Russell Peters Entertains The Grads

Here’s a portrait of your standard graduation ceremony:

Pomp and Circumstance.
Boring introductions.
Boring academic charging of the graduates.
Bad public address by the honourary graduate.
Awards that I never win.
The granting of the degrees/diplomas/certificate.
Joyous relief that you can leave the room.

Simply put 2-3 hours of torture so you can spend two seconds walking across the stage and take a million photographs of yourself in an unflattering cap in gown.

A few months ago I received an email with a date of the ceremony and one other small minor detail.

Lots of very talented performers come from the Greater Toronto Area so it should not have been a surprise that one of them was chosen to receive an honourary degree at my graduation from Humber College.

Russell Peters would be there.

At first I thought he wouldn’t come. I was sure that my professional fandom luck wasn’t that good.

But there he was on the stage providing the comic relief as only he could.

Being from Brampton and getting kicked out of college after a month, I guess it was quiet a special thing for him to receive a degree for doing absolutely no academic work.

His message to us was stereotypical yet inspiring in its unique delivery.

“Never do anything only to make money, do it because you love it.”

And as the graduates of the Comedic Performance Program received there diplomas Russell stood and shook the hand of every one of them.

Some random other graduates stopped to greet him as they walked across the stage and I had planned to do the same.

I do describe myself as a professional crazed fan. How could I pass up this golden opportunity to be meet a celebrity without being a total creeper?

Well, the truth of the matter is I chickened out. As the girl before me walked across the stage a voice from the audience yelled “THAT’S MY SISTER” and under his breath Russell said “why don’t you get your sisters name then” in a annoyed tone.

My nerve was gone. He was probably itching to get off that stage, and we were only half way through the graduates.

I settled for some solid eye contact and a smile from Russell. I made my way across the stage and back to my seat just thankful that the comic didn’t find something to make fun of me about.

I regretted my decision as soon as every one of the PR grads got a hug from him. A HUG. Suddenly, a handshake didn’t seem like such an inconvenience.

I made the right decision. He was on stage with 20 other people who I felt no need to interact with. Russell Peters may be a world famous comedian, but for those few hours he was just another Humber graduate. I’m glad that I treated him as such.