Russell Peters put on a great show at Bridges Auditorium on Saturday, Apr. 17, getting lots of laughs from an audience that included a large number of fans from outside the 5Cs as well as students. The show occurred just before Peters embarked on his Green Card Tour, starting in Boston and then making stops in New Zealand and Australia.

The show opened about 15 minutes behind schedule with an act by Joey Medina, a Puerto Rican comic from the Bronx. His set was a great way to start the evening and had the audience cracking up from the start. Many of Medina’s jokes were based on socioeconomic and racial stereotypes, as he focused on his experiences growing up poor and roasted a variety of racial groups.

Medina was followed by Travon Free of Compton. He had a few good jokes but much of his material simply fell flat. Based on audience reaction (or lack thereof), several of his jokes seemed to be in bad taste. Comics walk a thin line between being funny and offensive, and some of Free’s jokes about children, the mentally retarded, and women were not welcomed by the crowd. It’s interesting that the audience found it easy to laugh at racial jokes but that other topics felt more inherently off-limits.

Race has traditionally been the focus of jokes by Russell Peters, and this night was no exception. The 39-year-old comic from Canada had plenty of humorous stories to share from his travels around the world as well as jokes based on his Indian heritage. Peters seemed to have something to say about almost every ethnic group one could think of, leaving no one untouched.

Part of what made the show so enjoyable was its spontaneity. Peters interacted with members of the audience throughout his act, generally asking for names and ethnic origins. He then proceeded to make fun of them through some impressive improvisation. It definitely wasn’t nice, but if you’re going to sit in the front row of a comedy show, it helps to be thick-skinned.

Along with his personal anecdotes, Peters has an arsenal of imitations at his disposal. He was able to convincingly replicate all kinds of accents with ease, drawing big laughs from the crowd. His accompanying facial expressions and amusing mannerisms added an engaging physical element to the comedy.

While the show was highly amusing at the time, I have mixed feelings thinking about it afterwards. When I try to think of what, exactly, Peters actually did, it becomes apparent that he just exploited racial stereotypes for most of the show. This is of course what comedians do, but there was nothing new or fresh about it.

The material itself was new compared to online videos of Peters’ routines, but it stands on the same hackneyed ideas that have been seen time and again. Peters didn’t try anything new or risky, though this may have been for the best, considering experimentation didn’t work very well for Free. Rather, Peters stuck to his tried-and-tested formula, and perhaps the fact that it worked so well just shows how little it takes for us to be amused.