Man with the mo Chopper excited to be back

Heath Franklin

The man with the moustache is back. Australian comedian Heath Franklin's character Chopper will take to the stage, handlebar moustache and all, at Rotorua's Civic Theatre on May 13 as part of a 14-city New Zealand tour.

As seen on TV3's 7 Days, Chopper has become a worldwide comedy icon whose shows have sold more than 250,000 tickets in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

Franklin said he hoped he'd once again have Rotorua audiences laughing so hard their sides hurt, after performing here in 2012.

"I'm pretty excited to tell you the truth. Rotorua's a nice place and audiences there have really embraced Chopper in the past, even with his dirty moustache," he said. "Hopefully it will be Chopper's finest hour yet."

Franklin said he began playing the comical character after becoming "obsessed" with Chopper, portrayed by Australian actor Eric Bana, in the 2000 film of the same named based on the autobiographical books by Mark "Chopper" Read.

One of the things that fascinated Franklin about Chopper was the complexity of his personality and his ability to go from quite charming and friendly to extremely violent and aggressive in a matter of seconds.

"He's also the kind of character who can get away with anything," he said.

While this was a useful trait to have when Franklin steps into Chopper's shoes on stage, when he did stand- up acts as himself, it sometimes proved problematic.

"I think there's a lot of jokes I can crack when I'm Chopper, that I can't do when I'm myself.

"When I'm Chopper, they [the audience] can blame him."

Franklin said his stand-up shows were entirely different from his Chopper performances and often provided him with an outlet to discuss his everyday life and being a father.

Franklin encourages people to go to his show, titled Repeat Offender, next month. He is also promoting the release of his new live DVD, The Sh*Tlist, which was recorded at the 2013 NZ International Comedy Festival.

The 7.30pm show is restricted to people over the age of 15. Tickets: www.ticketmaster.co.nz.