Toronto Tourism Magazine 2009 - (Page 19) e water? There’s no b these Toro etter place to see co nto’s clubs and events medy than at • Get onstag . e 224 Richm at Laugh Off at Yuk Yu ond St. W., w w w.yuk yu k’s, • Catch Th ks.com e Second C it y 51 Mercer St., w w w.s Theatre’s show, econdcity.c • Check ou om t th at Absolute e Dark Show ever y se Comedy, 23 cond Tuesda w w w.abso y lutecomed 35 Yonge St., y.ca • Don’t mis s bi 56 Blue Jays g-name acts at the D ie Way, w w w .dieselplayhsel Playhouse, • See the fu ouse.com nniest com ic Toronto Fe stival, July s at Just for Laughs 16 to 19, w w w.haha ha.com Is there so mething in th Toast of the Town Superstar funnyman Russell Peters is Toronto’s biggest fan How do you know when you’ve made it? For a star like Russell Peters, what sign, what invisible marker signifies that you’ve reached your zenith? Is it the awards (Peters has earned a handful of them)? Is it the bookings (Peters has criss-crossed the world playing clubs and festivals)? Or is it when a tidal wave of fans causes a system-wide computer crash seconds after online tickets go on sale for your new show? If that’s the metric then, ladies and gentlemen, Russell Peters has arrived. During a recent tour of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, Peters sold tickets at the astonishing rate of one ticket every two seconds. Can you say superstar? Like most star comics of his ilk, Peters doesn’t merely crack a good joke; instead he offers an ironic commentary on the human condition. “A good comedian is always watching and looking at the things around them,” says Peters, who points out that such keen scrutiny is something Canadians seem to be particularly adept at. “Canadians are watchers, observers, outsiders. Comedians are also watchers, observers, outsiders.” For Peters, being a visible minority provides fertile comic fodder. In fact, growing up in an Anglo-Indian family that was one of few ‘brown’ families in a predominantly white community forms the backbone of his latest DVD, Red, White and Brown. Photos: (left) Dharmainfrisco/Robyn; (centre) Kevin Baldes “I was born in downtown Toronto, but in 1975 my dad got transferred to Brampton [northwest of Toronto],” says Peters. “We moved there when I was five years old. It wasn’t until I moved away from downtown that I realized that I was different from the other kids. Living in Toronto, where everybody was from somewhere else, we were just like everybody else. In Brampton, in 1975, we stood out like a sore thumb. It’s not like that any more, though!” Red, White and Brown was recorded live at Madison Square Garden last year. (Peters remains one of only a handful of comedians to sell out that arena.) If his last CD was any indication, Red, White and Brown will be topping the sales charts and regarded as a serious laughing matter; his first CD was Outsourced, a record that contained the comic’s signature ‘Russell-isms’ – a series of wry observations about the world. Those observations struck a chord and the CD went 11 times Platinum in Canada. It is perhaps Peters’ uncanny ability to mimic accents, combined with a barbed wit that is aimed largely at racial and cultural differences, that have made him so popular around the globe; each audience embraces him as their own. (Although, he says, “In L.A., recently, I completely forgot [to joke] about the Latinos.”) Early and frequent exposure to a mosaic of cultures provided Peters with natural field research. “There are other multicultural cities in the world – like New York, London, Sydney – but Toronto is different,” he says. “Toronto has always been a multicultural, and by multicultural, I mean m-u-l-t-i-c-u-l-t-u-r-a-l. Everybody’s here, not just one or two different immigrant communities. ‘We are the world.…’” Without question, the world is Russell Peters’ oyster. 2009 marks his 20th anniversary as a comic and to celebrate Peters is touring Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom — no doubt to sold-out crowds hungry for his racy and racial brand of humour. TORONTO 2009 | 19 http://www.yukyuks.com http://www.secondcity.com http://www.absolutecomedy.ca http://www.dieselplayhouse.com http://www.hahaha.com
Contributors
Welcome
Cityscapes
Toast of the Town
In the Night Garden
Gooooal!
Take a Moment
Faces of Toronto
Red Rocket
Past Perfection
Water Lust
The Artist’s City
Living the Green Dream
York Region and North Toronto
Mississauga Marvels
Vine Country
Discovery Walks
Neighbourhoods of Greater Toronto
Listings
Visitor Resources
2009 Event Calendar
Parting Shot
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