Bill Burr took his podcast to give a detailed overview of his experience last week in the Middle East, where he performed at the controversial Riyad Comedy Festival.
The actor-comedian described a rather nervous warm-up for the event with a set in Bahrain to have an idea of what a public in the region would find fun (and acceptable), then performing at the opening evening of the Saudi Arabia Festival on Friday.
The event was presented by the organizers as the biggest comedy festival in the world. But his artists (who also include Dave Chappelle, Louis CK, Kevin Hart and around 50 others) were criticized – even some other comics – given the history of the kingdom of oppression and human rights violations.
Burr painted a portrait of a region where people were, well, “just like us” – wanting a live comedy, wanting to relax and have fun and consume a surprising amount of Western culture.
“It was great to live this part of the world and to be part of the first comedy festival there in Saudi Arabia,” said Burr. “The Royals loved the show. Everyone was happy. The people who were doing the festival were delighted. The actors I spoke to say, “Dude, you can feel [the audience] wanted it. They want to see a real comedy standing. It was a breathtaking experience. Certainly the three best experiences I had. I think it will lead to many positive things. »»
Burr said that the restrictions on what the actors could say had been softened by the festival after a few round trips (Burr did not specify with whom). “When they put it in place for the first time, the rules on what they had on what you could and could not say in Saudi Arabia, [organizers were told]”If you want good actors, it won’t work. And, on their credit, they said, “Okay, what should we do?” And they just negotiated throughout a few things, which was, fundamentally: do not make fun of the Royals [and] (“Speech restrictions were published online by the actor Atsuko Okatsuka, who refused the festival’s offer to attend, and it is not clear if it was rules before or after the talks.)
Burr described for the first time in the island country of Bahrain – which is more socially liberal than Saudi Arabia – where a customs agent immediately timed his anxiety of standing in the region and gave him sorrow on this subject. “When I saw Bahrain, as if I’m nervous, right? … [Then the agent says]’Are you telling jokes in the Middle East? You think you’re going to come here and do beheaded, right? »»
After a successful program in Bahrain, Burr was in a bar where he looked at the interactions between the inhabitants and decided: “I am like, these guys, they are like us … I do not speak the language, but I understand.”
When he flew to Saudi Arabia, Burr’s nervousness brought back, but he was struck by the quantity of local Western influence. “You think everyone is going to shout” Death To America “and that they go like machetes and want to like to sleep their heads, right? Said burr. “Because that’s what I fed in this part of the world. I thought this place was going to be really tense. And I think like:” Is it a Starbucks next to a pizza cabin next to a burger king next to McDonald’s …? They have a fucking spice here! “”
Once on stage at the Riyadh show, Burr continued to push his equipment and his jokes further and further – including a little on homosexuals at the gymnasium – until he finally realizes his regular act. “I had to stop several times during the show [and say]’I’m going to be honest with you guys, I cannot believe that you have an idea of who I am. It’s really incredible. And it was just this great energy exchange. They know their reputation. So they were very friendly.
Burr’s vision on the event comes while some actors such as Shane Gillis, Marc Maron and David Cross expressed objections at the festival, with comics from Cross – in particular by quoting Burr – who participated. “I am disgusted and deeply disappointed with all that raw thing,” wrote Cross. “That the people I admire, with new talents, to tolerate this totalitarian stronghold for … What, a fourth house? A boat? More sneakers? We can never take all that these actors complain about.”
Msnbc Opinion Writer Zeeshan Aleem Accused The Performers of Participating In “Comedy-Washing” In an Op-Ed, Describing the Event as “An Insidious Tool to Project a Misleading Image Of The Country’s Incremental Efforts To Liberalize… This Comedy Festival Functions Fundamentally As Propaganda Country to falsely present an image of an open society when, in fact, the government hostile remakes to democratic civil liberties tied to freedom of speech and assembly.
There is a long history of debate on this question, weighing a refusal to normalize and approve an authoritarian regime in relation to the advantages of exposing such cultures to Western values and to promote a feeling of openness. Pollitologist Joseph S. Nye popularized the term “soft power” in the 1980s to describe the use of forces such as art and culture to shape what other countries want and appreciate.
The Pop and Humanitarian Sting singer also talked about this concept in the past during the defense of his performance in Uzbekistan in 2009.
“I am well aware of the appalling reputation of the Uzbek president in the field of human rights as well as the environment,” said Sting at the time. “I made the decision to play it despite this. I ended up believing that cultural boycotts are not only unnecessary gestures, they are counterproductive, where the proscribed states are also stolen from the open trade of ideas and art and, therefore, become even more closed, paranoid and island. “
