Over the past week, the comedy world has been engaged in a fierce debate about the Riyadh Comedy Festival. In short, a bunch of comedians were invited to perform in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia — and many, including Pete Davidson, Bill Burr and Aziz Ansari took them up on the offer.

This is controversial because the government of Saudi Arabia is, to put it lightly, “not chill.” Consequently, many fans of these comedians have begged them to pull out of the performance. So far, only one has, while comedian Tim Dillon was removed from the lineup after making a joke about how Saudi Arabia has slaves (which, to be clear, they do). Others simply rejected the offer; for example, Shane Gillis says he turned down a “significant bag” by not performing.

Okay, so some comedians shattered their credibility to go perform in Saudi Arabia. At least it’s been a roaring success, right?

Well, not really. Crowd shots from the festival’s recap videos show lots of empty seats. Videos interviewing comedians during the event are either obviously staged or incredibly awkward, and while the people in attendance are smiling and laughing, it’s really more “early show on a Thursday” vibes than “bringing the house down.”

Hope it was worth it! 

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