Bill Burr, Dave Chappelle Kiss Ass In Saudi Arabia

For years, we’ve been hearing about the power and magic of comedians who are not just telling jokes, they are speaking “truth to power.” They’re going for the “clapter,” meaning not just laughs, but approval and agreement from the audience on social and political issues. 

We’ve been told comedians are the only ones willing to say what no one else will say. They’re the ones who are breaking open the Overton Window, who are really saying the unsayable. And traditionally, comedians have done just that. Traditionally, comedians violate taboos because when you violate a taboo, it’s either inherently funny and transgressive. Even if it’s not funny, it might shatter or shock your sensibilities.

And the natural reaction when someone does something transgressive is to laugh. Comedians have always had this sort of role in society, and sometimes that role can be properly directed because the things they’re attacking are worthwhile to criticize or make fun of. But sometimes the transgressivism of these comedians is really just about the clicks and money. It’s about faux transgressivism because when it comes down to it, they are perfectly willing to take money from some of the world’s most repressive human beings and then crap on America in the process.

So Dave Chappelle, Bill Burr, Andrew Schulz, and a bunch of other top-shelf American comedians went over to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for the Riyadh Comedy Festival. Now that sounds like an Orwellian contradiction in terms. The Riyadh Comedy Festival sounds sort of like the North Korean Dance Festival.

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It’s ridiculous what the Saudi monarchy is attempting to do right now. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is attempting to create tourist traps in Saudi Arabia because, effectively, the country has no economic resources other than oil. Oil remains the massive driver of its economy. Salman is trying to diversify. He’s trying to get into tech. He’s trying to get into travel and tourism, all of which is fine and dandy.

But let’s be very clear. Saudi Arabia is an unbelievably repressive country. It remains an unbelievably repressive country today, except for certain touristy areas that are being opened to Westerners so they can come and spend their money. So now a bunch of comedians are apparently so brave when there are no consequences to their bravery, when the only consequences they face are money and applause.

They’re not so brave when they go over to Saudi Arabia and abide by every single rule set by the Saudi government for millions of dollars.

So Dave Chappelle, a faux brave person, goes to Saudi Arabia and says, “Right now in America, they say that if you talk about Charlie Kirk, you’ll get canceled. I don’t know if that’s true, but I’m going to find out.”

Wow. Look at the bravery of that man. He’s going over to Saudi Arabia to rip on Charlie Kirk and make jokes about him. Just look at that bravery. Perfectly happy to take the money from the repressive Islamic dictatorship and rip on Charlie Kirk in the process.

What a brave man. What a truly brave man.

According to The New York Times:

[Chappelle] was performing in Riyadh at the same time as a divisive free speech debate was roiling the United States. … Mr. Chappelle has talked frequently about being canceled after an uproar caused by his jokes mocking trans people. But in Riyadh, he also took aim at the recent suspension of Mr. Kimmel.

Like other comedians at the event who said they felt muzzled by American political correctness, Mr. Chappelle reveled in making uncouth jokes in Saudi Arabia. Yet he overlooked an eight-year crackdown that has led to many of the country’s writers, businesspeople, activists, clerics and social media influencers being arrested.

So he goes to Saudi Arabia, of all places, to rip on the United States because Jimmy Kimmel was suspended from the air for five minutes.

That’s where he’s putting his ire. What a brave person.

And speaking of brave people, Bill Burr is out there saying, “Free Luigi! Kill the rich!” The same very wealthy Bill Burr, who believes that the systems of the United States are deeply corrupt, so corrupt that he is a man speaking “truth to power” when he appears on every late-night television show to the hoots and hollers of a bunch of morons in Manhattan, and flies to Riyadh to pick up a giant check.

Burr talked about how he found out that Saudi Arabia is made up of people just like us because, you know, there’s a Starbucks over there.

Great job, Bill. You really are a warrior for truth. What a brave man. Truly an incredible person.

Here’s what he said after the festival:

And like my whole idea of Saudi Arabia is what I’ve seen, like on the news. I think I’m going to land, you know, and everybody’s going to be screaming, “Death to America!” And they’re gonna have like, machetes and want to, like, chop my head off.

Right? Because this is what I’ve been fed about that part of the world. Right. When they first went to set it up over there, the rules on what they had above what you could say and what you couldn’t say in Saudi Arabia, the people running the festivals were like, “All right. Well, man, that’s game, set, match. If this is like all you can talk about, and you want some good comedians, like this isn’t going to work.”

And then, to their credit, they said, “All right, what do we got to do?” And they just negotiated it all the way down to like, “You can talk about anything, you know, other than a couple things,” which was basically, you know … religion, don’t make fun of the royals. And other than that … everything was like open. The royals loved the show. Everyone was happy. The people who were doing the festival were thrilled. And, yeah, it was just this great, positive thing.

Wow. So much bravery.

For years, we’ve been hearing about the power and magic of comedians who are not just telling jokes, they are speaking “truth to power.” They’re going for the “clapter,” meaning not just laughs, but approval and agreement from the audience on social and political issues. 

We’ve been told comedians are the only ones willing to say what no one else will say. They’re the ones who are breaking open the Overton Window, who are really saying the unsayable. And traditionally, comedians have done just that. Traditionally, comedians violate taboos because when you violate a taboo, it’s either inherently funny and transgressive. Even if it’s not funny, it might shatter or shock your sensibilities.

And the natural reaction when someone does something transgressive is to laugh. Comedians have always had this sort of role in society, and sometimes that role can be properly directed because the things they’re attacking are worthwhile to criticize or make fun of. But sometimes the transgressivism of these comedians is really just about the clicks and money. It’s about faux transgressivism because when it comes down to it, they are perfectly willing to take money from some of the world’s most repressive human beings and then crap on America in the process.

So Dave Chappelle, Bill Burr, Andrew Schulz, and a bunch of other top-shelf American comedians went over to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for the Riyadh Comedy Festival. Now that sounds like an Orwellian contradiction in terms. The Riyadh Comedy Festival sounds sort of like the North Korean Dance Festival.

Get 40% off new DailyWire+ annual memberships with code FALL40 at checkout

It’s ridiculous what the Saudi monarchy is attempting to do right now. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is attempting to create tourist traps in Saudi Arabia because, effectively, the country has no economic resources other than oil. Oil remains the massive driver of its economy. Salman is trying to diversify. He’s trying to get into tech. He’s trying to get into travel and tourism, all of which is fine and dandy.

But let’s be very clear. Saudi Arabia is an unbelievably repressive country. It remains an unbelievably repressive country today, except for certain touristy areas that are being opened to Westerners so they can come and spend their money. So now a bunch of comedians are apparently so brave when there are no consequences to their bravery, when the only consequences they face are money and applause.

They’re not so brave when they go over to Saudi Arabia and abide by every single rule set by the Saudi government for millions of dollars.

So Dave Chappelle, a faux brave person, goes to Saudi Arabia and says, “Right now in America, they say that if you talk about Charlie Kirk, you’ll get canceled. I don’t know if that’s true, but I’m going to find out.”

Wow. Look at the bravery of that man. He’s going over to Saudi Arabia to rip on Charlie Kirk and make jokes about him. Just look at that bravery. Perfectly happy to take the money from the repressive Islamic dictatorship and rip on Charlie Kirk in the process.

What a brave man. What a truly brave man.

According to The New York Times:

[Chappelle] was performing in Riyadh at the same time as a divisive free speech debate was roiling the United States. … Mr. Chappelle has talked frequently about being canceled after an uproar caused by his jokes mocking trans people. But in Riyadh, he also took aim at the recent suspension of Mr. Kimmel.

Like other comedians at the event who said they felt muzzled by American political correctness, Mr. Chappelle reveled in making uncouth jokes in Saudi Arabia. Yet he overlooked an eight-year crackdown that has led to many of the country’s writers, businesspeople, activists, clerics and social media influencers being arrested.

So he goes to Saudi Arabia, of all places, to rip on the United States because Jimmy Kimmel was suspended from the air for five minutes.

That’s where he’s putting his ire. What a brave person.

And speaking of brave people, Bill Burr is out there saying, “Free Luigi! Kill the rich!” The same very wealthy Bill Burr, who believes that the systems of the United States are deeply corrupt, so corrupt that he is a man speaking “truth to power” when he appears on every late-night television show to the hoots and hollers of a bunch of morons in Manhattan, and flies to Riyadh to pick up a giant check.

Burr talked about how he found out that Saudi Arabia is made up of people just like us because, you know, there’s a Starbucks over there.

Great job, Bill. You really are a warrior for truth. What a brave man. Truly an incredible person.

Here’s what he said after the festival:

And like my whole idea of Saudi Arabia is what I’ve seen, like on the news. I think I’m going to land, you know, and everybody’s going to be screaming, “Death to America!” And they’re gonna have like, machetes and want to, like, chop my head off.

Right? Because this is what I’ve been fed about that part of the world. Right. When they first went to set it up over there, the rules on what they had above what you could say and what you couldn’t say in Saudi Arabia, the people running the festivals were like, “All right. Well, man, that’s game, set, match. If this is like all you can talk about, and you want some good comedians, like this isn’t going to work.”

And then, to their credit, they said, “All right, what do we got to do?” And they just negotiated it all the way down to like, “You can talk about anything, you know, other than a couple things,” which was basically, you know … religion, don’t make fun of the royals. And other than that … everything was like open. The royals loved the show. Everyone was happy. The people who were doing the festival were thrilled. And, yeah, it was just this great, positive thing.

Wow. So much bravery.