2013 Melbourne Fringe—A Very Zac & Gotchy

Posted on 29 September 2013

As they say in real estate: location, location, location…or not. When putting together a festival show, where and at what time you hold a show can mean a lot when attempting to attract an audience. The easier you make it for people to find you, the more likely they will give you a chance.

However, even more important are publicity and word of mouth. If people see you on TV or hear you on radio, this gives you credibility. People will trust your show is good. For instance being a guest on Spicks and Specks launched Barry Morgan’s career. If peole hear about your show from friends, this also gains you credibility and trust.

A Very Zac & Gotchy is located far from the centre of Melbourne Fringe at the Brunswick Street Gallery. Nevertheless, the show was sold out on a Wednesday. If you know anything about audience attendance at festivals, this is impressive. Clearly word is out that this show is a lot of fun.

Zac Cooper, Matt Gotch, and Caitlin McInnis make an effective team. Their distinct personas and delivery styles ensure the audience gets to enjoy rich and varied sketches. I’m hesitant to make Monty Python references, but they do have a similar absurdity and quick pacing, blended with a contemporary sensibility. Their hat shop sketch for instance could comfortably find its place in the Flying Circus.

One thing the Pythoners avoided was politics. Cooper, Gotch, and McInnis have not been so shy, but manage to keep the humour light. They make their points about dogmatism, racism, homophobia, and the like with a breeziness that could potentially fly over barriers to consideration. I was impressed by their daring in sending up Eddie Murphy’s show Raw.

My only complaint of the night was the place McInnis had in the show. She was a significant presence in numerous sketches. Nowhere is her name mentioned in any of their marketing material, press release, or the festival guide. The instant anyone figures that prominently in a show, they need to be acknowledged.

If Cooper and Gotch take this show to Melbourne Comedy Festival—and they should—they need to integrate McInnes further into the show and change the title to make it more inclusive.

Melbourne Fringe website: A Very Zac & Gotchy

Peace and kindness,

Katherine


2 responses to 2013 Melbourne Fringe—A Very Zac & Gotchy

  • Zac says:

    Hi Katherine!
    Thanks for coming to see the show! Regrettably, all of our promotional material was due in February, which was both before the show was written and before we had any idea Caitlin would be a part of it, let alone such a prominent one. We’ll be sure to rectify that if we ever take the show anywhere else!
    Thanks so much for the kind words!

  • Katherine says:

    What you might want to do at the end is actively name each person as they take a bow. Otherwise, it does come across as odd, even though the reasons are perfectly understandable. Thank you for having me!

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