Bassem Youssef is known as Egypt's Jon Stewart for his no-nonsense stand

Bassem Youssef spends most of his day in a cramped room lined with whiteboards, poring over YouTube with a team of interns. Each week, they select clips from hours of news footage that exemplify the "deceit and hypocrisy" Youssef says is so prevalent in Egypt's television news.

Galvanised by what he saw as the local news media's surreal coverage of last February'surprising, Youssef started a five-minute show on YouTube in April to expose misleading news reports. The 38-year-old cardiothoracic surgeon modelled his parody programme, The B+ Show, on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report.

"I keep reminding people of the deceit, because some of the same people who were lying to [viewers] during the 18 days are still here pretending to to be on the side of the people, but they are still lying to you," he said, adding: "I hope I am creating a new form of journalism [in Egypt]."

Handsome, with salt-and-pepper hair and bright blue eyes, Youssef even looks a bit like the Daily Show host, of whom he is an unabashed fan. He was an instant hit; each "webisode" collected between half and three-quarters of a million hits.

It took three short weeks before Youssef received offers from domestic satellite channels, Al Jazeera and MBC, but he launched the half-hour long El Bernameg (The Programme) show last Ramadan on ONtv, an independent, secular Egyptian station.

It's little wonder Egyptians flocked to the show. In a media landscape dominated by call-in talk shows and slapstick comedy, Youssef offered viewers something different.

"I can't say anyone is eager because nobody knew this style of comedy, but I think they are eager for something different. So many people hate this show, and don't think it's funny, and don't get the message, but they still watch."

For Youssef, it's a delicate line between sarcasm and insensitivity. He relies on strong messages about the media to guide the show through tumultuous events. After the deaths of 74 fans at a football match in Port Said, Youssef set aside the wit in his most recent episode, instead interviewing Awais Ahmed, a journalist and sports critic, about the tragedy.

In the days after the January 25 anniversary, Youssef went after television hosts who he says have "bored" him with their constant fear-mongering. The programme shows clip after clip of commentators predicting that the anniversary would create "civil war", bring "anarchy" to the country, attract "foreign hands" hoping to destabilise the country and set Cairo aflame. Instead, the day passed with non-violent protests throughout the country.

Youssef holds his palms up and tells viewers: "The bottom line is, every time the stock market falls, tourism drops or the economy falls, we don't really notice. It's only when the scare scenarios happen. We left people in Tahrir, though it was frightening. This is what happened."

The financial reporter Sherif El Rahman appears on screen: "The stock market reaches a six-year high after Egyptians celebrated the 25th of January peacefully."

"Really?" Youssef says, chuckling. "The revolution ruined the country? The revolution is the cause of everything? Please, next time you hear a scary prediction, remember who used to do the same thing." He shows a clip of a woman wearing a veil and sunglasses being interviewed at a protest.

She says: "I am reporting, we will have a terrible earthquake and a lot of people will die if Mubarak doesn't come back to rule Egypt, Egypt will be conquered. I'm telling you what I saw."

Youssef comments: "This woman says something and we laugh at her. But the disaster is, when the system repeats the same thing in the same way, you believe it. Next time, remember that you have a remote.