Leon Ernest "Schucks" Schuster (born 21 May 1951) is a South African filmmaker,[1] comedian, actor, prankster and singer.
He explained, in a 2010 interview about his early life in Bloemfontein, "I remember running down the aisle of the Ritz Theatre, playing cowboys & crooks, which was all the rage at the time.
I used to fool my grandma into thinking I’d shot myself in the foot with my pellet gun… tomato sauce everywhere, me squealing like a wild pig.
"[2] Schuster studied for a BA degree at the University of the Orange Free State, where he played rugby for the first team.
During his time at the SABC, he created the Afrikaans radio series Vrypostige[5] Mikrofoon[6] with Fanus Rautenbach – which involved disguising his voice[7] and playing phone pranks on unsuspecting victims.
[8] His following CD, Gatvol in Paradise,[9] sold in more than 125,000 units and gave rise to the unofficial Gauteng anthem "Gautengeleng".
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.
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".