RUSSEL PETERS LIVE in 'CALCUTTA'

I had been waiting for the day I’d see RUSSELL PETERS Live for the past five odd years since I saw his Comedy Now Show for the first time on my PC. Thereafter I had been scouting for more videos of the Funny man with his roots in my Hometown of Kolkata. We shared another thing in common, of being Anglo-Indians and dealing with the ordeal of explaining what the term actually meant. So like RUSSEL, I also tend to skirt the topic and often enough say I’m a Bengali, as the occasion warrants.

Anyway Back to RUSSEL’s Show. When I got to Science City, the first challenge was to get a parking spot, which fortunately I did. Then getting to the Auditorium gate, I noticed the serpentine line which had already formed. Fortunately I spotted some friends right at the head of the line and in typical Indian style cut in and was seated in the second row in a jiffy. The stage with one mike in the middle already got my laughter hormones or whatever it is that gets you to laugh to kick in. I turned back the whole half hour or more that it took for people to get in and seated. I was shocked to witness the entire auditorium getting packed.

Like all shows in India, though slated for a sharp 8.00 pm start, the show got on the road at 8.45 pm. The opening act was a fat white Canadian bloke who set it up for RUSSELL with a fifteen minute act that had the crowd playing to his tunes, till he finally brought RUSSELL on stage at about 9.00pm. One thing he conveyed to the audience quite convincingly and that was that FAT people were FAT because they EAT. Period!

RUSSELL got on stage and immediately got into his act. The first of his targets, and believe you me I had already identified two of them before the show, was the Old Sardarji sitting with his wife and son, right in front of me in ROW A on the left side of auditorium. The next one was at the other end to the right side of the auditorium in ROW A, a bunch of Chinese Girls. Thereafter for the first half hour RUSSELL had people in splits. The show took off further in the latter half much to the dismay and shock of the older audiences when RUSSELL got more explicit on the subject of SEX. Not that the younger people had any qualms. They were just enjoying every bit of the funny man’s jabs at the hypocritical approach to sex in the country that gave the world the Kamasutra.

He wound up with his classic sign off pulling out a piece I quite clearly remember him saying on OUTSORCED he had retired. But who can forget Ryan and “SOMEBODY GONNA GETA HURT REAL BAD”. With that he signed off to a standing ovation form “CALCUTTA”. That was his dig at the Government waiting for 50 years to change the names of “BOMBAY, MADRAS and CALCUTTA” to “MUMBAI, CHENNAI and KOLKATA”.

RUSSEL ROCKS! Oh and for those who missed his show.. Well you missed his show. Maybe you can catch him in Mumbai or Delhi or better still, watch more of his stuff on youtube.com, while I go get my Copy of his latest Red, White & Brown.

For tickets click and maybe see him in Person.