Riyadh Comedy Festival controversy explained: Why is it stirring backlash within the comedy community 

The Riyadh Comedy Festival is currently ongoing in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The festival started on September 26, 2025, and is set to continue till October 9, 2025. The festival has several major names from the comedy community, including Kevin Hart, Dave Chappelle, and Pete Davidson, as well as Andrew Schulz, Jo Koy, Bill Burr, Jessica Kirson, Jimmy Carr, and Louis C.K.

However, the comedians who performed at the festival or are scheduled to perform at the festival's other dates are facing backlash from the rest of the comedy community as well as other communities. This is due to Saudi Arabia's history of human rights violations, as well as censorship and attacks on journalists like Jamal Khashoggi, who was killed by the country, as per an official US probe into his death, reported on by publications such as the BBC and Al Jazeera.

One comedian, Marc Maron, who criticised the comedians taking part in the festival, directly mentioned the case of Khashoggi, stating:

"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 f***ing suitcase. But don't let that stop the yucks, it's gonna be a good time."

Zach Woods, of The Office fame, also voiced his criticism against the participants:

"Its the Riyadh Comedy Festival and all of your favorite comedians are performing at the pleasure of Turki Al Sheikh and he is the entertainment authority over there and he has so many people thrown in prison because they tweeted stuff he didn't like about the soccer team or whatever, that there's a wing of a prison nicknamed after him where they hang people by their heels from the ceiling."

The comedian continued:

"Now there’s a lot of drips, killjoys and dweebazoids who are saying, ‘Oh, they shouldn’t do comedy over there because it’s whitewashing a regime that just in June killed a journalist and killed Jamal Khashogg. Shut up. Name one comedian who hasn’t whored themselves out to a dictator."

Other comedians who have turned down the chance to perform at the festival include Shane Gillis, Atsuko Okatsuka, Mike Birbiglia, and Leslie Liao, as well as Stavros Halkias, among others.

Nimesh Patel, who was originally part of the lineup, has since also canceled his performance at the festival. Tim Dillon was also dropped from the lineup of Riyadh Comedy Festival over his comments regarding Saudi Arabia's use of forced labour.

Riyadh Comedy Festival performers criticised by Human Rights Watch

Those performing at the Riyadh Comedy Festival have also been criticised by the deputy director of the Middle East division of Human Rights Watch, Michael Page:

"A lot of these incredibly prominent stand-up comedians have often made it a part of their act to talk about free speech, saying ’we have the right to offend, and we need to be able to say what we want without being cancelled."

Page continued:

"These same individuals who are then attending this Riyadh Comedy Festival are doing so in a place where free speech is not only explicitly prohibited, but where journalists are executed for it."

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Andrew Nadeau

@TheAndrewNadeau

I’m proud to say I turned down the Riyadh Comedy Festival (they tried to hire me as the guy that stands off stage and does the throat-cutting gesture to any comedian who mentions human rights)

Riyadh Comedy Festival is part of Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 program, which is aimed at diversifying the country's economy. Other notable parts of the program include the NEOM, Diriyah, Riyadh Art, and Saudi Genome Project.

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