When an important man walks through life, he leaves his mark. Well, nobody leaves a bigger footprint than the Yeti, the Sasquatch, BIGFOOT: the myth, the legend, the friend, the lover, the musician, the conservationist! It’s time to do what countless other hikers have done before, make sure your fuzzy out of focus camera is low on batteries and join the hunt.
Far, far, back in 2012, famed Canadian crypto biologist Robert H. McKinley Jr. published his masterpiece, ‘Bigfoot: In Plain Sight’ which chronicled his lifelong journey and that of his father Robert McKinley Sr. to meet the creature. McKinley Jr. felt that Bigfoot was no mere monster, tearing the arms off campers led astray. Instead, the bond and friendship he developed with the creature proved just how misunderstood this gentle giant was.
However, now in 2025, local misfits of Handful of Bugs are adapting McKinley Jr.’s life’s work into a scandalous one-person comedy show! Robert H. McKinley Jr (Alex Donnelly) is a man on a mission. Through his lessons, thoughts and generational flashbacks, we’ll learn more about what it means to have belief in things bigger and hairier than yourself. To understand his story, you’ll have to go back, way back, forward a bit, back again, so on and so forth. It’s the story of a man, a father-man and the man-ape who ties their fates together.
I first caught a Handful of Bugs show some years back completely by chance. I immediately recall two things the dead leg I got from sitting awkwardly, and that the show was one of the funniest things I had ever witnessed. Nonstop gags, great chemistry a script refined to near perfection and showmanship to rival the best comedic performers. All of this from their DEBUT SHOW! Since then, I’ve made sure to catch each new show from Handful of Bugs, and you should too!
Bigfoot: In Plain Sight (directed by Lachlan Gough and produced by SKINT) lives up to that same high bar. The jokes are polished to a sheen and come at you with the frequency and successful hit rate of the early (good) seasons of The Simpsons. There is even the small delay in laughter present as pockets of the audience take a moment to slowly realise just how incredibly clever a line or joke is. Delivered straight-faced and with conviction of the insanity, watching a man go through a “one picture a day” time lapse compilation, all while live in front of you, had the audience in stitches.
Prop work, physical comedy and sequences play on quick change effects. Hailing from Dandenong, I’ve seen my fair share of folks in arguments with themselves, but never have I seen a change clothes and voices with the enthusiasm that is displayed by Alex Donnelly. Lighting and sound effects throughout the show level up the humour and keep us on our toes. There’s even a jaunty, sing along camp-fire song performed on the banjo which brought the house down.
If things didn’t happen perfectly as planned, Alex was able to move with the flow and make it work for laughs anyway. With tiny insignificant errors only helping to highlight just how well polished and effective the entire hour of entertainment is.
If you go into the woods today, you’ll be in for a big surprise. An Australian doing multiple Canadian accents, between bar fights and arguments about the give and take of polygamous relationships, opening our eyes. Big Foot may be a conspiracy theory but he’s a loving conspiracy theory. As far as comedy shows about bipedal cryptids go, Big Foot: In Plain Sight is well-worth the price of admission. Another hysterically funny triumph for Handful of Bugs.
Bigfoot: In Plain Sight is currently playing at Malthouse Theatre‘s Playbox until April 20th, as part of the 2025 Melbourne International Comedy Festival.
For more information and ticketing, visit:
https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/browse-shows/bigfoot-in-plain-sight
https://www.instagram.com/handfulofbugstheatre
Photography supplied.