Comedian Heath Franklin brings Chopper back to NZ with new show

Australian comedian Heath Franklin AKA Chopper

• Comedian Heath Franklin returns with a new show, The Last Hard B*stard on Earth.
• Franklin’s Chopper character offers razor-sharp humour and expletive-laden monologues.
• The show is at Gisborne’s War Memorial Theatre on May 11 at 7pm.

Chopper is coming back to town but locals need not fear – apart from both being Australian, that’s where the similarities end between the original legendary convicted criminal and his impersonator.

Comedian Heath Franklin began making a career from Chopper’s notorious potty-mouthed criminal character back in 2000 after the release of the movie, Chopper.

Last year, Chopper’s sold-out show, I’m Not Here to F*** Spiders had NZ audiences in stitches.

Now, fresh from a sold-out run at Adelaide Fringe and crowned Best Comedy at Perth’s Fringe World, he’s returning with a brand-new show, bringing his signature no-nonsense attitude and razor-sharp humour back to the stage.

The year is 2030. Humanity is all but wiped out, and there is only one man who can save us from the Soctc**kalypse. For too long, we thought that things like ‘gentle parenting’, ‘love languages’ and ‘paper straws’ were a good idea... until self-diagnosing whingers and 37 types of milk destroyed civilisation...Then, like a glorious moustachioed phoenix, a hard b**tard arose from the beta cuck ashes to restart humankind.

Franklin did meet the real Chopper for a photo shoot but described the experience as underwhelming.

Mark Brandon “Chopper” Read was a crime figure, turned author, turned legend who, between the ages of 20 and 38, spent just 13 months outside prison.

Known as a standover man, robbing drug dealers and kidnapping and torturing criminals, his convictions included armed robbery, firearm offences, assault, arson, impersonating a police officer and kidnapping.

Described as “Australia’s funniest comedy character” by the Sunday Mail, Gisborne audiences can expect an expletive-laden monologue packed with “good gags and ‘so wrong it’s right’ moments”, according to a review in Chortle UK, which gave it four stars.

Heath Franklin’s The Last Hard B*stard on Earth

War Memorial Theatre

May 11 at 7pm