Marc Maron, Shane Gillis and Zach Woods are among the comics criticising a raft of A-list names for playing the Riyadh Comedy Festival this week.
The two-week event kicks off in the Saudi Arabian capital on Friday (September 26), and among the line-up are Dave Chappelle, Louis C.K., Bill Burr, Aziz Ansari, Jimmy Carr, Pete Davidson, Kevin Hart, Jim Jefferies and Chris Tucker.
The festival was announced in July by Turki Al=Sheikh, the chairman of the Saudi General Entertainment Authority, and it is part of the country’s Vision 2030 strategy to develop Saudi Arabia as a venue for major international cultural events.
A report by nonprofit group Human Rights Watch recently stated that the government view the event as an opportunity to whitewash Saudi human rights abuses, and now a slew of comedians have spoken out against those who have agreed to perform there.
Stand-up, actor and podcaster Maron posted a clip on Instagram in which he takes aim at the performers. “There is a Riyadh Comedy Festival, I don’t know if you’ve heard about that,” he said. “I mean, how do you even promote that? You know, ‘from the folks that brought you 9/11, two weeks of laughter in the desert. Don’t miss it!’”
“I mean, the same guy that’s going to pay them is the same guy that paid that guy to bonesaw Jamal Khashoggi and put him in a fucking suitcase,” he said, referring to the dissident Saudi journalist that was murdered at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018. “But don’t let that stop the yucks, it’s gonna be a good time,” he added.
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Fellow stand-up Gillis revealed on his podcast Matt and Shane’s Secret Podcast that he had turned down a “significant bag” to play the festival, even having his offer doubled. “I took a principled stand,” he explained. “You don’t 9/11 your friends.”
Zach Woods is so real for this – love a man with integrity. This is why his was the best part of Silicon Valley. pic.twitter.com/nUbsrwSD34
— Decade Scrolling (@DecadeScrolling) September 25, 2025
Comedian and Silicon Valley star Woods posted sarcastic take on his Instagram, highlighting that there is a wing of a prison in Saudi Arabia nicknamed after Al-Sheikh, and adding: “Now there’s a lot of drips, killjoys, and dweezbazoids, who are saying, ‘Oh, they shouldn’t do comedy over there because it’s like whitewashing a regime that just in June killed a journalist, and killed Jamal Khashoggi, and played a big role in 9/11.’ Shut up! Name one comedian who hasn’t whored themself out to a dictator.”
One comedian who will not play the festival is Tim Dillon, who said he had initially agreed to appear for $375,000, but said he was later “fired” from the bill due to jokes on his podcast about forced labour in Saudi Arabia. “They heard what you said about them having slaves,” Dillon said he recalled his manager telling him. “They didn’t like that.”
Elsewhere, Maron was similarly outspoken on the subject of Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension following comments relating to the murder of Charlie Kirk. Although he has now been reinstated, Maron described the suspension as “government censorship” and “the Trump administration coming after people who speak out against him”.
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