The UAE and the Gulf are not always dead-serious places, which seems to be their global reputation. Out and about, you see people smiling and laughing.

The idea of a professional comedian is, however, a fairly exotic one in these parts. Which in part explains why we went to see a Canadian-Indian comedian named Russell Peters who is performing here in Abu Dhabi.

Interesting experience. Much of the crowd found him to be hilarious. I did not. But I was fascinated by how Peters attempts (with quite a bit of success) to find comedic common ground in multi-ethnic settings, and I found myself studying what he said about whom and how he said it, and felt him edging right up to “no, you can’t say that here” … and saw him stick a toe in the hot water … and then back off.

The Abu Dhabi crowd, gathered in a temporary, barn-like structure called the Flash Forum, capacity 5,000, near the race track on Yas Island, seemed to love him.

What is his shtick?

Well, lots and lots of ethnic humor. This is what the man does. Accents. Cultural observations. As his wiki page notes, he once said: “I don’t make the stereotypes; I just see them.”

The test of ethnic humor is … is it accurate? And much of Peters’ act appears to resonate with his fans — whose laughter would be tantamout to saying: “Yes, that’s true, that has been my experience.”

The crowd here in Abu Dhabi certainly was mixed. I’d estimate half the crowd was of Indian origin. And significant numbers of others hailed from Britain, North America and the Philippines — reflecting who lives here, pretty much. Included in the crowd: Several hundred people who appeared to be Emiratis. Or who were wearing national dress, anyway.

Peters dabbled with the edges of appropriate here when he discovered an Indian kid in the crowd (and Peters spends a lot of time in the crowd, riffing on this or that guy, and where they come from) … whose name was Godwin.

He asked him where he was born.

“Here,” was the answer.

“How old are you, Godwin?”

“Twenty-eight.”

“And where do live?”

“Here. All my life.”

“And you’re a citizen, right?”

What he did there was walk right up to the UAE policy of, basically, never giving citizenship to anyone who lives here. They can be born here, live their whole lives here, have careers and families here … and they will never be citizens.

I found it interesting that he went there. Not really saying, “This is a policy I find unpleasant,” but leaving the crowd thinking, “He’s criticizing the policy!”

He mocked/had fun with various languages and accents, including Arabic-accented English, which was interesting.

He seems most comfortable when dealing with Indians, and they (and the Canadians) seemed to be his most enthusiastic fans. When he ended his act with a segment that might have been titled: “Sh*t my Indian dad says” … he was slaying the audience.

Here is a YouTube clip of Peters performing in the Middle East. In Saudi, it would seem from the context of his remarks. And if anyplace in the Gulf is, in fact, not engaging in much LOL behavior, it would be Saudi Arabia.

He was pushing the edge of the envelope there when he suggests, early in the clip, that the rest of the world’s Arabs blame the Saudis — some of whom had to be in the audience — for reputations/misconceptions associated with the Arab world by the West.

He did a bit of the standard “stupid Americans” material, which is a cultural meme in this region. You could present almost any story portraying Americans in a “complete dopes” light — something completely invented, even — and nearly everyone in the UAE would believe it to be gospel. Canadians, certainly, would believe it.

(I’ll get back to that someday … the “Stupid Americans” thing and whether it is fair or true.)

Also, an interesting concept … is to look at various Peters clips on YouTube and note that he tailors his observations to his audiences. Well, of course. Every comic does that. But in Saudi, he appears to mock Dubai (and refer to Dubai as a country, and not just a city in the UAE), suggesting that the world’s tallest building is mostly empty and that it’s pointless to live on an island shaped like a palm tree — unless you’re flying over it.

Anyway, this not-particularly-funny guy, Russell Peters, apparently is hugely successful. Making millions and millions of dollars each year. His wiki entry suggests that he lives in Los Angeles, even though he presents himself as being as Canadian as the maple leaf.

Anyway, who knew so much money could be made slinging stereotypes and mocking accents? While standing in the countries you are mocking? I find the concept fascinating, and I was, in fact, entertained. Not that I laughed much, at all, but the steady parsing of his act … very interesting stuff.

He has sold out three shows here. Clearly, lots of people here think he’s funny as hell.