Comedy - Atlanta has a three-way for comedy lovers this weekend

Margaret Cho, Louis CK, and Russell Peters wanna tickle your (funny) bone

By Curt Holman Tuesday December 7, 2010 09:00 AM EST

“Cho,” “C.K.” and “Peters” kind of sounds like an unfinished, unusually filthy “Wheel of Fortune” clue, but they’re actually the last of three major comedians visiting Atlanta this weekend. Russell Peters, Louis C.K. and Margaret Cho – performing Friday, Saturday and Sunday, respectively – arrive at various peaks in their careers and reveal some of stand-up comedy’s strongest personalities. Plus, they demonstrate the ethnic diversity of contemporary comedy. Well, two of them do.

??Name?Russell Dominic Peters ?Louis C.K., aka Louis Szekely?Margaret Cho, aka Moran Cho??
?Career trajectory?	Pointing upward as his stand-up takes the continent – and the world – by storm. Has dabbled in other media with an album and DVD special.?	The popularity of this comedian’s comedian seems to be peaking. Helms the self-titled, autobiographical sitcom, “Louie on FX.?	Cho Dependent Tour marks a fresh comeback and career reinventions, including acting and music.??
?Ethnicity and jokes thereof?	Born in Brampton, Canada, to Indian parents. “Our cheapness changed the world. Indians are so dedicated to being so cheap for so long, that Indian people actually created the number zero.”?	Born in Washington, D.C., to Irish Catholic mother, Mexican Catholic/Hungarian Jewish father – that is, white: “I’m not saying white people are better, but being white is clearly better. If I could re-up every year, I would.”?	Born in San Francisco to Korean parents. On the painful production of her short-lived sitcom “All-American Girl: “Because I wasnt Asian enough, they decided to hire an Asian consultant. Because I was fucking it up as an Asian. She would follow me around: ‘Margaret! Use chopsticks! And when you’re done eating, you can put them in your hair. Now you’re wearing shoes, which is something we don’t do in the house. Now I’m just going to leave this abacus right here ... .’”??
?Professional lineage?	Simultaneously mocking and confirming ethnic stereotypes, in the tradition of Paul Rodriguez, Richard Pryor and Margaret Cho?	Like a self-loathing Ray Romano, with the expansive social vision of George Carlin?	Uninhibited personal material like Joan Rivers, and a clear influence on deceptively chirpy “girly” comics like Mindy Kaling and Sarah Silverman??
?Favorite family members in act?	His Bombay-born father, for example, bemoaning the presence of Indians in a Gay Pride parade.?	His two young daughters constantly bedevil him: One daughter’s repeated response “Why?” to every answer drives C.K. into an existential crisis.?	Her mother is prone to ask awkward questions, including the content of a gay porn novel titled Ass Master.??
?Great bits on YouTube?	From his Outsourced special, extensive riffing on the African “click” language??	From “The Tonight Show” with Conan O’Brien, “Everything’s amazing and nobody’s happy,” a viral hit about how people of today’s spoiled generation don’t appreciate such miracles as air travel: “You’re sitting in a chair in the sky.”?	From her “I’m the One That I Want” concert, about being hospitalized and having a nurse say “Hello, my name is Gwen, I’m here to wash your vagina.”??
?Outside the comfort zone?	Upcoming supporting role in Source Code with Jake Gyllenhaal, directed by Duncan Jones?	Directed Chris Rock’s cult movie Pootie Tang?	Launching musical career, recently performed on “Dancing with the Stars,” e-mail feuding with co-contestant Bristol Palin, living part-time in Atlanta??
?Representative one-liner?	“White people, when you swear, you sound like donkeys.”?	“The meal is not over when I’m full. The meal is over when I hate myself.”?	“Monogamy is so weird. Like when you know their name and stuff.”??
?Show?	Sold Out. 8 p.m. Fri., Dec. 10. Cobb Energy Centre (sold out), 2800 Cobb Galleria Parkway.?	$30.50. 8 p.m. Sat., Dec. 11. Cobb Energy Centre, 2800 Cobb Galleria Parkway.?	$28.50-$45. 8 p.m. Sun., Dec. 12. The Tabernacle, 152 Luckie St.??