In a word - hilarious. Well worth the admission price. He started off a little slowly as he scoped out the audience and figured out who to pick on, but by the half hour mark he had us all rolling. Absolutely killer material, and a lot of it was new. He did reuse a substantial number of jokes from his New York act, but managed to rework them so that they still drew laughs. I never expected him to give us ninety minutes of completely new material (anyone who has seen Jerry Seinfeld's Comedian will appreciate how long it takes to formulate a solid one hour set), so I wasn't disappointed by the repeated jokes. That said, there was enough original material in there to warrant the ticket.
I had mentioned earlier that his reliance on racial humour was a drawback, and I still think it is, but he sure knows how to make the most of it. Spot-on impressions of the Filipino, Vietnamese, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Italian, Jamaican, English and of course the Indian accent, and none of them offensive. Unlike other mimics, he manages to lend some authenticity to his impressions, especially with the Indian accent, which is far better than Hank Azaria's monstrosity. He was genuinely funny, as was his opening act, Yoshi, who I'd like to see more of in the future. Yoshi was perhaps too edgy for his own good, and his humour crossed the line a few too many times. That may be due to the short time frame he had, but he definitely has some good material, far better than the frankly overrated and offensive Daniel Nainan, who is exactly the sort of comedian the overseas Asian community does not need. He may have a few good jokes, but resorts far too often to low-brow jokes about curry, sushi, call centres and Gandhi, and let's be honest, we've all heard them on the playground growing up (except the ones about call centres, but I'm sure kids watch the news), and they were never funny. Worst of all, his 'Indian accent' is effectively Apu.
Right, Russell Peters. He was good. He'll be back in December. Don't miss it.
I had mentioned earlier that his reliance on racial humour was a drawback, and I still think it is, but he sure knows how to make the most of it. Spot-on impressions of the Filipino, Vietnamese, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Italian, Jamaican, English and of course the Indian accent, and none of them offensive. Unlike other mimics, he manages to lend some authenticity to his impressions, especially with the Indian accent, which is far better than Hank Azaria's monstrosity. He was genuinely funny, as was his opening act, Yoshi, who I'd like to see more of in the future. Yoshi was perhaps too edgy for his own good, and his humour crossed the line a few too many times. That may be due to the short time frame he had, but he definitely has some good material, far better than the frankly overrated and offensive Daniel Nainan, who is exactly the sort of comedian the overseas Asian community does not need. He may have a few good jokes, but resorts far too often to low-brow jokes about curry, sushi, call centres and Gandhi, and let's be honest, we've all heard them on the playground growing up (except the ones about call centres, but I'm sure kids watch the news), and they were never funny. Worst of all, his 'Indian accent' is effectively Apu.
Right, Russell Peters. He was good. He'll be back in December. Don't miss it.
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