A life imitating Chopper

Heath Franklin has made a career out of impersonating Mark 'Chopper' Read and returns to Hamilton on May 20 with his show, Live from Anzakistan. Ged Cann caught up with Heath about the dilemmas and dangers of impersonating a self-confessed murderer, how he makes it comic and what to expect from the new show.

Live from Anzakistan - what is Anzakistan?

I did a show over here called "Chopper's Republic of Anzakistan" - the premise was Chopper was going to take over Australia and New Zealand and sort everything else. Solve all the problems. This is the sequel to it.

What are the first executive actions after you take over?

Probably get rid of most warning signs, ban grown-ups from colouring in, I'm going to ban cycling clothes. I will allow people two hangover days a year to go with sick days and I'm definitely allow people to wear Ugg Boots on aeroplanes.

Why add the -stan, do you intend to align us more with the Middle-East?

It will throw ISIS off the scent for a couple of weeks. Hopefully. Stan means land in some languages which I'm not really familiar with. I should have checked that.

When you're not in the get-up are you recognised on the street as Chopper?

Sometimes, not usually. When people stare at me on the street my first suspicion is I've spilled sauce on my shirt.

Do you ever slip into being Chopper in your day-to-day, because I can imagine that would cause some problems?

Not really. I've got two young kids now so you can't just walk around swearing.

The real Chopper sounds like a bit of a monster for all of his charm and charisma. He died in 2008 so you had done you first portrayals of him before he died?

Yes, we actually met at one point which was a bit awkward because I had to dress up as him. A tip for people out there, if you're going to meet someone who has killed people don't dress as them.

It's just a weird place to begin. I got my inspiration from watching the film that had Eric Bana in, that has some dark moments and some funny moments. I just sort of decided to turn off all the scary depressing bits and drag out the funny bits. But the more I found out about the man the more depressing it got in some ways.

What did he say when he met you?

Not much actually. He was pretty stand-offish. He was the classic alpha male trying to assert himself. He didn't want to engage too much or admit to any feelings. It was just a bit awkward really. It was a bit "what have you been up to", "not a lot, you?".

Kill anyone else?

Exactly, "what happened after that?". "Prison." Ah yeh.

How do you make a man who began his career torturing drug dealers funny?

When it comes to character comedy or impersonations you want to get someone who's an interesting personality and then hijack their life. In some ways I have tried to do the friendly fun version of Chopper as opposed to the brutal psychopathic version.

He never came after you for trademark infringement?

There wasn't much he could do. The law in Australia is you have the right to parody. That doesn't cover slander or liable obviously, but you can satirise. That's our version of freedom of speech.

Can you really slander a self-professed murderer?

It's quite hard. The hardest thing is beating him to the punch really. I mean he did a fantastic job in his life of distinguishing fact from fiction. At the end of the day I'm not sure even he remembered what was true and what was different. Everywhere you go in Australia someone has a friend who knew him or a dad who drank with him. When you're the guy who impersonates Chopper everyone had a story to tell you about him.

Any other dangerous criminals you're planning to satirise any time soon?

No. After this I'm going to characterise someone softly spoken and quite lovely. Someone who doesn't get angry very often. He is a good character to play because you get an opportunity to exorcise your demons a bit.

Do you have anyone new lined up?

No. I'm beginning to do more standup as me, which is weird because most people start as themselves and then take up a character. I started as a character and now I have to work out who Heath Franklin is.

Heath Franklin's Chopper is at Claudelands' Heaphy Room on May 20 at 7.30pm. Tickets from ticketek.co.nz