Helen Razer

Razer attended Weston Creek High School (now Stromlo High School) from 1981 to 1984,[1][2] and then Narrabundah College.[3]

Razer was a radio broadcaster on national Australian youth station Triple J from 1990 to 1998. She was partnered for most of this time with comedian Mikey Robins on the breakfast program. She also appeared on the Ladies Lounge program with Judith Lucy in the afternoons.[4] She left after being targeted by a stalker, who had been active for several years and, convinced he was her husband, managed to get into the studio.[5][6]

In 1999, ABC TV's watchdog program Media Watch lampooned her overuse of long and arcane words.[7]

In 2002 she became a programmer for Joy FM, Melbourne's gay and lesbian community radio station.[8] Razer worked in the role for twelve weeks.[9]

In 2005 Razer was employed as presenter of the Sunday arts program on the 774 ABC Melbourne radio station. In October 2008, the ABC announced that she was to finish in this position before the end of the year as "part of a freshening of program formats".[10] The announcement came two weeks after a controversial interview, on 7 September 2008, with actor Steven Berkoff. On the 15 September 2008 episode of ABC TV's Media Watch program presenter Jonathan Holmes accused Razer of patronising Berkoff in the interview by referring to him as "dear" and asking how good was the play he was on the radio "to flog". She finally called Berkoff a "curmudgeon" and then cut him off.[11]

Razer currently writes features for The Age.[12] and the Sydney Morning Herald.[13] She is also a regular contributor to the online Crikey news website and was previously an opinion columnist writing for The Australian newspaper.

Razer also writes a column for The Big Issue and has a blog called "Bad Hostess".[14]

In the 2011 Year 12 VCE English examination, the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority instructed over 40,000 students to analyse a supposedly fictional blog article that was, in fact, taken from an opinion piece written by Razer. The article in question was published in Melbourne-based newspaper The Age in 2010. Some of the comments written on the original article were also plagiarised.[15]

In October 2017, Razer was quoted in an article on general and especially sexual health for over-40 females. She was said to be 49, and finding that dating as an older woman can be a frustrating experience.[16]

In 2017, she wrote an article for the organisation Quartz titled "Why I’m a communist—and why you should be, too" and argued that Marxism could solve the supposed problems of capitalism.[17]

In 2018, Razer began her own podcast Knackers & the Vadge.[18]

• Gas Smells Awful: The Mechanics of Being a Nutcase. Australia: Vintage. 2001. ISBN 1-74051-095-X.
• Everything's Fine: A Beginner's Guide to Thwarting Primary Nihilism. Australia: Random House. 1998. ISBN 0-09-183925-4.
• In Pursuit of Hygiene. Australia: Random House. 1996. ISBN 0-09-183258-6.
• co-author with Mikey Robins (1995). Three Beers and a Chinese Meal. Australia: Random House. ISBN 0-09-183072-9.
• co-author with Bernard Keane (2014). A Short History of Stupid. Australia: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 978-1-76011-054-3.
• Total Propaganda: Basic Marxist Brainwashing for the Angry and the Young. Australia: Allen & Unwin. 2017. ISBN 978-1-76029-731-2.

• Bad Hostess | The Untidy House of Helen Razer (Blog)
• Interview with Helen Razer Triple J Radio Announcer on Aboriginal Reconciliation(1996)
• Book Blog with Lloyd Cole
• Hey, Senator - leave us discerning viewers of pornography alone
• Sloppy copy in exam raises ire
• Tats lose lustre in long march to fashion foible