Rip-roaring Russell Peters

Russell Peters saunters into the Oberoi Grand lobby on Tuesday evening and looks for a copy of t2. "I need to give the executive chef a signed copy of my interview for his daughter. She's a big fan," smiles the stand-up supremo."
The bond with Calcutta is apparent: the executive chef lived in the same Elliott Road building as Russell's grandparents. A building where the 38-year-old man who now gets paid pots to make people around the world laugh spent many a week in his growing-up years."
"After the hectic Bangalore shows, this is chill time for the Canadian-born Anglo-Indian comic. And what better place to slow it down than Calcutta, before a livewire performance, partnered by The Telegraph, at Science City on Thursday evening? For this is the city where "my mom was born" and where he still has family."
""I'm meeting the family for dinner," says Russell, about 5'10 and sporty in a plain white tee, jeans and sneakers. "And yeah, those kati rolls (from 'a tiny shop on Elliott Road' he remembers as 'yummy') are on the menu!""
"There's a genial feeling of the prodigal son being back home. Blame it on the good ol' feel good factor that Calcutta offers. "I clearly remember the five times I have been to this city before: 1976, '79, '82, '98 and for a few days last year," says Russell, digging into a papri chaat, with an extra topping of tamarind sauce."
"Earliest Calcutta memories of the man whose YouTube videos have been seen by over 20 million individuals? "Not much apart from playing in the complex with other kids on Elliott Road.... Ahh, I remember the girls.wait.Aliayh, Nidhi." The trademark animated face and eye-rolling begins, without warning."
"Hangouts included the family bakery at Nahoum's, New Market, Flurys and New Empire's Scoop - each has been paid a customary visit on this trip. One Calcutta favourite Russell has dared not to revisit is the phuchka. "I went up to a phuchkawallah and took a look at his dough - and his fingernails - and decided against it!""
"The funnyman, whose official website gets over 10,000 hits a day, has had enough fans coming up requesting for a picture and an autograph."
"So what's the big change in town? "Nothing," says Russell. "Here, you can be safe in the knowledge that some things don't change in this part of the world."

Published in t2, The Telegraph; October 23, 2008