ZVM’s Indian Undercurrent

Read Russell Peters Interview on CBC first. Some interesting facts:

• Peters was a comedian for 16 years (yes sixteen!) before he was “discovered”
• The discovery was helped by a fan who decided to circulate a video on the internet (yes - the famous one with ,”tap some bong”, !xobile, “beat your kids white people” and others)
• His exponential rise to fame was only in the last two years, as Peters himself puts it in the interview (”I dont know what happenned, why was I known in the last two and why not in the last 16″) seems mysterious.

Some of this can be answered by applying the concepts outlined in “Tipping Point” by Malcolm Gladwell.

“Things can happen all at once, and little changes can make a huge difference.”

Partly because of the reach and cheap distribution power of the internet, we have a relatively obscure comedian for 14 years, today headlining with the likes of Jon Stewart, Bill Maher and others in Las Vegas - all because of one kid who decided to make it available for free!

I dont think Russell Peters himself understood the concept of making your work known as widely as possible and for free; in one standup event in NY he comes on stage where the audience starts to holler “Tap some bong! Tap some bong!” - Russell retorts “You downloading bastards!” - the same who are responsible for the groundswell of support that catpulted him to the top today.

So for the comedians who are trying to make it big today, do NOT underestimate the power of the internet. The intersection of media and the web is still in chapter 1 and will go a long way before we see the end of it.