Live! From The Riyadh Comedy Festival (Part 1)
Eating For Free
Joan Summers and Matthew Lawson
4.8 • 534 Ratings
🗓️ 2 October 2025
⏱️ 56 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In which we break down the controversial state-sponsored Riyadh Comedy Festival and its connections to the ongoing whitewashing of political violence committed by the Saudi regime.
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About Eating For Free:
Hosted by journalists Joan Summers and Matthew Lawson, Eating For Free is a weekly podcast that explores gossip and power in the pop culture landscape: Where it comes from, who wields it, and who suffers at the hands of it. Find out the stories behind the stories, as together they look beyond the headlines of troublesome YouTubers or scandal-ridden A-Listers, and delve deep into the inner workings of Hollywood's favorite pastime. The truth, they've found, is definitely stranger than any gossip.
You can also find us on our website, Twitter, and Instagram. Any personal, business, or general inquires can be sent to eatingforfreepodcast@gmail.com
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I'm a I'm I'm |
| 0:21.6 | I'm |
| 0:22.6 | I'm |
| 0:23.6 | I'm |
| 0:24.6 | I'm |
| 0:25.6 | I'm Hey, everybody. So doing things a little bit differently today in that Matthew and I are actually reporting live for the very first time |
| 0:55.8 | from the Riyadh Comedy Festival. We were invited here by the government who are really big |
| 1:03.4 | fans of our podcast, actually. You know, they've been big sponsors of us. They're really big sponsors |
| 1:10.0 | of, you know, sort of our politics and our agenda. |
| 1:12.8 | They really want to, like, uplift queer voices and, like, women's voices and just, like, |
| 1:17.9 | the identities of marginalized people in comedy, you know? It's actually, like, a really |
| 1:21.5 | huge honor for us. And we just, like, really want to extend our deepest gratitude to the Riyadh Comedy Festival for just like giving like a little gay boy and like a little trans girl from nowhere just like their first big break on like the world's best comedy stage. |
| 1:38.8 | We just really want to thank you so much from the bottom of my heart. |
| 1:42.8 | This is the podcast recording live from the absolute |
| 1:45.9 | edge of the very first Riyadh Comedy Festival. Hey, everybody. My name is Riyadh Comedy Festival |
| 1:52.8 | participant, Jones Summers. And this is your Riyadh comedy headliner, Matthew Lawson. I think |
| 1:59.3 | people forget that the state of Saudi Arabia is actually one of the most progressive nations in the world. |
| 2:05.8 | And the support that we've been getting... |
| 2:08.0 | And you know, actually, we would know. We would know. We would. |
| 2:10.9 | And we've been here for a few days. And I feel like people are yes, queening slang us everywhere we go. |
| 2:16.8 | You know, pronoun checks are at the door. |
| 2:18.9 | Like, we're being taken care of in ways that. Yeah. In America, you know, in the current state of America, it's just, it feels like left and right, our rights are being stripped away. But in the land of Saudi Arabia, that's not the case. Honey, we're flourishing. It's know, it's actually really interesting because, like, you know, I would think that as a white, blue-haired, mostly blonde woman coming to a place like Saudi Arabia, you know, you would think it would actually be really hard, but they actually are really, really nice to me here. And all of the government officials that have led me around and have, |
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