Cautious punchline draws howls of measured laughter Canned laughter: Egyptians watch the weekly program of Bassem Youssef at a coffee shop. As his popular television show returned to Egypt's airwaves on Friday after a long hiatus, Bassem Youssef, an Egyptian satirist, took a swipe at the country's new military leadership in perhaps the only manner such criticism remains possible: with great care. After playing a leaked video clip of the Defence Minister, General Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, talking to colleagues about influencing the media, Youssef responded with mock indignation. "Nobody can tell us what to say or not to say," he said, as a disembodied arm rose from beneath his desk, took his script and replaced it with a new text. "We want freedom," Youssef added, as the arm, a stand-in for Egypt's powerful security agencies, slapped him in the face. It was Youssef's first show since the military ousted president Mohamed Mursi in July, casting Egypt into a kind of fevered dream of violence and polarisation. As the country's Islamists were brutally swept from power by the new leaders, television channels were purged of dissent, cheering on the military-backed government and a mood of resurgent nationalism. That climate fed restless anticipation for the return of Youssef's show, The Program, a weekly skewering of the political class and the news media. Would he lampoon the new leadership as mercilessly as he had Dr Mursi? Since Dr Mursi's ouster, the room for dissent has become far more restricted. Authorities have killed or imprisoned thousands of his Islamist supporters. Egyptian and foreign journalists have been harassed or arrested. In a deeply divided nation where it has become normal to be asked one's political loyalties, much of the stifling atmosphere seems self-imposed. As his program began on Friday night, Youssef, who in March was charged with insulting Dr Mursi, seemed more intent on advocating for a third way in Egyptian politics, between loyalty to the military and loyalty to Islamist parties, than on provoking a confrontation with the new leaders.