Christopher Franklin (born 16 September 1964) is an

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal A ...

stand-up comedian and former sailor for the

Royal Australian Navy The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the principal naval force of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (CN) Vice Admiral Mark Hammond AM, RAN. CN is also jointly responsible to the Minister of ...

. He is most famous for performing the song "

Bloke ''Bloke'' is a slang term for a common man in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The earliest known usage is from the early 19th century, when it was recorded as a London slang term. The word's origin is un ...

" (a

bogan Bogan ( ) is Australian slang for a person whose speech, clothing, attitude and behaviour are considered unrefined or unsophisticated. Depending on the context, the term can be pejorative or self-deprecating. The prevalence of the term bogan ...

-style parody of

Meredith Brooks Meredith Ann Brooks (born June 12, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist best known for her 1997 hit song "Bitch", for which she was nominated for a Grammy Award. Career Brooks started her music career in 1976 as a member of ...

' song "

Bitch Bitch may refer to: * A female dog or other canine * Bitch (slang), a vulgar slur for a human female Bitch or bitches may also refer to: Arts and media Film and television * ''The Bitch'' (film), a 1979 film starring Joan Collins * ''Bitc ...

"), which was certified

platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Pla ...

, reached No. 1 on the

ARIA In music, an aria ( Italian: ; plural: ''arie'' , or ''arias'' in common usage, diminutive form arietta , plural ariette, or in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompa ...

Charts, and was the twelfth-biggest-selling single in Australia in 2000.ARIA Charts - End Of Year Charts - Top 100 Singles 2000
He lives in Launceston, Tasmania.

Early life

Franklin was born in Sydney, and he lived from age 3 to 5 on

Manus Island Manus Island is part of Manus Province in northern Papua New Guinea and is the largest of the Admiralty Islands. It is the fifth-largest island in Papua New Guinea, with an area of , measuring around . Manus Island is covered in rugged jungles w ...

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

. As a young adult, he spent eight years in the Royal Australian Navy as a chef, and he was one of seven chosen to cook for Queen Elizabeth II during her visit to Australia in the 1980s. After this, Franklin quit the navy to take ten years off to travel Australia.

Entertainment career

Comedy career

Franklin has been performing comedy since October 1997. His accomplishments include: * PBS Radio Golden Stom Award for Best Up & Coming Comedian * National Triple J Raw Comedy winner for Best New Comedian * Grand Finalist National Green Faces competition in Canberra * Third prize — The Comedy Hotel Sydney's "Night of Nights" Franklin has performed with numerous musicians and comedians, including

Jimeoin James Eoin Stephen Paul McKeown (born 24 January 1966), better known as Jimeoin (pronounced "Jim Owen"), is an English-born Irish comedian and actor. Jimeoin rose to prominence in the early 1990s in Australia, where he had his own TV show and ...

Steady Eddy Christopher Widdows (born 7 December 1968) is an Australian stand-up comedian and actor primarily known by the stage name Steady Eddy. Born with Cerebral palsy, his disability became a key part of his comedy, hence his performing moniker. Ste ...

Garry Who Garry Who (born Garry Weston, 1 May 1954) is an Australian actor and comedian, best known for his role as Doug Stevens in the Australian sitcom '' All Together Now''. Career Beginning his working life as a signwriter, Who began his career in th ...

Carl Barron Carl Barron (born 11 June 1964) is an Australian theatre and television comedian. His style is based on observational humour. Life and career He was born in Longreach, Queensland, the son of a sheep shearer, and formerly worked as an apprenti ...

Richard Stubbs Richard Stubbs (born 4 November 1957) is an Australian radio and television presenter, writer and comedian. Career Stubbs was educated at Wesley College, Melbourne, where he was school captain. He then completed a Bachelor of Economics degree ...

Elliot Goblet Elliot Goblet is a comedy character created by the Australian comedian Jack Levi. The character is known for the deadpan delivery of one-line jokes. The style compares with the American comedian Steven Wright but developed independently. At f ...

, Raymond J Bartholomew,

Marty Fields Marty Fields (born 18 December 1961) is an Australian comedian, host/mc, actor, writer, musician, singer, and radio presenter from Melbourne. Professional career The son of Australian actors Maurie Fields and Val Jellay, Fields has had lon ...

, The Empty Pockets, John Robertson, Peter Rowsthorn, Bob Franklin, Stevie Starr, and

Mr Methane Paul Oldfield, better known by his stage name Mr Methane, is a British flatulist or "professional farter" who started performing in 1991. He briefly retired in 2006 but restarted in mid-2007. He claims to be the only performing farter in the wor ...

. During 2001, Franklin toured extensively with Steady Eddy in their live show ''Guess Who's Pissed''. Franklin has also toured with The Radiators across Australia. In 2006, a DVD was released called ''Let Bogans Be Bogans''; it contains Chris Franklin's stand-up routine and video clips of his parody songs.

Music

Franklin's first CD single, "

", a parody of

' song "

", was released on 31 January 2000 through EMI Music Australia. The song reached number fifteen on the charts in its first week in and subsequently achieved number-one and platinum status with more than 120,000 sales. "Bloke" was the third-highest-selling single by an Australian artist of that year. The song was nominated in two categories at the

ARIA Music Awards of 2000 The 14th Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (generally known as the ARIA Music Awards or simply The ARIAS) was held on 24 October 2000 at the Sydney Entertainment Centre. Presenters distributed 28 awards with the big win ...

; namely, "Best Comedy Release" and "Highest Selling Single". Franklin released a second single entitled "Mullet Head", a parody of the hit single "Gimme Head" by The Radiators, who perform live on the single. "Mullet Head" was nominated for "Best Comedy Release" at the

ARIA Music Awards of 2001 The 15th Annual Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (generally known as ARIA Music Awards) were held on 30 October 2001 at the Capitol Theatre. Rock band Powderfinger won the most awards with six from eight nominations. Le ...

.2001 Aria Nominations
/ref> In 2006, Franklin contributed the song "Here Come the Socceroos" as the B-side to the Freedom of Thought single " Green and Gold (Song for the Socceroos)", which peaked at number 26 on the ARIA charts. On 7 April 2020, Franklin released the single "Stay the F*** at Home" with supergroup "Chris Franklin & The Isolators" in collaboration with various Australian music artists in response to the

Coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identifie ...

.Archived a
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Wayback Machine

Albums

Singles

Television

Franklin has also appeared on television, including: * ''Hit & Run'' (Comedy Channel) * ''

Good News Week ''Good News Week'' is an Australian satirical panel game show hosted by Paul McDermott that aired from 19 April 1996 to 27 May 2000, and 11 February 2008 to 28 April 2012. The show's initial run aired on ABC until being bought by Network Ten ...

'' * '' Live and Kicking'' (Channel 7 Melb) * ''Recovery'' * ''ABC Raw Comedy Special'' * Channel 31 (Melb) * '' Pizza'' (''Fat Pizza'') (SBS) * ''

Housos '' Housos '' is a Logie Award-winning Australian comedy television series created by Paul Fenech for SBS, that screened on SBS One. The series is a satirical parody of low income Australian residents of fictional suburb Sunnyvale, New South Wale ...

'' (SBS) * '' The Footy Show'' (NRL) (Nine Network) * '' The Footy Show'' (AFL) (Nine Network) * ''Headliners'' (Foxtel) * ''

Bogan Hunters ''Bogan Hunters'' is an Australian comedy reality television series created by Paul Fenech for Seven Network's 7mate. The series provides an in-depth look into Australia's bogan subculture, as the Bogan Hunters traverse the nation looking for ...

'' (

7mate 7mate is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel, which was launched by the Seven Network on 25 September 2010. The channel contains sport and regular programs aimed primarily to a male audience, with programming drawn from a c ...

)

Radio

Franklin is a regular guest on Zinc 100.7's ''Rockshow with Wildy''.

Awards and nominations

ARIA Music Awards

The ARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of Australian music. They commenced in 1987. ! , - , rowspan="2",

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

, rowspan="2", "Bloke" , ARIA Award for Highest Selling Single , , rowspan="2", , - , ARIA Award for Best Comedy Release , , - , 2001 , "Mullet Head" , Best Comedy Release , , , -

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Franklin, Chris 1964 births Australian male comedians Royal Australian Navy sailors Living people