William McLelland-Imagn Images
Comedians such as Marc Maron and Shane Gillis have ripped their colleagues for taking part in the upcoming Riyadh Comedy Festival. The Riyadh Comedy Festival is set to take place in the Saudi Arabian city from Friday, September 26 to Thursday, October 9.
Not all of America’s most popular comedians have sold out to Saudi Arabia, however, as the likes of Marc Maron and Shane Gillis have recently ripped their joke-telling compatriots for performing at the festival.
The Riyadh Comedy Festival has pulled in some of the biggest names in stand-up comedy, including Dave Chappelle, Kevin Hart, Louis CK, Aziz Ansari, Bill Burr, Pete Davidson and many more.
Marc Maron, Shane Gillis, and Zach Woods among the comedians to rip their colleagues for performing at the Riyadh Comedy Festival in Saudi Arabia
“I mean, how do you even promote that? ‘From the folks that brought you 9/11. Two weeks of laughter in the desert, don’t miss it!’ I mean, the same guy that’s gonna pay them is the same guy that paid that guy to bone-saw Jamal Khashoggi and put him in a fucking suitcase. But don’t let that stop the yucks, it’s gonna be a good time!” comedian, podcaster, and actor Marc Maron said.
Marc Maron on the comedians taking Saudi blood money to do their comedy festival in Riyadh:
I mean, how do you even promote that?
From the folks that brought you 9/11. Two weeks of laughter in the desert, don’t miss it!….pic.twitter.com/1FrFk57wa0
— Wu Tang is for the Children (@WUTangKids) September 26, 2025
Shane Gillis also said on his Secret Podcast that he turned down a “significant bag” to appear at the comedy festival.
“I’m not doing it. Then they doubled the bag,” Gillis said. “It was a significant bag. But I’d already said no. I took a principled stand. You don’t 9/11 your friends.”
Actor and comedian Zach Woods, best known for his role on the HBO comedy series Silicon Valley, posted a video about the Riyadh Comedy Festival that went viral on social media.
“Now there’s a lot drips, killjoys and dweebazoids who say, ‘They shouldn’t do comedy over there because they’re whitewashing a regime that, just in June, killed a journalist, and killed Jamal Khashoggi, and played a big role in 9/11.’ Shut up! Name one comedian who hasn’t whored themself out to a dictator,” a sarcastic Woods joked.
zach woods i’ll rip out my IUD for you pic.twitter.com/9K4pZeFGH0
— arielle (@reallygordon) September 25, 2025
Here is a full list of the comedians that are currently set to perform at the Riyadh Comedy Festival:
Dave Chappelle, Aziz Ansari, Hannibal Buress, Bill Burr, Jimmy Carr, Louis C.K., Whitney Cummings, Pete Davidson, Chris Distefano, Omid Djalili, Zarna Garg, Kevin Hart, Gabriel Iglesias, Jim Jefferies, Jimeoin, Maz Jobrani, Jessica Kirson, Jo Koy, Bobby Lee, Sebastian Maniscalco, Sam Morril, Mark Normand, Nimesh Patel, Russell Peters, Jeff Ross, Andrew Santino, Andrew Schulz, Tom Segura, and Chris Tucker.