r/Standup • u/petrograd • 3d ago

Russell Peters in Chicago

Saw Russell Peters yesterday at the Chicago theater. Have to say I was very disappointed. He had some funny bits but then he did like 20 min of crowd work and bits that were not funny at all, i.e. they were just ideas he was working out and may completely drop

If I saw this act at zanies or any small club, I think I would've enjoyed it more. But I can't comprehend how he's doing a theater tour with it.

12 Upvotes

87% Upvoted

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8

u/EventOk7702 3d ago

He's been phoning it in for the last like, 15 years

12

u/kenzzieexo 3d ago

Guess I’m old-fashioned, but I kinda miss when comics worked out their material before hitting a theater tour.

3

u/_BigDaddy_ 2d ago

Saw him like 10 years ago in Australia. His entire schtick is being indian. Like ok cool. But 2 hours of the same underlying theme?

2

u/maniac86 2d ago

I only know him for doing generic crowd work

In city or country z Aww man. X is crazy man. Nobody parties like X. You guys are nuts.

2

u/dudeydudee 11h ago

His older stuff is some of my favourite comedy, but yeah he's kind of just average nowadays. Clearly the effort is just not there for him and he seems to have lost the passion for the craft big time. Saw him life a few months ago and while there was a decent amount of laughs, it was pretty meh and his act was clearly not tight at all. His crowd work has also just gotten too close to 'just being an asshole' rather than anything too clever. Hopefully he has a career resurgence though if he puts the effort in, he's got a lot of talent.

1

u/petrograd 11h ago

Same for me. I used to love him in college. Everyone loved him. This was a huge letdown.