Maliki Mardinalli

It's sold out.

Buses of fans are supposed to come from Hammer.

We get in the car, me, Maliki, and the venue owner, and head towards Hammer to try to talk to the politicians and see if there's any way to save tonight's show in Moharde.

Ten minutes out, the venue owner answers his phone.

I can't tell what the call is about, but he goes quiet, then asks us to turn back.

We head back to Mohadi, to the same cafe.

Maliki smokes a cigarette on the street outside, defeated.

Maliki later told me that the venue owner got a call from his dad.

The government is also putting pressure on him.

Real enough pressure that he got scared and didn't want to cause more trouble by heading to Hama.

To make matters worse, on the way back, Maliki also gets a call.

First they've been told they needed permission from the political affairs office in Hama to run the Mahathir show.

Now the bar moves even farther away from them.

Officials are now saying they need free permissions from political affairs and also from the ministries of tourism and culture.

And the guy running the local office of the Ministry of Culture is the Sheikh.

All because of what?

What have you guys said or dunks?

They think you're troublemakers.

Well, you want to be a comedian, and you can't do that.

Maliki hasn't eaten since yesterday.