Melbourne International Comedy Festival review

With a visually arresting set – a radio studio rendered in strong, blocky colours into which the Handful Of Bugs team initially camouflage themselves – expectations are high before Hello Mr Radio begins.

Unfortunately, however, what transpires is simply an undercooked sketch show, carried by the energy of its central performance, but only so far. Ultimately, it falls into the same category as the buoyant but vacuous commercial stations it aims to parody.

In his lime green shirt and tank top combo, the ponytailed Fergus Mackerel (Alex Donnelly) hosts the 3am graveyard phone-in show on 98.5½FM. But what’s really being phoned in is the DJ’s enthusiasm for talking points such as ‘tell us your mum’s favourite emoji’.

Some of the listeners are on tape – whose contributions not always clear thanks to overambitious sound design – while the audience are encouraged to genuinely ring in to contribute to some of the inane sections. Scripted contributors include Sisyphus, a four-year-old comedian specialising in roast insults, and a gravel-voiced wizard agony aunt offering spells to cure listeners’ ills.

Speaking of scripted, Alex Donnelly reads everything that isn’t an ad-lib from a sheath of notes, shortchanging the audience and speaking to the amateurish nature of the full hour.

Mildly amusing ideas are thrown out without being developed, using the easy ‘surrealism’ of saying non-sequiturs without greater context. Mackerel is a completely superficial creation, too. There’s a clear suggestion that he’s frustrated in his job, but that’s not greatly explored. 

One over-extended joke involving occasional on-stage collaborators Ayesha Harris-Westman and James Colbourn-Keogh is basically the TikTok meme showing how people in green-screen morph suits could make impossible stunts happen. 

Yet some snippets tease at something more substantial. Killdozer: The Musical, about the welder who went on a rampage in Colorado with his customised bulldozer in 2004 is an especially strong idea, but stands out for being so isolated.

The audience was scattered with punters who howled like banshees at the most mildly amusing sound effect, so the  Handful Of Bugs team clearly have some fans in their Melbourne hometown. But  it seems unlikely this slapdash offering will swell their number.  

• Handful Of Bugs: Hello Mr Radio is on at the Malthouse Theatre at 6.15pm (5.15pm Sundays; no show Mondays) until April 19.

Review date: 9 Apr 2026
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Melbourne International Comedy Festival