By RODNEY HO/ rho@ajc.com, originally filed Friday, October 16, 2015
Atlanta engenders bad feelings for stand-up comic Russell Peters, but it has nothing to do with the crowds, the food or the traffic. One of his best friends and pro boxer Vernon Forrest was murdered at a gas station in Atlanta in 2009.
"That's a sore spot," said Peters in a recent interview.
But that hasn't stopped him from coming back. He will be performing at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre for the third time October 24. (Buy tickets here.)
Peters, a 45-year-old Indo-Canadian, is a bit like British singer Robbie Williams. He's a big star in countries all over the world but not a household name in the United States.
That's why he cheekily calls his current tour Almost Famous. "The difference is I'm not almost successful. The success is there," he said.
Indeed, Peters has been doing stand up for 26 years. He has sold out New York's Madison Square Garden and big arenas in Singapore, Australia and India. His current tour will take him to Dubai, Oman and Turkey.
He proudly told Forbes magazine last year that he earned a whopping $21 million in 2013.
That's probably why he harbors no overt chip on his shoulder about not having his own sitcom or talk show. (He has pitched shows to networks to no avail.) He betrays no deep bitterness or resentment. He didn't even sound too upset that NBC's "Last Comic Standing" dropped him as a judge after just one season.
"At least they replaced me with Norm MacDonald, another Canadian who is very funny," he said. "I would have been more upset if they had replaced me with a hack."
And while Peters addresses race issues on stage and makes fun of people in the audience sometimes based on appearance, his lack of any real anger keeps his fans at ease.
"I'm not an angry guy to begin with," Peters said. "That's why people can take the BS I'm saying. 'Hey, he doesn't really mean it!' "
Still, Peters said given the prevalence of YouTube and smartphones, he can't believe he hasn't been hit with more flak. "I've said so much dumb s*** on stage, I'm surprised I still have a career," he said.
At the same time, " the older you get, the more confident you get, the less you second guess yourself."
At the now defunct Punchline Comedy Club last year, where he was testing material for this current tour, he drew a diverse crowd, diverse, with plenty of Indian-Americans in the house. He addressed relatable issues such as smartphones and his parents mocking his teenage aspirations. (He wanted to be a break dancer at one point. His father suggested he get a job at the airport. “You love break dancing. You can dance during your break!”)
And he was great riffing with the crowd.
He asked a man in the front row who went by Ash what his full name was. “Asheesh,” he replied.
“Do you have a brother named Arijuana?” Peters said. “And a sister named Ocaine?”
He met an Indian-American woman who said she's married to a Puerto Rican. “So when did your parents start talking to you again?” he asked, deadpanned.
Peters has an Atlanta connection that is far less depressing than Forrest: music producer Jermaine Dupri. Earlier this year, he had tickets to see the Floyd Mayweather/ Manny Pacquiao fight. A buddy of his was in Vegas with Jermaine Dupri and they were looking for a place to watch the match via TV. So Peters offered up his pad while he was at MGM Grand Garden Arena.
But go figure: he never actually met Dupri to even ask him how he liked the fight - or his abode.
CONCERT PREVIEW
Russell Peters Almost Famous Tour
8 p.m. October 24
$47-$62 before fees
Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre
2800 Cobb Galleria Parkway, Atlanta
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