Sharief al-Homsi, clutching his arms and pretending to experience withdrawal, took the stage in Damascus to deliver a joke that a few weeks earlier, when President Bashar al-Assad had suddenly been ousted after long years of family rule, would have been unthinkable.

“We need rehab centers. You can’t just remove this man from our lives abruptly — it needs to be gradual,” said the 33-year-old comedian and screenwriter, eliciting laughter with the mention of omnipresent images of the al-Assad dynasty. “They’ll ask what drug we were addicted to; we’ll say, ‘Bashar al-Assad.'”

Comedians in the post-Assad world were enjoying newfound freedom to joke about the authoritarian leader, even referring to him as “that whore” during one act. Many of them had fled Syria during the civil war but returned for this special night of comedy.

Despite celebrating this liberation in their performances, many comedians, like everyday Syrians, were concerned that this newfound liberty might be fleeting as the political landscape redefines itself.

Roula Sulaiman, the owner of the Zawaya gallery where the event took place, expressed concerns about the future of artistic expression under the new government, which already signaled potential restrictions on nudity in art.

Among the comedians was Mary Obaid, who used her platform to also address the Presidential Palace looting, with a humorous take on finding her personal item there—a memorable touch in a performance brimming with the dark humor that defines the new era of Syrian stand-up.

As Sharief al-Homsi and his fellow comedians mined laughs from the transition, they were aware that they might not always have this freedom to publicly express their unrestrained humor.

Zeina Shahla contributed reporting.