Aussie comedy trio Aunty Donna to voice characters in Dungeons and Dragons

Australian comedy group Aunty Donna are playing the role of a lifetime alongside the likes of Star Trek’s Chris Pine and Bridgerton’s Rege-Jean Page. Watch the video.

When Aussie comedy trio Aunty Donna got the call to appear in the coming big-budget Hollywood fantasy blockbuster Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, they could have sworn they were getting the lead roles.

At least, that’s the way they tell it. Of course, trying to get a serious answer out of Mark Bonanno, Broden Kelly and Zachary Ruane, who have been plying their comedic trade as Aunty Donna for 12 years, is like trying to nail jelly to the ceiling.

Aussie comedy trio Aunty Donna appear in the comedy-fantasy blockbuster Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. Picture: Supplied

Even so, the cruel reality that they would not in fact be joining Star Trek’s Chris Pine, Fast and the Furious franchise regular Michelle Rodriguez and Bridgerton alumnus Rege-Jean Page front and centre in Paramount Pictures’ $220 million dollar epic based on the much-loved role-playing game came as a bit of a blow.

Rather, they would be providing the voices for three reanimated bodies in the Aussie version of the movie. And, in hindsight, all the clues were there.

Zachary Ruane.

As Sven Salafin or Corpse 4. Picture: Paramount

“We initially thought we were getting offered the leads so we were a little bit upset when we found out we were playing corpses,” says Ruane ruefully.

“But it really should have clicked that we weren’t going to be playing the Chris Pine part because it was a half day of recording.

“It really is on us. They said it was a half day of audio recording – and for us to think that in a half day of recording audio that we could be playing the leads of a Hollywood feature film … we really should have done the maths there.”

Broden Kelly.

As Toke Horgath, or Corpse 2. Picture: Paramount

While none of the trio admits to being a particular fan of the fantasy game, known to its millions of devotees (who include Hollywood luminaries including Vin Diesel and Joe Manganiello) as D&D and a nerd culture staple for nearly 50 years, Bonanno says that “we’re all a nerd for something”.

Kelly, after first trying to argue that he is in fact the jock of the group and that the other two call him Mr Muscles, eventually agrees that “D&D is very comedy adjacent – and particularly improv comedy”.

“They are the same world and there are a bunch of friends of ours who are in that world, and we have often been asked to go on podcasts and we have made sketches about D&D,” Kelly says.

“They are very next to each other – nerd comedy and nerd D&D, it’s all the same world.”

Mark Bonanno.

As “Yes” Corpse 1 Picture: Paramount

Since their debut at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival in 2012, Aunty Donna has become one of Australia’s most successful and versatile comedy exports.

In addition to the live shows, the trio has released a web series, podcast, album, picture book, wine and hit the big time internationally with the 2020 Netflix series Aunty Donna’s Big Ol’ House of Fun, which featured guest stars including The Hangover’s Ed Helms and Weird Al Yankovic.

Next up in an ever-expanding empire is a first narrative comedy, Aunty Donna’s Coffee Cafe, which will screen on the ABC in coming months and follows the story of three best mates running a trendy Melbourne cafe. Ruane feigns horror at the idea they might be taking the mickey out of their hometown’s legendary laneway culture.

“Actually, when we first conceived of Aunty Donna’s Coffee Cafe, we were going to skewer the coffee culture and we got an anonymous phone call from a hipster,” he claims. “I presume it was a hipster because they went ‘heeeeey, if you mock coffee culture, we’re going to kill you’, so we backed right off.”

Their level of fame and notoriety now, says Kelly, is such that actors such as Miranda Tapsell, Pia Miranda and Richard Roxburgh are eager to appear as guest stars.

“We have a lot of cool people who say we would like to be in your show,” he says. “But if you like the people who are in it, imagine the people who said no. That list is just as interesting. We will never say that list out loud on camera – but if we catch up at a bar we will tell you all the people who said they would rather die than work with you guys.”

Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is in cinemas on March 30

Originally published as Aussie comedy trio Aunty Donna to voice characters in Dungeons and Dragons