Transcript of Podcast
0.00 – 0.23
Wayne: G’day and welcome to Wayne’s Wonder World. This podcast will be mainly about musicians entertainers and actors. But from time to time I will also have other guests that I find interesting. Hope you enjoy the podcast please head to Wayneswonderwold.com and please feel free to follow me on my Facebook page Wayne’s Wonder World.
0.23 – 1.13
Wayne: G’day all and welcome to Wayne’s Wonder World. On today’s show we have Aaron Gocs. Gocsy welcome to the show.
Aaron: Thanks for having me Wayne I appreciate it.
Wayne: Cheers for being a guest Aaron I know you are a busy man with the comedy shows. I know being on the road all the time is really hard but I do appreciate you taking the time today. Who are you?
Aaron: Oh god you are coming out with the easy ones. That’s pretty deep. I guess just a guy having a go just a battler. Aussie bloke. Why did I just say Aussie bloke I don’t want to bring it into patriotism but I am not a hardcore patriot but yeah just suburban basic Aussie bloke having a go.
1.13 – 2.11
Wayne: What’s your favourite food?
Aaron: Now you’re putting in the really hard questions. I think the last couple years I have really got into soups like Asain soups like Laksa.
Wayne: Yeah soup is cool and I hear you like you’re big M’s and your smiths chips?
Aaron: Yeah I do I am a bit of a sucker for snacks and sweet drinks and things. I know a lot of people in the last years have gone on a health kick but I have gone in the other direction.
Wayne: I hear you also like your dry fruits like I think most of us do these days the convenience factor.
Aaron: Yeah they are not that good for you like quality wise but I do open quite a few of them by myself. I actually at the moment my car window doesn’t come fully down and it’s stopping me going in which is probably a good thing.
Wayne: Haha fair enough cheers Aaron.
2.11 – 3.20
Wayne: How long have you been a comedian for Aaron?
Aaron: Yeah so a bit over ten Years. Looking around eleven years or something like that. I don’t have exact dates stopped thinking about that a while ago. Early 20’s I started it, always been a funny fella but never thought about performing or anything. All of my life I have watched it been a fan of it I can remember being quite young and getting into TV comedies watching even say eight nine watching sophisticated sort of comedies when people my age probably weren’t. Were probably still- not trying to sound pretentious or anything. I know it comes across as that. “I was a lot more intelligent than the people around me.” But yeah I have always been a funny fellow. It’s good because it used to get me into mischief in school and job wise and stuff. Now it has kind helped me be a bit cheeky or whatever.
3.20 – 6.02
Wayne: Now personally I think you have a very unique comedy style Aaron do you think this has been the key to your success?
Aaron: I guess so I try not to dissect it too much. I feel like I look at some other comedians and I am jealous of how good they are but the one thing I think I do have going is I just do what I do and I don’t think that many others are doing what I do so I guess the uniqueness- again really don’t wanna sound pretentious but I am just saying if I had to say what was different is that it is just kind of being myself and not keeping up to what the trend is and that sort of thing.
Wayne: Yeah because from my view Aaron you come across as a pretty straight sort of forward guy. It’s like your one of the audience. You come across with that sort of- just the way you present yourself it’s very I guess to most comedians. I can’t explain it but it’s something you know.
Aaron: Yeah well like a few years agoI kind of decided I don’t wanna just go through the motions and be just another comedian. I wanna have something that is unique but it takes time to work out your persona. When I started I feel like I was different just doing a lot of word play jokes. I think a lot of life experience comes with it to. I started young and you just don’t have a lot to talk about in your early 20’s. You gotta live a bit and I just draw on things that have happened to me or things I have seen in my time and that sort of stuff.
Wayne: Right okay so most of the content from the show you put on are as you said based on your life experiences things you have heard and seen. I think a lot of people relate to what you say.
Aaron: I have lived this like doing blue collar work and hanging out in the suburb and I see this stuff just the quirks and the humour and like I said I don’t wanna come across like I’m the one digging up this stuff because I feel like the ones that came before are the trail blazers. Huge influence on me is things like “The Castle” the movie that sort of stuff. I thought that was great, these are the little things we talk about like what we are eating and things at the home. You know how they are like “What’s in the trading post” I also thought that was funny. These little suburban quirks of Australia.
6.02 – 8.44
Wayne: A few years back you uploaded a ripper of a video on youtube that was called stitch up at work today. It has been viewed more than 300,000 times do you think this gave your career a step up?
Aaron: Oh yeah it helps a lot you know because you need that kind of start to get going. It gave me a big start but I am pretty proud I think my show is pretty good and they will come and see it and think he has got a proper show. If you think about it a lot of things even music it’s kind of a sample where people hear a few songs then they want to see a show or buy an album. I like giving people a sample but I hope they go digging for more. Not everyone will and that’s fine you know because I realise we’re are in a busy day to day world. A lot of people just know me for a couple of things and that’s fine but it’s also fantastic that there are some people who follow me really close. Which is awesome because I never thought I would get to that point but I am really appreciative and stoked about that.
Wayne: I guess Aaron with yourself being from a stand up comedians point of view there is a lot of Australian talent which they have had the reverse effect where they started on social media such as facebook or youtube and from that they have developed into a stand up show or comedy routine.
Aaron: Yeah where I have come from the other way round. I did about 7 or 8 years of stand up then I started to do the online content style.
Wayne: So I think it all kind of goes hand in hand I guess doesn’t it. To be socially active to get the audience engaged to help them but these clips as you said you may upload several clips and maybe one clicks with a person and that gets them to go to your show or get more aware about your routine.
Aaron: Well it’s really good to be able to show people that you are not just one dimensional. They see the clips but it’s good to show- you know my full length show is up about an hour like 50 55 minutes.
Wayne: Yeah so it’s a full on show.
Aaron: Yeah but if you can’t keep the audience interest over that time that is gonna be pretty brutal for you as the performer. We like to hear those laughs coming and I just wouldn’t wanna present a show that was low quality and I wouldn’t feel proud of that.
8.44 – 9.56
Wayne: So to produce a show that is fifty minutes to an hour long takes a lot of work I’m guessing to put that all together.
Aaron: yeah basically there is all these different parts and they all combine. You gotta think of the stuff but that’s one part then there is like making it all flow into each other. Memorizing it obviously that sort of thing then how you present it a fluent way that is not just reciting it like a school report. Do it then go home and come back the next night and do it again. I just did the Melbourne comedy festival which is really big. I did twenty-two shows. It’s almost a month coming six nights a week. You only have one night off a week. You do it finish the show you’re happy and then you come back the next night and do it again.
Wayne: And one thing that think not many people know about you is you still have a day job don’t you.
Aaron: I do a little bit of work yeah but I have had to cut it back in recent time. Not completely out of the game. That’s the dream I guess.
9.56 – 12.47
Wayne: I believe you have also appeared on multiple TV shows and you have even had a show called “Gocsy’s Classics” which was on comedy central a few years back. What was it like making the series and how was it received by the fans.
Aaron: Yeah it was really fun and like it’s interesting though you go through conflicting emotions because part of you is like this is amazing and part of you is like it has to do well for me to keep this going. It was a lot of pressure and I was starting to think “I hope people watch this and like it.” But it started to get pretty good responses back you know. The good thing about it is that because it’s a fair few minutes you get people having different favourite parts so it’s nice when one person say “I love this bit” and another says “I love this bit.” That started to feel really good instead of just like- it’s like when you only have a couple of things that people know you feel like a one trick pony sort of thing.
Wayne: Yeah and I think that the idea behind this was like a 90’s theme sort of premise with different TV shows. You know a snippet of “Blue Heelers” a theme for “Ocean Girl” I think around the twist. So do you think that this nostalgia fact helped people connect to you?
Aaron: Yeah I feel like because I am presenting the things that I genuinely liked myself that people realise it’s not something that I am just forced into doing. It’s actually some of my favouriute things I grew up with. I think a lot of people feel the same like nostalgic. It takes you back you know. I don’t want to get too much into the ins and outs of life but obviously as you get older you get more responsibilities and bills and that stuff and nostalgia takes you to simpler time, where you didn’t have all of that. For me it was a lot of time remembering all of that stuff and it was just really fun little bits like for example round the twist we got to go to the actual lighthouse which was really exciting for me. Few things like that and then obviously it’s work in the way that there is pressure to make it good but it’s also not really work because you are dressing up and being silly. It’s hard to explain. It’s work in the way that I want this to be good and I am trying really hard but how good is this I am doing what I loved watching growing up like comedians mucking around being funny.
12.47 – 13.50
Wayne: Do you have any more plans Aaronfor the future with TV programs or feature films or more acting work?
Aaron: Yeah I would love to. I love to just do as much as I can honestly. I don’t know what the future holds, as long as people are still interested in what I do obviously you know Australia is a pretty small industry a lot of us don’t really know what the future holds but I am sure that feeling has existed in the past but more formats come up and there is always things changing and it’s just the method how people watch things. I feel there will be some sort of method you know TV it’s all these reality shows like the channels don’t really wanna spend anything. It is easy to just switch on a camera and go “Who can cook what?” I love them you know.
13.50 – 16.31
Wayne: Have you performed overseas yet Aaron?
Aaron: No I have never actually been out of Australia in my life so that’s a goal to try and tick off like a bucket list. I would love to go overseas even if I start in New Zealand or something just a a neighbour.
Wayne: That still counts. So from the sounds of it you have been active for the past 10 to 11 years. Things have looked relatively interesting in say the past couple of years I guess. What would you say would be the top couple of highlights in your career?
Aaron: I guess going on tour is pretty great because you are like- even though I haven’t been out of Australia you know I am in Perth at the moment that’s pretty amazing to me. You know I am on the other side of the country I am from Brisbane. It’s like 5 thousand Kays away and people know who I am and wanna come to my shows which is really exciting. Just a very general thing but just to be touring. You know filming the series and being able to do that sort of stuff. Being in a movie that was amazing. Going to the premiere and seeing it. That was amazing. Doing things like that allowed my parents to understand more. That is something they can understand that thye can be proud of. A lot of the online stuff I am not sure if they get a grasp because they didn’t grow up having likes and retweets.
Wayne: But seeing a film on screen that’s a different story.
Aaron: yeah and they have been able to say to their friends and family “Here is my son check it out” which is a pretty exciting thing. Here is that dead beat haha. Like I said I have been at it for ten years. The pathway isn’t easy sometimes you gotta be in it for the right reasons and do it for the love of it. Because the first 6 or 7 years were just local gigs in Brisbane sometimes you will be in a pub and there is 3 people in the audience and half of them are just eating their steak and they don’t wanna listen. There is a lot of gigs where it is just for some people it’s not like a ticketed event they just chuck a mic in the corner.
16.31 – 18.04
Wayne: So I can see so many people you know after a couple of years might just give up but like yourself the people who persevere and stick to their goal in life they do succeed.
Aaron: Yeah well sometimes people start and they get frustrated they are not moving up the chain quick enough. That’s being in it for the wrong reasons. If you read the history of comedy the first people to have done it they didn’t have a career pathway they were just doing it for the love of it. It’s only over time that people have sort of thought that there is a career pathway but there isn’t really. What I mean when I say that is compared to when you look at other trades and crafts say you wanna be a tradesman you do your apprenticeship or you look at something where you learn it at Tafe of uni but comedy doesn’t have that. It is not like do your three years then you graduate. It doesn’t work like that.
Wayne: I see what you mean there is no direct pathway it’s kind of a bit of luck.
Aaron: Yeah it’s kind of just like when people who have a family that’s when you have graduated really. And that could be a month someone might just start and people love them.
18.04 – 19.21
Wayne: Speaking of which Aaron I believe you have got 20 thousand followers on your Instagram which is pretty amazing and 90 thousand likes on your Facebook page. Those are pretty big numbers I reckon.
Aaron: Yeah well that makes me feel good but I try not to sing too much about it. Like I said I don’t really know what it all means it’s just keeping at it. Don’t get me wrong I don’t want to sound like I am not appreciative. But I try not to get caught up in it because it will stop me from focusing on trying to be funny and make good stuff. I just hope people come with me on the journey if you release something and they enjoy it and come with you because I look at some of the older performers who have been around a long time and think they must have a really loyal fan base. Some of these guys have been at it a long time. Even at the Melbourne comedy festival, I saw this guy Dave Hughesy and he just had this massive line of people outside and I just thought some of them have probably seen him a few times because he started in like the nineties.
19.21 – 20.07
Wayne: Speaking of the social media Facebook I believe is probably the best place if people wanna follow where you are performing I believe there is an events page where you can see all those details.
Aaron: Yeah so basically I mainly do most of my stuff on Facebook but also Instagram and I have been trying to do Twitter a bit more lately. It’s one of those things I haven’t really worked out. It’s kind of a certain crowed that get into that. Don’t do a lot on Youtube just every now and then. Those three are the main ones. Trying to keep busy just putting stuff up all around the place.
20.07 – 21.14
Wayne: Great stuff what advice would you give to any young aspiring comedians wanting to get into the industry?
Aaron: I guess my best advice would be to like I was saying before do it for the right reasons. I wouldn’t recommend thinking I am going to be rich and famous. Not to say you can’t but I think if that is the aim it is gonna be very difficult because you are focusing on the wrong part. The main thing is to have people that are interested you gotta make stuff people want. That’s the main thing, be in it for the right reason. Good work ethic so be prepared to work hard. Just think whatever you are doing would you like to watch that. Make something you would buy a ticket to or you would watch. That’s a good sort of, put yourself in the audience’s seat. Are you making something you would watch yourself.
21.14 –
Wayne: Great advice there Aaron normally on my podcast Wayne’s Wonder World I like to ask my guests if they have any interesting hobbies or things that you collect. Do you have any hobbies or things that you collect?
Aaron: I have had to sort of over the years tone it down a bit but when I was younger I was a bit of a collector nerd. I had a lot of CD’s, DVD’s and vinyl but I have toned that down over the years. But what else? Big sports fan I love sports always checking out footy and the scores and stuff. Not too much really I guess that’s about it.
Wayne: Fair enough and is there something about you that not many people may know?
Aaron: I think that might surprise people. I am a geography nerd. So when I was a kid my parents would be like looking up the atlas and looking at maps. I think that’s why towns, cities and countries have interested me. That is something people might not expect. Over the years with my touring I did a lot of road trips and driving. There is a lot of hours and hours of nothing but I like dropping into little towns and checking out what was around. I don’t know if that is interesting.
Wayne: Fair enough thanks for being on Wayne’s Wonder World.
Aaron: thanks a lot Wayne I appreciate it.
Wayne: Hope you enjoyed the podcast. Please head to www.wayneswonderworld.com and please follow me on my Facebook page which is Wayne’s Wonder World.
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