Home  >  The Interview  >  Comedian and Satirist - Pieter-Dirk Uys
The Interview
Comedian and Satirist - Pieter-Dirk Uys
The Interview
Oct 10, 2016

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)

More Episodes

Jun 25, 2026
Michel Barnier, chief EU Brexit negotiator: We need to be together in a fragile world

Katya Adler speaks to Michel Barnier who served as the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, on the 10th anniversary of the highly consequential referendum.

On 23 June 2016, the British public went to the polls to decide its future with the European Union. An unusually high number of people voted, and by 52% to 48%, the decision was to leave the bloc.

Barnier, then a European Commissioner who had served as a minister in a number of French governments, represented the EU at negotiations to help agree the terms of the UK’s departure and future relationship.

It was a long, hard process, with the UK seeing three different prime ministers from 10 Downing Street before formally leaving the Union in January 2020.

Monsieur Barnier reflects on the UK’s decision and how both European and international politics have changed since. The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC, including episodes with European Investment Bank President Nadia Calviño, and Vitali Klitschko, Mayor of Kyiv. You can listen on the BBC World Service on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 0800 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out three times a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.

Presenter: Katya Adler Producer: Ben Cooper and Kathy Long Editor: Damon Rose

Get in touch with us on email [email protected] and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.

(Image: Michel Barnier. Credit: PA.)


24min 38sec



Comedian and Satirist - Pieter-Dirk Uys

--:--
--:--