OT: Saudi royals pay big bucks for comics to perform

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Kevin M.

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Sep 28, 2025, 5:49:41 PM (4 days ago) Sep 28
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Pete Davidson and Bill Burr, among others. All being paid over $300k to attend a comedy festival in Saudi Arabia. Naturally, their free speech is restricted. 

Tom Wolper

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Sep 28, 2025, 7:45:46 PM (4 days ago) Sep 28
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The Saudis are putting a ton of money into laundering their reputation, up to now through golf and soccer. I’ve seen some comics post their invitations to let their fans know they turned it down. I find it hard to believe anybody who performs there will have to pay a price back home.

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Kevin M.

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Sep 30, 2025, 12:56:04 AM (3 days ago) Sep 30
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Semi-related, the House of Saud (and Jared Kushner) just bought Electronic Arts.



PGage

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Sep 30, 2025, 6:11:37 AM (2 days ago) Sep 30
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“Comedian David Cross released a fiery statement on his website Monday condemning the comedians who agreed to perform at Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh Comedy Festival.

“I am disgusted, and deeply disappointed in this whole gross thing. That people I admire, with unarguable talent, would condone this totalitarian fiefdom for…what, a fourth house? A boat? More sneakers?”

“We can never again take seriously anything these comedians complain about (unless it’s complaining that we don’t support enough torture and mass executions of journalists and LGBQT peace activists here in the states, or that we don’t terrorize enough Americans by flying planes into our buildings).”

Cross went on to call out specific names from the lineup, including comedy giants Dave Chappelle, Louie CK and Bill Burr. 

“Clearly you guys don’t give a shit about what the rest of us think, but how can any of us take any of you seriously ever again?” Cross added. “All of your bitching about ‘cancel culture’ and ‘freedom of speech’ and all that shit? Done. You don’t get to talk about it ever again. By now we’ve all seen the contract you had to sign.”


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Doug Eastick

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Sep 30, 2025, 8:51:40 AM (2 days ago) Sep 30
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Yeah that David Cross rant was straight and to the point. 




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Kevin M.

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Oct 1, 2025, 10:54:05 AM (yesterday) Oct 1
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Lot of disappointing comments from Burr in this article. 



Tom Wolper

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Oct 1, 2025, 11:22:11 AM (yesterday) Oct 1
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I don’t know what your expectations of Burr are, but that’s who he is. I don’t follow him and I wouldn’t buy a ticket to his show even without this festival. The comics I admire talk of him as a peer and so I listened to some recent interviews and this is who he is. I would cite a Fresh Air interview late last year with Terry Gross.

Outside of Iran, the Muslim Middle East doesn’t throttle the internet and young people in the region have full access to western culture like everyone else. They may not be able to express it personally in their countries, but they know who the performers are. Promoters in Dubai and Bahrain have been bringing in western standups for a while and I assume most of the comics who went to Riyadh have played in the region before, if not in Saudi Arabia specifically, and are used to the ground rules.

Adam Bowie

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Oct 1, 2025, 11:38:01 AM (yesterday) Oct 1
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I think those Burr quotes just show how culturally naive he actually is. Of course the Gulf states all have Western brands like Starbucks and McDonalds. And no, of course they're not all shouting "Death to America!" That shows a massive lack of basic knowledge. Has he just watched bad action films with generic Muslim bad guys? 

And it's not like American movies and TV shows aren't shown locally. (A friend of mine once had a job licencing "safe" versions of shows like Friends to local cable operators in the region. In other words, they'd be cut to ribbons to remove anything seen as culturally objectionable like gay characters or even kisses. It didn't matter if the cuts rendered the plot impenetrable to anyone watching. One episode of Friends, he said, was only about 5 minutes long after all the snipping had been finished!)

And I've no doubt they managed to fill auditoriums with crowds - there are probably enough expats in Riyadh to fill out the seats on their own. I know that British comics like Michael MacIntyre have played places like Dubai for years, I suspect again mostly to British expats. 


Adam

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