The Ethics of Performing for Dictators
The Political Orphanage
Andrew Heaton
4.9 • 1000 Ratings
🗓️ 16 October 2025
⏱️ 67 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Can comedians ethically perform standup for a despotic regime without endorsing it? Recently the Riyadh Comedy Festival invited furor when some comics schlepped to Saudi Arabia to perform–at great expense–while others declined in protest of supporting human rights abuses. Turner Sparks and Michael Ira Kaplan join to discuss.
Space Tractor: And Other Short Stories, by Josh Jennings
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to the political orphanage, a home for plucky misfits, problem solvers, and occasionally comedians. |
| 0:17.7 | This week, we are in fact talking about comedy. |
| 0:20.4 | Well, comedy and ethics, or comedy in human rights. |
| 0:25.1 | But comedy is going to slip in there, and in fact, I am going to talk to some comedians about whether or not it is okay to perform stand-up comedy at festivals funded and run by despots. |
| 0:39.3 | One side on this debate says performing comedy is good, go-perform comedy. |
| 0:44.1 | The other side says, by doing this, you are endorsing and entrenching human rights abuses. |
| 0:49.6 | The ethics of performing stand-up for dictators. |
| 0:59.1 | That's what we're going to debate today right here on the political orphanage. |
| 1:07.7 | Hello, and welcome back to a conflux of the world's smartest podcast network. We have been doing our own activities low these many months. And finally, |
| 1:13.2 | our dear friend Andrea Jones-Roy blew the conch show to summon us and get our perspectives |
| 1:19.9 | as very thinky comedians on a given topic we're going to discuss today. And then our dear |
| 1:25.5 | friend Andrea was unable to show up. So we will not be hearing from Andrea. Unfortunately, Andrea is going to be joining us in spirit. But we're going to discuss today. And then our different Andrea was unable to show up. So we will |
| 1:27.8 | not be hearing from Andrea. Unfortunately, Andrea is going to be joining us in spirit. But we are |
| 1:32.6 | joined by yours truly, Andrew Heaton, the voice that you were now hearing, as well as that of Michael |
| 1:37.1 | Ira Kaplan. Hello, Kaplan. Hello, sir. Good to be back. And the esteemed, very funny, |
| 1:44.9 | Mr. Turner Sparks. Hello, Turner. Hey, how's it going, everybody? Good to be back. And the esteemed, very funny, Mr. Turner Sparks. |
| 1:45.3 | Hello, Turner. |
| 1:47.4 | Hey, how's it going, everybody? |
| 1:48.7 | Good to be back on the show. |
| 1:51.3 | Good to be hanging out with you all again. |
| 1:57.9 | You remain a great source of friendship, humor, and sanity for me in a very bizarre world. And I'm excited to talk you. |
| 1:59.4 | Turner, we finally get to fight about something. I'm very excited. Yeah, we disagree. This is going to be great. This is, well, so how about this? Since, since Turner and I are, I think, taking opposite perspectives on this particular issue, Cap, you're going to be something of, of the moderator, moderate then. You're the humor centrist. |
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