Spoofer of Iraq's Chaos Becomes Another Victim

"She told me he used to tell her, 'If people came and wanted to kill me, I would use reason with them. And I will tell them, why would you kill me? On what basis? And I would get out of it because I was so popular,' " Hanoon recounted.

After graduating from a fine arts college in Baghdad, Hassan worked as a civil servant in Nasiriyah. He took night courses in acting and art while working as a journalist for Iraq's state television. In the early 1990s, he came to Baghdad to pursue his dream of becoming a comedian. He got his break as a director of a candid camera program called "Tricks" that ran on state television, recalled Hanoon.

In the months after the U.S.-led invasion, when Iraq exploded with a constellation of television channels, Al-Sharkiya tapped Hassan and five other actors for "Caricature." In each 30-minute segment, the actors performed skits that often seemed like Iraq's version of "Saturday Night Live." Hassan's roles ranged from corrupt officials to brown-nosing bureaucrats.

One skit was about a family who moved their home and all their belongings to an unknown location. By the end of the segment, they had grown long gray hair, their faces wrinkled with age. That's when the television viewers learned that the family was waiting in one of Iraq's notoriously long gas lines.

Last week, in his final role, Hassan played a man who made his way to the top of his company through connections, only to find out he was the wrong person for the job. Many viewers interpreted that as a slap at Iraq's unity government, in which sect and tribal allegiances are clearly visible in many ministries.

"The feeling Hassan had is the same that most people have, that Baghdad is withering," said Jabbir. "So we dealt with the diseases of society."

There was one sensitive issue they never played with: the sectarian strife disfiguring Iraqi society. "We always hated this subject," said Jabbir. "We believe the media should not provoke such strife. The goal is to put down such strife."

Hassan, his friends said, didn't perform his job for the money -- he earned a meager $400 a month and always found it hard to make ends meet.

On Monday, some of his co-actors on the show reflected on what drove Hassan to work on a show that could anger many powerful people.

"This was his own way to serve his country and his people, and this is the reason why Walid and us took that risk," said Bushra Ismael, a co-actor on "Caricature."

Hanoon said he wasn't certain whether the show would stay on the air.

"Since the program is a comedy, the laughter that will come out will be soaked with blood," said Hanoon.

Special correspondent Saad al-Izzi contributed to this report.