Comedian Atsuko Okatsuka shares Saudi contract details

The censorship rules comedians have to follow when playing the lucrative – but controversial – Riyadh Comedy Festival have been revealed 

As the festival kicks off this weekend amid claims it is ‘joke-washing’ the regime’s human rights record, American comedian Atsuko Okatsuka has revealed she got an offer to perform at the event.

She said no to the event and yesterday posted details of the contract  she was sent on Threads.

Although she blanked out the fee she was offered, she explained: ‘The money is coming straight from the Crown Prince, who actively executes journalists, ppl with nonlethal drug offenses, bloggers, etc without due process. 

‘A lot of the "you can’t say anything anymore!" comedians are doing the festival,. They had to adhere to censorship rules about the types of jokes they can make."

One of the screenshots she posted read: ‘ARTIST shall not prepare or perform any material that may be considered to degrade, defame, or bring into public disrepute, contempt, scandal, embarrassment, or ridicule:

‘A) The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, including its leadership, public figures, culture, or people; 

‘B) The Saudi royal family, legal system, or government, and;

‘C) Any religion, religious tradition, religious figure, or religious practice.’

The comic, who as Japanese-Taiwanese roots, was asked to perform a 60-75 minute set and would have been expected to promote the gig on social media – something very few of the comedians who are taking part have been doing.

A number of other comedians have also revealed they declined to take par, including   Leslie Liao, Mike Birbiglia and Shane Gillis, who said on his Secret Podcast: ‘I took a principled stand. You don’t 9/11 your friends.;

As Chortle reported earlier this month, Jimmy Carr, Omid Djalili, Jack Whitehall and Jimeoin are among the international acts heading to the Gulf state from this weekend.

American comic Tim Dillon was scheduled to perform but said he was fired after he joked on his podcast about Saudi Arabia’s poor human rights record. He had said that he was being paid $375,000 (£278,000) for one show on October 8, but that other performers were offered as much as $1.6million (£1.2million).

The festival line-up also includes the likes of Aziz Ansari, Hannibal Buress, Bill Burr, Dave Chappelle, Pete Davidson, Maz Jobrani, Russell Peters, Kevin Hart and Louis CK - who is splitting a bill with Carr.

Campaign group Human Rights Watch has called on comedians playing the controversial Riyadh Comedy Festival to call on the Saudi authorities to free unjustly detained dissidents, journalists and human rights activists.

This week marks the eight anniversary of the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi  at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul  at the behest of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Joey Shea, Saudi Arabia researcher at Human Rights Watch, said:  ‘Comedians performing in Riyadh should speak out against Saudi Arabia’s serious rights abuses or they risk bolstering the Saudi government’s well-funded efforts to launder its image.

‘This whitewashing comes amid significant increase in repression, including a crackdown on free speech, which many of these comedians defend but people in Saudi Arabia are completely denied.’

The other comedians taking part are Andrew Schulz, Andrew Santino & Bobby Lee, Chris Tucker, Gabriel Iglesias, Jessica Kirson, Jo Koy,  Mark Normand, Nimesh Patel, Sam Morril, Sebastian Maniscalco, Tom Segura, Whitney Cummings, Zarna Garg.

Published: 28 Sep 2025