Fragments & Findings: ‘Enjoy Saudi,’ Egypt’s Leverage, Yemen’s Aid Battles

This week, I bring you a few stories from the region told in fragments. Saudi Arabia hosts comedians, Egypt maneuvers at Rafah, and the Houthis turn aid into a weapon.

Comedy-Washing in Riyadh

Riyadh is set to host the first-ever Riyadh Comedy Festival from 26 September to 9 October 2025 at Boulevard City. It is billed as the world’s largest gathering of comedic talent and forms part of Riyadh Season under Vision 2030. The line-up includes more than 50 international and regional comedians, among them Dave Chappelle, Kevin Hart, Russell Peters, Gabriel Iglesias, Pete Davidson, Chris Tucker, Bill Burr, Aziz Ansari, Jimmy Carr, and Louis C.K.

Saudi officials present the event as proof of cultural openness and as a step toward positioning the capital as a global hub. Yet the contradictions are stark. Critics accuse the performers of accepting vast paycheques to perform in a country where Jamal Khashoggi was murdered inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018 on the orders of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and where political dissent continues to be criminalized. Some of these comedians also run weekly podcasts with tens of thousands of subscribers,…