For stand-up comedian Russell Peters, who is set to return to India, there’s no right or wrong. Every comic can have an original viewpoint. The person has to be funny. By Team Viva
He once took the spotlight and presented his bagful of jokes on India. One of them being, “Indian people have been dedicated to being cheap for so long. They actually created the number Zero.” And now, Indo-Canadian stand-up comedian Russell Peters is all set put on another show in October in the country, where the industry is “booming.”
He says, “I hear the stand-up comedy industry in India has been booming. Unfortunately, I haven’t had a chance to check out any of the people doing it. But it’s great that it’s become a more recognised art form and more people are taking it up.” The comedian will take “any” excuse to come to India. “I love it here. This is the first time that I am coming back so quickly between dates. But this gives me an opportunity to play in cities that I’ve never been to — Pune and Ahmedabad,” says he.
For someone, who had started out in the 90s, a lot has been changed. He tells us, “When I started in 1989, stand-up was dominated by white males. That’s all changed now, as it should. For me, I never expected to be where I am at today. All I knew was that this was something that I had to do and that I had no choice. Even if I was a stand-up comic working and doing the club circuit, I’d be happy. Stand-up is a calling.”
Talking about whether India is yielding enough matter for his show, he says that his content isn’t restricted to a particular place. “My show isn’t just about India or Indians. I talk a lot about where I am at this point. One moment I would be talking about a middle-aged man with health issues, and the other moment, a newborn and the next of strained relationships and other sorts of silliness,” he chuckles.
The comedian, for whom George Carlin, Eddie Murphy and Steve Martin, have been the greatest inspirations, usually starts prepping up for his next set right after a show. That’s how Russell approaches an act — by observing his subject while on the go. He says, “After I record my set, like I did in Mumbai in June, I start working on new material. Even these shows in October will be a bit different from the ones that I did in India previously. I’m always working on new stuff, observing and thinking. I never write anything down though.”
He tells us how he had started collecting and putting together his material — by sitting under the dining table with his cousin Mikey and recording their parents and relatives talking to each other. Later, the duo mimicking them. “Post that, I started listening to the way my Jamaican friends and their parents spoke. It just began as a fun thing with my friends,” he says.
History is evidence of how burlesque New York stand-up comedy shows featured standard vaudeville gags that focussed primarily on the female chase, money troubles, gold-digging wives and constantly harping mothers-in-law. And often, this kind of humour, despite being sexist, has been acceptable. However, Russell feels that as more and more women come into the comedy industry and express themselves, “they’ll be able to fix that.” Well, the Emmy-nominated series The Marvelous Mrs Maisel is a perfect example to what Russell says.
What does he make of the content of comedians like Hasan Minhaj and Vir Das who have their own particular strain of humour, which is rooted in the experience of the diaspora. Every comic, he says, has their own voice and point of view. “There’s no right or wrong. Every voice and every experience should be heard. The only thing that they all have to be is funny!” he adds.
As a person, who is not a Caucasian, would he say it gives him a better insight into the different ethnic groups as happened in Comedy Now? He says, “My insight into different ethnic groups comes from a very real place. I grew up with Black people from Jamaica and Trinidad as well as Filippinos and Italians. When I was bullied and beaten up by the white kids, I found a home with the ‘Other’ kids. My comedy explores racism and prejudice as well and it’s because of what I have experienced. There’s nothing a white guy can do to stop me from doing what I do but it has to come from a place of understanding and acknowledgement. Else, it’s just not real.”
The comedian says that he really enjoys acting for films and TV shows, despite the struggle behind the “hurry-up and wait part” of being on the set. “I’m not complaining. It’s just so completely different from doing stand-up,” says he and laughs.
Even though he has actually showed the way to the newer breeds of South Asian comics, Russell says that he is unfortunate that he isn’t familiar with most of them. He says, “I haven’t had a chance to check them out. Hopefully, I will, soon.”
(Russell will perform on October 1, 4 and 6 in Pune, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad, respectively, as a part of his Deported World Tour at Supermoon, a Zee Live IP.)
