How Paul Keating Reacted to His Own Impersonator | Jonathan Biggins (The Gospel According to Paul)

In this episode of Showtime, Andrew G sits down with Jonathan Biggins, co-creator of the Wharf Revue and writer and star of The Gospel According to Paul: The Second Coming, the hit one-man show about Paul Keating. Jonathan reveals how Keating first reacted to being impersonated (including his verdict on the suit), what he learned from two hours in Keating’s office surrounded by Napoleon’s furniture, and the secret behind 25 years of political satire: cut, cut, cut. He also talks about rewriting a show overnight when the Prime Minister changed, why he thinks satire works best when it isn’t malicious, and how a lifelong theatre career led him to cosy crime writing.

00:00 What it’s really like making a living from other people’s absurdity
01:00 When Paul Keating starts creeping into everyday life
03:00 How Paul Keating reacted to being impersonated
06:00 Two hours in Keating’s office, surrounded by Napoleon’s antiques
09:00 How do you turn economic reform into a song?
10:00 The would-be naval architect who got hooked on theatre at 14
13:00 The secret of all comedy is cutting
14:00 The night the Prime Minister changed and the show was rewritten overnight
18:00 Can you still satirise a world that already feels like satire?
20:00 Why the Wharf Revue tried to be funny without being malicious
26:00 Why live performance may be the future
31:00 What happens when something goes wrong in a one-man show?
34:00 From political satire to cosy crime: retirees on a European art heist
36:00 The early career moment that changed everything

Jonathan Biggins is one of Australia’s best-loved comic actors, best known as co-creator and star of the long-running annual political satire The Wharf Revue, which ran for 25 years. He now writes and stars in The Gospel According to Paul, his celebrated one-man show about Paul Keating. A two-time AWGIE winner, he won a Helpmann Award for directing Avenue Q, and is the author of four books, with his fifth, the crime novel Near Death in Venice, out this month.

Resource Links
The Gospel According to Paul tickets: https://www.artscentremelbourne.com.au/
Follow Andrew G: https://www.instagram.com/andrewgshowtime
Follow Showtime: https://www.instagram.com/showtimepodcastau

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