Pablo Francisco will be making his way to Australia for the fourth time this April with what promises to be a high-energy, frantic and bombastic show.
As a stand-up known for his off-the-wall style, Pablo has a lot planned for his upcoming Australian tour. “We're bringing this friend of mine by the name of Steve Kramer who will be coming to the show. He's going to be the headliner but we're going to feature him through here because he's producing the cartoons for my one-hour special. He's one hell of a comic, we're going to join forces and just goof off on this one. We're going to add some electricity to the show by adding some cartoons and some topics,” Pablo explains.
“We're also going to have Anthony Salame, the local who's actually big time. He brought his Australian butt over here and killed, destroyed it in New York, so we had to put him in, get a little bit of Australian flavour in the act. Australia is the perfect place to test run all of this stuff, we're just really excited and we just can't wait.”
Pablo is known for having a litany of voices and characters at his disposal. “When it comes to celebrities, I wouldn't say too many. I would say about maybe 13 or 14. But Steve Kramer, the guy who's coming with me, he has 60 of them. He does everybody from Jean-Claude Van Damme to Al Pacino perfectly, he doesn't miss a mark. I figure with his impersonations and mine, we can just combine them all and have one crazy hooplah or parades of making fun of celebrities and putting them in different situations.”
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Not wanting things too get too stale or predictable, Pablo incorporates a lot of improvisation into his stand-up act. “The topics are there, there are certain things from the topics that you've got to hit but other than that, you can't stick to the material, you can't stick to a monologue because it would be too selfish to do that. When it comes down to the topics that we're talking about, it's all about freestyling a little bit, talking about the city a little bit and talking about the topics. When you get there, you start getting more ideas, so basically, we have a blueprint, but other than that blueprint can go as it's done,” elaborates Pablo.
One of Pablo's signature impressions is that of Don LaFontaine, best known for his thousands of voice-overs of film trailers. Several years back, Pablo got the chance to meet Don at his home. “He showed me everything he did and how everything happened. He said: 'tell me about your life and I'll tell you about mine'. And I was like, 'just by talking, you make tonnes of money for just going, 'this summer, someone's playing a deadly game'.' And he's like, 'yeah, I got paid millions of dollars to do that'. Talk about good business,” Pablo says laughing.
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“He was a very beautiful, good person. He passed away a few weeks after we met but we would talk on the phone all the time. He said, 'you do me better than I do me. If I was you, I'd be me doing you doing me. Before you leave, I always wanted someone to do me. I knew that no one could and then all of a sudden you came along.' He took a picture of me and put it right by his family and I was like, 'wow'. Just a great guy. I didn't know he was such a paramount of revenue and super-duper valuable to the movie business. It was fantastic, he made me feel comfortable to where I could just flow in my conversation with him, it was great.”
However, not everyone who he's impersonated took to Pablo as well as LaFontaine did. “I met Aaron Neville. I did it at the wrong time, he came off the bus all pissed off. I said, 'hey, you sound like you're a radio station!'”, says Pablo before imitating a voice signalling in and out of reception. “He wasn't too happy. I was just like, 'take it as it comes, you'll be ok. You can make fun of me!' and he said, 'I don't even know you,' and I was like, 'that's right. Now I've got to go.' He smiled at the very end. I go, 'next time, don't do it by yourself Pablo. Have a car or something with you so you can just do it in your car. Just drive-by Aaron Neville',” laughs Pablo.
Having amassed 40-million views on YouTube, Pablo credits a lot of his success to the internet. “The internet works for people and it works against people and it has worked for me completely. I mean, I was able to take a hobby and make it a career. Because I didn't know what I was doing, I was just goofing off like everyone else but I was figuring out what I wanted to do.
“This one I was able to do what you do and write anything you want without somebody looking over your shoulder telling you 'that's wrong' or 'that's right'. Maybe you have an editor but other than that, you can just go freely and do what you want and grasp all those people. The internet's been great when it comes to those things.”
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When it comes to choosing targets to make fun of, it seems as if no one in pop culture is safe from the crosshairs of Pablo. “We're going to make fun of everything. Every reality show that's out there, 'Dog The Bounty Hunter' and Mark Wahlberg, he's in every movie now. We're going to move in with those and stick with Arnold Schwarzenegger and see who's popular now in the movies and see how much more we can take before people go, 'you know what, you guys need to come up with a different formula.' Every scary movie, there's a little kid possessed and we can only take so much!” rants Pablo.
Pablo Francisco Tour Dates
Fri 17 April – The Tivoli (Brisbane)Sat 18 April – Playhouse (Melbourne)
Wed 22 April – Enmore Theatre (Sydney)
Fri 24 April – Regal Theatre (Perth)
