Leon Schuster


Leon Ernest "Schuks" Schuster is a South African filmmaker, comedian, actor, presenter and singer.

Early life

Schuster was drawn to the filmmaking process at an early age. As a child he and his brother would play practical jokes on his family and film these.
Schuster went to Hoërskool Jim Fouché in Bloemfontein,and then studied for a BA degree at the University of the Orange Free State, where he played rugby for the first team. He returned to Jim Fouché as a teacher for two years.

Career

Schuster began working for the South African Broadcasting Corporation. During his time at the SABC, he created the Afrikaans radio series Vrypostige Mikrofoon with Fanus Rautenbach – which involved disguising his voice and playing phone pranks on unsuspecting victims.

Music

In 1982, Schuster was approached by Decibel Records to compile a series of sports songs which resulted in his first record entitled, Leon Schuster, having sold 10,000 units. His second album, Broekskeur, sold in excess of 40,000 units. This was then followed by Briekdans and Leon Schuster – 20 Treffers, which sold more than 270,000 copies.
His hit CD Hier Kom Die Bokke garnered an FNB Sama Music Award for Biggest Selling CD of 1995. His following CD, Gatvol in Paradise, sold in more than 125,000 units and gave rise to the unofficial Gauteng anthem, "Gautengeleng". Hey Bokke! was re-released in 2019 - An adaptation of the 1960's song Hey Baby in the hope that lightening might strike twice! South Africa won the World Cup. The prolific South African songwriter, , co-wrote the lryrics.

Film

Schuster's first feature, You Must Be Joking!, produced in collaboration with Johan Scholtz and Elmo de Witt, became popular with South African audiences and gave rise to the sequel You Must be Joking! Too.
These films were candid camera sketches and Schuster made many more of these films as well as slap-stick films, including Mr Bones, his most successful film, which earned more than R33 million at the South African box office.
On 16 September 2011 it was reported that Schuster's next movie, Mad Buddies, would be partly financed by the Walt Disney Company, which would also handle the distribution and marketing of the film. The film was released in 2012 and starred Schuster opposite funnyman Kenneth Nkosi. It received poor reviews, and garnered R4.5 million in the opening weekend from a budget of R20 million.

Comedic style and blackface

According to Schuster, his appeal to the public stems from him making "them used to a certain style of comedy that they seem to like. They like trouble, and they know when Schuster is there, there is trouble. They also like me to rip off the topical stuff be risky and take chances.....and get '!". In 2018, the comedian was "unapologetic about playing on every racial stereotype in his films", but openly admitted that he "does have some regrets about having profited from blackface". He further stated: "I'm so sorry that I can't make Mama Jack 2. If I had a dream come true, my next movie would be Mama Jack 2. But especially on Twitter they said stay away from the blackface, it's not on. It was black people talking to me and you've got to listen. I can't do it because I'll be heavily criticised. In the olden days it troubled nobody. But I won't go blackface now, I can't do it. There's not one actor in the world that will. It's just racist".

Showmax film removals

On 19 June 2020, South Afican streaming service Showmax removed over six of Schuster's films, citing his content as being "racially insensitive", consideing he has used blackface in many of his films for "comedic effect". This came during the heightened Black Lives Matter protests. Schuster reacted, saying he was "shocked" and "can't believe that the content of his films does any harm". He said his work is "innocent" and just him "pranking people".

Filmography

Discography

Albums