2011–2014: Formation and live shows Aunty Donna was formed in 2011 after its five original members (Mark Bonanno, Broden Kelly, Joe Kosky, Sam Lingham, and Zachary Ruane) met at
University of Ballarat's Arts Academy. Adrian Dean also joined as a performer. Trained as actors, the group saw a lack of demand for independent theatre and decided to attempt comedy instead, beginning as live performers. Their first live show,
Aunty Donna in Pantsuits, debuted in 2012 at the
Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF) and was nominated for a
Golden Gibbo Award, which pushed the group to continue making comedy. Kelly also recruited his high school friend, composer Thomas Zahariou soon after its founding. To perform at the festival, MICF required the group to film a selection of comedy sketches, for which they recruited director Max Miller, who Kelly and Zahariou knew from high school. and won its People's Choice Award. in 2014 2014 saw their third live show, ''World's Greatest Showbag
, at the MICF, as well as a Best Of'' live show that debuted the group internationally at both the
SF Sketchfest and
Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
2015–2019: Television pilots, YouTube sketches and The Album In 2015, the group created a self-titled half-hour television pilot for the
ABC and
Screen Australia as part of the inaugural
Fresh Blood Pilot Season comedy initiative, but the series was not picked up. According to Kelly, the pilot was about the experience of Dean leaving the group. They released the sketch "Bikie Wars" on YouTube, featuring
John Wood of
Blue Heelers fame, which became their most popular video. They were also selected by
Comedy Central for its Australian platform and were the first to be launched on the site. The group began the weekly
Aunty Donna Podcast. In 2017, the group released a second half-hour comedy pilot,
Chaperones, which was not continued into a full series. In 2018 the group released a full-length studio comedy album,
The Album, which was followed by a national tour in November and October.
The Album debuted at number 30 on the
Australian charts and received an
ARIA nomination for
Best Comedy Release. They also released a version of a past live show,
New Show, on YouTube, filmed at the
Enmore Theatre. The group also released the sketch "Always Room for Christmas Pud", which the
Australian Financial Review later said had become "something of a
Millennial cultural touchstone in Australia". The sketch would become a
running gag for the group, later receiving a
family friendly re-release in 2022. Making use of their production company, the group released the 16-part
Glennridge Secondary College web series in 2019, which followed a fictional Australian
secondary school.
Neil Patrick Harris and
RuPaul both praised the show. 2022 saw
The Magical Dead Cat Tour, the group's first live tour in three years after it was delayed by
COVID-19 lockdowns, covering Australia and New Zealand. Later in the year, the group released
Always Room for Christmas Pud, a
picture book based on their popular YouTube video of the same name. They hosted the musical comedy gala at Sydney's
Just for Laughs comedy festival in December. For Christmas, the group released a real "$30 Bottle Of Wine", in reference to their 2016 sketch of the same name. In August 2022, the group announced that they had been signed by
ABC to create a new
sitcom TV series depicting them running a café in the
Melbourne laneways. The show was later named ''
Aunty Donna's Coffee Cafe'' and was released on the 12 April 2023. Alongside the main members of the group, the series starred Gaby Seow, Sally-Anne Upton, Michelle Brasier,
Vidya Rajan, and Mish Wittrup. In 2023, the trio provided voices for characters in the Australian version of the 2023 film
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. After returning from the tour, the group began to release a three-hour
Dungeons & Dragons campaign via
Patreon in November, hosted by Bonanno and titled
The McMuffin MacGuffin. However, the hard drive holding the footage was destroyed, leading to the release of only one episode and the filming of a second campaign featuring writer Sam Lingham. They provided voices for the animated sci-fi comedy feature film
Lesbian Space Princess, which premiered at the
Adelaide Film Festival in October 2024. Alongside their work as members of Aunty Donna, Bonanno, Kelly, and Ruane also branched out into outside ventures during this period. In August 2025, the group began their world tour of their show
Drem, which featured around 50 shows. The group stated that this would be their last significant live show "for a good while", as they were planning to focus on their platform Grouse House after the tour. == Haven't You Done Well Productions ==