Main content

Comedian and Satirist - Pieter-Dirk Uys

Are there dangers in playing his country's recent history for laughs?

Stephen Sackur speaks to South African satirist, Pieter-Dirk Uys. Leaders who routinely abuse their power cannot stand to be laughed at. Satire is a potent political weapon. That is a truth Pieter-Dirk Uys has exploited for 40 years. He styles himself as "the most famous white woman in South Africa." Thanks to his alter ego Auntie Evita - a character he created to poke fun at the white Afrikaner establishment during the apartheid era, and which he now uses to lampoon Jacob Zuma and the ANC. But are there dangers in playing South Africa's recent history for laughs?

(Photo: South African satirist Pieter-Dirk Uys in the Hardtalk studio)

Available now

23 minutes

Last on

Mon 10 Oct 201621:06GMT

Broadcasts

  • Mon 10 Oct 201603:06GMT
  • Mon 10 Oct 201604:06GMT
  • Mon 10 Oct 201606:06GMT
  • Mon 10 Oct 201614:06GMT
  • Mon 10 Oct 201621:06GMT

Podcast