Red Bennies chomps the carrot with David Cotter, the master mind behind the dastardly plot that is Crooney Tunes!

How did you start out? Who or what was your main inspiration?

I always sang as a boy growing up. Later on in life my wife always said to me that I looked and sounded the part of Dean Martin and that I could definitely start the show. That was the launch of Dean’s Martini at Chapel off Chapel in Melbourne. It was initially for a three week period, but this got extended to six months, late every Friday and Saturday night.

In your show, you access a multitude of cartoon voices and famous accents. How long did it take you to learn all those accents?

Funnily enough I had a German accent as a child. I was exposed to so many immigrants growing up from Germany, Czechoslovakia, England, France and to be able to communicate with them I needed to be able to mimic their accents and their way of communicating. I started using the accents at my family dinner table. I was the 5^th child of 6 and I soon realized that if I were funny at the table, my plate would always be full. The more accents I could bring out and use, the more I was fed…

Regarding all my cartoon voices, I spent 100’s of hours watching and mimicking cartoon characters as a child, and then 100’s of hours watching and mimicking cartoon characters as an adult.

How would your wife describe you?

Persistent and multi-talented. When I see something I want, I set sails to go and get it. I have been on and off stage for the best part of the past 30 years, and there were many times when my phone did not ring. I am actually a carpenter by trade and I had to balance working at what I had to do and what I wanted to do. I was chipping away at the mountain until it became a molehill. I won’t give up. What I want will always be in the back of my mind and I will always find a way of getting it.

What other creative person has really inspired you or helped you?

I have been really inspired by Dick Van Dyke, Robin Williams, Danny Kaye and Jerry Lewis. And of course Dean Martin. I love being Dean Martin on stage. I watched his program with my father in the early 60s as a child. It was all innuendo and very ambiguous, and my father was always wondering why I was laughing as I wouldn’t be able to understand it, but I was laughing because I genuinely found his looks and his facial expressions really funny. Jack Benny for instance was the master of silence. He once stood on stage for 2 minutes and 45 seconds without saying a word, just looking at people and maybe raising an eyebrow every now and again.

What should the Red Bennies audience expect from your Croony Tunes David Cotter Trio performance?

Without giving too much away there will be songs opening with Inspector Gadget and singing frogs. A monologue broken up with 20 or more cartoon voices. Croon music, familar songs, songs from the 70s and 80s, theme tunes, sitcom jingles all with a twist!

The show is ultimately all about surprise, but being surprised with something that the audience would already know. It may not be very traditional but it is un-ashamedly about having fun.

Catch David Cotter and his trio crooning Red Bennies on Tuesday the 2^nd of August. Tickets available from the Events Page.