Sunday, May 10, 2009

Red, White and Brown Nosed


For a man that makes his living off stereotypes, Russell Peters does not notice the dichotomy of assaulting the media for using stereotypes for furthering agendas and propagandas. But for those people that like intelligent humor, be it the wit and sarcasm of Yes, Minister, or… the wit and sarcasm of George Carlin, you will instantly notice the fallacy of Peters’ chosen words. He is a part of the media. But unfortunately his ignorance is shown by his inability to take part of the blame, or it just shows his hypocrisy.


In his “new” act, “Red, White and Brown”, Russell Peters claims to have found himself a new voice; retiring old jokes. As usual, his act is confused as he shuttles between his identity of a North American and his “cheap” accented brown identity, and in that we can take solace, that Russell Peters is Indian, not just genetically, but even culturally.1 He is a true hypocrite; One that would do Mother India proud.

Russell Peters is a cult comedian, like George Lopez, or Dane Cook, mediocre comedians targeting fringe audiences and cults that they have cultivated. Perhaps with respect to the specifics of the jokes Peters is “fresh” but considering the subject matter remains the same as his earlier acts (same jokes about Indian cheapness, about Chinese accents, about Italian machismo…). And while there is some humor to be found even in repetition, it can only go so far. If Red, White and Brown weren’t advertised as a “new act”, perhaps this would be a good extension of his earlier acts… and amusing2. However, this blatant attempt to beguile audiences or just his ignorance as to what constitutes a “new act” takes out some of the fun of watching a mediocre comedian.


After all, it doesn’t hurt if you are eating an egg salad sandwich, knowing that it is an egg salad sandwich and nothing more. But when you are served an egg salad sandwich, all while you were expecting smoked salmon, then it is just disingenuous; and you have every right to take it as an insult to your intelligence. After all, you just paid for something more!



P.S. I watched it on YouTube; “The new home of piracy”.


NB:

  1. Peter’s attempts to make the distinction between his genetically derived Indian-ness, such as his skin color, his physical attributes versus Indian personality traits (which he claims not to have) is a large part of the act as he discusses his trip to India. It is only laughable that he does not notice how he undermines his own point!

  2. Notice the distinction between amusing and funny. A good knock-knock joke is funny. Repeating a good joke over and over again, is at best… amusing.


4 comments:

Pravin said...

Lordy Lord, your blog is pretty sweet. And since you seem to dislike religious propaganda as much as me, might I recommend 'God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything" by Christopher Hitchens.

The Depressed Doormat said...

Funny you should mention that. After months of procrastinating, I finally stopped in just today at the Chicago Public Library to pick up a copy. In fact, I just pulled up a chair to read it as soon as I completed checking my mail...

P.S. I don't just dislike religion. I dislike religion, religious and theist thought. For me, it shows a weakness of mind and intellect.

Pravin said...

I understand. Perhaps I should have made my position clearer. I pretty much think all theism is a bad thing, though some theistic positions might be better than others. Anyway the book is pretty exceptional. Good reading!

Thanatos said...

Russel Peters was funny for about 3 minutes... 5 years ago.

It's just sad now. Great way to weed out new acquaintances though - "you like Peters? See ya!"

PS : Fun, fun, fun, all your hatred is a good read.