Chopper: Don’t End Up On His List

Heath Franklin's Chopper character is brash, swears a f***ing lot, and is keeping a list of everything that irks him. The (S)hitlist is a tour through all the things that rub him the wrong way: school zones, text message etiquette, Rhianna… you name it. He even lets the audience do exactly that by adding their complaints to his list in a segment that highlights Franklin's strong improvisational skills.

The only segment that doesn't work is the Trans-Tasman tussle, Chopper's effort to settle the Aussie-NZ feud once and for all. There are germs of a good idea in it, but it doesn't quite fit well with the rest of his show.

Still, there is a lot here that works. Chopper's rant against coffee tables, dishbrushes, and Subway slowly builds into a hilarious tirade that leaves the audience in stitches. It's Franklin's character at his best. In the end, he offers the audience a moral: don't end up on someone else's shitlist. It's advice we would all do well to heed, lest we someday, somehow end up on Chopper's list.