Amid rising backlash from fellow comedians and human rights advocates, Bill Burr is defending his appearance at the Riyadh Comedy Festival , calling it “one of the top three experiences I’ve had” and “mind blowing.”

“It was great to experience that part of the world and to be a part of the first comedy festival over there in Saudi Arabia,” Burr said on the Sept. 29 episode of his “ Monday Morning Podcast .” “The royals loved the show. Everyone was happy. The people that were doing the festival were thrilled.”

During the episode, Burr talks about arriving in Riyadh with apprehension due to the years of negative portrayals in Western media. “You think everybody’s going to be screaming ‘Death to America’ and they’re going to have like fucking machetes and want to chop my head off,” Bu

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