John Safran Biography
John Safran is a humorist, documentary filmmaker, and novelist from Australia who is recognized for integrating comedy with religious, political, and ethnic themes. Safran rose to prominence after competing in Race Around the World in 1997, and has since produced a number of documentaries, and television shows, and hosted radio programs.
How Old is John Safran? – Age
He is 50 years old as of 13 August 2023. He was born in 1972 in Melbourne, Australia. His real name is John Michael Safran.
John Safran Family – Education
He was raised in Balwyn North and went to North Balwyn Primary School, Balwyn High School, then Yeshivah College beginning in Year 8. He described himself as “the least religious kid in the most religious school in Australia” at Yeshivah, an all-boys Orthodox Jewish institution. He went to RMIT University after high school to study journalism.
John Safran Crucified
ABC took up Safran’s Race Relations, an eight-part comedy documentary television series, in 2009. As part of this series, John participated in a devotional crucifixion on Good Friday, an annual ritual in the Philippines. Safran was crucified alongside three other men and one women at Barangay Kapitangan, Paombong, Bulacan, just outside Manila. He was nailed through the hands and feet and hanged on the cross for five minutes before being removed and treated in a nearby tent put up for treatment. It was nominated for a Logie Award in the Light Entertainment category in 2010.
John Safran Not The Sunscreen
Safran recorded “Not the Sunscreen Song,” a parody of Baz Luhrmann’s song “Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen),” which features lines like “Never live in Adelaide, it’s a hole” and “Remember, you can’t become pregnant the first time you have sex.” It peaked at No. 20 in 1998 and received an ARIA nomination. “Not the Sunscreen Song” was ranked #706 in Triple M’s 2005 Best Songs Ever Written and Played Since the Beginning of Time poll, one spot ahead of Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition.”
The song is a parody of Baz Luhrmann’s 1997 single “Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen),” which is a recording of a spoken word essay on how to live a happy life published as a hypothetical commencement speech in June 1997 via the Chicago Tribune by writer Mary Schmich. The song also used a sample of Luhrmann’s remixed version of Rozalla’s “Everybody’s Free (To Feel Happy).”
The Australian ARIA Charts placed “Not the Sunscreen Song” at number twenty. The song was nominated for an ARIA Award for Best Comedy Release at the 1998 ARIA Music Awards. “Not the Sunscreen Song” was ranked #706 in Triple M’s 2005 Best Songs Ever Written and Played Since the Beginning of Time poll, one spot ahead of Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition.”
John Safran Exorcism
He premiered his new show, John Safran vs. God, on the SBS television network in August 2004. The first seven episodes were usual educational satire from Safran. In the series finale, Safran was exorcised of demons that had allegedly possessed him during his experiments with global faiths. Bob Larson, a well-known Christian fundamentalist, performed the exorcism. Safran told an Australian radio host that he “knew something was going on,” and that “there was something about the expression on my face.” In an interview with Andrew Denton’s Enough Rope program, he claimed that he had no memory of the exorcism and that the film aired on the program was just the most fascinating from hours of tape.
John Safran vs. God got the AFI Award for “Best Comedy Series” in 2005. Prior to the exorcism, Safran traveled to Mozambique to have a curse removed on the Australian national football team by a now-deceased witch doctor. In the process, he and former Australian football captain Johnny Warren were coated in chicken blood. As a result, Australia qualified for the World Cup for the first time since 1974 on November 16, 2005.
John Safran Puff Piece
Puff Piece, his study on Big Tobacco, was published in August 2021. It was nominated for the Prime Minister’s Literary Prize for Nonfiction in 2022.
John Safran Race Relations
Safran spent parts of 2007 in Los Angeles filming a pilot for American MTV called John Safran Saves America, in which he tried to get emos to fight in Iraq, went on the couch with therapists who say they can cure bigotry, and attempted to turn homosexual in order to advance his career. In an interview, Safran indicated that he has not heard back from the production company Reveille Productions on whether the program has been acquired for production or not, but that “the answer isn’t getting any yesser.”
ABC took up John Safran’s Race Relations, an eight-part comedy documentary television series, in 2009. As part of this series, John Safran participated in a devotional crucifixion on Good Friday, an annual event in the Philippines. Safran was crucified alongside three other men and one woman at Barangay Kapitangan, Paombong, Bulacan, just outside Manila. He was nailed through the hands and feet and hanged on the cross for five minutes before being removed and treated in a nearby tent put up for treatment. It was nominated for a Logie Award in the Light Entertainment category in 2010.
John Safran Seagull
During a match, Safran piloted a remote-controlled seagull with a cigarette onto the MCG ground. He was detained and charged with “pitch invasion,” but the charges were withdrawn.
John Safran Triple J
On national youth radio station Triple J, he co-hosted the weekly radio show Sunday Night Safran with Father Bob Maguire. Sunday Night Safran returned to the airways on July 12, 2009, after a lengthy break owing to a busy filming schedule in late 2008. The initiative came to an end at the end of 2015.