{"id":9151,"date":"2025-02-27T10:26:45","date_gmt":"2025-02-27T10:26:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/al-assad-becomes-a-punchline-in-syrias-comedy-scene\/"},"modified":"2025-02-27T10:26:45","modified_gmt":"2025-02-27T10:26:45","slug":"al-assad-becomes-a-punchline-in-syrias-comedy-scene","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/al-assad-becomes-a-punchline-in-syrias-comedy-scene\/","title":{"rendered":"Al-Assad Becomes a Punchline in Syria\u2019s Comedy Scene"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- ItShrt World News -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"1882483372\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Sharief al-Homsi shivered, clutched his arms and pretended to go through Syrian regime withdrawal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Standing before an audience in Damascus, he was telling a joke that would have been unthinkable until just a few weeks before, when President Bashar al-Assad <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/12\/21\/world\/middleeast\/assad-regime-syria-final-days.html\" title=\"\">was suddenly ousted<\/a> after more than five decades of his family\u2019s oppressive rule.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe need rehab centers. You can\u2019t just take this guy away from our life like that \u2014 it has to be gradual,\u201d the 33-year-old comedian and screenwriter said, describing the omnipresent posters and magazine spreads depicting the al-Assad dynasty, to laughter from the crowd. He continued to shake. \u201cThey\u2019ll ask us what drug were you addicted to; we\u2019ll say, \u2018Bashar al-Assad.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">It was a night of stand-up in late December at the Zawaya Art Gallery in the heart of the Syrian capital. Half of the comedians performing that night have been living abroad after fleeing the country during <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/article\/syria-civil-war.html\" title=\"\">the 13-year civil war<\/a> that ended with Mr. al-Assad\u2019s ouster.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Their routines included standard comedy fare \u2014 religion, sex and the pressure to get married \u2014 but the biggest punchline of the night was Mr. al-Assad. One comedian referred to him throughout his routine as \u201cthat whore.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The comedians were relishing the chance to say things that for decades Syrians would be too scared to utter even in private company. Fear of the notorious mukhabarat, the secret intelligence service, was ingrained so deeply that Syrians lived with the cautionary warning that \u201cthe walls have ears.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But even as they embraced the liberty to make new jokes, the comedians, like many everyday Syrians, were worried that this new freedom of expression could be fleeting. Ahmed al-Shara, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/01\/29\/world\/middleeast\/syria-leader-al-shara-government.html\" title=\"\">the country\u2019s interim president<\/a> who leads Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the Islamist rebel group that ousted Mr. Assad, has promised unity that reflects Syria\u2019s diverse population, but there are deep concerns about how democratic and inclusive the government will be.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Under the Assad government, Roula Sulaiman, the owner of the Zawaya gallery, said she faced restrictions and accusations of organizing political opposition events when she tried to hold comedy and cultural events. Now, she is still concerned.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe haven\u2019t tested the new regime yet,\u201d Ms. Sulaiman said. \u201cBased on what we are seeing, I think we are moving toward more restrictions.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Officials with the new government had come by her gallery and told her that nudity in art would no longer be allowed, she added. Asked for comment, the government\u2019s information ministry said it was not familiar with the episode but did not have any rules to that effect.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">So as the comedians wait to see what the new red lines may be, they are taking advantage of the <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/01\/05\/world\/middleeast\/damascus-syria-freedoms-al-assad.html\" title=\"\">opportunity<\/a> for as long as it lasts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe\u2019re in an interim phase where we can talk about the past and present freely, but we all face an unknown future,\u201d said Mary Obaid, one of the founding members, along with Mr. al-Homsi, of Styria \u2014 a portmanteau of Syria and hysteria \u2014 that bills itself at the first stand-up comedy platform in the country.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\"><a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/styria.comedy\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Styria<\/a> formed two years ago with the goal of spreading stand-up comedy in Syria and establishing the first comedy club in the country, a goal it has yet to achieve.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe\u2019re all afraid but we\u2019re hopeful that the freedom of expression will remain,\u201d said Ms. Obaid, a 23-year-old dentist.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Even under the Assad government\u2019s repression and through a destructive civil war, Syrians relied on humor \u2014 usually dark \u2014 as a coping mechanism.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Early in the war, ordinary Syrians began forming rebel groups to fight the government, but often struggled to acquire arms. One small band of men recorded a satirical video echoing others announcing new groups, but rather than holding Kalashnikovs, each held a piece of fruit to poke fun at their group\u2019s struggle to get weapons.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In Aleppo, as government forces began to encircle opposition-held areas of the city in 2014, rebels shared their dinner with stray cats. The rebels joked that they were trying to fatten the cats in case they needed to eat them.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Given their tradition of gallows humor, Syrians might be uniquely equipped to mine laughs from both the current moment and the decades living under the Assad dynasty.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">That includes combining the personal and political. After Mr. al-Assad\u2019s <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/12\/10\/world\/middleeast\/assad-presidential-palace.html\" title=\"\">presidential palace<\/a> was looted in the wake of his fall, a photograph of him circulated online, showing him dressed in ill-fitting white underwear and a tank top.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-5\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ms. Obaid found an overlap with her own life. \u201cI wasn\u2019t shocked by anything from the fall of the president except for one thing,\u201d she began during her routine, \u201cMy underwear before I had stomach reduction surgery. Why were they in the president\u2019s palace?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-6\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Thirty minutes before the show at Zawaya, Mr. al-Homsi sat in what was serving as a green room, trying out on his fellow comedians lines that could become new material. Paintings covered the walls around him as techno played loudly in the main hall.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He joked about a recent visit from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham security officers and how he tried to hide the tattoos covering his arms, given most conservative Muslims\u2019 disapproval of body art.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Before the regime\u2019s fall, Mr. al-Homsi would inevitably come up with jokes involving Mr. al-Assad, his wife or the government. He would write them down and file them away in a document that he labeled, \u201cfor Lebanon.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-7\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">At this point, he is work-shopping the Assad withdrawal symptoms joke, aiming to expand it into a proposed 12-step program to wean Syrians off an addiction to the regime.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThese were jokes that I couldn\u2019t tell here,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I can.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-798hid etfikam0\">Zeina Shahla<!-- --> contributed reporting.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- ItShrt World News -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"1882483372\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/27\/world\/middleeast\/syria-comedy-assad-new-government.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sharief al-Homsi shivered, clutched his arms and pretended to go through Syrian regime withdrawal. Standing before an audience in Damascus,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9152,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[1170,1169,1171,1172,249,1258,1168,3244,469,3243,3245,1174],"class_list":["post-9151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","tag-ahmed-abu-mohammad-al-jolani-1982","tag-al-shara","tag-assad","tag-bashar-al","tag-comedy-and-humor","tag-freedom-of-speech-and-expression","tag-hayat-tahrir-al-sham","tag-mary-obaid","tag-politics-and-government","tag-sharief-al-homsi","tag-styria","tag-syria"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Al-Assad Becomes a Punchline in Syria\u2019s Comedy Scene - World News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/al-assad-becomes-a-punchline-in-syrias-comedy-scene\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Al-Assad Becomes a Punchline in Syria\u2019s Comedy Scene - World News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sharief al-Homsi shivered, clutched his arms and pretended to go through Syrian regime withdrawal. 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