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Russell Peters: Big in Dubai?
While it make take some time a Chinese Canadian Brad Pitt or Indo-Canadian Eminem to come along, Toronto's Russell Peters has now become an internal man of comedy based on his busting balls of ALL stereotypes. As funny as the Chris Rocks and Dave Chappelles of this world are, they really dont stray much from talking about black people and white people. With Peters, you get impersonations of the Chinese shop owner bargaining with you and Indian dad threatening to lay the smack down, stories of hangin out with the Jamaicans and nailing the white Canadian accent too.
But what about crackin Arab jokes? Funny enough Peters actually starting catching some flack from Arab fans for not making fun of them: "I kept getting e-mails from Arab kids going, 'Hey, why did you forget about the Arabs?' It's funny because people are complaining to me, asking me why I didn't pick on them." And, sure, he's played the UK and South Africa but what about.....Dubai? According the the Straight, when he "announced a concert this year in Dubai, there were near riots at the ticket outlets. The onslaught of ticket requests crashed computers. Peters had no idea who his fan base was there, but he added three extra shows."
But was it because of the big desi community in the UAE state? "I was expecting maybe they're expats; maybe they're all Indians. I walk out on-stage and about 80 percent of the audience is Arab. And it's not like they were just there like, 'Let's see what this guy's all about.' They were fans. They were into it."
READ ON: "Russell Peters: Fun with Stereotypes"
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