As Saudi Arabia’s new comedy festival welcomes talent from around the world, local executioner Imad Usman is excited for the opportunity to perform in front of larger audiences.

“I’m going to open with some classic crowd-horrifiers, like beheading an apostate and beheading a burglar,” Usman told reporters. “Then, of course, I’ll finish big by beheading an anti-death penalty protestor.”

“I’ve been working on some meta-execution material lately,” Usman added, sharpening his axe. […]

“Comedy is all about speaking truth to power,” said Bill Burr. “I’m going to get up there and boldly say, ‘Thank you, power, for giving me a very big paycheque.” […]