Overview

• On his podcast, Bill Burr called the Riyadh Comedy Festival one of his top three experiences and said rules were pared back to avoiding jokes about the royals or religion.
• Dave Chappelle told a crowd of about 6,000 that it is easier to speak in Saudi Arabia than in the United States and said he fears retaliation when he returns home.
• Contract excerpts shared by comedian Atsuko Okatsuka showed bans on material that could disparage the kingdom, its leaders, or any religion, and some comics declined to participate.
• Reports cite large appearance fees, often in the hundreds of thousands of dollars and up to roughly $1.6 million, with Pete Davidson saying he accepted after seeing the offer.
• Human Rights Watch condemned the event as image polishing for a government with a repressive record, a debate shaped by the CIA’s finding that the crown prince approved Jamal Khashoggi’s killing.