The Colour of My Past

Having visited the country two years ago, Peters feels the one thing that makes him feel like he has arrived in India is its people. “There is this weird corruption you face and authorities are trying to shake you down,” he says, “There was a cross in my bag with a white chalk and the guy at customs thought I was trying to smuggle jewellery into the country. I had to convince him that I am a performer and I travel with these things.”

Peters in 1982 in Burhanpur, Madhya Pradesh, when Peters was 12, with his parents and older brother

Always picking the names of his tours carefully (The Green Card Tour, Red, White and Brown and Outsourced), Peters feels ‘Deported’ was apt and timely. “I am a brown Canadian, living in the United States under the Trump administration, so it made sense to call the tour that,” he says. So, what’s his take on Indian politicians? “I do not follow politics at all. However, I have been told that there are some stand-up comics making jokes on politicians. It should not be a problem. If you’re a public figure, you need to have thicker skin to be able to take jokes. It does not change whatever you are doing in office,” he says. He’s aware that the comedy scene in the country has grown in the past decade. “It is this booming business which is fantastic. However, I wonder how many of these comics could have otherwise become brain surgeons and saved lives instead.”

Peters’ Anglo-Indian parents moved from Bombay to Canada in the late ’60s. His ethnicity did not make it easy for him in school. In the ’90s, Peters was a well-connected DJ on the Toronto scene. When he was barely 19, he performed at open mics, but everything wasn’t rosy for him. “There were plenty of times where nobody would laugh at my jokes and I would get booed off stage.” Fame and success eventually came to Peters, when he met late American stand-up comedian George Carlin, who asked him to use the stage as much as possible. His Canadian TV show Comedy Now in 2004 went viral on YouTube.

Forbes in 2013 said that he was one of the highest paid comics, earning $21 million. While he is called the successful comedian you’ve never heard of in the international circuits, in India, he is known for his relatable, often self-deprecating content and politically incorrect jokes. However, he insists he is not under pressure on his India tour. “I don’t think I need to be more politically correct but definitely more socially sensitive. Indian audiences here are way sharper than Indian audiences in the west. They are more in tune with the rest of the world unlike Indians outside of India, who cling to their roots and try to be Indian, when they are actually not. They don’t realise that the India they left behind has moved on.”

He is currently working on a film called Street Justice, which releases later this year. It’s about two detectives who take to martial arts to bring justice to the streets after being disappointed by an ineffective judiciary.

Russell Peters’ Deported World Tour will be held in Delhi on May 31 at Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium, and in Mumbai, on June 2 and 3 at NSCI, SVP Stadium, Worli.

Tickets at insider.in