Ian Fraser

Who is Ian Fraser?

Ian Fraser is a South African playwright, writer, comedian, anti-Apartheid activist, artist, anarchist, and social agitator, now living in the USA. He began as South Africa's first street-level stand up comedian, 'ranting-verse' poet, and extremely acerbic anti-government satirist. He has consistently been a pro-democracy, anti-establishment voice, both under Apartheid and under the new dispensation in South Africa.

Fraser did not finish high school, or have any formal training. After being conscripted in the then South African Defence Force, for a 2-year period, he began to write and perform his own material from 1985 onwards.

Fraser has won many awards for his plays, including the 1992 Amstel Playwright of the Year Award and the 1992 Tonight-AA Life Vita Award for Comedy. His consistently anti-establishment approach has meant that he remains relatively unacknowledged in South Africa today. His comedic work has been compared with that of Americans Lenny Bruce and Bill Hicks, and his dramatic writing to that of Charles Bukowski, William Burroughs and Tom Stoppard. Critics characterized Fraser's work as alternatively swinging between brutality and violence, and delicacy, sensitivity and grace..