Production.
Made Fun.

Oct 23 – 25, 2026 at Humdinger Studios, Brunswick

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Global funny podcast festival Cheerful Earful returns to Humdinger Studios in Brunswick this October.  Join us in person or online for three nights of live podcast recordings, pop-up events, and the funniest comedy podcasts Australia has to offer. 

Humdinger has been Cheerful Earful's Melbourne home since 2024, so this October marks our third year hosting the local leg of what has grown into a genuinely global festival, with events now running in London, New York, and Dublin as well.

Cheerful Earful at Humdinger Studios

Cheerful Earful and Humdinger Studios first partnered in 2024 to bring the podcast festival to Australia, and we're proud that partnership continues into its third year in 2026. Over three nights and ten shows, everything happens on one stage here in Brunswick, recorded live and streamed globally so listeners everywhere can be part of it.

What is Cheerful Earful?

Cheerful Earful is a global festival celebrating comedy podcasts, bringing together everyone from household names to indie gems for fun live shows. What began as a four-day event tucked inside a handful of London pubs has grown into an international phenomenon spanning London, Melbourne, New York, and, now Dublin. But it's the Melbourne leg, hosted right here at Humdinger, where we get to showcase our favourite comedy podcasts at our studios in Brunswick, the home to Melbourne comedy. 

This Year's Program

Plumbing the Death Star
Plumbing the Death Star is hosted by three of the worst brains Australia has to offer. Two guys named Joel and their friend answer pop culture's most important questions in the wrongest way possible. With over 600 episodes and a worldwide following, this is a podcast that has absolutely no business being as good as it is. Not a Star Wars podcast.

Fri Oct 23, 7:30 – 8:30 PM

The Greg Larsen Show
Greg Larsen is a big Australian comedian who likes to have fun with YOU, and now he's bringing the show live to the Cheerful Earful stage.

Here's what listeners say about The Greg Larsen Show:

"The whiplash between ridiculous humour and well thought out arguments and valid points is incredible. It shouldn't work but it absolutely does."

"The most enjoyable explanation of American politics I've ever heard."

Fri Oct 23, 9:00 – 10:00 PM

Do Go On + Who Knew It with Matt Stewart
Do Go On - A fact based comedy podcast hosted by Melbourne comedians Matt Stewart, Jess Perkins and Dave Warneke. Each week they take it in turns to research a topic and then report back to the class. With millions of downloads worldwide, Do Go On has become one of Australia's most popular comedy podcasts, and regularly tours as a live show.

Who Knew It with Matt Stewart - A comedy quiz show hosted by Australian comedian Matt Stewart where the guests write the wrong answers.‍

Sat Oct 24, 2:00 – 4:30 PM

A Rational Fear
A Rational Fear brings together Australia's best comedic voices and experts to savage the news. Comedians and experts rip into the week's headlines - it's fast, it's funny, and it's been named Best Comedy Podcast at the Australian Podcast Awards four years running: 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023. Laughing in the face of fear since 2012.‍

Sat Oct 24, 6:00 – 7:00 PM

Ratbag with Mel & Sam
Ratbag is hosted by Australia's most exciting queer comedy duo: Mel & Sam - besties, quasi-reformed theatre kids, and your new favourite podcast companions. Each episode they bring the late-night kick-ons chat straight to your ears: conspiracies, listener hotline calls, riffs, and whatever else they feel like getting into. Warm, funny, and completely themselves.‍

Sat Oct 24, 7:30 – 8:30 PM

Confessions
A weekly podcast where each week Sammy Petersen reads the funniest online confessions to great guests, who do their best to give advice. Previous guests have included Nish Kumar, Tony Martin, Joel Creasey, Myf Warhurst, Wil Anderson and many more.

Sat Oct 24, 9:00 – 10:00 PM

Do Go On + Book Cheat

Another double header from the Do Go On network this time paired up with Book Cheat, the book club podcast where Dave Warneke has read the book so you don't have to.‍

Sun Oct 25, 2:00 – 4:30 PM

Prime Mates
Prime Mates is hosted by Australian comedian Matt Stewart and regular second banana Evan Munro-Smith, joined each week by rotating guests as they explore primates in popular culture - from Chimpan-A to Chimpan-Z.‍

Sun Oct 25, 5:00 – 6:00 PM

Don't You Know Who I Am
A podcast quiz show where Josh Earl gets four funny guests to battle it out to discover who knows whom, who knows what, and — well — who knows why. Previous guests have included Tom Gleeson, Josh Thomas, Ed Gamble, Pete Helliar, Joel Kim Booster, Josie Long and many more.‍

Sun Oct 25, 6:30 – 7:30 PM

Gamey Gamey Game LIVE
A comedy show that is apparently about games! Hosted by Evan Munro-Smith with Naomi Higgins and a rotating panel of Aussie comedians and various dogs. With over 160 episodes the show has become a cult-hit, somehow managing to persist for almost a decade.‍

Sun Oct 25, 7:00 – 8:00 PM

Buy Tickets

Grab tickets for the festival at tickettailor.com/events/cheerfulearfulaus.

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Today we're launching Pathological, a brand new six-episode comedy web series hosted by Naomi Higgins exclusively made for the Humdinger YouTube channel.

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The show features 21 of Australia's funniest comedians competing in a game with only one simple rule: don't answer the trivia question correctly, answer it convincingly.
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Based on the independent card game created by Melbourne designer Jett Archer, the series challenges comedians to fabricate the most plausible-sounding wrong answers they can. Points go to whoever is most convincing - nobody gets rewarded for being right.
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About the Host

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Naomi Higgins co-creator of and star of the Netflix series Why are You Like This and a fimiliar face across our YouTube channel on Gamey Gamey Game. 

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Guest Line Up

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We have an absolutely stacked lineup including Ray O'Leary, Suren Jayemanne, Cass Paige, Ben Russell, Kirsty Webeck, Montaigne and more all doing their best to convince us that their answer is right, or at least plausible.

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The Origin Story

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Jett Archer from the Pathological card game approached us asking if we'd like to look at turning their card game into a web series. This sounded intriguing and once we'd played the game for ourselves we realised this was a great opportunity to showcase comedy talent and could be a great fit for our YouTube channel.

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The game had already been adapted into a live stage version so we spent the next few months working collaboratively on how to take the show from box to screen.

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For the web series, it wasn't just a matter of having comedians play the game and then film it. We took what Jett had learned from the live pub version and adapted that even further with a home viewer in mind. We created a series of mini games in between rounds, giving contestants even more opportunities to make stuff up.

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The Production
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After a lot of pre-production work making sure that the show made sense, not just to the people playing it but for the viewers at home, it was time to actually start production.

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We filmed six episodes back to back over three days in our studio in Brunswick.

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We utilised our large LED screens as the backdrop and engaged production designer Ella Lawry (who is also a contestant on the show!) to help us bring the whole thing to life. One of our favourite parts is the set actually features a ton of indie games from local creators in the background.

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Where to Watch
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The series will be released fortnightly from May 7th on Humdinger's YouTube Channel. 

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Watch the first episode.
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Support indie game creators and buy your own copy of Pathological.
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Comedy Festival is our favourite time of the year and our most busy - cursed with the blessing of working and laughing all month long GOD HELP US! As a comedy production company we happen to know a bunch of people who have shows and are fucking sick, so here is a list of recommendations. We’ve put them in alphabetical order and if we forgot you, take it as an insult. We’ve decided to develop a mean streak this year, we’re gonna get sunglasses and a skateboard. Now go out and support local comedy! Kickflip!

Guaranteed FUNNY Comedians You Should See at the Festival

(also there's a nice photo version of this on our Instagram, this is where you go to click the links. So click these links)

• Alex Ward - Literally Anyone
• Anisa Nandaula - No Small Talk
• Annie Louey & Miranda Hill - Putting the Us in Uterus
• Barney Pollock - King of the Pigs 2
• Ben Russell - Bon.

• Ben Searle - Shelter in the Age of Loneliness
• Bron Lewis - Chaos
• Celia Pacquola - Gift Horse
• Claire Hooper - Fun Show xx
• Do Go On - Live Podcasts
• Elliot Ulm - Book Signing
• Emma Holland - The Dog Dies at The Start
• Frankie McNair - Huge Ass Mindset

• Gabbi Bolt - Small Poppy
• Grace Jarvis - Getting Dragged Backwards Through a Hedge
• Greg Larsen - Unrelenting Ultra-Violence
• Harry Jun - Inside Jokes, Outside Voice
• He Huang - T.E.M.U Joke Factory
• Hot Department - Amalgamation
• Jenna Suffern - Lobster In A Glass

• Jordan Barr - Choir Girl
• Justin Porter - Don't Ask, Don't Telfast
• Kate Dehnert - Echo
• Lena Moon - Sounds Like a Brag
• Lizzy Hoo - Says Hoo?

• Lou Wall - Where Are All the Tall Grandmas?
• Mish Wittrup - Not As Good As I Remember
• Ray O'Leary - I Can See O'Leary Now The Ray Has Gone

• Rose Bishop & Elyce Phillips - Local Laws
• Sammy J - Hero Complex

• Sam Taunton - This Must Be The Place
• Suren Jayemanne & Matt Stewart
• Thorno - More or Less
• Urvi Majumdar - "Miss!"
• Zachary Ruane - Comedy

Fancy Comedy Festival Events that we LOVE!

• The Big FOUR-OH!
• Asian Allstars Gala
• Deadly Funny National Grand Final
• The 36th Annual Great Debate
• RAW Comedy National Grand Final

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