Comedian and actor Russell Peters is hitting the road for his Relaxed Tour, but he’s not quite at ease yet.
“I was watching something the other day and realized that a couple of the bits I put in this one are still from the last show,” said Peters in a recent phone call from New York. “Once I get the act together, I can relax.”
The stand-up comic will headline the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on Saturday, Feb. 22.
“Even if you saw the show in November and you see it again this next November, it’ll probably be almost a completely different show because that’s just the way it goes,” he said. “It’s like squeezing toothpaste. You never get the same piece twice.”
Peters is no stranger to finding his rhythm, whether it’s off or on the tour bus. His career in stand-up began in the late ’80s out of Toronto. Peters draws from his experiences growing up as an Indo-Canadian with immigrant parents, which helped inform his observational comedy, which has become a staple of his style. He got his big break in 2005 when a fan uploaded his performance on the Canadian series “Comedy Now!” to YouTube, when the video-sharing platform was in its nascency.
The video showcased how he could use humor to highlight racial, ethnic, class and cultural stereotypes across several different ethnic groups, which has resonated with fans around the world and paved the way for comics of the Indian diaspora. Along with becoming one of the first comedians to become popular on YouTube, he was also the first to get a Netflix comedy special when the streaming platform released “Notorious” in 2013. He’s since appeared in several films, including “The Jungle Book,” “Fifty Shades of Black,” and starred in and directed his own Canadian crime-drama “The Indian Detective,” which debuted on Netflix in 2017.
Before heading to Los Angeles, Peters spoke with Southern California News Group about the beef between Kendrick Lamar and Drake, President Donald Trump and Canada, meeting and performing with the late comedy giant George Carlin and more. The following conversation was edited for length and clarity.
Q: You’re a Canadian, and Canada has been in the American news cycle more than usual because of President Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs and his suggestion to acquire it as the 51st state. What are your thoughts?
Peters: It’s not like it’s a real option. It wasn’t on the table. It’s just something that (expletive) put out in the ether. People are acting like that’d be great, while Canadians are like what the (expletive) are you talking about? It’s almost like the movie “Indecent Proposal.” The problem is you put that out there, and then people think it’s real. Americans don’t realize that they are insular in their way of thinking. The rest of the world looks at you guys and goes, ‘Oh, they’re stupid, aren’t they?’ Americans keep doing things like this and believing it, and then the rest of the world goes, ‘Wow. What a sad fall from grace.’
Q: While you spent a lot of time in Canada, you lived in LA for years. As a hip-hop fan, where do you land on the Kendrick Lamar vs. Drake beef?
Peters: I mean, congrats to Kendrick but it was never a real beef to me. There was a beef, but it wasn’t like battle. There was nothing hip-hop about that because it was literally like two guys arguing about who’s a bad father and husband. It had nothing to do with hip-hop and was so corny to me as a hip-hop head. It was good for Kendrick on a certain level, yeah. Kendrick probably wouldn’t have had that record if he wasn’t in the middle of that war with Drake. So, in a very strange way, Kendrick should thank Drake for all those Grammys.
Q: I saw you were a producer of “Hip-Hop Evolution” on Netflix. How much of that culture has played a role in shaping you?
Peters: I’ve been part of the culture since about ’82. That’s when I first got introduced to it, and it shaped the way I act and look and the people I hung around with. It’s funny when you say hip-hop. People only think about music, like rapping, but so many things make it hip-hop. Otherwise, if you’re talking about rapping, then you’re talking about rap music, which is a part of it but not the only element. The four elements of hip-hop are breaking, DJing, rapping and graffiti. For me, it started with break dancing. I got into breaking, graffiti, and DJing. I never rapped but could always appreciate it. I’m a purist when it comes to that stuff, and also a member of Rock Steady Crew.
Q: Do you have a favorite hip-hop era?
Peters: Anywhere from ’88 to ’99 is a really solid run. I’m very East Coast and very Tri-State area-oriented. So when people ask me, ‘What do you think about so and so?’ I go ‘No, can’t listen to that accent.’ Like Kendrick’s, I don’t like the sound of his voice. Can he rhyme? Probably. Can he write some good songs? Probably, but can I listen to him? No. There are certain rappers whose voices I don’t like. I never liked Tupac’s. Then there are guys who had great voices and terrible rhymes. It goes both ways.
Q: You’re in New York right now. What’s it like being out in that city that was so pivotal for that culture?
Peters: Last night, Melle Mel was hanging out and smoked cigars with me. When I’m in New York, all the guys come out. We’ll get Grand Puba, Lord Finesse, and Grandmaster Caz to come out tonight. Pete Rock is coming to the show on Saturday night, and DJ Premier and Masta Ace will be there. It’s like a little fresh fest when I’m in town.
Q: Speaking of pivotal, you were the first comedian to land a Netflix comedy special. Do you feel like a trendsetter in the grand scheme of things?
Peters: Usually, a random person says, ‘You’re a comedian? Do you have anything on Netflix?’ I usually say, ‘Yeah, I started that whole thing,’ but whatever, that’s neither here nor there. They started it with me, and they’re finishing with other people and don’t really even talk to me anymore. Also, people are moving away from Netflix now for comedy. People are going to Hulu or other streamers like YouTube. You can’t stay on top forever.
Q: Social media has become a force that can elevate comedians at a much more rapid pace. What do you think about that?
Peters: It’s a double-edged sword. It’s great for the kids that get to be seen sooner than they normally would have. The bad part is they’re not really getting to put the time in, so they don’t have the chops they need when it happens. There’s definitely an incubation period that needs to happen. Think of comedy like a baby. Each year is a month in baby years. At about the nine to 10-year mark, you should be comfortable with who you are and what you’re doing and have a much more stable way of navigating through this game. When these kids come in after a year or two because they have been successful because of popular clips on TikTok and Instagram, congrats, but it’s not sustainable.
Q: You were also one of the first comedians to go viral on YouTube early in the platform’s beginning. I saw a lot of comedians there for the first time, including the late George Carlin. I know you met and worked with him. What was that experience like?
Peters: He was my everything. I met him in ’92, and I’d only done stand-up three years at that time. At the end of the meeting, I said, ‘Hey, George, maybe we’ll work together.’ He said, ‘You never know, kid, it’s crazy business.’ And there we were, working together 10 months before he passed away. It was a great way to bookend that story.
Q: What do you remember most about when you first met him?
Peters: He was extremely nice and so gracious with his time. He gave me some really great advice. He could have pulled rank or done anything he wanted to, but he didn’t. From what I hear from everybody else who met and knew him, he was always that guy. That’s probably why he stayed in stand-up and avoided the Hollywood rat race; it is all about being fake and rude. The people who will always survive in the long run are the ones that keep it real.
Q: You’ve emphasized honesty in your comedy routine, too, and he was good at doing that.
Peters: George was able to cut through the B.S. He was always on the side of John Q every man. That’s something that politicians can’t do because they may try to make it sound like they’re there for the people, but really, they’re there for themselves. George was definitely not. He was literally there for us. He was our voice. [Dave] Chappelle is great at doing a very similar thing, but Chappelle is also skewed. You know which side he’s on. George is definitely anti-establishment.
Q: What can fans expect at your Los Angeles show?
Peters: This is Russell in his happy place, so it’ll be good. It’s always nice to be in your happy place when you’re on stage. It’s not as in your face as you may expect it to be. It’s much more, ‘Let’s just hang out, have a good time and laugh.’
Russell Peters
Where: Peacock Theater, 777 Chick Hearn Court, Los Angeles.
When: 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 22.
Tickets: Starting at $62.53 at peacocktheater.com.