TAMPA — Comedian Bassem Youssef will bring his “Belly of the Beast Tour” to the Tampa Bay area for a show on Friday, Oct. 16, 7:30 p.m., at Tampa Theatre, 711 N. Franklin St., Tampa.
Tickets start at $49.50. Visit tampatheatre.org.
Youssef was the host of popular TV show “Al Bernameg,” the first political satire show in the Middle East. Originally a 5-minute show on YouTube, “Al Bernameg” became the first online-to-TV conversion in the Middle East and the most-watched show across the region, with 30 million viewers every week and more than a million subscribers to its YouTube channel. In recognition of his success, Youssef was named among Time magazine’s “most influential” list for 2013 in the Pioneers category, was awarded the International Press Freedom Award by the CPJ, and was chosen by Foreign Policy magazine as one of the global thinkers.
The first title in Bassem’s children’s book series, “The Magical Reality of Nadia,” was published by Scholastic in 2021 and is currently being developed as an animated series. Bassem can be seen in “Mo” (Netflix), “Ramy” (Hulu), “Lioness” (Paramount+) and “Upload” (Amazon). In 2024, Youssef sold more than 100,000 tickets to his one-man stand-up comedy show, “The Middle Beast,” where he performed in theaters and arenas all over the world. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two children.