Production.
Made Fun.

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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Humdinger Studios is in it's third building since being founded in 2012. With each new studio, the team have worked hard to improve the quality of the experience for clients. While there are some great studios around Melbourne, we felt that studios with good quality sound proofing were hard to find. So, when we moved into our space in Peveril Street in 2021, acoustics were our main focus.

Managing Director Evan Munro-Smith explains how we went about the creation of both our main studio and podcast studio.

When building the new studio - soundproofing was the number one priority for both the podcast and main studio - why was that?

Noise bleed is not an easy problem to solve! In our previous buildings we weren’t able to properly soundproof the studios either because the cost was too high or there wasn’t enough space to create the separation needed.

Not being able to soundproof the previous studios caused all the problems you’d expect for video and podcast recording, like interruptions when cars drove past, or having to shoosh people in the office if they were having too much fun.

It limited the kind of projects we could use them for, and was preventing us from running them as professional studios. Those frustrations really motivated us to take soundproofing more seriously when fitting out our new space.

When planning soundproofing - what did you have to take into consideration?

It started with the choice of building - we needed something larger that allowed us to build standalone double-walled studio spaces while keeping enough usable floor space to work in.

We had to consider what else we’d be doing in the building and try to put distance between the studios and anything potentially noisy. We also had to consider the building code, which has strict requirements around building materials, fresh air circulation and accessibility.

How was soundproofing integrated into the bones of the studio build?

The studios are double-walled with an air gap and clad in two layers of 16mm Fyrchek plaster on each exposed side, effectively creating a room within a room. The studio doors are custom made with added density and lined with Code 6 sheet lead, hung in solid oak frames and fitted with acoustic seals.

For our podcast studios, we built a circulation space so the studio doors don’t open straight into the hallway, which helps isolate the studios from the rest of the office.

All of our studios require fresh air circulation in order to meet building code requirements, but installing large air vents in the walls would compromise the soundproofing. To solve this we worked with an acoustic consultant who designed large U-shaped ‘baffle boxes’ which allow fresh air to flow while absorbing vibrations so noise doesn’t travel through them.

After the build what additional things did you do to further improve acoustics?

Once the studios were built we worked with Thomas from Verbox who supplied acoustic polyester to fully line the interior walls of our large video studio. He also supplied acoustic wall and ceiling panels for our podcast studios to absorb any reverberation.

What sort of feedback have you had about the soundproofing so far?

Excellent! Even industry veterans with sensitive shoots have been really impressed with the results, particularly compared with other studios in Melbourne.

Of course nothing is perfect - we are constantly working on the space and we always ask for feedback from clients on how we can improve!