Is This the Real Riyadh Comedy Festival Instagram Account?

Probably the worst thing about all of these big-name comedians gathering together to abandon their integrity for the same paycheck is that the thing they’re tanking their reputations for seems really, really lame. When Gail King sold out for Jeff Bezos, she at least got to go to space for a few minutes. (She was also faced with immediate karma: While in space, she was subjected to Katy Perry singing, uninvited.)

But Louis C.K., Dave Chappelle and Andrew Schulz aren’t going to space — at least, not yet. Some of the industry’s biggest comedians are instead going to Saudi Arabia to perform at the Riyadh Comedy Festival. Between September 26th and October 9th, people like Gabriel Iglesias, Tom Segura, Pete Davidson, Aziz Ansari, Sebastian Maniscalco, Jo Koy and Sam Morril will perform for hefty, hefty checks. 

And as we’ve already discussed, most of these comedians don’t seem too proud of their little jaunt to the most brazen executioner of journalists in the world. Most of their Instagram accounts are notably missing any promotional material for their time at the festival — though as the days pass, more and more comics seem to be willing to share their “gratitude” for performing. But maybe it’s because all of the promotion will take place on the Riyadh Comedy Festival Instagram account. 

Well, not so fast. The account, which has just over 4,000 followers, is posting promotional material, videos and posters from the festival, including some pretty intense Saturday Night Live-style teaser trailers for the event. Iglesias even tagged the page in his gushing video about performing in Saudi Arabia just yesterday. 

But, upon closer inspection, the Instagram account isn’t the official one from the Saudi government, at least according to the bio, which states "unaffiliated to the official.” So far, it appears the official @VisitSaudi Instagram account only has mentioned the comedy festival a few times, with each post barely amassing 200 likes each. 

It seems that despite Chris DiStefano insisting that he was ready to become a Saudi citizen, there’s not a ton of internet enthusiasm for the country happening on the official Saudi-affiliated Instagram accounts or the non-official Saudi-affiliated Instagram accounts. 

Maybe the next time the Saudi government wants to do a big PR push for the country, they should consider hiring a different group of American celebrities that might draw more Western interest. Local news anchors, maybe, or TikTok famous children. The Rizzler could probably draw a ton of social engagement.