Standup guy
Russell Peters riffs on Trump, his acting career and bombing in Banff
CALGARY It seems like the ultimate revenge for any comedian who has ever bombed.
Back in 2006, Russell Peters performed at the Rockies gala at Fairmont Banff Springs during what was then called the Banff World Television Festival. It was a good year. Paul Haggis was on hand to accept the inaugural Canadian Award of Distinction. Sessions and master classes were held with notable TV types representing shows such as House, Prison Break, CSI and Everybody Hates Chris. Quebecois entertainer Guy A. LePage received the Sir Peter Ustinov Award for Comedy.
But, on the night of the Rockies gala, every joke Peters made fell flat. In fact, the comedian cheerfully admits his set in front of an international audience of television’s top movers and shakers completely “tanked.”
“They were very unfamiliar with me,” says Peters. “It’s so funny how the same person can say the same thing and if you know them it’s hilarious and if you don’t, you don’t like it. If you’re the darling of the moment, you can get away with murder. At the time I was the new guy. Now, 10 years later, they are familiar with me, they know me, they accept all of my bulls--t. ”
So Peters was back at the festival, since rechristened the Banff World Media Festival, and has now joined the ranks of John Cleese, Ricky Gervais, John Candy and LePage in receiving his own Sir Peter Ustinov Award for Comedy.
Peters doesn’t really need the vindication, but he admits receiving the honour provides him further evidence that he is no “flash in the pan” and has him feeling grateful for what he has accomplished. Since bombing at the Rockies, he has become one of the top-earning standup comedians on Earth, tours stadiums, has top-rated specials on Netflix (a new one comes out in October) and recently voiced Rocky the Rhino for the The Jungle Book.
Beginning in October, he will be in India, South Africa and Toronto shooting a new series for CraveTV called Russell Peters is the Indian Detective. The four-part dramedy, which has been gestating for five years, has the comedian playing a police officer who becomes embroiled in a case in Mumbai after being unfairly suspended from his beat in Toronto. It’s being developed by Frank Spotnitz, who worked on the X-Files and created Amazon’s alternative-history series The Man in the High Castle, which he adapted from Philip K. Dick’s twisty dystopian novel. Clearly, this is not Everybody Loves Russell.
Peters says his first ambition was always acting and says he hopes taking on a role that offers both comedy and drama will show fans that he is capable of moving beyond the standup stage.
“Not that just being a standup sucks, by no means does it,” he says. “It’s the best way you can make your living as far as I’m concerned. But this is a nice opportunity to show people: ‘Look, I know you like that, but how about this?’ And I’m not taking a huge departure from my style of being me.”
So Peters says he plans to put standup on the back burner for now to enter acting mode. Still, one can’t help think that it’s a golden era to be a comedian, particularly in his adopted home, where the emergence of Donald Trump as a presidential hopeful seems like one long punchline.
“It’s embarrassing for me because all my friends are like, ‘well, that wouldn’t happen in Canada,’ ” says Peters. “I’m like ‘I get it. I’m Canadian, a--hole, you don’t have to make it seem like I’ve turned sides on you.’ I don’t see the appeal of Donald Trump, but I can see why certain people will be attracted to that. But I can’t comprehend the hatred of Hillary (Clinton).”
Peters has a hard time seeing Trump as a gold mine for jokes.
“I think he could be, but he seems very radical in his thinking,” he said. “He seems like the kind of guy who would try and stop your free speech so he can maintain his. This is the guy who is running for president, the guy with no thick skin. He is so used to people kissing his ass and being yes men that he can’t understand when people are against him. Instead of being like ‘Well, you just don’t get me’ he’s like ‘You’re an idiot and I’m the best.’ I feel this is how concentration camps start. They all start with a person like that.”