What I Want the Comedians Who Went to Saudi Arabia to Know

There were only eight executions during the Riyadh Comedy Festival.

Lips are suspended from a neon structure with a sign lit up to read "Riyadh Comedy Festival" above it as three women in black gowns sit nearby on armchairs. October 15, 2025, 12:01 AM Comment icon View Comments ( )

Let’s start with the good news: As an exercise in artwashing, the Riyadh Comedy Festival was a complete failure. The Saudi regime spends billions of dollars promoting cultural and sporting events in an effort to distract from its endless human rights abuses. This time, it only succeeding in drawing attention to them.

Performers at the event, which ran from Sept. 26 to Oct. 9, faced a torrent of criticism from NGOs and, more pertinently, fro

See Full Page