EP. S2E32 — Australian Silly Boys w/ Aunty Donna

ASHLEY RAY Welcome back. This is TV, I Say with Ashley Ray, your go to podcast for discovering what to watch on TV and getting behind the scenes insight from the people who make the shows you love. Today I am so excited. We have my three favorite silly boys. That’s my little name for you. I have Mark, Broden, and Zach from Aunty Donna, who you know from the Netflix show, of course, which was created by Ed Helms and Earwolf’s own Scott Aukerman, who I have to have to shout out as a family podcast cousin. Or your web series, Glennridge Secondary College, your 2018 music album, and of course, all the live shows you do all over the world. And you have a podcast on YouTube.

BRODEN KELLY Yes, yes, yes, we do. It’s available in all podcast locations. We love TV as much as you.

ASHLEY RAY Yeah, that’s why I’m excited to have you here.

BRODEN KELLY Yeah, we love small screen.

ASHLEY RAY Yeah.

ZACHARY RUANE But, you know, that’s the thing about TV now is there’s big screens as well.

BRODEN KELLY Not as big as the big ones.

ZACHARY RUANE My TV is 70 inches, Broden.

ASHLEY RAY My TV’s a theater, actually. I live inside Alamo Drafthouse. Yeah, the rent is great.

ZACHARY RUANE I quite legitimately did a campaign when we had our first lockdown–our first COVID lockdown. I realized there was all these empty cinemas, and I started bullying all the cinemas in my home city to let me live there. I was just like, “What? Why not?” And I was playing it like a joke but also simultaneously looking for portable baths for the kitchens. I was like, “I could live in a cinema”.

ASHLEY RAY They have microwaves and at least popcorn.

BRODEN KELLY At the very least.

ZACHARY RUANE There’d be a hotdog machine, surely, that they don’t use any more. But I could get it.

ASHLEY RAY I’m so happy that you’re here. Also, you’re from Australia, which I… I just dated someone who was a flat-earther, and they told me that they did not believe Australia was real.

ZACHARY RUANE I gotta tell you, when you said, “I just dated someone,” I was expecting “Australian.”

ASHLEY RAY Anything but a flat-earther. I didn’t find out until, you know, the second date that they were flat-earther. No one leads with that. But then quickly after flat-earther came, and “I don’t think Australia is real, it’s a government psyop campaign–”

MARK SAMUAL BONANNO What is a “psyop?”

ASHLEY RAY It’s, like, a fake government campaign to distract you from the truth. So, they tell you Australia is real, you get on a plane, but you really just fly in a circle a bunch of times, and then they let you off in Canada.

BRODEN KELLY We came here to say that’s completely not true. We’re not actors. This is a press tour to confirm that Australia exists. It is a real place. We’ve seen it.

MARK SAMUAL BONANNO Yeah, absolutely. I grew up there.

ASHLEY RAY Sure.

BRODEN KELLY I grew up there with kangaroo.

ASHLEY RAY Kangaroo.

BRODEN KELLY Yeah. And we are from there.

MARK SAMUAL BONANNO Absolutely.

ASHLEY RAY You’re sure?

MARK SAMUAL BONANNO And it is real.

ASHLEY RAY And it’s real?

MARK SAMUAL BONANNO It’s so real.

ASHLEY RAY And you’re not being paid to say this?

BRODEN KELLY No.

ZACHARY RUANE I love… I’m sorry. I got to be careful here. I have a side project podcast that has nothing to do– It’s, like, a pop culture thing. It’s about the actor John Leguizamo. And I did one podcast where I think I talked about flat-earthers for 45 minutes because I get so obsessed with them.

ASHLEY RAY Yeah, they’re fascinating.

ZACHARY RUANE Not to derail your podcast.

ASHLEY RAY I mean, they’re so fascinating. He had a whole app that was like, “Here’s how the planets work with a flat Earth.” He was like, “This is the app that tells you the true time because it works from flat Earth.” And I was like, “Wow.”

BRODEN KELLY He’s wrong because we’re from a place that is on the other side of the earth.

ASHLEY RAY Well, you think you are. You think you are.

MARK SAMUAL BONANNO Did he believe in the ice wall as well?

ASHLEY RAY No, no. They don’t believe in that.

MARK SAMUAL BONANNO Oh, really?

ZACHARY RUANE There’s disagreements within the flat-earthers.

ASHLEY RAY He did not confirm with it, but he did believe Australia is not real, it’s a government psyop campaign, and anyone who thinks they’re there is actually in Canada.

BRODEN KELLY Culturally, it is not real. We really have just ripped off for a long time. We ripped off England, and then we got tellies, and then we ripped off America. We’ve just been watching Hogan’s Heroes for 60 years.

ASHLEY RAY That’s a good show, though.

ZACHARY RUANE I do love the idea that Canada is… No one has ever filmed Australia for Canada. I think Mad Max, they shot it in Namibia.

BRODEN KELLY A fun fact, though, and this is Zach’s favorite fact, the biggest TV show that currently shoots in Melbourne, where we’re from, is called La Brea.

ASHLEY RAY Oh, yeah, yeah. My mom is obsessed with it. She loves it.

BRODEN KELLY Having lived a little bit here, the notion of shooting Melbourne, which has weather similar to Portland–

ZACHARY RUANE And architecture similar to Portland.

BRODEN KELLY As LA is the funniest thing in the world.

ZACHARY RUANE When we were shooting our Netflix show, I lived just off La Brea. And then when they were shooting La Brea, I lived just off the street that they were pretending was La Brea. And it was just this beautiful moment. I went there one day. I was in the middle of lockdown. I went there and it was filled with American cars. And I was like, “What’s happening?” They’re like, “We’re shooting a movie.” I’m like, “Oh, that must be set in Portland or New York or Chicago. Where’s it set?” There’s, like, three or four pathetic, dying palm trees. They’re like, “Oh, it’s La Brea. This is La Brea.” It’s amazing. It’s phenomenal.

ASHLEY RAY I mean, today it is a perfectly rainy day on La Brea.

ZACHARY RUANE Yeah. This is the closest La Brea has–

ASHLEY RAY Ever looked to Australia. And maybe today is the day when it parts and then you fall into a dinosaur world.

MARK SAMUAL BONANNO Does your mum know it’s shot in Melbourne?

ASHLEY RAY No, she doesn’t. And actually, when she came to visit me here, she made me take her to the actual La Brea street and tarpits. And she was like, “This is the show.” And I was like, “It’s not, but okay, mom.” I just let her have it. I was like, “Yeah… Yeah.”

ZACHARY RUANE We’ve got a show coming out in Australia, and we actually shot across the studio from where they were shooting La Brea. And I snuck in. I got a little sneak peek. And that show had more grips than we had an entire crew.

BRODEN KELLY They’ve got a lot of money.

ZACHARY RUANE I’m like, “I don’t even think we have a grip.”

ASHLEY RAY And they’re doing a bunch. I guess there’s dinosaurs. I’ve never watched it. I just pick up from my mom being like, “And then a dinosaur ate an actress.” And I’m like, “What is this show?”

ZACHARY RUANE It’s that serialized network TV. It’s such a rare thing now where literally plots–they’re just like, “What if we chuck this in?”

ASHLEY RAY “Let’s just do this.”

ZACHARY RUANE It’s like an improv game.

ASHLEY RAY The only show still doing it is Grey’s Anatomy.

BRODEN KELLY Yeah. And I heard this morning on one of the breakfast shows that Ms. Grey’s leaving.

ASHLEY RAY Yes.

MARK SAMUAL BONANNO Oh, really? Whose anatomy is it going to be?

ASHLEY RAY I can’t answer all these questions.

ZACHARY RUANE You’re the TV expert.

ASHLEY RAY And specifically a Grey’s Anatomy–you could say I have my Ph.D. in it. I’ve been watching since the beginning. In fact, tonight is Meredith Grey’s last episode–Ellen Pompeo. As of you listening to this episode, she will have left.

BRODEN KELLY She’s moving to Boston?

ASHLEY RAY Yes, she’s moving to Boston.

BRODEN KELLY Reverse Cheers. Reverse Frasier.

ASHLEY RAY What we do know is that they’re burning the hospital down.

MARK SAMUAL BONANNO Oh my God.

ASHLEY RAY Yeah, that’s the big event that’s going to happen. This big fire in the hospital. She’s moving to Boston. And now it is going to be the next Gray, which is her secret sister, who she didn’t know about. Her second secret sister.

MARK SAMUAL BONANNO Of course! It’s her last name! But also, it’s the name of the book.

ASHLEY RAY Doctors study Gray’s Anatomy, but she is Gray. And then the hospital is Gray Sloan Memorial Hospital.

ZACHARY RUANE I was always like, “If you’re making an ER-type show and you’re betting on one of those actors–” Imagine if ER was called, like, George Clooney: Emergency Room. That would really suffer come Season 12.

MARK SAMUAL BONANNO It’s Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell. It’s George Clooney’s Emergency Room.

ZACHARY RUANE You tune in in 2005, and you’re like, “Noah Wyle’s good, but he’s no George Clooney.”

ASHLEY RAY Yeah. And they do sometimes have the old actors appear in, like, a FaceTime.

ZACHARY RUANE Are they still bringing back Denny?

ASHLEY RAY They do sometimes.

BRODEN KELLY How long ago did that ice Icicle impale–?

ASHLEY RAY Yes, the icicle impale–that was over a decade ago. That literally happened when I was in college.

ZACHARY RUANE There was about a ten-year window where I didn’t know it was still going.

ASHLEY RAY A lot of people stopped when they did the musical episode. One of the doctors gets in a car crash and she has a whole vision that the hospital’s a musical. And that for some people was like, “I’m done.”

ZACHARY RUANE For me, that’s when a network TV show really hits its stride.

ASHLEY RAY Right? Honestly, that’s when it found itself to me.

BRODEN KELLY Scrubs did that, like, episode three.

ASHLEY RAY Yeah.

ZACHARY RUANE I feel like Xena did one. Buffy. Buffy definitely did one.

MARK SAMUAL BONANNO Hamilton.

ASHLEY RAY Hamilton. A Chorus Line.

MARK SAMUAL BONANNO For me it’s when Glee did it.

ZACHARY RUANE I do love though–Glee definitely had a moment where they stopped trying to pretend the songs were in-world.

MARK SAMUAL BONANNO Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

ASHLEY RAY I think, like, probably episode five, they were like, “Okay, what does the music industry want us to have trending this week? This Lady Gaga song? We’ll fit it in.”

ZACHARY RUANE Has anyone seen the footage of when they did What Did the Fox Say?

MARK SAMUAL BONANNO I’ve watched all of Glee. I’ve watched it all the way through.

ASHLEY RAY I didn’t even finish Glee. It’s the one show that I never finished. I think I still have eight episodes left.

MARK SAMUAL BONANNO I genuinely think Season One is really quite good. It’s funny. What’s his name? The guy who created it.

ASHLEY RAY Ryan Murphy.

MARK SAMUAL BONANNO He is great at season ones.

ASHLEY RAY Wonderful. Popular.

MARK SAMUAL BONANNO Like American Horror Story. And then just post-Season One, the man loses his mind.

ASHLEY RAY Yeah. He’s just like, “They gave me another season. They gave me more money. I’m going to do whatever I want!”

ZACHARY RUANE His shows always go from the most ironic and subversive to the most earnest really quickly.

ASHLEY RAY Really quickly. And it’s just one minute it’s like them doing some, Nicki Minaj cover and then the next they’re, like, trying to make someone feel better after an abortion.

MARK SAMUAL BONANNO There’s one season–I can’t remember exactly what season it is–maybe it’s four, where they’re literally making the show as it’s going. And then you see them go, “Okay, what we were doing wasn’t working.” And then they just change because they try to introduce a new high school cast but also follow the old cast at college in New York. And they’re splitting their attention.

ASHLEY RAY And this is also when the actor who played Finn died.

MARK SAMUAL BONANNO Yeah, passed away, which canceled so many plans that they had. And then they’re just halfway through the season and they just stopped going to high school–fuck off all the new characters and just focus on the others.

ASHLEY RAY Yeah, they go to New York. And that’s when I stopped watching because there’s a scene where they try to do Let’s Have a Kiki.

MARK SAMUAL BONANNO Sarah Jessica Parker!

ASHLEY RAY And I was like, “We’ve gone too far.”

MARK SAMUAL BONANNO I recommend pushing through. It gets crazy. It just gets bonkers.

ASHLEY RAY I have to say, you three know your TV. I’m really impressed.

BRODEN KELLY And we’re from Australia for sure.

ASHLEY RAY For sure from Australia, which exists.

ZACHARY RUANE There’s not, like, a sort of a place where they sit us down and show us a bunch of American TV.

ASHLEY RAY Show you all of American culture. They’re like, “Make sure you get it down. Please. It’s very important to them.”

MARK SAMUAL BONANNO Yeah, there’s no Clockwork Orange-esque sort of interrogation. That doesn’t happen.

ASHLEY RAY We do our watch list here. The viewers want to know, what are you currently watching? Can be new. Can be just something old that you’re revisiting. You know, what’s on your TV?

MARK SAMUAL BONANNO I’m happy to start.

ZACHARY RUANE Go for it, Mark.

MARK SAMUAL BONANNO A few weeks ago. It happened to me two Sundays in a row. I didn’t mean it to happen. It’s probably why I was a bit tired on Monday at work, boys. At 11:00 at night, I was like, “I just want to chill out. I’ll watch one episode of a TV show I’ve been meaning to watch, and then I’ll, you know, fall asleep to it or go to sleep.” And then two Sundays in a row, I ended up staying up till about 6:00 a.m., just watching. So that was True Detective Season One that I did that with because it was just so gripping. And then the next Sunday it was White Lotus Season Two. I just couldn’t stop.

ASHLEY RAY It’s incredible.

MARK SAMUAL BONANNO Both of those shows just really, really got me to the point where I physically could not turn it off.

ASHLEY RAY Yeah, True Detective Season One is one of the best shows ever made.

MARK SAMUAL BONANNO Phenomenal.

ZACHARY RUANE I’ve never watched True Detective Season One because the two times I’ve tried to watch it have been on an airplane. And the first time I tried to watch it on an airplane, I didn’t have noise canceling headphones. And they mumble in that show. I was like, “I can’t do this.”

ASHLEY RAY Yeah, It’s a lot of sad, grumbly mumbling.

ZACHARY RUANE Yeah, absolutely. And then the second time I watched it, you know how they, like, do a bit of censorship on airplanes? This is really quite dark, but they blurred out the breasts of a corpse. I remember thinking, “If that’s what you find offensive, I don’t trust you as a censor.”

ASHLEY RAY They just blur out all the dead bodies of children.

ZACHARY RUANE No, no, that’s fine.

MARK SAMUAL BONANNO “No nipples, please.”

ZACHARY RUANE That’s when I was like, “I think I might have to watch this one as it’s intended–on a proper screen.”

MARK SAMUAL BONANNO I love those two. And then like most of the world, I’ve been watching The Last of Us. I’m very, very obsessed with The Last of Us.

ASHLEY RAY Yeah. I mean, it’s beautiful.

MARK SAMUAL BONANNO I’m a very big fan of the games.

ASHLEY RAY Okay. Yeah. Do you feel like it’s staying close? I’ve heard both sides who are like, “It’s the best TV version of a video game,” and people who are like, “It’s too much like the video game, and it needs to be more like TV.”

MARK SAMUAL BONANNO Oh, really? I think it strikes the best balance I’ve ever seen because I love adaptation. I love what HBO did with Watchmen as well. I thought that was an incredible example of adaptation. I love what they’ve done with this because they will have beat-for-beat, shot-for-shot moments from the game that are exactly the same as the cut scenes. Words–even the performances–are almost identical. But there’s not too many of them because then what they’re doing is either side of that, they’re giving you more information about the characters, looking at side characters more in depth, which is really fun, and doing different things–like episode three.

ASHLEY RAY We call it the “gay episode.”

MARK SAMUAL BONANNO The “gay episode.” I loved how not only did we get to find out more about Bill and Frank because in the game you just sort of get a little inkling of what happened between them. But the game–it’s much darker, what happens between them. And I loved that they completely changed it to kind of give the show just a little bit of hope–just something nice before it gets real fucked up–because it’s going to get real fucked up.

ASHLEY RAY I didn’t play the video games.

MARK SAMUAL BONANNO It gets bleak.

ASHLEY RAY Great. Great. It’s not bleak enough already.

MARK SAMUAL BONANNO I think they’re nailing it. I’m very happy.

ASHLEY RAY I’m going to use that as a definitive review. You’ve played the game, you know. Broden, what are you watching?

BRODEN KELLY Well, I don’t watch TV anymore. Too sad.

ASHLEY RAY Very fair. It’s depressing.

BRODEN KELLY Something happened to my head after I made a TV show and I saw how it all worked–I saw how the sausage is made–that I struggle to turn most TV shows on. But when I ever turn a TV show on, I get immersed and really get into it. But I’m afraid to click start on things. I don’t know if you ever have that. But the one thing I finally watched–it is not a drama–it’s literally just Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney buying a football team for FX.

ASHLEY RAY Welcome to Wrexham?

BRODEN KELLY Welcome to Wrexham. It’s an 18-part series for FX about two very rich people–one substantially richer than the other.

ASHLEY RAY Which one?

BRODEN KELLY The one who sold his Aviation Gin for $850 million.

ASHLEY RAY Oh, yeah. I guess so.

BRODEN KELLY The other one’s on a TV show. I was watching it because I like sport. But then as it turns out, there’s something in it for everyone. Have you watched it?

ASHLEY RAY Yeah. It had a Ted Lasso effect on me, where I kind of was like, “This is going to be a dumb sports thing.” And then it wasn’t. And I got into it. Ryan Reynolds is really charming.

BRODEN KELLY It’s got that kind of Entourage energy to it, too, where it’s like, “If I had endless money and I could do anything, what would I do?” And it’s essentially about two very rich people deciding to help a very poor town in a forgotten part of the world. And if you want to own anything ever, or if you like these people as personalities, it just hits you on multiple angles and really, really engages you. And then the other show I just thought of because of FX–my favorite show I’ve seen in maybe a decade. It’s an FX show. There’s a man who was in Australia. He literally drove taxis in a small town called Echuca, which is, like, a town of 10,000 people. And he wanted to make films and movies. And he got a film made–a short film–and that eventually got picked up as a TV series. It got passed on by all the networks in Australia. And he came and pitched it over here for FX, and they picked it up. And it’s my favorite show in a decade. It’s called Mr. Inbetween, and it perfectly captures action, drama, and Australian performance. Mr. Inbetween. It’s literally about a muscle–the muscle for a guy–whose job is to be the in-between guy.

ASHLEY RAY Yeah, I feel like I’ve heard of this. And I’ve either watched it all and forgot about it, or I have not watched it.

BRODEN KELLY I don’t think you’d forget it once you saw his smile on his face. I recommend that to anyone. As an Australian repping another Australians name, Scott Ryan. And he worked with one of the Edgerton brothers. So, Joel Edgerton is the famous one, but Nash Edgerton is the director and filmmaker and brilliant. And it’s absolutely awesome.

ASHLEY RAY I love when someone introduces me to something new. That doesn’t happen a lot!

BRODEN KELLY Please text me when you start watching it. “Oh no, I did watch it.”

ASHLEY RAY I mean, that happens so often where I’m, like, 10 minutes into something and I’m like, “I’ve seen every single moment of this, and I know what happens.”

MARK SAMUAL BONANNO Yeah. Can I ask just quickly if you’ve seen– I just remembered something else that I saw earlier this year–or it was late last year–which is one of my favorite shows I think I’ve ever seen because I watched it through, like, four or five times. Have you seen Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared?

ASHLEY RAY Yeah.

MARK SAMUAL BONANNO What did you think of that show?

ASHLEY RAY I loved it.

MARK SAMUAL BONANNO I adored it. It’s the weirdest, craziest shit I’ve ever seen in my life.

ASHLEY RAY It’s so weird, and I haven’t heard anyone talking about it.

MARK SAMUAL BONANNO Oh, really?

ASHLEY RAY Maybe not here.  I don’t know. I feel like people in America–there has to be a lot of hype.

MARK SAMUAL BONANNO Yeah, right. Yeah, well, because I wasn’t sure. I didn’t know where it would be available here ’cause I’m naughty.

ASHLEY RAY Oh, I watched it on an illegal site.

MARK SAMUAL BONANNO I haven’t seen any advertising for it. I haven’t seen any promo. I just know about it because I’m a big fan of the web series. And I was just fascinated to know how they turned it into a half hour show. And my God, it’s the purest vision I’ve ever seen in a TV show.

ASHLEY RAY Yeah, I watched it and I was like, “Where did so much of this come from?” Listeners, that’s two new recommendations. Wow. I’m telling you, the guests are usually like, “Oh, the bear. I’m busy all the time.”

ZACHARY RUANE I feel like I want to change mine now.

ASHLEY RAY Sorry, no, no, Zach. What do you watch? What are you watching?

ZACHARY RUANE It’s a little show called Grey’s Anatomy. I’m going to go with a new one and an old one. The last new thing I watched that I loved was Fleishman Is in Trouble. I just was so blown away with it. I thought it was so good.

ASHLEY RAY That was one I stayed up until 6:00 a.m. watching.

ZACHARY RUANE Same. I was just like, “I’ll watch one episode.” I think there’s so many shows now where it’s that limited series where you feel like it was meant to be a movie and they’ve stretched it out to five. Whereas this felt the right length. It was so wonderful how you sit in it. And it’s also the only show I’ve seen in years where I didn’t know what the show was or what the show was saying in the first couple of episodes. I loved this idea that I was like, “I’m not going to comment on this until I’ve seen the whole thing.”

ASHLEY RAY Yeah, like, you get this just entirely unreliable narrator who you feel very clearly has issues with himself–has issues with women–and you’re like, “I don’t know that I trust you, sir. I don’t know that your wife’s this big of a bitch. Let’s get all of the facts.”

ZACHARY RUANE Let’s just sit and wait. I don’t think Claire Danes would have said yes to just what we’re seeing so far. But I just thought it was so cool, and I just think it was so complex. Even at the end, it’s not like anyone came out as an asshole. It was just so complicated and so interesting.

ASHLEY RAY It was beautiful. I did a piece on it for the site that really gets into how the show portrays modern misogyny and internalized misogyny with Lizzy Caplan’s character, who works for this men’s magazine and, you know, wants to be like, “I’m not like other girls. I get boys,” and how that ends up kind of betraying her in the end. And I haven’t seen shows that really capture that so well.

ZACHARY RUANE Yeah, there’s just a complexity to something like that. And there’s something that I remember hearing once about “if you can write it as an essay, don’t make it as a show or make it as a film.” And it’s got this amazing thing where there’s just so many layers and complexities to it. Yeah, I loved it. I thought it was fantastic. And then the old thing I’m binging at the moment is I’m watching all of Star Trek: The Next Generation, which I’m loving. It’s so good.

ASHLEY RAY I love Star Trek.

ZACHARY RUANE Yeah, I’ve always been, like, a casual fan, and I’ve seen the big episodes and the movies. But when you’re on tour–I don’t know how you guys feel–I can’t watch comedy because I’m doing comedy. I can’t watch anything too serialized or too heavy because I’m half asleep when I’m watching it. It’s really hard to find the right thing because I need something dramatic, I kind of want something that’s dealing in big ideas, but I also want to be reminded where everyone is every ad break.

ASHLEY RAY It follows a pattern.

MARK SAMUAL BONANNO And something without a cliffhanger because that’s what fucks me up–if I’m watching something on tour and then I watch something the way White Lotus is structured. If you get a cliffhanger, you just need to keep watching more. So, I love watching stuff that doesn’t have that. Just bite sized, you know? It’s okay if you fall asleep. Or if you get to the end of the episode, you feel satisfied. Like, that’s just an important structure.

ASHLEY RAY That was going to be my next question. You got this big world tour coming up. When you’re on the road, do you watch TV? Like, I’m the same. If I’m touring and doing shows, I can’t watch comedy. I like to just separate completely, and then I binge everything the second I’m done.

ZACHARY RUANE 100%. Yeah. I find if I’m writing comedy or if I’m performing comedy– So there’s these very small windows where my wife gets really, really excited. It’ll be like, “Oh, he’s got two weeks off. In about three days, we can start watching comedies again. He’s going to be right on with comedies again.”

ASHLEY RAY “He’s back. We can binge Abbott Elementary.”

BRODEN KELLY Travel for me is when you turn on something by Greg Whiteley, who made Cheer and Last Chance U. He’s the best documentary filmmaker.

ASHLEY RAY Yeah, he’s amazing.

BRODEN KELLY I love him so much I messaged him directly.

ASHLEY RAY I love that. What’d you say?

BRODEN KELLY I said, “You’re really good.” And he said, “Thank you.” He followed me back because of our massive show and I’m an icon.

ASHLEY RAY And I gotta imagine not too many people are reaching out to him.

ZACHARY RUANE You reckon?

ASHLEY RAY Yeah. Yeah. I feel like when you’re watching Cheer, he’s maybe the 19th person on the list of people you hit up. First, like, Gabby and then Monica.

BRODEN KELLY He’s clearly making shows that are about people in a moment in your life. Cheer reminds me of the best times in my life, which is in high school musicals, being with your friends, and just committing to something purely out of love. No financial return–apart from some very successful cheerleaders.

ASHLEY RAY Yeah, a few of them make some good money.

BRODEN KELLY Yeah. And just working towards one goal. And he finds moments where tension is just at its absolute peak. And in a world where so much reality is exploitative, he’s, I think, genuinely making stuff that is cheering them on.

ASHLEY RAY Did you watch Season Two?

BRODEN KELLY Of Cheer? Yes.

ASHLEY RAY It goes into the Jerry stuff. I thought that could have been so exploitative and badly handled, and he did such a good job, like, holding Monica accountable–just digging into the whole situation.

BRODEN KELLY Yeah. And spent a good amount of time talking about it, bringing in the people that needed to be heard from. I thought it was really well done. And the last episode–I’ve talked to Zach about it before–I think it’s my favorite part of television ever. I’m not going to ruin it for anyone, but…

MARK SAMUAL BONANNO Do they cheer?

BRODEN KELLY They do cheer.

ASHLEY RAY They do cheer. They make it to nationals.

BRODEN KELLY Literally, you can’t write it. And the first season is spent with one team. The second season was spent with another team, the rival team.

ASHLEY RAY The better team in my opinion.

BRODEN KELLY Trinity Valley College. Yeah, shoutout to Trinity Valley.

ASHLEY RAY The real ones, okay?

BRODEN KELLY Yeah, just beautifully done.

ZACHARY RUANE I remember thinking, “How are they going to do Season Two?” Not just because of the Jerry stuff but more, you know… Do you pretend that this wasn’t the biggest show on television?

ASHLEY RAY And these people aren’t famous now and have tons of followers.

ZACHARY RUANE And I love this idea that, like, a season two–it’s so rare now–is about different things. It’s a different show almost. It becomes this almost postmodern look at itself. And it’s a fascinating show.

ASHLEY RAY And its own fault in helping these kids become famous and get to this weird state in their life where they’re forced to do cameos to pay their rent because they still aren’t getting paid for what they do. And it’s so weird.

ZACHARY RUANE I wish more drama did what they had to do because it was a documentary. The way it folds in on itself is mind blowing.

BRODEN KELLY As an Australian who consumes mostly American media, to see where these places are is really nice because we see LA, New York, maybe Chicago, maybe Boston. We’re in Nevada. Where are we? Like, deep Texas–these places that you don’t usually see. And it’s very nice. It’s interesting, and it’s a different place and very enjoyable.

ZACHARY RUANE I remember once I was in Austin and my Uber driver–he’d come to Texas–he wasn’t born there. And I’d only ever been to Austin at that point. And he was like, “Oh, it’s very different.” Oh yeah. He wasn’t from America even. “He’s like, I grew up and I really liked cowboys. But I’ve got a different feeling about cowboys now.”

ASHLEY RAY Austin doesn’t even count as going to Texas to me. I’m from Texas. It’s totally different outside of that one city. People would be like, “You talk funny. What’s your problem?” That’s how Texas is. 100%.

BRODEN KELLY I opened a door in a diner in Texas once for this nice older lady, and she’s like, “Oh, thank you, honey.” And then opened another door, and she said, “Well, now you’re double blessed.” And I was like, “Wow.” So now my opinion on Texas is only positive.

ASHLEY RAY You’re double blessed, and that’s why Greg got back to you. That’s exactly what did it. I was curious, you know, being in Australia, what American culture and TV makes its way there? Growing up, what were the shows that were like, “That’s America”?

MARK SAMUAL BONANNO I mean, Seinfeld and Simpsons were very, very big in Australia growing up. Still are huge. Those are the biggest ones for me. Especially Seinfeld was just like, “Oh, that’s America.” I know now it was shot in LA, but that’s New York. That’s the sort of attitude and things. I mean, I grew up–George Costanza was my idol, which is so fucked up.

ASHLEY RAY You’re, like, 12 years old, like, “I can’t wait to start balding.”

MARK SAMUAL BONANNO I don’t think I was neurotic before I started watching Seinfeld. And I became so obsessed with it and that character that I developed it.

BRODEN KELLY Yeah, we have a weird relationship with America.

ZACHARY RUANE America created the concept of our country style, first of all.

ASHLEY RAY Wait, wait, wait.

ZACHARY RUANE Yeah, cut that.

BRODEN KELLY Very gradually, I think there’s a few Australian television shows, but usually reality. The biggest show in Australia for a long time was called Married at First Sight.

ASHLEY RAY Yeah, yeah.

BRODEN KELLY And it was an Australian version.

ASHLEY RAY And then they brought it to America. Oh yeah.

ZACHARY RUANE Did they? There’s an American version?

ASHLEY RAY Yeah, yeah. There’s Married at First Sight: Boston, Miami, Chicago…

MARK SAMUAL BONANNO It is a terrible show.

ASHLEY RAY The Australian version is actually better.

BRODEN KELLY We do that kind of trash really well. We made a pilot in Australia, and it didn’t get picked up. We made a second pilot in Australia; it didn’t get picked up. And so, we turned our sort of eyeline to YouTube and building our fan base on YouTube. And only through doing that did we kind of end up pitching to Netflix directly. And we got a show here. And then what happened was this weird thing where as soon as the boys from Australia had made good over here, we were accepted by wider Australia. We have a weird relationship with you where we think you’re so crazy and so weird. We’re like younger siblings. We think you’re always doing the wrong thing and attracting the wrong people, but we admire you and love you so much. When we had a show over here, they were like, “Well, you’re just incredible. You’ve made it.”

ZACHARY RUANE I think the other thing I would say–it’s less so now–when we were growing up, we’ve got a real blend of American and British TV. So, I would say, as a group, our influences are pretty equally shared between Australian influences, American influences, and British influences. So, we kind of get all of that and mush it all together. I think it’s a big part of what our voice is. We’ve got a bit of the subversiveness of British, but then there’s a kind of an openness and a craziness to American comedy.

ASHLEY RAY Yeah, there is something that I think you’ve struck a chord with in Americanism. It really did align when I saw Ed Helms was working with you. I was like, “Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah.” There’s something about his brand of comedy that is so mainstream, boring America, but then just a little nice in a dark way. Like, Andy on The Office is so… But then you feel so bad for him all the time. He’s this miserable character.

ZACHARY RUANE It’s that turn–you don’t have to be entirely, like, dark. There’s a dial in American stuff that I think is really funny.

ASHLEY RAY Yeah. And what was it like working with Ed Helms and Netflix?

MARK SAMUAL BONANNO It was a dream. Like, genuinely working with Netflix and with Ed was so lovely because everyone–I think it was because the budget was pretty small–was very, very okay with it being our show and our voice. And I feel so proud of it because it feels untouched. Is that fair to say?

BRODEN KELLY We were in a moment. You talk about this a lot, Zach. We’re in a moment where, you know, TV ebbs and flows about what’s made at what certain time. But we were in a moment where one very big company was like, “Let’s take lots of risks.” And, you know, we were very lucky.

ASHLEY RAY When it came out, I remember being like, “Is this a COVID fever dream?”

BRODEN KELLY It was for us.

ZACHARY RUANE What it was for us and why it was so special for us is it was the biggest budget we had ever worked on. It was the biggest sort of playground we’d ever had. But inversely, the budget for our entire show, I think, was less than an episode of The Crown. So, to us, it was amazing.

ASHLEY RAY They’re like, “That’s five seconds of Stranger Things.”

ZACHARY RUANE “Genuinely, I think we pay Millie Bobby Brown that every day.”

ASHLEY RAY That’s their snack budget.

ZACHARY RUANE Absolutely. So, there was this beautiful sort of thing where we had seemingly, like, endless resources from our perspective. And then they did not give too much of a crap. Like, we were doing references in that show that I think maybe they just assumed we’d made them up. And then people in Victoria, Australia–there’s references to a suburban car yard about an hour and a half out of Melbourne in the show, which was such a thrill for, like, the maybe half a million people…

MARK SAMUAL BONANNO There are references that you will only understand if you went to the University of Ballarat Arts Academy between the years 2009 and 2012.

ASHLEY RAY That’s my favorite kind of comedy.

MARK SAMUAL BONANNO My favorite little story to give you an idea of what it was like, just, like, creatively, was we did the readthrough at Netflix. They hadn’t seen any of the materials until we did the readthrough for them. And they had two notes after reading all six episodes. And one was “That sketch could be better. And also, episode two isn’t weird enough.” They’re like, “Go make it more weird.” And that was like, “That’s our favorite note. What a note to get.”

ASHLEY RAY I’ve never gotten that.

MARK SAMUAL BONANNO It’s an incredible note. And then after we rewrote it, then shot it, then edited it, and presented it, they’re like, “Too weird for episode two. Bump it to four.”

ASHLEY RAY You gotta love that. That’s very Netflix. So, I am curious you know what shows as Americans can we watch to understand Australia–other than your show.  I did just watch Koala Man, which taught me so much.

ZACHARY RUANE The darker sides of Australia.

ASHLEY RAY Yeah. Yeah. I didn’t know the tall poppy syndrome thing.

BRODEN KELLY That’s kind of what we were talking about before with the TV show overseas.

MARK SAMUAL BONANNO Yes. Like, you make it overseas and then people at home are like, “Yeah. Cool.”

BRODEN KELLY Mr. Inbetween for big scary men who will bash you… And what else? Another show that’s on Peacock called Irreverent–

MARK SAMUAL BONANNO That you’re on.

BRODEN KELLY That I’m in.

ASHLEY RAY Oh, yeah! Yeah!

BRODEN KELLY Which is about a Chicago criminal going to Australia. That’s pretty Australian.

ASHLEY RAY Yeah. Good show. Peacock has not been promoting it enough.

BRODEN KELLY No. Well, I don’t know. That’s their model, I guess.

ASHLEY RAY I have found I do more promotion for Peacock shows than Peacock does. I’m on here like, “Oh, you should go watch Irreverent. You should go watch Girls5eva.”

BRODEN KELLY Yeah, they make a lot of show. Like, five a week or five a month or something?

ASHLEY RAY There’s so many shows, and they just don’t like to tell people about them.

BRODEN KELLY Strange model.

ZACHARY RUANE I don’t know if they’re over here, but Paramount Plus… I don’t think Michelle’s show is over here. I think it was just in Australia, but I’m pretty sure Amazon has it. There’s a lot of Australian comedy specials that Amazon has done. And I think from our perspective, there’s a really cool comedy scene in Australia.

ASHLEY RAY I feel like, as a comic, I know Australia is always having huge comedy festivals. Comedians love performing there because the audiences truly love comedy. Everybody goes there. Like, I’d say Maria Bamford is more popular in Australia than in America.

BRODEN KELLY Our show in Melbourne was after an American headline, and we became good friends with her–Zainab Johnson.

ASHLEY RAY Yeah. I love Zainab.

BRODEN KELLY Yes, it was really lovely. And I think everyone has a good time when they come down to spend a nice month in Melbourne.

ASHLEY RAY Yeah, people are always like, “They treat comedians like actual rock stars there.” They’re like, “Wow, what you do is so important.”

ZACHARY RUANE And it’s also because we’ve got such a small population–when you’re a comedian, you can’t really tour the same show for too long. So most Australian comedians, as a matter of practice, like, rewrite their hour every year. So that’s what you do–just every year, you do a new hour, which means that after five, ten years, it’s a really interesting… You might not have the perfect hour.

ASHLEY RAY That’s why you’re funnier than us.

BRODEN KELLY If we existed, we would be.

ZACHARY RUANE We have some pretty wobbly bits about 40 minutes into most of that live show.

ASHLEY RAY If you weren’t actually Canadians.

ZACHARY RUANE But no, I think Amazon did some specials that were filmed in Australia. So, I don’t know if they had an all-encapsulating title, but I would try and check out some Australian comedy specials on Amazon.

BRODEN KELLY Our new sitcom we just made as well. We’re in the process of trying to get that scene over here as well. So, if that pops up anywhere, watch that.

ASHLEY RAY Yeah. We’ll watch it.

MARK SAMUAL BONANNO It’s called Aunty Donna’s Coffee Cafe.

ASHLEY RAY Love that.

MARK SAMUAL BONANNO Yeah, it’s going to be a lot of fun.

ZACHARY RUANE We’re not going to tell you to get a VPN if you want to watch it. We’re not going to say that.

ASHLEY RAY But let’s hope it’s on Peacock, and then I’ll promote it for you.

BRODEN KELLY That’s how it works. That’s their model.

ASHLEY RAY Well, you know, you got this world tour coming up. Mm hmm. Do you want to talk about it? Where are you excited about?

BRODEN KELLY Yeah, we’re coming. When we say “world,” we’re meaning English-speaking, where we won’t lose money if we travel there. We’re not going to Singapore.

ASHLEY RAY Going to Brazil?

ZACHARY RUANE No, I’d love to go to Brazil.

BRODEN KELLY We should do a going bankrupt tour, where we go to Japan, Brazil, Argentina…

ZACHARY RUANE The For Us Tour.

ASHLEY RAY I feel like there’s Brazilian fans for everything. I’m used to having people be like, “Come to Brazil.” And I’m just like, “For what?”

ZACHARY RUANE I do love those sorts of comments where people are, like, in just a country or a city or a place and like, “Why don’t you come to here?” It’s like, “There are so many of us, we have to, like, hire a theater, and you’re the only person I know in that place that likes us. Maybe you come. We’ll come as close as possible.”

ASHLEY RAY “We’ll do our best.”

BRODEN KELLY We’re coming to the United States of America. We’re going to Canada. We’re going to Ireland, England, Scotland as well–so if you have fans there… We’re coming over in October, so head to our mailing list at auntydonna.com, and we’ll let you know immediately.

ASHLEY RAY And you can also follow the boys on Twitter @AuntyDonnaBoys.

BRODEN KELLY And Ashley will be at all of our shows.

ASHLEY RAY I’ll be at every single one.

ZACHARY RUANE And just a heads up if you’re following us on Twitter, we’re absurdist comedians; the platform of Twitter doesn’t quite suit what we do. So don’t look at that and be like, “They’re not that witty.”

BRODEN KELLY And if you’re on TikTok, I put a TikTok up last night of Zach and Mark on the Universal Studios tour, seeing Norman Bates with a knife. So, we got very good content on our social platforms.

ASHLEY RAY The kids love TikTok these days.

ZACHARY RUANE They love the dances. One day someone will have a TikTok, I Say podcast.

ASHLEY RAY Yeah, yeah. Three minutes or something.

MARK SAMUAL BONANNO That’d be amazing–TikTok radio where every segment is only 60 seconds long.

ASHLEY RAY That’s our attention span anyway.

ZACHARY RUANE In every country.

ASHLEY RAY I dunno. I’m just curious–as comedians, do you ever feel this pressure to make your content fit TikTok in this new…? Because I feel like I’m always getting that, where your joke or your bit should fit in a 30-second clip.

BRODEN KELLY Yeah, we’ve outdated those things. I did a TikTok with some younger TikTok performers the other day, and I just felt so out of my depth. And the video did so well for them. We’ve got our thing. Our kind of model has always just been do what we think is the funniest thing and then hope that people come to that. And you might not get big numbers, but you get people who stay with you for life and engage with what you do. So, we just do our best whenever the new platform comes along. We didn’t know what YouTube was when we started. We put a video up–we put a little web series we made for community access television. And then one day one of them went off, and that was our first fanbase. And we’re like, “Wow, YouTube is the future. It’s only YouTube from here on out.”

ASHLEY RAY “Every show is going to be on YouTube. You’re going to have a big original content department. It’s going to be great.”

BRODEN KELLY It’ll be TV networks and YouTube and that’s it.

ZACHARY RUANE I think there’s an element where anyone that falls into a trap of any era is when they, like, define themselves by their means of distribution.

ASHLEY RAY Yeah! “I’m a TikTok star. I’m a Vine star.” Okay, that’s… Yeah, I’m sure that will work out.

ZACHARY RUANE We’ve been doing this for, like, ten years now. And I remember we were not very good at YouTube. We did it sometimes, but we were more focused on our live shows at the start. And there would be people that were, like, so ahead of the curve with YouTube, and they’re like, “You don’t need TV. This is the future.” And then I’ll see them now–some of them–and they’re like, “No, TikTok is too fast! It’s too quick!” And I’m like, “You are doing what the TV people were doing.” But it’s funny. TikTok is funny, isn’t it? And that was the first platform where I was like, “I’ll be on it, but I don’t need to figure this out.”

ASHLEY RAY Yeah, yeah. Like, I’m on it. I post sometimes, and it’s mostly just promotional stuff, which the kids don’t like. So, I’m just like, “I don’t know.” But to know that I’m aligned with you comedic geniuses… I don’t need TikTok.

BRODEN KELLY That’s right.

ASHLEY RAY I want to thank you for joining me, Mark, Broden, and Zach. This was so fun!

BRODEN KELLY Thank you for having us.

ASHLEY RAY And I mostly hope if you were listening, you truly believe Australia is a place that exists now, and people live there.

MARK SAMUAL BONANNO I can’t like I can’t say unequivocally that it does, but I’m pretty sure it does.

ZACHARY RUANE Can I just ask one question? This is so rude of me to be wasting your time. But you’ve talked to this person about flat Earth. Did they think that every single pilot is in on it?

ASHLEY RAY Yeah. Well, like, the pilots aren’t necessarily in on it, but they’re told. They’re like, “This is the flight to Australia,” But it’s a lie. And they just don’t really know that they’re being lied to and actually landing in Canada.

MARK SAMUAL BONANNO Ask no questions, tell no lies.

ZACHARY RUANE The level of stupid you have to be to think you’re smart enough–to think that’s a smart thing. It is mind blowing.

ASHLEY RAY There are pilots who are like, “I don’t know, they just sent me on this long path over China to get to Australia.”

MARK SAMUAL BONANNO My biggest thing is who gives a shit? Let’s say that’s true. Let’s say that’s real. Who gives a shit? “They’re lying to us!” All right. I don’t care. It doesn’t matter.

ZACHARY RUANE That’s the other lie that I love.

MARK SAMUAL BONANNO Why are you so obsessed? Why does it matter? It doesn’t matter.

ASHLEY RAY So Australia is a psyop campaign. Who cares?

MARK SAMUAL BONANNO Who gives a fuck? How does that change your shitty life?

ASHLEY RAY So now we can confirm actually Australia is a psyop campaign.

MARK SAMUAL BONANNO Sure. It makes no difference to how much I hate my life.

ASHLEY RAY Exactly. Exactly. You know, I dated him because he was hot not because he was smart.

MARK SAMUAL BONANNO That’s great. You got what you wanted.

ASHLEY RAY Exactly.

BRODEN KELLY Did you date Kyrie Irving?

ASHLEY RAY Yeah. No, wait. No, no, no, no, no. Thank you so much for joining me. This was so fun. You know, follow the boys on Twitter @AuntyDonnaBoys. Get your ticket for this world tour. Thank you so much.

BRODEN KELLY Thank you, Ashley.

ASHLEY RAY What a fun interview. Those silly, silly boys. I want to give a thank you again to my guests, Aunty Donna, for being here and confirming what we all know now. Australia is real. Put that question to rest. It’s real. It’s a real place. Let me give you some quick homework before we get out of here. Let’s just do some really quick stuff we’re going to be talking about on the show coming up, some stuff I’m excited about–little mix for you–stuff that’ll be premiering this weekend, and some premieres and some finales you might not want to miss. Poker Face, of course. It’s ending next week. Just, you know, it’s so good. I’m so glad it’s renewed. It’s so, so good. People don’t believe me when I say Peacock is where it’s at, but Poker Face is where it’s at. So come on, keep watching. Acapulco, which is on Apple TV. I recently was showing a friend Season One of this show, started rewatching the whole thing, and just forgot how fun and enjoyable it is. It’s just a good time. So, if you haven’t watched Season Two, go watch it because guess what? Already renewed for Season Three, so you don’t have to be afraid that they’re going to rip it out of your hands like so many other shows we’ve lost. Oh, sorry, sorry. I was just getting a little distracted thinking about South Side. South Side. You know what? I’m putting it on your homework list. I guess you guys didn’t watch it since it got canceled last week. But go watch South Side if you haven’t already. We’re mourning. So go enjoy it. We got three perfectly weird seasons of that show, and its final resting place is HBO Max. Hopefully they don’t take it off the platform, so go watch it while you can. Next up, Hello Tomorrow! starring Billy Crudup. I am loving this show. I didn’t really know how I felt about it when it started, but four episodes in, I’m like, “Okay, I’m in.” And I know four episodes is too much, but they give you the first three all at once because that’s how Apple TV has learned to pull us in. Okay, it’s an interesting show. It’s like a mix of Mad Men and The Jetsons. And I like it. I like when Billy Crudup is mean and evil. So, I’m in on this show. I can’t wait to see where it goes. And yeah, I love what it’s doing. It’s really funny. But you know, it’s not, I would say, doing anything super revolutionary yet. I’m excited to see where it goes Shrinking, also on Apple TV, I’ve been enjoying. Again, this ensemble gelled for me. Episode five, I was like, “This ensemble? Electric. Love it. Love them together. Love watching these people together.” Great show. My next one, Dear Edward, which I’ve been tweeting about a lot. Dear Edward–also Apple TV–it’s a show that is about a little boy who survived a plane crash and everybody else died. And it’s really, really sad. And every episode is, like, about learning more about the families impacted by this plane crash and the little boy. And it’s so sad. I call it “Grief Group.” I’m like, “Grief Group check-in. it’s time to watch Dear Edward.” I don’t know if anyone else is watching because those tweets don’t get a lot of engagement. So, I guess I’m the only one in Grief Group. There’s, like, four of us watching this show and crying to Connie Britton playing a widow, but she’s doing such a good job. So, if you’re out there, in TV Club, and you’re a fan of Dear Edward, let me know. And then we obviously we have Party Down, which came back last week. The Party Down reboot on Stars–it’s incredible. It’s good. It’s hilarious. This cast–they have the same fire. Nothing has left. Every joke just was what I wanted it to be. The whole reboot is what I wanted it to be. I have no complaints. No complaints. Actually, I got screeners and I didn’t watch them because I want to savor it and watch it, like, week to week with all of you, TV Club. That’s how much I love you and that show–I want to savor it week to week. And then after that, we got Grand Crew–these are coming up new–which premieres this Friday on NBC starring friend of the podcast, Nicole Byer. Can’t wait for that show to come back for Season Two. It’s just, like I said, my favorite Black romcom, sitcom comedy. I think I just said “romcom, sitcom comedy,” which would be like romantic comedy, sitcom comedy–so romcom sitcom. And either way, it is a show I love, and it’s another great ensemble. And I think in this era of American Auto… I also will give a little shout out to Not Dead Yet, which I am watching. And I know that we’re afraid to watch it because it’s a midseason replacement for Home Economics, which we want to get renewed. But they have canceled The Goldbergs, another R.I.P. that I think only I care about. But they’ve canceled The Goldbergs. So that to me is a pretty good sign Home Ec will probably be back with Abbott Elementary. They’ll have another slot, and we can probably keep Not Dead Yet because I do think it’s really funny. I love the dynamic between the Gina Rodriguez’s character and her roommate. And again, they have great guest stars every episode with the premise. So, I need Home Economics to get renewed and then I can feel safe watching Not Dead Yet. But that is your homework list. Thank you so much for listening. If you want to share this episode with someone, if you have a friend or relative out there who thinks Australia isn’t real, go share this episode. Go share. Go rate and review. Check out our newsletter. We also have all the merchandise on PodSwag. You just head to podswag.com/tvisay. We’ll be back next week for another episode. TV, I say with Ashley Ray is an Earwolf production made by me, Ashley Ray-Harris. It’s engineered by Abby Aguilar and produced by Amelia Chappelow. And our original theme song is by RaFia. It means so much to me if you go rate, review, subscribe. Follow TV, I Say. Let us know what you think and tell your friends. Share with your Golden Girls. Tell your Boys. If you love my TV recommendations, let everyone you know know. For special TV Club members, join my Patreon. And you can also find my full archive of ad free episodes of TV, I Say over on Stitcher Premium. Use Promo code “tvisay”–all one word–for a one-month free trial at stitcher.com/premium.