My Thoughts on the Riyadh Comedy Festival | David Cross
My Thoughts on the Riyadh Comedy Festival | David Cross
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My Thoughts on the Riyadh Comedy Festival
25 comments
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I was a massive bill burr fan before. The trans and woke jokes started to piss me off but I gave him a one time pass. It felt like a band wagon tread for the period.
Now, fuck him. He is not poor, most of them are wealthy. A poor comedian I could understand and give a one time pass, if they didn't know.
Peter Davidson is not my kind of comedy but I had major respect for him. Everything that he went through and he came out clean. Now? Wow, him and Yeezy are neck and neck for biggest pos that dated Kim. They kill your dad and you get on your knees and suck them off. WHAT A WHORE!
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Yeah I’m also sad Burr is going to this travesty.
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I'll bet Burr didn't make any bone-saw jokes.
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Unless they go there and shit on the prince, then fuck them all. Hope those checks are worth it bc I will never pay to see them.
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Very well-written. I can feel his pain and disappointment
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I guess Pete Davidson is cool with the people that helped kill his dad.
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Oh, he responded: https://www.cracked.com/article_48522_pete-davidson-defends-his-participation-in-the-riyadh-comedy-festival.html
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He admitted he’s a whore for money. No morals or backbone.
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“I’ve been getting a little bit of flak just because my dad died (in) 9/11,” Davidson recalled, referencing allegations that the Saudi government supported al-Qaeda. “So they’re like, ‘How could you possibly go there?’”
I mean, no, not just for that reason.
But yeah. That’s a question. What’s the answer?
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Legend.
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Thanks for the post!
It reminded me to post a video about Tim Dillon getting disinvited from the Saudi Comedy Festival because of his jokes, hahaha!
The Joke That Got Tim Dillon Disinvited from Saudi Comedy Festival [17:30 | SEP 24 2025 | The Jimmy Dore Show | https://youtu.be/JGysDIEbl0c]
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I see a few justifications for boycott that overlap with US government activity globally. Especially with the US bankrolling the largest scale genocide of the 21st century... I'm not sure if I would treat these comedians any differently for performing in the US versus Saudi Arabia since both nations have an illustrious record of crimes against humanity.
But if others want to justify their anger over this I'd love to understand better.
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This isn't just an event in Saudi Arabia, it's an event run by the Saudi government, with the specific purpose of making them seem more normal and likeable, and less like the horrific autocratic tyrants that they are.
So no, your comparison between this and comedians working in the US does not apply. A more apt comparison would be between working this event and working Trump's inauguration, something that a huge number of artists declined for exactly the same reasons that these comedians all should have declined to work this event.
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Yes one could argue that performing at this festival would show more direct support for the Saudi government because of that.
Those that have performed for the Trump administration have received some ire. Perhaps not to this level. Which brings us back to the my team vs your team arbitrary tribal culture war level thinking which many uniformed fall into.
The human rights record of the US government is not exactly stellar, particularly on a global scale.
In my view if you do work at a venue that pays taxes in the US (which is everywhere) you are financially supporting the government via those payments. In other words, you are indirectly funding the worst genocide we've seen so far in the 21st century.
I doubt anything Saudi has done recently comes close to that scale.
American media is currently whitewashing all aspects of the genocide its government is funding including protests in Italy. By this argument, we should be boycotting American media companies and any comedians who have their content distributed through them if we are being morally consistent.
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Individual people, in this case comedians, who are participating in disgusting horse trading of morals like this (and you are doing) are easily actionable. Don't support them. Don't go to their shows.
In the US, fighting an entire government is next to impossible on single issues.
This is actionable. Fuck these people.
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Perhaps the argument that could be made is that the US does not place limitations on speech (for now, the current government seems intent on changing that). But, as far as I can tell, engaging with the US economy indirectly funds the genocide in Gaza and other abhorrent actions by the US government. I have trouble seeing it as any more than "they're the bad team and we obviously must be the good team".
Saudi Arabia wouldn't even be in a position to host such an event if the US hadn't spent decades buying their oil. Most Americans have historically supported the Saudi regime financially just by going to the gas station.
The phrase "money talks" originated in the US in the 1930s. Americans have largely lived by that mantra since WW2, using economic force to shape the world as they see fit, sometimes resulting in incredible harm to others globally.
One can't have their cake and eat it too I'm afraid.
Finally, while Saudi Arabia is not a perfect nation (I'd like to see which nation is) having progressive voices (relative to the cultural standard there) be amplified is a benefit to humanity. This is how minds are changed. Through stories from different perspectives. Through art. No nation, no people are so far lost that they are beyond conversation. That's would be a level of dehumanization that'd call into question our own humanity.
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25 comments
So they invited comedians from all over the world, mostly English speaking I guess, to perform in gigantic palaces created by oil money and slave labor, in an ultrasexist and alround repressive absolute monarchy? So repressive that it probably does not have its own comedians.
This is in itself so cynical that I'm all out of snark.