COMEDY: “I’m a bloke, I’m an ocker and I really love your knockers.”
It’s hard to believe that these sentiments came from the mind of the polite, well-spoken gentlemen I interviewed last week.
But they are indeed lyrics from comedian Chris Franklin’s song Bloke – a hit parody single which was released in 2000, sending my school friends and I into a fit of giggles with its cheeky lyrics.
Franklin will join a line-up of jokers who performed at the Adelaide Fringe festival last season and have been hand-picked to travel to the Bunbury Regional Entertainment Centre next month.
While Franklin was delightful on the phone, he insists that his typical bogan Aussie stage persona is not an act – it is simply an amplified version of himself.
“I just get up there and tell stories about my life and the people I meet – comedians are very good at people-watching so there’s always plenty of material,” he said.
“I tell plenty of stories about failed relationships and many jugs of beer and the interactions that happen with police after those jugs are drunk.”
Although the NSW-born lad now lives in Mandurah, he hasn’t been down to Bunbury for 14 years.
Having been tarred with the “bogan capital of WA” brush in the past, Franklin said he was sure his routine would be a winner with a Bunbury audience.
“True bogans wear the title with pride and can relate to what I’m saying, so they have a good time,” he said.
“The crowds at my shows are always very diverse, there’s plenty of guys in suits as well as stubbies, but everyone’s got a brother, uncle, son or father who is a bogan.”
After the popular Bloke single, Franklin recorded Mullet Head to the tune of the Radiator’s song Give Me Head.
The band was so impressed with his parody that they re-recorded the new version with him, which was a huge buzz for the comedian.
Franklin is currently perfecting another hilarious anthem but would not reveal the details, so make sure you get along to the Bunbury Regional Entertainment Centre to enjoy Comedy Gold on August 9.
Go to bunburyentertainment.com for more information.
- By Shanelle Miller.
