Australian comedy duo, The Umbilical Brothers are back with a brand new show - Not Suitable For Children. 

Returning to Auckland this month (May 15-19) for a strictly limited season at Q Theatre, David (Collins) and Shane (Dundas) portray ‘Dane’ and ‘Shavid’ in a brain-melting journey to the most terrifying vista the human mind has ever encountered: the world of children’s television. 

We sent the duo a few questions...

Where did the name Umbilical Brothers come from? 

Once we realised we had something special, we needed a name to suggest we are linked.  We were going to call ourselves Schwartz & Eggar, but no-one wanted to be Eggar. 

Do you remember your first show under the Umbilical Brothers name?

Of Course. It was called 2 Coats and a Hatstand From Hell. The producers cancelled the 2nd week due to poor up-front sales, only having to re-instate it when the first week sold out. 

You last toured NZ back in 2011. How has your show evolved in that time? 

I don't think it's too much of a stretch to say it's evolved 100%.  In fact it's a completely new show.  3 years of acting school finally paying off in our first show in which we play actual characters. We take the audience on a brain-melting journey to the most terrifying vista the human mind has ever encountered: the world of childrens' television. 

You’ve performed in over 40 countries. Do you find the audience differs from place to place? 

Of course. It would be weird if we saw the same people in Lithuania and China.  Oh, I see what you mean.  Overall they react the same, although the Dutch go for the weirder stuff, and the Belgians don't react at all during the show, and then give us a standing ovation at the end.

Where did the idea come from for the ‘Not Suitable For Children’ show? 

We've created a few TV shows for kids, including one for Sesame and one for Disney.  This show is all the stuff we couldn’t do on set but wished we could. It’s for you sick puppies and it's very, very wrong. 

Have you started working on ideas for the next show? 

Hey, have you been spying on us?  Yes. We always try to outdo ourselves from show to show, but this one is doing our head in. Fingers crossed it’s ready for next year's festival. 

Following the NZ dates, where are you off to next? 

We're going back to Holland, Germany, Sweden & Lithuania. And adding a new country to our list - Portugal. Very exciting. We’ve been to a lot of beautiful places on our travels, and have been known to say “This is the most gorgeous place we’ve ever seen”, to which the locals say “You obviously haven’t been to Portugal."

The Umbilical Brothers – Not Suitable For Children

Auckland – Q Theatre @ 7pm, Duration 1hr10min

Tuesday, May 15 until Saturday May 19

Tickets on sale now: http://www.qtheatre.co.nz/umbilical-brothers-not-suitable-children