“Weird Al” Yankovic has revealed he turned down more than $1 million to perform a single show at last year’s Riyadh Comedy Festival in Saudi Arabia. Speaking to TribLIVE, the parody maestro explained that at this point in his career, he can reject any offer that feels “icky” to accept.
“I wish people would offer me things that I didn’t feel bad about accepting,” Yankovic told the Pittsburgh-area newspaper. “I don’t think I’ve mentioned this anywhere, but I was invited to the Riyadh Comedy Festival (in Saudi Arabia), which is something that I obviously did not want to do. They offered me, I’m not going to say how much, but it was seven figures to do one show, which is way more than I’ve ever been offered in my life to do a show. But I just couldn’t be part of that.”
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He continued, “I’m not dissing anybody that took the money because I’m sure everybody that went there got a lot of money. I’m sure they had their own reasons and justifications for doing it. But I’m doing enough that I don’t need to take any amount of money if it makes me feel icky, and that kind of did.”
Yankovic brought up the Riyadh Comedy Festival invite after TribLIVE’s Mike Palm asked if the artist had turned down any other endorsements besides an AI software commercial he mentioned earlier this month.
Riyadh Comedy Festival was held in late September 2025 as part of the Saudi Arabian government’s efforts to whitewash its reputation for human rights abuses and restrictions on free speech. Headliners such as Dave Chappelle, Pete Davidson, Bill Burr, Louis C.K., and Aziz Ansari all defended their appearances, while Marc Maron, Shane Gillis, and Zach Woods publicly criticized their peers.
