Aunty Donna’s ‘Bandersketch’ Parody: A 40-Minute Melbourne Walk for Your Wrong Choices

Black Mirror’s Bandersnatch was an ambitious and slickly produced experiment in interactive TV, presenting an episode of the series in the form of a choose-your-own adventure with multiple possible storylines and endings. Aunty Donna’s Bandersketch takes that concept and strips away the sleekness for something far more chaotic.

The popular Australian comedy group’s parody version invites you to help them write a new sketch under a looming deadline, without getting distracted by lunch, Gangnam Style, or sudden unexpected death. It is not quite as elaborate as some might hope, but it is still well worth playing through to see how many bizarre game overs you can trigger.

The Ultimate Punishment: A 40-Minute Walk

The most notable feature of Bandersketch is its commitment to absurdity. One of the choices you can make just sends you off on a 40-minute unskippable walk around Melbourne. You have no choice but to respect the sheer stupidity of that decision.

If you are looking for a quick fix, look elsewhere. If you want to experience the frustration of a comedy group that refuses to let you escape their web, this is it. The game rewards patience and punishes curiosity with a digital odyssey that mirrors the very real exhaustion of navigating a city you don’t know.

Beyond the Sketch: Grouse House and the Future of Comedy

If you’re not familiar with Aunty Donna, they do great work—not only producing their own sketch comedy, but also running Grouse House, a platform for other comedians in the Australian alternative comedy scene.

Aunty Donna’s influence extends beyond their own content:

  • MUGG: Their excruciatingly impossible guessing game mines laughs out of what is essentially a series of mental breakdowns.
  • Live-Action Experiments: A previous video saw them playing through a live-action video game that somehow turned into an excuse to drink an inadvisable amount of milkshakes.
  • Gaming Inspiration: It is clear that games are a big inspiration for them, using interactive formats to push comedic boundaries.

Bandersketch seems to have been made to help promote their new Grouse House TV subscription service. This move is very much following in the footsteps of Dropout in attempting to fund comedy videos away from YouTube. It represents a shift in how independent comedy groups are monetizing their work, moving from ad-supported platforms to direct-to-consumer models.

Should You Play It?

If you enjoy the chaotic energy of Aunty Donna, check out what they have on offer on Grouse House. The subscription model allows creators to retain control over their content, a stark contrast to the algorithmic pressures of major video platforms.

However, if the concept of an unskippable 40-minute walk around Melbourne does not appeal to you, perhaps stick to their more traditional sketch content. After all, if you don't enjoy it... well, frankly, I hope YouTube sends an evil entity to steal your soul and add it to their collection of the damned.