A decade-long civil war that leaves 200,000 people dead is no laughing matter, and the Algerian Civil War of the 1990s proved no exception to this rule. At any time and place, the wrong word spoken to the wrong person could entail demise. Yet, cartoonists like Ali Dilem refused to be silenced by threats hailing from the warring state and Islamist factions. Instead, they composed drawings that encapsulated anger towards the regime and Islamists alike and constituted some of the most emotive images from the conflict. What drove these artists to keep working during the war despite threats against themselves and their loved ones, the tightening noose of the state censor, and assassinations of their fellow journalists? While scholars such as Mark McKinney have analyzed cartoons produced by the most well-known cartoonists in the context of the war, they have not examined the reasons for which cartoonists of varying popularity continued their work throughout the bloodshed and terror. This presentation will draw upon interviews with Algerian cartoonists as well as their work to determine how and why they persisted in caricaturing during this harrowing time. The current project will argue that Algerian cartoonists intended for their work to voice narratives of discontent and dissent that most Algerians, bereft of such a public venue for venting their frustrations with the steadily devolving situation, could not articulate in an open and widespread manner. In the process, these artists yearned to help readers make sense of and cope with the horrific events of the war through their sketches. Foucauldian and Gramscian notions of how discourse can create and challenge power will provide the theoretical framework for this paper. With the assistance of such ideas, this paper will illustrate how humorists can assist populations in confronting corrupt authorities and use their art as a forum for expressing broader discontent with political forces. It will be of interest to those wanting to learn more about how artists perceive their role in influencing and articulating public opinion during times of unrest and disruption in a North African context.