Written by Fidea Encarnacion
Comedian Russell Peters left the local audience laughing for the second time last March 10 at the Philippines International Convention Center (PICC) Plenary Hall, during the Manila stop of the Deported World Tour.
If you’re a big fan of stand-up comedy or at least enjoy a laugh or two, you can easily tell a good comedian from a bad one. Well, then again, calling Peters a good comedian would be an understatement.
Opening the show was Jake Johanssen, best known for being a staple on Late Show with David Letterman. He had a couple of minutes tossing jokes about dealing with the wife, then with the kids–definitely a good start to rev up the audience.
After Johanssen’s set, the stage lit up, upbeat music mixed by DJ Spinbad played, and there he was –the crowd favorite (and now also Netflix-famous) comic, Russell Peters.
Right off the bat, Peters started the show with an improv, first by getting to know a couple of people from the seats nearest the stage, then using those as fresh material.
Then the jokes just kept on rolling in, with no pauses in between. The set had great flow –stories would just jump from one to another without the audience even noticing it.
And here’s what’s great about this comedy gold: Peters does his research. The jokes were not only what you can call fresh, but a good amount of his material from last Saturday were relatable to Filipinos.
He talked family, his view on kids, his trips to India (and that one crushed the dream of seeing the Taj Mahal in person), of how friendly Filipinos are, and that Filipinos, like Indians, are basically all over the globe.
Of course, for those who are familiar with Peters, another thing that made the show great were his impressions of people and accents. From putting on a Donald Trump look to nailing that Filipino accent when speaking in English, he surely knows how to hit that funny bone.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg, but you get the idea. The entire show was about one and a half hours long –no intermission, no breaks in between. Just pure laugh-out-loud sets the whole night.
So, yes, Mr. Peters. We’d love to have you back on your next tour. If there’s one thing Filipinos are best known for, it’s that we like to laugh and have a good time–definitely something Peters can serve again and again.
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