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Russell Peters (pictured at Place des Arts in 2011) is his own worst critic. ?I feel that my (2011) Green Card tour was not exactly my best foot forward,? says the comedian, who performs Monday, Oct. 15, at the Bell Centre. ?I feel I?ve redeemed myself now with my new act. I?m actually pleased with it.?
Photograph by: Vincenzo D'Alto , Montreal Gazette
MONTREAL? -? It?s only fitting that the 30th-anniversary celebrations of Just for Laughs won?t officially end until the funny man slings ? a slew of one-liners. That would be Canadian comedy icon Russell Peters, who lets loose Monday, Oct. 15?at the Bell Centre.
The pride of Brampton, Ont., holds the record for Just for Laughs?s bestselling comedian, thanks to his 2009 Bell Centre performance.
No surprise, Peters is in the midst of another world tour, Notorious, which has once again been setting sales records. It began in March in Muscat and became the most-attended comedy show in such countries as Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, South Africa, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia.
Bullish though he may be about such records, Peters does downplay the fact that his Dubai concert outsold even Madonna?s.
?That really wasn?t hard to do in a Middle East country, since Madonna has been giving her money away to Kabbalah groups in Israel,? Peters says in a phone interview.
It may have helped that Peters believes he was unintentionally giving his money away to Hamas. ?I actually thought I was giving it to the Hummus fund instead.? Relax, folks, he is jesting.
Since last we spoke over a year ago, Peters has undergone a few disruptive lifestyle changes. He finally got rid of that troublesome Rolls-Royce without the air-conditioned seats. And, oh yeah, his brief marriage ? which produced a daughter ? came to an end.
?I think the disruption there was marriage. Now there?s normalcy in my life. And I now have a Bentley with air-conditioned seats.?
Last year Peters was concerned that he had little in the laugh bank before hosting four Just for Laughs galas at Place des Arts. No such worries now: he has all new material. ?Yes, I went from zero to an hour and a half worth of material in 10 months,? he says.
?For starters, being a fodder (sic) has helped to give me comedy fodder. Between that and travelling to the Middle East and Asia and seeing the way people are treating their bodies with tattoos. Tattoos have lost their specialness. They have lost their ability to be an individualistic thing.?
In the old days, it would be mostly thugs and Popeye wannabes with tattoos. Now it?s not uncommon to see preteen girls with colourful etchings embedded in their flesh.
?When I was growing up, you had to earn tattoos,? Peters notes. ?The only people I ever saw with tattoos back then were old white guys with anchors on their forearms. And they wouldn?t even look like anchors ? they would look like check marks. And they would have an old name like ?Ethel? underneath them.?
Peters eschews tattoos. ?I don?t have the real estate for a tattoo, because I?m just too damned hairy for one. Plus, after 40, I don?t think anyone should get one.?
For the record, Peters just turned 42. And he?s feeling invigorated.
?I feel like me again. I feel that my (2011) Green Card tour was not exactly my best foot forward. I feel I?ve redeemed myself now with my new act. I?m actually pleased with it.?
Peters has always been his own harshest critic. He has been acutely aware when he hasn?t been on top of his game, when he felt he was phoning it in.
Regardless, he is, without question, a global superstar. Forbes ranked him as one of the 10 highest-grossing comics in the U.S. in 2009 and 2010, with estimated annual takes in excess of $10 million. He has sold more than 300,000 copies of his Outsourced and Red, White and Brown DVDs. He has sold out Radio City Music Hall in New York, and he shattered the U.K. record for the highest number of tickets sold for an individual comedy show ? 16,000 at the O2 Arena in 2009. He appeared in the acclaimed flick Source Code as well as the hockey epic Breakaway, and his 2010 autobiography Call Me Russell was a bestseller in Canada.
Much like multilingual Montreal comedy sensation Sugar Sammy, Peters, unlike most North American stand-ups, can transport his act around the planet. And the humour of Peters, like that of Sugar Sammy, springs from insights on race and class. Ever self-deprecating, he sees the world through the lens of a visible minority in North America and, as a consequence, invariably strikes nerves ? and funny bones.
Peters has a plum gig coming up at the newly opened Barclays Center in New York. He will be the first comic to do the venue, which has a concert capacity of nearly 20,000 and is the new home of the NBA?s Brooklyn Nets (formerly the New Jersey Nets). ?Jay-Z just did eight nights there and Barbra Streisand is coming. Not too shabby, but New York is one of those cities where you have to make a statement when you go in.?
One source of frustration for Peters over the years has been the world of U.S. TV. He has taken countless lunches in Hollywood to discuss launching his own series and has made deals with various networks, but so far no sitcom.
?No more news on that front,? says Peters, who is mostly based in Las Vegas these days but maintains a residence in Toronto. ?TV would be nice to have, yet I don?t really need it. But what am I going to do? Sit here and cry about what I don?t have? At that point, it becomes greedy or artistic selfishness.?
Peters did recently sign a deal with Netflix, where his next special will go directly, and exclusively. He will also be doing a six-part documentary series on his career leading up to the special.
No fool, Peters. He was also one of the first stand-ups to take near-total control of his career back in 2006 by self-financing, self-producing and self-distributing his comedy specials and DVDs.
?People are always asking me if I?m going to do what Louis C.K. just did by selling his shows directly online,? he laughs. ?I tell them I?ve been doing what Louis did for the last six f---ing years! I guess when you?re one of the first to do something like that, you never really get the credit.?
Another department where Peters gets little credit is his philanthropy. Unbeknownst to most, he has donated more than $1 million to causes ranging from Gilda?s Club and the MS Society to his hometown?s Brampton Civic Hospital.
?You can?t take it with you. Sure, I can afford to buy fancy cars with air-conditioned seats now, but you do have to pay it forward. That is the bottom line in life.?
Russell Peters performs Monday, Oct. 15?at 8 p.m. at the Bell Centre. Tickets cost $66 to $113. Call 514-790-2525 or visit evenko.ca.
bbrownstein@montrealgazette.com
Twitter: @billbrownstein
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