Each comic on the trail to stardom will inevitably should do exhibits they aren’t pleased with.
It’s form of a ceremony of passage: the dreaded company gig or—shudder—the mortifying improv class at an organization off-site.
Sometimes, although, these embarrassing exhibits have a tendency to not be paid for and hosted by nations accused of staggering human rights violations, nor do the performers are inclined to already be superstars.
Maybe the truth that so many well-known and well-compensated comics signed on to Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh Comedy Competition could be learn as each an indictment of the period of multimillion-dollar stand-up specials and its logical conclusion.
Unfold throughout two weeks, with the primary exhibits happening on September 25, the pageant is a Comedy Coachella filled with performers who can promote out Madison Sq. Backyard on their very own. Dave Chappelle, Kevin Hart, and Invoice Burr are among the many highlights, together with Louis CK, Sebastian Maniscalco, Gabriel Iglesias, and lots of extra. It’s a daily who’s who of ha-ha.
It’s additionally a part of a broader effort, within the years since Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman allegedly accepted the homicide of U.S.-based Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, to shore up mushy energy within the area via reputation-laundering cultural efforts just like the LIV Golf League, the animation studio Myrkott, and the world’s first Dragon Ball theme park.
On condition that job one for comedians is ostensibly talking fact to energy, slightly than taking energy’s cash, this pageant lineup has confirmed controversial. The fiery backlash it has provoked isn’t any laughing matter.
“Drips, Killjoys and Dweebazoids”
Lots of comedy followers have posted on-line about their disappointment with private faves like Burr and Hannibal Buress, or cracked jokes concerning the pageant’s very existence. Nonetheless, no person appears extra upset in or upset with the comics who signed on than the comics who didn’t.
When you’re a comic I do know who’s doing the RIYADH comedy pageant, it’s not too late to drop out. The cash you make will poison you. You could have fucked up & you’ll be able to appropriate the massive dangerous mistake you’re making. Additionally the ppl I do know who’re doing it are SO WILDLY RICH already. Christ.
— Rob Delaney (@robdelaney.bsky.social) 2025-09-25T23:01:08.693Z
Stand-up’s reigning elder statesman Marc Maron, who would most likely object to that title for a number of causes, weighed in with an Instagram Reel that pulled no punchlines.
“I imply, the identical man that’s gonna pay them is identical man that paid that man to bone-saw Jamal Khashoggi and put him in a fu*king suitcase,” Maron stated. “However don’t let that cease the yuks; it’s gonna be a great time.”
Silicon Valley star Zach Woods went a step additional, with a satirical Instagram submit pretending to be an advert for the pageant.
“Now there’s a whole lot of drips, killjoys, and dweebazoids who say, ‘They shouldn’t do comedy over there as a result of they’re whitewashing a regime that, simply in June, killed a journalist, and killed Jamal Khashoggi, and performed an enormous function in 9/11,’” Woods says after detailing an inventory of additional violations. “Shut up! Identify one comic who hasn’t whored themselves out to a dictator.”
How a lot cash are the comics making the journey to Rayidh taking dwelling for his or her efforts? Tim Dillon claims he was set to make $375,000 for his efficiency—and that different performers had been to be paid far larger sums—not less than earlier than the present’s producers dropped him from the lineup, supposedly for making enjoyable of the area’s labor practices.
Past the final precept that means American comedians shouldn’t carry out on behalf of leaders famously hostile to free speech, many observers are bewildered as to why a few of these specific comedians would signal on.
Dave Chappelle, Louis CK, and Whitney Cummings have all embraced a form of sociopolitical contrarian function within the comedy world and have little to lose, reputation-wise. However even Shane Gillis, who occupies an identical sphere, reportedly turned down a pageant slot as an act of integrity.
What are rich, mainstream, ideological free brokers like Hart, Iglesias, and Chris Tucker doing on this lineup?
Maybe they had been relying on the pageant not attracting vital consideration, which might point out that they haven’t been on the web prior to now 5 years. Even so, the query stays: Why take an enormous, conscience-challenging paycheck once you don’t want the cash?
The reply could have one thing to do with how comedians have been conditioned over the past decade to anticipate monumental windfall paydays.
How money crushed comedy
It’s onerous to recollect now, however comedy specials was, you understand, particular.
Comedy titans like George Carlin, Chris Rock, and Ellen DeGeneres would repeatedly put out a brand new hour on HBO that had a deep cultural impression. Making a small library of specials endlessly quoted by school children is what used to catapult comedians to the following degree—a sitcom constructed round them, or a film profession. Both path as soon as meant unfettered entry to the money-printing machine.
These days are lengthy gone, although.
After the underside dropped out of theatrical film comedies someplace within the early 2010s, and as sitcom cash dwindled within the shift to streaming, Netflix began investing in stand-up specials. Closely.
The streaming service signed Rock to a reported $40 million deal for 2 specials and gave Chappelle a reported $20 million-per-special deal, which has produced eight hours of fabric up to now.
Abruptly, seven-figure Netflix offers turned the brand new regular. The corporate’s willingness to dig deep for high-profile comedy content material impressed an arms race with HBO, Amazon Prime, and Hulu, all of which began spending massive to safe high expertise—a development that continues right now.
Hulu shelled out a reported $15 million for Burr’s newest particular final yr, in a bidding conflict with the opposite platforms.
The results of incentivizing comedians so closely to provide an hour of appropriate materials is that comedy specials now really feel much less like tentpole occasions than ever, whereas extra comedians now aspire to, or anticipate, astronomic sums for them.
Essentially the most particular factor about stand-up right now appears to be that, at a sure degree, it is perhaps doable to get a big test for doing little or no of it.
A facet impact of comedy getting into its Massive Enterprise period is that, as soon as the Netflix or podcast acquisition cash kicks in, some comedians appear to lose the angle that made them attention-grabbing to take heed to within the first place.
The struggles of discovering a date, in spite of everything, are typically a lot funnier and extra relatable than the struggles of discovering the suitable sedative for a non-public jet experience to Dubai. Having that form of cash within the combine is how a famous person comic would possibly find yourself with out even one individual of their entourage who realizes that working the Riyadh Comedy Competition is, at minimal, a devastatingly dangerous look.
Integrity: The funniest factor of all?
In all chance, the Riyadh backlash received’t have a sustained impression on any comics’ careers. A lot of them don’t have the form of sponsors who might drop them the way in which that some manufacturers have parted methods with LIV Golf bandwagon-hoppers like Dustin Johnson. It’s additionally onerous to think about Andrew Schulz’s or Pete Davidson’s followers making this specific gig their line within the sand.
Maybe there’s even a case to be made that if the comedians taking Riyadh Fest cash find yourself mocking their benefactors proper to their faces at an away sport, it will ship a robust message.
In fact, making a public present of turning down the provide would arguably make a extra highly effective message.
At a second when U.S. comedians are being pulled off the air, seemingly on the president’s whim, comedians with a powerful ethical compass are in excessive demand. People want to them not solely to face up without spending a dime speech but additionally to make use of it to chop the world’s strongest and oppressive forces right down to dimension.
When you’re a high-profile comic in 2025, you’re both making enjoyable of Trump for receiving a $400 million jet from Qatar otherwise you’re using alongside inside it. So far as true followers of stand-up are involved, that’s the worst seat in the home.
