Jimmy Kimmel Called Out Aziz Ansari for Participating in Riyadh Comedy Festival

When Louis C.K. made an appearance on Real Time with Bill Maher last Friday, the comedian not only received a free pass from the host regarding his performance at the Riyadh Comedy Festival, but he also received an endorsement. “I basically think it’s a great idea to go anywhere like that,” Maher told C.K. “I think the people who are doing it are brave, and apparently, the ones over there are enjoying it.”

If Aziz Ansari was expecting similar treatment from Jimmy Kimmel last night, he was mistaken. Ansari, on the show to answer softball questions about his directorial debut, Good Fortune, also performed at the festival. But Kimmel wasn’t applauding him for appearing. 

“People, a lot of comedians especially, are very upset because the people who paid the comedians to come to this are not good people,” Kimmel said. “It’s a pretty brutal regime. They’ve done a lot of horrible, horrible things.”

Let’s just say Jimmy Fallon wouldn’t have started that way, nor would he have asked the obvious question: Why would Ansari take money from “not good people” to perform? “You made this decision,” Kimmel said. “I’m curious as to why you decided to do that.”

“I’m glad you asked,” Ansari said, clearly not glad that Kimmel asked.

“It’s something I put a lot of thought into,” the comedian continued, explaining he had an aunt who lived in Saudi Arabia for a while. “She said, you know, there’s people over there that don’t agree with the stuff that the government’s doing, and to ascribe the worst behavior of the government onto those people, that’s not fair. Just like there’s people in America that don’t agree with the things the government is doing.”

Kimmel wasn’t letting Ansari off the hook, though. “I know we’re doing horrible things over here, but they murdered a journalist. These are not good people over there.”

Again, Ansari reiterated that he wasn’t there for the bad guys: “I was just there to do a show for the people.”

Ansari said his wife helped persuade him to take the gig. “She said, you know, whenever there’s repressive societies like this, they try to keep things out, whether it’s rock and roll music or blue jeans, because it makes people curious about outside ideas, outside values,” he said. “And this is a very young country, like half the country is under the age of 25, and things can really change.”

A comedy festival, explained Ansari, is “something that’s pushing things to be more open and to push a dialogue.” He didn’t explain how comedy can push a dialogue about the Saudi government when comedians agreed to ignore that part of the conversation. 

After hearing all the criticism, Ansari said he went to his team and suggested giving “part of the fee” to causes that support a free press and human rights.

“Like which causes, specifically?” Kimmel pressed. 

“I think I read about Reporters Without Borders, which I think is a great organization, and Human Rights Watch as well,” Ansari replied without confirming he’d actually donated to either organization.

Ansari believes the festival will have a long-term positive impact. “I hope people see that and they go, ‘Wow, this was really great and I want more of this, not just in comedy, but in everything.’ To push things to be more open and to have the ability to say what we want and to have dissent. Hopefully, it’s a step in that direction.”