REVIEW | RUSSELL PETERS - DEPORTED

I had never been to a stand up show where the comedian has his own DJ and personal bodyguards. It was clear I was waiting for no ordinary funny guy – I was waiting for a comedy rock star.

Warming up the audience was American comedian Jake Johannsen. A regular on the David Letterman Show, Johannsen’s set focussed on married life, with a kiwi wife no less. Relatable and funny, it was a solid opener for the main act.

Canadian treasure Russell Peters is immensely successful all around the world for his observational comedy about race and culture, as well as his talent for impressions and mimicking accents. Peters’ shows routinely break records – he was the first comedian to sell out Toronto’s massive Air Canada Centre with more than 16,000 tickets for one show, broke the UK comedy sales record for London’s O2 Arena and his set in Sydney 2010 became the largest ever stand up comedy show in Australia.

In fact, the day before his performance here in Auckland someone desperately offered to buy my tickets off of me, but there was not a snowball’s chance in hell. I felt like Charlie Bucket in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, running home with the golden ticket and guarding it with my life.

With a title like “Deported”, I must admit I wondered whether this show would venture into the current racial politics of America. After all, Donald Trump provides comedians everywhere with fresh material on a daily basis. However, although Trump was mentioned briefly, Peters stuck to what he does best with comical insights about his personal life and how he reacts in everyday situations. Readily admitting that he is “an idiot at all times”, Peters left the audience in stitches describing his suspicious attitude towards medical personnel, how his friend introduced him to levels of gayness and his thoughts on being a father again.

Jovial and conversational, Peters is a pro who is completely at ease improvising onstage and likes to get to know many members of his audience. Whether you are Asian, African, Latino or European, no culture is safe from his humour. However, in quintessentially nice Canadian fashion, there is not a mean bone in Peters’ body and he is never nasty towards his audience. He may self-deprecatingly disagree, but I think this is part of why audiences love him. Peters’ seems like someone you could be great friends with and have a laugh over a beer.

Being of Indian heritage, much of Peters’ comedy is a funny and educational view on growing up in an Indian family and the way they think. In addition to jokes about different races and cultures, Peters also uses his humour to address the intra-racial prejudices between Indians from different parts of the world. It is his talent for using humour to dissect racial and cultural differences in a manner that everyone can engage with and enjoy that makes Peters popular.

Side-splittingly funny and memorable, Peters may no longer do boxing for sport but he is definitely still a comedy heavyweight and I am so glad I got to see him live.