India Questions Russell Peters (Aired: November 2008)

this is NY TV and you're watching [Music] [Applause] Classics well good evening and welcome to this um unusual show would you say it's going to be unusual we're unusually far from each other get bit Clos should we text each other you want to phone the interview it's one and only Russell Peters welcome and uh for those one or a handful of you who don't know who he is he's been traveling around India to show show that are houseful and bloody expensive tickets as well I I don't price them I just show up it's not like I get called and go Russell where do you want to price these tickets at I I just show up and but houseful you can't get a seat in any of them Bangalore Bombay Kolkata and Delhi as well no seats available a lot there's a lot of money in this country you know we always focus on the poor there's a lot of rich people in this country and uh again for those who don't know about him what's that phrase somebody going somebody going to get a hurt real bad real bad so tell us what's it been like uh making fun of Indian audiences in front of Indians um you have to be very delicate with it here right I can't because you have to you have you see the objective is not so much to make fun of people but to uh bring your attention to things that you may have otherwise ignored and then people go hey you made fun of us I go actually you laughed right so it's kind of your fault right but tell me it's often thought that Indians can't laugh at themselves but do you find that different um well no there is a large group of Indians that can't laugh at themselves but like that's why they're politicians right so and and so you know you know the rest of the people the real people which I like to call them you guys would be the real people and then you got these phonies that have no sense of humor about anything and then you have these other people who think they're these nationalists who are doing great things for the country but in fact they're harming it in their own certain way you know right so I think it's the people who actually can step step aside and and laugh at at at themselves those are the people that ends up going further because you're able to see two sides of a coin like which which particular bits have gone down well with the audiences here so far well all the classics they I keep getting requests when I'm on stage but I'm trying to do any requests I'm not doing them I'm just saying uh I won't be doing them but they're too long they're just long stories and but I uh but you know I'm trying to do the new material and then I'm trying to write material whilst I'm here and then I'm trying to do some old stuff but that's it's hard to do old stuff because the whole thing with comedy is the element of surprise and I've been watching these um Indian laughter Challenge and all this stuff and who is that guy that just laughs at anything but he doesn't just it's almost like they're zapping him every time right cuz he just like haha he's like ha he like he grabs his ass and laughs ah okay and um what do you say about politicians a little stiff but I'm I'll be honest with I'm scared of the politicians here because politicians here aren't like politicians in North America where it's like you say something about something about them and they're like I don't know over here they'll like take you out you know what I mean would you say about me you know Russell Peter's bus exploded today and the politicians were like I don't know how that happened I have nothing bad to say you politicians are doing a great job and what about Bollywood stars and Bollywood movies uh Bollywood movies man uh you know if you like them God godp speed you know good for you for having no expectations from a movie um but then I heard one excuse for liking Bollywood movies my my cousin this morning I was having breakfast with her and she said that her daughter-in-law likes Bollywood movies because she can just put it on and tune out and there's no thought involved and I'm like well then why don't you just go to sleep like why are you why are you wasting five hours on this film you know what I mean I I don't like him it's to me it's a it's a it's about looks over talent um if you look great you can be in a Bollywood movie you don't have to be able to act so you do have a few favorites in Bollywood right well no I I I think you know what they're doing is great without Bollywood who would I make fun of you know what I mean but it really is to me bollywood's based on looks over talent um acting is always overdone it's never like you know you know it's never subtle there's nothing subtle it's always like you you know you've somebody just stole your goat you know it's never like oh man my goat you know what I mean it's that's why I like Tamil movies you know it's not about looks in those movies it's that is that is so but um okay Bollywood is one but what about your parents when your father hears your skits about him well he doesn't hear them anymore he passed away but when he did he would always go I don't talk like that you know I never said that why do you and then but like he would say that but at the same time he'd be proud you know what I mean that's my son he makes fun of me you know me I'm like no they've never seen you Dad they only heard the caricature of you through me you know but did he really say that to you no you know know what somebody's going to get hurt I'll tell you where that came from in Canada um I used to DJ and they used to have these daytime dances in the early 90s because uh Indian parents were really strict and they wouldn't allow their kids to go out at night so they would have these daytime dances and I would DJ them so there was always fights at these dances and and there was never like fights it was like it was like these Indian fights where you know it's like you know and I used to box so to me when I whenever there's a fight I was watch cuz I'm like oh I want and then I'm all saying and like could somebody just like stand straight throw a punch slip something you know just but it's never that clean when you watch it anyway this fight broke out at one of the dances and in Canada there's a lot of uh new Indians and young kids like you but more from like the bend you know what I mean like like these are like real Village kids and now they're in the big city and this fight breaks out and this other kid jumps in I run towards the fight because I see the fight and then this other kid jumps and he goes hey nobody fight today okay or somebody going to get a hurt feel bad and that's exactly where it came from and then my friends and I were watching and we started laughing cuz because you know there's this big fight and everyone's like oh and then like somebody we're like and the whole night we're like saying it for like we said it for years and then it wasn't until much later where I Incorporated it into my Act and there's like many variations on the way before I got to the final story because the story is true but the phrase wasn't you know what I mean but that's how Comedy Works it's based off something real and then there's the exaggeration that follows for those who haven't heard it just very quickly the story well the story was um you know you must beat your kids basically you have to hit your kids and if you don't hit your kids um you know they're going to grow up to be like whites like well not even because I've been asking audiences in India and there's some sort of new parenting Happening Here where Indian parents like no I don't hit him the kids's like I don't get hit I'm like that's you're a brat then get hit you know what I mean people that never get hit are usually mouthier than everybody else because they don't know what it's like to be slapped in the face like I I'm mouthy because I was always told to shut up my dad would always threaten like my dad wouldn't say somebody's goingon to get a hurt but he would make me get a hurt you know what I mean he would he wouldn't be like somebody gonna he'd be like come here and then like ow that hurt that's right you know and so the more the more they repressed my wanting to speak out the more I spoke out later on you know what I mean right so you have to beat these kids and and and it's just good I'm not saying you know turn an iron on and burn them but you know every now and then a little or you know the subtle ones you know your parents kind of pull your arm really hard you know come here like come here son you know Indian parents like to grind their teeth when they're getting man come come here they don't raise their voice cuz that would be you know too much show now how about some questions how I can see a lot of you identify your parents like that right yeah did you get hit stripey lots of time lots of times good see and now you're a good kid right how old are you um I'm 19 19 you're young as hell that's good right no I thought that was trying to teabag so you got hit but they can't hit you anymore obviously at 19 you uh yeah oh they still do no no I was like wow not a national television you're a pun he won't admit on National Television all right well there you go no no they don't hit they want to hit you now but yeah they do right how about some questions yeah go ahead why didn't you ask a question yeah go ahead right U did you face any kind of racism uh when you were a kid basically during your childhood that's that's all I faced when I seriously growing up growing up in Canada is not like over here I don't know what kind of racism you're facing I think you're facing classism over here you know what I mean you know I have this much money you don't have this much money I'm better than you and uh that to me doesn't work either because I I honestly as much as I make fun of everybody and it sounds cliche and it sounds like the right thing to say but I really do look at everybody the exact same way there's not there's no variance when I look at people I could look at a beggar the same way that I look at you same way I look at you and I will talk to all three of you the exact same way and and I'm and in doing so I may offend you because you know you may not be used to being talked like that and the beggar may be like what the hell did you say to me have you ever got beaten up no that's why I boxed for fear I used to get beaten up a lot really yeah until I was about 15 and then I started boxing for nine years and then I never got beaten up again and then when I stopped boxing I started doing Jiu-Jitsu and then I I I I was like all right well I guess I can say anything now but in all your life as a DJ have you ever seen a cool Indian you meet cool Indians cool is not um I mean in your skits about Indians versus Jamaicans no you meet cool Indians you meet them you meet them every now and then it's more of an inner thing you know what I mean when you see somebody trying too hard like that's the other thing with the Bollywood actors I see them try so hard like they buy every cheesy piece of clothing you can buy like those ugly ass True Religion jeans and the the the shirts with all the print all over it and the the Ed Hardy hats I'm like come on man that's like cheese ball Central you know you got to be able to think like what you rock is what you you know they may wear these clothes but they don't really own the look do you know what I mean it's always like hey I saw somebody else do this maybe I should do this and I'm like you're 50 years old why are you dressed like that you're dressed like a 14-year-old Persian kid from Beverly Hills Persian yeah there's a ton of Persians in Beverly Hills Moola Moola Moola really okay we take a short break um that was just an order okay now get your questions ready right [Music]

Channel: NDTV

Views: 617,287

Keywords: India Questions, NDTV Classics, Russell Peters, Indians, Indian audiences, NDTV Profit

Id: 8vujq5IUBFA

Length: 12min 6sec (726 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 01 2013