Eamon O'Connor

A quick warning, there are curse words that are unbeaped in today's episode of the show.

If you prefer a beeped version, you can find that at our website, thisamericanlife.org.

Sharif Homsi is a stand-up comic in a place that's not really known for its comedy scene, Damascus, Syria.

As maybe you've heard, the place was run by a dictator for a long time, Bashar al-Assad.

Back then, there were a lot of jokes that Sharif was not able to tell on stage.

Definitely nothing about Assad or Assad's family.

Nothing about politics at all.

Those kind of jokes could get you killed or disappeared into one of Assad's infamous prisons.

So during those years, Sharif kept jokes like that in a folder on his computer labeled Lebanon.

because he pretty much only felt safe telling them when he would take trips abroad.

Bashar al-Assad's family ruled Syria for 53 years, the last 13 of which were a brutal civil war.

Over 300,000 Syrian civilians died.

Then, a year ago, to everybody's surprise, a bunch of rebel groups overthrew the regime in just 12 days.

Assad, his wife Asma, and their family flew to Russia.

The rebels were led by an Islamist group called Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, HTS for short.

And then the new people in power surprised everybody again by not immediately becoming another repressive regime.

HTS leader Ahmad al-Sharah says he's acting as interim president and has promised to hold elections in the next few years.

And Syrians have been experiencing a freedom that they have not experienced before.

I had dinner a couple weeks ago with somebody who was just there, and they were talking about how kind of inspiring it is to be there right now.

She met lots of people who were moving back, ready and excited to rebuild their country.