Russell Peters (2)

I have been a fan of Mr. Peters’ since I first heard his “Somebody gonna get a hurt” routine. Add to that the fact that he is proudly Canadian and my curiosity got the better of me. This book is filled with his trademark humour as well as some of his well-known lines from his stand-up routines. The humour is definitely expected, but the book also tells some heartbreaking stories of what is was like growing up “brown” in a predominantly white neighbourhood, the trials of being first generation Canadian as well as being the kid in school who did not quite fit in. It was interesting to learn about the process of writing comedy and the winding road travelled to become a top stand up comedian.

Mr. Peters is at the top of his career now, so this book cannot be totally described as a memoir, and he seems a bit young to have written an autobiography. There is a second book, so maybe he is writing his life story in instalments. The language of the book is conversational and the pictures from family albums are interesting. Towards the end of the book I found it became a little bit of a name-dropping who’s who, but still very readable.
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