Tuesday, September 18, 2007 4:53 PM
There is a new face to Canadian comedy...Michael J. Fox, Alan Thicke, Bod and Doug McKenzie, Dan Akroyd, even what's-his-name who played the dad on American Pie...gone, done, has beens. The new face of Canadian Comedy is without a doubt
Russell Peters.
Although he lives in LA now and has been doing comedy for almost 20 years, this Toronto native has really hit his stride in recent years with famous bits such as "Somebody's gonna get a hurt", "Chinese guy gives a deal...34.50", and other bits strewn over YouTube.
I went to see him live tonight where he showcased an almost 2 hour set (no intermission) with entirely new material, and it rocked the house. As usual, his jokes tended to focus on the humorous stereotypes of race (the dude is Indian, even though his name wouldn't give that away), and nobody is safe: whether he's asking the Latinos in the crowd how they got enough money to get into the show, to commenting on how Portugese people sound like deaf people talking Spanish, to how cheap his own Indian people are...but the thing with RP is that everyone in attendance knows its the stereotypes being digged at and not the people.
He even comments about, although a tragedy, how the irony of the 2006 train bombings in Mumbai escaped the media. Those bombings occured on July 11. That's right: 7/11.
I've just realized that I've made him out to be an insensitive racist ass-clown...but trust me: the guy is hilarious. If you get a chance to see him on tour, go. If you haven't heard of him, check out his act on You Tube or through one of his DVD's available (Outsourced is classic)
So one final question, since he brought it up in a bit discussing the difference between the USA and Canada: Is it true that you guys don't have ketchup flavored potato chips?!
D