Aunty Donna is an Australian surrealist comedy group formed in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

in 2011. The group consists of performers and writers Mark Bonanno, Broden Kelly, and Zachary Ruane alongside writer and director Sam Lingham, director Max Miller, and composer Thomas Zahariou. Their work spans numerous live shows, a

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

channel, a podcast, a studio album, the

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

series ''

Aunty Donna's Big Ol' House of Fun ''Aunty Donna's Big Ol' House of Fun'' is a sketch comedy television show on Netflix, created by and starring members of the Australian comedy group Aunty Donna. It premiered on 11 November 2020. The series' music was composed almost entirely ...

'', and the picture book ''Always Room for Christmas Pud''.

History

Aunty Donna was formed in 2011 after its five original members (Mark Bonanno, Broden Kelly, Joe Kosky, Sam Lingham, and Zachary Ruane) met at

University of Ballarat The University of Ballarat, Australia was a dual-sector university with multiple campuses in Victoria, Australia, including its main Ballarat campus, Melbourne, Sydney, and Adelaide that were authorized by the university to provide diploma, unde ...

's Arts Academy. Trained as actors, the group saw a lack of demand for independent theatre and decided to attempt comedy instead, beginning as live performers. Their first live show, ''Aunty Donna in Pantsuits'', debuted in 2012 at the

Melbourne International Comedy Festival The Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF) is the largest stand-alone comedy festival and the second-largest international comedy festival in the world. Established in 1987, it takes place annually in Melbourne over four weeks, typicall ...

(MICF) and was nominated for a Golden Gibbo award, which pushed the group to continue making comedy. Composer Thomas Zahariou and director Max Miller, who Kelly and Zahariou knew from high school, joined the group soon after its founding, while members Adrian Dean and Joe Kosky departed Aunty Donna to pursue other ventures, bringing the group to the current six members. Their second live show, ''Aunty Donna and the Fax Machine Shop,'' debuted at the

Melbourne Fringe Festival The Melbourne Fringe Festival is an annual independent arts festival in Melbourne, Australia, usually over three weeks from late September to early October. Held since 1982, the Festival includes a wide variety of art forms, including theatre, com ...

in 2012. 2014 saw their third live show, ''World's Greatest Showbag'', at the MICF, as well as a ''Best Of'' live show that debuted the group internationally at both the

SF Sketchfest SF Sketchfest, or The San Francisco Comedy Festival, is an American comedy festival founded in 2002 by Bay Area actor-comedians David Owen, Janet Varney and Cole Stratton. It takes place every January and February in a variety of Bay Area venues a ...

and

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

. In 2015, the group created a self-titled half-hour television pilot for the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

and Screen Australia as part of the inaugural Fresh Blood Pilot Season comedy initiative, but the series was not picked up. In 2016, the group released the

web series A web series (also known as a web show) is a series of scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet, which first emerged in the late 1990s and became more prominent in the early 2000s. A single i ...

''1999'', based on the Y2K panic and funded by

Screen Australia Screen Australia is the Australian Federal Government's key funding body for the Australian screen production industry, created under the ''Screen Australia Act 2008''. From 1 July 2008 Screen Australia took over the functions of its predecess ...

as part of their Skip Ahead talent development initiative. Their most famous video at the time was "Bikie Wars", featuring John Wood of ''

Blue Heelers ''Blue Heelers'' is an Australian police drama series that was produced by Southern Star Group and ran for 12 years on the Seven Network, from 1994 to 2006. Although based around the policing of the town, the series generally depicted the ever ...

'' fame. The group began the weekly ''Aunty Donna Podcast''. In 2017, the group announced a second half-hour pilot, ''Chaperones'', which was created with Australian online streaming service

Stan Stan or STAN may refer to: People * Stan (given name), a list of people with the given name ** Stan Laurel (1890–1965), English comic actor, part of duo Laurel and Hardy * Stan (surname), a Romanian surname * Stan! (born 1964), American author ...

. The pilot was again not continued into a full series. The group adopted the mantra "whatever's funniest," attempting to adapt their source material uniquely to different comedic formats such as their live shows and YouTube sketches. Their live show ''Big Boys'' was the group's first North American theater tour. 2018 saw the release of the group's first full-length studio album, ''The Album'', which featured

Montaigne Michel Eyquem, Sieur de Montaigne ( ; ; 28 February 1533 – 13 September 1592), also known as the Lord of Montaigne, was one of the most significant philosophers of the French Renaissance. He is known for popularizing the essay as a liter ...

Matt Okine Matthew Okine (born 12 April 1985) is a stand-up comedian, author and radio presenter from Brisbane, Australia. Okine is of Ghanaian and European descent, born to his father, Mack Okine, and his mother Roslyn, who died of breast cancer when he w ...

Michelle Brasier Michelle Brasier is a Melbourne-based comedian, singer, writer and actor. She is known for her work with Aunty Donna, her live shows, and performing in comedy duo Double Denim with Laura Frew. Early life Brasier grew up in Wagga Wagga. In 200 ...

, and Joey Walker of

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard are an Australian rock band formed in 2010 in Melbourne, Victoria. The band's current lineup consists of Stu Mackenzie, Ambrose Kenny-Smith, Cook Craig, Joey Walker, Lucas Harwood and Michael Cavanagh. They are ...

, and was followed by a tour. Their production company, ''Haven't You Done Well Productions'', was established. The group also released the sketch ''Always Room for Christmas Pud'', which the ''

Australian Financial Review ''The Australian Financial Review'' (abbreviated to the ''AFR'') is an Australian business-focused, compact daily newspaper covering the current business and economic affairs of Australia and the world. The newspaper is based in Sydney, New Sou ...

'' later said had become "something of a

Millennial Millennials, also known as Generation Y or Gen Y, are the Western demographic cohort following Generation X and preceding Generation Z. Researchers and popular media use the early 1980s as starting birth years and the mid-1990s to early 2000 ...

cultural touchstone in Australia". Making use of their production company, the group released the ''Glennridge Secondary College'' web series in 2019, which followed a fictional Australian

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

. In November 2020, Aunty Donna released their

series ''

'', which featured guest appearances from

Ed Helms Edward Parker Helms (born January 24, 1974) is an American actor and comedian. From 2002 to 2006, he was a correspondent on Comedy Central's ''The Daily Show with Jon Stewart''. He played paper salesman Andy Bernard in the NBC sitcom ''The Offic ...

"Weird Al" Yankovic Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic ( ; born October 23, 1959) is an American singer, musician, songwriter, record producer, actor and author. He is best known for creating comedy songs that make light of pop culture and often parody specifi ...

Antony Starr Antony Starr (born 25 October 1975) is a New Zealand actor, known for his television roles. He played the dual roles of Jethro and Van West on '' Outrageous Fortune'' (2005–10), Lucas Hood on ''Banshee'' (2013–16), and Homelander on '' The Bo ...

Kristen Schaal Kristen Joy Schaal (; born January 24, 1978) is an American actress, comedian, and writer. She is best known for her voice roles as Louise Belcher on ''Bob's Burgers'' and Mabel Pines on ''Gravity Falls''. She's also known for playing Mel on ''F ...

, and others. The show was aided by Helms' Pacific Electric Picture Company. To promote the show, the group erected a replica of the

Utah monolith The Utah monolith is a metal pillar that stood in a red sandstone slot canyon in northern San Juan County, Utah, United States. The pillar is tall and made of metal sheets riveted into a triangular prism. It was unlawfully placed on public lan ...

in Melbourne with help from YouTubers I Did a Thing and Aleksa Vulovic. In 2021, Aunty Donna hosted the Opening Night Comedy Allstars Supershow at the MICF. 2022 saw ''The Magical Dead Cat Tour'', the group's first live tour in three years after it was delayed by

COVID-19 lockdowns Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of non-pharmaceutical interventions colloquially known as lockdowns (encompassing stay-at-home orders, curfews, quarantines, and similar societal restrictions) have been implemented in numerous countrie ...

, covering Australia and New Zealand. In August 2022, the group announced that they had been signed by

to create a new TV series which will depict them running a café in the

Melbourne laneways The Melbourne central business district in Australia is home to numerous lanes and arcades. Often called "laneways", these narrow streets and pedestrian paths date mostly from the Victorian era, and are a popular cultural attraction for their ...

. Later in the year, the group released ''Always Room for Christmas Pud'', a

picture book A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. With the narrative told primarily through text, they are distinct from comics, which do so primarily through sequential images. The images ...

published by

Penguin Books Penguin Books is a British publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.

Stage shows

Aunty Donna stated on their podcast that their live shows are "deep down, what

hey Hey or Hey! may refer to: Music * Hey (band), a Polish rock band Albums * ''Hey'' (Andreas Bourani album) or the title song (see below), 2014 * ''Hey!'' (Julio Iglesias album) or the title song, 1980 * ''Hey!'' (Jullie album) or the title s ...

are most passionate about".Aunty Donna Podcast, Episode 89 https://play.acast.com/s/aunty-donna-podcast/podcast-ep-89-glennridge-secondary-college As such, they try to plan and perform one live show per year.

YouTube

In December 2012, Aunty Donna created ''Aunty Donna's Rumpus Room'', a seven-part web series which originally aired on

C31 Melbourne C31 Melbourne is a free-to-air community television channel in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Its name is derived from UHF 31, the frequency and channel number reserved for analogue television, analogue broadcasts by metropolitan community tele ...

and its YouTube channel. Much of its YouTube content is based on content adapted from its live shows, and many of the group's original YouTube videos become adapted for their live shows. The majority of Aunty Donna's YouTube content is organized by the group into different series. These series include: * ''Rumpus Room'' (2012) * ''Fortnightly Fap Off'' (2013) * ''Fapé in the Cafe'' (2013) * ''Haven't You Done Well'' (2013–present) * ''Fresh Blood'' (2014) * ''1999'' (2015/2016) * ''Trendy'' (2016) * ''Ripper Aussie Summer'' (2017) * ''BEST CONTENT EVER!!1!'' (2017) * ''Aunty Donna: The Album'' (2018) * ''Camp Bush Camp'' (2018) * ''Glennridge Secondary College'' (2019) * ''The Rove Tapes'' (2020) * ''The House Series'' (2022) Typically, the videos released in these series are unified by a setting or theme, such as in ''Glennridge Secondary College'', in which most sketches takes place in a fictionalized secondary school, and ''Trendy'', which pokes fun at cultural trends of the mid-2010s. ''Haven't You Done Well'' is an ongoing series consisting of one video from each of the other series. All of these are unified by their loose structure, relying more heavily on improvisation than the other videos from the group and often resulting in the group making a mess of the set with a particular item, such as sunscreen, beer, wine, cake, or prop

cocaine Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechuan languages, Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly recreational drug use, used recreationally for its euphoria, euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from t ...

. ''1999'' was originally developed as a 10-part web series exclusively for

as part of

and

Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...

's Skip Ahead funding.

Podcast

The group began a self-titled podcast in 2016, releasing weekly episodes. The podcast involves random riffing and improvised segments, and occasionally includes special guests such as comedians Ben Russell, Tim Minchin,

Bob Saget Robert Lane Saget (May 17, 1956 – January 9, 2022) was an American stand-up comedian, actor, and television host. Saget played Danny Tanner on the ABC sitcom ''Full House'' (1987-1995), and reprised the role for its Netflix sequel '' Fuller ...

Demi Lardner Demi Lardner is an Australian absurdist comedian based in Sydney. In 2013, she won Raw Comedy in Melbourne and went on to win So You Think You're Funny? in Edinburgh for her comedy set. She regularly streams on Twitch, and co-hosts the podc ...

Rove McManus John Henry Michael McManus (born 21 January 1974), better known by the stage name Rove McManus, is an Australian triple Gold Logie award-winning comedian, television and radio presenter, producer and media personality. He was the host of the e ...

, and others. The podcast has since changed towards focusing more on how sketches, characters, and comedic ideas develop during the groups' creative process, but remains very loose in structure. Episodes will start off with a base premise of some sort that is then improvised on. For example, the character Moogie Woogie was created from a mispronunciation and went on to appear in ''

'' due to being a fan favorite.

Music

In 2018, Aunty Donna announced they would be releasing their debut album '' The Album'' on 6 April 2018. On 9 February 2018, Aunty Donna released the first single from the album, "Chuffed (Dad Song)", and accompanying video. The album debuted at No. 30 on the

ARIA Albums Chart The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...

Discography

Studio albums

Haven't You Done Well Productions

Haven't You Done Well Productions is a production company established by the members of Aunty Donna in 2018, with the aim of assisting and educating online creatives to develop and produce comedy projects, as well as to ensure they retain ownership of their own projects. The company is mentored by Andy Lee. In 2019, it received funding from Screen Australia, sharing a pool of $1.2 million for sector and talent development. The company produced Aunty Donna's webseries ''Glennridge Secondary College'' as well as ''Aunty Donna's Big Ol' House of Fun'', and is also producing the upcoming ''Aunty Donna's Untitled Project''. It has produced several comedy webseries which are hosted on the YouTube channel Grouse House, including ''Hug The Sun'' (2021) featuring Ben Russell and

Xavier Michelides Xavier or Xabier may refer to: Place * Xavier, Spain People * Xavier (surname) * Xavier (given name) * Francis Xavier (1506–1552), Catholic saint ** St. Francis Xavier (disambiguation) * St. Xavier (disambiguation) * Xavier (footballer, born ...

, ''Hot Department: Dark Web'' (2022), and ''

Finding Yeezus Find, FIND or Finding may refer to: Computing * find (Unix), a command on UNIX platforms * find (Windows), a command on DOS/Windows platforms Books * ''The Find'' (2010), by Kathy Page * ''The Find'' (2014), by William Hope Hodgson Film and tel ...

'' (2022), a six-part documentary web series that revealed the identity of the creator of the 2013 video game '' Kanye Quest 3030''.

Influences

The group has cited

Monty Python Monty Python (also collectively known as the Pythons) were a British comedy troupe who created the sketch comedy television show '' Monty Python's Flying Circus'', which first aired on the BBC in 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four ...

as the largest influence upon their comedy. Ruane has also cited

Shaun Micallef Shaun Patrick Micallef (; born 18 July 1962) is an Australian comedian, actor, writer and television presenter. He is currently the host of the satirical news comedy series ''Shaun Micallef's Mad as Hell'' on the ABC. He also hosted the game sh ...

as an influence.

Awards and nominations

, - , rowspan="2", 2012 ,

, Golden Gibbo Award , ''Aunty Donna in Pantsuits'' , , , - ,

, People's Choice Award , ''Aunty Donna and the Fax Machine Shop'' , , , - , 2013 ,

Melbourne WebFest The Melbourne WebFest is an international web series festival based in Melbourne, Australia. It was the first of its kind in the country. It focuses on web series from around the world, with individual recognitions for genres including fantasy a ...

, Melbourne's Best Prize , ''Aunty Donna's Rumpus Room'' , , , - , 2014 ,

9th AACTA Awards The 9th Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards (generally known as the AACTA Awards) is an award's ceremony to celebrate the best of Australian films and television of 2019. The main ceremony was held at The Star (Sydney), The St ...

, Best Online Drama or Comedy , ''Glennridge Secondary College'' , , , - , rowspan="2", 2016 , Melbourne WebFest , Best Ensemble , ''1999'' , , , - ,

Sydney Comedy Festival The Sydney Comedy Festival is an annual comedy festival held in Sydney. Launched in 2005 as The Cracker Sydney Comedy Festival at a number of inner city venues, the Festival has grown quickly and now attracts 111,000 patrons every year at venue ...

, Director's Choice , ''Aunty Donna'' , , , - , 2017 ,

Helpmann Awards The Helpmann Awards are accolades for live entertainment and performing arts in Australia, presented by industry group Live Live Performance Australia (LPA) since 2001. The annual awards recognise achievements in the disciplines of musical t ...

, Best Comedy Performer , ''Big Boys'' , , , - , 2018 ,

ARIA Music Awards The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (commonly known informally as ARIA Music Awards, ARIA Awards, or simply the ARIAs) is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Austr ...

, Best Comedy Release , ''Aunty Donna: The Album'' , , , - , 2019 , Melbourne WebFest , Best Australian Comedy , ''Glennridge Secondary College'' , , , - , rowspan="4", 2021 , rowspan="4",

11th AACTA Awards The 11th Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards (generally known as the AACTA Awards) is an award's ceremony to celebrate the best of Australian films and television of 2021. The main ceremony occurred on 8 December 2021 at the ...

, Best Narrative Comedy Series , ''Aunty Donna's Big Ol' House of Fun'' , , , - , rowspan="2", Best Comedy Performer , Mark Bonanno , , , - , Broden Kelly , , , - , Best Original Score in Television , ''Aunty Donna's Big Ol' House Of Fun - Episode 1: Housemates'' , , , -

References

External links

* * * {{Authority control Australian comedy troupes Federation University Australia alumni Performing groups established in 2011 Surreal comedy Australian YouTubers Comedy YouTubers