating failure as learning because I have a hard time with that? Well, I mean, if you do bad, there's two ways to do it. You can either just like, actually three ways. You can be depressed and not find a way. There is like, there you could deny it.

Or you can, I would actually pay other comedians to come and see my show and give me notes. So I did that. I would kind of like work with people, work with people, like I would perform for them. They would come to my show and I would pay them to come and tell me how much you could be better So I didn't have any ego from and these are comedians who knew me from Egypt

So they have this like great respect from me. It's like, oh, what you did for Egypt? That means I said, dude here. I'm nobody. Please come to my show and just work with me And they were very nice and I and I and I benefited a lot from having other people Looking at my act and tell me how to improve it. You must take critique well if you're welcoming it. Well, it has to come from a place to know that you're not good enough. And you always know that there's always a space to improve. And already going in knowing that I'm not good.

So you can either go cry yourself to sleep every day, or you have to do something about it, and if you do something about it, it's to get help, and to get help from people who know that profession more than you. How long did you spend in this space going home and crying, failing, crying, failing, crying? Three or three years. Yeah. Three or three, three, three, four years. Yeah. Only the last couple of years, I feel that I'm in a better place with my comedy now. With my English show especially. The Arabic show I only started a year ago and the trajectory was faster.

The first three months I was terrible. And then the last nine months or so I'm much better. All three years are spent doubting yourself. I've made the wrong decision. Oh yeah. Yeah, yeah. I mean, sometimes now, when I... I mean, now it's better, but like, it will be triggered again if I had a bad show.

And I'm hoping not to have a bad show. So it's been a while since I have a very, very bad show, really bad show. I mean, I had sometimes, like, a girlfriend, I were not a single laugh. I had a head, I had nights like this, but it's been a while that I hasn't been there. But again, it's been my same material, and this is where you find the same material.

But, you know, Senate comedians will tell you the first special is the hardest to sell, and the second special is the worst To write So because the first special is your origin story you try to and and and you know There are people who have been touring with the same show for like 10 15 years until they sold the first special So I've been touring with the same special for three, four years or not bad so far. But you're wondering if you have anything else after that special. So I'm kind of a duality of like just do what you do good at now, make it tour with it as much as possible and there's other partners like will you be able to do something else? I would assume that you built how you are from what you're explaining would get real

restless with, okay, this works. It finally works, but now I'm doing months of the same thing that works and I'm hitting the correct notes and this isn't as creative as I want to be and what am I going to do next? I know what works. This is safe, this isn't challenging enough. Exactly. Exactly. It's between like, oh, it is safe, this isn't challenging enough. Exactly. It's between like, oh, it's safe, just do it, or between like, can I challenge myself and just like have to go through the same three years of crying, oh my God, that's not working anymore. So it's between these two.

I mean, but who would welcome that, right? Like that's, you have to choose the uncomfortable path in order to grow. Everyone, the therapists will help you with, yeah, go toward the pain, but that's, go toward the failure. That's where growth is, that's where growing pains are, but they're not the ones crying for three years, feeling like a failure in the hotel room, doubting themselves.

Exactly, but now I have like this show, it's so, yeah, I've been doing it, but also I'm earning a lot of money from it, so I'm keeping it. That helps, right? That always helps. Always the money. It's the money.

It's always nothing but the money. It always comes back to that. The feeling of bombing, when you say an hour without a single laugh, what human feelings have you felt as lonely as that one? God, terrible. My God, my heart is sinking, I'm sweating. I am, I wish that the earth would just like split open and just like suck me into the

abyss. Yeah, you know, even like, you know the term I'm dying up here, they've even like television showing show time called I'm dying up here? They've been like television show and show time called I'm dying. The, I think I'm dying is actually very eloquent because it's not like I'm dead, it's I'm dying. It's the continuous act of dying. You're dying, you're continuously dying for 15 minutes or for an hour.

Can you imagine? Yeah, it's so strong. Because it's like, I'm dying, you die once. Like I die. But actually, you are dying for this amount of time. It is terrible. And you know it. And you know you're dying.

It's not like you're dying. Like, you give me sudden death. Yes, yeah. You're dying. You're continuing, it's a continuous failure. It's terrible, yeah. Yeah, it's a terrible feeling and I wish I would never get into that. But I will, if I want to try something new, I will have to find it in me to kind of like

accept dying for a while. You're selling out shows now though, right? Like everything. Yeah, everywhere you go, it's met with great fanfare and not a lot of bombing, correct? Yeah, yeah. This is a good face and I'm happy with that. So I'm appreciative of that very much. But you're restless? Yes, because I don't know what will be my second shows. Well, like for example, I, okay, this is very specific. So now I have shows, I have offers to do Arabic shows in Lebanon and in Jordan. And because I'm Egyptian and I know a lot, I know, I know I will sell these shows.

So I have no fear of selling out. I have fear of what will be my Egyptian dialect will it work in a place where mostly Lebanese or mostly Jordanians. Because my show, there's, you see, okay, I'm getting into the nuances of my shows. So for example, in the English show, my best shows, if I have like shows if I have like 50-50 or 70-30 I have like 50 Arabs and 59 Arabs or 60-40 or so this mix gets the best response from my English shows the mix not 100% Arabs and not 100% whites the Arabic show in order to work very well I need to have at least 40 to 50% Egyptians Because Egyptian dialect is kind of like the leading dialect people understand more

So I need that kind of like energy in the room and then the 50% could be any any other people from it's designed to have People from different dialects, but mostly Egyptians. So you see, I have these little things. I don't know if it will work. And I don't know what will, the makeup of the audience will be, if the venue will allow to have like good comedy. It's just like these,

and I shouldn't be listening about that. I shouldn't be worrying about that. I should be worried about like, will I sell tickets, will I do well? Or not worrying. Yeah, I think what you should do is about that. I should be worried about like, will I sell tickets? Will I do well? Or not worrying. Yeah. I think what you should do is not worry. I should.

That would be better than, and let me choose a different thing to worry about. Yes, doctor. I mean, I think that, I think that, how are the choices only? I have to worry about some different thing.

I know, I know it's terrible. But that has to be your mother, right? Yeah, that's my mom. That's my mom. That's the, when I had my show in Egypt, everybody would be like, call me amazing. Yeah, amazing episode. I would dread the calls for my mom.

That would be the worst. It's like, oh my God, my mom will call me. Because my mom didn't care about the comedy. My mom didn't care about the material. My mom didn't care about how smart the show is. My mom worried if that show would put me in jail. Would that show get me hurt? That is the one thing she worried about. Nothing else. And so my conversation with everybody, oh, the show was great. The Jones like, I was like, why did you say this joke? Did you laugh? Did she laugh? She doesn't, it's my mom never laughed. Never laughed. I would say with her and she was like, why did you say this joke? Did you ever laugh? Did you laugh? She doesn't, my mom never laughed. Never laughed, would say with her and she was like,

like this. Are you shitting me? And she was like, she was like, hmm, like this. And she came to my show once. My dad came to every single show. My dad and my brother came to all of my show's life. My mom attended the show once because she couldn't, she couldn't take the pressure and she couldn't take

of worrying about me. My mom was born to worry about her children. That was my mom. So that is the constant fear and constant worry. That's my mom. I will let you go in a second. I can talk to you for a lot of time, but a book I read one time by Eckert Toley about the power of now basically condenses life

to the idea of no matter what your situation is now, if you are present in the now, that fear and regret, regret living in the past and fear living in the future, they're useless. They don't help you enjoy the now. You pretty clearly have to do something with the worry, unless you think the worry helps you be a perfectionist. I know it makes you better at your craft that you need it. It's easier said than done. I wish I don't have that kind of worry. And it's like, I mean, hearing myself talking to you, I know that is very counterproductive, but I can't help it because I always, because look at me, I mean, I was in a very, very, very stable career

and I left it to something that's unstable and the that career blew up and because of that I had to escape and then I lost everything. So I went to the highest of fame and all that was taking me overnight. So you have to understand that I come from a place that I'm not very sure or secure about what's going to happen in the past because I have seen that happen to me before and I always worry it will happen to me again. So this feeling of constant insecurity and worried, I can't help it because like my history doesn't really support being confident about what's going to happen in the future. Well, I can tell you with conviction that you're exceptional at what you do

and you're important, I would say, even though you might not think it. I'm sorry if I embarrass you with that. No, you're being very nice. I mean, but what an influence, what an inspiration you must be to others with the choices you make. Because don't put that in your mouth. Don't put that in your mouth. Don't put that in your mouth Yeah, I see this what that's a mouthpiece. It's just a mouthpiece to do what well I I sometimes what's happening in this room when I'm not here people like is this like a

What what what kind of an underground what do you guys? Is this pizza gates? What do you guys do here? What are you doing in this? Oh for tour dates tickets tickets and more, go to bossamuse.xyz. You can follow him on Instagram at bossam. I was terrified you were going to put that in your mouth. I am a Miami Heat mouthpiece. That's what that represents. That's a Miami Heat?

Well, I'm a journalist allegedly. People accuse me of just chilling for the Miami Heat. They call me a Miami heat mouthpiece. So sometimes I I reveal wrong news. Oh, okay. In my, you know, wearing a dress ring. What does the one I just saw this today for the first time? And I'm guessing that's happening in this room when I look there. Yeah. What is what's what does this? All right. Thank you. Thank you. We appreciate your time, sir. Exactly what you think is happening.

It's that time of year again, the NFL is in full playoff mode and we will be watching every single gaming to get the boys together, get around the TV, go to the local watering hole. There's one beer that you need to reach for and it's the only beer that we drink and that's Miller Lite. I'm actually here with Mike Ryan, fellow Miller Lite enthusiast. Yeah, I love Miller Lite. Mike, Mike, I was just telling him when they take that Miller Lite on tap and they put it down on that spicket and it fills up the picture. Incredible.

The boys are around. Oh, the boys. You're looking at that middle light saying, you're mine. That's mine. The perfect head. It's perfect. Every time. Every time.

Mike Reiner proved, Tony approved NFL playoffs locked in middle light. Great taste. 96 calories. Go to millilight.com slash beach to find delivery options near you or you can pick up some Miller Light pretty much anywhere they sell beer. Taste like Miller Time. Celebrate responsibly Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 96 Calories, and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces.