The Man Who Put Indian Comedy on the Map

Written by Raj Bhandari for Tribe Desi Blog, republished with permission.

So why are so many desi comedians from Canada? Great article, drawing attention to the original, the $10M man – who Chris Rock calls the “most famous person no one has ever heard of…”

Image courtesy Russellpeters.com

If you are like me, and watched his clips on YouTube, you know the guy can be extremely funny, without offending any one race…”Peters’ specialty is the time-honored technique of affectionately observing culturaldifferences. What is unique is that his targeted cultures are rarely white or black. Though his most frequent targets are his fellow Indians, he aims at such overlooked nationalities and ethnicities as Guyanese, Pakistanis, Sri Lankans,South Africans, Vietnamese, Filipinos, Nigerians, Trinidadians, Jamaicans,Arabs, Mayans, Chinese and Persians. There are millions of people who hail from these countries and regions but live in the West and do not see themselves represented on stage or in the media. It is Peters’ genius to realize this vast untapped market exists. It helps that he is a master of accents: Indians imitating Jamaicans, Pakistanis vs. Indians, comparing Cantonese to Mandarin–watching him can feel like observing a UN session…”