Mike Trebert December 19, 2011 at 11:35 am

I’m just a few minutes in and I’m squirming, I find this wanker difficult to listen too. He has a Roller AND a Panamera. Christ. The man is obviously a complete failure, no matter how much money he has. How needy can a guy be?? Mark, the podcast is almost always brilliant and fascinating, so it’s interesting that you’ve chosen to add some contrast by bringing on this crass, big-headed black hole of an idiot. Life has its darker colours, its passages of unpleasantness and pain and its moments of blood-curdling failure, so thanks for making the podcast true-to-life. It’s wise and brave of you. Really. I’ve been listening to the podcast for months - from downunder here in Australia. Thanks for WTF - you’re a gentleman and a genius.

Steve P December 19, 2011 at 12:04 pm

@Mike

You may be conflating material success (the Rolls) with being a hack or a failure because you think that art can only be real or legit if it comes from struggle.  The fact that Russell –whose act I’ve never seen, by the way– was able to tap into a underserved market is a testament to how comedy is commoditized and parceled into niches (hipster comedy, nerd comedy, jock comedy, etc).

Also, I love me some WTF (been listening since the Robin Williams episode, and will continue to do so) but Marc came across as somewhat ignorant of comedy/culture outside the US with his comments about India and Jordan and his inability to grasp that other people also have neuroses and sources of comedy.

And save the ad hominem attacks- I’m neither Indian nor Jordanian.

Beelzebud December 19, 2011 at 12:25 pm

Can you blame Marc for being ignorant of Indian and Jordanian comedy?  It’s fair to say that 99.99% of the people listening will be to.

Steve P December 19, 2011 at 12:36 pm

My comment isn’t about Indian or Jordanian comedy per se. Hell, I know nothing about those cultures’ comedic tradition.

I meant India and Jordan in general. I was just struck by Marc is part of a long tradition of comics/podcasts I love that have almost no knowledge of the world outside the U.S.; the same can be applied to all other comedy podcasts I listen to, including Doug Loves Movies, Never Not Funny, Nerdist, etc.

Mike Trebert December 19, 2011 at 12:45 pm

Steve P
Oscar Wilde said that only fools refuse to judge by appearances. But. I did hit ‘send’ a tad impulsively. I vote Green, so the Rolls and the Panamera got me grinding my teeth. Peters seems like a decent guy, although I’ve never heard of him. I’m Canadian, so assumed at first that Peters was a native Canadian, not an Asian indian. His experiences re race are fascinating. Standups on WTF are so uniquely articulate about racial/cultural experience - and Marc does a great job of bringing it out in his interviews. When he’s uninformed he seems open and humble - his strength as an interviewer, I think.

jimjim December 19, 2011 at 12:47 pm

What a success story!  unreal

AD December 19, 2011 at 4:45 pm

Liked the interview. Didn’t like Russell Peters at all. He, frankly, doesn’t seem intelligent enough to make good observations about other cultures, which is a big part of his act. How about some examples :

1. Said Indians in India are more intelligent (or brighter, paraphrasing here) than Indians in the US. Did he ever stopped and wondered who exactly has the money to see him in India? The very educated elite. Might skew your perspective, Russel.
2. Said the slums in India were the only place in the world that were this poor but also safe. Not true, a bunch of places all over Asia are exactly like that.

AD December 19, 2011 at 4:54 pm

Steve P

True. Americans can be mind-blowingly self-centered. I guess that’s what comes with living in such huge country. To give The Nerdist some credit, at least Chris Hardwick is pretty familiar with Canada (see the Tom Green episode).

I do find it slightly upsetting sometimes how people who seem to be pretty well read, and that I would consider my peers, have such a low knowledge of the rest of the word. I like State’s Political Gabfest, but God, for such highly educated people, their grasp of what is happening outside the US is abysmal.

Don Pasqueda December 19, 2011 at 7:43 pm

I am glad you are not packing your own shipments.

Shane December 19, 2011 at 10:39 pm

Holy shit, the hate!!!! I liked the interview and thought both Marc and Russell did a great job.

Crate&Trauma; December 20, 2011 at 2:43 am

Some people here are being overly critical about Peters and Maron.  I mean I guess that’s your thing but fucking hell get a new hobby.  I’ve never listened to Peters but he seems like a nice enough person and pretty engaging.  I enjoyed the interview and am going to check out some of his stuff.

I hope Marc took Russell up on his offer for some Indian eats at his place.

lai December 20, 2011 at 3:10 am

I’m a Canadian. Russell Peters is funny. I enjoy watching him. That being said, it kind of annoys me when people say he’s a great comic. A lot of the stuff he does is the same hackneyed shit you’ve heard a million comics doing but he puts another ethnic spin on it.

When he goes outside of racial humor, he doesn’t have a very strong voice. He may find it, but he doesn’t have it yet. When he sits down and starts figuring out how to approach the subject matter from a unique angel, I’ll give props. Until then, I just continue being entertained.

lai December 20, 2011 at 3:12 am

Also, I KNOW Marc had to hold back. The Rolls in the driveway?? Lol. Marc must have been thinking, “FuckyouFuckyouFuckyouFuckyou,” throughout the interview.

ziggy December 20, 2011 at 5:40 am

Hmm. Very likable guy. Some funny accents. A few odd moments of contrasting self-deprecation and having to brag a bit given Marc’s cluelessness about his incredible success. Then again, I’d never heard of him but realized I’d seen a bit of that special he mentioned after youtubing him.

As someone else said though, the comedy isn’t that strong and seems the same idea repeated with a new ethnic group/stereotype inserted each time, and often nothing funny at all. I think minority groups are just ecstatic about getting enough attention to me mocked in a friendly manner.

(By the way, Russell, in your show: in VN pho is pronounced almost like fah, not fo. And Pho Phuc Lai is fah fook lie, which isn’t the “comedic gem” you mispronounce. The mf’er you threw in always cracks locals up. You need to stretch out the “dooooo” part though. Just a white Canadian’s experience living in the Nam…. Jeez, I just realized I could come up with 20 of these little bits myself and buy a Roller.)

I think Marc was so nice despite the Rollerdocio because he wanted to figure out how the hell he did it.

Well, great racket. You earned it, Russell.

Tony K. December 20, 2011 at 10:07 am

I don’t begrudge anyone the way they make
their money. As long as they’re doing it legally and
Not hurting anyone, more power to them. Personally, I am no fan of Peters.
At all. But, he found a niche and fills it well.
He could be a good draw here in the states, but no way he would make the kind of cash he makes overseas. Can we just admit that America and most english speaking countries just produce better comedy? That our sense of humor is more complex, more
That WE have created the art form of comedy? Its not a subjective thing, its a fact.
And its not a racist statement either. Indian food is better than Icelandic food. Very few would argue that. Unless you were inculturated in it. Also, I think I remember hearing Russel Peters life story back when Kumail (?) Was on the show…really didn’t need to hear it again.

Jeremy December 20, 2011 at 2:05 pm

The description of your fight, and especially of the feeling of “masturbatory sex” was just just brilliant.  Love your show Marc.

VC December 21, 2011 at 1:26 am

“Can we just admit that America and most english speaking countries just produce better comedy? That our sense of humor is more complex, more
That WE have created the art form of comedy? Its not a subjective thing, its a fact.
And its not a racist statement either.”
You might be right because that’s the goddamn funniest thing I’ve ever read.

NA December 21, 2011 at 4:03 pm

“Also, I think I remember hearing Russel Peters life story back when Kumail (?) Was on the show…really didn’t need to hear it again.”

Yea I guess you’re right, once you’ve heard one brown persons story, you’ve heard them all I guess, they’re all basically the same.  White people’s bio’s on the other hand are usually quite distinct and familiar and I identify with them more. 

“Can we just admit that America and most english speaking countries just produce better comedy?”

To me english speaking comedy is better but that may have something to do with the fact that I only speak english.  Yea, lets just “admit” it anyway.

Kuliakan December 21, 2011 at 7:05 pm

Russell did mention several times that he feels surprised by his own success and doesn’t feel like he measures up to the edgier comics who’ve earned their stripes. I think he is savvy enough to realize that he is about a C-list stand-up who simply hit the jackpot. Someone out there is bound to, just like the people who win the lottery for no apparent reason.  I give him props for being somewhat humble about his success. PersonalIy I find ethnic humor somewhat shallow but many many comedians are doing variations of it.

I thought Marc was somewhat tense and annoyed with RP (not his persona but his notoriety)

Bubba December 21, 2011 at 10:24 pm

Kuliakan, you’re quite right that Peters acknowledges that he doesn’t feel that his fame matches his success.  He doesn’t consider himself ‘edgy’ and doesn’t need to be.  In contrast to your comment about ‘many many comedians’ doing ethnic humour, (who are all these comics doing ‘ethnic’ humour?  I don’t think that there that many doing it) there are waaaay toooo many trying to be edgy and playing for the back of the room.  Every nerd and “alternative” comic is trying to be edgy.  Peters is just doing what he’s doing and it’s caught on with a lot of people who aren’t trying to be too cool for school / edgy.

As far as Tony K’s comment about him not making as much as he makes overseas, you’re wrong Tony.  This guy’s ticket prices are higher than most comics and he’s sold-out Radio City Music Hall, The Beacon, Madison Square Garden, The Prudential Center and the Nokia in LA.  He’s one of the highest earning comics in the States today, whether we like it or not.

His car choices may be obnoxious, but Peters comes from pretty humble working-class roots.  I didn’t know he has to pretend to not enjoy his success in order to maintain credibility with a bunch of bitter comedy snobs.

Sridhar December 23, 2011 at 3:32 am

Wow, I never really cared much for Russell Peters’ act (which was nearly unavoidable as an Indian-American college kid round the time he blew up), and to some extent had projected that into a dislike of Russell himself, but I fear I had completely the wrong idea about him (much like Marc did, I suppose). Despite the cars and so on, Russell comes off really well in this podcast; he seems to have a good sense of his place in the comedy world and how tremendously lucky he was to blow up the way he did and so on. And moments like the section on NRIs’ anachronistic culture-clinging were way more insightful than I ever gave the guy credit for when I dismissed him as hacky voices and “My people are so distinctively cheap”-type banalities.

Overall, I personally found this one of the best WTFs I’ve ever heard [though, I must say, I was a little disappointed when Marc seemed fairly clueless about certain aspects of India, such as the languages thing, and a few other similar moments. But I suppose there’s no rational reason to expect everyone to be familiar with the minutiae of all the myriad countries they have nothing to do with…].

Lee Stringer December 23, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Masturbation before writing! Wow, Marc, I thought I was the only one.

I don’t know why so many people found problems with this interview. I thought it was great. I saw Peters in, I believe, 2002, at Yukyuk’s in Toronto. He did a lot of crowd work, way more than any of the other comedians that night. I remember thinking he was good, but I wouldn’t have called him great. Although he’s already admitted to that in the interview. But sometimes you don’t need to be great to cross boundaries. But what do I know? Maybe now he is great. Haven’t seen his act in years.

I lived in Brampton, Ontario, for five years, the same area Peters is from. It does have very high population of people from the Indies, and there’s no doubt that white folks there do look down on them, especially the older generations who wear turbans, the Sikh’s I believe. The general word used is Paki, or “Stinkin Paki,” depending on the level of racism. In all honesty, Ontario is probably the most racist province in Canada, the city of Hamilton being the worst. I wonder did Peters ever play in Hamilton? 

By the way, in case no one recognized him, he was the comedian on the train in the awesome movie, Source Code. That movie would have been great if it had ended right there with Russell’s character on the train, but no it had to have the cheesy, tacked on Hollywood ending. 

He has a Rolls, so what? The dude is not allowed to spend his money? Should he drive a Honda Civic so he doesn’t offend you?

Sridhar December 24, 2011 at 5:27 am

Of course there’s nothing wrong with the guy liking fancy cars… What I’m saying is, that, among other things, predisposed me to expect him to have a certain personality, and I was completely wrong in that predisposition.

Biloo December 28, 2011 at 8:25 pm

It’s interesting that Russell Peters doesn’t see a problem when his pirated video made him into an international star when he was poor, but gets ticked off when a fan says he downloaded his most recent DVD now that he’s rich.

sheeple3 January 03, 2012 at 12:47 pm

Awesome episode, anyone who hasn’t heard of Russel Peter’s by now check him out! The early stuff is probably the best. I like how Mark was hating on him but changed his tune once seeing his stand-up and talking with him. Many of you posting negative comments need to open your eyes and actually watch his stand-ups before judging him so harshly. He is truly doing stuff no other comics have the balls or ability to do.

Peter February 20, 2012 at 2:13 pm

Great interview, as always. Then I tried to watch one of this guy’s ‘comedy” specials. Wow. Painfully unfunny, obvious and totally bereft of insight or originality.

Fitzroy March 07, 2012 at 11:27 pm

He came off as that wealthy, middle aged man who’s interested in “cool” cars a little too much because he needs to fill a hole.
Yet, I sat through the beginning and found him to be a likable guy. Likeable enough to check out some of his comedy afterwards. And that’s when I understood why he’s so successful outside of North America.
His comedy is like “feel good family stand-up”, which is so broad, lowest-common-denominator, and in my opinion bland, that absolutely nobody could ever be offended by it. Also, in contrast to what he himself thinks to be “detailed observations”, they are just the opposite of it. The kind of mild, played-out stereotypes that the whole family can laugh about. You can bring grandma to his show and she’ll have a great time.
He’s like the U2 of stand-up - wildly successful around the world, because people who don’t really care much for what music they listen to think U2 is a cool “edgy” band, so they go to a store and just buy that CD which they see first. A beginner’s comedian. Many Asian and Arab countries don’t have exposure to North American stand-up, so they can’t tell he’s bland.
With all that said, I still think he is likable has he’s very open about his success and comes off as surprised about it as we.