Aunty Carol

Carol Stevens, better known as Greg's Aunty Carol, is a self-described ‘bigger girl’ and apparently in her 60s.  She was first interviewed in Episode 3 where it was revealed she has been urged by doctors to ‘move around’ more, something she finds hard because her ‘knees are gone’.

In that same 2018 interview we hear that Aunty Carol didn’t want to go to the family Christmas at Maureen and Warren’s as she was disappointed by her treatment the previous year. In particular she claims that at Christmas 2017 she was kicked by Greg’s mother (and her sister) Maureen. Carol also holds a grudge about that trip due to the fact she had to pay for her own flight and that she was not picked up at the airport. She theorises that this mistreatment is because she 'never got married'.

At Christmas 2018 Carol returned to Maureen and Warren's, this time having her flight paid for by Maureen. Unfortunately Carol was upset about being asked to shell prawns on Christmas Day so absconded with two kilograms of prawns and a ham and ate them at the airport, before returning to Melbourne (see Episode 5).

In early 2019 Aunty Carol reported that Mary Seymour was now her ‘best girlfriend’ having met through he shared experience of being a guest on the podcast. (This detail is somewhat debatable as in Episode 67 it appears Mary is speaking to Carol for the first time, having met through one of Mary’s lovers: Rupert Johnson, 70-plus retiree).

In Episode 8 it was revealed that Carol was in ‘legal trouble’ regarding a stolen wallet at the Moonee Ponds Taberet (a pokies venue). Carol has also alluded to a battle with prescription medication, namely Xanax (in Episode 36, the episode she was named Grub of the Week).

In Episode 12 Ben facilitated Greg's mediation with Aunty Carol after Greg had lost patience with his aunt.  It was revealed that Carol had learnt the phrase ‘check your privilege’ and was using it with abandon, usually directed towards Greg.  Carol also claimed that she was diagnosed with depression in 1982 which elicited an apology from Greg for his behaviour, which she didn’t accept. She then revealed that the depression story was untrue and she was ‘living the life of Riley’.

We hear from Aunty Carol next in Episode 14 when Carol uses Greg to facilitate a call to the casino. She calls regarding a buffet breakfast that left her ‘absolutely starving’.  She plans to keep the recording of the call so that she could use it for her ‘legalities’.

Aunty Carol calls the podcast again in Episode 19 during the 2019 Melbourne International Comedy Festival after seeing Greg’s show. She complains about the lack of a free ticket and what she calls the 'communist' politics of the comedy. She also claimed the she ‘nearly vomited [her] dinner down [her] front’ (Yum Cha and Nando’s). During the same phone call she claims to having seen Becky Lucas' show, calling her a ‘nasty piece of work’ who should have tried to 'do a song'. She has no such complaints about Ben, saying everything he does ‘sends a sparkle through the universe’.

Carol next rings in Episode 23 - a call in episode with Geraldine Hickey - because she feels she has been wronged by Geraldine.  She tells the story of losing a Furby after it dropped out of the skill-tester's claw at Galactic Circus back in 2012. Galactic Circus was located at the casino and Geraldine used to work there. Geraldine reminds Carol that the game tests skill and that clearly Carol didn't have enough, to which Carol retorts that she hopes that someone doesn’t ring in a bomb threat to Triple R (the community radio station Hickey is associated with). Aunty Carol ends the call with ‘watch your back, watch your back, watch your back’.

Aunty Carol next appears in Episode 31 where we discover that comedian Henry Stone is actually Greg’s cousin, making Aunty Carol Henry’s aunt as well.  They discuss the previous night where Henry and Greg took Carol out to see Toy Story 4 at a Village Gold Class cinema.  Carol has a list of complaints including the stairs, the nachos, the fact Henry and Greg were seated together so that she had an empty seat next to her, as well as the fact she had greasy hands that she had to wipe on her ‘smock’.   Carol then decides to ring Hoyts Cinemas at Melbourne Central to organise a more successful outing at their Gold Class equivalent: Lux.  She manages to reach a young man named Lachlan, and their conversation is aired on the podcast.

In Episode 34 we hear Aunty Carol's audition tape for the television program MasterChef Australia.

Aunty Carol seems to take pleasure in embarrassing her family, telling a story in Episode 36 about once coming to pick Greg up from school when he was wearing a Star Wars T-Shirt. Greg was apparently crying, having been beaten up for being a nerd.  According to Carol Greg had ‘pooped himself’ and that it was ‘really funny’ and they ‘had a really good laugh’ although Greg remembers being beaten pretty badly and needing an MRI afterwards. Carol also mentions school pickups in Episode 97 when it is revealed that Aunt Carol used to pick up Greg from school on Fridays and that she didn’t feed him until his mum picked him up at 9PM, an act that seems to border on neglect.

In general Aunty Carol's relationship to her family is strained as it is also revealed in Episode 97 that she has sued every family member she has, including Greg who was sued for eating her prawns.  The result of that particular case was that Carol was held in contempt of court and fined for wasting the court’s time (although she has a different memory of the events).

in Episode 36 we hear that that in her youth Carol used to be into jazz music and ‘go around with all the boys’ including Phil, a shoe salesman, who she got matching tattoos with.  Phil later ‘disappeared’. In Episode 67 she states that she hasn’t had a lover ‘in 40 years’ meaning that Phil was perhaps her last partner. Phil is mentioned (although not by name) in Episode 97 as the man who said about Carol's feet that he had ‘never seen such beautiful trotters’ despite them being ‘quite bulbous’.  Before his disappearance he apparently got down on one knee to propose to Carol although this was perhaps simply in the fitting of a shoe.

In her later years Carol has turned her hand to music and drama, notably acting in the 2020 Logie nominated series 'Meat Me in Seattle' as 'Jean' where she was nominated as Best Supporting Actor (see Episode 81). Musically she collaborated with the Actual Grub and Mary Seymour on the huge dance hit 'Everybody Say Grub' also in 2020 (see Episode 84).

Greg and Ben caught up with Aunty Carol during the 2020 Melbourne lockdown were Carol proclaimed that she was a ‘sovereign citizen’ and was politically anti-Premier Dan Andrews whom she called ‘Dictator Dan’.  Carol had also booked a seat on a 'deluxe bus' in order to sneak out of Victoria (via Horsham) as part of a plan so she could spend the summer in a villa in Queensland.

Although at one point in time Aunty Carol appeared to harbour nativist views pertaining to Melbourne and Victoria, thinking that outsiders should be turned away at the border (see Episode 36), in late 2020 Carol was very pro-Queensland even suggesting the state should secede (see Episode 88). The secret trip to Queensland was paid with out of money that Greg and his family raised for Aunty Carol's heating to be replaced, to which Carol claims that a broad definition of heating could include the warmer climate up north.

Aunty Carol had returned to Victoria by Episode 97 when we hear that Greg has been staying in Aunty Carol’s place when Aunty Carol was away. Carol wants Greg out of her place despite Carol not giving appropriate notice for Greg to vacate.

This information was contradicted by Carol by the Bonus Chat from 22 January 2021 when she claimed still to be up in Queensland on holiday and not in Victoria at all. In the appearance she seems to equivocate on being asked on a romantic date by Discochat-user Nor, before devolving into a Qanon-inspired rant about Scott Morrison being a lizard.

Finally back from Queensland and appearing on Episode 99.91, Carol claims that she has had ‘a visitation from certain saints and people who speak to [her] from beyond the grave’, a realisation which came to her as she passed through Wagga Wagga on the way home from the Gold Coast. She offers her services as a psychic for a small fee and does a reading of a young man named Hayden who wants to know whether he should drop out of the course he is doing. Carol returns the following episode (Episode 99.92) to do a reading for a lady named Jessica and in Episode 99.93 with Edwina, making contact with the Queen Mother to give commentary about Oprah’s Meghan Markle interview.

Aunty Carol next appears on the live episode, Episode 100, claiming that she fell up the stairs at Crown and soiled herself.  Aunty Carol then performed some more psychic readings, this time including for Patreon user Mingeflaps. In the same episode Carol revealed that she once saw Greg’s ‘big dick’ when they were both up in Queensland.

In Episode 102 Aunty Carol reads her negative reviews of Greg and Lloyd Langford's Melbourne International Comedy Festival shows, the former she marks down due to his reaction to her eating KFC during his performance of 'This Might Not Be Hell'. During her review of Lloyd Langford's show the Welsh comedian makes an appearance, defending his life partner, Anne Edmonds.

In S3E02 Aunty Carol returns with a quiz revealing some more insight into her relationship with Greg as a child, along with and Carol's special dance moves.

Aunty Carol is often heard to exclaim that 'everyone is *at* me'.