{"podcast":{"title":"This American Life","slug":"this-american-life-7814501","podcast_index_feed_id":7814501,"rss_url":"https://www.spreaker.com/show/6951904/episodes/feed","website_url":"https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/this-american-life--6951904","image_url":"https://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/a8cc3fda8587d4c2f0051724d6c96553.jpg","author":"Wicoto","episode_count":31,"summary":"This American Life: The Full Visual Archive First-person stories and investigative journalism that capture the essence of the American experience. From quirky subcultures to high-stakes political dramas, we bring you the stories that shape our nation. 🌍 SEE THE STORIES: Access the original documents, historical photos, and witness profiles for each episode by following the link in our descriptions. 👇 The journey continues here : https://goo.su/XwNQm","last_synced_at":"2026-07-27T02:19:38.723220+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/this-american-life-7814501"},"episode":{"title":"879: A Christian and a Muslim Walk Into a Bar","slug":"879-a-christian-and-a-muslim-walk-into-a-bar","published_at":"2026-01-18T23:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/this-american-life-7814501/879-a-christian-and-a-muslim-walk-into-a-bar","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/this-american-life-7814501","url":"https://www.spreaker.com/episode/879-a-christian-and-a-muslim-walk-into-a-bar--71324422","audio_url":"https://api.spreaker.com/download/episode/71324422/default.mp3","summary":"When a joke could get you killed, should you say it anyway? A group of Syrian comedians test the limits of their newfound freedom, a year after the fall of the brutal Assad regime. Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscription. Prologue: Under the dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad, comedian Sharief Homsi knew which jokes were too dangerous to say on stage. Now that Syria is under the control of a new government, Sharief and the other comedians of “Styria” set out on a national tour to see how far their comedy can go in this new Syria. (6 minutes) Act One: The comedians test out risky material and get big laughs on early tour dates. It’s going smoothly until they find out that their show scheduled in the conservative city of Hama is in danger of being cancelled. (13 minutes) Act Two: The comedians go to battle with local officials. (18 minutes) Act Three: The comedians try everything they can think of to keep their shows from being cancelled. (20 minutes) Transcripts are available at thisamericanlife.org This American Life privacy policy. Learn more about sponsor message choices. 🎬 SEE THE STORY UNFOLD: Want to see the original photos, documents, and the faces behind this week's acts? 👇 View the visual archive for this episode here: https://goo.su/XwNQm (Updated for each story)","meta_description":"When a joke could get you killed, should you say it anyway? A group of Syrian comedians test the limits of their newfound freedom, a year after the fall o…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3550,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/this-american-life-7814501/episodes/879-a-christian-and-a-muslim-walk-into-a-bar/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/this-american-life-7814501/879-a-christian-and-a-muslim-walk-into-a-bar.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}