Matt Fraser has spent years turning one of entertainment’s more unusual professions into a national platform, moving between television, bestselling books and theaters filled with audiences hoping to hear from someone they have lost. This fall, the psychic medium is bringing that combination of live entertainment and deeply personal storytelling back to California for three consecutive November appearances.
Fraser will appear at the Grand Theatre Center for the Arts in Tracy on November 13, followed by the Fred Kavli Theatre in Thousand Oaks on November 14 and the Grove of Anaheim on November 15. The dates are part of his ongoing U.S. live tour, which places Fraser in front of audiences for unscripted evenings built around readings and messages he says come from people who have died.
For Fraser, who lives with his family in Rhode Island, the California stretch has been particularly anticipated.
“Living on the East Coast in Rhode Island, I don’t get to California nearly as often as I’d like,” Fraser said. “I hear from people there every single day saying, ‘Matt, when are you coming back?’ So I’m really excited to finally bring the tour to them.”
Unlike a conventional stage production, Fraser’s appearances do not follow a predetermined storyline. The people selected for readings and the conversations that develop vary from performance to performance, something that has become central to the experience he presents on tour.
“Every city has its own stories,” he said. “People walk through the doors carrying memories, questions, grief, and sometimes things they’ve never told anyone.”
Fraser describes a Psychic Medium as someone who communicates with people who have passed away and relays messages to those still living. His readings frequently center on the unanswered questions that accompany grief, with specific details intended to provide personal validation to recipients.
“My hope is that they walk away feeling that death may end a physical life, but it doesn’t have to end the connection or the love we share,” he said.
That philosophy grew from experiences Fraser says began long before he understood mediumship as a profession. As a child, he recalls hearing voices and seeing apparitions, experiences he initially found frightening rather than extraordinary.
“I always joke that I grew up like the little boy from The Sixth Sense — except I wanted absolutely nothing to do with it!” Fraser said.
His earliest memory of communicating with someone who had died involves his grandmother, who passed away when Fraser was three. While his family attempted to explain that she was gone, Fraser says he continued seeing her.
“The confusing part was — I was still seeing her,” he recalled. “She would appear to me, and her presence felt warm, familiar and comforting.”
What began as childhood experiences eventually developed into a career that brought Fraser into the celebrity world as well as theaters across the country. His television profile expanded with the E! reality series “Meet the Frasers,” while his work has also connected him with recognizable entertainment figures including Howie Mandel, Jenny McCarthy and Gloria Estefan.
Meeting Mandel was particularly memorable because Fraser had grown up watching him on television.
“Then suddenly I’m sitting across from him doing a reading,” Fraser said. “It was one of those moments where you think, How did my life get here?”
McCarthy and Estefan also became more than professional encounters. Fraser said he has remained in contact with both and values the friendships that resulted. Whether any familiar Hollywood faces might turn up during his California run remains deliberately unanswered.
“You never know,” he said. “I’ve learned not to rule anything out!”
Television could also return to Fraser’s schedule. Although no second season of “Meet the Frasers” has been announced, he acknowledged that there have been conversations about another television project.
“There have definitely been some mumblings about television again — so I’ll just say, never say never,” Fraser tells us directly.
A return would find his family in a markedly different place from the period captured by the original series. Fraser is now married to Alexa, the couple has three children and his touring career has continued to grow.
“Our house is basically a combination of family chaos and conversations about dead people!” he joked. “There would certainly be plenty to catch up on. So… hint, hint. Stay tuned.”
Beyond television and touring, Fraser has expanded his work into education through “The Invisible Gift,” an online course designed for people interested in exploring their own intuition or psychic sensitivity. The program discusses experiences that spiritual traditions may describe as clairsentience, clairvoyance and intuitive knowing, while encouraging participants to better understand their individual perceptions.
Fraser is also a New York Times bestselling author whose book extends many of the themes found in his stage appearances. His book “Don’t Wait Till You’re Dead” focuses on maintaining a sense of connection with loved ones after their deaths rather than treating grief as an obligation to leave those relationships entirely in the past.
That message ultimately sits at the center of the California performances. While only some audience members will receive individual readings, Fraser says the larger purpose of the evening is not dependent on personally being selected.
“More than anything, I want people to leave feeling hope,” he said. “At the end of a show, whether someone personally receives a reading or simply witnesses someone else’s, I want them to walk out thinking, ‘Maybe the people I love aren’t as far away as I thought.’”