Jo Koy hurt me the most. First time I saw my wife crying with joy over his Asian accents bit. He’s not nearly so funny if you’re not Filipino, or are at least close to the community, but he’s still damned good.
Guess they all got caught up in the idea that, “Everyone else is doing it!” And honestly? I could see myself fall into that.
I’m sure I’ll get beat up for making excuses for them. But I’m not that guy, and I wasn’t there. Were you?
So what makes this worse then doing a show for the US? And I don’t mean just now with Trump the US has been doing horrible stuff for decades, but do they get a pass because they are the “good” guys.
I mean they had Guatemala bay for how long.
Not the same scenario. The equivalent would be these comedians doing a set that was paid for by the White House, with a list of restrictions on what could be said. Which would receive just as much backlash
whispers Guantanamo
whispers also we still have it
The title quote is from Tim Dillon, article has a similar quote from Pete Davidson
You guys expect way too much from the court jesters. There’s plenty of serious enterprises investing heavily in SA, go after them if this is something you care deeply about. Comedians aren’t supposed to be the moral pulse of society and yet that’s how almost all conversations about them are framed these days.
Go watch old late night bits. Zero politics. LOL, somebody on here the other day was trying to say the Late Show had always been political. Someone who never watched Carson.
Comedians have evolved into the “moral pulse” role. They seem to be the only group speaking truth to power and having any traction whatsoever.
Anyway, you got me thinking on all that, so I thank you!
Why aren’t they supposed to be the moral pulse? I’m not saying they necessarily are but I think in order to be funny you need to empathize with others.
The arts should be. There’s a standard that should be there, but these comments seems to argue otherwise…
I used to love standup comedy. These days I feel as though so much of the mainstream comedy scene is made up of immature losers who peaked in highschool. Joe Rogan, Bert Kreisher, Bobby Lee, Chris Distefano… I cannot stand these guys. The list goes on.
I thought Bill Burr was different. I’m really disappointed.
Taylor Tomlinson popped up on my feeds and it’s a fresh breath. Gianmarco Soresi did as well, but I doubt I’ll watch his special
Taylor’s, though, I’d go see that live, and I’m not somebody to go to comedy clubs
don’t forget caleb hearon
She is pure brilliant.
I don’t think I’ve seen any clips that I haven’t laughed at. maybe a few that didn’t hit hard, but whoever is doing her media, they’re picking great stuff. and lots of it really gets me good, she’s just a great act
I’m a big fan. Seen all her specials and saw her live this year. She is a big talent. I’m happy for her. In other words, I don’t think it’s that good bits are being promoted, they’re all good bits.
I’ve seen her live. She’s great, and worth it. She’s funny with both her rehearsed material and her crowdwork.
I think I could prepare a damned funny show, but no way could I ad lib like Tomlinson. Sometimes, when the mood hits, I can run with it, but she’s consistently on the ball.
burr at least spoke out against the billionaire class…
but then he took the fucking bonesaw money. fuck.
Wait, what’s the bonesaw money?
MBS had Khashoggi (a journalist living in the US) murdered in the Saudi Embassy in Istanbul, then cut up with bone saws and packed into a suitcase.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Jamal_Khashoggi
you can see the obvious comedic angles there.
Ah, okay. I was aware of that, just thought maybe there was more of a connection to bill burr than just taking the money, like he had previously commented on it.
Should we start calling him Bonesaw Bill or Bonesaw Burr.
mr funnybonesaw
Yeah, I never really cared for his vibe as a comedian until that part happened and then he decided to do this like a month or two later so I’ll go back to not caring about his shit again. I do hope people keep giving him shit for it until he stops showing his face though.
Bobby Lee is a pedophile and I block every YouTube channel that suggests his videos.
This I did not know.
He came out later claiming it was a joke, but I don’t see how anyone can turn that into a comedy bit. This made me look at him deeper and he has a history of being creepy with women, many times on camera. I rather just avoid his stuff
I really hope he grows and shows some real contrition about it. It would take time to convince me, but I really hope he just didn’t think it through. Such a bummer.
Sadly, my prediction is that he’ll use his classic “I’m dumb, I don’t read the news” line as an excuse, and then go back to trashing billionaires as early as next week.
I don’t give a shit if he grows or not, I’m done with him. I saw what he did.
Choke on your blood money, bill burka.
In my fantasy world, these comedians are currently in conference calls working on material to fry the Saudis together.
Obviously they’d execute the first one that did it, but I like to dream
In my fantasy world countries aren’t run by murderous lying regimes
Standup was a thing in the 80s. I feel like even by the 90s it was already dying. There were a few unique acts like Mitch Hedberg for example, but the format itself is kind of no longer relevant.
I appreciate this take. It’s interesting to think about - I have often felt alienated because I often don’t enjoy standup - neither from the classics nor the modern comedians.
Odd! With so much talent out there it’s surprising someone hasn’t hit your joy button.
Excuse me say what? This news had me thinking yesterday about how many solid comedians there are now vs. back in the day. In the 80s, we could name most popular comedians. “Ever heard of this Eddie Murphy guy?”
Now? The list is enormous, and filled with hard hitters. I can spend all night on YouTube only watching the most popular, barely scratching the surface.
The lineup features Dave Chappelle, Louis CK, Bill Burr, Kevin Hart, Whitney Cummings, Pete Davidson, Aziz Ansari and Jo Koy, among many others who are all taking their fees directly from the Saudi government.
Burr being on that list surprises me, but it said he’s also been to UAE. Davidson is pissing on his father’s grave.
They have also taken flak from their peers. “The same guy that’s gonna pay them is the same guy that paid that guy to bone-saw Jamal Khashoggi and put him in a fucking suitcase,” said Marc Maron in a standup clip posted on his Facebook.
Exactly.
Greedy fucks, all of them.
Out of all of the comedians asked only TWO had enough integrity to turn the offer down.
Who?
Shane Gillis and Stavros Halkias were the only two that turned it down as far as I know.
It’s still kinda hard to understand that mindset for me. Like, if I were to become a public person - I’d probably care a lot about, for example, Wikipedia article about me.
Even ~10 years ago, while being a uni student, I declined some really good job offers, because that’d have me script bots for online gambling sites. That’d help my financial situation a lot, but I just said “nah, I’m fine”.
We just don’t cancel people enough and it shows. 🌝
Dave Chappelle, Louie CK, and Aziz Ansari were all on the list of comedians.
Cancelling isn’t really a thing.
It never was. It was always a juvenile response to criticism.
I don’t understand how being rich can make someone such a whore ― David Cross
https://officialdavidcross.com/blogs/press/my-thoughts-on-the-riyadh-comedy-festival
It’s actually pretty easy to explain why rich people are whores.
The reason they’re rich is that they care so much about money. If they didn’t care about money, then at some point, they’d have enough money, and after that, they won’t be so interested in getting more money. Those people wouldn’t become rich.
Yes, there are exceptions. Some comedians just want to become famous, or want to go down in history as the best comedian. But most of them probably want to become rich and famous.
But what does “rich” mean? It’s not a specific amount of money. It’s that you’re comparing yourself to other people, and saying that you have more money than them. Donald Trump was so obsessed with this that he committed fraud to lie about his wealth. And basically all rich people have the same mindset to some degree.
If your goal is to be rich, then no amount of money is enough, and you’ll do anything if people pay you enough.
Always loved this guy.
Yes! Very refreshing he had the smart takes after 911 flooded us with jingoistic hypocrisy and ever since.
Let’s make it cost them more to get their fans back.
"…He did not address the criticism directly, but he did suggest he was happy to forget 9/11 for the right price: “I just know I get the routing, and then I see the number, and I go, ‘I’ll go.’” "
Apparently $375,000 is enough for Pete Davidson to piss on his fathers memory
I guess for most people it would be. Certainly I’d be like “sorry dad but I can buy a house an have my future be much more secure” if my kid did the same I’d like to think I’d understand as well…but this is for normal people. To these very well known and well off comedians is 375k that much? It’s like the equivalent of me getting like 5k which I’m not sure I would betray my morals for. Having said that nobody’s offering me 5k to!
Yeah, that makes sense, except that Pete Davidson is a millionaire who owns a house on Staten Island. He lives in a loft in Brooklyn that costs 30k/month
Well, that’s why he needs the money! 😂
You gotta support that lifestyle that you’re used to.
So true. I’m laughing, but dying inside. It’s so gross to see that amount of money just be wasted. There’s no reasons other than status and you want to be gaudy.
Yeah, but that’s like 10 months of rent!
He’s now working for his parent’s murderer.
It pays well…well it pays.
I am really disappointed to see Bill Burr here. I’m not surprised to see Mark Norman and others who made a name for themselves by making jokes at others expense. They remind me of little kids in school picking on the fat kid or the new kid from another country.
I hate to bring this up, especially since SA kills people so openly, but the US’s track record of committing terrorist acts, or supporting terrorism (South America) is terrible. We’re currently supplying weapons to Israel that they use to kill children. That’s going on right now, they’ve killed like 60,000 Palestinians, 20,000 children. If you weren’t American would you be okay with comedians playing in a country with America’s history?
I haven’t been to the US since I had an already scheduled stopover shortly after Trump was elected (but before he was in office) the first time. Since then I’ve only taken flights that avoid US airspace.
Before that, I used to travel to the US regularly. I just don’t trust things to be both predictable and safe for foreigners anymore, since the current leaders have been very vocal that they consider the constitution to only apply to certain people.
I wouldn’t boycott someone for performing here, but I think performers should boycott America.
Distefano, chatting with Halkias, joked that an upside to the kingdom’s repression of women is that his fiancee can’t come with him. Mark Normand, on the other hand, joked he would bring his wife to show her how good she has it in America: “I want to be like, ‘You see? You think I’m an asshole? Well, they’ll cut your clit off, bitch.’”
Sounds like the right terrible people for that place. With any luck they would stay there.
It’s kind of a who’s who of questionable comedians. Curious from a moral perspective: if one takes the gig and donates their proceeds to a charitable cause, are they off the hook?
Another thing I’m reminded of is, I’ve heard many big comedians have had a gig at a corporate event at one point or another (I’ve heard some refer to them as terrible audiences lol). In that world, you’re kinda trained early on to never turn down a gig… but if they were to headline a company event for say, Nestle or United Healthcare or something, are we ok with that too?
“Make shit excuses” isn’t really a definition of “defend.”
To defend something, it should be defensible in the first place. Otherwise you’re just failing while talking about how it was worth it, but with extra steps.
Pete and Dave have been pieces of shit for a long time. Dave has been all downhill since those first few sets when he returned. Guy peaked with Chappel Show.
Here’s a full list:
- Mo Amer
- Aziz Ansari
- Wayne Brady
- Hannibal Buress
- Bill Burr
- Jimmy Carr
- Dave Chappelle
- Louis C.K.
- Whitney Cummings
- Pete Davidson
- Chris Distefano
- Omid Djalili
- Zarna Garg
- Ben Hart
- Kevin Hart
- Gabriel Iglesias
- Jimeoin
- Maz Jobrani
- Jessica Kirson
- Jo Koy
- Bobby Lee
- Sebastian Maniscalco
- Sam Morril
- Mark Normand
- Russell Peters
- Jeff Ross
- Sugar Sammy
- Andrew Santino
- Andrew Schulz
- Tom Segura
- Ali Siddiq
- Cipha Sounds
- Aries Spears
- Chris Tucker
- Jack Whitehall
Happy Boycott!
EDIT: Corrected and expanded now, based on the feedback and what seem to be Saudi websites in English.
Be sure to fact check before putting people on blast and ruining their reputation.
The following comedians were openly critical of those who took the gig. These comedians DID NOT go. Okatsuka specifically revealed the details of the contract these comedians had to sign. Woods made a scathing video that went viral criticizing the lineup.
Checked more than one outlet (apparently AI-written, since people like Maron are connected to it, but in a negative way) and came up with that conservative list.
I am also surprised there is no official website I can find.
Corrected and expanded now, based on the feedback and what seem to be Saudi websites in English.
Was gonna say, those exact names would be the people I expect to not go. Atsuko and Marc in particular would really surprise me.
Burr being on that list makes me angry. Come on man.
Yeah man, fuck. Saw his jpg-artifact-face on the Cross response linked in the thread and just thought, no, cannot be right. And here we are. So now there were two terrible people on the Mandalorian show, damn.
I’m not surprised, he’s really just an ass.
He always seemed to be a principled ass, but I guess enough money can change that.
Yeah, I’m not sure why people are surprised he’s a POS. Someone told me to watch a special show of his and first thing he was punching down on trans people. Fuck him.
Shane Gillis and Atsuko Okatsuka turned the invitation down.
Atsuko has been outspoken about it and Shane said on his podcast he wouldn’t work for the people who did 9/11.
Checked more than one outlet (apparently AI-written, since people like Maron are connected to it, but in a negative way) and came up with that conservative list.
I am also surprised there is no official website I can find.
Corrected and expanded now, based on the feedback and what seem to be Saudi websites in English.
Aziz Ansari? Goddamn it…
I guess he really is a little creep after all.
That’s not accurate. Marc Maron criticized it heavily. Shane Gillis turned it down.
Checked more than one outlet (apparently AI-written, since people like Maron are connected to it, but in a negative way) and came up with that conservative list.
I am also surprised there is no official website I can find.
Corrected and expanded now, based on the feedback and what seem to be Saudi websites in English.
No not Bill Burr come on man.
It’s been even worse since he got back and has been defending it. His supposed defenses make it so much worse for me.
This list is fucking inaccurate. Nice job posting bullshit and muddying the waters.
Checked more than one outlet (apparently AI-written) and came up with that conservative list.
I am also surprised there is no official website I can find.
Corrected and expanded now, based on the feedback and what seem to be Saudi websites in English.
Okatsuka turned the offer down, Patel changed his mind, and Maron not only wasn’t asked but has been outspokenly against the entire thing for like a month
Do you even know what’s being discussed lol
Checked more than one outlet (apparently AI-written) and came up with that conservative list.
I am also surprised there is no official website I can find.
Corrected and expanded now, based on the feedback and what seem to be Saudi websites in English.
Jimmy Carr. Wow.
That doesn’t really surprise me
Yeah he and Jack Whitehall are both shite and I never expected more from them to be honest.
I imagine how Sean Lock would have responded to this
Exactly.
The second-least-surprising one after Chappelle
Lol how did you come up with this list? It’s incorrect…
Checked more than one outlet (apparently AI-written) and came up with that conservative list.
Corrected now.
Nice, thanks for taking the time to update. It’s been tough to find a good source and it’s not like these comedians are looking to publicize it either
People have a habit of repeating things they see from others. For instance you saw six other people made this same type of comment and you still made yours. So it’s probably just like that.
Nimesh Patel backed out about a week before and didn’t end up performing
Whew, I was worried! But that’s an easy list to boycott. Never listened to any of them because they all sucked as comedians anyway.
C-list, tops.
