TRIGGERnometry - Russell Peters: My Story

Episode Date: November 26, 2023

Russell Peters is a Canadian stand-up comedian, actor and producer of Indian descent. He was the first comedian to be given a Netflix stand-up special. Now based in Los Angeles, Russell still tours to sell-out stadium crowds around the world. SPONSORED BY: Manscaped. Get 20% off and free shipping when you use the code TRIGGER20 at https://www.manscaped.com/ SPONSORED BY Fum - Head to www.tryfum.com/TRIG and use code TRIG to save an additional 10% off your order today. Become a Premium Member to receive exclusive benefits https://triggernometry.supercast.com/ OR Support TRIGGERnometry Here: Bitcoin: bc1qm6vvhduc6s3rvy8u76sllmrfpynfv94qw8p8d5 Music by: Music by: Xentric | [e-mail] | https://www.xentricapc.com/ YouTube: @xentricapc  Buy Merch Here: https://www.triggerpod.co.uk/shop/ Advertise on TRIGGERnometry: [e-mail] Join the Mailing List: https://www.triggerpod.co.uk/sign-up/ Find TRIGGERnometry on Social Media:  https://twitter.com/triggerpod https://www.facebook.com/triggerpod/ https://www.instagram.com/triggerpod/ About TRIGGERnometry:  Stand-up comedians Konstantin Kisin (@konstantinkisin) and Francis Foster (@francisjfoster) make sense of politics, economics, free speech, AI, drug policy and WW3 with the help of presidential advisors, renowned economists, award-winning journalists, controversial writers, leading scientists and notorious comedians. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Whatever you bloody British go, you fuck things up. And that makes love. Yeah, no, that wouldn't work. My cousin Andrew goes, it's funny, man, you should do stand-up. And I was like, it's interesting. Nobody in my family's ever complimented me ever. For me, it was never about the money, ever.

It was never, ever about the money. Nobody in my family had money. It's not like we had to aspire to anybody else in the family. We're all just making ends me. Have you trained your puck to do anything inappropriate? Um, my wife has. You know, but it's... Hey guys, Trigonometry needs your help.

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Well, thanks for coming here. Not many people do. Really? Oh, that's why they have studios. It's just our faces. Listen, thank you so much for coming on the show. It's a real pleasure. I went to school with a bunch of guys from Hong Kong.

So I saw your stuff from way back when because it was so popular. And it's interesting because all your comedy was always based around race and ethnicity and all that sort of stuff. And the world has evolved over time. Like, how do you see the landscape of comedy and all of that stuff nowadays? Well, whatever's taboo is kind of more the fun stuff to talk about, you know, and you got

you want to bring it up just to hear the reaction. You don't even have to have a joke ready sometimes. You can go, blah, blah, blah. And they're like, ooh, and then you go, okay, I'll do something now, you know. It's a, you know, your job is to ruffle feathers, right? It's interesting you say that. I think most comedians of my generation and younger

would shy away from that. Why is it that your generation saw it as ruffling feathers, and mine and younger would say, no, you don't want to ruffle feathers, you want to be sensitive? Yeah, no, we're not about being sensitive. But, you know, the truth, we're supposed to tell the truth. That's our jobs, right?

We're the last truth tellers. And truth is like poetry, and nobody likes fucking poetry. Well said. So I know lots of people, obviously, you're very successful, very famous now. But I'm curious to kind of like, how did you get here? what's been the journey through life?

Because you were in the UK scene for a while. Like, tell us your story a little bit. So I started in 1989. I think I was a year out of high school at that time. I didn't really have any plans. I was DJing. That's how I was making my money. I would DJ at clubs on weekends.

And then... What kind of DJ were you? Everything. Back then you had to play everything. You could not just be, I only play this kind of guy because you had to buy records back then. And if you were only going to be,

buy like house records, you're going to have, you're going to have to really work hard to get to that position. So you'd buy everything. I'd buy, personally, I was playing hip hop and R&B, but then I'd also buy house. Then I'd have to buy pop records because if you're playing a party, people are going to want to hear, this is the rhythm of the night. I'm like, I don't want to play that record or buy that record, but it's going to make you money, you've got to do it. Dancing Queen, did you buy that? Hell yeah. I had that leftover from the 70s. So that's a very English thing. If you go to a nightclub, you're going to hear a dancing queen and you're going to hear some Tom Jones and some of the old classics from the 70s, which I really appreciate.

So you were a DJ? How did that get into doing stand-up comedy? I was boxing as well. I was just amateur at the time, but I was like, well, this is never going to work out. I'm not, I boxed, but I wasn't a fighter. You know what I mean? Like, that's how I always broke it down. When I'd go to the gym, there were guys that were fighters, and then there was guys like me who would go and train and we didn't have a problem getting in the ring and sparring with you and getting beat up a little bit but I wasn't going to get up at 5 a.m. and go running. They'd be like, you want to come running at 5 a.m.? I'm like, I'll see you at at 3.30 in the afternoon for some good old-fashioned jump rope, you know.

So, and then, so you were doing that? And then, so how did you get into stand-up? Did you do in the traditional way? Was yuck-yucks a thing back then? Yeah. I started at yuck-yx. It was, um... What the hell is yuck-yx? It's the comedy, chain of comedy clubs in Canada. They used to be the largest chain of comedy clubs in the world. Yeah, okay. And so what happened was the summer of 89, I was working at like Wendy's. I was a shift manager.

And then I got fired for not firing somebody. Like, we need you to fire that guy. I go, why? I go, come on, man, that's not a reason to fire him. If you don't fire him, we fire him, I go, I guess you're firing me because I'm not firing that guy. I think I was too compassionate for that job. Yeah. And then my dad kept asking, what are you going to do?

You're not in school anymore. You're not working. What are you going to do? What are you going to do? My brother, who's six years old, I mean, he was like, what are you going to do? And then he's like, I said, what are you interested? And I go, I don't know. And then one of my cousins, I would write a family party, and I said some funny things.

And my cousin Andrew goes, you're funny, man, you should do stand-up. And I was like, it's interesting. Nobody in my family's ever complimented me ever. Throughout boxing, throughout DJ, throughout break dancing. Nobody complimented me for anything. Then my cousin Andrew was like, you should do stand-up. up and I was like, oh, it's interesting. Because I always listened to stand up.

I've always been a fan of stand-up. I've been listening to it since the 70s, so it wasn't like I didn't understand what stand-up was, but I'd never actually seen it live. I saw it in 1986. In 1986, I saw Eddie Murphy in Toronto doing the raw tour. Wow. But it was called Pieces of My Mind at the time. When he was touring, it was called Pieces of My Mind.

And when he recorded it and released it, it was called Raw. Because I remember going to the theater to see it and going, this is the same concert I just saw. But I was like, oh, my God, there's things missing. I saw things that nobody's going to know, you know. And I was a big Carlin fan already, and Cheech and Chong and Steve Martin and all that stuff. So I was listening to comedy a lot. So I was like, told my brother, I said I should do stand-in.

I just try stand-up. He goes, have you ever seen stand-up? And I go, I've seen Eddie Murk? Because have you ever seen real stand-up? Like guys that are in the trenches? And I go, no. So he took me to like this theater sports. It was like an improv show class thing.

And I was like, no, that's not it. And then he took me to yuck yuck-yx to see amateur night. And I was like, that's it. And that's what I want to do. And he goes, okay, well, figure out how to do it. And I go, all right. So I asked somebody, how do you get on? They tell me how I call the number at 9 a.m. on this day and put your name in.

And then you'll get a, you'll call back and you'll check the voicemail to see if you're on. So I did, and that's how I got my first spot. And I was terrible. As everybody is when they start. I hate when guys say that, oh, they dared me to come on, so I came on and I killed. And the club offered me a weekend.

I'm like, that doesn't fucking work like that. This is the real life. This is real life. I don't know where this movie world you're living in is. Did you have material? Or do you just go up then think, oh, I'm just going to do five minutes off the top of my head and I'll be hilarious. No, I wasn't that arrogant.

Thank goodness. But I was naive enough to not realize. when you first get on stage and hear yourself on a mic, you're like, oh boy, I'm the only one in the room. I'm the only thing you can hear in this room and there's no outside noise. Maybe a plate clanking here and there,

but that's about it. You don't hear nothing. And the audience is just staring at you and waiting. And I was like, it's very different than being the funny guy with your friends where you're sitting around. There's background noises. You know, somebody talking, there's a phone ringing,

all these things you don't pay attention because you're just focused on each other. But when you're on stage for the first time, you notice every single sound in the room. I think I had five minutes and I did three and a half maybe. It was terrible. Did you bomb? Oh, no.

Funny enough. I mean, I probably did, but I remember it differently. And then they offered you a week. And then I started headlining doing arenas a week later. So when I did Wembley in 89, I... So you didn't quite bomb. You got some laughs, right? I got a chuckle or two.

Yeah. And I was like, oh, I like that. That's the good stuff. I got to figure out how to get more of that. Yeah. Yeah. And I came back again the week later, and I got more chuckles. But I did less time. I think I did two and a half that night. I got the chuckles. I was like, oh, that's great. Bye, good night. I was like, two and a half left. I go, oh, that's good. That's good. I got the laugh, right? I just wanted to get the laugh. And then I started doing it more and more often until, you know, you start to figure out, you do the amateur circuit. And then people are like, hey, I got a room out in Bowmanville on Tuesday nights. And there's no.

money, but they pay you in chicken wings and free sodas and they'll, and they have a go car track and they let us drive around the go car track. I'm 19. I'm like, hell yeah, that's amazing. And then, so you then weren't onto the circuit professionally in Canada, you were earning money. What made you want to go to the UK? Well, I was on the circuit in Canada. I just started getting on the circuit. You got to understand, I started in 89. There was guys coming in like after me and moving up and moving on past me and I was like, what the fuck is going on? And I remember in 93, I think I entered

this comedy competition and I had the best set of the night but I lost. And I remember the three guys that beat me. I go, how the fuck did they beat me? They were all terrible. Not terrible, but I'm like and then they were like, I go, how did I lose? They go, you did somebody else's joke on stage? And I was like, what the fuck?

Which joke? And they told me which joke and a friend of mine was like, you know, it's really funny, this show and blah, blah, blah, and you should talk about that. And I go, oh, that's good, yeah. And I took his advice, and I took that joke. And that's how I lost that competition.

I was like, motherfucker. I remember it was 93. They were giving away a cell phone. I was like, a cell phone. This is amazing. I remember the three comics. It was Matthew Boylan. He won.

He was from Montreal, and Ian Sorota. He came in second, and Jack Norman came in fifth. And I was like, motherfuckers. I think he won that one. I think I played the long game. I played the long game.

So what was your first, like in every career, there's a big, there are some big breaks. What was your first one where you were like, oh, okay, this is real now? Okay, so 95, I did my first special. Six years in, there was a show called Comics in Canada. CBC produced it. and they they would take like I think

eight comics and they'd give you a 30 minute special but half of so it was 22 really and you'd have to do half stand-up half sketch wow

yeah so I did sketches and they were the sketches were bumpers before the commercials so I did that and then when it aired they suddenly got

flooded with like fan mail like who was this guy we were going to be seeing girls were sending photos of themselves in. I was like, this is awesome. What's going on right now? And then they had people calling in telling them they're going to boycott the CBC if they ever play me again and stuff like that.

So it was like this whole thing that happened in Canada and some Indian newspaper out of Vancouver. The guy was like, if you, I'm going to get the whole Indian community, this is another. He's like, the guy, they're like, and the CBC calls me in and I'm like, I'm thinking I'm in trouble. They're like, we got this letter from this guy. newspaper in British Columbia who says he's going to get people to boycott

the CBC and I'm like fuck this is that's over for me and he goes you know how good this is you know what that means you're making waves kid and I'm like what really and uh what was the nature of the complaints he's racist he's not they didn't know I was Indian because of my name and I was making jokes about Indian names and then I did a joke about a

an all Indian ice hockey team I said the Toronto Maple Seeks And then like I But I had like some troubles after that Like I remember I was at a club one night And uh These three big Indian dudes Came surrounding me at this

Pushman against the wall surrounding me There's two one here one here one in front of me And they're like we don't like the jokes are making And you don't disrespect and I'm like The guy's poke me in a soon as I just went Pop pop pop pop and I just got the fucking out of there I hit all three of them And I ran out of the fucking club

Really so even back then Are you being serious? Yeah yeah yeah You beat up three Indian dudes. Three dudes. I was surrounded. I had no choice. Why didn't do that?

They were going to beat shit out of me. It's at that point you go. Go for it. You really do, you do have that. What do they call it internalized brown phobia or whatever it is? No, it's fight or flight. It was there. They had me surrounded like this.

And they were bigger guys. And I was like, I was like, okay, I'm going to hit this guy, then this guy. Then this guy. I'm out of here. But I don't, because your stuff isn't offensive, Russell. Was it saying? No, but back then, because when you're the first guy, there was nobody before me.

There was no Indian guy before me. So it was zero representation. And now all of a sudden there's this young Indian kid, 25, 26 years old, who's out there saying all these wacky things and doing the accent and his act and all that. And when you're the first one, people are fearful of you because they're like, wait, what if he misrepresents us? What if he gets them to hate us more? You know, we don't know what it was.

It was the 90s as well. So I understood, like, why, like I understood, you know, retroactively, obviously, I understand. But at the time I didn't get out, I was like, what did I do wrong? You know, you know, but hindsight, obviously. So, you know, I understand their fear or understood their fears of what they thought was going to, you know, what could possibly go wrong. And that's why you knocked them out. That's right. Well, I did that for my own safety.

I went right up the middle and I got doing them. Boop. And poop. So accents is a funny one because you're kind of known for doing every action. Like I mentioned my friends from Hong Kong. You do that accent. And now, you know, I think it's fair to say people are way more sensitive about stuff like that. Like, what do you make of how, you know, how that situation is?

Do you think we should be able to do any accent or do you think some accents are of limits? No, I don't think it's about limits or off limits. I think if it's done in the right context, it's okay. Like if I'm like, you know, I was talking to a Chinese guy and he's like, yeah, so there I was a the mall, I'm like, do you see, do you picture a Chinese person right now? No. You have to go into something that makes you, if I'm trying to tell you a story, I need to take you to the place. And if I'm not going to, if I'm just going to draw an outline and not color it in, then I'm not really going to give you much of a story. You need the details and the details, the devils and

the details. But it's interesting that you say that because there would be lots of people. So for instance, if I told a story that about an Indian cab driver, for instance, and I did the accent in a club, I would automatically be called racist. Well, again, it depends on how accurate your accent is. Really? Yeah, there's a... Do your best Indian accent. Do it.

Okay, so I'll tell the story. So I was in... Is this one of your bits, actually? No, no, no, this is a true story. It always makes me laugh because I was getting a cab from the station to the Manchester Comedy Store. And this Indian guy gave me a lift. And we started talking with him, and I'm a fan of history.

And he was talking with me. And he said to me, do not. another thing, whatever you bloody British go, you fuck things up. And that makes love. Yeah, no, that wouldn't work. Because you know what happens. I realize where you went wrong. The accent.

Well, that. And then, but you're, like, when I do an accent, I kind of, my face, my body changes to accommodate that person. It's almost like a character actor, I guess. I mean, I'm not that deep in that shit. But, you know, like when I do it, it's, you're, you have to change every part about you because you're not going to move the same way. Yeah.

So, you know, I'm not going to be like, then I was. You have your head automatically has to just, you know, it depends on how close you are to these people. You're going to have to pay attention. You know, Chinese, it's always, you know, so don't say nothing bad assholes. There's movements are sudden, you know what I mean? So it always has to, everything has to, and your face, you see the face changes and stuff. That's, I think that's how and why I got away with doing what I did.

because they knew I wasn't doing it to mock them. I was literally doing it to contextualize the story I was telling. All my Chinese and Hong Kongese friends absolutely loved it. Like, that's how I find out about your stand-up is from the people whose accent you were doing. Right. And, you know, I get now is a lot of Russians coming out to see me because of the bit I did about Russians.

About the Russians speaking back? Yeah, yeah, they speak better. Very offensive. Yes, absolutely. I think you should be canceled. Absolutely. And I threw real Russian words. in it when I did it.

He's speak Russian. Yeah, I was throwing in, you know, little swear words that they would use. You got to do something like that for that group, so they don't think you're mocking them. They know, wait a minute, he said something, hold on, he knows something. You want to make him go, if he took the time out to learn that, I don't think he's mocking us. Yeah, he gets us. Yeah. It's about being seen.

I want to make sure people are seen. And I think that's what my generation of comics do. Oh, hello, Piper. Have you trained your puck to do anything inappropriate? My wife has. I got the full depth of that joke over time. But it's interesting that you say that because it got to a point. Are you distracted by the dog?

Yeah, no, I'm distracted. Yeah, I'm distracted by the joke. Right. But you go He's having a breakdown I am having a breakdown But it came to a point I noticed

Roundabout sort of 2019 Where emcies in a club Almost avoided Like if there was a black person Or an Asian person in the audience Because they didn't want to be seen To be racist

And they wouldn't take the piss out of them And I'm like That's the most racist thing That you can do Because actually to take the piss out of them In British culture It's that's a sign of love That's what I say.

Yeah. That's exactly what I say. So that's how you, our love language is insults. Yeah. Like if you can walk up somebody, hey, you're kind. And then like, oh, how you doing, mate? You're like, oh, yeah. Then, oh, he gets it and I get it.

And now we're cool. Yeah. I know that this guy's not going to be a dick if I say something to him now. So you do well in Canada. Yeah. How did you end up in the UK? Well, so I was, I was, so I did this special in 95. And then in, in, uh, was it the summer of 95,

Junior Simpson came to Toronto on a vacation with his then girlfriend. And he just happened to pop around like yuck yucks. And I happened to meet him. And I was like, hey, what do you know? He came from London. Oh, cool. Yeah, I just want to see the scene. I go, you want to get on?

And I got him on. And I took him around to a bunch of different clubs. And I got him on in all these different clubs. And he goes, hey, if you ever want to come to England, I can probably try and get you on there too. So I flew to England that September. And he got me on. I think the first game was in Redding somewhere.

John Glor's Reading? No, it wasn't even jungle. There was like a, it was a black show that we did. And they had never seen an Indian guy speak Jamaican before. Well, they had, his name was Apache Indian, but he doesn't count. No, so they hadn't seen like this Indian guy, like spoke perfect Jamaican. They were like, how the fuck? And I started killing the black rooms in England.

And then John... That was fun, aren't they? Oh yeah, they were the best back in the day. They were so fun. And then John Keyes, I got connected. You know John Keyes? No, I don't know. He was Paramount Management or Paramount.

He had the same name as Paramount, funny enough. But he was an agent out of London who took me on and started booking me everywhere. Nice. And so you did the London Circuit. And you must have gigged at the same time, kind of as Eddie Isard and all those types of people. Eddie, I remember in 96 I did a TV show. Me and Mitch Hedberg did a live. of Jonglers when they did that series,

live at Jonglers in 96, and Rick Wakeman from Yes was hosting it. Was it? Yeah. In the Prague rock band? Yes. He was hosting. And I did a joke that the audience didn't get.

I go, you know, Rick, just so you know, in India, your group's name is Hunji. But it was way ahead of its time that joke. We'll be back with Russell in a minute. But first, we've got a message for the gentlemen of our audience from our sponsors, Manscaped. The folks over at Manscaped have been working night

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time, wasn't it? Patrice was, Patrice didn't start coming over really till late 90s, early 2000s. When I was already sleeping on Patrice's couch in 96, though, in Woodbridge, New Jersey, when it was Patrice and Keith Robinson. And then in 2000, when I did Edinburgh, I was doing my shows, but Patrice was out there with Rich Boss and Lewis Schaefer. Oh, yeah. Louis Schaefer, not gay. Big shout out to Lewis. Yeah, we love Lewis. And what was Patrice like? We asked this question of everybody. Patrice was fucking brutally hilarious, but he wanted to hurt your feelings. And if your feelings didn't get hurt, he'd get mad.

Like, he would try to hurt my feelings all the time. But I thought he was so brilliant that I would always laugh because I was a fan of his. And we were friends. I remember in 2005, four or five, we were in Vegas doing this comedy fest and we're standing backstage. And I'd already started getting a little heat now. And we're standing in Patrice goes, slaps him in the arm. Yo, I'm not saying you're not funny, but you're not funny enough to be getting all the shit you're getting.

I go, I agree. I go, it could have been you, but just not you, man. And he would get mad if you didn't. If I laugh when he made, like hurt, he got, what the fuck is wrong with you? I'm like trying to hurt your feelings. I'm like, you can't. I'm a fan. What made you a fan of his?

Just his honesty, him and Keith Robinson changed the way I do comedy in 96. Because I had that special comics that I was telling you about, and I brought it to New York with me on VHS. I say, you guys want to see my new special? Like, yeah. So I put it on and they watch it. And at the end, I go, well, and they go, what the fuck was that? I'm going to talk about it. That was the worst piece of shit I've ever seen in my life.

And I go, come on, you're kidding. No, we're not kidding. That shit was popular in Canada. We got nominated for an award. That's fuck. That's why Canada sucks. I was like, wow. And then they broke down why the special wasn't funny.

And why wasn't it funny? Well, it's so different about any of those jokes. What makes those jokes so special that somebody else can't do them? What is you in those jokes? And they really made me start to think about, yeah, somebody could steal your jokes. If somebody can steal your joke, that means it's not really your joke because it's a good joke.

They were a bit generic. Yeah, I guess that's what they were trying to get. There's nothing personalized about these. And then I started working on getting more. insightful. Yeah, and then, because that's what Patrice was. He was very insightful. When he talked about men versus women or, you know, these subjects are under most comedians who would be dismissed as hack, he ended up giving a unique insight. He would give, yeah, he was very insightful and he was very articulate. He would articulate exactly what he was trying to say with it. And he'd

have a problem with that. And he wasn't afraid of how it came across. And he wasn't afraid of bombing either, because he used to bomb. No, he used to like bombing. too. But you know, he's six foot six, six foot five, six foot six and you're not going to you're not going to intimidate a guy like that. Did Burr ever tell you about how Patrice got into comedy? No. Bill Bloomingwright, Bill Blumright told me this because Bill used to own the comedy connection in Boston. He said Patrice was a doorman there. And I think Burr was doing a set. It was like in the maybe 90, 91 maybe. I think Burr was maybe just an open mic or whatever at the time. But, you know, he was doing well.

And Patrice goes up to Burr and goes, yo, how do you do this? Like, how do you do this shit? Because what do you mean? He goes, you want to try it? He goes, yeah, I could do it fucking better than you. I was like, wow. I can do this better than you. Like, that's fucking Patrice in a nutshell, you know?

Yeah. Yeah. And so he never really got the praise that he deserved. He died right as it was about to happen. But there was a so. destructive element to it, wasn't there? To a certain degree. I mean, he knew what his vices were and his weaknesses were

and he didn't really pay much attention to it. And the vices and weaknesses were food, I take it. Yeah, food and yeah, he didn't, I don't like he smoked or nothing. He didn't do anything wild. He wasn't a drinker. And he just, yeah. He was just a big guy and he had diabetes and he had a stroke and did him in.

And so you were carrying on within the British circuit and when was a moment that you decided that you needed to go bigger, you needed to go to America. It wasn't that I decided anything. Okay. I was just happy going to London and basing out of London because you'd go, so from 95 to 2002 I was based out of London, so to speak, because I would do like, I'd go three weeks London, two weeks Toronto, three weeks London, two weeks Toronto, and I would just keep going back and forth so that I was, I didn't want to saturate one market more than the other. And then there were so many different gigs that would come

up out of England. You would get, you would get Dublin, you would get, you would get, uh, Belfast, then you would get Edinburgh, you would get Belgium, you'd get then I got Dubai, I got Hong Kong, I got Singapore, I got all these places I never even fucking knew existed and I was like, this is amazing

and you know they're flying you out, an economy putting you up in the best three-star hotels you can get, you know, but you know after staying in hotels in England, you realize that all these Asian hotels are so much better. You know, when you're staying at, I forgot the name with those, a chain of them. They're shit hotels in England. Travel Lodge? Yeah, I guess they're

travel lodge. There's one of those types of things where, and then you stay in B&Bs, and you're like, this is before Airbnb's. There's actual B&Bs. And then the land I remember staying at a B&B in Dairy. In Dairy. Wow. And the lady was like, if you come back after 11, I'm not going to let you in. But I got to work. I came back and I had to sleep out that night because the lady wouldn't let me back in the house. Really? Yeah. So what made you come to America? America then? Well, I did. So let me give you the details here. So you understand that. 95 did a special. Then that was received so well that they gave me another special in 97. That was too soon for me because I wasn't that good at writing yet. I wasn't that prolific. I didn't have the foresight. I didn't understand.

So they gave me the second special in 97, which was kind of eh. That one was called Show Me the Funny. And if you watch it, you'll still be waiting for me to show you that funny. And then, and they So they gave me 10 grand for that special in 97, which was a time was a lot of money for me. I was like, holy shit, 10 grand, this is awesome. And then I got a holding deal for 10 grand. So I made 20 grand off comedy in that little period. I was like, so I bought a Lexus. Yeah, I bought Alexis.

And that was a, it was a gift and a curse. I remember hanging out with Dave Chappelle around 96, 97. Right after I bought this, 97, after I bought the car. And then I remember I was struggling to make the payment on it. And he was shooting half bake. And I was like, fuck, Dave. I'm, I was kind of hinting hoping he'd offer them. Offer me a payment.

I'm like, fuck, man. I got this car payment I got to make tomorrow. He goes, what kind of car? I got with some Lexus. He goes, oh, fuck told you buy a Lexus, dummy. I was like, shit. No, no sympathy. And so that's what happened.

And then I didn't get another special until 2003. Wow. So from 97 to 2003, I had all this time to grow, work on material, and I'd started seeing the world, and I started writing from a different place. And I started really polishing this act up. And that's the one that blew me up. And so what was it? She wants you to pet her.

There you go. And what was it about this act that blew you up, do you think? that made it super popular. Well, this is the one that you saw. I don't know what it was. It has to be a combination of timing, for sure, because that's when file sharing was popular. So it was timing, and it was, I had a lot of time to work on that act,

so the act I knew was solid. And I just, I didn't even think about it when I did it. I wasn't thinking about, oh, this is going to be it. You guys are going to see. I shot it. They paid me $7,500 for this one. this is the same company that paid me 10 grand six years prior. Now they're paying me $2,500 less.

And I'm like, wow, I just got a pay cut. But I was so broke at the time. I was broke, broke, broke. Like, I had no money. I was in debt. And I was like, I'll take it, whatever. And then I'm like, I'll figure out what I'll do with this act. I don't know.

I was going to come out. Nobody's going to pay attention. He'll be fine. I'll do the same act. So you wind like, oh, this is gold. No, this is going to crush. No clue. No clue.

No clue. And did it change? financially for you, did that moment give you a big reward financially at that point? Well, so we shot in August, 2003, February, Valentine's Day, 2004,

it airs. And in Canada. But that same day that it aired, I had gotten a gig in Chicago at DePaul University. They were paying me 700 bucks and I was like, that's a lot of money. And 11 or 12 people came to the show.

And I was like, ooh. Like, nobody knew who I was. Yeah. And I was like, damn, but I did my show because I'm being paid to do this. And it was a good show. And then a month later, my dad died. I'm like, damn. I don't know if my dad even got to see that the special came out or nothing.

Because he was already in hospital at that time. I was like, Dad, and he was like, whatever. So then February 2004, 11 people in Chicago cut to like November or October or November of 2004. I go back to Chicago. I'm sold out at this theater for three nights. and I don't know what's going on. We start getting bookings now. We start getting bookings right after my dad dies.

This place wants to book you. San Francisco wants to book you, and they'll pay you $1,500. I'm like, what? And I didn't have paperwork at the time. I was here working illegally and everything. And then this place wants to be. This festival wants you.

And I'm like, what's going on? Okay, cool, cool. You know, I'm 15 years in the game now. I'm like thinking, all right, well, I guess this is what happens. When you're in it for a while, you start to get more work. and then I think

Just for Laf's had a tour that we did in Singapore They did a Canadian tour And people were coming out to see me And I was like, that's weird And we did a Singapore tour And people coming out to see me And I was like, huh? How do they know me out here? What's going on?

I've been to Singapore many times. I was thinking, oh, they must have seen me when I played the Marriott on Orchard Road in the basement And they came back to see me You know what I mean? Because I did have good sets when I would go and do them.

I said, oh, that's nice. The people came back to see me. I'm naive. I'm not thinking, like, I'm not thinking there's something bigger that can happen in this business because I just, it wasn't the way the game was played before. And I started making like 30 grand one month. And I was like, how? I made 30 grand this month?

Then I made 40 grand. I was like, wait, something's going on, but I don't know what's going on. And then somebody's like, gives me a CD, like a CDR with my act on it. They go, hey, man, can you sign this? I go, what is that? It goes, it's your act. They go, how did you get my act on there? It was all I download it.

Limewire, bear share, was file sharing. I was like, what the fuck? And then people started breaking down. Oh, somebody emailed me a clip of you doing a joke about Italian. Somebody emailed me doing joke about Jamaican. Somebody emailed me to haunt your Chinese joke. And I was like, what? How did this happen?

And then I remember people would email you a clip. Remember back then they'd be like, hey, check this on. It would take you 15 hours to download a three-minute clip. Yeah. And YouTube starts in 2005 in June of 2005 or May of 2005. And we get a call from Jimmy Miller. Jimmy Miller is Dennis Miller's brother. Jimmy Miller is a manager.

He also manages Jim Carrey. And we got a call saying, hey, I'm trying to find this guy, Russell Peters. And at the time, I started getting courted by agencies. And I'm still like, what's going on? And Jimmy Miller wants to sign me to a deal because his son, he goes, what happens? Sam, why are you tired? He goes, I was up all night watching this comedian on YouTube.

He goes, what hell is YouTube? And he goes, it's this thing. Well, he goes, who's the comedian? He goes, Russell Peters is really funny. And he was like, my son, he goes, his son, I think was 12 at the time, or 13, he goes, if my son is like into this at this age, we're missing something here.

So Jimmy Miller, Tom Werner, I don't remember Carsey Werner back, in the day they produced Cosby show and all those things back in the day and uh and eric gold who produced in living color so they started a company called uh horner gold miller and uh and i was their first deal and we had a deal at warner brothers and it was a sitcom deal and it was good money and it never went anywhere but then i got agencies and then i started once i got the deal i had to move to l.a in 2006 i moved to january 1st 2006 right right So you're going 15 years. You're broke as hell.

Did you ever think about quitting? No. Why not? Because I enjoyed it. And for me, it was never about the money, ever. It was never, ever about the money. There was no, you understand, it came from a working class family. Like, nobody in my family had money. It's not like we had to aspire to anybody else in the family.

We're all just making ends meet. So it was like, if I can just make the ends meet, I'm good. You know what I mean? I was thinking, if I can make, you know, I was thinking, if I can make 1,500 bucks a week doing stand-up, I'm good. I'm like, that's over $60,000 a year. That's a lot of money back then. I'm like, I'm making a good living. Doing something you enjoy.

And I do something to enjoy. I'm like, why would I want to go and work, you know, eight hours and get paid $100 or something when I could work, you know, 45 minutes and make $100 bucks, you know? Makes complete sense. And what was it like coming because you came to L.A., and obviously that's a very, very different scene. There was a comedy store, but the ice house as well, but that's pretty much it, isn't there? The laugh factory. And the laugh factory. Yeah, and the improv. And who were the guys around at that time? Well, when I moved out here, I didn't know anybody. I literally didn't know anybody.

I, like, I knew a couple people I'd met him around over the years, but I knew New York guys more than I knew the L.A. guys. And I just, you know, I think I did the laugh factory in 2005. That's what happened. I did the Laugh Factory in 2005. I don't know how it got put together. Some promoter guy was like, hey, do you want to do the Laugh Factory? I'll sell it out and he sold out two shows of the Laugh Factory. Laugh Factory was, who is the fucking guy?

It's sold out and it's packed and it's funny and we like it. So I got in there right away. So when I moved to LA, I had a home to go to, which was the Laugh Factory. And Jamie was always kind to me. And the people are like, why don't you go to the store? I go, oh, I don't know. I did the store like in the 90s. So I was like, I go to the store.

I go to enter from the back and the guy's like oh comics only and I'm like and I'm like and Yoshi was in and he goes this Russell Peters

he just sold out the idiot and then so he got me and we got in and and like those types of things happen all the time though I remember in 2005

I did the Apollo in Harlem sold it out for two nights and then I went to go do the comic strip and the lady put me on

on the open mic night and too if I'm 16 years in the game already and I just just sold out the Apollo two nights, two shows. And so I do my five minutes set. And you know, my style is to talk to the crowd, and whatever. So I get off and I go, so? And she goes, well, I don't usually let my opener, my open micers talk to the audience. I don't really like that. But if you call in maybe in a couple of months, I might put you back on. And I'm like,

huh? I go, okay, thanks. And I left. Like, you fucking idiot. Comedy has just got a beautiful way of humbling you, doesn't it? Absolutely, absolutely. So speaking of not humbling, though, you go from, you know, you're making a decent money and whatever to suddenly you're taking up. Yeah, but you make money, you'd be broke, you'd make money, you'd be broke. So you'd literally make ends meet and then you'd stretch to try and continue your life. And suddenly you're making 30 grand, 40 grand a month.

What are you thinking? How are you feeling in this moment? I'm feeling like it's going to end tomorrow. I'm like, I had a great month. It's probably over. Had another great month. It's probably over after that. There's no way this can...

In my brain, it was like, this is not... You can't sustain this type of living. This is not... This is not what you were in this to do. You were just in this to tell jokes. And you're not a star. My brain kept going, you're not a star, kid.

I don't know what you're doing. And I was like, I don't know what I'm doing either, but let's just keep going and see what happens, you know? And when did you know, like, okay, like, I'm good now. You know, I've made it. I still don't know that.

Come on, man. I mean, I know... Look around, man. What are you talking about? No, no, I mean, I know. I'm successful, but I, you know, and I know what I'm capable of doing and I know what I'm good at, but for a comic, we want to hear somebody else say it to you. You know what I mean?

It's like, if I say it, I'm like, I almost feel like if I say it, then I'm going to jinx myself. Like, I'm going to fuck my whole thing up by saying it. Really? Yeah. Now, you feel that now. Always. I always felt like that. I do it as a joke with my family.

Like, we'll go out to a restaurant and the server, be like, oh, my God, I'm a big fan. And as soon as the server walks away, I go, did you guys see that? See how popular I am? Very, very famous. But it's like the running joke in the family. So you not only don't let it get to your head, you are still a little bit, somehow still kind of like this could be over soon. Yeah, always.

Really? I think that's what keeps me working hard. You're a hard worker? Yes. You grind. Well, it's comedy. Is it really hard work? It's not really hard work.

We're not fucking saving lives here. Or are we? No, we're not. You know, you've worked with some incredible comedians. One of them is George Carlin. What was that like? Well, so George was my idol. Like, he was my everything.

Mine as well. And when I met him, I met him in 92. By accident. It was in Toronto the night the Blue Jays won the World Series. And everybody was driving up and down Young Street, partying. I'm 22 years old. I'm a punk-ass kid. I'm walking down the street

My friends are driving Because every traffic's moving so slow I'm walking faster than the cars are driving So we're walking and I see this older guy With gray hair and a ponytail And a beard walking towards me And I elbow my friend and as a joke I go, hey this fucking guy looks like George Carlin

And when he walks by to be a smart ass I go hey George And he goes, I don't kid And I was like wait, what the fuck? And I was like And I ran after him And I just groveled the whole way back to his I walked him back to his hotel

I don't think he wanted me to but I did. And I was like, do you want Indian food? My mama made candy. I'm like, I don't know what the fuck to say. And I'm like, and I'm like, hey, you know, maybe we work together one day. He goes, you never know, kid. You never know crazy business.

And then in 2008, when did he die? He died 2008, right? About then, yeah. I think so 10 months before he died, he was going to do sets at the Comedy of Magic Club. And they knew I loved Carlin. And they're like, you know, Carlin's coming in this week and run his set. Do you want to come down and see it? I go, oh, could I be on the show?

And he goes, yeah, actually. And I go, awesome. Can I host? We already have a host. I go, fuck, I'd love to host. Because I just want to be able to have the honor of introducing him. And they go, we'll make that happen for you. So they let me host and I introduced them. Did you bump? I just moved him into a middle spot. We just flip spots. Whoever that guy is, he's watching the snack. Yeah.

Anyway, so I do the intro on my chin starts quivering because I think I'm going to cry. I'm telling the story how I met him and stuff and then shakes my hand and he leans and goes, you're making me look bad kid But he was such a nice man. He was just so awesome Why did you like him? Why did you like his work? Because my dad was an English major So language was always a big deal in our house and my dad would always refer to me as an ignoramus because I I would always speak improperly and but my dad loved Carlin too. because of his wordplay. And I, you know, growing up, and I liked hip-hop,

and if you're a good rapper, you've got good wordplay. So it was all, I think it all tied in together, you know. And I just loved fun ways of having fun with words. He would teach you how to swear without swearing, you know what I mean? And, you know, with the two halfway dirty words and words aren't dirty until they're put together. And, you know, like cock and sucker and, you know, cocks in the Bible.

You go to a dentist that gives you a sucker, you know. Yeah, he was magnificent as a comedian. What was it like watching him life? Because that must have... I was floating. I couldn't remember. To be honest, I don't remember it. Because I was just so like, I used to stand stage with George Carlin.

And who are the comedians that you look up to, Ross, or that you... Well, from that era, it was Carlin, Steve Martin, Don Reckles, Bob Newhart, Eddie Murphy. And everyone goes, what about Pryor? I go, I appreciate Pryor, but it didn't resonate with me. That's interesting. I liked him, but it didn't hit me the way. it hit other people, you know. Eddie hit me better.

It was, for me, it was like, and I was like, well, there's no Eddie without Rich. I get that. But Eddie somehow had the thing that Rich didn't have, that little, that way of selling it to you better, you know? Because with Eddie, he could do the accents. He could do the act out so beautifully.

Yeah, Eddie would take you to different places. Yeah. And you saw that in Eddie's films. I remember in Beverly Hills Cop 2 when, you know, when I was watching it as a kid, when he was doing the act, when he was, we had the little parcel of these sisters, Monique and Unique and.

And he was doing it and he was pretending to swear. And it just had me dying. Yeah, it was so good at that. So those were the guys that I really watched and admired. And then, you know, you came up and then Dice came out. And I was like, holy shit. You could say this on stage. Andrew Dice Clay was like, this is awesome.

I can't believe you could say this on stage. Because then swearing was like a big deal then. And we're like, wow. And he was like, they wanted to shut him down. I was like, guys are rebel. I love it. Then Kinnison. And, you know, you got all those other guys.

came around. Because it was a big thing then. Because people don't know this and a lot of comedians have talked about it. In fact, Rogan's talked about it a lot that you had to be clean. That was the thing. That was the big thing in the early 90s, late 80s, oh, you got to be clean. If you want to get on TV, you got to be clean. And I was like, clean. I don't want to be clean. Seems so dorky to be clean. You hear the guys that were clean. I go, they're not funny though. Yeah. I go, they're clever. I'm like, I don't give a fuck. I want to be funny. You go be clever. Write a book, dummy. I'm going to go be funny. Kinnison was just an example of a comedian who was just completely unhinged at times,

but just incredibly fun. Yeah. I remember I brought home a Kinnison record. Back then you'd go to the library and rent records, and they had comedy section. I brought home a Kinnison record. And I remember playing it, my dad lost his shit. Get that bloody blasphemy out of my house. I'm like, what?

Don't ever bring that in him. I'm like, what's going on? I didn't understand what was happening when he was doing. It's been 2,000 years. He's not fucking coming back. We'll be back with Rossu in a minute. But first, we want to tell you about our sponsor, Fume. If you want to break your bad habit,

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today. Give it a go. It might just help you kick that bad habit. Back to the interview. So how has comedy changed? Because that's a really interesting perspective, right? Nobody would bat an eyelid at a comedian swearing nowadays, but they might bat an eyelid at him talking about trans or whatever. Like the world has really changed in the time that you've been in the game. Well, now you have to really figure out, you can't just, you can't just flippantly say things on stage, you have to calculate them a little bit better. Where is the hole in this statement? Like, if I say this, what are the counter arguments that could come at you for this? So you have to word it in a way where it kind of curves, you know, so it splices out.

This argument stops right there because I said this and that stops there because I said that. So the punchline doesn't get affected. Do you like, sorry, just to finish this thing. Like we just had Neil Brennan on. And he was saying he actually likes the fact that it's kind of. of like you have to think five steps ahead and you've got all these lasers you're trying to dodge. Yeah. Because it makes him better. Do you agree with that? Do you feel that? I don't even makes you better, but it makes you think more. And the more you think, the better you get. So yeah, I guess it does make you better. Yeah. Yeah. And do you never, is there a part of you

where you're sometimes on stage that you worry that if you go a particular way, it could mean that someone will clip you out of context and, you know, cancellation or a twist or all that. I, I, I, I, I, Because I also know my intent when I'm up there. So if you're going to, you know, if you're going to try and manipulate my intent to suit yours, it's not going to work. It's you're trying to use aftermarket parts in your story right now. Yeah, it's a good way of looking at it. Because I think there's a lot of comedians, actually.

And we've had comedians who are very, you know, very smart, very liberal, whatever else. And they say that sometimes when they write material, they censor themselves. Yeah. Because they're worried about a metaphorical backlash that may be coming. I'm not too worried about it. Again, I've been in it 34 years now. And also, the people that come out to see me are coming to see what I do. They're not coming to see what somebody else is going to do.

They're coming to see, they want to hear what I say. They want to hear my perspective. That's what they're paying their money for. And I always tell people, if I change to appease the people that are not buying my tickets, I'm going to lose the people that are buying my tickets. And those fuckfaces are not going to buy tickets. And I'm going to be standing there with my dick in my hand. or somebody's dick or a trans dick, one dick.

I might have to transition after that, you know. But that is such an interesting thing that you point out, and I actually think it's completely true, which is very often whatever the storm is on social media, it's not from the people who watch your stuff. It's not from the people who buy your tickets or whatever. But people do pander to that. People are afraid of that.

Yeah, it's bothersome for sure. But you've got to. stop yourself and reason with yourself, be like, this is not what it is. You know, I see kids now, like, people post clips of me from 2008, and I look at the comments, and there's people like,

this is fucked up, how can he say this? And I'm like, this is 15 years old, dude. You didn't realize you weren't even, probably even born or you were two years old when this came out. Like, just get over yourself, pal. And they're like, oh, yeah, he's,

I saw somebody, somebody did a whole article on accents and stuff, and they tagged me in. And they were like, and somebody said, Russell Peter set us back 200 years. I'm like, no, you motherfucker. I put you forward, you piece of shit. I took the hits for you.

I did the shit rooms. I got threatened. I got chased out of bars. I got booed. I had to do all the things so that these little fuck hits can come in and not have to do what I did. Did that happen to you?

You got chased out of bars? Yeah, it happened here and there. How come? Whatever reason, you're doing a bar in a little small town a bunch of fucking rednecks, you know? You do the jokes and you're funny and like, ha-ha, and then get out. You're done.

And I'm like, oh, get out. I'm like, oh, fuck, all right, I'll leave. Like, you know, it's just that's the world it was back then. And it's such a profound point that you make in that you need those people to push through the barriers. You need to be the first comedian, you know, from an Asian background in order so that other people can look at it and go, oh, I want to do that. Yeah.

If you look at it now, there was back in the day, when I started, there was me. And then when I went to England, there was Jeff Merza, who I don't know, I guess I was just an egotistical, arrogant little asshole kid, but I kept bumping heads with him. And I was like, fuck that guy. But Jeff never was personal. It was just my ego. Don't trip. And then you had, goodness gracious me back then. That was brilliant.

That shit made me go, oh, we can be really funny. And so there was like this wave of us, you know, and I was, and there was no real stand-ups out of England. So I was the guy who came in from Canada and I was still Indian. So they were like, ooh, what is this? This is interesting. Why does he talk like that? And I'm like, well, why do you talk like that? And so we had this whole little thing.

And I remember I did warm up for Real McCoy one time when I was out there. Yeah. But yeah, when you're the first one, people are always nervous, you know, I'm pretty sure, goodness gracious me, got some backlash back then because they were afraid. but if you look at it now, this shit is so funny still. Yeah. It holds up. You know, and there's nothing that frustrates me more than when people look at a clip from 15, 20 years ago

and judge it in how you would judge something from 2023. It's so ridiculous. Yeah, you can't, again, and they want to erase the history. You cannot erase the past. You need that there so you don't make same mistakes twice. Because if you don't, if you have no point of reference, you're going to completely fuck your shit up again. And then also there's this whole taking things out of context and presenting them.

Absolutely. Like what they tried to do to Rogan with the whole N-word thing. What did you make of that? Yeah, that was some serious bullshit. And they tried to peg him as a racist. And I know him very, very well. I mean, we've known each other for a long time. And we've fought each other.

We've rolled in jiu-jitsu together. We've hung out. I've been to his house. I know his wife. I know his kids. I know everything. And I was like, I posted on my page. I go, this is not the guy you're trying to paint him out to be.

Then I remember I got calls from people. D.L. Hugley called me. He was like, yo, Russell, let me tell you something. I go, Daryl, because I know all these, I'm telling you, if he was a racist, I would say, I'd be the first one to tell you, the guy's a fucking racist. But he's not. Stop trying to paint him like that.

Stop, don't fall for the okey doke. I defended him to my close friends I had to defend him to. And I was like, it's not the guy you're trying, they're trying to sell you him. What they're trying to do is they're trying to take away his Spotify money is what they're trying to do. Why do you think people do that? Do you have any thoughts on that? Why people want to, like, tear down people, make them look bad? Like, it doesn't make sense to me. I don't get it either because I don't do it. So I'm always like, I mean, if the person's a real piece of shit asshole, yeah. But when they try to do it to people who you know are not bad people, that's when I get, you know, I get defensive. I'm like, no, I'm not going to let you do it to this person because they're not bad people. And the thing that I hate as well is that you're destroying the art form as well.

Yeah, you're making the wrong eyes look at it now. Ooh, that's interesting. Tell us more. Well, you've got people who aren't paying attention to comedy and don't care about it. Now they've heard some sort of rumblings about it. Now they look over and they're seeing the thing that is not going to appeal to them. And then they go, that's why we didn't like it. Look, it's trash. And then they get on their high horse about it.

And so it just adds fuel to their fire. That's such a good point. I think the more people, different people from different walks of life we meet, the more we kind of realize that there's some people that just don't get or like comedy. And those are the people who are outraged about every fucking thing that happens that gets shoved in front of their face by a journalist. Yeah, it's the same thing with me for like young rap music. I can't stand it.

I grew up on my big hip-hop head. And people are like, well, why do you hate the new music so much? And I stopped myself. And I went, they're not making it for me. So why do I care? If it's not being made for me, why should I give a shit? if it's good or bad. And it's the old guy syndrome at that point.

You're like, back in our day, we had, you know, and we did. But that was for us. It was made for us. It was catered to us. And that's who it's for. And I think what we're trying to do is say, hey, kids, if you dig deeper, there's more to this than you're seeing. But we're not articulating that well. It's a really profound point, Ross. Because it's so easy now in the age of the internet to see a clip to have an immediate reaction where you don't actually think about anything. It's just an emotional reaction

and then you give an emotional response. And then you create this entire Twitter storm or whatever it is. Yeah. And before you know it's out of control. Yeah, you make one comment, you know, you can't, that's the thing that you, as far as I'm getting older, I know, I wait before I respond to certain things because I'm like, I don't want to just give my knee-jerk reaction because that's probably the not the right reaction. You want to give a more thought. out, well-rounded response. You know, I find it interesting with comedians where they respond to, I don't know if you've seen this guy, Matt Reif?

So let me tell you about Matt Rife. About five years ago, Matt Rife used to open for me. I took him on the road for me, a bunch of dates. And he's a great kid. He's a really good-looking kid. He's a very funny kid. And he's got all the ingredients. And he hit me up.

And he was like, hey, bro, I'm having trouble getting an agent. Do you think you got? I go, let me call my agency. Let me put a word in for you. So I call my agency. I say, you guys, have you thought about Matt Rife? No. I go, what do you mean?

Do you know him? Yeah, we're familiar. I go, the kid's a home run. He's really good looking, really funny. He's young. He's a great kid. He's not a dickhead. I go, he's got all the, I'm telling you, the kid is a star.

And whoever takes him is going to make a lot of money. the kid is a star and they were like, no, we're going to pass. And now look at Matt Rife and my agent, every time I see my agent, I go, I remember when I offered you Matt Rife? He goes, I know, I know. Next time you offer me somebody, I'm taking him.

Because I offered him Theo Vaughn as well at that time. Wow. I said, Matt Rive and Theo Vaughn, they were like, no, we're passing. And I'm like, you're fucking idiots. How do you run this business when you don't know when you can't spot the talent? Theo is one of our favorite episodes. We interviewed him when we were here in the US last year.

Right. And he's blown up, thanks to us. Yeah, of course. No, it's your fault. No, but he's really blown up as well. I mean, what were you going to say about Matt Wright? No, because I was just saying that I, you know, I sit in green rooms and then you get comedians going, look at Matt Rife, look at the do, do, and they're going to, you know.

And they just hate by nature. I mean, you know, listen, the kid, the kid was destined for this. Look at him. He's got a fucking six-pack. And he looks better than ever. Whenever he'd open for me, he'd come up and go, give it up for Matt Rife. He's my favorite lesbian comic.

And that's such a profound point. And I say to these comedians, I go, look, it ain't for you. Yeah. It ain't for you. Yeah. You know, he's got a whole audience. I don't like Taylor Swift, but apparently I'm wrong. I don't see anything about Taylor Swift that is appealing.

Looks, music, show, nothing. Nothing about her appeals to me. But obviously, I'm wrong. because there's a fucking billion people that love her. Yeah. So just because I don't like something doesn't mean it's not likable or right. And there's a narcissism about that. It's like, well, if I don't like it, then shit.

No. Maybe you just don't like stuff and other people like it. What's so complex about that? Yeah. People have a tough time taking themselves out of the equation. Yeah. That's a good point. And it's also interesting what you said about the agents not spotting Matt Rife,

not spotting Theo. And it does seem to be a thing where you've, there's so many talented people and you just go, how come this person? It's obvious. Oh, yeah. There's, there's, and then you see people who they just keep forcing in front of you. And you're like, I don't know, nobody, it's just not catching because you're like, you're trying to force feed of something we don't want. Right. And I think that's, uh, not to bring it back to me, but I think, I think that's the, I think that's the beauty of my career is that I was never, created by the industry. Mine was all organically grown, and my fan base stays loyal and solid,

and I stay loyal and solid to them, because I refuse to lose them. I refuse to give them a reason to not be with me. And so I bust my ass to keep them, and they bust their ass to stay there with me. So it's a respect thing, and the industry doesn't like when you can do something like that,

because they can't take it away from you. So if you notice, I never really blew up in the industry per se. I never did A-list movies, and I did a couple, you know, but it was like because I knew the director or whatever. Whatever reason I got in, I got in. But I don't get invited to certain things, and I don't get included. And it used to bother me, but honestly now I'm like, I don't give a shit anymore.

I'm 53 years old. I don't give a fuck about your shitty awards show. I'm going to be bored there anyway. That's such a powerful place to be. That's why I was going to say about the power of the internet. You don't need gatekeepers. You don't have to care about them. Like, we build this by ourselves.

And it's such a great place to be because you don't have to do anything anyone's way. You've just got to do what you believe in and feed your audience the stuff that they're interested in. And that's it. Yeah. You're just doing you. Yeah. And there's only one you or two in this case. No, it's amazing that you've got that.

And it's interesting you were talking about you kind of blew up by yourself. I was going to ask you, do you think you were lucky in any way? 100%. Really? I 100% believe I'm lucky. In what way? It's a question of timing and place, all at the right. It just connected at that time.

2003, when we shot it, and it aired 2004, who was going to know that a year later YouTube was going to start? And that what was just audio in 2004, in the beginning of 2004, became video by the end of 2004 in pieces, and then by 2005, the entire special shows up on this channel, and you can watch the whole thing that you've been listening to for the past year and a half.

And you go, wow, that's the guy, that's amazing. Now I know what to look for, now I know who it is, and then they connect with you. And, you know, it's 20 years now since I shot that special, and I get a lot of kids now in their 40s. That are like, man, you help me through college. And I'm like, wow, because I don't think of myself as that, old. But I am, I guess. I'm like, I was 33 when I shot that special, 32, 33. And so,

you know, I guess, yeah, I did help you get through college, but I wasn't trying to. And then you think about the things that you connected with when you were younger. Like, I'm friends with a lot of, like, everybody I had a poster of in my wall when I was a kid, I'm friends with them now. So, you know, Big Daddy Kane, L.O. Cool, J. Lord Finesse lives here with us. He's one of my favorite rappers growing up and now he's one of my, he's family at this point. So I'm in a different place now. So when you become friends of the people, you forget that they're that person now because you look at them like that. Like I'm a fan of Constantine's, you too, Francis. But, uh, you like watching me destroy people. I love watching Constantine destroy people. It's

always my favorite thing. Why are you interested in that, Russell? Because I envy that ability and that skill. I lack it. Fine, but the subject matter. The subject matter because you articulate it well. And when things are articulated well, there's no, you can't argue it. It's like he fucking had his point ready, loaded, thought out. It wasn't just an off-the-cuff answer. These are like, this is all filled with information and points that you weren't prepared to when you came at him. You're jealous of me is what you're saying. I'm very jealous.

Matter of fact Listen I'm talking about cross-country scheme No I'm just curious because You're very affable You're very likable You're very chill I can see there's no edge to you

You're not sitting going Fucking trans women aren't women or whatever That's not you right At all And yet you're interested in some of the stuff That we get We talk about in modern society Yeah because it's always being like

when I'm trying to explain it to people well here's why and they're like well why that's just because you say that I go no but here I'm trying to be reasonable with you

and you're still trying to be fucking unreasonable and I get frustrated by that type of behavior you know when you're trying to bend and they're not and well they're bending

but I mean somebody's got to bend I mean so it's kind of sorry yeah it's kind do you feel a little bit annoyed

that people are imposing their worldview and other people. Is that what you're saying? Yes, that's what it is. Like, listen, I got my own problems in my own life. I got all my, whatever I'm dealing with. That's not your problem. That's my problem.

Whatever is bothering me or is inside of me that I'm dealing with should not be your problem unless you ask me. And you're like, hey, share something with me. Is something bothering? Then, yeah. But I'm not going to be like, yeah, well, you think you got it bad? I'm blah, blah, blah. It's such a, it is a very narcissistic.

world we're living in. It's becoming more and more narcissistic. And narcissists are the worst fucking humans on the planet. And that's a man who's been around a lot of comedians. Yes. And, and narcissists. What's the difference? I had a kid with some. Oh, man. It's been such a great interview, Russell. It's been a pleasure, man. Thanks. I hope it was good. I mean, it was great. I was good for it. I was going to say before we go to locals where we ask questions from our supporters. Last question we always ask is what's the one thing

we're not talking about as a society that we really should be? This is going to be controversial. No, it's not. No, by our standards. People keep talking about Palestine and Israel. Okay, this might be controversial. And they always approach it from Jewish and Muslim. But here's something that I was privy to hear when I was in the Arab world and from some people in that situation. And I said, what is the problem there? Is it Jewish, Muslim? Is it Israeli? Is it Palestinian?

He said, no. They said, it's a white, non-white issue. The Israelis identify as white, whether they're admitted or not. And the Palestinians are not white. That's really what it is. that's why it gets the support from everybody else. Even though they look very similar. They look similar, but there's not similar enough.

There's a hue. There's a slight hue difference. Now, the Israelis are not, it's the external factors that come in that are the white ones. You know, the Israelis are more akin to the Palestinians. But when you've got all the Europeans coming in, they're fucking Europeans. I mean, like, they're not looking at these people the same way. They might even look at the Israelis a different way. You know what I mean?

Like, that's, it's a real thing. There you go. Mildly controversial. All right, head on over to locals. We'll ask some of your questions as well. See you there. Can't wait for the death threats on that one. Still one of my favorite bits of comedy.

His impression of his dad is hilarious. Somebody going to get hurt real bad, somebody. Somebody going to get a hurt to your best. You know, the true story behind that is, USAA knows dynamic duos can save the day, like superheroes and sidekicks or auto and home insurance. With USAA, you can bundle your auto and home and save up to 10%. Tap the banner to learn more and get a quote at usa.com slash bundle. Restrictions apply.