Daniel Friedman (born 9 January 1981), known on stage as Deep Fried Man, is a South African musical comedian and writer based in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

. He describes what he does as "stand-up comedy with a guitar". He adopted his stage name, a play on his real name, because "it went along with the kind of musical comedy I wanted to do, which was an unhealthy kind of comedy".

Early life

Friedman is the son of political analyst and newspaper columnist

Steven Friedman Steven Eli Friedman (born 31 March 1953) is a South African academic, newspaper columnist, intellectual, activist, former trade unionist and journalist. He holds a doctorate in Literature from Rhodes University (2007) and directs the Centre for t ...

, and is

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

. From 1999 to 2002, he studied journalism, philosophy and drama at

Rhodes University Rhodes University is a public university, public research university located in Makhanda, Eastern Cape, Makhanda (Grahamstown) in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. It is one of four universities in the province. Established in 1904, ...

, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree. He also completed a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) at

Wits University The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), is a multi-campus South African public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University or Wits ( or ). The university ...

in 2010.

Career

After university, Friedman worked in journalism and

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...

. He performed alternative

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

in Johannesurg prior to becoming a comedian. He made the transition to professional comedy after being declared joint winner of the 2010 ''Comedy Showdown'' hosted by Joe Parker, as a result of which he got to perform in the 2010 ''UN Comedy Show'' alongside top local and international comedians. He was voted Best Newcomer at the first Annual South African Comic's Choice Awards held at the Teatro,

Montecasino Montecasino, popularly shortened to ''Monte'', is a leisure and casino complex in Fourways, Sandton in Gauteng, South Africa. It was designed by American company Creative Kingdom Inc. and built by South African architects Bentel Associates I ...

, in January 2011. He has performed in various comedy shows including the ''Heavyweight Comedy Jam'', the ''Tshwane Comedy Fiesta'', UJ Rag's ''One Night Stand'', ''Loads of Laughs'',

46664 46664 was a series of AIDS benefit concerts played in honour of Nelson Mandela by South African and foreign musicians between 2003 and 2008. Origin The second time that Mandela was imprisoned on Robben Island was in 1964, and he was the 466th ...

's ''It's No Joke'', ''Jew Must Be Joking'' and ''Blacks Only''. He was the supporting act for

Trevor Noah Trevor Noah (born 20 February 1984) is a South African-born comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and former television host. He was the host of ''The Daily Show'', an American late-night talk show and satirical news progra ...

's one-man show ''Scratch That'' at The Fringe in the

Joburg Theatre Joburg Theatre Complex, previously known as the Johannesburg Civic Theatre, is a group of four theatres situated in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, South Africa. It was built in 1962, refurnished in the late 1980s and reopened in the early 1990s bef ...

Complex in 2010, and has performed in his own one-man shows ''Deeply Fried'' in 2011, and the more satirical ''White Whine'' in 2012. His debut one-man show ''Deeply Fried'' won a Standard Bank Ovation Award at the 2011

National Arts Festival The National Arts Festival (NAF) is an annual festival of performing arts in Grahamstown, South Africa. It is the largest arts festival on the African continent and one of the largest performing arts festivals in the world by visitor numbers. Th ...

Grahamstown Makhanda, also known as Grahamstown, is a town of about 140,000 people in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is situated about northeast of Port Elizabeth and southwest of East London, Eastern Cape, East London. Makhanda is the lar ...

. He has appeared in various television shows including Mzansi Magic's ''Laugh Out Loud'' and ''Opening Guys'',

M-Net M-Net (an abbreviation of Electronic Media Network) is a South African pay television channel established by Naspers in 1986. The channel broadcasts both local and international programming, including general entertainment, children's series, ...

's ''Tonight With Trevor Noah'',

SABC 2 SABC 2 is a South African family public television channel owned by the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). SABC 2 broadcasts programming in English, Sepedi, Afrikaans, Venda, and Tsonga. As of August 2018, the channel started broadc ...

's ''Morning Live'',

SABC 3 SABC 3 (stylised as S3) is a South African free-to-air public television network owned by the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). It carries programming in English and, few in other South African languages. It has a number of its own re ...

's ''Last Say on Sunday'' and

eNCA eNCA, also known as eNews Channel Africa, is a 24-hour television news broadcaster owned by e.tv that focuses on South African, African stories and events. The broadcaster became South Africa's first and most watched 24-hour news service aft ...

's weekly satirical news show '' Late Nite News with Loyiso Gola''. He also played a

cameo role A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly eit ...

in the 2012 South African comedy drama film ''Material''. The BCCSA dismissed two complaints regarding a satirical song he performed about

white South African White South Africans generally refers to South Africans of European descent. In linguistic, cultural, and historical terms, they are generally divided into the Afrikaans-speaking descendants of the Dutch East India Company's original settlers, ...

s which was aired on

DStv Digital Satellite Television, commonly abbreviated to DStv, is a Sub-Saharan African direct broadcast satellite service owned by MultiChoice and based in Randburg, South Africa. Launched on 6 October 1995, the service provides multiple audio, ...

's Comedy Central channel in 2011. He maintains a strong presence on

social networking site A social networking service or SNS (sometimes called a social networking site) is an online platform which people use to build social networks or social relationships with other people who share similar personal or career content, interests, act ...

s Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. In 2010

Memeburn Memeburn is a website that focuses on digital news and events in the emerging markets sphere.About
Accessed 8 July 2013 Founded ...

included him on a list of 10 South African comedians using the Facebook platform to market themselves, which noted he "makes the most of his Facebook audience, updating frequently with songs, events, jokes, and photos" and is a "great example of how to use Facebook". In 2012 he was named one of ''

Mail & Guardian The ''Mail & Guardian'' is a South African weekly newspaper and website, published by M&G Media in Johannesburg, South Africa. It focuses on political analysis, investigative reporting, Southern African news, local arts, music and popular cultu ...

''s 200 Young South Africans, in the Arts & Culture category. He also writes for the ''

Daily Maverick ''Daily Maverick'' is a South African daily online publication and weekly print newspaper, with offices in Cape Town and Johannesburg. Its readership is spread across South Africa and the world, with approximately 8 million readers per month. I ...

'' and Memeburn. In 2020 old tweets made by Friedman which had previously resulted in a feud arising with Willem Petzer and complaints being laid against Friedman resurfaced bringing fresh life to the feud with Petzer, resulting in new complaints being laid with The Citizen. Friedman was suspended from his position as online editor while an internal investigation was conducted, in February of 2020 the investigation was concluded and Friedman was found guilty of bringing The Citizen into ill repute and was dismissed from his position as online news editor.

Awards

*2010 Nando's Jozi Comedy Festival's ''Comedy Showdown'' – joint winner with Dillan Oliphant *2011 Annual South African Comic's Choice Awards – Best Newcomer *2011 Standard Bank Ovation Award

References

External links

* {{Cite web , url=http://www.whacked.co.za/index.php/comedy-artists/item/daniel-friedman , title=Whacked agency: deep fried man , access-date=1 April 2013 , archive-url=https://archive.today/20130421214555/http://www.whacked.co.za/index.php/comedy-artists/item/daniel-friedman , archive-date=21 April 2013 , url-status=dead , df=dmy-all Living people People from Johannesburg South African male comedians 1981 births White South African people South African Jews Rhodes University alumni University of the Witwatersrand alumni Jewish male comedians African comedians