- 4 days ago
Saudi Comedy Festival, Charlie Kirk - Between the Scenes
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00it's the greatest city on earth
00:03please hear you new york
00:11i think we're gonna have to roll we'll we'll be good we'll be good
00:17no because of time we we wrap it up you know time-wise we gotta roll
00:21why you want you want you want me to do something else or you want to talk about something
00:30i always always pick on you so what's what's what's on your mind what do you want to talk about
00:33i'm not sure if you heard so there's a bunch of comics that went to saudi arabia
00:37and they said comics talking shit and there's other comics like well i gotta get this money
00:46you know what i'm saying weren't you one of the comics who went to saudi arabia
00:49yeah it was a whole how many was it in the end
00:58was it like 50 or was it starts as 50 and then
01:01it was it was huge though right it was saudi arabia's first comedy festival i think the
01:07riyadh comedy festival and they had a bunch of comedians go out there it's been all over the
01:11news see people arguing about it on tiktok it's like let me tell you what i think about what's
01:18happening i don't know it's it's it's an interesting one i'll start with this like
01:24when you know what what saudi arabia is all about it's weird to go to a comedy festival
01:34that is paid for by saudi arabia you know i mean and this is what i mean there's a there's a
01:40difference i i'm all for going anywhere to perform for anyone because there are people who live in
01:45countries that don't agree with what their countries are doing so i don't assume that
01:49everybody who lives in a country is the same as the people running the country right that's the
01:53first thing but but when the government is paying you to come that's like a direct relationship that's
01:59different does that make sense it like it changes up and i don't know man like saudi arabia you're
02:05like damn just you just do a cursory search you don't even have to like dig do you don't have to go
02:11do your research or just the things that saudi arabia does you know i mean like you see all the
02:18comedians who went like dave chapelle kevin hart bill burr louis ck like it was like a whole bunch
02:24aziz ansari you know i mean i'm friends with all of these guys like i'm just like but they they went
02:30to saudi and i'm like if you search saudi you see the things that happen there right government is on
02:35some like almost dictator level shit right like you you say the wrong thing you get disappeared in a
02:43moment like it's just like one minute your family knows where you are and then they don't
02:47uh women like don't have control over their own bodies you know free speech is limited
02:55violence is the order of the day i don't know man i'd like i don't think i'd ever perform
03:04in saudi arabia i would only perform in the united states
03:08because that would never happen here will
03:16that would never happen here can you imagine what would happen if america announced that they
03:24were just like did like scooping people up and just like disappearing them can you imagine
03:28these here united states will huh can you imagine if one day they were just like oh women oh men
03:34control your bodies can you imagine that will that is why i perform in america will
03:39i don't judge anybody to be honest with you especially in these types of things because i
03:50because i think number one everyone has a number number two people like to judge
03:54depending on the position that they're in
03:56so someone's like oh would you go to saudi i'm like i would i wouldn't say no but i wouldn't
04:03say yes it would have to be an amount of money that makes me not care no i'm being honest with
04:08you it would have to be an amount of money that makes me not care about everything else that i'm
04:11gonna lose that's the honest truth so like every person who would be disappointed in me i would have
04:16to have an amount for what that's worth in my life so then if somebody said to me they're like
04:21i'm disappointed in you in my head i'd be like 10 000 every time that would happen i'll just like
04:27have that little number i'll be like yeah i'm this is already paid for this is fine but if it's not
04:32that kind of money then no like i personally wouldn't do it if it's not that kind of money
04:37but i also think there's a little bit of like i don't know i i'm so conflicted on this because look
04:44on the one hand i get what people are saying some people are like oh it's it's comedy washing and
04:49the sports washing and you know saudi is they're trying to get people to come in to launder their
04:53image i go but is it laundering the image because there's a lot of people who didn't really follow
04:59saudi or care about it that now know about what saudi's doing because these people went there
05:04and i argue sometimes it's the people going there that makes you now go like where you going
05:08what's happening there what are you doing there and it's like now saudi's like ah
05:12we just snuck away we were playing golf we were enjoying ourselves
05:16it is also crazy how like comedians will take the most smoke in the in the day and age that we
05:22live in right like the president of the united states goes to saudi dances with them
05:27people just like yeah you got to do what you got to do you know you got to make fun you got to get
05:34your allies live golf saudi huh best golfers in the world formula one goes to saudi you name it
05:39everyone goes comedians how could they
05:41you're like the bastions of free speech you cannot say anything you want in saudi how could you go
05:50there that's a very um american point of view i'm going to let you know now right and it is a
05:55privilege you should keep that point of view but it's a very american one because in many countries
05:59around the world you can't just say whatever you want when you're performing or when you're there
06:03you know like many singapore you know what i'm talking about yeah malaysia in the house as well
06:07you know what i'm talking about no there's a lot of places even when i was in india we were doing
06:11shows you and i were in india and this is not like a law i'm not saying this is a law but when
06:15we were in india people would come up to me and they're like so trevor are you going to are you
06:20going to make jokes about modi i'll be like narendra modi the the prime minister like yes are you
06:25going to make jokes about him and i'll be like hmm i mean if i see something funny they're like okay
06:31okay and i'm like why why should should i should i not make jokes no no you can you can make jokes
06:36about modi you can you can then we're going to see what happens afterwards
06:40that's going to be the show after the show
06:45it's almost it's almost perfect comedy timing that this happened now right because had this
06:56comedy festival happened at any other time i think america as an idea would have had more of a leg to
07:01stand on as a moral authority right but like this is the same country where a few weeks ago
07:07you know jimmy kimmel gets kicked off his show for not making by the way he didn't even make a joke i
07:14went back to look for the joke that they said there is no joke he just had a comment about something
07:18that he didn't feel was appropriate and whether he's wrong or right but it wasn't even a joke he said
07:23nothing about charlie kirk the joke wasn't about nothing and they were like gone right same same
07:29country same country where hundreds of people have been fired for saying anything about charlie kirk
07:34post him being shot anything people getting fired from companies people for you in your private life
07:41say some shit and then your company fires you because they're like charlie kirk charlie kirk here's
07:46the thing i'm like people are like oh what do you think charlie kirk to me it's like okay someone got
07:50shot it's not great i didn't wish for it but now you can't like terrorize your population if they
07:56dare to say something about the thing do you know what i mean this is the same country where
08:01people make jokes about abraham lincoln being shot which i think is like ranks higher
08:07but people will make jokes this is the literally america was the place where i learned the joke
08:13where they were like ah but other than that mrs lincoln how was the play that's the joke yeah you
08:17know it and it's crazy but that's what makes america such a fascinating place is that you can make
08:24those jokes you know it's like people made the jokes about kennedy yeah jfk like after he was
08:30assassinated people were like oh yeah they'll be like i'm never buying a drop top you know what i
08:34mean and some people like oh i don't like it it's in bad taste yeah but that's that's what jokes can
08:39be they can be in bad taste it's like that's why this room has no windows you know what i mean it's
08:45supposed to be us understanding that you're saying a thing that may or may not be real in bad taste
08:51and it's like an outlet it's like it's like ufc everything has context right people punch each
08:56other in the street they go to jail you put a cage around them and joe rogan on the side screaming
09:00it's a six billion dollar event
09:03you know
09:06so i mean i don't know it's like it's not one of those things where i go it's it's binary
09:12uh and maybe spending more time in south africa has helped me think like that now again it's like
09:17it's not just binary it's it's easy to say all the comedians who went there are sellouts and you
09:23can pay them yeah but everyone has that in some way shape or form everyone everyone everyone everyone
09:29in entertainment that you know it can't they can't go and trash their tv station or the people who own
09:34it or they'll get fired by the business that's how it'll work right you can't say what you want
09:39right now in america about donald trump even right there's people who get to the border they look
09:45through their phones if they've made any jokes on their social media or any shit about donald trump
09:49you're out you're out they look through your phones i now because of that just to be safe i used ai
09:55and i made nudes of trump and then i've texted it to my friends being like god damn this guy's so hot
10:01this man is so sexy oh man i'm not gay but he could get it oh man i would be in that ass
10:10get that orange all over me baby some of that vitamin c yeah because that's that's gonna be
10:19hard for them what are they gonna do are they gonna kick me out like what are they gonna be
10:22let me see your phone and then they'll take my phone be like oh you messaged about trump let's
10:25see what you huh huh uh sir well this guy uh texted a lot about trump what did he say uh he said he'd smash
10:35that's what he said i think that's a good thing uh like it's like oh man
10:43i also think there's something that saudi's doing the the other way around um in in the direction
10:53that they're going i've never been pro mohammed bin salman and you know it's like whatever i just do
10:59think sometimes there's a little bit of like western you know superiority like they'll be like
11:04he he had a man killed you know one one man one man yo every american president you know how many
11:14people have been killed by america with no due process at all just like you're just driving and
11:19then all of a sudden the drone is just like hello everyone doesn't matter which president i'm not even
11:25point does republican democrat does not matter doesn't matter you'd be like oh george bush did
11:29that yeah so did obama he was like uh bye bye
11:31you'd be like but those people were terrorists yeah but some of them we don't even know because
11:42there was literally no court case no nothing so can you say anything can you you know it it all depends
11:46so i think they might be going in the right direction again i'm not saying that it's good i'm just
11:52saying they might be going in the right direction because one of the first things you lose funny
12:00enough in an authoritarian regime is comedy it's a crazy trend that you can follow throughout time go
12:07to russia south africa right when i was literally when i was growing up until i was six years old
12:12maybe even like closer to 10 free speech wasn't a thing you couldn't just say whatever you wanted
12:16there was no stand-up comedy in south africa it was because you'd go to jail
12:20right the few white comedians who dared to say something about the government went to jail black
12:26comedians you couldn't even do that there was a rule in the country three or more people were
12:29gathered they consider that a political event and then you were just arrested you couldn't even like
12:33start your show you guys haven't oh shit i gotta go
12:35but like it's it's actually interesting how that's the first thing that goes
12:43in a country you know is the comedy vladimir putin one of the first things he did when he
12:49came to power was he shut down a puppet show that was very popular in russia and eastern europe
12:54that used to poke fun at world leaders and one of the first things he did was he had that show and
12:59the whole station shut down because comedy has this weird thing about it man i don't know and i don't
13:05like to inflate it because it's supposed to be goofy it's supposed to be stupid right but that
13:10stupidity butts up against the terror that you're often feeling with an authoritarian you know i
13:15mean it's like charlie chaplin the troops in the war said that charlie chaplin and his movie the
13:22dictator where he played hitler as like this goofy dude they said that was the first time they thought
13:27of hitler as an idiot because before then everyone's just like hitler's gonna take over the world
13:30you just you couldn't you couldn't do anything to hitler and then they saw that movie and they were
13:34like oh this guy's goofy that mustache is kind of weird and that literally gave people hope they
13:42were like oh if if we can laugh at that thing then maybe we can beat it so in a weird way
13:48i almost feel like saudi's moving in the right direction i'm not saying they're there yet but
13:53they're moving in the right direction you're having all the comedians people like oh but you can't say
13:57this about the royal family yeah okay fine but you're still moving in the right direction they used to
14:02have comedy shows where men and women were separated and now the audiences are mixed from
14:05what they were right yeah audiences are mixed from what i understand so again not perfect but moving
14:09in the right direction meanwhile here comedians are shitting themselves don't don't say anything
14:13about charlie kirk i wasn't gonna say anything about yeah but don't say anything about charlie i
14:16wasn't gonna say anything about charlie kirk but don't there's nothing funny about it oh now you
14:22tested me i mean there's there's nothing funny about it you can't say there's nothing funny about it
14:28now there's nothing fun no don't say that because there's a comedian i'll be like i'm sure there's
14:31something funny about it the guy was shot while defending guns do you understand how
14:36i'm not even writing that as a joke as a human you have to admit that is an incongruous funny
14:42thing that happens you are there on you're like on stage you're like let me tell you why people
14:47should have guns that would be like if the captain of the titanic was giving an impassioned speech
14:56about icebergs right before it happened he's just there he's like i'll tell you why icebergs are not
15:01as bad as people say whole thing is ridiculous i don't think there's anything funny about but
15:11don't now like fight where you can't don't say anything there's nothing that's what comedy that's
15:15literally what comedians do that's the whole point of it there's nothing funny about most things in
15:21our lives nothing funny about death nothing funny about life nothing funny about struggling that no
15:25that's the whole point of it is to find a moment of solace you know there's nothing for don't you
15:30dare make i wasn't gonna make a joke about johnny kirk it wasn't even like in my zeitgeist in that
15:34way but don't there's nothing funny oh but there is you keep saying that and you're gonna make me
15:38find the funny i don't want to find the funny but you're forcing it now you're forcing it now
15:44it is it is pretty crazy that like america's response to the guy getting shot was to limit speech
15:52instead of limiting the thing that ended his life
15:56you know what i mean it's pretty crazy to me that's one of the wildest responses i've ever seen
16:05in my life what happened to charlie kirk he got shot all right tell people to shut up
16:09we gotta get some word control out in these streets what about guns guns had nothing to do with this
16:17no one even brought up the concept of like ah man maybe people at home shouldn't have a gun where
16:25you can shoot somebody from like a rooftop away maybe no no this was just like can you say something
16:31can you not say let me tell you something jokes will never kill you never there's no joke that can
16:37kill you every comedian is trying every comedian our dream is to make a joke that will kill one of
16:44you that is our dream they're like what happened oh man someone's at trevor's show and then he laughed
16:48so hard and then he died i'm like thank you very much good night that's our dream
16:54and i'm not saying there's no speech that's inflammatory or dangerous or insightful i'm not
17:03saying that but what i'm saying is if i was to make a bet on how to make a society safer
17:07safe safe safe if i'm gonna make it safer right and i get to choose between words and guns i choose
17:16guns that's my bet i'm not an expert on any of this by the way i've just found that most of the time
17:24when someone's been shot there's been a gun a lot of time people have said words and they've just like
17:29walked away so if i'm placing if i'm betting my money i'm gonna go with guns
17:34it is also weird that the guy like he wrote jokes on the bullets
17:40that's again a terrible and funny when you have time to think about it
17:49because the fact that he had to write jokes on the bullets tells you that he knew that the jokes
17:54won't do anything he was like i'm gonna tell if you're reading this you're gay and it's like
18:00it doesn't do anything what if you put it on a bullet oh yeah that joke can kill now
18:04yeah now that joke's a lot more effective
18:07so yeah so how do i feel i don't know maybe it's the maybe it's a step in the right direction maybe
18:13it isn't maybe the people are selling maybe that i don't know i'm literally i won't judge anyone
18:17but i do think it's a it's a better place to be in right people make it like wow like it's the
18:24worst this is not the worst thing in the world it's not the best yeah i don't know maybe these
18:28are like sleeper agents that's how you think of it you know yeah if there's people who can change
18:34how you see the world it is like the aziz ansari's the you know the kevin hart's the can make you
18:39change anything up can you imagine aziz like convincing them in saudi arabia it's like man how come you
18:45guys don't like i notice how you guys don't let your women drive and i'm like dude what the hell
18:54man just let them drive come on i can see them changing their laws you know what there's something
19:05about this guy i like him i like him
19:08oh man like kevin hart on stage busy like fighting about saudi policies he's like man i
19:22man let me tell you what what i knows let me tell you what i noticed about this shit y'all doing
19:29inside all the organizations y'all funding all those organizations that you're funding don't fund
19:35them stop funding them
19:39i think it's easy to focus on the wrong things and i'm not saying we again it's not a binary
19:58not saying don't focus on some things you know it's good to hold people accountable i think it's
20:03nice for people to tell the comedians they're like hey i didn't like that thing you did and then
20:06go back and forth and see what i do think is interesting though to go back to the comedian
20:12thing is that it's interesting how like especially in america now it's like comedians don't have the
20:17latitude that like leaders have all right i've seen the com these comedians that they'll tell a joke
20:24and people like don't you dare and then the president of the united states literally said
20:30maybe i'll go for a third term maybe maybe i will maybe i'll stay and people were like what
20:38and then when they asked his people they're like yo he said he's gonna stay for a third term they're
20:43like no he's joking i was like oh so he can oh oh president jokes yeah comedian no
20:49how dare you president dave chapelle
20:54so i don't know will yeah i don't i don't judge anyone you know because i think everyone will
21:03make the decision that they make but i i would hope that we just learn to focus not on the thing that
21:12everyone's showing us but the thing that's actually happening you know like the comedians are not going
21:18to make or break saudi and what's happening but the thing that's making or breaking what comedians
21:25can or cannot say in america that's that's a real thing that's happening yeah so this for me there's
21:32definitely a story in like oh all these comedians went to saudi and then there should be an even
21:36bigger story about whoa all these comedians are now going to go to america oh good luck to them
21:42you guys have been fun man thanks for coming out tonight
21:44have a great night thanks for coming out
21:51you guys
21:53you
21:58you
22:04you
22:17you
Be the first to comment