As many of his peers condemn the Riyadh Comedy Festival and its participants, Bill Burr appears to have connected with a new fandom.
The comedian, who performed on Friday as part of the inaugural festival’s starry lineup, reasoned “they’re just like us” as he responded to backlash to Saudi Arabia’s debut comedy festival.
“It was great to experience that part of the world and to be a part of the first comedy festival over there in Saudi Arabia,” Burr said on his Monday Morning Podcast. “The royals loved the show. Everyone was happy. The people that were doing the festival were thrilled. The comedians that I’ve been talking to are saying, ‘Dude, you can feel [the audience] wanted it. They want to see real stand-up comedy.’ It was a mind-blowing experience. Definitely top three experiences I’ve had. I think it’s going to lead to a lot of positive things.”
After Atsuko Okatsuka turned down an appearance in the festival, she shared some of the offer contract’s “censorship rules,” of which Burr claimed festival organizers were told, “‘If you want some good comedians, this isn’t going to work.’
“And, to their credit, they said, ‘All right, what do we got to do?’” he continued. “And they just negotiated it all the way down to just a couple things, which were, basically: Don’t make fun of royals [and] religion.”
Noting that he previously performed in the nearby island nation of Bahrain, which is more liberal, Burr explained how his initial culture shock returned when he arrived in Riyadh.
“You think everybody’s going to be screaming ‘death to America’ and they’re going to have like fucking machetes and want to like chop my head off, right?” he said. “Because this is what I’ve been fed about that part of the world. I thought this place was going to be really tense. And I’m thinking like: ‘Is that a Starbucks next to a Pizza Hut next to a Burger King next to McDonald’s? They got a fucking Chili’s over here!’”
Burr said he was able to perform most of his regular act during the set. “I had to stop a couple times during the show [and say], ‘I’ll be honest with you guys, I cannot fucking believe any of you have any idea who I am. This is really amazing.’ And it was just this great exchange of energy. They know their reputation. So they were extra friendly,” he added.
Other comedians have recently called out their peers who have agreed to perform, noting Saudi officials’ roles in 9/11 and the 2018 assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, as well as the human rights abuses committed by Saudi minister of entertainment, Turki Al-Sheikh, who is behind the festival.
Human Rights Watch researcher Joey Shea explained to CBS News, “The Saudi government has invested billions into high profile entertainment events like these in a deliberate effort to whitewash the country’s human rights record and deflect from the egregious abuses that continue to happen inside of the country.
“These investments are a part of the broader strategy to… have people thinking about a comedy event, for example, rather than the soaring number of executions that are happening inside of the country,” added Shea.
Since Deadline exclusively announced the initial lineup in July, the Riyadh Comedy Festival has grown to include Kevin Hart, Aziz Ansari, Dave Chappelle, Louis C.K., Whitney Cummings, Pete Davidson, Hannibal Buress, Jack Whitehall, Zarna Garg, Gabriel Iglesias, Jim Jefferies, Jo Koy, Bobby Lee, Jeff Ross, Andrew Santino, Tom Segura, Chris Tucker and more.
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