Reviewed by Rama Gaind.
By Paul Hogan, HarperCollins, $32.99.
Former Sydney Harbour Bridge rigger Paul Hogan, who went on to international stardom, is the first to admit “more often than not in my life, fact has been funnier, and certainly stranger, than fiction”.
His colourful career, “without the boring bits”, is a forthright, entertaining account of the father of six who tells the whole story from his successes — Crocodile Dundee, which earned him an Oscar nomination in 1987 — to some of his troubles including his stoush over taxes with the ATO.
In some ways, one could say his classic 1986 film Crocodile Dundee — the movie he conceived, co-wrote and starred in — introduced Australia to the world. Hogan has also appeared in hugely successful tourism ads selling Australia to the world, making him a beloved figure in the US.
He has enjoyed the writing process as “I’ve never been one to look to the past and this has sort of forced me to delve back into the madness of my life. With no interest in show business I went onto a talent show with absolutely no desire to win it. The sole purpose was to bag the mean judges and make my mates on the bridge laugh. 2 or 3 years later I had my own television show. Life only got stranger and stranger from there.”
On Australian TV screens for close to five decades, ‘Hoges’ went on to become Australia’s favourite comedian, in collaboration with his business partner and best friend John Cornell (who played his sidekick ‘Strop’ in the TV specials). His popular comedy shows and appearances in some groundbreaking ads for cigarettes, beer and tourism came to personify Australia and Australians — here and overseas.
It has taken a while for Hogan to write his autobiography. There are a lot of myths about one of Australia’s funniest storytellers, but in this hardback version the man from Sydney’s working class Granville tells it his way.
