Bill Burr has defended his decision to perform at the controversial Riyadh Comedy Festival in Saudi Arabia. On the latest episode of his podcast, the comedian gushed about his “great” experience in the Middle East, concluding that the people there are “just like us.”
Burr explained how a warm-up gig in Bahrain helped him gauge what would be acceptable for his set at the Saudi festival, whose lineup also features Dave Chappelle, Louis C.K., Aziz Ansari, and Pete Davidson.
“Standup is new to this part of the world, so they always have fucking restrictions and shit when you go over there,” he stated. “So the first time you do a new country in the Middle East, it’s fucking hilarious. You go on stage and you’re sitting there going like, ‘Am I going to get arrested?’”
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According to Burr, security guards at the Bahrain show reassured him that all his material was “fine here” and would also be acceptable in Saudi Arabia. He then went to a bar where he was “observing all the people” and their interactions, only to realize, “These guys, they’re just like us… I don’t speak the language, but I get it.”
When he flew into Saudi Arabia, Burr felt a renewed nervousness, but relaxed after seeing that they had the same fast food restaurants.
“I literally think I’m going to land, you know, and 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 recalled. “‘Cause 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, ‘Is that a Starbucks next to a Pete’s Coffee next to a Burger King next to a McDonald’s… They got a fucking Chili’s over here.’”
Burr then addressed the initial restrictions for the festival, which were eventually negotiated down to avoiding jokes about religion and not making fun of the royals.
“When they first went to set it up over there, the rules on what they had about what you could and couldn’t say in Saudi Arabia, [organizers were told], ‘If you want some good comedians, this isn’t going to work,’” he said. “And, to their credit, they said, ‘Alright, what do we got to do?’ And they just negotiated it all the way down to just a couple things.”
Even with those rules in mind, Burr was hesitant to do his bit about going to a gym with “a bunch of gay guys there.” Once the crowd started laughing, however, he decided to push the envelope.
“I’m checking out the diplomats as I’m doing this stuff, and they’re all fucking laughing,” he said. “All of a sudden, I start getting in the zone. Ol’ Billy’s feeling loose up there. My brain just goes, ‘Gay gym.’ And then the other part of my brain says, ‘Don’t do that.’ And then I said, ‘Fuck it. I’m going to do it.’ So I started doing the joke and it fucking murdered. They all loved it. And at that point, I was just like, ‘Ah, fuck it. I’m just doing my act.’ So I did my act. Did the whole thing.”
Unsurprisingly, Burr came away from the experience with a sense of optimism. “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. I think it’s going to lead to a lot of positive things,” he concluded. “The royals loved the show. Everyone was happy. The people who were doing the festival were thrilled… The comedians that I’ve been talking to were just 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.”
Burr’s defense comes as fellow comedians David Cross, Marc Maron, and Shane Gillis have spoken out against Saudi Arabia’s latest effort to whitewash its reputation for human rights abuses and restrictions on free speech.
In an open letter, Cross wrote, “I am disgusted, and deeply disappointed in this whole gross thing… 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 LGBTQ peace activists here in the states, or that we don’t terrorize enough Americans by flying planes into our buildings).”
Maron posted a social media clip captioned, “Selling out in Riyadh,” in which he referenced Saudi Arabia’s alleged role in 9/11 and the assassination of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Gillis claimed he turned down a “significant bag” to perform at the festival to take “a principled stand,” even after the offer was doubled.