Canadian comic Russell Peters recently released his latest comedy special Russell Peters: Outsourced on cd and DVD. The Indian comic has made his reputation over the last 17 years by speaking to people that no other comic is talking to. Much of his comedy speaks to North American immigrant communities of Indian, Chinese, Filipino, Vietnamese, Korean, Jamaican and other Southeast Asian and Caribbean communities that remain invisible to the mainstream media and the broader white population. Much of his success is becoming a comedic voice for these communities.

Peters' new Warner Bros./Jack Records DVD and CD, Outsourced, was taped before a sold out audience at the Warfield Theater in San Francisco, and gives viewers and listeners an excellent overview of Peters' comedic genius. The special originally aired on Comedy Central on August 26, 2006. Fans have placed segments from his comedy specials on the internet and his popularity has exploded, creating a global demand for Peters' comedy. He's performed in China, South Africa, Australia, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Jamaica, St. Maartens, Trinidad, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates and later this year will be the first North American comic to tour India.

Despite his success in Canada, Peters recently relocated to Hollywood, where he's working on developing a new sitcom project. "Developing a TV pilot is great, but I'm never accepting typecast roles. If they offer me a million dollars to do a shuffling, bumbling Indian guy they can keep the million bucks. I like the money, but I'd do it without the money and I have done it without the money. The real reward is seeing the look of happiness on people's faces when they hear me talking to their experiences in a way that nobody's ever done before."

Russell Peters began performing on stages in and around Toronto back in the early nineties. Since then he has performed around the world selling out shows in the US, Canada and abroad. A recent one-off appearance at London's Shaw Theatre sold out in 48 hours and when his first shows in Sydney and Melbourne were announced in May 2006, 10,000 tickets were gone in less than two days with zero advertising. In April 2005, Peters was the first South Asian to headline and sell-out the Apollo Theatre in New York City. Common knowledge decrees that a comedian must have a TV sitcom, a hit movie or a high profile comedy album to succeed, but Peters has built a massive underground following by word of mouth, completely bypassing mainstream media outlets. His agents call this phenomenon ‘The Legend Of Russell Peters.'

Peters' comedy is rooted in the reality of growing up brown in white Canadian society. "My family and I are Anglo-Indian," Peters explains. "Anglo-Indians are a community of Indians from India who mixed with the British when they occupied India. Both of my parents are Anglo-Indian and their parents were Anglo-Indians and so on."

Peters was a small child and encountered racism for the first time in 1975 when his family moved from Toronto to the suburb of Brampton, Ontario. "In the 70s Brampton wasn't the heavily Indian community it is today. There was a lot of anger towards non-white people. White folks weren't very friendly, so I grew up with the black kids. I'm always trying to understand why people hate other people when they know nothing at all about them. My act is based on trying to figure that out and that's the art."

Some Very Funny Video Clips from "Outsourced" (explicit language):

"Convincing Indians":
Quicktime | Real Media | Windows Media
"Somebody Gonna Get A Hurt":
Quicktime | Real Media | Windows Media
"Embarrassing Parents/English Accents":
Quicktime | Real Media | Windows Media
"Two Types of Asians":
Quicktime | Real Media | Windows Media

(Streaming audio and/or video links may expire without notice)