<\/p>\n
Bill Burr has found himself in hot water recently for performing at a controversial comedy festival in the Middle East but he defended his decision on the latest episode of Conan O\u2019Brien\u2019s podcast, saying the crowd \u201cneeded it.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cWhat was so great about it was that it was the people there. You could feel it. Like they needed it,\u201d the Canton native said on the Oct. 15 episode<\/a> of \u201cConan Needs a Friend.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cThey wanted it and they wanted you to push. And that\u2019s what the comics did,\u201d he said of the crowd at the Riyadh Comedy Festival.<\/p>\n Burr was among several comedians who performed at the Riyadh Comedy Festival that ran from Sept. 26 to Oct. 9 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. <\/p>\n The festival was the first event of its kind to be hosted in Saudi Arabia and was meant to depict Riyadh as a hub for international cultural and artistic events, the Los Angeles Times reported<\/a>. It was also aimed at improve Saudi Arabia\u2019s global image, according to Vox<\/a>. <\/p>\n However multiple comedians<\/a>, include Burr, were criticized for participating in the festival, given Saudi Arabia\u2019s history of oppression and human rights abuses. <\/p>\n While Burr admitted to O\u2019Brien on the podcast that he \u201chad the same idea of that part of the world as everybody else,\u201d he said his experience of actually going there changed his whole perspective on the nation. He said if people were really concerned about the condition of the people there and not just caught up in viral social media posts, they would understand you need to expose people to things beyond their region, which the festival accomplished.<\/p>\n \u201cI thought I was going to go there [and] there was going to be a bunch of people dressed like Yasser Arafat shooting machine guns in the air going \u2018Death to America,\u2019\u201d he told the Brookline native. <\/p>\n Burr said that even travel authorities played into this bit when he arrived in Bahrain. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m going through customs and the dude standing there, he goes, \u2018What are you doing over here?\u2019 I go, I\u2019m a comedian … I\u2019m a comedian from America.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Burr continued, \u201cHe goes, \u2018Oh yeah.\u2019 He goes, \u2018You think we\u2019re all over here waiting to cut your head off.\u2019 He literally said that and I had to be like, \u2018No, no, no, no, I didn\u2019t.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n Despite this first encounter, the rest of Burr\u2019s interactions were pretty normal. When it came time for the show, Burr and the rest of the comedians had pretty free range with what jokes they could make. <\/p>\n \u201cThe people that put it together, when they first said that they wanted a comedy festival over there, they said, \u2018OK, what is your restrictions with speech?,\u2019\u201d Burr said. \u201cAnd they basically whittled it all the way down to you couldn\u2019t talk about any religion \u2014 theres, yours, anybody else\u2019s \u2014 and you couldn\u2019t make fun of the royals. That was it.” <\/p>\n The royals were in attendance, as well as diplomats occupying the front row. Other than that, Burr said \u201ceverybody else was, like, regular.\u201d <\/p>\n The comedian even got some love from a fan as he was walking onto the stage.<\/p>\n \u201cRight before I went on, this guy yells out, dressed in that whole dishdash thing, he goes, \u2018Hey Bill Burr, I love you. Kick ass, man.\u2019 And I was just like, \u2018What? I can\u2019t believe this guy knows who I am.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n Burr then did his set and got huge laughs from jokes about relationships and poking fun at attractive women who \u201cwear the veil a little bit lower.\u201d <\/p>\n The comedian even decided to break out his \u201cgay gym joke\u201d to see how the audience would react. It went over well, despite a technical difficulty that Burr thought meant he was in trouble. <\/p>\n \u201cSo I get halfway through it and the monitor goes out. And I\u2019m like, \u2018Oh [expletive] am I going to get arrested?\u2019 And it ended up coming back on,\u201d he said, telling O\u2019Brien that he did not think it was an intentional effort to stop him. <\/p>\n Despite the malfunction, Burr praised the Saudi Arabian audience for their reception, and voiced how that part of the world is often wrongly perceived. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s like, well, they just progressed the ball like 10 yards, and it was amazing,\u201d Burr said. <\/p>\n If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.masslive.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Bill Burr has found himself in hot water recently for performing at a controversial comedy festival in the Middle East but he defended his decision on the latest episode of Conan O\u2019Brien\u2019s podcast, saying the crowd \u201cneeded it.\u201d \u201cWhat was so great about it was that it was the people there. You could feel it. 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