Literal blood money bruh
‘They’re paying me enough to look the other way’
That is at least an honest approach instead of “We’ll change things over there with our comedy”.
Just stfu next time it’s about politics (hint: they won’t).
The only guy that is surprising for me is Bill Burr. Not exactly financially hanging on by a thread but still selling out like that.
It’s always about the money for these pricks.
Don’t fool yourselves into thinking entertainers are your friends. They’re not.
Marc Maron is the person who people think the lot of these guys like Burr are. His comedy/commentary is earnest. He has conviction. People like Burr are performative commentary. They go back to the dressing room to wash off the clown makeup so they can go back to being their private self. They don’t give a shit about the things the say into the mic.
Don’t make celebrity performers your idols, folks. They’re mostly psychologically damaged, amoral, backstabbing, money grubbing narcissists.
People: Billionaires are the problem
Also people: OMG Taylor Swift’s new album just dropped! Let’s go buy 3 different versions of it
Comedians are probably the most disingenuous ones too, as idols. thier job is to Joke, and you know personally they are either what they joke about(they become the jokes themselves this default for right winger comedians they become thier own jokes, or doing the opposite of what they are joking.
These people are all willing to play shows in the US, why wouldn’t you expect them to play in Saudi Arabia? Sounds like living in denial about our own country. Like the concept of blood diamonds; money from software made in the US has funded conflict all over the globe but no one called it blood software. We used to export soybeans and used the money to bomb foreigners and no one called em blood soybeans.
Moral failings are always some other countries problem, we’re the shining city on the hill remember? /s
Playing a show in Saudi Arabia would be different than playing this show funded by the Saudi government. The shows played in America, for the most part, aren’t funded by the government here. That’s the difference. People gave the celebrities who performed at Trump’s inauguration shit for it. That’s consistent my guy.
Also the fact they were supporting something opposite of what Saudia arabia represents. aka, free speech, lgbtq+ rights,etc. something SA is against and they went and accepted the money.
We’re about to have a ufc fight on the White House lawn
Soon saudia arabia will own UFC.
We’re not great currently, but we are leaps and bounds better than Saudi Arabia right now.
Are you saying all entertainment folks in the US should just stop working? That is neither feasible or possible for non A-listers.
Edit: apparently some one is ok with already struggling artist starving. Hope you have the same energy when it’s your turn to refuse work.
Don’t invent the scenarios, none of the comedians in questions are “starving”.
they Lie, they dint pay 10s of millions. its a grift, in order to get more paying gigs by SA in the future. most of them were paid less than 1mil
Paid to look the other way eh, fine I choose to do the same and look and support the performers that boycotted or refused and look away from you.
Jo Koy hurt me the most. First time I saw my wife crying with joy over his Asian accents bit. He’s not nearly so funny if you’re not Filipino, or are at least close to the community, but he’s still damned good.
Guess they all got caught up in the idea that, “Everyone else is doing it!” And honestly? I could see myself fall into that.
I’m sure I’ll get beat up for making excuses for them. But I’m not that guy, and I wasn’t there. Were you?
I used to love standup comedy. These days I feel as though so much of the mainstream comedy scene is made up of immature losers who peaked in highschool. Joe Rogan, Bert Kreisher, Bobby Lee, Chris Distefano… I cannot stand these guys. The list goes on.
I thought Bill Burr was different. I’m really disappointed.
Taylor Tomlinson popped up on my feeds and it’s a fresh breath. Gianmarco Soresi did as well, but I doubt I’ll watch his special
Taylor’s, though, I’d go see that live, and I’m not somebody to go to comedy clubs
I really like both. Gianmarco has exploded into my recommendations recently and I love every second.
She is pure brilliant.
I don’t think I’ve seen any clips that I haven’t laughed at. maybe a few that didn’t hit hard, but whoever is doing her media, they’re picking great stuff. and lots of it really gets me good, she’s just a great act
I’m a big fan. Seen all her specials and saw her live this year. She is a big talent. I’m happy for her. In other words, I don’t think it’s that good bits are being promoted, they’re all good bits.
I’ve seen her live. She’s great, and worth it. She’s funny with both her rehearsed material and her crowdwork.
I think I could prepare a damned funny show, but no way could I ad lib like Tomlinson. Sometimes, when the mood hits, I can run with it, but she’s consistently on the ball.
don’t forget caleb hearon
burr at least spoke out against the billionaire class…
but then he took the fucking bonesaw money. fuck.
Just shows he was only speaking out because he thought he would make money from it, not because of any ethical principles.
That freckled fuck is dead to me. He has gone against all he has said om his podcast and then doubled down. What a fucking tool.
Should we start calling him Bonesaw Bill or Bonesaw Burr.
mr funnybonesaw
Yeah, I never really cared for his vibe as a comedian until that part happened and then he decided to do this like a month or two later so I’ll go back to not caring about his shit again. I do hope people keep giving him shit for it until he stops showing his face though.
Wait, what’s the bonesaw money?
MBS had Khashoggi (a journalist living in the US) murdered in the Saudi Embassy in Istanbul, then cut up with bone saws and packed into a suitcase.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Jamal_Khashoggi
you can see the obvious comedic angles there.
Ah, okay. I was aware of that, just thought maybe there was more of a connection to bill burr than just taking the money, like he had previously commented on it.
Bill Burr is different in many ways but the clip of him screaming “fagot” at the crowd was a clue that he’s no ethical paragon
Bobby Lee is a pedophile and I block every YouTube channel that suggests his videos.
This I did not know.
He came out later claiming it was a joke, but I don’t see how anyone can turn that into a comedy bit. This made me look at him deeper and he has a history of being creepy with women, many times on camera. I rather just avoid his stuff
I used to think I could sorta relate with him as he has that underachieving Asian persona.
The reason I got tired of him was how I felt like he kept giving free passes for his costars to do low-hanging racist jokes. Sometimes, a joke based on ethnicity can be bang on, like it makes me feel, “holy shit, that’s so true” because it’s based on a very keen observation. But when it’s a bunch of trashy “comedians” making jokes about small eyes, small cock, ching-chong-chang names, eating dog, etc. based on stereotypes, it’s just insulting.
And now he turns out to be a creep toward women and children, so fuck him even more, I guess. Too bad :(
I really hope he grows and shows some real contrition about it. It would take time to convince me, but I really hope he just didn’t think it through. Such a bummer.
Sadly, my prediction is that he’ll use his classic “I’m dumb, I don’t read the news” line as an excuse, and then go back to trashing billionaires as early as next week.
I don’t give a shit if he grows or not, I’m done with him. I saw what he did.
Choke on your blood money, bill burka.
In my fantasy world, these comedians are currently in conference calls working on material to fry the Saudis together.
Obviously they’d execute the first one that did it, but I like to dream
In my fantasy world countries aren’t run by murderous lying regimes
Standup was a thing in the 80s. I feel like even by the 90s it was already dying. There were a few unique acts like Mitch Hedberg for example, but the format itself is kind of no longer relevant.
Excuse me say what? This news had me thinking yesterday about how many solid comedians there are now vs. back in the day. In the 80s, we could name most popular comedians. “Ever heard of this Eddie Murphy guy?”
Now? The list is enormous, and filled with hard hitters. I can spend all night on YouTube only watching the most popular, barely scratching the surface.
I appreciate this take. It’s interesting to think about - I have often felt alienated because I often don’t enjoy standup - neither from the classics nor the modern comedians.
Odd! With so much talent out there it’s surprising someone hasn’t hit your joy button.
Honestly think a big part of it was cable tv and premium channels becoming big and needing unique content, which led to comedy specials and shows.
The lack of comedy venues in most places except big cities around the US.
The ability to play uncensored shows and filmed comedy performances made for great late night TV for HBO and Showtime.
I think by the late 90’s- 2000’s the internet had stolen some of the spotlight and there were more comedy coming from improv groups and standup that landed TV deals. So that’s how we ended up with Reno 911, and shows like Chepelle, and Key and Peele. This was during the time that Mind Of Mencia was on. Comedy Central did a lot by just giving standup their own sketch type 30-60 min shows on prime time.
I think a lot of the people in comedy these days have piloted from touring to doing things like live podcasts and whatnot. The straight standup routine isn’t seen nearly as much anymore. Plus a lot of content is just directed directly to YouTube and patreon channels because it’s easier and more profitable.
I don’t understand how being rich can make someone such a whore ― David Cross
https://officialdavidcross.com/blogs/press/my-thoughts-on-the-riyadh-comedy-festival
It’s actually pretty easy to explain why rich people are whores.
The reason they’re rich is that they care so much about money. If they didn’t care about money, then at some point, they’d have enough money, and after that, they won’t be so interested in getting more money. Those people wouldn’t become rich.
Yes, there are exceptions. Some comedians just want to become famous, or want to go down in history as the best comedian. But most of them probably want to become rich and famous.
But what does “rich” mean? It’s not a specific amount of money. It’s that you’re comparing yourself to other people, and saying that you have more money than them. Donald Trump was so obsessed with this that he committed fraud to lie about his wealth. And basically all rich people have the same mindset to some degree.
If your goal is to be rich, then no amount of money is enough, and you’ll do anything if people pay you enough.
The buddha says that the more you have the more you want
Always loved this guy.
Yes! Very refreshing he had the smart takes after 911 flooded us with jingoistic hypocrisy and ever since.
The lineup features Dave Chappelle, Louis CK, Bill Burr, Kevin Hart, Whitney Cummings, Pete Davidson, Aziz Ansari and Jo Koy, among many others who are all taking their fees directly from the Saudi government.
Burr being on that list surprises me, but it said he’s also been to UAE. Davidson is pissing on his father’s grave.
They have also taken flak from their peers. “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,” said Marc Maron in a standup clip posted on his Facebook.
Exactly.
Greedy fucks, all of them.
It’s still kinda hard to understand that mindset for me. Like, if I were to become a public person - I’d probably care a lot about, for example, Wikipedia article about me.
Even ~10 years ago, while being a uni student, I declined some really good job offers, because that’d have me script bots for online gambling sites. That’d help my financial situation a lot, but I just said “nah, I’m fine”.
We just don’t cancel people enough and it shows. 🌝
Dave Chappelle, Louie CK, and Aziz Ansari were all on the list of comedians.
Cancelling isn’t really a thing.
Well, it is a thing but it’s also an integral part of being human rather than a “culture” that’s somehow new. The difference is that it’s a power wielded by the people now rather than tastemakers putting people on a blacklist.
Another thing that’s happening with people that are “cancelled” is that they immediately get offered to join a group of “cancelled” public figures who bond over being disgusting pariahs and rebuild their careers by grifting to the right. Andrew Callaghan of channel 5 news (also All Gas No Brakes) talks about getting a job offer from InfoWars just a week after the sexual assault allegations against him went public. They anticipated he would respond by rebranding as “anti cancel culture” like so many others rather than admit fault and make a genuine effort to improve.
For those unaware of what happened with Andrew Callaghan, he had a habit of getting drunk and then pressuring/coercing women into having sex. His response was not perfect IMO, but he did confess that he had a problem and sobered up, which is more than can be said of most “victims of cancel culture.”
It never was. It was always a juvenile response to criticism.
Out of all of the comedians asked only TWO had enough integrity to turn the offer down.
Who?
Shane Gillis and Stavros Halkias were the only two that turned it down as far as I know.
The title quote is from Tim Dillon, article has a similar quote from Pete Davidson
I have enough moral to look the other way, away from these so called sell out comedians.
"…He did not address the criticism directly, but he did suggest he was happy to forget 9/11 for the right price: “I just know I get the routing, and then I see the number, and I go, ‘I’ll go.’” "
Apparently $375,000 is enough for Pete Davidson to piss on his fathers memory
I guess for most people it would be. Certainly I’d be like “sorry dad but I can buy a house an have my future be much more secure” if my kid did the same I’d like to think I’d understand as well…but this is for normal people. To these very well known and well off comedians is 375k that much? It’s like the equivalent of me getting like 5k which I’m not sure I would betray my morals for. Having said that nobody’s offering me 5k to!
Yeah, that makes sense, except that Pete Davidson is a millionaire who owns a house on Staten Island. He lives in a loft in Brooklyn that costs 30k/month
Well, that’s why he needs the money! 😂
You gotta support that lifestyle that you’re used to.
So true. I’m laughing, but dying inside. It’s so gross to see that amount of money just be wasted. There’s no reasons other than status and you want to be gaudy.
Yeah, but that’s like 10 months of rent!
He’s now working for his parent’s murderer.
It pays well…well it pays.
You guys expect way too much from the court jesters. There’s plenty of serious enterprises investing heavily in SA, go after them if this is something you care deeply about. Comedians aren’t supposed to be the moral pulse of society and yet that’s how almost all conversations about them are framed these days.
This was kind of my thought too. They’re just dudes who want to make money. Sure, yeah, hate them for working with SA, that’s fine, but what were you honestly expecting from these people?
its the fans that are apalled, everyone else, i dont really care, but im amused they finally show thier true colors.
Why aren’t they supposed to be the moral pulse? I’m not saying they necessarily are but I think in order to be funny you need to empathize with others.
The arts should be. There’s a standard that should be there, but these comments seems to argue otherwise…
These dudes tell dick jokes for a living. If you want to throw that under the general umbrella of “the arts” in order to make appeals to lofty ideals then that is your right as a free thinking individual, but we both know the main reason you’re doing that is to try and make a square peg fit in a round hole.
Go watch old late night bits. Zero politics. LOL, somebody on here the other day was trying to say the Late Show had always been political. Someone who never watched Carson.
Comedians have evolved into the “moral pulse” role. They seem to be the only group speaking truth to power and having any traction whatsoever.
Anyway, you got me thinking on all that, so I thank you!
Comedians have been making fun of politics my whole life. Not always what I would call taking a side but at the least calling out whatever foolishness was on the news cycle.
