TRIGGERnometry - Russell Peters： My Story

00:00:00.320 Wherever you bloody British go, you fuck things up. 1.00

00:00:03.440 And that makes up. 1.00

00:00:04.480 Yeah, no, that wouldn't work.

00:00:07.840 My cousin Andrew goes, it's funny, man.

00:00:09.840 You should do stand-up.

00:00:10.960 And I was like, that's interesting.

00:00:12.400 Nobody in my family has ever complimented me, ever.

00:00:16.400 For me, it was never about the money, ever.

00:00:18.560 It was never, ever about the money.

00:00:20.160 Nobody in my family had money.

00:00:21.520 It's not like we had to aspire to anybody else in the family.

00:00:24.000 We're all just making ends meet.

00:00:26.960 Have you trained your pug to do anything inappropriate?

00:00:30.000 My wife has.

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00:01:59.840 Russell, thanks for letting us in your house, man.

00:02:03.360 Well, thanks for coming here.

00:02:04.960 Not many people do.

00:02:05.920 Really?

00:02:06.640 Oh, that's why they have studios.

00:02:08.880 It's just our faces.

00:02:10.000 Yeah.

00:02:10.560 Listen, thank you so much for coming on the show. It's a real pleasure.

00:02:13.920 I went to school with a bunch of guys from Hong Kong,

00:02:16.960 so I saw your stuff from like way back when because it was so popular.

00:02:20.880 And it's interesting because all your comedy was always based around race and ethnicity and

00:02:25.440 all that sort of stuff. And the world has evolved over time.

00:02:28.560 Right.

00:02:28.880 Like, how do you see the landscape of comedy and all of that stuff nowadays?

00:02:32.480 Well, I also, whatever's taboo is kind of more the fun stuff to talk about, you know,

00:02:36.320 and you got to, you want to bring it up just to hear the reaction. You don't even have to

00:02:39.440 have the joke ready sometimes. You can be like, and then blah, blah, blah. And they're like,

00:02:42.880 ooh, and then you go, okay, I'll do something now. You know, it's, you know,

00:02:46.720 your job is to ruffle feathers, right?

00:02:48.320 Hmm.

00:02:48.640 It's interesting you say that. I think most comedians of my generation and younger would shy away from that.

00:02:56.000 Why is it that your generation saw it as ruffling feathers and mine and younger would say, no,

00:03:00.960 you don't want to ruffle feathers. You want to be sensitive.

00:03:03.920 Yeah, no, we're not about being sensitive. Well, you know, the truth, we're supposed to tell the

00:03:07.840 truth. That's our jobs, right? We're, we're the last truth tellers. And truth is like poetry and

00:03:12.400 nobody likes fucking poetry. Well said. So, uh, I know lots of people, obviously you're very 0.99

00:03:20.000 successful and very famous now, but I'm curious to kind of like, how did you get here? What's been

00:03:23.760 the journey through life? Cause you were in the UK scene for a while and like, tell us your story

00:03:28.080 a little bit. So I started in 1989. I think I was a year out of high school at that time.

00:03:34.160 I don't really have any plans. I was, I was DJing. That's how I was making my money. I would DJ at

00:03:40.480 clubs on weekends. And then, uh, what kind of DJ were you? Uh, everything I played back then you

00:03:46.640 had to play everything. You could not, you could not just be, I only play this kind of guy. Cause

00:03:50.720 you had to buy records back then. And if you were only going to buy like house records, you're going

00:03:55.040 to have, you're going to have to really work hard to get to that position. Um, so you'd buy

00:04:00.880 everything I'd buy. I personally, I was playing hip hop and R and B. Um, but then I'd also buy

00:04:06.000 house. Then I'd have to buy pop records because if you're playing a party, people are going to want

00:04:09.600 to hear this is the rhythm of the night. And I'm like, I don't want to play that record

00:04:13.680 or buy that record, but it's going to make you money. You've got to do it.

00:04:16.400 Dancing Queen. Did you buy that? Hell yeah. I had that leftover from the seventies.

00:04:21.520 So that's a very English thing. Yeah, it is. If you go to a nightclub,

00:04:23.920 you're going to hear Dancing Queen and you're going to hear some Tom Jones and, uh, and some

00:04:28.480 of the old classics from the seventies, which I really appreciate. So you were, you're a DJ.

00:04:33.680 How did that get into doing standup comedy? I was boxing as well. I was just amateur at the time,

00:04:39.840 but, um, I was like, well, this is never going to work out. I'm not, I boxed, but I wasn't a

00:04:45.840 fighter. You know what I mean? Like that's how I always broke it down. When I'd go to the gym,

00:04:49.680 there were guys that were fighters. And then there was guys like me who would go and train and we

00:04:53.840 didn't have a problem getting in the ring and sparring with you and getting beat up a little bit,

00:04:56.640 it, but I wasn't going to get up at 5am and go running. They'd be like, you want to come running

00:05:00.960 at 5am? I'm like, I'll see you at three 30 in the afternoon for some good old fashioned jump rope.

00:05:07.440 So, and then, so you were doing that. And then, so how did you get into standup? Did you do in the

00:05:11.520 traditional way? Was Yuck Yucks a thing back then? Yeah. I started at Yuck Yucks. It was, um,

00:05:16.800 What the hell is Yuck Yucks? It's the comedy chain of comedy clubs in Canada. They are the,

00:05:20.800 they used to be the largest chain of comedy clubs in the world. Yeah. Okay. And, uh,

00:05:24.960 so what happened was the summer of 89, I was working at like Wendy's. I was a shift manager.

00:05:31.840 And then I got fired for not firing somebody. Like, we need you to fire that guy. I go, why?

00:05:37.920 I go, come on, man. That's not a reason to fire him. If you don't fire him, we fire you. I go,

00:05:41.600 I guess you're firing me. Cause I'm not firing that guy. I think I was too compassionate for

00:05:46.000 that job. Yeah. And then my dad kept asking, what are you going to do? You're not in school

00:05:50.400 anymore. You're not working. What are you going to do? What are you going to do? And my brother,

00:05:53.280 who's six years older than me, was like, what are you going to do? And then he was like,

00:05:56.960 what are you interested in? I go, I don't know. And then one of my cousins,

00:06:01.040 I would write a family party and I said some funny things. My cousin, Andrew goes,

00:06:04.960 you're funny, man. You should do standup. And I was like,

00:06:08.080 it's interesting. Nobody in my family's ever complimented me ever throughout boxing,

00:06:13.360 throughout DJing, throughout break dancing. Nobody complimented me for anything.

00:06:17.360 Then my cousin, Andrew was like, you should do standup. And I was like,

00:06:22.640 it's interesting. Cause I always listened to standup. I've always been a fan of standup.

00:06:27.760 I've been listening to it since the seventies. So it wasn't like I didn't understand what standup

00:06:32.240 was, but I'd never actually seen it live. I saw it in 1986. In 1986, I saw Eddie Murphy

00:06:40.720 in Toronto doing the raw tour. Wow. But it was called pieces of my mind at the time.

00:06:47.920 When he was touring, it was called pieces of my mind. And when he recorded it and released it,

00:06:51.280 it was called raw. Cause I remember going to the theater to see it and go, this is the same concert

00:06:54.640 I just saw. And, but I was like, Oh my God, there's things missing. I saw things that nobody's

00:06:59.360 going to know, you know? Um, so I, and I was a big Carlin fan already and Cheech and Chong and Steve

00:07:04.560 Martin and all that stuff. So I was listening to comedy a lot. So I was like, told my brother,

00:07:09.760 Andrew said I should do standup. Let's try standup. He goes, have you ever seen standup?

00:07:13.520 And I go, I've seen Eddie Murphy because have you ever seen real standup? Like guys that are

00:07:17.840 in the trenches? And I go, no. So he took me to, uh, like this theater sports. It was like

00:07:23.040 a improv show class thing. And I was like, nah, that's not it. And then he took me to yuck yucks

00:07:27.840 to see amateur night. And I was like, that's it. And that's what I want to do. And he goes,

00:07:34.240 okay, well figure out how to do it. And I go, all right. So I asked somebody, how do you get on?

00:07:39.040 And they tell me how to call the number and at 9am on this day and put your name in. And then

00:07:45.120 you'll, you'll get a, you'll call back and you'll check the voicemail to see if you're on.

00:07:49.440 So I did. And that's how I got my first spot. And I was terrible.

00:07:53.520 As everybody is when they start.

00:07:54.960 I hate when guys say that and oh, oh, they dared me to come on. So I came on and I killed 0.88

00:07:59.760 and the club offered me a weekend. I'm like, that doesn't fucking work like that. 0.99

00:08:03.040 No, this is the real life. This is real life. I don't know where this movie world you're living in. 0.98

00:08:06.880 Did you have material or do you just go up there and think, oh, I'm just going to do five minutes

00:08:11.200 off the top of my head and I'll be hilarious? No, I wasn't that arrogant. Thank goodness.

00:08:16.160 But I, uh, but I was naive enough to not realize when you first get on stage and hear yourself on

00:08:22.000 a mic, you're like, oh boy, this is, I'm the only one in the room. I'm the only thing you can hear

00:08:27.440 in this room and there's no outside noise. Maybe a plate clanking here and there, but that's about

00:08:31.840 it. You don't hear nothing. And then the audience is just staring at you and waiting. And I was like,

00:08:35.200 it's very different than being the funny guy with your friends where you're sitting around,

00:08:38.640 there's background noises, you know, somebody talking, there's a phone ringing,

00:08:42.320 all these things you don't pay attention to because you're just focused on each other. But when you're on

00:08:45.840 stage for the first time, you notice every single sound in the room. I think I had five minutes and

00:08:50.560 I did three and a half, maybe. It was terrible. Did you bomb? Oh, no. Funny enough. I mean,

00:08:58.160 I'm probably did, but I remember it differently. And then they offered you a week and then I started

00:09:03.680 headlining doing arenas a week later. So when I did Wembley in 89. So you didn't quite bomb,

00:09:13.280 you got some laughs, right? I got a chuckle or two. Yeah. And I was like, oh, I like that.

00:09:17.680 That's the good stuff. I got to figure out how to get more of that. Yeah. Yeah. And I came back

00:09:22.240 again the week later and I got more chuckles. And, but I did less time. I think I did two and

00:09:29.760 a half that night. I got the chuckles. I was like, oh, that's great. Bye. Good night. I was like,

00:09:32.880 well, I get two and a half left. I go, that's good. That's good. I got the laugh, right? I just wanted to get

00:09:37.120 the laugh. And then I started doing it more and more often until, you know, you start to figure it out. You do the

00:09:42.000 amateur circuit. And then people are like, hey, I got a, I got a room out in Bowmanville

00:09:46.400 on Tuesday nights and they, there's no money, but they pay you in chicken wings and free sodas.

00:09:52.480 And, and they'll, and they have a go-kart track and they'll let us drive around the go-kart track.

00:09:55.760 I'm 19. I'm like, hell yeah, that's amazing. And then, so you, so you then went onto the circuit

00:10:03.180 professionally in Canada, you were earning money. What made you want to go to the UK?

00:10:07.140 Okay. Well, I was on the circuit in Canada. Um, I just started getting on the circuit. You got

00:10:12.580 to understand, I started in 89. There was guys coming in like after me and moving up and moving

00:10:17.300 on past me. And I was like, what the fuck is going on? And I remember in 93, I think I entered this 0.99

00:10:22.780 comedy competition and, um, I had the best set of the night, but I lost. And I remember the three guys

00:10:31.780 that beat me, I go, how the fuck did they beat me? They were all terrible, not terrible, but I'm 0.99

00:10:36.580 like, and then they were like, I go, how did I lose? They go, you did somebody else's joke on stage.

00:10:41.380 And I was like, what the fuck? Which joke? And they told me which joke. And I, a friend of mine was 1.00

00:10:47.020 like, yo, you know, it's really funny this show and blah, blah, blah. And then you should, you should

00:10:50.920 talk about that. And I go, Oh, that's good. Yeah. And I took his advice and I took that joke. And that's

00:10:56.120 how I lost that competition. I was like, motherfucker. I remember it was 93. They're giving away a cell phone. I was like, 1.00

00:11:00.900 a cell phone. This is amazing. I remember the three comics. It was Matthew Boylan. He won.

00:11:07.840 He was from Montreal and, and, uh, and, uh, Ian Sirota. He came in second and Jack Norman came in third.

00:11:15.720 And I was like, motherfuckers. And I'm, I think you won that one. I think I won. I think I played the 1.00

00:11:20.800 long game. I played the long game. So, uh, what was your first, like in every career, there's a big,

00:11:27.500 there are some big breaks. What was your first one where you were like, Oh, okay. This is real now.

00:11:33.080 Okay. So 95, I did my first special. Six years in, there was a, a show called comics in Canada. Uh,

00:11:42.100 CBC produced it and they, um, they would take like, I think eight comics and they'd give you a 30

00:11:49.400 minute special, but half of, so it was 22 really. And, uh, you'd have to do half standup,

00:11:55.080 half sketch. Whoa. Yeah. So I did sketches and they were, the sketches were bumpers before the

00:12:02.460 commercials. So I did, did that. And then when it aired, they suddenly got flooded with like fan

00:12:11.060 mail. Like, who was this guy? We were going to see him. Girls were sending photos of themselves.

00:12:15.720 And I was like, this is awesome. What's going on right now? And then they had people calling

00:12:19.520 in and telling them they're going to, they're going to boycott the CBC if they ever play me

00:12:23.420 again and stuff like that. So it was like, it was like this whole thing that happened in Canada and

00:12:26.960 some, some like Indian newspaper out of Vancouver. The guy was like, if you, I'm going to get the

00:12:31.340 whole Indian community. This is another, he's like the guy, they're like, CBC calls me in and I'm

00:12:36.120 like, I'm thinking I'm in trouble. They're like, you got, we got, we got this letter from this guy

00:12:42.400 in a newspaper in British Columbia who says he's going to get people to boycott the CBC. 0.99

00:12:47.540 And I'm like, fuck, this is, that's over for me. And he goes, you know how good this is? 0.99

00:12:52.460 You know what that means? You're making waves, kid. And I'm like, what, really?

00:12:55.980 And eventually.

00:12:56.780 What was the nature of the complaints? 0.91

00:12:58.680 He's racist. He's not, they didn't know I was Indian because of my name. And I was making

00:13:03.800 jokes about Indian names. And, and then I did a joke about a, uh, an all Indian ice hockey

00:13:09.560 team. I said the Toronto Maple Seeks. And then like, but I had like some troubles after

00:13:14.740 that. Like I remember I was at a club one night and, uh, these three big Indian dudes 1.00

00:13:20.000 came and surrounded me at this, pushed me up against the wall, surrounded me. There's two,

00:13:23.520 one here, one here, one in front of me. And they're like, we don't like the jokes you're

00:13:26.600 making and you don't disrespect. And I'm like, the guy's poking me. And as soon as I just

00:13:30.700 went, pop, pop, pop. And I just got the fuck out of there. I hit all three of them and 0.98

00:13:34.740 I ran up like a club. Really? So even back then. Are you being serious? Yeah, yeah,

00:13:40.280 yeah. You, you beat up three Indian dudes. Three dudes. They, I was surrounded. I had 0.92

00:13:44.380 no choice. But why didn't do that? They're going to beat the shit out of me. It's at that

00:13:47.760 point you go, go for it. You really do. You do have the, what do they call it? Internalized

00:13:52.100 brown phobia, whatever it is. It's a, no, it's fight or flight. It was, uh, there three 0.77

00:13:57.140 were, they had me surrounded like this and they were bigger guys. And I was like, I was

00:14:01.500 like, uh, okay, I'm going to hit this guy and this guy, then this guy and I'm out of 0.69

00:14:05.620 here. But I don't, because your stuff isn't offensive, Russell. Was it? No, but back

00:14:10.540 then, because when you were in the, when you're the first guy, there was nobody

00:14:13.480 before me. There was no Indian guy before me. So it was zero representation. And now

00:14:18.300 all of a sudden there's this young Indian kid, 25, 26 years old, who's out there

00:14:24.100 saying all these wacky things and doing the accent and his act and all that. And they, when

00:14:30.000 you're the first one, people are fearful of you because they're like, wait, what if

00:14:34.360 he misrepresents us? What if he gets them to hate us more? You know, we don't, we

00:14:38.520 didn't know what it was. It was the nineties as well. So, um, I understood like why, like

00:14:43.140 I understood, you know, retroactively, obviously I understand. But, um, at the time

00:14:47.580 I didn't get, I was like, what did I do wrong? You know, you know, you want you, you

00:14:50.320 know, but hindsight, obviously. So, you know, I, I understand their fear or understood

00:14:55.420 their fears of what they thought was going to, you know, what, what could possibly go

00:14:59.480 wrong. And that's why you knocked them out. That's right. Well, I did, I did that for

00:15:04.940 my own safety. I went right up the middle and I got doing them boop and boop. So accents 0.93

00:15:10.180 is a funny one because you were kind of known for doing every action. Like I mentioned my

00:15:13.980 friends from Hong Kong, you do that accent. And now, you know, I think it's fair to say

00:15:18.180 people are way more sensitive about stuff like that. Like, what do you make of, of, of how,

00:15:22.420 of how, you know, how that, that situation is? Do you think we should be able to do

00:15:26.020 any accent or do you think some accents are off limits or? No, I think, I don't think

00:15:29.300 it's about limits or off limits. I think if it's done in, in the right context, it's

00:15:33.800 okay. Like if I'm like, you know, I was talking to a Chinese guy and he's like, yeah, so there

00:15:37.960 I was at the mall. I'm like, well, do you see, do you picture a Chinese person right now?

00:15:41.520 No, you have to go into something that makes you, if I'm trying to tell you a story, I

00:15:45.640 need to take you to the place. And if I'm not going to, if I'm just going to draw

00:15:49.620 an outline and not color it in, then you, I'm not really going to give you much of

00:15:52.840 a story. You need the details and the details, the devils and the details.

00:15:56.740 But it's interesting that you say that because there would be lots of people. So

00:16:01.480 for instance, if I told a story that about an Indian cab driver, for instance, and I did

00:16:06.440 the accent in a club, I would automatically be called racist.

00:16:11.040 Well, again, it depends on, depends on how accurate your accent is.

00:16:15.700 Really?

00:16:16.040 Yeah, there's a, there's a, do your best Indian accent.

00:16:18.160 Do it.

00:16:18.480 Okay. So I'll tell the story. So I was in a, no, no, no, this is a true story. It always

00:16:24.140 makes me laugh because I was getting a cab from the station to the Manchester comedy

00:16:28.300 store. And this Indian guy gave me a lift and we started talking and I'm a fan of history

00:16:33.180 and he, he was talking with me and he said to me, do not a thing, whatever you bloody 0.99

00:16:38.360 British girl, you fuck things up. And that made laugh. 1.00

00:16:41.520 Yeah, no, that wouldn't work. Because you know what happens? I realized where you went

00:16:50.140 wrong.

00:16:51.480 The accent.

00:16:52.580 Well, that, and then, but you're like, when I do an accent, I kind of, my face, my body

00:16:58.220 changes to accommodate that person. It's almost like a character actor, I guess. I mean, I'm

00:17:04.080 not that deep in that shit, but you know, like when I do it, it's, it, you're, you have to 0.99

00:17:08.760 change every part about you because you're not going to move the same way. 0.99

00:17:11.840 Yeah.

00:17:12.480 So, you know, I'm not going to be like, then I was, you have, your head automatically has

00:17:15.640 to just, you know, it depends on how close you are to these people. You're going to have

00:17:19.440 to pay attention. You know, Chinese, it's all, it was always, you know, so don't say 1.00

00:17:23.200 nothing bad, asshole. There's, there's movements are sudden, you know what I mean? So it always 1.00

00:17:26.900 has to, everything has to, and your face, you see the face changes and stuff. That's, I think

00:17:31.400 that's how and why I got away with doing what I did because they knew I wasn't doing it

00:17:35.880 to mock them. I was literally doing it to contextualize the story I was telling.

00:17:40.500 Well, all my Chinese and Hong Kongese friends absolutely loved it. Like, that's how I find

00:17:45.180 out about your standup is from the people whose accent you were doing.

00:17:48.740 Right. And the, you know, I get now is a lot of Russians coming out to see me because of

00:17:53.240 the bit I did about Russians, about the Russians speaking back, you know, I don't know if you're

00:17:57.840 very offensive.

00:17:59.700 Yes, absolutely.

00:18:00.620 I think it should be cancelled.

00:18:01.540 Absolutely. And I threw real Russian words in it when I did it.

00:18:04.780 Oh, you speak Russian?

00:18:05.820 Yeah, I was throwing in, you know, little swear words that they would use. That's, you

00:18:08.860 got to do something like that for those, for that group. So they don't think you're mocking

00:18:13.720 them. They know, wait a minute, he said something. I, hold on, he knows something. You want to make

00:18:18.140 him go, if he took the time out to learn that, I don't think he's mocking us.

00:18:22.700 Yeah, he gets us.

00:18:23.680 Yeah.

00:18:23.960 He gets us a little bit.

00:18:24.580 It's about being seen. I want to make sure people are seen.

00:18:27.280 Yeah.

00:18:27.500 And I think that's what my generation of comics do. Oh, hello, Piper. 0.97

00:18:32.600 Have you trained your pug to do anything inappropriate?

00:18:39.000 My wife has.

00:18:42.740 But it's...

00:18:44.260 I got the full depth of that joke over time.

00:18:49.800 Yeah. But it's interesting that you say that because you, it got to a point...

00:18:57.200 Are you distracted by the dog?

00:18:58.340 Yeah.

00:18:58.560 You look like you can't think, mate.

00:18:59.900 Yeah, I'm distracted by the joke. Right.

00:19:02.640 But you...

00:19:03.640 He's having a breakdown.

00:19:06.160 I am having a breakdown. But it came to a point, I noticed, around about sort of 2019,

00:19:11.800 where MCs in a club almost avoided, like, if there was a black person or an Asian person

00:19:17.860 in the audience, because they didn't want to be seen to be racist and they wouldn't take 0.96

00:19:22.680 the piss out of them. And I'm like, that's the most racist thing that you can do.

00:19:27.140 Because actually, to take the piss out of them in British culture, it's... That's a sign

00:19:31.040 of love. 0.68

00:19:31.640 That's what I say.

00:19:32.500 Yeah.

00:19:32.800 That's exactly what I say. I said, that's how you... Our love language is insults.

00:19:36.220 Yeah. 1.00

00:19:36.760 Like, if you can walk up to somebody, hey, you cunt. And then I'm like, oh, how you doing, 1.00

00:19:40.580 mate? And you're like, oh, yeah. Then, oh, he gets it and I get it. Now we're cool.

00:19:43.680 Yeah.

00:19:43.900 I know that this guy's not going to be a dick if I say something to him now.

00:19:47.180 So you do well in Canada.

00:19:48.800 Yeah.

00:19:49.040 How'd you end up in the UK?

00:19:51.080 Well, so I was... So I did this special in 95 and then in 90... In... Was it the summer

00:19:58.680 of 95, Junior Simpson came to Toronto on a vacation with his then girlfriend. And he just happened

00:20:06.480 to pop around like, yuck, yucks. And I happened to meet him. And I was like, hey, what do you

00:20:10.920 know? You have a comic from London. Oh, cool. Yeah. I just want to see the scene. You want

00:20:14.080 to get on? And I got him on. And I took him around to a bunch of different clubs and I got

00:20:17.820 him on in all these different clubs. And he goes, hey, if you ever want to come to England,

00:20:21.140 I can probably try and get you on there too. So I flew to England that September and he

00:20:25.600 got me on. I think the first... First gang was in Redding somewhere.

00:20:30.700 Jungler's Redding?

00:20:31.660 No, it wasn't even Jungler. There was like a... It was a black show that we did. And they 0.75

00:20:36.400 had never seen an Indian guy speak Jamaican before. Well, they had. His name was Apache

00:20:42.500 Indian, but he doesn't count. No, so they hadn't seen like this Indian guy who spoke

00:20:48.060 perfect Jamaican. They were like, what the fuck? And I started killing the black rooms 1.00

00:20:52.240 in England. And then John... That was fun, wasn't they? 0.99

00:20:55.360 Oh, yeah. They were the best back in the day. They were so fun. And then John Keyes, I got

00:21:00.080 connected. You know John Keyes?

00:21:01.480 No, I don't know.

00:21:02.180 He was Paramount Management or Paramount. He had the same name as Paramount, funny enough.

00:21:07.500 But he was an agent out of London who took me on and started booking me everywhere.

00:21:14.520 Nice. And so you did the London circuit and you must have gigged at the same time kind

00:21:19.720 of as Eddie Izzard and all of those types of people.

00:21:22.600 Eddie? I remember in 96, I did a TV show. Me and Mitch Hedberg did a live at Junglers

00:21:29.000 when they did that series live at Junglers in 96. And Rick Wakeman from Yes was hosting

00:21:33.960 it.

00:21:34.660 Was it? From the prog rock band? Yes?

00:21:36.860 Yes. He was hosting it.

00:21:38.080 And I did a joke that the audience didn't get. I go, you know, Rick, just so you know,

00:21:41.000 in India, your group's name is Hunji. But it was way ahead of its time, that joke. 0.66

00:21:47.740 We'll be back with Russell in a minute. But first, we've got a message for the gentlemen

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00:23:21.140 that. So you were gigging with all these guys and was Patrice, because he was in the UK at that time,

00:23:28.280 wasn't he? Patrice was, Patrice didn't start coming over really until late 90s, early 2000s.

00:23:33.860 When I was already sleeping on Patrice's couch in 96 though, in Woodbridge, New Jersey, when it was

00:23:38.840 Patrice and Keith Robinson. And then in 2000, when I did Edinburgh, I was doing my shows,

00:23:45.440 but Patrice was out there with Rich Voss and Louis Schaefer. Oh, yeah. Louis Schaefer, not gay.

00:23:52.140 Big shout out to Louis. Yeah, I love Louis. And what was Patrice like? We asked this question of

00:23:57.580 everybody. Patrice was fucking brutally hilarious, but he wanted to hurt your feelings. And if your 0.97

00:24:03.180 feelings didn't get hurt, he'd get mad. Like he would try to hurt my feelings all the time,

00:24:08.220 but I thought he was so brilliant that I would always laugh because I was a fan of

00:24:12.780 his. And we were friends. I remember in 2005, four or five, we were in Vegas doing this comedy

00:24:20.120 fest and we're standing backstage and I'd already started getting a little heat now. And we're

00:24:24.480 standing and Patrice just goes, slaps him in the arm. Yo, I'm not saying you're not funny,

00:24:29.520 but you're not funny enough to be getting all the shit you get. And I go, I agree. I go, 0.99

00:24:36.400 it could have been you, but just not you, man. And he would get mad if you didn't. If I laughed

00:24:41.360 when he made like hurt, he'd get it. What the fuck is wrong with you? I'm like trying to hurt your 1.00

00:24:45.300 feelings. I'm like, you can't. I'm a fan. What made you a fan of his? Just his honesty. Him and

00:24:51.880 Keith Robinson changed the way I do comedy in 96 because I had that special comics that I was

00:24:58.000 telling you about and I brought it to New York with me on VHS. I say, you guys want to see my new

00:25:03.140 special? I'm like, yeah. So I put it on and they watch it. And at the end I go, well, and they go,

00:25:10.560 what the fuck was that? And I go, what are you talking about? They go, that was the worst piece 0.99

00:25:14.880 of shit I've ever seen in my life. And I go, come on, you're kidding. No, we're not kidding. 1.00

00:25:19.200 I go, that shit was popular in Canada. Got nominated for an award. That's why Canada sucks. I was like, 1.00

00:25:24.300 wow. And then they broke down why the special wasn't funny.

00:25:27.720 And why wasn't it funny? Well, it's so different about any of those jokes. What makes those jokes

00:25:33.360 so special that somebody else can't do them? What is you in those jokes? And they really made me

00:25:38.440 start to think about, yeah, somebody could steal your jokes. If somebody can steal your joke,

00:25:42.740 that means it's not really a joke because it's a good joke. They were a bit generic.

00:25:48.820 Yeah, I guess that's what they were trying to get. There's nothing personalized about these.

00:25:52.220 And then I started working on getting more insightful.

00:25:56.000 Yeah. And then, because that's what Patrice was. He was very insightful when he talked about men

00:26:01.140 versus women or, you know, these subjects are under most comedians would be dismissed as hack. 1.00

00:26:06.540 He ended up giving a unique insight. He would give, yeah, he was very insightful and he was very

00:26:11.480 articulate. He would articulate exactly what he was trying to say with it. And he didn't have a

00:26:17.200 problem with that. And he wasn't afraid of how it came across.

00:26:20.660 And he wasn't afraid of bombing either because he used to bomb.

00:26:23.500 No, I think he used to like bombing too. But, you know, he's six foot six, six foot five,

00:26:28.420 six foot six. And you're not going to, you're not going to intimidate a guy like that.

00:26:32.540 Did Burr ever tell you about how Patrice got into comedy?

00:26:35.860 No.

00:26:38.640 Bill Blumenreich, Bill Blumenreich told me this because Bill used to own the Comedy Connection

00:26:42.520 in Boston. He said Patrice was a doorman there. And I think Burr was doing a set.

00:26:48.520 It was like in the maybe 90, 91, maybe. I think Burr was maybe just an open mic or whatever

00:26:54.040 at the time. But, you know, he was doing well. And Patrice goes up to Burr and goes,

00:26:58.960 yo, how do you do this? Like, how do you how do you do this shit? Because what do you mean? 1.00

00:27:03.380 He goes, you want to try it? He goes, yeah, I could do it fucking better than you. 0.99

00:27:08.160 I was like, wow, I could do this better than you. 1.00

00:27:10.920 Yeah. Like that's that's fucking Patrice in a nutshell, you know? 0.99

00:27:15.180 Yeah. Yeah. And so he never really got the praise that he deserved. 0.99

00:27:21.200 He died right as it was about to happen.

00:27:23.360 But there was a self-destructive element to it, wasn't there?

00:27:26.500 To a certain degree. I mean, he knew what his vices were and his weaknesses were and

00:27:30.760 he didn't really pay much attention to it.

00:27:32.860 And he just and the vices and weaknesses were food, I take it.

00:27:35.980 Yeah, food. And yeah, he didn't like he smoked or nothing. He didn't do anything wild. He wasn't

00:27:40.400 a drinker. And he just, yeah.

00:27:42.720 He was just a big guy and he had diabetes and he had a stroke and I did him in.

00:27:47.860 And so you were carrying on within the British circuit. And when was the moment that you

00:27:51.980 decided that you needed to go bigger, you needed to go to America?

00:27:55.520 It wasn't that I decided anything.

00:27:57.800 OK.

00:27:58.080 I was just happy going to London and spacing out of London because you would go.

00:28:02.880 So from 95 to 2002, I was based out of London, so to speak, because I would do like I go

00:28:08.820 three weeks London, two weeks Toronto, three weeks London, two weeks Toronto.

00:28:12.660 And I would just keep going back and forth so that I was I didn't want to saturate one

00:28:16.520 market more than the other. And and then there's so many different gigs that would come up out

00:28:20.200 of England. You would get you would get Dublin. You'd get you would get Belfast.

00:28:25.460 Then you would get Edinburgh. You would get you get Belgium.

00:28:30.440 You'd get. Then I got Dubai. I got Hong Kong. I got Singapore.

00:28:33.620 I got all these places I never even fucking knew existed. 0.92

00:28:37.320 And I was like, this is amazing. And, you know, they're flying you out in the economy, 0.62

00:28:41.240 putting you up in the best three star hotels you can get.

00:28:47.240 But, you know, after staying in hotels in England, you realize that all these Asian hotels 0.99

00:28:51.500 are so much better.

00:28:52.440 They're, you know, when you're staying at I forgot the name of those a chain of them. 0.99

00:28:55.660 They're shit hotels in England. 0.99

00:28:57.700 Travel Lodge. 1.00

00:28:58.520 They're like, yeah, I guess they're Travel Lodge.

00:29:00.680 They're one of those types of things where.

00:29:02.600 And then you stay in B&Bs and you're like before Airbnbs or actual B&Bs.

00:29:07.180 And then I remember staying at a B&B in Derry.

00:29:09.900 In Derry.

00:29:10.560 Wow.

00:29:11.340 And the lady was like, if you come back after 11, I'm not going to let you in. 0.90

00:29:15.520 But I got to work.

00:29:16.900 I came back and I had to sleep out that night because the lady wouldn't let me back in the 0.99

00:29:20.400 house.

00:29:20.960 Really?

00:29:21.520 Yeah.

00:29:22.300 So what made you come to America then?

00:29:25.940 Well, I did.

00:29:27.860 So let me let me give you the details here so you understand that.

00:29:30.560 95 did a special.

00:29:33.720 Then that was received so well that they gave me another special in 97.

00:29:37.460 That was too soon for me because I wasn't that good at writing yet.

00:29:40.900 I wasn't that prolific.

00:29:41.960 I didn't have the foresight.

00:29:43.320 I didn't understand.

00:29:44.440 So they gave me the second special in 97, which was kind of that one was called Show Me

00:29:48.420 the Funny and if you watch it, you'll still be waiting for me to show you that funny.

00:29:53.040 And then, and they gave, so they gave me 10 grand for that special in 97, which at the

00:29:57.840 time was a lot of money for me. 0.94

00:29:59.480 I was like, holy shit, 10 grand. 0.99

00:30:00.700 This is awesome. 0.99

00:30:01.200 And then I got a holding deal for 10 grand.

00:30:02.760 So I made 20 grand off comedy in that little period.

00:30:05.420 I was like, and so I bought a Lexus.

00:30:10.720 I bought a Lexus.

00:30:11.760 And that was a, it was a, it was a, it was a gift and a curse.

00:30:16.860 I remember hanging out with Dave Chappelle around 96, 97, right after I bought this, 97,

00:30:23.320 after I bought the car.

00:30:24.480 And then I remember I was struggling to make the payment on it and he was shooting half

00:30:28.200 bake. 1.00

00:30:28.520 And I was like, fuck Dave. 1.00

00:30:30.500 I'm, I was kind of hinting, hoping he'd offer them, offer me a payment. 1.00

00:30:35.020 I'm like, fuck man. 0.99

00:30:35.940 I got this car payment. 1.00

00:30:36.880 I got to make tomorrow.

00:30:38.160 He goes, what kind of car?

00:30:39.760 I go, it's a Lexus. 1.00

00:30:40.660 He goes, oh, fuck told you to buy a Lexus, dummy. 1.00

00:30:47.260 I was like, shit, no, no sympathy. 1.00

00:30:51.020 And so that, that, that's what happened then. 0.99

00:30:53.600 And then I didn't get another special till 2003.

00:30:56.200 Wow.

00:30:56.720 So from 97 to 2003, I had all this time to grow, work on material.

00:31:01.500 And I'd started seeing the world and I started writing from a different place and I started

00:31:05.840 really polishing this, this act up.

00:31:07.980 And, uh, and that's the one that blew me up.

00:31:11.820 And so, and so what was it?

00:31:13.540 It was.

00:31:14.300 She wants you to pet her. 0.80

00:31:16.340 There you go.

00:31:17.980 Um, and what was it about this act that blew, that blew you up?

00:31:22.060 Do you think that made it super popular?

00:31:24.300 Well, this is the one that you saw.

00:31:26.080 I don't, I don't know what it was.

00:31:27.460 I think it has to be a combination of timing for sure, because that's when file sharing

00:31:32.400 was started.

00:31:32.900 It was popular.

00:31:33.980 So it was timing and it was, I had a lot of time to work on that act.

00:31:38.320 So the act I knew was solid.

00:31:40.620 And, um, and, and I just, I didn't even think about it when I did it.

00:31:45.700 I wasn't thinking about, oh, this is going to be it.

00:31:47.920 You guys are going to see.

00:31:49.000 I shot it.

00:31:49.820 They paid me $7,500 for this one.

00:31:53.000 This is the same company that paid me 10 grand six years prior.

00:31:56.140 Now they're paying me $2,500 less.

00:31:58.500 And I'm like, wow, I just got a pay cut.

00:32:00.600 But I was so broke at the time.

00:32:01.840 I was broke, broke.

00:32:02.740 Like I had no money.

00:32:03.800 I was in debt.

00:32:05.080 And, uh, I was like, I'll take it, whatever.

00:32:07.200 And, you know, and then I'm like, I'll figure out what I'll do with this act.

00:32:09.840 I don't know.

00:32:11.040 I was like, it's going to come out.

00:32:12.100 Nobody's going to pay attention.

00:32:13.020 It's, he'll be fine.

00:32:14.100 I'll still do the same act.

00:32:15.340 So you weren't like, oh, this is gold.

00:32:17.400 You know, I'm, this is going to crush.

00:32:18.740 No clue.

00:32:19.580 No clue.

00:32:20.040 No clue.

00:32:20.660 And did it change financially for you?

00:32:23.780 Did that moment give you a big reward financially at that point?

00:32:27.760 Well, so we shot in August of 2003, 2000, February, Valentine's Day, 2004.

00:32:34.160 It airs.

00:32:35.860 And, uh, in Canada.

00:32:37.400 But that same day that it aired, I had gotten a gig in Chicago at DePaul University.

00:32:42.380 They were paying me $700.

00:32:43.860 And I was like, that's a lot of money.

00:32:45.580 And 11 or 12 people came to the show.

00:32:47.760 And I was like, ooh.

00:32:50.160 Like, nobody knew.

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00:33:20.640 Who I was.

00:33:21.680 Yeah. 0.99

00:33:22.240 And, uh, I was like, damn. 0.99

00:33:23.560 But I, I did my show, because I'm, like, being paid to do this. 0.99

00:33:26.560 Mm-hmm.

00:33:26.740 And it was a good show.

00:33:29.640 And then a month later, my dad died. 1.00

00:33:31.680 I'm like, damn. 0.98

00:33:32.900 I don't know if my dad even got to see, like, that this special came out or nothing. 0.98

00:33:36.220 Because he was already in hospital at that time. 0.98

00:33:37.620 And I was like, damn. 0.99

00:33:38.260 He was like, whatever. 0.99

00:33:39.840 So then, February 2004, 11 people in Chicago.

00:33:44.760 Cut to, like, November, October or November of 2004.

00:33:48.040 I go back to Chicago.

00:33:49.240 I'm sold out at this theater for three nights.

00:33:51.680 And I'm, I don't know what's going on.

00:33:53.900 We start getting bookings now.

00:33:55.280 We start getting bookings right after my dad dies.

00:33:57.860 This place wants to book you.

00:33:59.300 San Francisco wants to book you.

00:34:00.600 And they'll pay you $1,500.

00:34:02.360 I'm like, what?

00:34:03.660 How am I getting, like, and I didn't have paperwork at the time.

00:34:05.940 I was here working illegally and everything.

00:34:08.440 And then, uh, this place wants to book you.

00:34:09.960 This festival wants you.

00:34:11.060 And I'm like, what?

00:34:11.700 What's going on?

00:34:12.320 Okay, cool, cool.

00:34:13.160 You know, I'm 15 years in the game now.

00:34:14.880 I'm, like, thinking, all right.

00:34:15.700 Well, I guess this is what happens when you're in it for a while.

00:34:17.280 You start to, you start to get more work.

00:34:19.180 And then, I think, uh, uh, Just for Laughs had a tour that we did in Singapore.

00:34:26.260 They did a Canadian tour and people were coming out to see me.

00:34:29.600 And I was like, that's weird.

00:34:31.280 And we did a Singapore tour and people were coming out to see me.

00:34:33.480 And I was like, huh?

00:34:34.820 How do they know me out here?

00:34:35.780 What's going on?

00:34:36.420 I've been to Singapore many times.

00:34:37.700 I was thinking, oh, they must have seen me when I played the Marriott on Orchard Road

00:34:42.780 in the basement and they came back to see me.

00:34:45.580 You know what I mean?

00:34:45.800 Because I did have good sets when I would go and do them.

00:34:48.700 I was like, oh, that's nice.

00:34:49.740 The people came back to see me.

00:34:51.260 I'm naive.

00:34:52.060 I'm not thinking, like, I'm not thinking there's something bigger that can happen in this business.

00:34:55.840 Because I just, it wasn't the way the game was played before.

00:34:59.460 And, um, I started making, like, 30 grand one month.

00:35:03.060 And I was like, how?

00:35:03.740 I made 30 grand this month?

00:35:05.600 Then I made 40 grand.

00:35:06.640 And I was like, wait, something's going on.

00:35:08.740 But I don't know what's going on.

00:35:10.060 And then somebody's like, gives me a CD, like a CD-R with my act on it.

00:35:17.120 And they go, hey, man, can you sign this?

00:35:18.620 I go, what is that?

00:35:19.160 He goes, it's your act.

00:35:20.020 I go, how'd you get my act on there?

00:35:22.540 I go, I download it.

00:35:23.400 How'd you download it?

00:35:25.240 LimeWire, BearShare was file sharing. 0.99

00:35:27.180 I was like, what the fuck? 0.99

00:35:28.040 And then people started breaking down. 1.00

00:35:29.480 Oh, somebody emailed me a clip of you doing a joke about Italian.

00:35:32.940 Somebody emailed me doing a joke about Jamaican.

00:35:34.620 Somebody emailed me your Chinese joke.

00:35:36.400 And I was like, what?

00:35:38.300 How did this happen?

00:35:39.120 And then I remember people would email you a clip.

00:35:41.180 Remember back then?

00:35:41.900 They'd be like, hey, check this out.

00:35:42.920 It'll take you 15 hours to download a three-minute clip.

00:35:48.260 And YouTube starts in 2005, in June of 2005 or May of 2005.

00:35:55.820 And we get a call from Jimmy Miller.

00:36:00.480 Jimmy Miller is Dennis Miller's brother.

00:36:03.620 Jimmy Miller's a manager.

00:36:04.500 He also manages Jim Carrey.

00:36:08.060 And we get a call saying, hey, I'm trying to find this guy, Russell Peters.

00:36:14.380 And at the time, I started getting courted by agencies.

00:36:17.060 And I'm still like, what's going on?

00:36:18.900 And Jimmy Miller wants to sign me to a deal because his son, he goes, what happened, Sam?

00:36:25.040 Why are you tired?

00:36:26.060 He goes, I was up all night watching this comedian on YouTube.

00:36:28.640 He goes, what the hell is YouTube?

00:36:29.880 And he goes, it's this thing.

00:36:31.240 Well, he goes, who's the comedian?

00:36:32.440 He goes, Russell Peters.

00:36:33.260 He's really funny.

00:36:34.400 And he was like, what?

00:36:35.220 If my son, because his son, I think, was 12 at the time or 13, he goes, if my son is

00:36:39.640 like into this at this age, we're missing something here.

00:36:42.260 So Jimmy Miller, Tom Werner, I don't remember, Carsey Werner back in the day, they produced

00:36:47.800 Cosby's show and all those things back in the day.

00:36:50.480 And Eric Gold, who produced In Living Color.

00:36:54.740 So they started a company called Werner Gold Miller.

00:36:58.400 And I was their first deal.

00:37:01.840 And we had a deal at Warner Brothers.

00:37:03.600 And it was a sitcom deal.

00:37:04.980 And it was good money.

00:37:05.660 And it never went anywhere.

00:37:08.100 But then I got agencies.

00:37:09.940 And then I started, once I got the deal, I had to move to LA in 2006.

00:37:14.000 I moved here January 1st, 2006.

00:37:16.600 Right.

00:37:17.120 So you're going 15 years.

00:37:20.080 You're broke as hell.

00:37:22.800 Did you ever think about quitting?

00:37:24.460 No.

00:37:25.460 Why not?

00:37:26.260 Because I enjoyed it.

00:37:28.360 And for me, it was never about the money, ever.

00:37:31.080 It was never, ever about the money.

00:37:32.400 There was no, you understand, it came from a working class family.

00:37:35.980 Like, nobody in my family had money.

00:37:37.540 It's not like we had to aspire to anybody else in the family.

00:37:40.080 We're all just making ends meet.

00:37:42.340 So it was like, if I can just make the ends meet, I'm good.

00:37:44.900 Do you know what I mean?

00:37:45.960 If I can make, you know, I was thinking, if I can make $1,500 a week doing stand-up, I'm good.

00:37:51.640 I'm like, that's over $60,000, $70,000 a year.

00:37:54.360 That's a lot of money back then.

00:37:55.540 I'm like, I'm making a good living.

00:37:58.360 Doing something you enjoy, too.

00:37:59.560 Yeah, and I do something I enjoy.

00:38:00.360 I'm like, why would I want to go and work, you know, eight hours and get paid $100 or something

00:38:05.440 when I could work, you know, 45 minutes and make $100?

00:38:10.520 Makes complete sense.

00:38:11.680 And what was it like coming, because you came to L.A., and obviously that's a very, very different scene.

00:38:16.600 There was a comedy store, but the ice house as well.

00:38:19.640 But that's pretty much it, isn't there?

00:38:21.060 The Laugh Factory.

00:38:21.920 And the Laugh Factory.

00:38:23.040 Yeah, and the improv.

00:38:24.020 And who were the guys around at that time?

00:38:26.380 Well, when I moved out here, I didn't know anybody.

00:38:28.780 I literally didn't know anybody.

00:38:29.860 I knew a couple people.

00:38:32.040 I'd met them around over the years.

00:38:33.480 But I knew New York guys more than I knew the L.A. guys.

00:38:37.040 And I just, you know, I think I did the Laugh Factory in 2005.

00:38:42.840 That's what happened.

00:38:43.480 I did the Laugh Factory in 2005.

00:38:46.080 I don't know how it got put together.

00:38:47.420 Some promoter guy was like, hey, do you want to do the Laugh Factory?

00:38:49.560 I'll sell it out.

00:38:50.140 And he sold out two shows at the Laugh Factory. 0.99

00:38:51.960 And Laugh Factory was like, who the fucking guy sold out? 0.97

00:38:54.860 It's packed, and it's funny, and we like it. 0.98

00:38:56.820 And so I got in there right away.

00:38:58.700 So when I moved to L.A., I had a home to go to, which was the Laugh Factory.

00:39:02.420 And Jamie was always kind to me.

00:39:04.800 And the people were like, why don't you go to the store?

00:39:06.820 I go, oh, I don't know.

00:39:08.100 I did the store like in the 90s.

00:39:09.700 So I was like, so I go to the store.

00:39:12.060 I go to enter from the back.

00:39:12.960 And the guy's like, oh, comics only.

00:39:14.520 And I'm like, huh?

00:39:17.280 And Yoshi was in there.

00:39:18.420 He goes, this is Russell Peters. 1.00

00:39:19.680 He just sold out, idiot. 1.00

00:39:21.540 And then so he got me, and we got in. 1.00

00:39:24.040 And like those types of things happen all the time, though.

00:39:27.000 I remember in 2005, I did the Apollo in Harlem.

00:39:30.580 Sold it out for two nights.

00:39:32.860 And then I went to go do the comic strip.

00:39:35.880 And the lady put me on on the open mic night. 0.98

00:39:39.560 And I'm 16 years in the game already.

00:39:41.420 And I just sold out the Apollo two nights, two shows.

00:39:44.780 And so I do my five-minute set.

00:39:46.820 And you know my style is to talk to the crowd and whatever.

00:39:49.360 So I get off, and I go, so?

00:39:50.720 And she goes, well, I don't usually let my opener,

00:39:53.700 my open micers talk to the audience.

00:39:55.520 I don't really like that.

00:39:57.700 But if you call in maybe in a couple of months,

00:39:59.780 I might put you back on.

00:40:01.080 And I'm like, huh?

00:40:03.020 I go, OK, thanks.

00:40:05.240 And I left. 1.00

00:40:06.180 I go, you fucking idiot. 1.00

00:40:08.880 Comedy has just got a beautiful way of humbling you. 1.00

00:40:11.280 Doesn't it?

00:40:11.640 Oh, absolutely.

00:40:12.320 Absolutely.

00:40:13.300 So speaking of not humbling, though, you go from, you know,

00:40:17.020 you're making a decent money and whatever,

00:40:18.860 to suddenly you're taking it.

00:40:19.920 Yeah, but you make money, you'd be broke.

00:40:21.500 You make money, you'd be broke.

00:40:22.440 So you literally make ends meet.

00:40:24.140 And then you'd stretch to try and continue your life.

00:40:27.380 And suddenly you're making 30 grand, 40 grand a month.

00:40:30.380 What are you thinking?

00:40:31.520 How are you feeling in this moment?

00:40:32.840 I'm feeling like it's going to end tomorrow.

00:40:35.680 I'm like, I had a great month.

00:40:37.180 It's probably over.

00:40:38.960 I had another great month.

00:40:40.000 It's probably over after that.

00:40:41.160 There's no way this can.

00:40:42.340 In my brain, it was like, this is not,

00:40:44.260 you can't sustain this type of living.

00:40:46.540 This is not what you were in this to do.

00:40:49.480 You were just in this to tell jokes.

00:40:50.980 And you're not a star.

00:40:52.600 My brain kept going, you're not a star, kid.

00:40:54.120 I don't know what you're doing.

00:40:55.580 And I was like, I don't know what I'm doing either.

00:40:56.960 But let's just keep going and see what happens, you know?

00:40:59.940 Uh-huh.

00:41:00.700 And when did you know, like, okay, like, I'm good now.

00:41:05.280 You know, I've made it.

00:41:05.840 I still don't know that.

00:41:07.260 Come on, man.

00:41:07.940 I mean, I know.

00:41:08.800 Look around, man.

00:41:09.740 What are you talking about?

00:41:10.100 No, no, I mean, I know that I'm successful.

00:41:12.900 But I, you know, and I know what I'm capable of doing.

00:41:16.360 And I know what I'm good at.

00:41:18.080 But for a comic, we want to hear somebody else say it to you.

00:41:20.880 You know what I mean?

00:41:21.380 It's like, if I say it, I'm like, I almost feel like if I say it,

00:41:24.520 then I'm going to jinx myself. 0.96

00:41:26.900 Like, I'm going to fuck my whole thing up by saying it. 0.86

00:41:29.880 Really? 0.91

00:41:30.280 Really?

00:41:30.440 Yeah.

00:41:30.900 Now, you feel that now?

00:41:32.140 Always.

00:41:32.520 I always felt like that.

00:41:34.460 I do it as a joke with my family.

00:41:36.520 Like, we'll go out to a restaurant and the server will be like,

00:41:38.760 oh, my God, I'm a big fan.

00:41:39.860 And as soon as the server walks away, I go,

00:41:42.420 did you guys see that?

00:41:44.880 Did you guys see how popular I am?

00:41:48.660 Very, very famous.

00:41:50.240 But it's like the running joke in the family.

00:41:52.140 Yeah.

00:41:52.380 So you not only don't let it get to your head,

00:41:55.220 you are still a little bit somehow still kind of like,

00:41:58.780 this could be over soon.

00:41:59.880 Yeah, always.

00:42:01.420 Really?

00:42:02.060 I think that's what keeps me working hard.

00:42:04.300 You're a hard worker.

00:42:05.620 Yes.

00:42:06.180 You grind.

00:42:06.840 Well, it's comedy.

00:42:09.220 Is it really hard work?

00:42:10.840 It's not really hard work. 0.97

00:42:12.120 We're not fucking saving lives here. 0.96

00:42:14.460 Or are we? 0.98

00:42:16.160 No, we're not.

00:42:16.940 You know, you've worked with some incredible comedians.

00:42:20.920 One of them is George Carlin.

00:42:23.280 What was that like?

00:42:24.780 Well, so George was my idol.

00:42:26.900 Like, he was my everything.

00:42:27.940 Mine as well.

00:42:28.640 And when I met him, I met him in 92.

00:42:31.400 By accident.

00:42:32.960 It was in Toronto the night the Blue Jays won the World Series.

00:42:36.760 And everybody was driving up and down Yonge Street, partying.

00:42:39.160 I'm 22 years old. 0.89

00:42:40.200 I'm a punk-ass kid. 0.87

00:42:41.660 I'm walking down the street. 0.90

00:42:43.200 My friends are driving.

00:42:44.140 The traffic's moving so slow.

00:42:45.440 I'm walking faster than the cars are driving.

00:42:47.560 So we're walking.

00:42:48.420 And I see this older guy with gray hair and a ponytail and a beard walking towards me.

00:42:52.140 And I elbow my friend. 0.99

00:42:53.200 And as a joke, I go, hey, this fucking guy looks like George Carlin. 0.99

00:42:56.760 And when he walks by to be a smartass, I go, hey, George. 0.99

00:43:00.180 And he goes, how you doing, kid? 1.00

00:43:01.260 And I was like, wait, what the fuck? 0.99

00:43:02.840 And I was like, and I ran after him. 0.99

00:43:06.740 And I just groveled the whole way back to his.

00:43:08.720 I walked him back to his hotel.

00:43:09.940 I don't think he wanted me to, but I did.

00:43:12.180 And I was like, do you want Indian food?

00:43:13.260 My mom will make you. 0.99

00:43:16.040 I'm like, I don't know what the fuck to say. 0.97

00:43:17.800 And I'm like, hey, you know, maybe we'll work together one day. 0.98

00:43:23.360 He goes, you never know, kid.

00:43:24.240 You never know.

00:43:24.660 Crazy business.

00:43:25.580 And then in 2008, when did he die?

00:43:29.600 He died in 2008, right?

00:43:33.460 Around about then, yeah.

00:43:34.600 I think so, 10 months before he died, he was going to do sets at the Comedy and Magic Club.

00:43:39.440 And they knew I loved Carlin.

00:43:41.580 And they're like, you know, Carlin's coming in this week, going to run his set.

00:43:44.280 Do you want to come down and see it?

00:43:47.220 I go, oh, could I be on the show?

00:43:49.380 And he goes, yeah, actually.

00:43:50.520 And I go, awesome.

00:43:51.720 Can I host?

00:43:52.660 We already have a host. 0.99

00:43:53.680 I go, fuck, I'd love to host. 0.99

00:43:55.620 Because I just want to be able to have the honor of introducing him. 0.99

00:43:58.140 And I go, we'll make that happen for you.

00:44:00.380 So they let me host.

00:44:01.300 And I introduced him.

00:44:02.160 Did you bump?

00:44:03.780 I just moved him into the middle spot.

00:44:06.300 We just flipped spots.

00:44:07.680 Whoever that guy is, he's watching the snack.

00:44:09.560 Yeah.

00:44:11.080 Anyway.

00:44:11.720 So I do the intro and my chin starts quivering because I think I'm going to cry.

00:44:14.900 I'm telling the story how I met him and stuff.

00:44:16.600 And then he shakes my hand and leans and goes, you're making me look bad, kid.

00:44:20.260 But he was such a nice man.

00:44:21.780 He was just so awesome.

00:44:23.360 Why did you like him?

00:44:24.760 Why did you like his work?

00:44:26.020 Because my dad was an English major.

00:44:28.880 So language was always a big deal in our house.

00:44:32.540 And my dad would always refer to me as an ignoramus because I would always speak improperly.

00:44:39.440 But my dad loved Carlin, too, because of his wordplay.

00:44:42.200 And growing up, I liked hip-hop.

00:44:44.360 And if you're a good rapper, you've got good wordplay.

00:44:46.380 So I think it all tied in together, you know?

00:44:49.320 And I just loved fun ways of having fun with words.

00:44:52.940 He would teach you how to swear without swearing, you know what I mean?

00:44:55.920 And, you know, with the two halfway dirty words.

00:44:59.700 And words aren't dirty until they're put together. 0.99

00:45:01.860 And, you know, like cock and sucker. 0.99

00:45:04.200 And, you know, cock's in the Bible. 0.99

00:45:05.720 You go to a dentist that gives you a sucker, you know? 0.99

00:45:07.400 Yeah, he was magnificent as a comedian.

00:45:10.820 And what was it like watching him live?

00:45:12.620 Because that must have been...

00:45:13.240 I was floating.

00:45:14.600 I couldn't remember.

00:45:15.160 To be honest, I don't remember it.

00:45:16.920 Because I was just so like, I was just on stage with George Carlin, you know?

00:45:20.260 And who are the comedians that you look up to, Ross, or that you...

00:45:24.020 Well, from that era was Carlin, Steve Martin, Don Rickles, Bob Newhart, Eddie Murphy.

00:45:33.060 And everyone goes, what about Pryor?

00:45:34.480 I go, I appreciate Pryor, but it didn't resonate with me.

00:45:37.280 That's interesting.

00:45:38.340 I liked him, but it didn't hit me the way it hit other people, you know?

00:45:42.880 Eddie hit me better.

00:45:44.640 It was, for me, it was like...

00:45:45.520 And everyone was like, well, there's no Eddie without Rich.

00:45:46.940 I get that.

00:45:48.060 But Eddie somehow had the thing that Rich didn't have.

00:45:51.120 That little...

00:45:51.880 That way of selling it to you better, you know?

00:45:54.940 Because with Eddie, he could do the accents.

00:45:56.960 He could do the act out so beautifully.

00:45:58.820 Yeah, Eddie would take you to different places.

00:46:00.700 Yeah.

00:46:01.340 And you saw that in Eddie's films.

00:46:02.660 I remember in Beverly Hills Cop 2, when, you know...

00:46:04.940 When I was watching it as a kid, when he was doing the act...

00:46:07.400 When he was...

00:46:07.980 We had the little parcel that he says for my daughter's Monique and Unique.

00:46:11.100 Yeah.

00:46:11.520 And he was doing it, and he was pretending to swear.

00:46:13.560 And it just had me dying.

00:46:15.120 Yeah, it was so good at that.

00:46:16.420 And so those were the guys that I really watched and admired.

00:46:20.840 And then, you know, you came up, and then Dice came out. 0.98

00:46:24.180 And I was like, holy shit, you could say this on stage? 0.98

00:46:26.840 Andrew Dice Clay? 0.99

00:46:27.540 I was like, this is awesome.

00:46:29.120 I can't believe you could say this on stage.

00:46:31.440 Because then swearing was like a big deal then.

00:46:34.080 And we're like, wow.

00:46:35.340 And he was like, they wanted to shut him down.

00:46:36.760 I was like, there's a rebel.

00:46:37.800 I love it.

00:46:38.820 Then Kinison.

00:46:39.780 And, you know, you got all those other guys that came around.

00:46:41.900 Because it was a big thing then.

00:46:43.420 Because people don't know this.

00:46:44.760 And a lot of comedians have talked about it.

00:46:46.440 In fact, Rogan's talked about it a lot.

00:46:47.880 That you had to be clean.

00:46:49.220 That was the thing.

00:46:50.060 Yeah.

00:46:51.180 That was the big thing in the early 90s, late 80s.

00:46:54.480 Oh, you got to be clean.

00:46:55.220 If you want to get on TV, you got to be clean.

00:46:56.660 And I was like, clean?

00:46:57.420 I don't want to be clean.

00:46:59.000 It seems so dorky to be clean.

00:47:00.480 You hear the guys that were clean.

00:47:01.580 I go, they're not funny, though.

00:47:02.860 Yeah.

00:47:03.260 I go, yeah, they're clever. 0.99

00:47:04.120 I'm like, I don't give a fuck. 0.98

00:47:05.240 I want to be funny. 0.99

00:47:06.360 Yeah.

00:47:06.540 You go be clever. 0.99

00:47:07.300 Write a book, dummy. 0.99

00:47:08.100 I'm going to go be funny. 0.97

00:47:09.700 Yeah.

00:47:11.400 Kinison was just an example of a comedian who was just completely unhinged at times.

00:47:19.420 But just incredibly funny.

00:47:21.160 Yeah.

00:47:21.620 I remember I brought home a Kinison record.

00:47:24.540 Back then, you'd go to the library and rent records.

00:47:26.360 And they had a comedy section.

00:47:27.640 And I brought home a Kinison record.

00:47:29.000 And I remember playing it. 1.00

00:47:30.440 My dad lost his shit. 1.00

00:47:32.060 Get that bloody blasphemy out of my house. 1.00

00:47:35.100 I'm like, what? 0.99

00:47:35.740 Huh?

00:47:36.640 Don't ever bring that in.

00:47:37.660 I'm like, what?

00:47:38.160 What's going on?

00:47:38.740 I didn't understand what was happening when he was doing that.

00:47:41.240 It's been 2,000 years. 0.99

00:47:42.380 He's not fucking coming back. 0.99

00:47:47.680 We'll be back with Ross in a minute. 0.98

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00:49:38.580 Back to the interview.

00:49:41.540 So how has comedy changed? Because that's a really interesting perspective, right?

00:49:44.940 Nobody would bat an eyelid at a comedian swearing nowadays, but they might bat an eyelid at him talking about trans or whatever.

00:49:51.040 Like, the world has really changed in the time that you've been in the game.

00:49:54.140 Well, now you have to really figure out—you can't just flippantly say things on stage.

00:50:02.400 You have to calculate them a little bit better.

00:50:05.200 Where is the hole in this statement?

00:50:07.400 Like, if I say this, what are the counter-arguments that could come at you for this?

00:50:11.840 So you have to word it in a way where it kind of curves, you know, so it splices out.

00:50:17.060 Like, this argument stops right there because I said this, and that stops there because I said that.

00:50:21.420 So the punchline doesn't get affected.

00:50:24.140 Sorry, just to finish this thing.

00:50:26.880 Like, we just had Neil Brennan on, and he was saying he actually likes the fact that it's kind of like you have to think five steps ahead

00:50:34.120 and you've got all these lasers you're trying to dodge because it makes him better.

00:50:37.540 Do you agree with that? Do you feel that?

00:50:39.200 I don't know if it makes you better, but it makes you think more.

00:50:41.380 And the more you think, the better you get.

00:50:44.620 So, yeah, I guess it does make you better.

00:50:46.580 Yeah.

00:50:46.780 Yeah.

00:50:47.160 And do you never, is there a part of you where you're sometimes on stage that you worry that if you go a particular way,

00:50:55.000 it could mean that someone will clip you out of context and, you know, cancellation or a twist?

00:51:00.700 No, because I also know my intent when I'm up there.

00:51:04.560 So if you're going to, you know, if you're going to try and manipulate my intent to suit yours, it's not going to work.

00:51:10.820 It's you're trying to use aftermarket parts in your story right now.

00:51:14.540 Yeah.

00:51:14.700 It's a good way of looking at it because I think there's a lot of comedians, actually.

00:51:18.840 And we've had comedians who are very, you know, very smart, very liberal, whatever else.

00:51:22.600 And they say that sometimes when they write material, they censor themselves because they're worried about a metaphorical backlash that may be coming.

00:51:30.680 I'm not too worried about it because, again, I've been in it 34 years now.

00:51:34.520 And also the people that come out to see me are coming to see what I do.

00:51:38.880 They're not coming to see what somebody else is going to do.

00:51:41.860 They're coming to see they want to hear what I say.

00:51:44.980 They want to hear my perspective.

00:51:46.440 That's what they're paying their money for.

00:51:48.280 And I always tell people, if I change to appease the people that are not buying my tickets, I'm going to lose the people that are buying my tickets. 1.00

00:51:56.560 And those fuck faces are not going to buy tickets. 1.00

00:51:58.660 And I'm going to be standing there with my dick in my hand or somebody's dick or a trans dick. 1.00

00:52:03.280 One dick. 1.00

00:52:05.460 I might have to transition after that. 0.99

00:52:08.140 But that is such an interesting thing that you point out.

00:52:10.780 And I actually think it's completely true, which is very often whatever the storm is on social media, it's not from the people who watch your stuff.

00:52:18.340 It's not from the people who buy your tickets or whatever.

00:52:20.860 But people do pander to that.

00:52:23.420 People are afraid of that.

00:52:25.140 Yeah.

00:52:26.280 It's bothersome for sure.

00:52:27.760 But you've got to stop yourself and reason with yourself.

00:52:32.320 Like, this is not what it is.

00:52:35.040 You know, I see kids now.

00:52:36.260 Like, people post clips of me from 2008. 0.99

00:52:39.840 And I look at the comments and there's people like, this is fucked up. 0.99

00:52:43.100 How can he say this? 0.99

00:52:44.040 And I'm like, this 15 years old, dude, you didn't realize you weren't even probably even born or you were two years old when this came out.

00:52:51.060 Like, just get over yourself, pal.

00:52:53.000 And they're like, oh, yeah, he's I saw somebody somebody did a whole article on accents and stuff.

00:52:58.600 And they tagged me in it.

00:53:00.460 And they were like, and somebody said, Russell Peters set us back 200 years. 1.00

00:53:03.480 I'm like, no, you motherfucker. 1.00

00:53:05.620 You motherfucker. 1.00

00:53:07.240 I put you forward, you piece of shit. 1.00

00:53:09.300 I took the hits for you. 1.00

00:53:11.000 I did the shit rooms. 0.99

00:53:12.500 I got threatened. 0.99

00:53:13.320 I got chased out of bars.

00:53:14.700 I got booed. 0.99

00:53:15.700 I had to do all the things so that these little fuckheads can come in and not have to do what I did. 1.00

00:53:21.260 Did that happen to you? 0.99

00:53:22.440 You got chased out of bars?

00:53:23.520 Yeah, it happened here and there.

00:53:25.080 How come? 1.00

00:53:25.440 And whatever reason, you're doing a bar in a little small town, a bunch of fucking rednecks. 1.00

00:53:31.480 You know, you do the jokes and you're funny and like, ah, and then I get out. 1.00

00:53:36.340 You're done.

00:53:37.400 And I'm like, oh, get out. 1.00

00:53:39.600 I'm like, oh, fuck. 1.00

00:53:40.220 All right. 1.00

00:53:40.440 I'll leave.

00:53:40.940 You get like, you know, it's just that's the world it was back then.

00:53:45.620 And it's such a profound point that you make in that you need those people to push through the barriers.

00:53:50.260 You need to be the first comedian, you know, from an Asian background in order. 0.94

00:53:54.860 So that other people can look at it and go, oh, I want to do that.

00:53:58.760 Yeah.

00:53:59.520 If you look at it now, there was back in the day when I started, there was me.

00:54:04.760 And then when I went to England, there was Jeff Mirza, who I don't know. 1.00

00:54:09.160 I guess I was just a egotistical, arrogant little asshole kid. 0.99

00:54:12.080 But I kept bumping heads with him. 1.00

00:54:13.500 And I was like, fuck that guy. 1.00

00:54:14.620 But Jeff never was personal. 1.00

00:54:16.600 It was just my ego.

00:54:17.520 Don't trip.

00:54:17.940 But and then you had Goodness Gracious Me back then.

00:54:22.200 That was brilliant. 0.99

00:54:24.440 That shit made me go, oh, we can be really funny. 0.99

00:54:27.980 And so there was like this wave of us, you know, and I was and there was no real standups out of England. 0.99

00:54:33.640 So I was the guy who came in from Canada and I was still Indian.

00:54:37.260 So they were like, oh, what is this?

00:54:38.500 This is interesting.

00:54:39.240 Why does he talk like that?

00:54:40.180 And I'm like, well, why do you talk like that?

00:54:41.920 And so we had this whole little thing.

00:54:44.080 And I remember I did warm up for Real McCoy one time when I was out there.

00:54:48.980 But yeah, when you're the first one, people are always nervous.

00:54:52.220 You know, I'm pretty sure Goodness Gracious Me got some backlash back then because they were afraid. 0.99

00:54:56.340 But if you look at it now, this shit is so funny still. 0.99

00:54:59.180 Yeah. 1.00

00:54:59.500 It holds up.

00:55:01.120 You know, and this there's nothing that frustrates me more than when people look at a clip from 15, 20 years ago

00:55:07.400 and judge it in how you would judge something from 2023. 0.97

00:55:12.160 It's so ridiculous. 0.94

00:55:13.640 Yeah, you can't you can't again. 0.97

00:55:15.160 And they want to erase the history.

00:55:17.060 You cannot erase the past.

00:55:18.560 You need that there.

00:55:19.560 So you don't make the same mistakes twice. 1.00

00:55:21.600 Because if you don't if you have no point of reference, you're going to you're going to completely fuck your shit up again. 0.99

00:55:26.620 And then also there's this whole taking things out of context and presenting them. 0.99

00:55:30.520 And what they tried to do to Rogan with the whole N-word thing.

00:55:33.420 What did you make of that? 0.99

00:55:34.080 Yeah, that was some serious bullshit and they tried to peg him as a racist. 0.99

00:55:38.280 And I know him very, very well. 0.99

00:55:40.240 I mean, we've known each other for a long time and we've rolled.

00:55:43.740 We've we've fought each other.

00:55:45.480 We've rolled in jujitsu together.

00:55:47.180 We've we've hung out.

00:55:48.640 We've I've been to his house and his wife.

00:55:50.780 I know his kids.

00:55:51.540 I know everything.

00:55:52.940 And and I was like I was I posted on my page.

00:55:55.840 I go, this is not the guy you're trying to paint him out to be.

00:55:58.560 Then I remember I got calls from people.

00:56:00.140 D.L. Hughley called me.

00:56:01.100 I was like, yo, Russell, let me tell you something.

00:56:02.580 And I go, Daryl, Daryl, because I know all these. 1.00

00:56:04.700 Daryl, I'm telling you, if he was a racist, I would say I'd be the first one to tell you the guy's a fucking racist. 0.99

00:56:09.920 But he's not. 0.99

00:56:10.720 Stop trying to paint him like that.

00:56:11.980 Stop.

00:56:12.440 Don't fall for the okie doke. 1.00

00:56:15.040 I defended him to my close friends.

00:56:17.400 I had to defend him, too.

00:56:18.260 And I was like, it's not the guy you're trying to.

00:56:19.400 They're trying to sell you him.

00:56:21.160 What they're trying to do is they're trying to take away his Spotify money is what they're trying to do.

00:56:25.640 Why do you think people do that?

00:56:27.300 Do you have any thoughts on that?

00:56:28.240 Why people want to, like, tear down people, make them look bad?

00:56:32.560 Like, it doesn't make sense to me.

00:56:34.640 I don't get it either because I don't do it. 1.00

00:56:36.360 So I'm always like, I mean, if the person's a real piece of shit asshole, yeah. 0.99

00:56:41.600 But when they try to do it to people who you know are not bad people, that's when I get, you know, I get defensive. 0.99

00:56:47.180 I'm like, no, I'm not going to let you do it to this person because they're not bad people.

00:56:50.940 And the thing that I hate as well is that you're destroying the art form as well.

00:56:56.120 Yeah, you're making the wrong eyes look at it now.

00:56:59.280 Ooh, that's interesting.

00:57:00.640 Tell us more.

00:57:01.600 Well, you got the, you know, you got people who aren't paying attention to comedy and don't care about it.

00:57:05.580 Now they've heard some sort of rumblings about it.

00:57:07.640 Now they look over and they're seeing the thing that is not going to appeal to them.

00:57:12.300 And then they go, that's why we didn't like it. 0.99

00:57:14.760 Look, it's trash. 0.98

00:57:15.500 And then they get on their high horse about it. 0.99

00:57:18.080 And so it just adds fuel to their fire.

00:57:19.940 That's such a good point.

00:57:21.020 I think that the more people, different people from different walks of life we meet, the more we kind of realize that there's some people that just don't get or like comedy. 0.93

00:57:29.680 And those are the people who are outraged about every fucking thing that happens that gets shoved in front of their face by a journalist. 0.80

00:57:35.760 Yeah, it's the same thing with me for like young rap music. 0.99

00:57:39.580 I can't stand it.

00:57:41.260 I grew up, I'm a big hip hop head.

00:57:43.500 And people are like, well, why do you hate the young, the new music so much?

00:57:45.960 And I stopped myself and I went, they're not making it for me.

00:57:51.140 So why do I care? 0.99

00:57:52.760 If it's not being made for me, why should I give a shit if it's good or bad? 0.99

00:57:55.700 And it's the old guy syndrome at that point. 0.99

00:57:58.820 You're like, back in our day, we had, you know, and we did.

00:58:02.860 But that was for us.

00:58:03.720 It was made for us.

00:58:04.600 It was catered to us.

00:58:05.420 And that's who it's for.

00:58:06.180 And I think what we're trying to do is say, hey, kids, if you dig deeper, there's more to this than you're seeing.

00:58:13.980 But we're not articulating that well.

00:58:17.280 It's a really profound point, Russell, because it's so easy now in the age of the Internet to see a clip, to have an immediate reaction where you don't actually think about anything.

00:58:28.120 It's just an emotional reaction and then you give an emotional response and then you create this entire Twitter stumble, whatever it is.

00:58:36.120 And then before you know it, it's out of control.

00:58:38.600 Yeah.

00:58:38.780 You make one comment, you know, you can't.

00:58:41.620 That's the thing that as far as I'm getting older, I know I wait before I respond to certain things because I'm like, I don't want to just give my knee jerk reaction because that's probably the not the right reaction.

00:58:52.900 You want to give a more thought out, well-rounded response.

00:58:57.600 You know, I find it interesting with comedians where they respond to, I don't know if you've seen this guy, Matt Reif.

00:59:04.180 No, so let me tell you about Matt Reif.

00:59:06.980 About five years ago, Matt Reif used to open for me.

00:59:11.100 They took him on the road for me, a bunch of dates.

00:59:13.720 And he's a great kid.

00:59:15.580 He's a really good looking kid.

00:59:17.100 He's a very funny kid.

00:59:18.420 And he's got all the ingredients.

00:59:23.180 And he hit me up and he was like, hey, bro, I'm having trouble getting an agent.

00:59:28.140 Do you think you got to go, let me call my agency.

00:59:29.960 Let me put a word in for you.

00:59:30.800 So I call my agency.

00:59:32.500 I say, you guys, have you thought about Matt Reif?

00:59:34.820 No.

00:59:35.780 I go, what do you mean?

00:59:36.580 Do you know him?

00:59:37.000 Yeah, we're familiar.

00:59:37.840 I go, the kid's a home run.

00:59:39.960 He's really good looking.

00:59:42.300 Really funny.

00:59:43.140 He's young.

00:59:44.980 He's a great kid. 0.95

00:59:46.400 He's not a dickhead. 0.54

00:59:47.240 I go, he's got all the, I'm telling you, the kid is a star. 0.80

00:59:50.580 And whoever takes him is going to make a lot of money.

00:59:53.060 The kid is a star.

00:59:54.880 And they were like, no, we're going to pass.

00:59:57.480 And now look at Matt Reif.

00:59:59.420 And my agent, every time I see my agent, I go, I remember when I offered you Matt Reif.

01:00:03.260 He goes, I know.

01:00:04.280 I know.

01:00:05.960 Next time you offer me somebody, I'm taking him.

01:00:07.820 Because I offered him Theo Vaughn as well at that time.

01:00:10.520 I said, Matt Reif and Theo Vaughn.

01:00:12.060 They were like, no, we're passing. 1.00

01:00:13.180 And I'm like, you're fucking idiots. 1.00

01:00:14.400 How do you run this business when you don't know, when you can't spot the talent? 1.00

01:00:19.700 Theo is one of our favorite episodes.

01:00:22.060 We interviewed him when we were here in the U.S. last year.

01:00:24.600 Right.

01:00:25.040 And he's blown up, thanks to us.

01:00:27.140 Yeah, of course.

01:00:27.740 No, it's your fault.

01:00:28.940 No, but he's really blown up as well.

01:00:30.940 I mean, what were you going to say about Matt Reif?

01:00:32.580 No, because I was just saying that I, you know, I sit in green rooms and then you get

01:00:37.400 comedians going, look at Matt Reif.

01:00:39.460 Look at this.

01:00:40.400 And they just hate by nature.

01:00:42.780 I mean, you know, listen, the kid, the kid was destined for this.

01:00:47.740 Look at him. 1.00

01:00:48.880 He's got a fucking six pack. 1.00

01:00:50.600 And he's, he's in, he looks better than ever. 1.00

01:00:53.340 I, I, whenever he'd open for me, he'd come up and go, give it up for Matt Reif.

01:00:56.320 He's my favorite lesbian comic.

01:00:57.660 And that's such a profound point.

01:01:02.000 And I say to these comedians, I go, look, it ain't for you.

01:01:05.340 Yeah.

01:01:05.660 It ain't for you.

01:01:06.660 Yeah.

01:01:07.000 You know, he's got a whole audience.

01:01:08.440 I don't like Taylor Swift, but apparently I'm wrong.

01:01:11.400 I don't see anything about Taylor Swift that is appealing.

01:01:14.800 Looks, music, show, nothing, nothing about her appeals to me. 0.96

01:01:18.720 But obviously I'm wrong because there's a fucking billion people that love her. 0.97

01:01:23.580 Yeah. 0.91

01:01:23.840 So just because I don't like something doesn't mean it's not likable or right.

01:01:28.480 And there's a narcissism about that. 0.99

01:01:30.220 It's like, well, if I don't like it, then it's shit. 1.00

01:01:32.560 No. 1.00

01:01:33.040 Yeah.

01:01:33.240 Maybe you just don't like stuff and other people like it.

01:01:36.260 What's so complex about that?

01:01:37.560 Yeah.

01:01:37.840 People, people have a, have a tough time taking themselves out of the equation.

01:01:41.580 Yeah.

01:01:42.600 That's a good point.

01:01:43.680 And it's also interesting what you said about the agents not spotting Matt Reif, not spotting Theo.

01:01:48.520 And it does seem to be a thing where you've, there's so many talented people and you just go, how come this person?

01:01:55.200 It's obvious.

01:01:56.160 Oh yeah.

01:01:56.640 There's, there's, and then you see people who they just keep forcing in front of you and you're like, I don't know.

01:02:02.320 Nobody, it's just not catching.

01:02:03.540 Cause you're like, you're trying to force feed us something we don't want.

01:02:06.620 And I think that's, uh, not to bring it back to me, but I think, uh, I think that's the, I think that's the beauty of my career is that I was never, um, created by the industry.

01:02:22.040 I, mine was all organically grown and my fan base stays loyal and solid and I stay loyal and solid to them cause I, I refuse to lose them.

01:02:32.260 I refuse to give them a reason to not be with me. 0.98

01:02:36.260 And, um, so I bust my ass to keep them and they, they bust their ass to stay there with me. 0.99

01:02:41.300 So it's a respect thing. 0.99

01:02:42.720 And the industry doesn't like when you can do something like that because they can't take it away from you.

01:02:47.580 So if you notice, I never really blew up in the industry per se.

01:02:51.280 I never did a list movies and I did a couple, you know, but it was like, because I knew the director or whatever, whatever reason I got in, I got in.

01:02:59.220 Um, but I don't get invited to certain things and I don't get included. 0.91

01:03:04.020 And it used to bother me, but honestly, now I'm like, I don't give a shit anymore. 0.97

01:03:07.560 I'm 53 years old. 1.00

01:03:08.460 I don't give a fuck about your shitty award show. 1.00

01:03:10.840 I'm going to be bored there anyway. 0.99

01:03:12.480 That's such a powerful place to be.

01:03:14.620 Like, that's what I was going to say about the power of the internet.

01:03:17.240 Now you don't need gatekeepers.

01:03:19.660 You don't have to care about them.

01:03:21.440 Like we build this by ourselves.

01:03:23.100 Yeah.

01:03:23.360 And it's such a great place to be because you don't have to do anything anyone's way.

01:03:28.020 You just got to do what you believe in and feed your audience the stuff that they're interested in.

01:03:32.940 And that's it.

01:03:33.760 Yeah.

01:03:33.920 You're just doing, you're doing you.

01:03:35.360 Yeah.

01:03:35.720 And there's only one you or two in this case.

01:03:39.520 No, it's amazing that you've got that.

01:03:41.600 And, um, it's interesting you were talking about, you kind of blew up by yourself.

01:03:46.280 I was going to ask you, do you think you were lucky in any way?

01:03:50.760 A hundred percent.

01:03:51.680 Really?

01:03:52.460 I a hundred percent believe I'm lucky.

01:03:54.120 In what way?

01:03:55.140 It's, it's a question of time, uh, timing and place all at the right.

01:04:00.360 It just connected at that time, 2003, when we shot it and it aired 2004, who was going

01:04:06.280 to know that a year later, YouTube was going to start.

01:04:08.260 And then what was just audio in 2004 and the beginning of 2004 became video by the end

01:04:16.620 of 2004 in pieces.

01:04:18.400 And then by 2005, the entire, the entire special shows up on this channel and you can watch

01:04:25.580 the whole thing that you've been listening to for all, for the past year and a half and

01:04:28.760 you go, wow, that's the guy.

01:04:29.700 That's amazing.

01:04:30.360 Now I know what to look for.

01:04:31.320 Now I know who it is.

01:04:32.180 And then they connect with you.

01:04:33.820 And, you know, it's 20 years now since I shot that special.

01:04:37.080 And I get a lot of kids now in their forties that are like, man, you helped me through college.

01:04:41.740 And I'm like, wow.

01:04:42.960 Cause I don't think of myself as that old, but I mean, but I am, I guess.

01:04:47.060 You know, I'm like, I was 33 when I shot that special, 32, 33.

01:04:50.980 And so, you know, I guess, yeah, I did help you get through college, but I wasn't trying

01:04:54.560 to.

01:04:55.760 And then you think about the things that you connected with when you were younger.

01:04:59.020 Like I'm friends with a lot of, uh, like everybody I had a poster of in my wall when

01:05:04.380 I was a kid, I'm friends with them now.

01:05:06.520 So, you know, Big Daddy Kane, uh, LL Cool J, uh, um, Lord Finesse lives here with us.

01:05:12.740 Um, he's one of my favorite rappers growing up and, and now he's one of my, he's

01:05:17.040 family at this point.

01:05:18.780 So I'm in a different place now.

01:05:20.640 So when I, when you become friends with the people, you forget that they're that person

01:05:25.680 now.

01:05:26.200 Cause you look at them like that.

01:05:27.520 Like I'm a fan of Constantine's YouTube friends.

01:05:31.800 But, uh, you like watching me destroy people.

01:05:33.960 I love watching Constantine destroy people.

01:05:35.880 It's always my favorite thing.

01:05:36.920 Why are you interested in that Russell?

01:05:38.320 Because I envy that ability and that skill.

01:05:42.780 I lack it.

01:05:44.540 Fine.

01:05:44.840 But the subject matter.

01:05:46.740 The subject matter because I, you articulate it well.

01:05:49.740 And when things are articulated well, there's no, you can't argue it. 0.97

01:05:54.440 It's like he fucking had his point ready, loaded, thought out. 0.93

01:05:59.400 It wasn't, it wasn't a, just an off the cuff answer. 0.98

01:06:02.520 These are like, this is all filled with information and points that, that, that you weren't prepared

01:06:08.060 to when you came at him.

01:06:09.640 So you're jealous of me is what you're saying.

01:06:11.080 I'm very jealous.

01:06:13.580 Matter of fact, listen, um, they were talking about cross country skiing.

01:06:20.460 No, I'm just curious because you are very affable.

01:06:24.220 You're very likable.

01:06:25.760 You're very chill.

01:06:26.960 I can see there's no edge to you. 1.00

01:06:29.000 You're not sitting and going fucking trans women aren't women or whatever. 1.00

01:06:32.380 That's not you, right? 0.99

01:06:33.780 At all.

01:06:34.600 And yet you're interested in the stuff, some of the stuff that we, we get, we talk about

01:06:38.200 in modern society.

01:06:39.880 Yeah.

01:06:40.280 Because it's, it's always being like, when I'm trying to, I explain it to people.

01:06:45.040 Well, here's why.

01:06:45.820 And they're like, well, why?

01:06:46.900 Well, that's just because you say that. 0.99

01:06:48.640 I go, no, but here, I'm trying to be reasonable with you and you're still trying to be fucking 0.98

01:06:52.920 unreasonable. 0.96

01:06:54.140 And I get frustrated by that type of behavior.

01:06:56.400 You know, when you're trying to, when you're trying to bend and they're not, and well,

01:07:00.460 they're bending, but I mean, somebody's got to bend.

01:07:04.600 I mean, so it's kind of, sorry.

01:07:08.960 Do you feel a little bit annoyed that people are imposing their worldview on other people?

01:07:13.680 Is that what you're saying?

01:07:14.100 Yes, that's what it is.

01:07:14.660 Like, listen, I got my own problems in my own life.

01:07:17.700 I got all my, whatever I'm dealing with, that's not your problem.

01:07:22.040 And that's my problem.

01:07:23.680 Whatever is bothering me or is inside of me that I'm dealing with should not be your problem.

01:07:30.700 Unless you ask me and you're like, hey, share something with me or something, you know, then

01:07:35.140 yeah.

01:07:36.000 But I'm not going to be like, yeah, well, you think you're, you got it bad.

01:07:39.820 I'm blah, blah.

01:07:40.440 It's, it's such a, it is a very narcissistic world we're living in.

01:07:43.340 And it's becoming more and more narcissistic. 1.00

01:07:45.440 And narcissists are the worst fucking humans on the planet. 1.00

01:07:48.500 And that's a man who's been around a lot of comedians. 1.00

01:07:50.520 Yes.

01:07:51.440 And, and narcissists.

01:07:53.480 What's the difference?

01:07:55.040 I had a kid with some.

01:08:00.520 Oh man, it's, it's been such a great interview, Russell.

01:08:03.180 Russell, it's been a pleasure, man.

01:08:04.260 Thanks.

01:08:04.540 It's been really, really good.

01:08:05.240 I hope it was good.

01:08:05.720 I mean, oof.

01:08:07.540 It was great.

01:08:09.380 I was, go for it.

01:08:10.640 I was going to say, before we go to locals where we ask questions from our supporters,

01:08:15.500 last question we always ask is, what's the one thing we're not talking about as a society

01:08:19.280 that we really should be?

01:08:21.380 This is going to be controversial.

01:08:23.080 No, it's not.

01:08:23.820 No.

01:08:24.840 Not by our standards.

01:08:25.700 People keep talking about Palestine and Israel.

01:08:28.900 Okay, this might be controversial.

01:08:30.220 Controversial.

01:08:30.960 And they always approach it from Jewish and Muslim.

01:08:36.180 But here's something that I was privy to hear when I was in the Arab world and from some

01:08:43.000 people in that situation.

01:08:45.160 And I said, what is the problem there?

01:08:47.180 Is it Jewish, Muslim? 0.92

01:08:49.120 Is it Israeli? 0.77

01:08:50.900 Is it Palestinian?

01:08:51.800 He said, no.

01:08:52.900 They said, it's a white, non-white issue.

01:08:57.360 The Israelis identify as white, whether they admit it or not.

01:09:01.760 And the Palestinians are not white.

01:09:03.760 That's really what it is.

01:09:04.660 And that's why it gets the support from everybody else.

01:09:07.120 Even though they look very similar.

01:09:08.720 They look similar, but there's not similar enough.

01:09:13.500 There's a hue.

01:09:14.760 There's a slight hue difference.

01:09:16.080 Now, the Israelis are not. 1.00

01:09:19.400 It's the external factors that come in that are the white ones. 0.97

01:09:24.060 You know, the Israelis are more akin to the Palestinians. 1.00

01:09:28.220 But when you've got all the Europeans coming in, they're fucking Europeans. 1.00

01:09:32.200 I mean, like, they're not looking at these people the same way. 0.99

01:09:36.100 They might even look at the Israelis a different way.

01:09:38.420 You know what I mean?

01:09:38.820 Like, it's a real thing.

01:09:41.900 There you go.

01:09:43.320 Mildly controversial.

01:09:44.520 All right, head on over to Locals.

01:09:45.700 We'll ask some of your questions as well.

01:09:47.360 See you there. 0.89

01:09:47.880 Can't wait for the death threats on that one.

01:09:51.100 Still one of my favorite bits of comedy.

01:09:53.200 His impression of his dad is hilarious.

01:09:55.100 Somebody going to get hurt real bad.

01:09:56.560 Somebody.

01:09:57.300 Somebody going to get hurt real bad.

01:09:59.520 You know, the true story behind that is...

01:10:01.100 Broadway's smash hit, the Neil Diamond Musical,

01:10:12.240 A Beautiful Noise, is coming to Toronto.

01:10:15.380 The true story of a kid from Brooklyn destined for something more,

01:10:18.880 featuring all the songs you love, including America,

01:10:21.900 Forever in Blue Jeans, and Sweet Caroline.

01:10:24.640 Like Jersey Boys and Beautiful, the next musical mega hit is here,

01:10:28.500 The Neil Diamond Musical, A Beautiful Noise.

01:10:31.460 Now through June 7th, 2026, at the Princess of Wales Theatre.

01:10:35.660 Get tickets at mirvish.com.

TRIGGERnometry - November 26, 2023

Russell Peters： My Story

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