Before I met my friend Mithra, I was completely unfamiliar with Indian culture. Growing up in Iowa, curry wasn’t even on my family’s radar, let alone their palate. Now that Mithra and I have been pals for nearly a decade … I’ve been completely immersed in all things Indian.
I’ve gone to Indian weddings, baby showers and New Year’s Eve wingdings. Who knew Indians knew how to get down? Not only do I enjoy Indian food now, I can typically order things on my own. (It only took about five years before I figured out what things I like on the menu. Up until that point, Mithra would just order a hodgepodge of stuff and I’d sift through until I found stuff I liked.)
Last week Mithra and her posse all headed out to LA to see a performance by Russell Peters, a well-known Indian comedian. They gladly took me along as their token white boy. Now I know what you’re thinking … “Indian comedian” sounds like an oxymoron, like jumbo shrimp or student athlete. But he’s wildly popular thanks to relentless word of mouth … uh, and a few hysterically irreverent HBO specials.
He’s certainly found his niche. For instance, Margaret Cho makes fun of Koreans. Chris Rock makes fun of African Americans. Russell Peters makes fun of, well, everyone. The front row of his LA show was a mish-mash of Asians, Pakistanis, Persians and the obligatory two redneck white folk. He is a master mimic — easily mocking all parties involved. Think of him as an equal opportunity offender. Every time he’d launch in to his thick-tongued Indian accent, the crowd would lose their minds. His spot-on impersonation of bland Midwesterners is a force to be reckoned with as well.
He teeters on irreverent, snarky and insulting, but always has the crowd eating up his brand of humor. I got a bigger kick out of watching Mithra laugh uproariously than I did watching the comedian. (She said the same thing when we went to go see “Borat”. She laughed at me through the whole movie.)
My friend Cristobal went with us. He’s a proud Puerto Rican. When Mithra, her friends and Cris and I were standing together, we looked like a bad United Colours of Bennetton ad. Good thing we were in the 22nd row … otherwise we would have be SERIOUS fodder for some of Peter’s scathing remarks.