What Mohamed Adel and his brave friends understood well was that humor offers a low-cost point of entry for ordinary citizens. At the time of the Egyptian Revolution, I remember watching serious political analysts on TV shoveling bullshit into my living room with claims like “The people will eventually get tired of coming to Tahrir Square and the movement will fizzle out.” But those guys didn’t understand the game. If you’re in your twenties—as a majority of Egyptians are—would you even think of missing the best party in town?
