Blocks w/ Neal Brennan - Russell Peters

Episode Date: December 4, 2025

Neal Brennan interviews Russell Peters (Act Your Age Live in Abu Dhabi & Much More) about the things that make him feel lonely, isolated, and like something's wrong - and how he is persevering despite these blocks. 00:00 Intro 00:23 Meeting Neal with Chappelle in the 90s 1:24 Marriage & Co-Parenting 4:21 Relationships 8:56 Why Russell Likes Nice Things 10:25 Financial Incompetence 18:20 Touring 19:23 What he’d tell his younger self 22:09 How His Life Has Improved 29:21 Phoniness of the Industry 37:50 Inferiority Complex But Happy 46:09 Challenges of Being A Parent 56:17 Goals for Himself ---------------------------------------------------------- Follow Neal Brennan: https://www.instagram.com/nealbrennan https://twitter.com/nealbrennan https://www.tiktok.com/@mrnealbrennan Watch Neal Brennan: Crazy Good on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/81728557 Watch Neal Brennan: Blocks on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/81036234 Theme music by Electric Guest (unreleased). Edited by Will Hagle Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

My guest today I first met in 1997. He was in a Mercedes car. Lexus, actually. It was a Lexus in 1997. It was on the big street in Canada. And from the Sutton Place, I was filming half-baked. He was the comedian in Canada where he was, it's Russell Peters, like, you know. It's true.

I am still him. Yep. And that's a true story, correct? I was with Dave. Yep. Hanging out at his hotel room. I was dating a girl named Rochelle at the time. I remember a Rochelle.

And I was trying to hook her sister up with Dave. Oh. And her sister wasn't really having it. And I'm like, wait, he's really funny. And he's, you know, she's like, ah, I don't know. And then I remember one day we were hanging out in his hotel room there. And that's when Dave had his white Pomeranian, Stallonius. Oh, just monk, yeah.

And so we were hanging out in Dave's hotel room. And we're all laughing and joking and the dog's barking. And we're having a good time. And then we hear. on the door and i'm sitting on the bed so i can see who's at the front at the door and dave opens the door and all we hear is will you keep it down in there and dave looks at me and i look at him and i go oh shit it was uh uh esther roll she was staying either in across the hall or in the room next door it was the mom from good times and we both out oh my god mrs evans just

yelled at us unbelievable i was truly across the hall was that you i didn't i didn't tip i didn't tip her off but but god bless um so russell i know i here's what it looks like from the outside we tell we get it we get a little deep on this show which i know maybe not your thing but we'll see what you can do um you it seems like you get married a lot i've only been married twice oh is that true okay married once to my daughter's mother and then i got married uh three years ago to another lady okay and then how's that going that's where i got divorced now what do okay so i got married so here's if people are trying to keep score people always have it wrong i got married to my daughter's mother uh she got pregnant we didn't really

know each other and i was like we were dating and this is in canada no this was here okay okay then um she got pregnant and i was like well you know what let's try to do the honorable thing and get married so i tried to get the and we got married we had my daughter and realized we didn't really know each other we really didn't love each other like that yep we're great friends now Yeah, and it was never like, was it. It was never nasty, no. It was always nice and easy. And then I had my son with another lady who I was dating,

who I loved a lot and but you know we have, we broke up and now we're co-parenting successfully. Okay. But after a little bit of turmoil, you know how these things go? You break up with somebody and it gets nasty for a minute and then the settles down. So this isn't the marriage? No, no, that's not the marriage. That was my son's mother. Okay.

And then I got married to this other lady, three years ago. And I thought, you know, I thought I was getting married for the rest of my life. You really did. I remember seeing you and you being like, no, I'm, like, you were very earnest about it. And I was kind of like, I really, I did, even this getting divorced isn't because of me for the first time of my life. This isn't my fault. I won't get into the details of it. But for reasons, you know, I, it cannot, it cannot work.

Okay. There's certain things that are not negotiable in life. Yep. And, like, I could get past anything, really. Yeah. Cheating, whatever, whatever it is. None of that happened, but I'm just saying. Yeah. I could work past that.

But there's certain, like, if there's two people in the world you're not supposed to mess with and there's 8 billion people in the world you can mess with, mess with those 8 billion, don't mess with these two people. And some people choose to mess with the people that you should mess with. Are you the person who choose to mess with a person you're not supposed to mess with? No, no, no. That person, my, that person was the one who chose to mess two people that I said don't. oh she messed with two of your people yeah oh your parents no my kids oh your children so i was

like this is not yeah these are not negotiable things yeah well i you know i'm sure she had her reasons sure she thought it was going to work yeah i don't know how you could yeah i mean yeah you i'm once you you know but uh is it going to cost you a lot no i had a pre-no okay so it's just going to it's whatever it's mental anguish it's barely that it's just that it's just more of a damn there's a lot of damn happening like damn like me why couldn't you just yeah you know what i mean like for the did you ever like okay i don't want to let's talk about okay you know me a long time go yeah but i but it's a public forum so what i what i'm curious about is did you say to her when it started going that way like oh don't do this it's exactly i'm telling you

this is not good i said early i said the things you're doing will be the demise of you and me so please don't go down that road yeah and you know some people just have a tough time admitting instead of going you know what you're right i don't want to no no i'm not i'm not all right go ahead wrong and strong some people think wrong and strong is the answer and yeah it's never the answer it can be for some people in there are rare instances of which you can be yeah but but but but and so are you brokenhearted no i'm not brokenhearted disappointed but Why are you not broken on it, if you don't mind me asking? Because I had enough time to process it.

Got it. And ultimately your kids come first. Yeah, yeah, that's true. It's one of those things where, like, I know I made the right decision. Were you thinking that you guys were going to have kids? No, no, no, no, we're both old. Oh, great. I'm 55, she's 53.

We would have had a teenager if she had a kid. 53. Talk about an unforced error at 53. Yeah, I know, I know. And her kids, you know, she has grown kids. So that's why it puzzled me that you would, you know, whatever. Yeah. the deal is um so that's good that's uh shows uh okay well that that's what interesting thing about you

is you've never seemed um that prone to big swing big dips of like emotion or big like very like depressed like heartbroken you know when i do it it's on my own time go on when i you know i don't I'm not a, I don't do it for the attention. I do it because it's actually happening. You know what I mean? Yeah, no, I know. I know, I know, but when it's happening, I, I'm to myself. Nobody will know.

Got it. What's it look like? Just quieter. I retreat more, you know, don't want to see people. Got it. How long, how long do they last? Either a couple of days, a couple of weeks, but nothing crazy. What are the, and then you come out of it.

It's just like, it's almost like having a period, I feel like. What, yeah, what have your big ones been? The big ones were in my, son's mother and i broke up that was a big one and i went through a lot of dark even though you weren't married even though we weren't married because i really it was into her and uh and uh but you know when they have problems with you what's their problem i don't know you know the thing is i start to realize like i saw a quote the other day that really made a lot of sense and it was like women sleep with who they want to men sleep with who they can and then it said something

about men uh women uh marry who they can and men marry who they want oh that's interesting you know yeah and then it was like you know about you know you're ultimately you're the prize don't don't don't play yourself you know yeah yeah like because we're men we're making the money we're doing whatever we want we ultimately have the choices to make in this in this situation yeah and do they how do you how do you find the distribution do are you aware of that in it or when you're in it are you like in caught up in the romance and the fun and like oh yeah you always get caught up and i think i don't know about you but i know i'm i'm one of those i fall in love quick kind of guys because you know you i was rejected a lot as a teenager so you you got to start going well girls like

me and then you realize yeah they like you because you got a black card that's why they like you you're a millionaire that's why they like you but you have to remind yourself this is why they like you it's hard to tell the difference though it really is you know what's great about me though is that I don't think women like me because of money because I'm such a pain in the ass oh yeah no I know I'm such a thing about skinny guys with long dicks so they yeah yeah but even that is like that I don't first of all if you trust any compliment of women women gives of your dick you're a fool yeah no I'm I'm I'm not like you should it doesn't make it they could it could be true and I still like I'm not going to

to believe us oh yeah yeah i know i get i've had that with some girl like you big dick motherfucker i'm like who you talk who's in the room because it ain't me bitch i mean yeah um the yeah so there is the the i don't i don't they don't they don't get anything for it do you know what i mean like you you shop i is my understanding of you like i'm a show you enjoy big cars i like and you like bags of shit yeah i'm like a rapper yeah i'm like a rapper yeah And for lack of a better term, I, well, I'm not as bad as I once was, but yeah, I still like nice things, you know. So I think they think like, well, if I get with this guy, I'm going to get, I'll get stuff. So that attracts a different kind of woman.

You're not getting, you're not getting, I mean, you'll, you're not going to not getting it. You might take them to crossroads if they're with you. I'll take them to crossroads, of course, get an entree, an app, an entree and a dessert if you like, if that's how you're all. But white people, like yourself, Neil. handle money a lot better than people that I don't know how you're Indian though right yeah but I didn't grow up like regular like my mom worked in a in Kmart in the cafeteria in in the store and my dad worked at a meat packing plant so we didn't come up like that but there was no professionals okay so it's like it was ends meet at all times got it and then and then

if I wanted something I would have my like I wanted something you're going to figure out how to get it work hard whatever and that's how that's and do you have you had to rein it in your own spending oh yeah absolutely yeah absolutely give me a give me a rock bottom uh well during uh pandemic uh my accountant at the time gave me horrible advice and i he did my accountant really fucked me over pretty good during during the pandemic he made me sell my house which i didn't need to sell i sold over 7.8 million or something like that it's worth 15 now. I'm like, you motherfucker. And I never wanted to sell that house. I love that house. I don't get attached to things, but that house was one of the things. Yeah. There was in like

Hidden Valley or something. Hidden hills, yeah. Yeah. So that house I sold. Why? Because you were spending too much or something? Well, yeah, because I didn't realize how much I was spending. I was spending like $2,000 a month. I think I'm going to bleep some of these numbers because they're so rude. Yeah, they're obscene. They're obscene. On what? Cars, houses. um i had like my friends that i grew i had health insurance for my friends you know and they're canadian so fucking no no they're all americans you know the canadians don't need it uh i was just spending recklessly you know i just i was overextending myself and yeah because if you're spending two every month you got to make six or seven a year six seven million a year oh no that's

the easy but i mean then i wasn't working for like you know how many months and i was So I'm hemorrhaging money at that point. Yeah. And so it was all full panic at that time. And again, we didn't know when we're going to work again. Yep. And did you, did so, so your lesson was you don't need to, you don't need to rain it in? Yeah, so I rained it in from there.

And now, you know, I'm in a much more reasonable. Yeah, more reasonable. So you don't have to sell out. Still a huge nut, but you don't have to sell. You don't have to sell. No, any housing, any time of it. No, I just sold them. because i didn't need them anymore got it um okay so so oh tell me more about the your your relationship

with money because it having come from none being a white yeah haven't come from i didn't come from well my dad was a lawyer but he had 10 kids so it was like your dad had 10 kids i'm one of 10 i only thought it was you and kevin no no there's 10 of us there's eight more which one are you the youngest the baby yeah wow yeah tell me about your relationship with money because i'm i'm i'm genuinely as somebody who saw i i just valued i like started working i'm sure you did too early and like save for college save for and then once i've started like i was financially illiterate illiterate and still and still financially yeah just so everyone knows i mentioned what an in i mentioned an index fund to russell before we started and he said i've never heard

of it yep so just see that's he true he walks the walk he really is illiterate I wish I wasn't, you know. It's, you could, you could take an hour and get pretty literate with it. Do you understand that you need to make more than you spend? Yes, yes, that I understand. Like, so you're, are you, have you ever had like a lot of debt? Yeah, I got put in debt from my old accountant. He tax debt.

Oh. He filed my taxes for two years and a row and didn't pay them. He didn't steal the money. He just didn't pay the fucking taxes. I was like, what the fuck is going on? This is the guy who told you to sell the house? Yeah, I fired him subsequently, obviously. Huh. But I didn't find out that he didn't pay my taxes until after I'd fired him.

Because I signed everything thinking, okay, it's my business manager. You take care of the And it was just a whoopsie daisy? How do you whoopsie daisy at two years in a row? Well, where's the money? Again, I don't know. He never took it. So I don't know what he did with it. It's a whoopsie daisy. I guess on some sort of some level is a whoopsy daisy, but it's some... Was he by himself? He had his own company, but then he stole the company, and I think that's where things started to get

fucked up because he was thinking other people are doing the job that they should be doing and they don't know me right um okay so you you had debt but that's not like credit card debt or something stupid like you you you've been making a great living as far as i remember for 20 years at least yeah um and uh and so but it's and you have no compunction about you'll you'll buy anything No, I won't do that anymore But there was a point It was definitely a point where I'd be like Ooh, is that a watch?

100 grand, I want that I'd go buy it Now I'm like Five grand, are you crazy? I ain't buying shit But did you? Was it Because you bought enough

100 grand things And realized like This is fucking I don't do anything with them Yeah, I realized You know, during all that time That when I was getting When I started weeding things out

During the pandemic I got rid of a convertible Rolls Roy's I got rid of a BMW you i got rid of my Lamborghini i got rid of all the dumb shit i sold i sold a bunch of why watches i got like 300 grand for these watches you know what i mean so i was like uh yeah i didn't and then i you know yeah i miss them sometimes i'm like when i see somebody wearing the same watch i used to have i go fuck i used to have that watch you know what is that it's it's not it's not it's such a momentary feeling you know it's like i had you had the money you just decided to not

have it anymore i was like i had that what do you get from wearing a nice watch because i had a Rolex at one point and was like, I don't know what I mean by this. Like, I didn't know the what I was saying. Do you know what I mean? Like, maybe you just did it to do it because it seemed like the thing. Yeah, I was like it seems like. For me, it's like I like nice things on me. You know what I mean? I've never even understood that. Meaning what does that mean? Like I like to hold something in my wrist. Oh, it's I. So there's a little trophy of what I worked for. And it doesn't. Okay. And you don't think like this was a waste. I wish I, you could buy safety with it. You. You could buy safety with it. And it. And it. And it's. You could buy. You. You. You could buy safety with it. And it. And it. And it. You could buy. And it. And it. And you. And you. And you. And you. And you. And you. or you just feel like that i don't still don't think like that i still have to get there so once i get out of the financial hole that i was left in then i'll start looking at all right now it's time to put some money away for the right oh you're still in the hole oh yeah he left me in an eight million dollar hole well well um so and you worked it out with the government like oh i'll get you the money oh yeah no i mean i i'm i busted my ass i'm i'm already down less than half of that now and so so you're so now you're like being frugal and well yeah i mean you know frugal for you

way more frugal than i was yeah yeah uh you have two houses you said are you why don't you sell one of them i did oh you but now i have one i'm back oh got it got it got it got it all right sold it i i kept so i had my malibu house the whole time and i sold it i didn't sell it i had leased it out and then when i was looking for another i was living in encino after i moved from Hidden Hills and I was like I wanted another house I wanted a bigger house because I felt a little confined in that Encino house and then the houses I was looking at online looked like the house I already owned in Malibu and I was like well why don't I just move back to my Malibu house yeah so that's exactly what I did and

then I sold the Encino house and now here's my issue with Malibu ready yeah to cold I agree a hundred and not a real beach it's not a I just spent a bunch time in Hawaii that's a real beach Yeah, I agree with you. It's 80 degrees pretty much night and day, 75. And Malibu's like the warmest it gets like 73? No, I mean. It's still breezy as shit.

Yeah, what sucks is it's decent in the day, but it gets very windy in the day. Now, night times in Malibu people don't know this is warmer. Is that true? Yeah, especially where I'm at. And nighttime it gets still and warm. And I'm like, why isn't it like this during the fucking day? Are you on the beach? No, I'm across the street from it.

And fires? Do you have any fire? No. It didn't get that far? Three of them have missed me now. Miss me, bitch. Missed me with that shit. Did you, okay, so do you have any plan?

Do you, are you, so you're on the right, you're on the road to something more manageable with money? Yes. Is it a thing you worry about? Yeah, of course it is. That's why I'm on the road every weekend. Okay, so now, because it, because, so you went from whatever to like, oh, shit. Yeah, now I have to work. But I love it still, so it's okay.

Yeah. Where are you and you're just, you're all over the world? I'm all over the world, all over the place. Big venue, small venue, big venue, small venue, club, whatever. And it's the relaxed tour. You're on it now. I'm on it right now. Okay, so what do you make of the difference between, what would you say to the guy who was

throwing toss a money around? chill the name of the tour is called relax by the way it is called um where what is that is that who are you talking to um oh you know what so here i got the name i was at costco and this guy made a joke made a joke and his wife got upset and he just goes oh relax it's not that serious and then i started laughing and oh that's a great name for a tour yeah that's exactly how i got the name yeah um okay so do you what what would you would you say to the to the to the to the toss of money around guy um what professions he in you know comedy it's you what would you talking to myself yeah oh i tell myself relax it's not

that but yeah but i'm saying like would you like yo you need to chill do you do you wish you know what i you know what i blew money on i think the biggest waste of money i i did was private jets when i didn't need them got it's a great way to burn 30 grand yeah it's i never i i see that i've like a kate I haven't even really entertain it, but I'm like, I don't know the, I can imagine the amount of money I'd have, have to have to do that comfortably, but even then I'd rather, I understand like the convenience of like, you can leave whenever, but kind of, that's, you know, within a window. And I would do it, I would do it frivolously. Like, it would be like, I'd finish the show on a Saturday night.

And I know I got a flight the next morning, but I'm like, I want to go home now. Yeah. I'd call it the private check company. You got anything out here? Yeah. How much? Okay. Get a guest up. I'm coming. And it felt cool. And it felt cool. It was a great flex. But then, you know, you're home eight hours before you were going to be home.

It's like, really? You just spend that much money for eight hours. And who are you flexing for? I would do it for my own mental. I would do it for myself sometimes. Just like, fuck it. I want to go home. I get there's something sweet about that if your kids are involved. Yeah, I would get home and see my daughter at the time. I did it more before my son was born. Yeah, that's another one of those money things where, like, I just, I'm, I think about how many private jets I didn't need to take and how much money I would have had I not taken them.

Uh-huh. Yeah. Well, yeah, does, and there was a time where I'd considered buying a private jet, like 12 years ago. It's a lot of money. It is a lot of money. And you kind of don't save, because it's all on fuel, right? You spend a lot of money on fuel, maintenance, pilots, everything. You got a, it's not a, yeah, it's not a wise decision on any level.

have friends that are billionaires are good you have a plane nope yeah and why not waste of money i go all right well if they think it's a waste of money then it's definitely a fucking waste of money so the flexing thing you certainly have bought that like i think you bought the narrative of like not you bought the but like i came from nothing like you love hip-hop and you like probably put yourself as the star of every song and like i became not supposed to be here and i came from nothing and my mom worked came hard at a certain point do you just go all right this is a stupid well yeah now that i'm five years old uh-huh back and you go oh yeah but at the same time am i am i glad i did it i'm glad i did it yeah yeah because i i'd rather live a life of

oh wells and what-ifs you know okay uh do you find the stress that you're do you would you consider yourself under stress now i'm far less stressed out now why because i don't put the pressure on myself anymore i got i'm much in a much better place now because you know there's When you're in this business, and you know how this business is. It's finicky as fuck. You're in, you're out. Well, that's why I've saved everything. Your flavor of the month.

Yeah, that's why I've saved money. You're in favor. You're out of favor. And there was a time where I was just chasing it. And I'm like, you know what? Fuck this business. Fuck this Hollywood bullshit industry. I always thought it was stupid because you had a fan base.

Yeah, no. I, well, I was like, why are you fucking? Yeah, I, you know, there was always that thing where I just want to do some movies and some acting and become something. And I want to be, and then I was like, you know what? Fuck, fuck the machine. It all disintegrated, by the way. Yeah, it did. It's in the midst of disintegrating.

You know, I look at who was cool with me and who's not cool with me now. And I'm like, oh, you using, you used me, you pieces of shit. Friends, obviously? No, business industry. What were they using you for? Whatever it was to open, to expand their business to international and then leave me on the side and go with bigger names. Ah, got it. Yeah.

um and is that part of the fickle thing yeah the industry's fickle yeah because i was like i said i thought it was silly that you i was like you have a fan base yeah and my fan base is solid and strong and and so loyal and so amazing so i i'm a fool to chase anything else yeah it's also like not it's you have what everyone's chasing yeah it's like the oldest story it's you know it's like it was right on who knows the whole time yeah look i started doing arenas in 2007 and i'm still doing them in 2025 yeah so i need to just shut the fuck up and accept and be happy yeah it's like what what did you want yeah no that's well that's that's the piece i have now is that i don't i don't i want what i have yeah and i'm enjoying what

i have now as opposed to you know you know the grass is greener and i think once you start to settle down in life with that then you like you start to appreciate the things you have Yeah. Did it, were there, was there a moment where it, like, kicked in for you? There wasn't a one particular moment, but it just started, a feeling started. And I was like, people like, do you want to go? And I go, no. And I don't want to be around the phonies. This business is full of fucking phonies. You know. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you know, I go out and I see, like, fuck them. Fuck that guy. Fuck them. Fuck that person.

Full of shit. Oh, we should. We should. Yeah. Yeah, you should. It's hard. But the problem with me is I tell. I tell. But the problem with me is, I tell. them to their face that they're full of shit. Oh, that's fine. I'm like, what are you going to do? Fight me, I'll knock you out. I don't fucking, fucking, you know what I mean? Like, yeah, fuck out of here with your bullshit.

Hey, well, Russell, man, I love you. I shut the fuck up. You don't love anybody but yourself. You and you fucking piece of shit. I don't want to tell, you know what I mean? Yeah. You heard Gilly talking about the Rock Nation brunch. They call us, right?

They say, uh, Gilly, we want to invite you to the Rock Nation brunch. I'm gonna say, why would I want to come? Why wouldn't you want to come? I said, you'd want me to keep it real with you? You want me to lie to you. You put a book. I said, The Rock Nation brunch ain't of nothing but Jay-Z putting a bunch of on the lawn and then going in the back door and saying,

I told you I still run this shit. Give me the money. Wow. You think I'm letting use my brand? I don't let nobody allow me use my brand with their brand. What do you get from going to these parties except for a picture? Don't even smile with you if you ain't worth $500 million or more. Let's be for real.

Tony's smiling. He does one of the billionaires in a picture. Look at all these broke ass on the law. Okay, let's say the Rock Nation brunch. I would see a photo of everybody at that brunch. And I'm like, why wasn't I invited? Yeah. Because then you see some, like, comics that are there.

And you're like, what the fuck are they invited? Right. You're like. Kevin Hart, what are you doing? Kevin Hart and Bill Burr, why are you guys? I'm kidding. Well, Kevin doesn't say no to anything. no they should be there they're fucking great comic but i'm saying uh okay so that's that's interesting

the the the realization that like oh this is all but yeah at the same time you i i i was my arc with is like i don't want to be cynical yeah i'm not i don't want to believe that there's we have no there's no kinship between you and i do you know what i mean like i don't want to just be like oh russell he only likes me because i don't know it's not even that it's not even that it's not even that it's the fakeness of it all it like you are you and i always keep it real we know where our friendship stands yep we don't fucking hang out we don't call each other but when we see each other we're good yeah but there's never like a a social climbing aspect of it it's just like that's neil that's russell yeah each other there's guys that you've known for a long time you you look at it

as a com i look at comedy as like a class uh and you know there's our class yeah my class is burr and i mean like as you mean age yeah like as an age and as an like graduating class doing the same type of show yeah we started the same time we're moved along the same you know yeah we're all like this group of people yep and people like chris rock no he was the group before me yeah you know so it's dave burr patrice you know and all those guys we all moving like this and then there's another group after us yep you know that yeah and that's fine yeah and that's just the way it goes yeah uh So it's the, yeah, it's the, but when people try to act like, I love seeing somebody and not going, we should, we got to hang out. Like there's something liberating about it now where you just go like, I'm the same.

Great to see you. Yep. This is where it is. This is, let's leave it there. Goodbye. And there's no expectation. Is he disappointed in my? No, this is what it is.

Yeah. I'm right there again. We've established it. Is that a thing that broke your heart or no? No, I mean, there was so many moments where people, I just realized it's fucking phonies. I feel like you're talking about agents, though. No, I'm talking about comics, agents, everybody, the whole fucking business. Yeah.

There's comics that, there's so many comics that I helped. I took on the road with me, introduced them to different parts of the world. I took guys on the road when they needed money. And a lot of these guys are doing really well now. Not one of them has reached back and said, hey, man. I got this thing, I'm doing, and you're like, you see them, they write a movie and you're like, wow, I remember when you were broke and you know,

you took you and your kids out and, yeah, or you know, or you needed money and I took you on the road and I paid you more than you would have got and had you headlined that weekend. Yeah. You know, you can ask one guy for a video. Hey, man, you send a video from my niece just saying, what's up? No, you can reply to the text, but the five second video can just be like, hey,

like, now I look like an asshole to my niece. I mean, yeah. But when you were short on cash and you needed somebody to talk to, I was the guy. Yeah. Yeah, so I look at all these things and I go, all right. And you can't follow me for free on Instagram.

Get the fuck out of here. Yeah. You know, follow me and mute me. Yeah, that's fine, yeah. Just, yeah. I see that too. I see all the guys that like, and I know they're watching me just to watch like, what move should I make next?

Oh, that looks like a good move. Well, yeah, well, go and take it, fuckface. I know you're gonna get it anyway, so. Are you, do you find, how would you describe this, because if somebody's like, listen is like this guy's bitter? No, I'm not bitter at all. What would you say?

Yeah. I'm not bitter at all. I'm awakened to it. Yeah. And I'm not the phony guy. I'll never be the fake guy. I will not pretend to like you. I will not bite my tongue if I think you're full of shit. And that's just me being real.

And this industry, the last thing this industry wants is somebody that's real. They don't want you to be real. The more fake and phony you are, the better chance you got a move ahead. Well, now it's not even, I actually don't. I think that industry is kind of ending. the fake industry that's the thing that's disintegrating i think there's no benefit to being phony anymore well there's so many people that have been phony for so long they don't know how to not be

phony right but i'm saying like they don't like shows are just gonna tv shows are just all gonna end and it's gonna be all podcasts it's gonna be podcast it's gonna be youtube videos it's gonna yeah so like the idea of like you act a certain way and i don't even think you can you can like lie your way up Yeah, well, that's why I feel liberated, because I see that the only thing you can't change is you. Yeah. Like, you are your essence is you. And if you are going to be, if you want to be true to, like, I want to be able to go to sleep at night and not have to worry about did I, didn't I? Yeah, should I? Shouldn't I? No, I'm like, fuck that. I went to, I went to bed with a clear conscience knowing.

Well, that's, that was, again, what you, the, the benefit you always had, which is like, you had a fan base. Yeah. I feel like you did, you had that one big viral video in 08, 07, 03, 04, whatever, and like, you still have the same fans. The Chinese people and Indian people cannot do business together. Because Indians cannot live without a bargain and Chinese people cannot give you a bargain. Yeah, I was the first YouTube guy. Yeah, like that's legitimate. Like it was the first where it was like a million hits.

Yeah. how yeah it was yeah the first you like i've never even heard of this platform let alone a million people saw it yeah it was pretty cool time i think back to those times i'm and and what i i think what i'm trying to get back to is the in the is this i was such a everything was so new and i was so green and it was just such a fun time mentally i'm trying to get myself back into that fun space where it's like let's just enjoy this the way we enjoyed it then well what's stopping you well no i'm back i'm getting there yeah i mean i'm like i'm like i'm like fuck it what did it become it became you start to feel like a product you start to feel a little

hoard out you know by yourself but i just feel like you were just like i mean you know doing road gigs right yeah i know you're but that but now i'm doing road gigs now and i'm liking it again i'm not doing i even though i'm doing it because i have to do it um but i'm also loving it because I don't feel the need to do anything else. I'm doing a lot of DJing too. You're not looking over your shoulder. You're not, you're not comparing yourself. And I'm not, I'm not looking at,

why is that person doing that one? I don't give a fuck. Congratulations on what you're doing. I'm doing me. It's also age is interesting. Yeah, well, that's the thing. You get older, you get a little bit more. Yeah.

You know, your stamina is not what it once was. Because by the way, a lot of people fall off. Oh yeah, and I look at that. Yeah, no, I know, and you just go, okay. So I'm jealous of this person, but meanwhile, like, you're looking at all these, all these, like, sort of corpses, for lack of a better term, like, and you're like, okay. Yeah, I'm still standing.

Well, this is going pretty well for me. Yeah. It's going better for me than almost anybody. So let me stop looking at. Yeah, I'm not counting your money anymore. I'm doing my own thing. Yeah. Well, are you counting your money?

Well, somebody's getting it. and how it how have you evolved in any ways that have surprised you are you did you always think you were going to flex till did you think you were going to flex till you die did you know i think i did think that at one point and i and then i realized um once i started meeting like literally i started meeting billionaires uh-huh and i started talking them and they started kicking game to me about things and i was like that makes not index funds but other game um they had not indexed ones but they were like and they started you know telling me what I you know what I need to do and I was like well they said when you get out of your situation and

you're ready to go I got you I'll put you on to something that I know will you can't lose on and it's not like a gambling situation yeah it's like these are solid investments you're gonna need to do this and this yeah but you thought that you there was some well you see billionaires don't really flex they don't there's no point yeah well people always ask me you know I see kids you know I see kids on the internet, on Instagram posting, like their new car or whatever. Oh, this is, you know, look at how fly.

And I'm like, I never posted anything like that ever. I've never flossed on the gram ever. You never did? Never. Why not? Because I do it for me. I don't do it for you. I was doing it for me.

I wanted to know that I had these things for me. And I also, you're setting yourself up to get in trouble that way. Well, you're trying to get robbed. That's the thing. It's like, I'm not trying to get robbed. Yeah, I'm not trying to get robbed. and I got, you know, killers at the house, so you don't want to come there.

And he's paying their health insurance, so they know they can act recklessly. They won't bleed out. Why do you have killers at the house? They're just friends, you know. Right, but I'm saying, like, what's the, do you, is it a thing that you? No, you know, it's like, you know,

you get around certain groups of people, and they've done some time in their life. Uh-huh. but when you're genuine and they're those are probably the most genuine people you meet they uh you you gel with them and then they feel safe with you because you're not a threat to anything and when they're out with me they don't have to look over their shoulders because they know that there's no they are the person to yeah there's nothing nefarious happening at this point yeah unless there's a mirror looking back at themselves yeah and then you see these guys at my

house that like some of them did 30 something years in jail in prison and they're my house Jones jacuzzi just smiling and living their best life when they're do they live with you or they're none of they come and hang out oh got a week or so once once every couple months like a camp kind of like a summer camp for adult former for ex-cons do you when you say you did it for yourself is it that what what what did you believe about your did you actually believe about you did you feel like um did like culture or the way you grew up did you feel like you feel feel sort of less valuable? Always.

100%. I've always, since the age of about three or four, have had an inferiority complex. Got it. And that's because growing up in Canada, in Toronto in the 70s and 80s, I dealt with racism from a very young age, very, very young age. And not like a little bit of racism where they kind of don't like you. No, this is like venomous. Clear.

I would like you to know that I think you're bad. And not just from your peers, from adults. Like I'm a five, six year old kid, and the guy, a grown man spray me with his hose and tell me to get the fuck out of here. And that wasn't like a singular incident. Things like that would happen all the time, you know. So I became very leery, and that's why I hung around

the black kids, because they never did that to me. Okay, so you, did you, it didn't make you angry? No, you know what the funny thing is? I think you have a, everybody has a default setting. And some people's default setting is anger, some is misery, some is sadness. my default setting has always been happiness. Yeah.

So I'm innately a happy person. Yeah. So when I get off track and get a little grumpy or shitty or whatever, I'm not being me then. So I want to get back to me where I'm just innately a happy person. And so even when that shit would happen to me as a kid, I never went, oh, you're happy with an inferiority. It's a very bizarre thing. No, I know.

It's very, very, very. By the way, I don't, I know you well enough to think you're not, well, I don't disagree with you yeah like what i've witnessed of you over a long period of time occasionally is i would say you have an inferiority complex and i would say you're a happy guy absolutely and it was you know it was a lot of so you know you grow up and then you're you're a teenager and you're still dealing with the same shit and girls rejecting you because you're not black white you're you're this fucking indian guy i by the way want to say that i didn't like your reaction to your inferiority complex i didn't like seeing you push showbiz i didn't like seeing you go like what about me kind of

that energy it just didn't i was like man fucking you're such an uh happy go lucky guy just fucking enjoy yourself yeah well that's that's what i've come to realize and i think the minute i gave up on that everything settled down yeah because you're not chasing i'm waiting for somebody else to validate me i know and i and that sucks yeah yeah Because why can't I just validate myself? So I accepted validating myself. The hard part is the validation of yourself. You wanna validate yourself, right?

Absolutely. But you also want to have some status. You want somebody co-sendment. You want status in a word social animals. It's a society, it's a civilization. I'd like to be closer to the top because there's more safety there. There's more.

And if you feel like you had the safety, because you had money and of course the killers, the killer, the killer, the campers. And but, yeah, it's like, all of us are chasing it a little bit. Oh yeah, you gotta chase something. You need the motivation. But if you don't, if you enjoy the journey to that, the right way, it won't seem as taxing.

I mean, they have to keep telling you to enjoy the journey because it's hard to enjoy it. Well, right now. It's hard, it's just not innate, I don't think. I don't think that's people's. There's plaques of enjoy the journey in fucking your grandma's house. Yeah, yeah, no, absolutely.

But there's also, then you start to realize the spoiled aspects, how you've been spoiled over the years, you know, like, like, people like, I gotta go to Europe for a tour or whatever, and I'm like, well, I know I'm going flatbed on a, on whatever flight I'm going on. But like Lufthansa's beds aren't as good as- It's exactly what my fucking issue is.

Last year, 24, I did this private gig for this billionaire. Uh-huh. seventh richest guy on the planet we'll fly you're inferior or your inferiority or i had no inferiority there i knew i was inferior at that place that's not a complex that's a reality uh-huh you know complex is like you're around people that are less than you and you think they're more than you these are all people that are more than me and i had no problem being there and i financially i had my accepted my position quite easily yeah humble yourself and everything so they tell me they'll fly me from l. a to rome i got to you know i got to meet them in

Rome. I looked at the flights. I was like, that's a shitty plane. That's too long. That's no. And I said, you know what? I want Emirates first class. And they said, you want to go from L.A. to Dubai, Dubai to Rome? I go, yes. That's a, that's a 48-hour, yep, that's fine. Go to the lounge. No problem. No problem. So they booked it. I bet you know the lounge in Dubai real well. I do know, I know the, I know the fucking employees. I bet you do. Dubai that's a good thing about being Indian and it is like I bet you not even in just like your everyone every place you go like that the staff is like yeah yeah that must be awesome yeah I'm I'm their guy whereas me they're like doesn't bring a bow so more coffee

more arleman yeah so so so yeah that's but yeah it's what you think is uh what we talk tell ourselves are problems that are just preferences yeah uh anyhow the so you had this inferior i guess inferiority complex um and you're happy go lucky i think temperament's one of the biggest things in life in terms of, I mean, your reaction. I've heard the phrase recently, your reaction is your reality? Yeah. And I tend to not react anymore.

I wait for whatever's happening. I never knee jerk. I relate everything to boxing. You know, I'm boxed amateur for a long time. So if a guy hits him with a punch, I don't like, I'm not gonna say, ow. Right. You don't go, ow!

He's gonna hit you with that shot again. You have to suck that up and put it your head go well that fucking sucked why for that i let me counter that i feel like you were saying out for a while oh no i definitely was yeah that's i definitely was and that's why i was like what are you doing you're letting people know what bothers you yeah don't let anybody know what bothers you if nobody knows what bothers you they can't bother you well they can but they don't know they're doing right and it'll and it it's just a bad look yeah it's a bad look to complain that you're to complain about anything unless it's legitimate yeah it's never let you're

go dictate your moves that's what i say yep and but you did for a long time definitely did i have no problem admitting that i was fucking up pretty good and but you were you seem to look into be enjoying it oh i was enjoying it you know but i was chasing chasing something that wasn't there yeah and you just continuously chase it's almost like it's like it's like being a crackhead yeah you know that first high was and by the way yeah by the way but you never even really get the first high you were a heroin addict yeah for you basically you were a heroin out you had a lifetime supply of heroin in arenas clubs theaters and you're like but no but I want that I want to be on I want I want to be filmed and in stories and it's like dude you get you're fucking a great live

performer it's true that's what I you know there was for so long I wanted to be on the night and late night talk shows I haven't been on a late night talk show and I would say at least 12 years. Well, ask me if I give a fuck anymore. Also, I'm a young person. What's a late night talk show? Exactly. I mean, that's what I'm at.

We're at a point now with irrelevant. It's disintegrating. It's, it was getting irrelevant and now they're just going to collapse. Yeah, and I'm good with that too, because I'm like, yeah. I'm not, again, I'm not, I'm not like mad at the. I'm not even mad at them. A lot of them are my friends, but I'm like,

they're going to do what they're going to do. Yeah. If you're not in their, in their line of sight, then you're out of sight. mine that's fair too yeah also and then i look at i look at other people who i admire who aren't on these shows either and i go well if they're not on yeah no way i'm gonna fucking be yeah it's their show yeah but then burr is the lead guest and i'm like fucking happy for burr yeah i'm happy for the show that they had the good taste to have bar you know what i mean like yeah i did none of it none of it

faces me anymore good or bad so yeah so that is the thing of like just wait it out you again you have a lifetime of live heroin i do and i'm going to shoot up for the right yeah you should I'm I'm shooting my toes my fingers yes yes you're gonna go you're a fly around the world you did some of it's a big bag some little bag yeah uh take it all yeah and people love your audience fucking loves you russells they are very very solid with me and but I don't take that for granted that's why I work hard and making sure I give them a good show when they come. Yeah.

I never phone it in for them. How what are your kids? 14 and 6. Okay, so you still have some parenting. Yeah, a lot of parenting. How do you like it? I mean, you know, I love my kids, obviously. So as a comedian, I know that we tend to run selfish.

That's the job. I used to judge myself about it. I never met a selfless comedian. I think you can't write me. It's you don't need to do it, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Yeah. What do you find the challenges of being a parent? The challenges of being a parent, well,

I think it's a little more challenging for myself because I've made this complicated mess. With all the moms. With all, two different moms, two different kids, two different cities. Oh, wow, where's he at Toronto? No, one's in, you know, one's in, one's in the valley, one's in the other side of the five.

LA is a big guess. Yeah, so, you know. and then trying to navigate between all these different then as your kids get older they start to have their feelings and emotions and they start to have their opinions and their wants and needs and it's not as easy as when they were just a little kid and you could just take them here and take them there and drop them off drop them off now like I want to do this I don't want to do that and you're like how do you handle uh legit criticism from your kids obviously more from the 14 than the 6 do you is it are there are you ever like uh no my my daughter has said things to me uh more lately that are a little bit way more honest the next six to eight years are going to be a lot no i know and and whatever it even made me go damn she's a person with actual valid opinions yeah and uh so like valid opinions that you agreed disagreed or it doesn't even matter they're they're they're definitely valid and and there's but i mean some of it might be a little skewed yeah but it's not

not far off from what it really is can you say i mean i've apologized to my mom about not under i didn't watching my girl raise her son and being involved you know whatever at like i am um i was like oh this is so hard how involved are you as a uh as a partner we were we we we we i was pretty involved um so so i've been i've been it's don't worry it's not a podcast not important sounds not important um the uh the i'm pretty involved so so how old is the kid uh he's about turn five and how old is he when you met him three uh about to turn like you know late threes so he's cool with you yeah we're we he's a person i'm a person we have a word i think i know what his spirit is Does you call you Neil?

Yeah. Okay. Anyway, my point is, can you say to your daughter, I, you know, the thing that I didn't realize about my parents, my relationship with my parents is like they, just the, the, the, whether they're like loving in a tonal way. Right. I was putting so much weight because I'm like, therapist and all that shit of like, I didn't love your tone of your, and it's like, they're being.

behavior they did loving shit like they yeah provided that's a huge that's 90% of love are you going to be able to explain that to your daughter um well or were you more than i know i'm i'm very i'm a very loving dad yeah i'm very huggy kissy yep tell you i love you every five second very present yeah yeah well all right so maybe she's not going to have a case She told me, she said, Daddy, I said, do I hug and kiss you too much? He said, well, let's just say this. I'm never going to have daddy issues. And then I said, well, that's nice.

She goes, I might have mommy issues, but I'm not going to have daddy issues. So that's fine. My son is my twin less far as like behavior goes. And I'm like, oh, oh, but he's only six. But he's me when I was a confident adult, but at six. And I'm like, oh, this guy's unstoppable. Great. What are your?

And he's got the. his default is happiness he's a very sweet kid and with no uh no prompting and inferiority complex none he's a handsome kid he's a good looking good popular kid at school you know um is and what are your what's your goals for them i just want to maintain his uh i want to fan that flame my daughter i want to get her on the other side of things where she's confident and feels good about herself and she's a very beautiful girl so it's kind of weird like these kids nowadays have there's so many weird ways of looking at things and there's too much information coming at them. Like there's too many things that they don't need to know about

or worry about, but it's already there in front of them. So I mean, it's my job to help her navigate through that. But at the same time, they get very closed off about it and they don't want you to get involved in that. You're like, but I'm telling you, but you're the dad. You're never going to listen to your parents on this. Yeah, so what do you do, just kind of. You got to find out the person who they're going to listen to

and have them talk to them about it. Somebody on TikTok. No, yeah. somebody on time no no other other humans in their lives um that they were like that they would listen to and do you what if the person the other adult doesn't agree with you uh you make sure they're on board with you right but you can't you know listen you're not you're not trying to change them you're just trying to get them to see things another way got it and and has that been successful at times at times it has been and what do you do when it's not take the hell no then you

have to go and step in and try it now all right let me try this now um and uh and is it more what's the difference between raising daughter and a son obviously their moms play a huge part but but but so a daughter i've never raised my voice of my daughter never in 14 years um my son i haven't raised my voice i've been a long time but i can my voice my tone is very different with him yeah than with her like it's very sweet and loving with my i'm very sweet and loving with my son but my daughter my son will do something hey i go hey stop that yeah my daughter will be like where'd that come from and i'm like just because you never heard it doesn't mean it's not fair you know what i mean yeah uh yeah it's because he's not my son i can't

really snap at him yeah but i want sometimes be like dog like yeah like mr i call my son mr yeah like yeah my man stop like i wouldn't if it was a girl i'd never fucking would never yeah yeah my son is sensitive though too if i do raise my voice at him i see because the internal i i see like the disappointment in his face like did i just disappoint my dad because he loves daddy yeah and i see his eyes fill up and i'm like no so i'm very careful about how we navigate that too if i want to tell him's not to do i go mister come here for a second we're not going to do that okay yeah whereas before i'm like hey stop that and then we're like it's a learning curve you're you're learning at all time because you're both all of you

are changing and growing at the exact same time so yeah you have to figure out how to navigate through that yeah it's but also force works and guys are i think boys are just sort of like they can rough house so it's like i'm going to rough house a little bit with my vocals yeah well that's what i do i use a different tone with him um sometimes his mom will call me and be like hey can you tell him he did this and this and he's not listening to us when we and i said i'm like hey we're not doing that on the phone i have to be very stern and then he stops and so like yeah that's what like daddy's like i mean it used to be like your dad's gonna i don't know if your dad hit you but it's like my dad hit me yeah it used to be like you know it's funny is when you get older and you realize

how hard they worked to be your parent and then i'm like i used to talk about how my dad used to hit me and wow how savage was you know now that i'm a father and i'm an adult i go i don't know And I think about the kid I was, I don't know how my dad didn't fucking beat the dog shit out of me. Yeah. I would have beat the shit out of me. What were you doing? You were just...

You're just thinking sometimes you're mouthy. Yeah. You're mouthy asshole fucking kid. Yeah. And I don't know how my dad just didn't whip my ass at those times. They were first generation? Yeah, they moved to Canada from India in 1965. And do you...

They're still alive? No, just mom. Oh. Dad would be 100 this year. Wow. So they were old when they had. Oh, yeah. My dad was 45 when he had me.

It's funny because like my dad would be not 100, but like. Close to. Yeah. What year was your dad born in? 30. Oh, see, my dad was born in 25. Yeah. So, my mom was born in 41 though.

Yeah, my mom was born in 30. But yeah. So, but it's like a different world. I mean, I don't know if you watched any like World War II documentaries or whatever. My dad was in World War II. My dad was in World War II. Yes. yes have you what there he did telegraphs i'll forward it to you there's a bbc there's a

27 part bbc documentary lawrence olivia does a voiceover it's from the 70s called the world of war they used to run it like wallpaper in the uk apparently and i'm sure they did in canada as well it's the on the invasion it's ken burns before ken burns yeah no but it's 27 he did ken did nine parts yeah they did 27 like and uh it wasn't guys weren't weren't you know they go guys were puking on going up to normandy they were also shitting their pants yeah a lot of them like there's just so much shit that you don't even think about like of course they were just awfulness and then then then he has to deal with you yeah like the the and he was a hunter in india you know what i mean so like he was always on point with and my dad used to box as well

so everything i start to think about i go my dad was kind of a fucking badass and he was only five foot five max yeah at his tallest i think five four was really his height but i think five five five was he trying to tell people he was five five five yeah he was a little guy but but not to be fucked with ever and i'm i'm betting you take real nice care of your mom oh yeah i mean you know she gets whatever she wants whenever she wants uh no money problems there uh no even if i'm having on my yeah she's not gonna know about it she's not gonna know and what's your what are your goals for yourself at this point and i'm not talking about professionally just like what are you What are your, because I find them more.

I think, I think I've taken goals away now. And I think I've, I think I've passed the stage of goals. And I'm thinking, I'm more I'm on the stage of, well, let's just, let's just live life and enjoy this. Let's not think about the future or the past. Let's just be in the moment and, and enjoy this. What are you enjoying? Do you, like you, just all of it. I'm just enjoying, enjoying being a dad.

I'm enjoying being with my kids. I enjoy getting on a plane. I enjoy doing a gig. I enjoy it all. Yeah. It's that reaction thing. It's like, well, I can, if I react like, oh, then that's, I'm like that for an hour. Yeah. It's the ADHD in us. In a good way or a bad way? I mean, that's, no, the bad, the bad parts of ADHD is where you overreact and you, you over, you pine over things a lot longer than you need to.

Is that ADHD? Yeah. It's also, somebody will say something to you. Rumination. Yeah. And their tone will, will make you feel like, fuck you. like they might not even meant it in that tone but yeah you it'll feel 10 times heavier than that what it was said that's a dhd no it's a lot of ADHD in that yeah it's all yeah it's a it's all the processing thing yeah and it's also uh codependency and whatever absolutely um uh russell peters guys uh i really enjoyed this and this uh i don't know if you if if you share this kind of

depth with other people but i don't i appreciate i appreciate there's something about me that people just do it. So I appreciate that we, you are who I thought you are in a good way. Thank you, Johnny Depp. Nice.