Bill Burr doubled down on his controversial appearance at Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh Comedy Festival, brushing off censorship criticism and calling the experience a chance to engage rather than withdraw.
The comedian appeared at the SiriusXM live taping of “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend” on Sunday at the Fonda Theater in Hollywood, where TheWrap was in attendance, and was given the opportunity to discuss the festival at length. Host Conan O’Brien couldn’t help but address how his friend had overtaken the news cycle in the last few weeks.
“I think the general consensus is, ‘How dare you go to that place and make those oppressed people laugh. You f–king piece of s–t,’” Burr said mocking internet haters when O’Brien asked how he was doing. “‘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. 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.’”
“So you’re here to apologize,” O’Brien quipped.
“No, not at all. It was one of the most amazing experiences I’ve had as a comedian. It was incredible,” the “Glengarry Glen Ross” actor said. He added since this was the first time he had been the subject of a viral news story, in his view the backlash supported his suspicions that the media twists things around, noting he “knew they were lying” which was “really f–ked up.”
Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh Comedy Festival sparked outrage the last few weeks, with several U.S. comedians, including Marc Maron and David Cross criticizing the high-profile event and Human Rights Watch condemning the festival while calling on performers like Pete Davidson and Burr to “publicly urge Saudi authorities to free unjustly detained Saudi dissidents, journalists and human rights activists.” A huge touchstone of the conversation became about comedians, who rely on being vocal, agreeing to perform in a country that is know for suppressing free speech among its residents.
The conversation escalated after Atsuko Okatsuka shared a photo of the offer letter that was sent to her, which included censorship rules. The content restrictions included any material that would “defame” or “degrade” the Saudi royal family, legal system or government in any way.
Burr admitted that he was initially “scared s–tless” because he held “the same idea about that part of the world as everybody else.” He said that once he landed and interacted with people, he realized his assumptions might have been wrong. He also addressed the censorship conversation saying that the rules were scaled back.
“The great thing about the festival was the people that put it together, when they first said that they wanted a comedy festival over there, they said, ‘Okay, what are your restrictions with speech?’” Burr explained. “And they had this whole long list. And the promoters were just like, ‘You guys aren’t ready for standup comedy yet.’”
He continued: “And to their credit, they said, all right, what are we gonna do? And they basically whittled it all the way down to, you couldn’t talk about any religion, theirs, yours, anybody else’s and you couldn’t make fun of the royals. That was it. And I know to a lot of people that’s f–ked up, man. They just progressed the ball like 10 yards and it was amazing.”
Burr had nothing but positive things to say about his experience performing at the festival and noted that his goal in life was always to see more of the world and get a perspective for how other people live.
“What was so great about it was the people there, you could feel it like they needed it,” he said. “They wanted it and they wanted you to push, and that’s what the comics did. […] And as much as people don’t like what’s going on over there, it’s like, they’re not gonna progress with isolation.”
O’Brien then brought up how the festival became a dividing point for the comedy world. The former late night host asked Burr if he had been surprised about the amount of backlash he received — to which Burr said he “had no f–king idea” it would cause such a stir.
“What went on over there was a super positive thing,” Burr went on. “If you actually give a f–k about those people and how they’re living over there, there’s gonna have to be these types of things to pull them in.”
“I was buzzing after the show. That’s what a good time it was,” Burr said as he alluded to the comedians who chose not to perform. “And all of these f–king a–holes that didn’t go and never will go. All they’re ever gonna see is the machine guns and if that’s how you wanna live, that’s how you wanna live.”
Burr concluded by saying the controversy has not gotten to him and if it does have a longterm effect on his career, that’s ok with him.
“I don’t give a f–k, Conan,” he said. “And if it affects my career, I’ve been to LAX enough in my life, I’ll f–king sit home for a little bit. I will actually tell you LAX is slightly sadder than Saudi Arabia.”
Bill Burr’s episode is out now for SiriusXM Podcasts+ subscribers, and will be available widely on Oct. 15.
