Canadian comedian Russell Peters sold an unprecedented 11,000 tickets in one day for his February 14th, 2009 date at London’s O2 Arena, after tickets went on sale on October 1. “This is a real validation for us in the UK market, ” says Clayton Peters, Russell’s brother and manager. “It was only two years ago when a certain well-known UK promoter told me that Russell would ‘find it hard to break into this market with his existing material.”
Having had over 20 million views on YouTube alone, Peters has reached a global tipping point of success without a sitcom, a starring role in film or exposure in any other mainstream medium.
“I offered my new special, `Red, White and Brown,’ to various broadcasters here in the UK, including the Comedy Channel, and they didn’t even return our calls. The fans made me, not the media – and I haven’t forgotten that,” Peters explains.
In 2007, Peters was the first comic to sell out Toronto’s Air Canada Centre, where over 30,000 fans attended over two nights. He has had a steady series of sold-out shows at prestigious venues around the globe this past year, including Madison Square Garden, LA’s Nokia Theatre and The Sydney Opera House.
The February 14th show will launch Peters’ 20th Anniversary Tour. These shows will contain not only all new material, but “remixes” of Peters’ greatest hits. “No joke is ever really complete. I’m going back and adding stuff to some of my older jokes and even re-telling some of them in new ways – ways that I wish I’d thought of back then.”
