On the evening of 8 December 2025, terms like ‘walls had ears’, ‘mint’ (no longer just referring to green mint leaves), and ‘Molokhia’ – the delectable, lemony, leafy dish – all had completely different meanings.
These popular euphemisms, used by Syrians under the Assad regime, were among the many prohibited expressions, and openly mentioning them could lead to a visit to one of the regime’s 27 detention facilities, often euphemistically referred to as ‘your aunt’s house’.
According to a recent report by the Washington-based Arab Center, more than 150,000 people were imprisoned under the Assad regime, including 5,000 children.
Despite the imminent threats, Syria’s first stand-up comedy collective, Styria, successfully circumvented censorship, at times using the forbidden words directly and, at other times, relying on hints and innuendos.
“Will I be sent to my aunt’s house tonight?” was a question that constantly buzzed in the minds of Sharief Homsi and the 14 comedians who launched Styria in 2022 at a small coffee shop in Damascus.
In a phone interview with The New Arab (TNA), Sharief, a business administration graduate turned full-time stand-up comedian, explains that he founded Styria to promote “the culture of stand-up comedy” in Syria, create a “safe space for empowering emerging talents,” and establish connections with Arab and international comedy clubs to showcase Syrian comedy on the global stage.
With over 64K followers on Instagram and having participated in hundreds of performances, Styria’s comedy shows provided an outlet for Syrians traumatised by war, which, according to a recent study, left around 89.2% of the population with PTSD and other psychological disorders, contributing to a national mental health crisis
Now, things have changed as Styria’s comedians perform openly in their shows without fear of security backlash, holding several performances a week — some even on the same day at different venues across the country — making jokes they wouldn’t have dared to just two months ago.
No more fear
Before Assad’s fall in December, the fear was palpable, Sharief continues.
“But today,” says Sharief, “I have no fear. I can mention names without embellishment or evasion, and forbidden words are a thing of the past.”
The name ‘Styria’, he explains, was inspired by Syria’s ‘hysterical’ situation, which could only be countered with equally hysterical laughter.
“The name is a combination of ‘Syria’ and ‘hysteria,’” adds Sharief.
According to Sharief, more than 35 young men and women today perform comedy shows with Styria.
“Our motto is ‘if we laugh together, we live together,’” says Sharief, highlighting his belief that comedy helps reduce stress for both the performer and the audience by creating an open connection between them.
“It is also a way to bridge the gap between different cultures and belief systems,” adds Sharief, noting that Syria is historically multi-cultural and ethnically diverse.
In saying this, Sharief notes that the Assad regime is known to have deliberately manipulated and weaponised ethnic differences to stoke sectarian fears among formerly interconnected communities, recruiting supporters to prop itself up as the sole guarantor of stability.
‘Today, Syria is free’
For Omar Jayab, a Styria comedian, the group is like ‘Little Syria’ because it brings together people with diverse opinions, orientations, and worldviews.
“Yet, despite these differences,” Omar tells TNA, “we listen to and respect each other.”
In Omar’s first show after the fall of the Assad dictatorship, he sarcastically describes the morning after the regime’s collapse, mocking the stray bullets in less than a minute and joking that they could liberate the Golan Heights and Palestine.
He closes with a hilarious comment, pretending to be an Assad supporter complaining about how the bullets destroyed his $3,000 solar panels.
“Who will pay for this? al-Jolani?” he asks with a mock Damascene accent, referring to Syria’s current president and leader of the resistance, Ahmed Al-Sharaa.
“The ceiling of free expression has changed completely,” says Omar. “Today, we can tackle corruption, criticise unjust laws, and mock figures from the ousted regime. We can even criticise decisions by the new administration without fear. Today, Syria is free.”
‘Comedy mocks reality, and reality is the core ingredient’
Since Syria’s liberation, Styria has held over 20 comedy shows and 10 open mic nights across the country.
Until now, many Syrians still describe the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad as a sudden attack by rebel forces, who had been fighting against the Assad family’s 54-year rule for the past 13 years.
“The current state has given comedians an abundance of satirical material as events evolve,” says Omar. “Comedy mocks reality, and reality is the core ingredient.”
In their first shows, Styria comedians openly mocked Bashar Al-Assad and his family, drawing inspiration from viral social media posts featuring family albums left behind when Al-Assad fled to Moscow, while crowds of Syrians ransacked his palace in Damascus.
Comedian Rami Jabr, recalls how, four months ago, he covered the Syrian public and private education systems in one of his shows.
But when part of his performance spread on social media, he stopped laughing.
“The former education minister quickly filed a lawsuit against me, and I was interrogated,” he says. “For a while, my fate was unclear.”
“But while I have closed that chapter, the situation remains critical,” he adds.
Vision for change
As Rami puts it, this new phase comes with the fear that the newfound freedom of expression may not be sustainable without the control of prisons, detention centers, and security branches.
“After the national freedom celebrations, we discovered that this is just a phase and that the outcome may not match our identity as Syrians,” says Rami. “Through our comedy, we must continue to shed light on the reality of Syrian life, not just to mock and laugh, but also to offer constructive criticism and make progress.”
In making this point, Rami shares that he is currently working on a project called Run Assad Run, which takes constant jabs at both the Assad era and the post-Assad period.
“I couldn’t have done this before; my ideas would have remained locked inside me,” he says.
“No one is watching us anymore. Not even the biggest boogeyman — our own self-censorship. That too has fallen with Assad,” he adds.
[Cover photo: Comedian Shareif Homsi]
Safaa Sallal is a Syrian journalist focusing on humanitarian, social, and developmental issues
This article is published in collaboration with Egab
