In post-Assad Syria, stand-up comedians are re-emerging to challenge taboos, mock the former president and his regime, and even test relations with Damascus’s new rulers.
Melky Mardini, an artist from the Syrian capital’s stand-up scene, is one of those embracing the new freedom.
“The regime has fallen,” he announced from the podium, referring to Bashar al-Assad’s sudden departure earlier this month, ending more than half a century of his family’s rule.
The audience remains silent in the art gallery hosting the show.
“What’s the matter? Are you still scared?” Mardini says, as a mixture of awkward laughter and applause begins.
“We have been doing stand-up for two years,” says the 29-year-old. “We never thought that a day would come when we would be able to talk so freely.”
Now, his performance is a “safe space,” he says.
“We can express our views without harassing anyone except Bashar.”
Under the old regime, jokes about elections, dollars or even mentioning the president’s name could mean arrest or worse.
While chatting with the audience during his set, Mardini learned that one of the men was a psychiatrist.
“A master in the new Syria!” he exclaims, imagining crowds flocking to the treatment after five decades of dictatorship.
For two hours, 13 comedians from the collective Styria (a play on the words Syria and hysteria)—including one woman—take to the stage, sharing personal stories: an arrest, how they dodged mandatory military service , How they raised dollars on the black market.
‘Syria wants freedom’
“Syria wants freedom!” Rami Jabr announced as soon as he came on stage.
“This is our first show without Mukhbaraat in the room,” he quipped, referring to the frightened intelligence agents.
He reflects on his experience in Homs, which was dubbed the “capital of the revolution” in March 2011, when anti-government protests broke out in the wake of the Arab Spring, followed by brutal repression.
Jaber, a commercial representative of a foreign company, was detained for a month by various security services, beaten and tortured with Tasers under the accusation that he was an “infiltrator” sent to sow chaos in Syria. .
Like him, comedians from across the country share their journeys, united by the same fear that has suffocated Syrians who have lived under an iron fist for decades.
Hussein al-Rawi tells the audience how he never reveals his address, symbolizing the paranoia of the past.
“I’m always afraid he’ll come back,” he says, referring to Assad. “But I hope for a better Syria that belongs to all of us.”
‘Critical moment’
Al-Yakhchi, who attended the show, said free speech is thriving.
“There were restrictions during the last demonstration before the regime fell,” says the 32-year-old shopkeeper.
“Now there are no restrictions, no one to answer to. There is no fear of anyone.”
Not even Syria’s new rulers – a diverse mix of rebel groups including Islamists and former jihadists who immediately marched on Damascus and toppled Assad’s government.
“We didn’t go through a revolution for 13 or 14 years… just to have a new power tell us, ‘You can’t speak,'” says Mardini.
When not performing on stage, 23-year-old Mary Obaid is a dentist.
She says, “We take off everything we put inside – we do it for all the Syrians.”
“Each person shares their experience. The audience reacts as if each story happened to them too.”
Regarding the country’s new leaders, Obaid says she will wait to see “what they do, then we will decide”.
“Right now, we feel free,” she says. “We hope we won’t be the target of harassment.”
She adds, “We are at a defining moment of transition from one era to another.”
“Now we are a country of freedom, and we can make all our demands. From now on, never be afraid again.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
