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As part of my commute to and from the office, I ride the NYC subway. DAMN RIGHT I’m still wearing a mask during that ride!
I get that and I’m not saying it doesn’t make sense to still wear a mask in specific situations. I wear a mask on public transit whenever I have a cold or whatnot, so as to not pass it on.
But also, I have two little kids and we have some kind of infection every four weeks – all of us. I’ve had covid a few more times in the last two years. Trying to shield against that when you’ve got regular contact with a lot of people (as kids do, and as I do in my job) just leads to craziness. Covid is just one of a great, great number of diseases that bear some health risks and that’s just something we live with.
(I think I will get a flu shot next year because we had that, too, and fuck that was unpleasant.)
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Burn. Hope the fire is all right
As Nottoway Plantation Burns, The Ancestors, And Social Media Rejoice
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I missed this one by the way,
I don’t think you need to be aware of every knife attack happening in the world, Arjan. And by the way, that poor crazywoman in Hamburg was stopped by a Syrian refugee and a Chechen guy.
This is just going to increase.
How the hell would we know? Knife attacks weren’t specifically recorded until a few years ago. Nobody knows how the current numbers compare to the 80s or 90s or whatever. All we know is that everybody is going hysterical because every time someone gets stabbed somewhere, it makes national or even international news. Newsflash: There is crime. Crazy people do crazy shit. Sometimes, someone has a knife and that’s when fights get really bad. None of this is new.
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We get the point, Christian.
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https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/27/us/trump-harvard-cancel-federal-contracts
I wouldn’t be surprised if he is doing it to get back at them for rejecting his son. Barron was rejected by Harvard, Stanford, and Columbia
Interesting that 47 started his own fake university after his name years ago, and now he wants to regulate Harvard University on how they go about education. 🤣
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And with the Temporary Protection Status ending and not renewed, deportations are starting now:
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-supreme-court-lets-trump-end-deportation-protection-venezuelans-2025-05-19/-
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Well, somebody‘s about to be outed as a rapist:
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In NY, it got to the point where ICE is staking out the immigration building:
ICE agents seize immigrants inside Manhattan federal building housing immigration court
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From time to time, I still watch reruns of “Fear Factor” with Rogan from 20 years ago. He is still a commentator of MMA bouts.
Don’t care for much of his podcast though.
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It’s gotten to the point where ICE has gone to construction sites throughout the country to make arrests on immigrant Hispanic workers.
https://www.constructiondive.com/news/ice-raids-jobsites-impact-construction-workers/749786/
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@nbcsouthflorida Once routine immigration check-ins are becoming increasingly risky for many immigrants in Florida looking to fix their status. NBC6 was there as people were left in tears when their loved ones were detained Thursday at their check-in appointments. immigration miami ice detention status
As we all know more or less, in the 50s Cuba had the beachfront properties with resorts, clubs, casinos, and it was sort of a playground for rich tourists to go 90 miles off of Florida. Most of the beachfront area people where light, and the darker Afro Cubans were in the fields and so on.It was colorist. Then the revolution came and the refugees who fled to Miami that were fast tracked to immigration were the beachfront people. They stayed in Miami and they did help redevelop Miami areas to these trendy hot spots now, but they were still colorist. They always wanted to marry into white families etc. and be accepted. The thing is that now they are realizing that they may not be black but they aren’t seen as white like they thought. (Someone in Florida said that if they just drive a few hours north to Daytona or so, they would know that they are not considered white there.) Interesting that they fled the future of a Cuban dictatorship to eventually vote for one in the States.
There have always been accounts of how Afro-Latinos have been treated in the community. There is no moral victory or consolation in gloating about them getting these rude awakenings, but it can be something to learn from. Some are taking out their frustrations on those who warned them and will not protest. (They seem to very demanding of AA to be there, and are saying “F you” to AA saying no. They are not demanding for Asians or Indian or progressive blue voting whites. AA know the history of the police and protests. They know about being pushed to the front and used as buffers and shields for rubber bullets, batons, dogs, tear gas. And just being there will bring out the worst in police brutality and an excuse to call it all a “riot”, declare martial law etc. Maybe not going to the streets is best all in all.)
I agree with Christian who posted that it is hard to have sympathy with someone who voted MAGA ( ignoring Jan 6th, rape felony counts, border wall, kids in cages, how other Hispanics were treated) and voted knowing 47 would attack and f people over, but they never thought that the deportations, firings, de funding, and white nationalists would affect them.
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Reading that book “The Sum of Us” and I have friends in Miami just gets to me about voter mentality. I know a lot of blame goes to the Dem party and leadership. It is really both.
@ximena_beltran_24 #cubansfortrump #cubanosporelmundo #cubanosenmiami #cuba #venezuela #venezuela #usa #usa🇺🇸 #mexico #mexico🇲🇽 #miamibeach #florida
@cheena082195 What happened to the dancing for 💃🏿 🎶 for Donald Trump 🎶 💃🏿
@sammyopamp MAGA regretting their vote just because something affected them does not have my sympathy.. I’ll save it for the patients who’ll miss out on cancer treatment because of you @Cynthia | hot mom 🫶🏼 #magaregret #maga #kamala #cancer #immigrant #immigrantparents #foryoupage #cynthiahotmom #fyp #greenscreenvideo #greenscreen
The last one is interesting. The woman is not Cuban but she is a Latina who married into an American family. She said she grew up here and didn’t like having to translate all the time for her parents. She has a daughter and said she didn’t teach her any Spanish and voted MAGA. Then her father who has stage 4 colon cancer (only 6 months to live) was picked up by ICE and is now detained. She recorded her call to DEA begging for mercy etc. (DEA answered about “tough decisions” and told her no.) What is interesting was not only did her vote (to her surprise) led to her father’s internment, but it also led to the cancer research being de funded. The lady said that there was an earlier incident about a Hispanic cancer child and other separations of family at immigration offices, but no videos of her outrage over that. Only when it came her way and hit real close to home did she have all these tears now etc.
ICE doesn’t differentiate between who is Cuban, Nicaraguan, Guatemalan, Honduran, Mexican, etc. They don’t care.
Seeing this and MAGA voters living at the borders driving over to Canada for medicine and Mexico for more affordable services… Voter mentality!
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Front runners for scariest in the world:
Irish Nuns.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jul/14/ireland-excavation-tuam-mother-and-baby-home
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My mother in law went to a convent school, she’s one of the most religious people I know and she fucking hates nuns.
It disgusts me that we still allow the Catholic Church a place in our healthcare and education system. Even as their influence on people has waned in the aftermath of the decades of scandals of physical and sexual abuse, the sale of children and now the wholesale slaughter of them, they still have their place in the halls of power, and that likely is going nowhere.
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I’d call this bizarre, but Trump has really raised the bar on that word.
Trump says Club World Cup trophy will remain in Oval Office after tournament’s end
US president Donald Trump has claimed that the Club World Cup trophy that has featured prominently in the Oval Office will stay there, and that Fifa made a copy of the trophy that was awarded to Chelsea after their win in the tournament’s final on Sunday.
Trump attended the final along with numerous members of his cabinet and Fifa president Gianni Infantino. The pair of presidents jointly presented the trophy to Chelsea captain Reece James, with Trump staying front-and-center despite the apparent confusion of Chelsea players and the pleading of Infantino.
The incident is just the latest in a long series of intersections between the US president and the world of Fifa, which began in earnest this year soon after Trump started his second term in office. Infantino unveiled the Club World Cup trophy for the first time in an event at the Oval Office in March, and the trophy has stayed there for all subsequent events in the historic space since.
“I said, When are you going to pick up the trophy? [They said] ‘We’re never going to pick it up. You can have it forever in the Oval Office. We’re making a new one,’” Trump said in an interview with official Club World Cup broadcaster Dazn on Sunday. “And they actually made a new one. So that was quite exciting, but it is in the Oval [Office] right now.”
The exact differences between the trophies are unknown, if there are any. Fifa has been approached for clarification.
Incredible that FIFA keep finding new ways to be awful. Not only has Trump apparently been given the prestigious ::cough:: Club World Cup trophy but he nicked a winner’s medal at the final the other day too. There’s video footage of him pocketing it and, I think Infantino, seeing him do this and just sort of giving a resigned nod. And that’s even before you factor in him not getting off the stage for the trophy celebration. I’m so disappointed none of the Chelsea players “accidentally” clouted him during that.
I can definitely see this kind of thing happening again. Not just the World Cup and Olympics (which has the distinct prospect of being Berlin 36 all over again) but there’s about 11 Grand Prix in the US before the end of Trump’s current term and he’s already been to one, before he got back in office (Miami last year).
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AOC Queens office vandalized:
https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/aoc-office-vandalized-red-paint-nyc/
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Environment Canada issues air quality warnings across southern Quebec – CBC
Quebec
Montreal ranked city with worst air quality in the world by IQAirHoly fuck, they showed pics on the news and wow.
I guess the west is extremely lucky with which way the wind blows.And now it’s going down tbe East Coast, NY, Boston.
We’ll probably wake up to a new Tarriff in the morning because…Fires in Canada’s Prairie Provinces – Nasa.gov
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80 years ago today:
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A guy was arrested here for a string of robberies where he used literal kids to do his dirty work. I have dark thoughts about this and what should be done to him.
Isn’t that basically the plot of Oliver Twist?
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US math and reading scores:
Reminds me of this:
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And Trump wants to dismantle the Department of Education.
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The interesting thing is that the US has not been great in any of those stats for a long time, that show is pretty old now and nothing much changed positively.
Where they have exceeded most other countries is economically and ironically there’s a lot at risk there now. The tourism industry will take a massive hit, nobody I know will go to the US now unless they have to for work or already booked and paid for tickets. The massive debt coming from the ‘big beautiful bill’ risks the safest investment post WW2, US bonds. They are going all in for fossil fuels which is potentially a disaster, it’s an extremely long term payoff, new oil and gas locations can take a decade to come online, by 2035 most European countries will have made new petrol cars illegal. The best guess is that will be drilling for hugely devalued gas and oil by the time it reaches the market.
I read a book from John Pilger a long time ago and while he somewhat lost it in his later years, he was very clever in criticising the right using their own quotes. He had the CATO institute saying lax immigration gave the US a $50bn advantage per year over European countries because of low pay. That may also be wiped out.
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The tourism industry will take a massive hit, nobody I know will go to the US now unless they have to for work or already booked and paid for tickets.
Recently, the mayor of Las Vegas was literally begging Canadians to come to her city. International tourism is way down and it’s hurting the city.
The US whiskey industry is in meltdown because Canada is not buying their products due to Trump’s rhetoric and a “Buy Canada” initiative. Other countries are foregoing American products. The whiskey makers have an inventory they can’t sell and it’s bleeding them out.
Due to the tariffs, no one is buying American soy and the farmers are shitting themselves. (They also voted for Trump.) They’re begging Trump to ease up on the tariffs so they don’t lose their farms. But don’t worry, JD Vance has a stake in a company that buys farms in distress.
The immigration bust on the South Koreans that work for Huyndai fucked up relations between the US and SK. The project they were working on is now in serious jeopary, as it may be cancelled. It would have created around 9,000 American jobs.
Marvel Studios is leaving Geogia and going to the UK.
The leopard has a bottomless stomach for eating faces.
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NY and casino proposals: Way out in Flushing Queens, there is Citifield (home of the Mets) and the US Open courts as the main venues that attract outsiders to the area. The new Mets owner Steve Cohen, is working on developing the area with more attractions. He wants to build a casino/hotel complex but the area councils are rallying and opposing it. Now there is news of building a casino right in Times Square and that is getting opposition.
The thing is if the Times Square project gets the green light, who is going to drive way out to Flushing to any casino? Now the opposers are bringing out studies like what happened to Atlantic City after casinos where built there, if it brings in good jobs to the local economy, brings in addicts, more crime, etc. It’s a mess, but that’s NY.
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Still I think the same decline in reading and math is seen here in the Netherlands. A lot of kids who are going to high school don’t have sufficient reading and writing proficiency. It is not just a US thing.
I certainly don’t think it’s exclusive to the US at all. The UK has actually had a rise in those education stats while just about everything else has gone to the toilet but not every country is going to be improving every year.
I also don’t think anything I said really was about Europe deriding the US, although it’s valid that happens.
The more pertinent point is I think they are damaging those economic strengths that have been a notable step above most of Europe the last 50 years. Breaking ties and trust for really the short term enrichment of a few. I loved my visits to the US but won’t go again while the current regime is so randomly aggressive to travellers. We have countries this week opting out of US arms deals because of their erratic NATO responses. Hyundai/LG have paused that battery plant because they chained up their executives. The fossil fuel obsession is I can only see a very poor long term option economically. Last September China bought 25% of the US soy bean crop, this September that has become 0% and the farmers will go out of business in a year if they can’t replace that trade.
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@garjones – Wow. I haven’t seen your avatar in ages! How are you doing? Hope all is well
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Apparently, a “Karen” called on this Hyundai plant in Georgia and it is a mess now and with the plant closing and the South Korean workers relocating.
https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2025/09/16/gov-kemp-breaks-silence-hyundai-raid-calls-changes-visa-system/
https://www.nbcnews.com/world/asia/south-korea-human-rights-abuses-hyundai-raid-trump-foreign-workers-rcna231289Yep, it’s practically screwed South Korean investment in the US. Trump’s ICE achieved a miracle, it unified South Korea’s politicians against them. It’s a much bigger mess than the US realises.
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Now a lot of media personalities are losing their spots and their shows. It was Stephen Colbert a few weeks ago, but now over comments about the shooting:
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The situation in Europe is really precarious at the moment, the two main drivers of the economy in the EU are Germany and France and they’re really doing badly.
Yeah we are, there’s no two ways about it.
Now a lot of media personalities are losing their spots and their shows. It was Stephen Colbert a few weeks ago, but now over comments about the shooting:
And this time, with direct government censorship (the FCC head basically saying he wants him off the air).
Uh, where are all those free speech warriors now? Elon? Anyone? Hello?
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He’s back:
https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Culture/jimmy-kimmel-return-air-tuesday/story?id=125828315
But… backlash involving Tim Russ (Tuvok) and overall media. Polarized responses:
https://cosmicbook.news/star-trek-tim-russ-mocks-charlie-kirk-death
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Shatner’s been an idiot for years, wondering how Trek got “political”, yeah, guess who was involved in the start of all that.
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The same William Shatner who deliberately ruined every take of his kiss with Uhura where their lips didn’t actually touch.
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Can they fucking stop talking about the messages on the bullets and the names of the perps? Can the media please do the bare minumum to not encourage more crazy people to commit shootings?
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Can they fucking stop talking about the messages on the bullets and the names of the perps? Can the media please do the bare minumum to not encourage more crazy people to commit shootings?
This continues to be depressingly relevant.
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Yeah, I’ve had the newswipe clip in my mind a lot with these last two shootings.
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My thing (main gripe) has been voter mindset. Now this: There was a Dr. Rania Masri, a Palestinian from the Carolina states who went to the swing state Michigan. She was dead set against the Dems and raising votes for Jill Stein and said anybody but Dem. But months later, when 47 was talking about “relocating” people from Gaza, then renovating it to be state of the art and move the people back in (?!?) She realized she made things so much worse and had this “apology” to post at the very end:
@phuckculture_ Now? #fyppppppppppppppppppppppp #trump #plan #masri #neverkamala #viraltiktok #92percenters #Republicans #jillstein #wherearetheynow #voters
Now Obama was heckled a few times on his speech tours and Harris was heckled last night. Obama has been out of office for nine years and Harris is a private citizen, and yet some are taking their frustrations out on them as if it’s all their fault instead of MAGA.
@therecount Kamala Harris has one message to people protesting her book tour in support of Palestine: Talk to Trump. #kamalaharris #gaza #palestine #israel #politics
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In their defense, I think you can be angry at the democrats for not being better. Yes they are better than the republicans, but that’s a low benchmark. They should be doing much more, and better, than they are doing at the moment.
Well, yes, but what exactly is the purpose of heckling an ex-Vice-President at a reading?
Wouldn’t that energy be better spent trying to do something about Trump? Or, if you want change in the Democratic Party, supporting Biden and AOC and Mamdami?
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Have you read any of the extracts of her book?
I have no interest in her book whatsoever!
I imagine the same goes for the vast majority of people.
Let’s just say there are good reasons to boo her over it that have nothing to do with political differnces
But also it shows that she was massively out of touch and has learned nothing from her electoral loss.
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So, Saudi Arabia is hosting the Riyadh Comedy Festival 2025 starting today. This is part of Riyadh Season, which itself is part of Saudi Vision 2030, AKA “let’s whitewash our atrocities and horrific human rights record to make Saudi Arabia tourist friendly”.
Here’s the lineup:
Kevin Hart
Dave Chappelle
Andrew Schulz
Aziz Ansari
Andrew Santino & Bobby Lee
Bill Burr
Chris Distefano
Chris Tucker
Gabriel Iglesias
Hannibal Buress
Jessica Kirson
Jimeoin
Jimmy Carr
Jo Koy
Louis C.K.
Mark Normand
Maz Jobrani
Nimesh Patel
Omid Djalili
Pete Davidson
Russell Peters
Sam Morril
Sebastian Maniscalco
Tom Segura
Whitney Cummings
Zarna Garg(Tim Dillon was scheduled to be part of it but he made a joke they didn’t like so they dropped him.)
Some nems I’m really not surprised to see performing, like Dave Chappell (I think he will choose money over doing the right thing every time) and Aziz Ansari and Louis CK (their careers are fairly dead in the states). There are a few others I can see doing it strictly for the money.
There are few I’m surprised to see on the lineup. Gabriel Iglesias famously did a show there many years ago and that experience was incorporated into his act, but you would think he would know better now. Pete Davidson, whose dad died on 9/11, is another shocker, but he said he is doing it for the money. There are a few comedians that lean right on the bill, as there are women also. Supposedly, the money is huge. For some of them, what they are getting from the show is probably more than they get from touring.
The one that disappointed me the most is Bill Burr. He has always been about speaking truth to power and most recently, he has been going after billionaires in his routines. So what is he doing now? Taking money from a viscious billionaire. I’ve lost a lot of respect for him.
You know going in that their routines had to be preapproved and they won’t be allowed to deviate from the approved routine.
This whole thing is an abomination with a lot of sellouts.
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So, Saudi Arabia is hosting the Riyadh Comedy Festival 2025 starting today. This is part of Riyadh Season, which itself is part of Saudi Vision 2030, AKA “let’s whitewash our atrocities and horrific human rights record to make Saudi Arabia tourist friendly”.
Here’s the lineup:
Kevin Hart
Dave Chappelle
Andrew Schulz
Aziz Ansari
Andrew Santino & Bobby Lee
Bill Burr
Chris Distefano
Chris Tucker
Gabriel Iglesias
Hannibal Buress
Jessica Kirson
Jimeoin
Jimmy Carr
Jo Koy
Louis C.K.
Mark Normand
Maz Jobrani
Nimesh Patel
Omid Djalili
Pete Davidson
Russell Peters
Sam Morril
Sebastian Maniscalco
Tom Segura
Whitney Cummings
Zarna Garg(Tim Dillon was scheduled to be part of it but he made a joke they didn’t like so they dropped him.)
Some nems I’m really not surprised to see performing, like Dave Chappell (I think he will choose money over doing the right thing every time) and Aziz Ansari and Louis CK (their careers are fairly dead in the states). There are a few others I can see doing it strictly for the money.
There are few I’m surprised to see on the lineup. Gabriel Iglesias famously did a show there many years ago and that experience was incorporated into his act, but you would think he would know better now. Pete Davidson, whose dad died on 9/11, is another shocker, but he said he is doing it for the money. There are a few comedians that lean right on the bill, as there are women also. Supposedly, the money is huge. For some of them, what they are getting from the show is probably more than they get from touring.
The one that disappointed me the most is Bill Burr. He has always been about speaking truth to power and most recently, he has been going after billionaires in his routines. So what is he doing now? Taking money from a viscious billionaire. I’ve lost a lot of respect for him.
You know going in that their routines had to be preapproved and they won’t be allowed to deviate from the approved routine.
This whole thing is an abomination with a lot of sellouts.
https://www.avclub.com/riyadh-comedy-festival-atsuko-okatsuka-zach-woods
As the article notes, a lot of people claiming you can’t be funny if you’re told to avoid topics happliy signed a contract with a list of things they weren’t allowed talk about.
The Tiktok Zach Woods posted, linked in the article is fantastic
@zachwoods Louis CK AND the Saudi Royal Family! Who could ask for more?!
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So, Saudi Arabia is hosting the Riyadh Comedy Festival 2025 starting today. This is part of Riyadh Season, which itself is part of Saudi Vision 2030, AKA “let’s whitewash our atrocities and horrific human rights record to make Saudi Arabia tourist friendly”.
Here’s the lineup:
Kevin Hart
Dave Chappelle
Andrew Schulz
Aziz Ansari
Andrew Santino & Bobby Lee
Bill Burr
Chris Distefano
Chris Tucker
Gabriel Iglesias
Hannibal Buress
Jessica Kirson
Jimeoin
Jimmy Carr
Jo Koy
Louis C.K.
Mark Normand
Maz Jobrani
Nimesh Patel
Omid Djalili
Pete Davidson
Russell Peters
Sam Morril
Sebastian Maniscalco
Tom Segura
Whitney Cummings
Zarna Garg(Tim Dillon was scheduled to be part of it but he made a joke they didn’t like so they dropped him.)
Some nems I’m really not surprised to see performing, like Dave Chappell (I think he will choose money over doing the right thing every time) and Aziz Ansari and Louis CK (their careers are fairly dead in the states). There are a few others I can see doing it strictly for the money.
There are few I’m surprised to see on the lineup. Gabriel Iglesias famously did a show there many years ago and that experience was incorporated into his act, but you would think he would know better now. Pete Davidson, whose dad died on 9/11, is another shocker, but he said he is doing it for the money. There are a few comedians that lean right on the bill, as there are women also. Supposedly, the money is huge. For some of them, what they are getting from the show is probably more than they get from touring.
The one that disappointed me the most is Bill Burr. He has always been about speaking truth to power and most recently, he has been going after billionaires in his routines. So what is he doing now? Taking money from a viscious billionaire. I’ve lost a lot of respect for him.
You know going in that their routines had to be preapproved and they won’t be allowed to deviate from the approved routine.
This whole thing is an abomination with a lot of sellouts.
https://www.avclub.com/riyadh-comedy-festival-atsuko-okatsuka-zach-woods
As the article notes, a lot of people claiming you can’t be funny if you’re told to avoid topics happliy signed a contract with a list of things they weren’t allowed talk about.
The Tiktok Zach Woods posted, linked in the article is fantastic
@zachwoods Louis CK AND the Saudi Royal Family! Who could ask for more?!
I saw the Zach Woods bit earlier in the week and loved it!
What gets me is that Andrew Santino is performing there, especially when we just had this come out:
You hilariously rant about Disney adults in the special, which streams on Hulu, which is owned by Disney. How soon after you sent in the cut did you get a phone call from the Mouse House?
Immediately. They couldn’t wait to trim the fat on those jokes. Candidly, we went back and forth, and they didn’t really enjoy having that stuff in there. We found a happy medium, and I was able to keep the jokes in there, but [the jokes] were manipulated. I’m not going to lie: They definitely changed the jokes. I was not stoked about that. We got into a little bit of a war. They did not want those jokes in there. My argument was: I joke about a lot of other stuff in the special that’s controversial. I don’t think joking about people who like Disney as grown-ups is a controversial take, but they disagreed.You’re saying the joke was harsher before?
Yeah. It was funnier. It peeled open a little bit more than what you saw, on people going to Disney without kids and adults who wear Disney clothing. But Disney is a massive corporate conglomerate, and they were like: “If you want it on here, this is how we want it. Otherwise we won’t be able to air the special. We have to cut the jokes.” So we found a medium. We said we’d find a way to manipulate the jokes in a way that works for everybody. [Disney] got kind of what they wanted, and I tried to get the best of what I wanted. This is compromise in the modern world of media.Have you experienced that before, being told not to joke about something?
Typically, we get free rein. This is the first time I’ve experienced this in making specials, where they were afraid of the narrative I was putting out because it was a reflection on their company. I reminded them multiple times that it was comedy, and I was kidding, and it’s not real. And that’s the point of comedy: You’re just mocking reality. But they weren’t interested in it. So, again, we found a happy medium, but most of the time comedians are unfiltered. That’s why we love the podcast world and why we’ve kind of gone away from traditional forms of media. We got sick of being told, “You’re not supposed to say that.”Quite frankly, it’s bullshit, because that’s not how people think and talk in the real world. Nobody cares. People speak their mind all the time, and they love when comics are able to say the things people don’t talk about much because they’re afraid to. That’s our job, to bring up the uncomfortable and talk about the topics people wince at. That’s the best part of the business. We get to live in the podcast land and live stand-up, which will never be filtered. So, this was a challenge for me, but I made it work. I still love the special, and I hope people enjoy it, regardless of the tussling in my mind.
This corporate mindset you bring up, is that why we aren’t seeing the top comedians of today in a lot of TV and film?
A lot of us want to feel more free, so we are doing our own thing. A lot of people are making significantly more money doing their own thing than going down the traditional studio route. It took us a long time to realize these guys were robbing us! They were getting all of the money, and we were working really hard, and they were giving us what they thought we deserved. We realized if we just made our own world, not beholden to someone else’s idea over what we deserved, we can build our own audience and make our own future.I still love television and film. I hope to act again. I don’t see it in my future. In my near future, I’m focusing on stand-up and podcasting and creating my own world in the digital space. A lot of people you don’t see in TV and film anymore because not a lot of stuff is being made in the comedy circuit, in terms of big commercial comedy films. Comedy television shows have kind of slid into the unknown. There’s not a lot of opportunity, unless you’re one of Seth Rogen’s friends, and then you can get in one of his 50 TV shows. Outside of that, it’s a little different. It’s a little bit harder. A lot of comedians in particular were tired of playing this weird “please love me” game to the business. Instead, they were like, “We’ll just go right to our audience and try to connect with them.”
So I guess heaps of Saudi blood money make it all better…
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I think it comes down to who comes across better in public. I’m not sure if Newsome is a good debater but he seems to have some charisma. I could be wrong about that though. I heard he did well in the debate with DeSantis but I haven’t seen that myself.
His politics would be similar to Biden I guess.
Newsome would probably win against whoever the RNC put up after Trump leaves, given the ruinous state the country will be in. But I do hope the Dems will finally grow some balls and nominate someone way more to the left than him.
I know, I know. Fat chance of that.
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Sounds like Bernie Sanders to me!
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Newsome will lose just as bad as Harris, because all he has is fuckwit memes
They aren’t even his really, they are Camille Zapata who is very sharp, although I guess he should get some credit for employing her and letting her go rip.
He has the same problem as a lot of the party though that, that recent move aside, he’s been very bland and centrist and lacking in ideas. California has a terrible homelessness problem, which isn’t his fault necessarily, a chunk of it is climate because if I had to sleep rough I would do it there and not freezing myself to death in other states. He’s not really proposed any solutions though, moving homeless camps on obviously does nothing to address the core problem, just kicks it down the road to another week and location. Doing it for a photo op is deeply cynical.
The exasperation so often is a failure to get to grips with an issue and fix it or make it better.
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I wonder if Tim Walz is considering throwing his hat in the ring. As Harris’ running mate during the 2024 presidential campaign, his common sense approach and sense of humor impressed me; and after checking out his Wikipedia page, I agree with just about all his positions on LGBTQ rights, gun legislation, workers’ rights and other key issues. And, while he’s not a kid like Pete Buttegieg, at 64 he’s younger than me, which is a good thing considering how sitting in the Oval Office prematurely ages just about every President.
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Sounds like Bernie Sanders to me!
He’s going to be 87 in 2028 ;)
Prime age for an American Presidency these days!!!
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Sounds like Bernie Sanders to me!
He’s going to be 87 in 2028 ;)
Far too young. Get these kids out of politics, dagnabbit!
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So basically, fuck Bill Burr. He no longer has any credibility.
Bill Burr Says Playing Riyadh Festival ‘One of Top Three Experiences I’ve Ever Had’
It’s funny how quickly Bill Burr went from “put the billionaires down like the rabid dogs they are” to “performing for the Saudi Royal Family was the honor of a lifetime” once the blood money started flowing his way.
Now that the many A-list American headliners at the Riyadh Comedy Festival are starting to return home from Saudi Arabia, the stand-ups who scored massive paydays in exchange for their participation in a propaganda campaign to whitewash crimes against humanity have the unenviable task of justifying their actions as anything more than a soulless, morally bankrupt cash-grab. For weeks now, comedians and comedy fans have been blasting Burr, Dave Chappelle, Aziz Ansari and the rest of the Riyadh crew for their complicity in diverting attention away from the Saudi government’s horrific human rights record by advancing the Saudi Vision 2030 campaign to turn the country into an international entertainment destination.
As a proud servant to Saudi Crown Prince and ruthless butcher Mohammed bin Salman, Burr is now selling a Saudi Arabian vacation with the hyperbolic, fantastical praise that one would use to advertise weekend passes at Disney World. “It was a mind-blowing experience,” Burr gushed about the Riyadh Comedy Festival in the newest episode of his Monday Morning Podcast. “Definitely top three experiences I’ve had. I think it’s going to lead to a lot of positive things.”
It will certainly lead to Mohammed bin Salman blowing more minds — or, more likely, removing them by the neck.
“On the road, Ol’ Billy, fuckin’ trying to go to as many countries as he can,” Burr started of his stand-up tour in the Middle East. “I went to two new countries: Bahrain and then I went to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.”
Rather than discussing how the same despot who cut Burr his exorbitant check was the guy who commissioned the torture and dismemberment of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018, Burr framed his trip to Saudi Arabia as a humanitarian effort to spread the gospel of stand-up to the other side of the world.
“You know, stand-up is new to this part of the world, so they always have, like, fuckin’ restrictions and shit when you go over there,” Burr said of the list of banned topics that he and his fellow comedians had to avoid if they wanted their sweet, sweet blood money. Before signing on for the festival, the Riyadh comics had to agree not to make any jokes about the Saudi government, the Saudi Royal Family or any of the country’s religious or cultural practices.
Burr admitted that he was “nervous” upon his arrival in Saudi Arabia, given what little he knows about the country. “My whole fuckin’ idea of Saudi Arabia is what I’ve seen on the news. I literally think I’m gonna land, and everybody’s going to be screaming, ‘Death to America!’ and they’re going to have machetes and chop my head off, right?” Burr said of his flight to Riyadh.
“And then we land, and now here we are, right? And we end up driving into town, it’s a city and everything, right? And everybody’s just regular,” Burr said of the Riyadh residents. “Like people are just shooting the shit, like, ‘Hey, how you doing? Welcome!’ And we’re like, ‘Hey, we’re happy to be here!’ And we’re driving around, and I’m going, like, ‘I thought this place was going to be like really tense,’ and I’m thinking, ‘Is that a Starbucks, next to a Pete’s Coffee, next to a Burger King?’”
As for the show itself, Burr explained how exciting it was to get the royal treatment. “They say, ‘Alright, the front two rows is going to be all diplomats and these padded seats, and then up top, the Royals are going to be there,’” Burr described of the Riyadh Comedy Festival audience. “And it was like in the round and everything, and everyone was like ridiculously excited that there was going to be standup comedy there.”
“This is what’s amazing about the arts and stand-up comedy, is comedians have always pushed the boundaries,” Burr congratulated himself. “And this was a classic case — I guess, tipping the cap to the people who set up the festival over there, when they first set it up, the rules on what they had about what you could and couldn’t say in Saudi Arabia, the people running the festivals were like, ‘Alright man, well that’s game, set, match. If this is all you can talk about, and you want some good comedians, this isn’t gonna work.’”
“And then, to their credit, they said, ‘Alright, what do we gotta do?’” Burr said of the Saudi Royal Family’s gracious compromise in letting comedians joke about absolutely no part of their country, culture or government. “And they just negotiated it all the way down to, like, you can talk about anything, other than a couple things.”
So, when Burr took the stage, he bravely made no mention of his bloodthirsty billionaire patrons, the setting of the festival or any aspect of Saudi Arabian life. And, as Burr reported, he absolutely killed. “I had to stop a couple times during the show (and say), ‘I’ll be honest with you guys, I cannot fucking believe any of you have any idea who I am. This is really amazing,’” Burr said of the show. “And it was just this great exchange of energy. They know their reputation. So they were extra friendly.”
The fact that Burr is blatantly ignoring is how this “great exchange of energy” and “mind-blowing experience” wasn’t just a bunch of comedy fans coming together to bring A-list talent to their home country. Like Burr himself, the organizers of the Riyadh festival were under the employ of the Saudi Royal Family, who have been executing journalists and torturing political prisoners all throughout the planning stages of the festival. So, when Burr agreed to never utter an unkind word about the Crown Prince, he was taking a payoff from one of the most brutal, bloodthirsty billionaires on the planet to put an end to the whole “eat the rich” shtick he’s been doing for the last year.
Burr’s decision to reframe his participation in the Riyadh Comedy Festival as an artistic mission to the far corners of the globe is a sickeningly insincere attempt at a high-mindedness that has no part in the international discussion about Burr’s new masters and the horrific crimes committed by the Saudi government. No matter how much Burr bloviates about how everyone in the world is exactly the same and we should all just get along and eat fast food together, that wasn’t the point of the festival — the whole reason the Crown Prince cut Burr that check was so that the comedian would go on his podcast and gush about how warm, welcoming and tolerant his hosts were, despite what you read about them in the news.
This schmaltzy rationalization for laundering the reputations of billionaire tyrants is a disappointing loss for anyone who believes that comedians like Burr should speak truth to power when human dignity desperately needs defenders — and a complete win for power.
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until suddenly for some reason he became politically correct.
He has a 4 year old daughter and he started therapy. And taking mushrooms 😁
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he became politically correct.…stopped being sexist and a dick.
Let’s remember that the term “politically correct” was introduced by the right to discredit attempts to be less of an asshole to minorities and women, yeah? Replace it by “being less racist and sexist” every time it is used, and the perspective changes quite a lot.
Maybe – through therapy and mushrooms – Burr has just understood that there’s no use bashing progressives and women because they’ve lost. Trump’s waging a military war on progressive cities now, maybe even the “edgy” comedians are beginning to understand that it’s not great to stand on his side of things.
The Riyadh thing is pretty shitty though.
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Burr has just understood that there’s no use bashing progressives and women because they’ve lost.
There’s a really interesting interview with Marc Maron on the wtf podcast about this.
It seems like Burr discovered empathy.3 users thanked author for this post.
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he became politically correct.…stopped being sexist and a dick.
Let’s remember that the term “politically correct” was introduced by the right to discredit attempts to be less of an asshole to minorities and women, yeah? Replace it by “being less racist and sexist” every time it is used, and the perspective changes quite a lot.
Maybe – through therapy and mushrooms – Burr has just understood that there’s no use bashing progressives and women because they’ve lost. Trump’s waging a military war on progressive cities now, maybe even the “edgy” comedians are beginning to understand that it’s not great to stand on his side of things.
The Riyadh thing is pretty shitty though.
Nah, politically correct is more things you know are true, but you’re not willing to say it because it would hurt someone’s feelings.
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All right, what are these supposedly unsayable truths?
And you want to be that way to other people because? And you’re fine with the return fire you’ll get? Or is it supposed to be one-way only?
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Nah, politically correct is more things you know are true, but you’re not willing to say it because it would hurt someone’s feelings.
No, let’s have it, what do you think is true about women or trans people or gay people that you know are true but that you normally wouldn’t be willing to say? Just name a single thing, come on. It’s your hypothesis, I’d like you to provide some evidence.
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Nah, he’s taken his ball and gone home.
There’s a serious point behind all of this which has been a steady message for probably the last two decades of casting cruelty as “honesty”. And as soon as it is pointed out that people don’t have to be cruel, suddenly out comes the “so PC” card.
People have free speech, but they also have the freedom to decide not to be a nasty piece of work and those two freedoms are not mutually exclusive.
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I wonder what 2010 Bill Burr would say about the 2025 version?
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I invoke Sisko: Evidence?
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Bill Burr blasts critics of Saudi Arabia comedy festival visit in expletive-laden interview
Uh, sorry, I just posted a Fox News story.
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Bill Burr Fires Back at Critics of His Riyadh Comedy Festival Appearance: “Sanctimonious C***s” – Hollywood Reporter
The veteran comedy superstar “doesn’t give a f***” what anyone thinks of his recent trip to Saudi Arabia: “If it affects my career, I’ve been to LAX enough in my life, I’ll f***ing sit home for a little bit.”
Conan O’Brien and the crew from his SiriusXM podcast took over Hollywood’s Fonda Theatre on Sunday night for a special live recording of Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend. After an introductory segment featuring co-hosts Sona Movsesian and Matt Gourley, the Fonda’s lights dimmed as O’Brien readied to reveal his surprise guest — Bill Burr.
“Hi, I’m Bill Burr and I feel wonderful about being Conan O’Brien’s friend,” said the veteran actor-comedian from a podium to rousing applause from the capacity crowd, which included The Hollywood Reporter. But he wasn’t exactly feeling wonderful about the week he’d had. “It’s been fucking fantastic,” he quipped after taking a seat. “Jesus Christ.”
O’Brien was quick to note that his longtime friend and frequent guest had “been in the news” that week, an observation that likely did not come as a surprise to anyone in the room. Burr was among the 50 or so high-profile comedians who traveled to Saudi Arabia for the Riyadh Comedy Festival. Taking place from Sept. 26 to Oct. 9, the event welcomed a who’s who to the country for stand-up sets, a roster that included Dave Chappelle, Louis C.K., Kevin Hart, Pete Davidson, Whitney Cummings, Andrew Schulz, Aziz Ansari, Jim Jefferies, Jo Koy, Sebastian Maniscalco, Mark Normand, Tom Segura, Bobby Lee, Jeff Ross and more.It O’Brien was quick to note that his longtime friend and frequent guest had “been in the news” that week, an observation that likely did not come as a surprise to anyone in the room. Burr was among the 50 or so high-profile comedians who traveled to Saudi Arabia for the Riyadh Comedy Festival. Taking place from Sept. 26 to Oct. 9, the event welcomed a who’s who to the country for stand-up sets, a roster that included Dave Chappelle, Louis C.K., Kevin Hart, Pete Davidson, Whitney Cummings, Andrew Schulz, Aziz Ansari, Jim Jefferies, Jo Koy, Sebastian Maniscalco, Mark Normand, Tom Segura, Bobby Lee, Jeff Ross and more.
Burr’s tone had changed by Sunday night as he unleashed on his critics with a barrage of expletives, slamming the online outrage as being stirred up and inflamed by bots and reiterating that the festival itself was a sign of forward progress for the Middle East.
“The general consensus is, ‘How dare you go to that place and make those oppressed people laugh, you fucking piece of shit. I can’t believe you went to that place. I can’t find it on a map, and this bot said I was upset about it so now I am,’” Burr said in recapping the outrage. “It’s one thing to wear clothes made by sweatshop labor. It’s quite another to go to the factory and make ’em laugh. I can’t believe how much anger I had about this issue after it went viral.”
To that, O’Brien joked, “So, you’re here to apologize.” Spoiler alert: He did not apologize. If anything, he delivered a warning that recent events in the United States have indicated “we’re moving towards them.” “Jesus Christ, we’re fucking grabbing moms and dads and sticking ’em in a van for making illegally made fucking tacos to go to Alligator Alcatraz,” Burr said of the ICE raids. “It’s fucking insane. It’s insane. And someday they’re gonna be out of brown people to put in those vans, they’re still gonna have the vans, so you shouldn’t be feeling comfortable about it, thinking that you’re not gonna be in it.”
He continued by noting that he was one of the comedians who got “the most amount of shit” about his appearance from other comedians whom he declined to name. “All of these sanctimonious cunts out there … who don’t really sincerely give a shit,” he said. “If you actually give a fuck about those people and how they’re living over there, there’s gonna have to be these types of things to pull them in. And I will tell you, the Cheesecake Factory in Riyadh, it’s incredible. It’s right next to Pizza Hut and KFC, and if you want a pair of Timberlands, it’s across the street next to the Marriott, catty-corner to the fucking Hilton.”
Though he didn’t mention her by name, Burr gave a nice shout-out to fellow comedian Jessica Kirson, who was on the Riyadh Comedy Festival bill. “Openly gay, went over there and just did her fucking act. And she was in the middle of her act and two of the diplomats got up and she said to them, ‘What, are you guys going to go get on Grindr?’” Burr detailed. “Dude, 33 years of comedy, that’s the biggest balls of anyone I’ve ever seen.” But then she received backlash from “hardcore psycho gays,” Burr said, adding, “Fucking lunatics, man.” After the outrage, Kirson apologized in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter and revealed she would be donating her fee to a human rights organization.
Burr said he had “no fucking idea” the festival would inspire such controversy from people that aren’t able to locate Saudi Arabia on a map. “One time I did Abu Dhabi and somebody [texted me], ‘Oh, you’re going over there to get that blood money, right?’ And I go, ‘Hey, just for the record, I’m also doing London, England, on that tour, which is arguably the bloodiest fucking money out there,’” he said.
He stated that he doesn’t “give a fuck what all these phony fucking people are saying,” nor does he care if his appearance negatively impacts his career. “I really don’t give a fuck, Conan, and if it affects my career, I’ve been to LAX enough in my life, I’ll fucking sit home for a little bit. I will actually tell you LAX is slightly sadder than Saudi Arabia.”
But he did say that while the outrage was exploding, he never heard from his agent. “I’ve been going through this bullshit the whole week. My agent never even called me. He’s been under his fucking desk,” he joked. “He heard me on the podcast, saying what I said here, that I had a good time and it was a positive thing so he thought that was the mindset that I was in through the week.”
He was in contact with his tour manager, who shared with him some of the feedback he was getting. “One of my favorite things is this scumbag club owner texted my tour manager because he heard I was over there [in Saudi Arabia]. He goes, ‘Bring back a burka and a sweatshirt in size oppression.’ That was his joke. So I wrote back to him, ‘Why don’t you concentrate on not ripping off comedians? You fucking piece of shit.’ And he never wrote back,” Burr said.
In closing, Burr said that events like the Riyadh Comedy Festival “have to happen” in order to push progress forward. “It was necessary. It felt right afterward,” he said. “I vibed with them and they were funny. Fuck, they were funny fucking people. I don’t know what to tell you. I had a good time.” And he had a good friend in O’Brien. “I love doing the podcast, man, and I appreciate you having me on, especially during all of this bullshit. You are a real friend, dude.”
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and this bot said I was upset about it so now I am
He’s blaming bots. Whatever.
He never really addressed why people are pissed at him. Poor showing by Conan for not calling him out, whereas Jimmy Kimmy took Aziz Ansari to task over doing it:
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Burr said he had “no fucking idea” the festival would inspire such controversy from people that aren’t able to locate Saudi Arabia on a map. “One time I did Abu Dhabi and somebody [texted me], ‘Oh, you’re going over there to get that blood money, right?’ And I go, ‘Hey, just for the record, I’m also doing London, England, on that tour, which is arguably the bloodiest fucking money out there,’” he said
According to the AV Club’s article on his podcast appearance he went on to rant about the rise of fascism in the US. And like, those are valid points but I feel the correct thing to do is to try and fix the problems in your society that make the money you take blood money, not use them as justification to take blood money from more societies.
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In closing, Burr said that events like the Riyadh Comedy Festival “have to happen” in order to push progress forward.
This seems to be the standard line that the comedians have been given to push, in the wake of all the controversy.
Omid Djalili was making a similar argument here.
One significant sign of progress in the Middle East is how women are treated. In Saudi, women were not even allowed to drive until 2018. Seven years later I am on stage in Riyadh doing jokes about it. A routine at the expense of the men who get frustrated with women who actually abide by the traffic laws went down well.
…
I saw the Northern Irish comedian Jimeoin speak about getting older and suffering varicose veins, on his nether regions. After the show, a discussion broke out between Saudis discussing remedies they could suggest, such as pomegranate juice. If that’s not a step towards east/west relations then I don’t know what is.
Sounds like highly progressive, boundary-pushing stuff.
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