Maliki Mardinalli

He's got a laid-back stoner vibe, covered in tattoos, light beard, 33 years old.

Maliki is the one running the tour.

He's 29 years old, with dark hair and a cheeky grin.

He's the Paul McCartney to Sharif's John Lennon, more tightly wound.

He's the fixer, lining up venues, negotiating with government officials, driving the van, keeping track of permits, schedules, and constantly updating the list of things that could go wrong.

He worries out loud, cracks jokes as he does it, a kind of nervous humour that makes it clear he's holding the whole operation together.

He actually thinks they're going to be fine on this tour.

But there are two stops on the tour he's worried about.

Hama is a conservative city, stop seven on the tour.

Aleppo is stop nine, a city divided by different factions.

Before they could go on the tour, Maliki had to sign what he translates as an obligation with the Ministry of Tourism, a pledge to avoid certain jokes.

Unlike during the old Assad regime, they're allowed to make fun of the current leaders.

The pledge is a promise not to use hate speech and to avoid jokes that could rile people up and cause civil unrest, like jokes about religion.

It's a written commitment tied to the permit.

If they breach it, the Ministry of Tourism can cancel the show or penalise the group.

The first four shows go pretty smoothly, playing in mostly liberal towns where they didn't expect problems.

One gets oversold because the app they use to sell tickets malfunctions, which is a huge pain in the arse.

But mostly, it's sold-out rooms.

So far, so good.

Stop 5 on the tour, Latakia.