Eamon O'Connor

They worried about random hotheads hearing about them and things they said, deciding to show up with a gun.

Even before they left, they got death threats in their DMs.

These messages freaked Sharif out, but he got where they were coming from.

The country's been through 13 years of war.

He and most of the other comedians are from Damascus, a city that saw the least of the fighting because it was controlled by the regime.

By Syrian standards, they're the soft liberals.

Any comedy show in Syria right now, for everybody, comedians, the audience, they're all figuring out what's okay to say out loud.

Eamon Ogana, a reporter based in Damascus, heard about all this, and he also was very curious to see what the comedians could get away with, and whether they would even get all the way through the tour.

He hung out with them on tour for two weeks, on long van rides across Syria, backstage at their shows.

Lots of stuff ended up happening.

Stuff, I think it's safe to say, they did not see coming.

From WBEZ Chicago, Since American Life, I'm Ira Glass.

We hit the road with these comedians today.

And with that introduction, here's Eamon with Act One.

An Actual Calling.

Too soon?

Eamon O'Connor.

Coming up, the comedians head into Hama province, the Sheikh's province, and the Sheikh brings all the boys to the yard.

If you just tuned in, reporter Eamon O'Connor hit the road with a group of Syrian comedians on their first nationwide tour since the Assad regime fell a year ago.

We have arrived at Act Two, the drama in Hama.