Russell Peters Scores Book Deal
What do you do when you’ve proven your talent at the world’s biggest venues, sold DVD’s galore and booked every major talk show (except you Jonathon Ross, get it addressed). You release a book. Here’s some of the press release, the full version is after the jump.
(Toronto) Wednesday, November 18, 2009 – Just announced Doubleday Canada has acquired the rights to a new book from international comedy star Russell Peters. The yet-untitled book will be published in Fall, 2010.
“Russell Peters is the biggest comedy talent in the world,” says Brad Martin, President and CEO of Random House of Canada Limited. “His fans around the globe are going to make this book a major publishing event.”
“Russell Peters is the biggest comedy talent in the world,” says Brad Martin, President and CEO of Random House of Canada Limited. “His fans around the globe are going to make this book a major publishing event.”
“There is no one performing today with as unique a perspective on contemporary society as Russell Peters,” says Maya Mavjee, Executive Publisher, The Doubleday Canada Publishing Group. “I had the great pleasure of seeing Russell perform to a sold out audience of 18,000 people during the Just for Laughs Comedy Festival. His hilarious commentary on race and community brought the diverse audience together as they recognized themselves in his comedy. We are thrilled to have the opportunity to bring Russell’s incredible humour and insights to readers everywhere.”
Born in Toronto, Russell Peters is an international comedy sensation. Over the course of his twenty-year career, he has headlined comedy festivals at home in Canada and throughout North America. In recent years, he has gained a devoted following around the world, and has performed sold out arena tours of China, South Africa, Australia, the UK, Singapore, Sweden, Norway, Lebanon, Bahrain, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and India.
Peters uses his wry and funny observations about race, class and culture to illuminate our human shortcomings with the sizzling accuracy of a well-aimed laser. His quick wit and gift for mimicking languages and accents allows Russell to create characters of all races and cultures to forge an immediate bond with his audience, regardless of their cultural background.
Russell’s career is full of milestones. During a recent tour of Dubai, he sold tickets at the rate of one ticket every two seconds – crashing all of the online ticket sales outlets as soon as tickets went on-sale. In August, 2005, Russell was the first South Asian to headline the Apollo Theater in New York City and in 2007 he became the first comedian to sell out Toronto’s Air Canada Centre – performing to over 30,000 fans over two nights. In addition to this first-time feat, Russell became one of only a handful of comedians to ever headline and sell out the world-famous Madison Square Garden.
Russell Peters’ 2006 concert DVD, Outsourced, has gone eleven times platinum in Canada, and his most recent DVD, Red, White and Brown, has been an international bestseller. His YouTube videos have been seen by 35 million individual viewers and his website, www.russellpeters.com, gets over 10,000 hits a day. Russell’s upcoming show at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall sold-out in less than 72 hours with additional shows added. In the summer of 2009, he was listed by Forbes magazine as one of the top 10 earning comedians in the entertainment industry.
