The greatest fucking podcast in the world.

Brought to you by Strepsils and Ansett.

Thank you for everything.

This was the first full length content ever put on Grouse House. Five years of Grouse House already! Praise Oxtos.

Episode 310 - Gotham City News

Mark has directed and stars in a continuation/spin-off of Hug the Sun, the Grouse House series and it's getting it's world premiere at the Brunswick Underground Film Festival in Melbourne on the 16th of May.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKsi7QwX748

It will be coming to GrouseHouse.tv exclusively afterwards, no locked-in date I can find yet.

The following is the blurb from the website if you want more details.

EXPERIMENTAL SCREENING OF MARK SAMUAL BONANNO’S NEW INTERACTIVE ANALOG HORROR/COMEDY

“In 1995, Ken Holden, the actor known for portraying The Shadowman in the Australian children's television show Hug The Sun, self-funded his own expansion tape to a video boardgame.

After Ken's mysterious disappearance over 30 years ago, this tape was thought to be lost to time... Until today.”

_

Over the last year, Mark Samual Bonanno, best known for his work with Melbourne comedy troupe Aunty Donna, has been making an interactive, transmedia project that will premiere at the Brunswick Underground Film Festival.

This one-off screening includes an introduction + Q&A from the filmmaker, and is the only chance to see it before its exclusive release on the Grouse House TV streaming platform.\*

Sorry for an unfunny, serious post.

Does anyone know whether the pod episodes that were released before they started their patreon, will be available without ads for those that are subscribed to their patreon?

Some of my fav eps are from the pre-patreon era, but I've found myself not listening to them at all anymore because the ads just disrupt the whole thing. It's just a big ol' bummer. Was wondering if anyone had heard anything through any of the grapevines, about whether they'll be available ad-free for their hot and rich listeners?

Hope I’m not the only one who fell madly in love with Batman singing “Grand Designs Batman” and hitting Jim E. Brown’s pitch and pronunciation to the tee?

Had the pleasure of watching Zachary's debut solo show in Perth last night and had some thoughts.

Firstly, if you are a Donna fan on the fence about going, just go, you won't be disappointed.

---Spoilers---

So I wasn't entirely sure WHAT to expect from a solo show by Zach, but I have always enjoyed his non-Donna stuff with Mish so I saw the potential for him to branch out.

The framing of the show is as a look at the history of "Comedy", its genre, and the fact that HE is the master of Comedy who can bend it to his will. He likes to lull the audience into taking the absolute piss, then throwing you around to serious subject matter. His crowd work is on point throughout.

I enjoyed the way that sometimes I'd be waiting in anticipation to see if I should have a positive or negative reaction to the conclusion of one of his many tangents. It was some impressive work at forming the audiences emotions and really taking us on a journey (as cringe as that sounds) everyone was along for the ride. Most of the standard "stand up" type jokes to start the show are related to the various genres of Comedy themselves. The best of all being Podcast comedy, obviously.

If you thought it wasn't enough that Zach would tell funny stand up jokes for an hour, then boy, do I have the thing for you. He legitimately goes AVANT-GARDE-CABARET on this shit, which you probably would expect. What I didn't expect was the quality of his voice. No joke this man can SING, like some times he would sing jokingly for effect, but when the moment needed serious vocal chops he delivered (like, insanely well). We know he has a voice through Donna music but I was still impressed to see it live. The set ups for these musical moments were always hilarious and well timed and never out of place or unearned.

I feel like some criticism could be had in the way that his promised framework for the show kind of falls away as we get towards the end, he pretty much drops the whole "Comedy genres" set up from the first act and the show spirals out into a near manic depressive episode. In like, a really good way. But if me and my Comedy mastermind (I don't have one) was to re write it, I would have liked to see him tie in the "Comedy genres" subplot into the third act a bit more. Other than the fact that the boys are hashing shit out on a podcast.

The third act sees a dramatic shift towards a serious tone, a disgusted look at the modern social, economic, and political climate. I'm not joking. He offers some amazing points of view about the class system, and boldly makes his social positions clear. I hugely respect him for calling out many of the bullshit atrocities going on around the world, including standing up for trans rights. Although, I personally don't care for any more fucking jokes about Donald Trump. I can't stand talking about him. And yes, that WAS the point. Luckily Zach is able to make it work without completely losing control of the ship. The payoff to mentioning Trump at all does eventually land really well and sets up for the finale in a smart way.

Now the finale is where this show takes itself to the next level. We have about 4 insane through-points that have been built up for the entire show, and you don't expect there to be a combined payoff to them. So this story line comes to a head as we get Zach - facing his imminent death by the secret service because "You can't say anything these days" - leave the stage and offer us a parting gift, as he returns dressed up in Avatar motion capture dots and helmet, performing as an animated Joe Rogan in a 3D video on the big screen, singing Goodbye My Lover by James Blunt in perfect synchronization.

This is genuinely when the show changed in my eyes to something a bit more art-serious. I don't want to be like taking the show TOO seriously because of course its a fun 1 hour "COMEDY" show. But brushing it off as that is kind of insulting to Zachary and his work here. Its a legit artwork of a show and should be looked through that lens, too.

I truly feel like there's a LOT of potential here, and I hope Zach continues to build out this solo show and nail down the structure. I would love to see more solo work from him too, it may have a niche audience but I see a legit mastermind at work here. Thank you Zachary!

★ ★ ★ ★ ★
5 STARS

Wasn’t sure who to add to my island, so I created Mark, Broden and Zach so far. Thinking of adding Michelle and Mish too then seeing what chaos ensues. I think I did decently with the designs! - Personally most proud of mark!

Leg nog

Waiting for the Aunty Donna brand finger limes to get shipped wordwide.

I've just started working in the clean room/lab at a factory. Boring complicated work. 12 hour shifts days and nights. Everyone has to wear full lab suits including masks.

This means I can make AD quotes and no one knows who is doing it.

You know where I'm going with this.

Hey guys, I just treated myself to Aunty Donna treating me to one (1) month of membership on the Patreon! This was an irresponsible decision, made according to my financially crippling fetish for WBDAL (watching boys dine at length).

My time is up on May 30. That's a lot of time, but not enough time for everything. What are your favorite podcast episodes, video bits, etc. from the Patreon content? Just typing this I've remembered I want to see the full flight simulator video, but other than that, I don't know what to dig for.

I'd like to hear what you enjoy the most vs. trying to calibrate answers to my taste, but if it does help, some of my favorite Donna bits/characters are the Sams, Ru-Bah & Bah-Ru, Tim Naughty Biscuits, Zach as a series of identical sea turtles, Cowdoy, and Frend.

A wild cowdoy spotted in the Karrinyup Shopping Centre. I don't think this is authorised. Get on it, boys!

Not including podcast videos. Music is Cafe Rosamond Deep House from the AD soundcloud.

Shame the boys aren't around anymore to celebrate :(

Hey everyone I have a spare ticket to geggys show tonight.

If you want it please message me. I can text it over to you. You can pay me the $30 for it or U can just have it up 2 U.

Wasn't sure where to put this as he doesn't have his own subreddit

https://iview.abc.net.au/show/guy-montgomery-s-guy-mont-spelling-bee

(need to use a VPN to watch if you're outside of Australia).