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TORONTO - Montreal comedian Sugar Sammy has a wide range of topics in his joke bank, but there's one that continues to resonate with many of his audiences and has helped define his shtick: his Indian heritage.

"If I didn't talk about it, if I didn't address it and I just showed up, people would be like, 'Why isn't he talking about where he's from?"' says the rising stand-up star, whose real name is Samir Khullar.

"I've tried (omitting it) and people go ... 'why don't you talk about it? Are you ashamed?"'

Khullar, of course, isn't ashamed of his heritage and believes that his banter on it helps in "breaking down the stereotypes, making the stereotypes look ridiculous but also letting people know that it's OK to enjoy somebody else's culture, even from afar."

Fellow Canuck comics Russell Peters and Shaun Majumder, who have soared to fame on both sides of the border in recent years, are some of the other notables known for a similar brand of comedy that is being showcased through several events at Toronto's Just for Laughs comedy festival this week.

The Toronto edition of the festival, now in its second year, will feature a taping of the "Ethnic All-Stars Show," to be aired sometime in the fall, on Wednesday, "The Asian Invasion Show" on Thursday night, and "The Wise Guys Show," featuring Italian comics, on Friday. They follow last week's "The Ethnic Heroes of Comedy" at Montreal's long-running Just for Laughs festival, which also had ethnic-themed shows last year.

"A lot of these comedy shows sell themselves because of these niches," says Khullar, who is hosting the Asian-themed show.

"So it's sort of like, you obviously want to be part of it because it will elevate you to another level or expose you to a wide audience and it'll get you fan loyalty. But at the same time, you have that risk of sort of being boxed in which you don't want to be."

Los Angeles-based comic Dom Irrera, a special guest at the "Wiseguys" show, has been doling out witticisms about his Italian ancestry for over 20 years but, like Khullar, has always been careful to touch on a variety of issues in his shows.

"My whole interest is to make the audience laugh a lot," he says.

"I'll go with the theme of the show and all that but I mean, I don't think people are going, 'Boy, that guy was great but he didn't talk enough about Italians."'

The phenomenon of creating culturally specific comedy shows in Canada started about in the early 1990s, says Andrew Clark, director of the comedy writing and performance program at Humber College in Toronto.

That's when a Yuk Yuk's comedy club in Toronto began all-black comedy nights with a group of comics dubbed the Nubian Disciples of Pryor.

"As far as I can remember, that was one of the very first nights that really sort of decided it would showcase comedy coming out of a specific culture," says Clark, who wrote the comedy book "Stand and Deliver."

"And then there was a thing called the Yids in the Hall which was Jewish comedy. Basically it used to be that stand-up comedy was kind of Top 40 and then in the '90s, on television and everything, it began to be more specific in some respects."

He says Peters has also "had a huge influence" on the trend.

"Now we have more students applying to (the program) who are of a South Asian or East Asian background because of Russell Peters," says Clark.

Khullar says he's also performed in ethnic-based comedy showcases in South Africa and Australia and believes we're seeing such events crop up now because it's a way for second-and-third generation immigrants to celebrate their heritage.

"I think the people who can relate to that type of humour, the core who can relate to that type of humour, have finally started becoming professionals, you know, they're out of school, they've got money to spend so they go to comedy shows," he says.

"It's the first generation that really - because comedy is very language-based - that understands English properly and then they're going out and they're buying these tickets to go and watch comedy. My parents would not watch stand-up comedy unless it was in Hindi or Punjabi."