Russell Peters on Tour

The rare North American stand-up comedian who can sell out arenas from L.A. to London to Sydney, Russell Peters returns to the stage with his latest roving revue, dubbed The Deported tour. 

The current show features Peters’ first set of all-new material since taking a break from stand-up after filming his 2016 Netflix special, Almost Famous (though he was hardly idle during that stretch — on top of starring in a handful of films, Peters also launched his own prime-time series, The Indian Detective, which came to Netflix in 2018). 

Despite ascending to rock-star status in the comedy world — complete with dramatic, dry ice–assisted entrances — Peters’ routine is still rooted in relatable, everyday anecdotes, as he regularly reenacts amusing family conversations that give his jokes a broad, cross-cultural appeal.

Russell Peters Background 

Raised in the suburbs of Toronto by Anglo-Indian parents, Russell Peters is a true 21st-century comedian, with a massive international following that reflects the connectivity of our world in the online age. And he actually owes his big break to the Internet. 

After paying his dues on the Canadian stand-up circuit for 15 years, Peters became one of the first comedians to go viral — in 2004, clips of his Comedy Now special began circulating on the then-nascent YouTube platform, with his astute observations on racial stereotypes earning him fans across the cultural spectrum. 

Since then, Peters has sidestepped the traditional Hollywood star-making machinery to cultivate audiences in places most North American comedians never venture — countries like Lebanon, Singapore, and Indonesia. 

Despite never starring in a massive film or TV series like Jerry Seinfeld or Chris Rock (who once quipped that Peters is “the most famous person nobody’s heard of”), he orbits the same stratosphere when it comes to selling tickets. In 2013, Forbes magazine ranked him the third-richest comedian in the world with annual earnings of more than $20 million. However, in recent years, Peters has made significant inroads to becoming a household name in America, thanks to his well-received 2016 Netflix special, Almost Famous.