Former PM Paul Keating once described Malcolm Fraser as “an Easter Island statue with an arse full of razor blades”, which is why hit comedy “The Gospel According to Paul” has racked up 200 shows.
There’s no shortage of fodder from Keating’s razor-sharp wit in the ‘90s, when he used personal insults and “colourful” metaphors as devastating political weapons.
Poor former treasurer Peter Costello was dismissed as “all tip, no iceberg”.
It’s been 30 years since Keating was PM but judging by the long-running (six years) Gospel According to Paul, we can’t get enough.
In fact, Australia’s 24th Prime Minister has spawned Keating! The Musical(still showing at Melbourne Comedy Festival), a 94-page book of political barbs: Paul Keating’s Book of Insults, and a YouTube channel dedicated to his sharp-tongued put-downs.
Keating may be 82 but his scathing, disembowelling insults never get old.
Writer and star of The Gospel According to Paul, Jonathan Biggins, has received many glowing reviews but the best one was from Keating himself, who’s seen the show three times.
“When he first saw the show, his first comment was ‘thank you for being so generous’,” Jonathan said. “I think he thought it might have been a hatchet job but it’s not,”
When Jonathan thought it was his final season, he was summonsed to Keating’s office.
“It was just before what we thought was the last season of the Opera House – I mean, this thing, you can’t kill it, it just keeps coming back,” he said.
“I was summoned to Mr Keating’s office and I said, ‘Can I bring my producer along?’ And he said ‘No, just you’ and I was there for two hours. I think he just wanted to re-insure the legacy, I don’t think he had an objective.
“He talked me through his legacy and what he did in government and then we spent a lot of time looking at some of his collection of French decorative arts, which is quite extraordinary.”
Keating has never written – and never will write – his autobiography, so Jonathan had his research work cut out for him.
“He’s very much the polymath and an autodidact – I mean he left school at 14 and never went to uni, but just taught himself everything,” Jonathan said.
“He was born and bred in Bankstown and he went and got a job at the Sydney local council. He’s done all sorts of things: he’s got a pilot’s license, he’s got a bus driver’s license, he managed a rock band, The Ramrods.”
Keating willingly gave Jonathan family photos and permission to use them, however he’s not a close friend (“I only see him if he comes to the show or that time when I got summonsed to his presence”).
Keating had no editorial control over the play and Jonathan admits “It was unauthorised in that regard”.
“He sort of gave it the tick of approval and then he brought his family along, Annita came along one night with their daughter so yes, it’s been given the seal of approval by the Keating family.”
Jonathan was only eight years old when Keating first entered Parliament in 1969, yet he had a profound impact.
Who can forget his description of former PM John Howard as “a little desiccated coconut”.
“A lot of our audiences weren’t even born when he was Prime Minister, but he has this enduring legacy,” Jonathan said.
“There are younger people now who are starting to think there’s a bit of a vacuum and they long for those days, it’s like this nostalgia amongst the digital age.
“People always say, ‘Oh your audience is so old’ but there’s this conveyor belt, they drop off one end but they keep coming in the other end.”
The Gospel According to Paul is on at The Playhouse 15-20 September. Tickets: canberratheatrecentre.com.au/show/the-gospel-according-to-paul-2026
