Peter Nicholson’s Pigs Arse Revisted

Last year we published an article confirming the pigs arse saying  attributed to John Elliott actually originated from a member of Peter Nicholson’s rubbery figures production team in the 1980’s. We have recycled last years article and also posted a short video film clip on John produced by the Rubbery Figures production team but without any consents from John. As this is shown on Peter’s website it is already in the public domain as an unauthorized reproduction of Johns interest in the arts as depicted in this rubbery figure short film clip.

To view the rubbery figures art film clip please Click Here.

Below is the previous article published in 2009:

I am often asked whether the “Pig’s Arse” phrase was one of my original sayings, or something which was created by a cartoonist or a television/film producer.

Recently I received an email from Peter Nicholson, the well known cartoonist (a regular contributor to the Australian) and creator and owner of the Rubbery Figures company which had a regular segment on Steve Vizard’s Fast Forward 1980’s comedy television show.

His email confirms the saying “Pig’s Arse” was attributed to the creation of a John Elliott rubbery figure by Peter Nicholson back in the 1980’s where the director of Steve Vizard’s television show, Ted Emery, liked the phrase and they kept repeating this as part of their show.

Extracts of Peter Nicholson’s email are outlined below for the benefit of setting the record straight. It is ironic that the “Pig’s Arse” saying came out of a George Johnson novel called My Brother Jack which was published in 1962.

“I’ve noticed that on a couple of interviews John Elliott has mentioned that the “Pigs Arse” connection was made by Steve Vizard. Just in the interests of historical accuracy, the origin of connection occurred in a Rubbery Figures segment that was shown on the Vizard show as part of our regular 4 minute contribution to the Fast Forward program. The segment showed John Elliott saying Pigs Arse as he threw all the Liberal Party policies into an incinerator in the Charismatrek spaceship. Steve really had nothing to do with the writing of the script or production of the segment, but his director Ted Emery liked the phrase and they kept repeating that short grab of John Elliott. The rest is history.

The script was written by Brendan Luno. The Rubbery Figures programs were produced in my studio in Melbourne, and the puppets, including the John Elliott one, were made by me. There was never any actual instance of John Elliott saying the words Pigs Arse. We just put in a script because it sounded funny. The earliest use of the phrase I have noticed in Australian literature or film was somewhere in a George Johnston novel – I think it might have been My Brother Jack..”

Click here to view Peter’s past and current rubbery figures and learn more about their origins.