LIONELblogs He has to do SOMETHING

Indian-Canadian comedian Russell Peters (wp) has been building quite a following around the world, thanks to a 45-minute video of his Comedy Now! gig that's been circulating since, I've checked, 2004.

I first saw the video mid-2005 in Curtin Miri, where it was passed around via pendrives like the flu, and where almost everybody — local and international students alike — was quoting, no, channelling Russell Peters with all the talent one could muster.

Peters is the Indian Chris Rock — slightly less brash, but more diverse on the same obsession: race. Naturally he picks on the culture and accent of primarily his own; and having done that, he spares no one else's. Chinese, Africans, Jamaicans, Italians, and of course, white Canadians. Not with dumb blonde jokes, but really stereotype the "culture" as seen through a non-white's eyes, like this story about a white buddy of his youth:

White mom: Ryan, go clean your room.
White kid: FUCK YOU BITCH!
White mom: (pulls a huge, all-American, PanAm smile and shrugs) What am I gonna do with him?

That's the chief crowd-puller, his over-the-top impressions of racial stereotypes. He's devastatingly good at it.

Russell Peters - Comedy Now!
(Real media, 57.2MB) torrent
(MPEG, 285.9MB) torrent

There's this other, more recent video going around of a 58-minute gig in New York. You can pretty much guess how the audience knew enough about him to attend — here he acknowledges the downloading, and complains that's 45-minutes worth of material he can't use anymore. Heh.

Russell Peters - Intense Comedy Night NYC
(Windows media, 101MB) torrent

We'll probably be seeing more of him in the future. Hosting the Oscars or stuff.

So what's your favourite Russell Peters quip?