Comedy for me ...... A personal story about Syriasly..

The 8th of September of 2017... That' A date that has an amount of meaning that can't be put into words.

I sat backstage with an interviewer asking me questions about comedy, I was so nervous and excited I honestly don't know what I answered.

But first let me take you back a little bit, to a few years ago....  The 8th of May of 2014:

I had been riding around my bike about a week earlier and wandered into this comedy cafe who had an open mic in a week. I walked in and wrote down my name, and I'll always remember the feeling I had.

"I can do this, it's ok. I have some friends here and it's low stakes, if it doesn't work it doesn't work you know. Oh my god he's calling my name, why did I agree to do this? It's fine just focus... ok you should start talking now... ok I'm talking... holy shit no one is laughing...... just go on keep talking oh wait! Holy shit they're laughing! This feels awesome! Keep talking make another joke, oh my god they're clapping... ok keep going and the show is over, wait I am out of material was that long enough, oh yeah the red light is here ok it's good... end on a laugh.... and boom!" 

I walked down stage people were giving me high five, I got a hug there, a fist pump there. I went out of the room, sat down and had a smile on my face of which I was very aware.

"What is this feeling I have? How can I be this happy, this isn't happiness this is euphoria.. this is... abnormal. This is it! Right now I know what I want to do with my life! I wanna make people laugh, It's a bit premature to say this but I don't think I can not do this again... I HAVE to do this again and again and again.... I'm in love right now"

And what followed that moment were years of writing, re-writing, and performing and rejections... god so many rejections especially as a Syrian stand up comedian . life came by and yanked me away from comedy for almost a full year but the flame never died... It never could.

The thought that I can get people from different cultures, different worlds, and different societies under one world and say something to them that makes them all laugh.... I feel like I'm unifying humanity in a concept of thought and happiness. When they look at me and I hear their laughter... I shiver at the beauty that's being created within that moment.

So if you ask me about Comedy I'll tell you what Comedy is.

Comedy is a school of thought, it's the school of thought that show it doesn't matter where you come from, who you are, what you believe in, when you laugh you laugh with one heart.

That is why I fought through every no, I fought through every "Focus on school this is just hobby." through every "You know how hard it is to make it in this business?" Through every "Your hobby won't pay to the bills."

And through all that I never had a doubt that for me Stand-Up Comedy is not a hobby, it's not a job, it's not even a passion. It's a calling. 

And finally on the 8th of September of 2017 I was ready to share my special with people and I called it Syriasly

http://yabangee.com/syriasly-stand-special-yota-sahnesi/

let me share with you my stream of consciousness throughout that day

"oh my god it's here, it's here it's here it's here. I'm doing this, this is real I'm actually doing this. How long is left? oh daym there's only an hour left, is everything set up does the sound work are there people? where is everybody? oh no people came what if they don't like it? they'll like it! I'm fine, I'm fine.... I haven't felt in this in so long, this is better than anything I can imagine. Ok they want to interview me, they're asking me questions I should probably answer, I don't even know what i'm talking about... oh my god I heard my name called to the stage... I can hear my heart beating in my head. I'm on stage, they're looking at me. The music is playing..... this is what it feels like then, to know that your life has amounted to something, ok go to the mic, hold the mic up.....It's show time!"

I don't remember the event completely, I was so in the zone that I just let the deepest part of my brain, the one that longs for comedy and helps me define my self take over, and I talked and they laughed, all of them laughed, different people, different ages, different beliefs and they all laughed and they clapped. At that moment, in that theatre, people were united by laughter and I felt like if I never do anything again, if all I did with my life was to unite these people with laughter until that roof, that means my life has been  meaningful.

So I'll always do comedy, I'll always unite people, I'll always crave for laughter and enjoy the smiles. Because for me... it's a calling.