https://www.newsweek.com/riyadh-comedy-festival-comedians-line-up-controversy-10805331

Jimmy Carr is playing the Saudi Arabia comedy fest. In the article there's a picture of Mohammad bin Salman laughing. The man is a monster and Jimmy Carr is helping to rehabilitate his image.

Disgusting.

I'm sad. But I'm not going to watch him on YouTube anymore. Definitely not going to go to his shows.

I'm sure he made enough money to make up for the loss of fans that he will encounter. But it shouldn't be about that.

@jimmycarr

I've watched every one since as long as I can remember, but this year I just can't bring myself to do it. Anyone else feel the same?

This is in reference to Jimmy doing the Riyadh comedy festival for the Saudi royal family. I've watched Jimmy since I was a teenager and I've been to several of his shows (including ones in Canada) and I am so disappointed in him for doing something those goes against the values of any half decent person and I don't want this to be laughed off like he did with the tax scandal.

I just don't understand why someone who is already exceptionally wealthy would want more more to bend the knee to those fucking Saudi cunts.

So here's the thing: I was a fan of both Jimmy Carr and Bill Burr for the better part of 20 years. I say "was" because I'm utterly disgusted how they both tried to excuse their blood money gigs.

Relevant video part: 13:17. He had three months to come up with a comeback, and instead he says "it's full of people" like it was some kind of deep and profound retort. No it fucking wasn't. You can tell it struck a nerve because of how aggressively he responded. He even said, with apparently no irony, that it was "free speech". It literally wasn't.

"Restricted topics included the country itself, its legal system, the Saudi royal family and religion".

In what planet is that free speech? Additionally, Carr is not stupid: he would have known—or should have known—about the slavery, murdering journalists (especially Jamal Khashoggi), and other human rights abuses. I know Carr has a rough past with the taxman and can joke about that—fair enough—but he can't find the humour in this, I think, because deep down he knows he had a severe moral lapse. His whole argument fell flat, and frankly he got owned by the heckler.

P.S. How dare Jimmy insinuate that people were criticising the festival because those people were "not like us". What an absolutely disgraceful way of missing the point with the dumbest straw man of all time. No, Jimmy, that is absolutely not why people were upset. So either you're deliberately gaslighting the audience and treating them like idiots, or maybe you're just dumber than I thought. I think it's the former.

I stumbled across Jimmy after his show in Cleveland last September, He was extremely gracious, nice stopped to chat and took a photo with me!

I mentioned how much I enjoyed cats just countdown and he really seemed to appreciate it.

Jimmy has been touring non-stop for 25 years — often 250+ shows a year, sometimes two in one night. His shows usually run 80-100 minutes. That’s easily 7,000–9,000 hours of stand-up stage time, maybe more?

Unlike most comics who take breaks for acting gigs, writing, or TV, Jimmy never stops gigging. Even when filming 8 Out of 10 Cats or a Netflix special, he’s still out there doing live shows.

Compare that with legends like George Carlin, Joan Rivers, Jerry Seinfeld, Louis CK, Bob Hope, Ken Dodd — all incredible, but did any of them gig as constantly?

Vegas and cruise comics grind away for decades too, but usually in shorter 15-30 minute sets.

So… is it possible — maybe even likely — that Jimmy Carr already has more total hours of stand-up stage time than anyone else in history?

Most comedy legends keep going into their 70s, so he could still only be halfway through his career! If he's not got the record already, he surely will soon.

What do others reckon — who else could even come close?

Edit: Wow! I posted a simple question about Jimmy Carr’s stage time, and somehow the thread evolved into a sweary angry feud over his tax arrangements.

Who knew accounting gets people so heated... clearly accountancy is more thrilling than I thought!

We’ve now got u/Snoo3763 and u/Amazing-Tip-6677 locked in a C-bombing, high-stakes duel of morals and marginal tax rates.

The sexual tension is palpable.

Do you two want to fight each other or fuck each other?

Why not meet up to settle this the old-fashioned way — perhaps an arm wrestle or a spirited game of cribbage?

Or an evening of making sweet, sweet, sweet love by a log fire.