Aunty Donna Podcast - How We Wrote Our New Live Show 'Drem' Feat. Tom

Episode Date: July 29, 2025

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A listener production. Hello everybody. This is a very exciting episode of the Aunty Donna podcast. We are talking all about our brand new live show Drem, which is coming all around the world. If you want to get tickets to Drem, Aunty Donna.com. It has sold out in some cities, but tickets still available in a lot of them.

So come along and see it. Otherwise, we're going to talk all about it about it but don't worry there are no spoilers G'day everyone welcome to this look at our new show Drem that we've just finished developing and we're about to take on the road and we're gonna talk about it because we've spent a large portion of time making it and we're gonna debrief about the making of it in front of Mike's. Can I add one thing? Please. No spoilers.

No spoilers. I'm joined today by a writer, director, actor. No spoilers. He's eating beef jerky on the podcast. It's Mark. The chewiest food. Thank you for you say thank you for having me. I thought we said no spoilers. Because this could have been

the only this could have been a thing that could have bumped that Patreon those Patreon numbers up. The only spoiler so far so far as you spoiling your dinner with those beef jerkeys. It's nearly four o'clock. Yeah, I have dinner at six. You have dinner at six. You have dinner at six. And you think a small meat-based snack, two hours before dinner, would ruin your appetite?

Can you talk me through your logic? And we will get to dream. I'll talk you through anything, man. Oh yeah, good, good, good. Can you talk me through your logic? Because you just said you're imagining a listener, you're imagining an idealized listener as any marketing man would. You're imagining they're listening to this podcast,

they're hearing Broden doesn't spoil what it is you're reading. Talk me through the thought process of a man or a woman or a person that hears that and goes, God, I'd love to know what he's eating and signs up to the Patreon to find out. Talk me through that. I would say that's a smart person. I'd say that's the kind of person you want to be around because that's a curious person with expendable cash. We're next joined by the composer and will be the...

Oh, now we know their songs. You've got to be careful, man. Composer, scorer and tour manager of this tour, Tom Zahariehu. How you going, guys? Thanks for having me. It's a pleasure to have you here, Tom. Thank you. I was just around. I appreciate Mark is now eating jerky a good half a metre away from the mic, and I like that. He's eating sort of like a small,

like low-level in the predatory chain animal, sort of quickly, and feverishly like a vermin. But how would people see that if people are just listening? I think you might have even been out of shot. and feverish like a vermin. But how would people see that if people are just listening? I think you might have even been out of shot. We're next joined by, it's also worth noting that Tom is eating a limited edition marshmallow Oreo which he has had the dry biscuit and he's just got the cream and- To find out how he got that that tune in in about six months.

Yeah. Now, now, our next guest is a writer, performer, director. You know their work from Auntie Donna. Mm-hmm. It's Zach Ruane. Zach, thanks for being here. Pleased to be here. Thank you. Now, does anyone... I'll do a quiz for you three. Of course. And I'm in it too. Broden Kelly. Does anyone... I'm going to'll do a quiz for you three. Of course. And I'm in it too.

Broden Kelly. Does anyone, I'm going to do a little quiz for you. The Quizmaster. We're very tired and creatively drained. That's the first thing I would say. They're about, because we've juiced it to make good sure. So you might be listening to this going, oh, what's this?

What's one of these tired boys? Yeah. Well, we're tired because we've been putting all our energy, all our thought. If you think whatever this podcast lacks, you're about to see on that stage. I have one request. If the Quizmaster will be answering their own questions, may I humbly request that the

Quizmaster asks questions they don't know the answer to? I don't know the answer to this question off the top of my head. Wonderful. How many Aunty Donna hours, live shows, original live shows have we made? Seven. No. More. Is that a guess? Oh yeah yeah I just thought if I say it quickly and with conviction, worst case is I'm wrong, best case is I look like

wow how do you know that? Yeah I don't know how to do that. Let's try and figure it out without going through them. Well then how? I mean that's what makes it fun. Don't think about it, don't think about it, try and work it out without going through the shows. Just try it. Nine. Nine. How did you figure that out? I guessed and so let's see if I'm right. Are you just saying guess numbers? No, you do it whatever way you want. There's many ways to try and figure this out without going through. I want to count so badly. I want to count too. I want to know if we're including like the album tour.

Because that was an hour of original music. Oooh. I think I included that, but I'm not sure. I would not include the album tour. Really? I think it was an original album. What I think this is, we can talk about the album tour. It fucking counts. What I think this is, is new shows where we've done new sketches where the bulk of the show, because we did like some old favourites in the last one, but the bulk of the show is

all new stuff that were originated for the live show that you have not yet seen on anything else. As opposed to The Avengers where the Hulk of the show is played by Mark Ruffalo. Or? Or? Or Edward Norton. Or? He's talking about the MCU doofus.

Yeah, I'm talking about the goddamn MCU idiot. Okay, I'm talking about the goddamn MCU idiot. Okay, I'm so sorry. Now, from my... It's interesting from where I sit because often people only know us for our videos. But I would say, and feel free to debate me, disagree with me, but I feel like our live shows are the kind of nebulous. Is that a word?

It is. The neutron or proton? It is, but careful. You're walking on dangerous. She was in Age of Ultron. That's nebular. But the core, the kind of, the core energy from which things spurred out in Aunty Donna World for me.

Is that fair to say? Oh, absolutely. When you say nebulous, I think you're referring to egg. Sure, egg. Live show is the egg of Donna. You don't like eggs, right? Well, that's interesting, isn't it? It's interesting that you mentioned them, though, because I don't like eating eggs.

I would say it's like egg. If if if if if Aunty Donna was pasta, then our live shows, yeah, are the egg. In that it's core to how everything else comes out of it. Well, no, something has already come. This is a fertilised egg in my mind. So the Aunty Donna live show is the fertilised egg of... There are other ways we can clone. We can, we are, we can, we do make original things for film, but it is the, it's not the

egg is it? No, it sounds like your egg's on your mind. Do you know what it is? It's the, it's the missing link. It's like the, it's the creature for all the atheists, scientists listening. It's the creature from which humans, apes, gorillas came from. Yeah, great. I'm going to remember that.

I'm going to remember you talking about eggs. Okay. Vroom. Now, cars go vroom, vroom, vroom. Now, you know I don't drive. Why would you bring that up? Now, I'm goingroom, vroom, vroom. Now. You know I don't drive. Why would you bring that up? Now, I'm gonna count through them. Okay.

Our first step, the first thing that Aunty Donna ever made was a live show. And I'm gonna say my favourite sketch from each one. Great. But this doesn't count as your guess because you're counting through them. Yep, yep, yep. But I'm gonna have an edge.

Do you want a guess before you count? At the end I'll do an edge. Do you want a guess before you count? Seven. Yeah. In Pantsuits was the first show we ever did and we've talked about this on the podcast. You can go back to Mark and I talking about this

earlier this year. At length. My favourite sketch from that is the Hot Dogs Fan Club. Yes, which was never seen again after that show. No, but genuinely a good idea. Just not right as a closer. Hot Dogs was a guy from Big Brother season two in Australia and the idea was there's a fan club for this guy.

And there was a questionnaire and the answer to every question regardless of what it was, was Hot Dogs from Big Brother. The second show we wrote was a show called Aunty Donna and the Facts Machine and Murder Mystery. Calling Come. One of my favorites. The Come sketch where we were trying to figure out if you could fax come was my favorite. I loved that. And we did a thing that very few people do and it was Out of Ignorance and Hunger.

We wrote both of those shows in the same year. We wrote two live hours in one year. Never again. Except for this year. I want two live hours in one year, never again. Except for this year. I want to talk to you after this. Then the next one was Worlds, then Adrian left. And then the third one is Worlds Greatest Showbag. More of an easy one.

That was a review from SBS that we got seven years ago. SBS comedy which is still thriving. Ah, not bitter people here. And I would say my favourite easy one there was Ellen. The Ellen DeGeneres sketch closed out that show. How did this one open? Is this with the Stompy Boys? No. No, that was, I believe, next year. This started with us off stage doing a soundscape of going through a show.

Oh, what? And then we came on and danced and then I forget the first sketch. Did we test this one in Adelaide? No. Oh, I've just raised this one. We, for this show, Adrian left and we all kind of went, well, let's make the next show great. Because we need it to be great. The story of this is we went to Philip Island to Sam's house, Sam's uncle's house, and did a workshop period, and then the car broke down on the way back to Melbourne,

I remember that story. And it was mostly written in a concrete box with one window that had bars on it? Yeah, it was like a prison cell. So did we do Sexy Secret for this? Yes. Developing was done through a Sexy Secret show development at Butterfly Club. And I was there. And we did that, and we were in the furthest festival managed venue at Melbourne Comedy Festival from the city.

We were in a room with a lot of people who wanted to do really cool things and it was the first time I remember, like we didn't feel any kind of support from the festival, we couldn't get on any other special gigs or we weren't promoted and the people that were showing up for the first time really, were people, they'd ask for photos and you go, where do you know us from? They go, Ute Ube. And there was like, oh fuck, these people are coming.

We've got fans in quotation marks. So that's three, no. Yeah, so their friend Ute Ube. Yeah, this guy was just going around. Ute, Mr. Uob was going around telling everyone. And then when we misheard that we thought, are they saying we should put on videos on YouTube? And so we did.

Can you name? Oh, sorry. No, no, I was just going to say more sketches from that show. That show was one of the, um, that I would say that was the most, um, that was like a bumper season. Because we got so many sketches out of that show. So many great sketches came out of that show. Bikie Wars.

Bikie Wars was in that show. Smoker's Tree which featured The Joke, which I think Adrian came up with, was the square kind. Ellen was in it obviously, we just said. Yeah. Neighbor, the Prank Phone Call. Prank phone call. Prank phone call. We, what was probably the best collection of sketches, because it was our second sketch show, like, as a rule.

And also just worth mentioning in the Donner Law, in the Greater Donner Law, the first, I think we only did it twice, but the walking tour. Let's not forget about the walking tour. When we had low sales, we would say, meet us at another, we have walking tour nights where it was Wednesday nights, meet us at town hall and we will walk with you and do fun characters along the way. I just remember playing a vampire, like playing Dracula on the steps of a church and handing out pasta necklaces.

And then there was one night where I saw everyone coming. And then as often used to happen to me, not so much anymore, my bladder went from zero to 100 and I had to run and I couldn't find the toilet, so I just had to piss somewhere and I got piss all over my pants. And then I had to... I was like, fuck! Everyone's coming and I had to put a cape and put a vampire through. Ah!

Radical! I'm doing that! I'm like, I'm going to stink like piss. put a cape and put vampire through it. Ah, welcome to the house. This is like, I'm gonna stink like piss. I know it. I remember Zach from, you played, I think, like an Italian ghost or something, and you said your name was Giovanni Ribisi. I remember you played a convict, and your whole thing, I thought this,

I'm still obsessed with this joke. At the front of Melbourne jail. And you're like, I'm a convict. I whole thing, I thought this, I'm still obsessed with this joke. At the front of Melbourne jail. And you're like, I'm a convict. I was sent here from Ireland, merely for stealing a loaf of bread and killing four women. So that was the third show. And you're like, well, okay. And then we kind of made a best of, we took half of that show. I was wondering if you'd count this.

I don't. But it's worth mentioning is we went to Edinburgh that year for the first time, 2014. With the structure of Showbag. Yeah, we merged two shows and made it strong. No, three. We even put a few sketches from, so it was such a good show. And then we just came with our fourth show. So we went from the best show we've just came with our fourth show so we went from the best show we've ever done to our fourth show. We won the best festival. Yeah we won the best of the fest. It was a killer year for us.

We beat our fleabag and the baby reindeer guy and everyone. It was a huge year for us and you just need to believe. James A. Castor and... That was a big year though. Yeah, we won. Don't Google that. And then the fourth year we made a show called Self Title or Aunty Donna. Yes. Which was us trying to do a bit of narrative with a bit of sketch where we had three characters,

our villains, called the Bubble Bath Boys. And it went... Good. Okay. Well, it was fantastic. It was, sales-wise... That's what I was gonna say sales wise First first ever like Fed Square and we did like a big room, which is funny to say I think was like 180 Yeah, now it's that and now it was ACME and and now it is their gift shop gift shop

Yeah, really and so we did in there we put we would want we would adamant that we needed bubbles Yeah, really. And so we did in there, we put, we would want, we would adamant that we needed bubbles going everywhere before the show and so I remember we had a bubble machine blowing bubbles out of a wing and then walking on stage and the ground being covered in bubble juice and slipping everywhere. And obviously you played a character called Stompy Pete who stomped his feet around and then I reckon five shows in. Yeah, still an athlete.

You got trench foot,, I was in Melbourne. Yeah, or soldier's foot. I don't know what it's referred to and I think I believe what happens is that all the ligaments in the bottom of your feet get bruised and I woke up one morning and it felt like I was walking on razor blades. So you became Raspberry Bart.

Which I believe was Sam's suggestion. Sam was always like that. I remember you sitting us down and being like, guys, Thumpy Pete is no more. I'm going to have to be Raspberry Bart and I'm going to have to wear shoes. And six pairs of socks. But true to our word, we have never, well we never made this a promise, but we have never cancelled a show out of, I think mostly fear of disappointing each other. We've had shows cancelled.

We've had shows cancelled. Many times. Because of COVID. Important ones. No, I mean we've had TV shows cancelled. Oh, yeah. Naturally. But we've never...

No wind shows too. We've never cancelled a live show. So let me tell you right now, a ticket to an Aunty Donna live show, that's the safest fucking money you can invest. Yeah, so... Unless you want a man with no voice that can't use his feet. Which I was for a little while during that run. And then the next one after that was self-titled into New Show. In my opinion, worst name of a show ever.

Yes. That was funny. That was born out of, that was born born out of we developed, no it wasn't just funny. So that took us a year to realise how bad of a name for that show was. Because it was born out of the fact that we were getting more and more new fans. A similar thing I think is happening now, we've had to educate people since Netflix. Not realising that every show is different. Every show is new. Every show has all new sketches, is completely new.

And I think this is something we've had to do for this one because this is the first second show we've done since Netflix. So we've got a whole bunch of new fans. We have to let them know it's new. And then we had the genius idea of calling it New Show. And we were like, this is awesome. And it was. It was great everyone came and then then what happened was we were doing this thing

where we would be touring one show one year and then the previous year show was going to Edinburgh and America there was like this overlap so we had to communicate because the next show was Glenridge no big boys so we had to communicate, because the next show was... Glenridge. No, Big Boys. Big Boys. So we had to, I remember making these posts, I remember like doing the social media for this. Having to promote New Show, which was our old show, and Big Boys, which was our new show. Saying, we're coming to America with New Show, our old show.

And then our manager at the time had the idea the new show was in such a good state they were like you should bring new show back in a double bill with new show and big boys so we had to promote this double bill at the Athenaeum of new show and big boys communicating that we were doing our new show, Big Boys, and our old show, New Show. And I- It went well. I think my brain broke that, in that window of time. And it's never fully come back.

New Show is Watchable is the first show we shot. Yes. You can watch it. Yeah, I think that's the fifth. New Show is the fifth, I almost can't, you have to go from the side again. Fuck. You do it while I'm talking.

But do these, the Sexy Secret show does, why? Because Sexy Secret is a development of World's Greatest Showbag. I fucking hate this game. And then- Big Boys is six. Big Boys is six where we had Tom on stage for the- Which is something that we, I believe,

had tried to do or discussed almost Almost every show from world's greatest onwards We were like got to get Tom on stage because you were on stage for sexy secret secret I was like DJ live and it was always a conversation Can we get Tom at the start of every process can we get Tom can we get Tom can we get Tom and it was always? A bit too hard and then big boys. We finally made it happen Yeah, and it was very technically complicated. It was technically complicated and the show was fine.

The main sketch we, that people are from that is everything's a drum. Yes. Mm-hmm, that's cool. I genuinely struggled to remember little sketches that we did pull from that show. Zach, is this one six or seven? Seven, Fast and the Furious was my favorite.

Oh yeah. Oh my God. You remember Fast and the Furious? Oh favorite. Oh yeah. Oh my god. You remember Fast and the Furious? Yeah, Bagley. It was like a big build up, like, get low, get low, get low, a huge build up, like so cool, Fast and the Furious and then the drop would come, we'd cut the music and you guys would just drive very safely in silence. I believe we cut that one eventually.

There's a lot of good ideas. So we had... There's a lot of good ideas. I don't think you've done your favorite sketch for a while. You didn't do it for self-titled? You didn't do it for a new show? What was the new show? What were some of the sketches? Even though you can go watch it. There's Master Chef, the one we like. Oh Master Chef, I love Master Chef's Master Chef, the one we like. Oh, Master Chef. I love Master Chef.

Master Chef, the naughty masseuse. Oh yeah. They just get a little blurry at this point. It does, it gets blurry. We started to tour a lot more and so a lot more of the year was spent. Like in the early days, you'd do a Melbourne comedy festival for four weeks and then the show died. Yeah. That was the end of the show.

New Show was the one where we felt like we cracked structure because we came up with Larry. Pauzy Pete's in New Show. Yeah, Pauzy Pete, that's a fucking great one. We filmed, I mean we did film the whole show but we also filmed... John Edwards is originally called but people might have seen it was Blair Boyant. Yes. Yeah, they're all, there's good stuff in there but I feel like those three or four, because

they were overlapping, I don't know which there, but I feel like those three or four, because they were overlapping, I don't know which belongs to which. Stepdad Steve? It was at this point that it was becoming more of a job, not one that paid well, but a job, where we could like, it was sustaining us to an extent. Yeah. So then there's... Then there's Big Boys.

Big Boys? Yeah, sorry, coming back. But after Big Boys, well yeah, but Big Boys was, yeah. Are you still counting, Tom? No, but where was Chinup Chuck? Chinup Chuck was in self-titled, which is one that I love to bring up often in as a little in-joke where I just always bring up the maybe the worst sketch we've ever done that we never cut.

We never cut through a full, we did, I believe we did Sydney, we did Melbourne. We may have even done Brisbane with that show. We took it to Edinburgh. Yeah. Yeah. We did it, we did Adelaide because we developed it in Adelaide and we never cut. Well we would have done, because that would have been our first tour around the UK as well, so we would have done that in places like Dartmouth, Bedford, Maidenhead. Yes we did, and we never, never stopped and went, hey, this sketch that is getting no laughs anywhere in the world, will we rewrite, rewrite, rework?

We tri- well we- Oh cut, oh we tried. God knows we reworked. Oh yeah yeah yeah. We tweaked, we tweaked. We tweaked, tweaked, tweaked, tweaked, tweaked. So funny though. There's a lot of sketches in that time where, I don't know, we just, we, the spark, it was, the spark of the first three, right, the first three we lacked technical prowess, but we had

like ideas that maybe we'd been sitting on for years. And then there was about three where we had less of that spark and didn't quite have the prowess. We were lucky. There were ones in there that were lucky, but then there were also some wonky ones. I have a hot take on this. What? The two shows that I would say all of us

are sort of unanimously a bit like, oh, didn't quite get there, self-titled and big boys. Both times we were writing television pilots while we were doing the live show. Our attention was split. Both of those pilots didn't get up. So it was worth it. But both of those shows during the live show period,

you know, this is still a time when we're all working casual jobs. We're all trying to like, you know, Donna is still, it's growing, but it's not earning money. And you're talking about Auntie Donna, you're not a Donna kebab? No. Very different. So just for clarity. Because that was for lunch.

Yeah. I think those, the lessons of that era though, is what I would say, is important to the next era as well, right? Because you would argue in the early days, lots of great ideas and executing them Okay, yeah in this period you learn that eat you can kind of win an audience over to an extent with just rhythm timing Structure performance and those are all things that yeah can hear Your ear can hear yeah, that's you're talking about the lessons for the year. Yeah

But yes a common mistake so like like that period I remember just going like the lessons for the ear? Yeah. The ear-up. Ear-up. Ear-up. Ear-up. Ear-up. But yeah, so- A common mistake. So like, that period I remember just going like, feeling the need to really work to win audiences over with some sketches, but knowing the way to do it. Yeah. So that like, when you get to the- yeah. So when you get- It was- oh sorry.

So then we got to it with the luxury, we kind of got to- Can I ask, showbagged, self-titledtitled new show big boys. Is that right? Yeah That's the that's a correct run there. I haven't missed any there I will say as well big boys was watched by the team at Netflix Yes, it was it was this was the one thing I want to add to that is big boys Was at a point where and isn't a good thing necessarily, but is something we started addressing Where we had become undeniable in terms of? where, and this isn't a good thing necessarily, but it is something we started addressing, where we had become undeniable in terms of,

we sold fucking tickets. Big Boys, we started selling out a week in advance. Right? We were filling the biggest room, which was like 400 seats, 330 seats, whatever high-fi downstairs was. So we got to the point where people were just so fucking excited to see us.

It didn't matter that it wasn't the best show that we'd ever done, cause it was just fire. Cause people were keen to be in the fucking room. We felt self-established. Absolutely. The sound didn't work for the first two weeks. No. Which was an issue.

And even so, and even so, what I remember from that run was being in that room, being in a big main room, like where I'd seen Layne Woodley and David O'Dowd and all these different people. And the show, we were like at 9.30, which was quite late, but people were still filling the joint.

And there was a show before us put on by the Comedy Festival that was a variety show of people brought from overseas. And there was always 10 to 30 people in that show. And when we were splitting all the money like six ways and when we got our cut back it equated to like 20, 30 grand for us each. So like not, it didn't pay a year. And I remember going, oh good, our cut back to the festival just paid for them to lose all that money on that one.

That's the lesson I learned from that one is we just paid the mistake that they made and going from that point, okay, we need to stop thinking of ourselves as an act who does shows here every year and we need to start thinking of ourselves more as not a comedy festival act but an act who is just a performing international group. Touring band. So the next show. Yeah, very much so. We're so much closer to a band than how a band travels than we are a comedy group.

And so the next show we did, I just remember so vividly how the next one came about, which was we made an album, we decided to make an album. I forget why we decided to make an album. I probably just forced it. I think it was just a fun thing to do. I think you had a record deal at the time. Yes, I did. And maybe there were just conversations that were happening and it was like a possibility and it just came up.

Yeah. And I think our manager was just hot on it too. Our manager at the time was from Musicworld as well. I think we were also looking for, you know, we were quite a way in at that point. We'd spent, you know, we'd made two pilots. We were sort of, I was really, I, my journey with Auntie Donna, if I'm going to be real for a second here, has always been about coming back to, I want to do this on my own. I never want to be asking someone else.

I want to have a direct connection to the people that like what we do and I want to give them what we do. I love making TV. I love festivals. I love making TV. I love festivals. I love all these things. I love doing them. But I always come back to, I don't really care how we deliver what we do to an audience. I just would rather have complete control over it.

And I think for me, that was in that era, like we're going, instead of making another TV pilot, let's just do something different, something interesting, something new, something fresh. Like it's a new way to talk about it, a new way to reach people. And that was sort of born out of that from my mind. I also remember it being a bit of a response to Big Boys, which didn't have many songs.

That process didn't allow for, we just didn't write many songs. That process didn't allow for, we just didn't write many songs for that and it was kind of like a can we do something that is in Tom's, in Tom's wheelhouse. Yeah. So we wrote a bunch of songs for that and I remember you were just like, we had a song called Best Day of My Life about school and we're just like let's just do a whole show at set at school and they went all right and then we wrote a bunch of sketches about school, put it on, found a structure and it was like, it was one of those moments where like you're learning how to do something every time we did a show you're learning and I remember just like looking back going look how fucking, it wasn't easy.

I remember working really hard on the show but looking back going this is a fucking, I love that show and every night people came and it was easy and nice to do and there were great sketches. It was the most organic show I think we've ever done in terms of just all agreeing on an idea that no process of it was like banging your head against the wall. It was all just like, oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah. Yeah. It was such a wonderful.

And I just remember like we were a guest on a variety night during the festival in Melbourne, and I remember walking on, and I remember every time we did a set we'd like run on and do a chore or something. This is a very specific memory I'm sure no one remembers, but we'd game on as the headliners for this show, and I remember we all just sort of walked on. There was no like we need to win this audience over moment. We all just slowly walked on and did that did 15 minutes and killed and left. And I was like that I remember feeling like that's that that's like an end of an era bit there with how we're good at had gotten and where we'd gotten it to.

Get me wrong. I love running around screaming at one fifty a.m. in Scotland. I love desperately trying to win people over. Yeah, no, but it's also nice to just walk on sometimes. It's also nice to come on and be like, hey, we've got some comedy would you like to laugh? Yes. I would say that's much better for everyone. Yeah. And we did Bully and we did Master. It's just a bunch of sketches and they just went really well and go, okay we're good at, we're quite good at this this. We got so much out of that show we got like this fucking first like big proper commission from Screen Australia to turn it into a web series which was like 16

parts we got to do animation which he's never done before. All came out of waiting a year for a TV show to get picked up. Yes that's true. So then okay so what are we at Tom? 7.5. Yeah really Really? I'm counting Album Tour's half. Do you count the one after Glenridge, Aunty Donna's Cash Grab? When we did it? Aunty Donna's Life Cash Grab? Well, after the series came out,

we did like a band tour where we DJ'd and did it. Glenridge? No, I don't count that. Oh yeah, great. It wasn't a new original show though. Pardon? It wasn't a new original show, but many fun memories. The reason we did that is because as we, usually we would make a new show to pay ourselves and exist and then as Netflix

told us to wait and wait and wait longer it got to the moment like we're out of money. We actually just fully ran out. So we need to fucking go on the road but we haven't been writing anything because we've been waiting to see if we can. Which was another great moment, Sam always talks about this where he's like it was such a great moment to realize that we'd gotten to a place where if things were looking fucked, we just, the six people that were in the company at that time had the ability to go, we can do something. There's an audience, we can make money

and we can keep our heads above water for a little longer. I'm gonna try and turn this around just to future proof this episode. Punch. But also, I had a lot of fun doing a standing room show. I thought it was really fun doing that three part standing room show. Very rock and roll and God, you know, there might be a point in the future where I choose to creatively do that again.

What do you guys think? It's funny because I had fun doing it, but I also have friends who still talk about it. You're so right, Tom. And they genuinely say, that was the funnest night that I've had. I think if we ever did it again, I would hate for people to think that was a cash grab, because I think there's definitely a situation where I'd love to do another standing room show. No, it was fun. The dance party at the end was a lot of fun.

And there's a chance we'll do it again. And like an indeliberate hiatus from live shows for a long time after this. So I think 18 was Glenridge. And then 19, we didn't do one COVID, and then 21, we were supposed to go on the road, but it was postponed. We didn't take, we created Deadcat, but it didn't come out until 2022.

And so yeah, and then we toured that. So Deadcat is our eighth, is that right? Eight and a half. Yes, eight and a half. So Mark was very right. Which is a... Lake was Amarama. No, that's the wrong podcast.

It's a Pounce That Pill. It's nine! Where are the ninth? This is the ninth show. It's nine! And I did that without counting them. This is our ninth and a half. Did you really say nine? Well ninth. Yeah, it is ninth. I would, what's been, tell me if this feels, in a lot of ways, it's funny, we came through a whole creative idea of how we wanted to make this show different to all the other

shows and we sat down and talked about it for a long time. But the thing that I found in the process of this show is it feels to me the closest to the first show we ever did. That's the thing that kept coming back to me in how juvenile it is, how childish it is, but also in the way, I don't want to ruin anything, but the way it's structured. And the feedback I'm getting from people who have seen it is that they appreciate the whole of it. It's not like something they've seen from us.

People aren't coming away saying, I like that sketch, I like that bit. They like the whole of it. And that's really exciting to me. Something to, you know, if the first part of our career was just we had passion but no ability to do structure, so we were creating weird stuff, then we spent a period figuring out structure, then we did, I would say, Glenridge, and even Deadcat were us knowing how to do both.

This is us choosing to go back to the beginning and choosing to do fucked. And I am having a real, I feel a real joy. Two reasons. One, I love choosing to do fucked. I love knowing the better choice and choosing the fucked one, because it's surprising.

And two, I love being in these big, beautiful theaters. It's so wonderful that we have people, have fans that come and see us enough that we can do these gorgeous, perfect, beautiful theaters all around the world and just do the most juvenile shit. Yeah. It's just, it's so funny to me. And sometimes, I like when we're in a fancy venue.

Sometimes they like rock venues as well, so they're chill. But sometimes there's like fancy back of house stuff that are so hoity-toity and snooty and it's so funny to be like, thank you, and they're like, you'll be going on in five minutes and you're like, thank you so much. And then you go out and just like, oh, I'm the cum man. Look at these bubbles, they're farts. That's right I'm farting on my cum. And then they're just like, well congratulations on tonight. Another cool thing we get to do now is like it's taken us a few years to figure it out but to make these shows that feel right in the room we're doing and there's elements

to this show that you haven't seen in our shows before and I think people when they come into the room will be kind of blown away by it. So that's just that's a cool added element that I'm excited for people to see. If I said now to the listener don't come, would that scare you? Because I would have more to say. I just want I just I just would you be worried if I said to the listener I don't want you to come to this show? I think it would be bad. No, I trust you. No, yeah I need to know a little bit about where this is heading before I make my call I'm gonna say the listener don't come to this show because I'm worried you'll never find anything else funny again Because it's so funny. So can't yes, I come to the show

Ultimately, no, no, no. I worry that it will... Oh, it's a genuine concern. It will shine so bright that nothing... I'm glad I reserved... Glad I held my... I am scared that you said this. Yeah, I'm terrified. You're scared that people will listen to my advice that the show is too funny.

Yes. That they won't come because I said to them... My concern was the twist that you did wasn't enough to... What wasn't enough? Oh, yeah. You know what I mean? Like you get their attention with don't come. And then like the twist of it is not enough.

Well we do have been a bit bigger twist. Don't come because I will, I at one point run through the audience with a razor blade. Yeah, that kind of stuff. Which doesn't happen. So that doesn't happen. So do come because I don't do that. Yeah, yeah. Do come because the show is so funny. Yeah, this is not safe. Do come. There's stuff in this that's, there's stuff in this that I've been wanting to do for years that we finally figured out. There's stuff in this that I think, I feel confident in this show that there are going to be all-timer sketches

that when we film them, when we put them out, in whatever way they're going to be all-timers. And the thrill to be able to see it in its first iteration is going to be so amazing. This is the last tour we're going to do for a little while. There's no plans to do more in the same sense that since Deadcat, we just sort of take it one year at a time. So don't wait for the next one. It's all new. There's definitely technical elements we've never done. It's still very affordable. We keep tickets under $100. Wow, that's really under $100.

And some people have said that they found the show so funny that it actually changed their brain chemistry. It slipped into the genuine heart fell and then it got back to the crazy. Mark, Tom, Zach, Travis, thank you so much for being part of this chat with us. We'll see you at the show and if you can't be there, I'm so fucking sorry. You're dead to us. You're dead to us. If not at the next frat party, dude. You said it Mark, Tom and Travis.

And where are we going? Are we going to... Just Hobart. UK? Really? Are we going to the UK? Yep. Are we going to Ireland?

Yep. And are we going to the USA? Yep. Are we going to Canada? Yep. What about New Zealand? Yep? What about all around Australia? What about Hong Kong? What about Vietnam?

What about South America? What about Europe outside of the UK? What about the Seychelles? What about Africa? What about India? You've been listening to the Aunty Donna podcast. Thanks for joining us for another RIP episode brought to you by AuntyDonnaClub.com.

See you next week.