Friend of a Friend City: a brisbane improv comedy podcast · hthrhydn

Bren Binmore and The Zoo (Simon McNaughton) - Ep 34

·25 min·1 clip

There can be only two: North Zoo and south-of-the-river Zoo.

1. Friend of a Friend City features Heather talking with Bren and The Zoo about a Brisbane trench-coat zoo. 2. Bren is the recurring friend and customer, while The Zoo is the guest who runs the mobile animal operation. 3. The episode asks what a “zoo” is when it fits inside a trench coat and moves around Brisbane. 4. Heather opens with Bren’s possum and the story of moving it next door with fruit. 5. The Zoo introduces Perry the possum, two rats named Milo and Otis, Cricket the cockroach, and Doggie the quokka. 6. The animals reportedly live in trench coats, and Heather keeps pressing for the size of the operation. 7. The Zoo says it met Perry on a walk in a park and felt a “spiritual connection.” 8. A small child once offered “a small gold coin” to see Perry in the future, which helped start the zoo. 9. Bren says he sometimes corrals the animals, including Cricket the cockroach, who can be hard to contain. 10. The Zoo says it grew up in Brisbane, worked on construction sites with a jackhammer, and then quit to become The Zoo. 11. Heather asks about food, and The Zoo describes unhinging its jaw for a roast chicken and later finding pad thai behind restaurants in Queen Street. 12. The Zoo explains that fruit bats once lived in the coat, but they wanted to fly away. 13. Heather learns there are multiple zoos in Brisbane, including North Zoo and another zoo south of the river. 14. The Zoo says rival zoos attack at night and that the “Gorilla Zoo Concord” banned gorillas, chimpanzees, and other primates within 250 kilometres of the Brisbane Zoo. 15. The Zoo describes animal roles in warfare, with rats using tiny crossbows, Cricket doing espionage, and Doggie acting as the main tank warrior. 16. Heather hears about wild stick insects, a failed negotiation with the “stick insects union,” and businesses around Stanley Parade like a box restaurant and a mime-fighting ring. 17. The tone stays playful, deadpan, and absurd, with Heather asking practical questions while The Zoo answers in the same straight-faced register. 18. The format is a loose interview built around escalating claims, animal details, and repeated clarifications about what counts as Zoo. 19. Listeners who like Brisbane-specific improv, character comedy, and animal nonsense. 20. Listeners wanting a straightforward interview without repeated surreal premises.

As heard by us

A deadpan Brisbane gag grows into a trench-coat zoo and keeps getting weirder.

Friend of a Friend's City spins a dry Brisbane joke around a friend, a possum shifted next door with fruit, and a bat colony that turns up after the fruit does.

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Why you'd press play

You get a deadpan Brisbane trench-coat zoo pitch, with a kiosk, a possum, and a bat colony.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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