It’s been six months since Mehdi and Bassem Youssef last recorded an episode of ‘We’re Not Kidding’, so needless to say they had a lot to catch up on. And what better place to host their reunion than ArabCon 2025 in Dearborn, Michigan? During this very special LIVE taping, the duo get candid about the Trump administration’s recent attacks on free speech, the potential of a Zohran Mamdani victory in New York City, and how much the world has changed (and sadly not changed) since Israel began its genocide in Gaza almost two years ago. They also take some pretty challenging and probing questions from the audience during a live Q&A.
The two start off talking about Jimmy Kimmel, who was recently suspended by Disney/ABC for his comments about Charlie Kirk’s killing and subsequent pressure from Trump’s FCC chair. “Jimmy Kimmel is a millionaire — he’s going to survive,” Bassem says. “But nobody has been talking about the people who lost their livelihoods, their careers, their green cards for being pro-Palestinian. This is the hypocrisy.”
Next week marks the two-year anniversary of Oct. 7 and the beginning of Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Bassem, ever the pessimist of the two, voices his lack of hope that an end to the conflict is coming any time soon. Mehdi, on the other hand, points out the massive change in public opinion on the conflict, and Israel in general. “I’ve been following this issue of Palestine my entire adult life,” Mehdi says. “Never in my life did I think I would see 53% of the American public have an unfavorable view of Israel.”
The two wrap up their conversation with a bit of hope — Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral campaign in New York City. “If Mamdani wins in November, that will be earth shattering in many ways,” Mehdi says. “It will destroy every argument that you cannot run on a progressive populist platform, that you cannot run against capitalism, and you cannot run against Israel.” As always, Bassem brings the conversation back down to reality, as he declares, “I refuse to be hopeful!”
Finally, the Bassem and Mehdi take questions from the audience, including a couple of pointed questions for Mehdi about condemning Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7 and the killing of Israeli civilians — you don’t want to miss his response.
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