{"id":196110,"date":"2025-10-02T01:55:05","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T01:55:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/196110\/"},"modified":"2025-10-02T01:55:05","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T01:55:05","slug":"bill-burr-defends-appearance-at-saudi-arabia-comedy-festival-theyre-just-like-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/196110\/","title":{"rendered":"Bill Burr Defends Appearance at Saudi Arabia Comedy Festival: “They’re Just Like Us”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bill Burr<\/a> has defended his decision to perform at the controversial Riyadh Comedy Festival<\/a> in Saudi Arabia. On the latest episode<\/a> of his podcast, the comedian gushed about his \u201cgreat\u201d experience in the Middle East, concluding that the\u00a0people there are \u201cjust like us.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cStandup is new to this part of the world, so they always have fucking restrictions and shit when you go over there,\u201d he stated. \u201cSo the first time you do a new country in the Middle East, it\u2019s fucking hilarious. You go on stage and you\u2019re sitting there going like, \u2018Am I going to get arrested?’\u201d<\/p>\n

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According to Burr, security guards at the Bahrain show reassured him that all his material was \u201cfine here\u201d and would also be acceptable in Saudi Arabia. He then went to a bar where he was \u201cobserving all the people\u201d and their interactions, only to realize, \u201cThese guys, they\u2019re just like us\u2026 I don\u2019t speak the language, but I get it.\u201d<\/p>\n

When he flew into Saudi Arabia, Burr felt a renewed nervousness, but relaxed after seeing that they had the same fast food restaurants.<\/p>\n

\u201cI literally think I\u2019m going to land, you know, and everybody\u2019s going to be screaming, \u2018Death to America,\u2019 and they\u2019re going to have like fucking machetes and want to like chop my head off, right?\u201d he recalled. \u201c\u2018Cause this is what I\u2019ve been fed about that part of the world. I thought this place was going to be really tense. And I\u2019m thinking, \u2018Is that a Starbucks next to a Pete\u2019s Coffee next to a Burger King next to a McDonald\u2019s\u2026 They got a fucking Chili\u2019s over here.’\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen they first went to set it up over there, the rules on what they had about what you could and couldn\u2019t say in Saudi Arabia, [organizers were told], \u2018If you want some good comedians, this isn\u2019t going to work,’\u201d he said. \u201cAnd, to their credit, they said, \u2018Alright, what do we got to do?\u2019 And they just negotiated it all the way down to just a couple things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even with those rules in mind, Burr was hesitant to do his bit about going to a gym with \u201ca bunch of gay guys there.\u201d Once the crowd started laughing, however, he decided to push the envelope.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m checking out the diplomats as I\u2019m doing this stuff, and they\u2019re all fucking laughing,\u201d he said. \u201cAll of a sudden, I start getting in the zone. Ol\u2019 Billy\u2019s feeling loose up there. My brain just goes, \u2018Gay gym.\u2019 And then the other part of my brain says, \u2018Don\u2019t do that.\u2019 And then I said, \u2018Fuck it. I\u2019m going to do it.\u2019 So I started doing the joke and it fucking murdered. They all loved it. And at that point, I was just like, \u2018Ah, fuck it. I\u2019m just doing my act.\u2019 So I did my act. Did the whole thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unsurprisingly, Burr came away from the experience with a sense of optimism. \u201cIt 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\u2019s going to lead to a lot of positive things,\u201d he concluded. \u201cThe royals loved the show. Everyone was happy. The people who were doing the festival were thrilled\u2026 The comedians that I\u2019ve been talking to were just saying, \u2018Dude, you can feel [the audience] wanted it. They want to see real stand-up comedy.\u2019 It was a mind-blowing experience. Definitely top three experiences I\u2019ve had.\u201d<\/p>\n

Burr\u2019s defense comes as fellow comedians David Cross, Marc Maron, and Shane Gillis have spoken out against Saudi Arabia\u2019s latest effort to whitewash its reputation for human rights abuses and restrictions on free speech.<\/p>\n

In an\u00a0open letter<\/a>, Cross wrote, \u201cI am disgusted, and deeply disappointed in this whole gross thing\u2026 We can never again take seriously anything these comedians complain about (unless it\u2019s complaining that we don\u2019t support enough torture and mass executions of journalists and LGBTQ peace activists here in the states, or that we don\u2019t terrorize enough Americans by flying planes into our buildings).\u201d<\/p>\n

Maron posted a social media clip<\/a> captioned, \u201cSelling out in Riyadh,\u201d in which he referenced Saudi Arabia\u2019s alleged role in 9\/11 and the assassination of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.<\/p>\n

Gillis claimed he turned down a \u201csignificant bag\u201d to perform at the festival to take \u201ca principled stand,\u201d even after the offer was doubled.<\/p>\n