Ian Frazier (born 1951 in Cleveland, Ohio) is an American writer and humorist. His books include Great Plains and Coyote v. Acme.

Biography

Frazier grew up in Hudson, Ohio. His father, David Frazier, was a chemist, who worked for Sohio. His mother, Peggy, was a teacher, as well as an amateur actor and director, He graduated from Western Reserve Academy in 1969 and from Harvard University in 1973.

The New York Times critic James Gorman described Frazier's 1996 humor collection Coyote v. Acme as the occasion for "irrepressible laughter in the reader". In the title piece, Wile E. Coyote is suing Acme Corporation, the manufacturer of products such as explosives and rocket-propelled devices purchased by the coyote to aid in hunting the Road Runner; these products always backfire disastrously. The story served as the basis for the film Coyote vs. Acme, which was shelved in 2023 by Warner Bros. Discovery. In March 2025, American independent film distributor Ketchup Entertainment acquired the worldwide distribution rights to the film, which is set for a theatrical release on August 28, 2026.

Gorman rates Frazier's first collection, 1986's Dating Your Mom, as "one of the best collections of humor ever published".

Personal life

His wife Jacqueline Carey and their daughter Cora are also writers.

Awards

  • 1989: Whiting Award
  • 1997: Thurber Prize for American Humor, for essay collection Coyote vs. Acme

Bibliography

References

  • Ian Frazier articles for Outside Magazine
  • Ian Frazier articles at Byliner
  • Ian Frazier on NPR for Travels in SIberia
  • Ian Frazier at FSG
  • Profile at The Whiting Foundation
  • Interview with Ian Frazier on WFMU's "The Speakeasy with Dorian" (RealAudio)
  • Review of Gone to New York
  • Select the RealAudio link by "LAMENTATIONS OF A FATHER" at time 28:42 to hear Ian Frazier read his "Laws Concerning Food and Drink; Household Principles; Lamentations of the Father" on the January 24, 1998 Prairie Home Companion broadcast.
  • The famous mock-legal complaint Coyote v. Acme, to which a lawyer made this reply
  • Lambert, Craig (September–October 2008). "Seriously Funny: Ian Frazier combines an historian's discipline with an original comic mind". Harvard Magazine.