Interview: Heath Franklin

Published: Beat Magazine #1190

Sydney native, Heath Franklin first burst into the scene when he starred in the much loved comedy sketch TV show, ‘The Ronnie Johns Half Hour’.  In that show, Franklin also first introduced to Australian viewers his own version of real life criminal, Mark ‘Chopper’ Read, and it immediately caught on, reeling in a cult following all over YouTube.  Soon after the success of the show, he took his Chopper on the road with his debut solo show, ‘Harden The Fuck Up Australia’.

In 2006, he was nominated for the ‘Most Outstanding New Talent’ award, and more recently, won Best International Show at the 2009 New Zealand Comedy Festival for his ‘Harden the Fuck Up, New Zealand’.  

Now, after spending some time Stateside celebrating his honeymoon, Franklin is back in Melbourne to promote his new DVD, ‘Make Deadshits History: Live At Pentridge’ – his follow up to ‘Harden The Fuck Up’.  The new show started off as a live act in 2008, which saw the comedian tour nationally and internationally for nine months, performing to sell out crowds all over Australia.

True to his word, his sophomore show is very much a sequel to his debut. “‘Harden The Fuck Up’ was about being tough on yourself and not complaining and just getting on with it,” the comedian said.  ‘Make Deadshits History’, on the other hand, is about being smart, accountable, and generally less wanky with one’s newfound ‘toughness’.  Franklin also believes that the latter is a better show.

“For ‘Make Deadshits History’, I specifically wrote everything so that it all followed the same theme and became one big show that went in the same direction.  So, I felt like I was getting better at what I was doing…I’m more proud of it,” he said.  The DVD release will also be a way in which fans can enjoy Franklin’s stand-up comedy and “relax knowing that they won’t have to interact with Chopper at all.”

Yet no one is safe.  Poking fun at excessive Facebook users, parents with the propensity to name their children Stefan, and dear old Emos, the core of Franklin’s hilarious show is his ability to poke fun at lame and pretentious people that we’ve all come across and can relate to.  And if you dig deeper than that, you may find an underlying ‘message’ hidden within Franklin’s jokes.

“It’s about self-responsibility,” he says.  For instance, “the right to bear arms should also come with the responsibility not to shoot people.”  But mostly, it is a tongue and cheek ‘campaign’ to eradicate the world of utter stupidity and moronic behaviour, for example, throwing a baby into a ceiling fan, which Franklin claims is a true story.  At the end of the day, he admits, “it’s me in a moustache acting like a buffoon.”

Contrary to common belief, Franklin’s Chopper isn’t so much an impersonation of Mark Read himself.  After watching Eric Bana’s impression of Read in the Andrew Dominik film, ‘Chopper’, Franklin, in awe of Bana’s “addictive performance” began doing short sketches of the character to friends.  In essence, it’s an impersonation of an impersonation – a caricature of Bana’s interpretation of the ex-jailbird.

Franklin’s version merely reflects the persona and look of Read without taking into consideration too much of the celebrity’s life story, which allowed him to “build fiction around the character…and have more fun with it.”  One thing for sure, they do share a no-bullshit attitude – only it’s funny when Franklin does it.

Allegedly, it is claimed that Franklin agreed not take his Chopper show outside of TV – a deal that was apparently forged between him and Read.  When asked about this agreement, Franklin dispelled those rumours stating, “I met [Read] briefly in 2005 at a photo-shoot, and he claimed that after that we had a handshake agreement that I wouldn’t do clubs and pubs or something like that – but no.  Anyway, we didn’t do clubs and pubs, we did theatre.”

It’s been a busy year for Franklin.  Aside from being a getting married, touring and recording the DVD, he also spent a few months of this year filming a criminal comedy movie in New Zealand called, ‘Predicament’.  The film is a book adaptation of the same name and is directed by Jason Stutter and also stars Emmy Award Nominee, Jermaine Clement from ‘Flights of the Concords’.  The movie is expected to be released some time next year, and is also Franklin’s first film.  He’s hoping it won’t be his last.

“After doing a film, I would be really interested in doing another film because it is quite different from doing stand-up.”  Apart from that, Franklin is also contemplating going back to TV.  And as for his popular Chopper impersonation, “I won’t put it to bed forever,” he assures, “but I would like to mix things up a bit…and not wear it out.”  For now, he’s happy to take the rest of the year off and come out swinging in 2010.