There was a time I really enjoyed the stand-up comedy of Aziz Ansari, Hannibal Buress, Bill Burr, Jimmy Carr, Dave Chappelle, Louis C.K., Whitney Cummings, Pete Davidson, Chris Distefano, Kevin Hart, Gabriel Iglesias, Jim Jefferies, Jo Koy, Bobby Lee, Sebastian Maniscalco, Russell Peters, Jeff Ross, Tom Segura, Chris Tucker, and Wayne Brady.
That was until they all took checks of up to $1.6 million to perform at the Riyadh Comedy Festival taking place from September 26 to October 9, 2025. Now they are dead to me—but not as dead as Jamal Khashoggi.
Saudi Arabia has a few problems. One, they are wholly dependent on oil for their economy, an economically volatile substance the world is trying to reduce their uses of; and two, they are a brutal Kingdom that tortures gay and trans people, treats women as second-class citizens, engages in slavery, executes drug users, and occasionally murders and dismembers journalists.
To counter the terrible public relations nightmare of being a medieval theocratic oligarchy, The Saudis have been trying to cultivate a reputation for world-class entertainment as part of the crown prince’s Vision 2030. It began with throwing wads of blood-soaked oil money at professional golfers, luring many away from the PGA to the LIV tournament. See? We’ve got great golf courses and the world’s top players—pay no mind to the five men we tortured into confessing their homosexuality so we could behead them by sword and put one’s body and severed head placed on a pole in the public square as a warning.
Now as part of their government’s plan to soften their image the Saudis debut this comedy festival in their capital. Ha ha ha, what great jokes they tell—so funny you won’t even notice the hellish women’s prison used to punish wives who don’t submit to their husband’s sexual abuse, holding girls as young as seven years old in conditions where they are frequently whipped, sedated, and left in filthy conditions.
According to comedian Atsuko Okatsuka, who has a soul and basic human decency, the contract she turned down to perform in Riyadh contains a very strict contract rider censoring what topics the comics cannot broach:
ARTIST shall not prepare or perform any material that may be considered to degrade, defame, or bring into public disrepute, contempt, scandal, embarrassment, or ridicule: A) The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, including its leadership, public figures, culture, or people; B) The Saudi royal family, legal system, or government, and; C) Any religion, religious tradition, religious figure, or religious practice.
from Okatsuka’s screenshot of the contract for the Riyadh Comedy Festival
No jokes about any religion in the Muslim country? There goes Bill Burr‘s riffs on Catholicism and Scientology. “As a former Catholic, I mean we got bodies stacked up,” he said. “We got pedophilia, we got torture, we have crusades. What do they got? Little mind control? Couple of fucking disgruntled sitcom stars?”
Also among the joke tellers trading respectability for cash is SNL alum Pete Davidson. I guess any jokes he might make about the fifteen of the nineteen hijackers who flew the planes into the Twin Towers on 9/11, killing his father, are off limits. I don’t know, maybe he sees his paycheck as reparations.
Seems not too long ago I recalled many of these comedians calling on us to “legalize comedy.” They wailed about not being able to make jokes anymore without protest. Dave Chappelle even complained recently that SNL censored him from joking about Gaza or transgender people. But I guess for a $1.6 million check, censoring one of those topics is okey doke.
Another one of the Saudi sanitizers is Australian Jim Jeffries, who told podcaster Theo Von that, gee whiz, just “one reporter was killed by the government.” Why should we be all worked up about that when “you don’t think our governments fucking bump people?” Which reminds me of when Trump said “There are a lot of killers. You think our country’s so innocent?” when pressed about Vladimir Putin being a killer. “One reporter was killed by the government1,” Jeffries concluded. “Unfortunate, but not a fucking hill that I’m gonna die on.”
“Unfortunate” is how Jeffries describes the man—who is directly paying him at least six figures—giving the order to kidnap, torture, and dismember Jamal Khashoggi. Journalism and truth telling about Saudi Arabia’s heinous deeds were the metaphorical hill Khashoggi literally died on, a hill Jeffries is more than eager to piss on for some of that sweet Saudi green.
“I am doing this because they are paying me a large sum of money,” said comedian Tim Dillon, who was offered $375,000 for an October 8 show. “Do I have issues with the policies towards freedom of speech,” Dillon asked rhetorically. “Of course I do, but I believe in my own financial wellbeing.” Dillon later found out that the Kingdom’s view of free speech also applies to remarks he makes on podcasts here in America, where his joking about Saudi slave labor led to his $375,000 offer being rescinded.
Is that all this is to these guys—a high-paying gig? Do artists no longer have any conscience? Are they so cynical that they can just ignore the Kingdom’s horrific abuses? I’m old enough to remember apartheid in South Africa and a campaign of musicians who all agreed “We ain’t gonna play Sun City.” My dad tells me of a time when The Beatles, Ray Charles, Little Richard, and others used their fame to integrate audiences and promote Black performers during Jim Crow.
Maybe those days aren’t completely gone. Kudos to Atsuko Okatsuka, Marc Maron, Shane Gillis, Zach Woods and others who reportedly turned down or criticized the Saudi whitewashing. Maybe they can get ahold of Little Steven and Bono and record “We Ain’t Gonna Play Saudi City.”
As for Aziz Ansari, Hannibal Buress, Bill Burr, Jimmy Carr, Dave Chappelle, Louis C.K., Whitney Cummings, Pete Davidson, Chris Distefano, Kevin Hart, Gabriel Iglesias, Jim Jefferies, Jo Koy, Bobby Lee, Sebastian Maniscalco, Russell Peters, Jeff Ross, Tom Segura, Chris Tucker, and Wayne Brady? It’s remarkable to me to see so many names belonging to so many racial and ethnic groups who faced historical discrimination, brutality, and death in America who are all so willing to look the other way as Saudi Arabia engages in discrimination, brutality, and death against LGBTQ people, women, and dissidents.
I hope they find cannabis in their luggage at the Riyadh airport. I hope everyone else boycotts the next shows and specials from any of these Saudi sanitizers.
1 Apparently this comment from Jeffries got him booted from the lineup. Ha ha, now he’s both outed himself as a Saudi sanitizer and didn’t get the fat paycheck! Maybe he and Tim Dillon can do a set together somewhere.
