Yeah Mad Cast Guide: Who Stars In The Australian YouTube Comedy Show
Yeah Mad is a popular YouTube comedy channel that rose to prominence in 2023 and gained a million subscribers in less than a year. The show features an ensemble of comedians and actors who participate in exchanges of jokes, play charades, take lie detector tests, and try to make the other person in the scene crack first. Yeah Mad's early videos went viral in a big way, and as the bits the show has used became more popular and the cast chemistry was praised, subscribers have flocked to the channel.
By 2024, however, many of the show’s original cast members had already left the show. While there have been plenty of rumors about why different cast members have left, from firings to disputes over money to those simply choosing to move on, Yeah Mad continues to produce sketches for YouTube while some of those original cast members have also formed their own comedy channel. Both channels have become home to some of the funniest YouTubers in recent years.
Table with cast and time on the show here
Cast Member | Years On The Show |
|---|---|
Andrew “Hammo” Hamilton | 2023 |
Abby Boom | 2023 |
Samantha “Sammy” Walsh | 2023-2024 |
Alan Fang | 2023-2024 |
Akila Amaratunga | 2023-2024 |
Matthew Penglase | 2023-Present |
Sath Nadesan | 2023-Present |
Andrew “Hammo” Hamilton
On Instagram @andrewhamiltoncomedy
- Appears in 24 episodes as a “contestant” and 19 as a “spectator”
Episode numbers reflect the first two seasons of the series on YouTube before the cast changes became official.
Andrew Hamilton actually got his start in comedy after ending up in prison in Australia for the commercial distribution of illegal substances (via Zoku Creative) in 2021. He thought people would find humor in the mistakes he made and started to get into stand-up comedy. That decision worked well for him and led to him becoming a main cast member of Yeah Mad when the YouTube series first began. He had previously worked with Yeah Mad creator Ben McCarthy on another channel. He is most prominently featured in their original “Dad Jokes” segments.
Hamilton left Yeah Mad in late 2023, though he did appear in the first few episodes released in 2024 as they were recorded earlier. When responding to fan questions on various social media outlets, he said he was fired from the series. Rumors have flown about Hamilton being at the forefront of attempting to renegotiate profit sharing for the original cast of the YouTube series as the channel was well on its way to potentially becoming home to some of the highest-paid YouTube stars.
His statement made via social media channels explained:
Recently there were some conversations regarding the leadership of the channel, and as a result, many of the original team are no longer part of the show.
I greatly appreciate all of the messages I’ve been getting from people who have noted my absence - it really does mean a lot!
Never fear. You’ll be hearing about some exciting new developments soon.
Since ending his time on the project, he has also appeared on the sketch web series Granny Flat Comedy and is one of the members of The OG Crew, which is a comedy group comprised of some of the original Yeah Mad cast who have started their own YouTube channel. Hamilton is also the co-host of the Flog Cabin podcast and penned a book, The Profound Benefits of a Stint in Prison, which was published in 2024.
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Abby Boom
On Instagram @abbyboomofficial
- Appears in 23 episodes as a “contestant” and 17 as a “spectator”
Abby Boom is an internet personality who shares her own travel vlogs on her YouTube Channel and her comedic takes on her TikTok. She also, however, has a day job. Boom, even while working on videos as a part of Yeah Mad, is the manager of a pub in Sydney (via her Instagram).
Boom is one of the original hosts of Yeah Mad, but like most of the original cast, she also left the series in 2024, only appearing in a handful of their season two episodes. Most of her episodes are part of the channel’s popular “Dad Jokes” in the first season. Boom had initially been approached to appear in a handful of videos for a single day of shooting, but became an important member of the cast. She actually appears in one of the most popular shorts on the YouTube channel, which has accumulated over 40 million views.
When leaving Yeah Mad, Boom shared on her Instagram that she was “proud of everything we achieved” and the channel’s ability to reach so many people. She also promised that she was not going anywhere, and the audience should “watch this space” for more. Like Hamilton, she is also now a member of The OG Crew, and that announcement came shortly after.
Samantha “Sammy” Walsh
On Instagram @sammywalshhh_
- Appears in 26 episodes as a “contestant” and 17 as a “spectator”
Samantha Walsh actually had a corporate job before dipping her toes into the comedic world. In 2023, she quit her job of over six years and traveled, doing some soul searching, and also filming for Yeah Mad (via her Instagram).
While Walsh is most prominently featured in “Dad Jokes,” she also appears in all of the other segment types in the first season of the comedy series. Unlike Hamilton, she was also still with the YouTube channel as it prepared its season 2 content, so fans will see her in a few of those early episodes before most of the original cast members left the series. She is also prominently featured as an audience member in the videos, allowing fans to see her genuine reactions to the jokes being told.
Walsh has been primarily active on the Yeah Mad and The OG Crew channels, but she does share her travel experiences and behind-the-scenes content on her personal social media accounts.
Yeah Mad has had a rotating cast of recurring comedians and actors as well, including Chloe Maddren, Kate Dolan, and Stephanie Broadbridge.
Alan Fang
On Instagram @ihatealanfang
- Appears in 22 episodes as a “contestant” and 13 as a “spectator”
Alan Fang, like many of the cast members who have worked on Yeah Mad, is a stand-up comic who works in Australia. He also, however, has a career behind the camera as well. With a degree in film, he has done freelance work as a video editor and photographer in addition to appearing in web series (via ihatealanfang.com).
Andrew Hamilton is credited with bringing Alan Fang on board for the first season of Yeah Mad as many of those who were brought into the show were friends or up-and-coming comedians that those already working on the series knew. When Fang released a statement on social media after leaving Yeah Mad, it was almost identical to that of Hamilton’s:
Recently there were some conversations regarding the leadership of the channel, and as a result, many of the original team are no longer part of the show.
Never fear. You’ll be hearing about some exciting new developments soon.
The identical statements led many to speculate that the original cast would be working together again. Fang joined The OG Crew as well.
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Akila Amaratunga
On Instagram @akilaisreal
- Appears in 20 episodes as a “contestant” and 19 as a “spectator”
Akila Amaratunga, who often uses just his first name when performing, is both a stand-up comedian and internet personality. Many of his jokes that have gone viral are known for their snark instead of their punchlines, and his particular tone of humor has made him very popular with audiences.
Amaratunga, however, is also a digital marketing and social media specialist, a field he has worked in since 2016 (via LinkedIn). That gives him a unique perspective on how to drive traffic to a YouTube channel, which likely makes him an asset to the comedy channels he has been a part of beyond his work on camera.
When Amaratunga officially announced he was leaving Yeah Mad, he took a more humorous approach to share the details on social media:
As most of you have probably figured out by now, I have officially decided to leave Yeah Mad. Thank you for all your support in the last year, and stay posted… twerking videos dropping soon.
While fans did not really need to wait for twerking videos, he is one of the five cast members to leave Yeah Mad who became part of The OG Crew in 2024.
When five of the original cast members left after the YouTube comedy series took off, several new faces joined the show over the next year, all appearing in different numbers of episodes including Peyton Cole, who has become a regular fixture in the new episodes, as well as Kirsty Carr, Ian Mu, and more.
Matthew Penglase
On Instagram @matty_penglase
- Appears in 25 episodes as a “contestant” and 23 as a “spectator”
In addition to his work in the comedic field, Matthew Penglase (who is often credited simply as Matt Penglase) has also appeared in a pair of movies filmed in Australia. In 2011, he appeared as one of the teens in the horror movie Jenny Dixon Beach, while in 2012, he played a nuse in the comedy Mental. His aspirations clearly lie in the more comedic route, however, if his work with Yeah Mad is anything to go back.
Penglase is one of the original cast members of the YouTube series. He is one of only two remaining cast members from the original lineup.
Sath Nadesan
On Instagram @sathh
- Appears in 24 episodes as a “contestant” and 21 as a “specatator”
Sath Nadesan is the other remaining original cast member of the seven. He is a comedian based in Sydney, Australia, like many of the cast associated with the show. While he still pursues stand-up work as well, he and Penglase are full-time cast members of the comedy series instead of members of the rotating cast. He is a regular performer at Sydney’s Comedy Store and is actually participating in the 2025 Sydney Comedy Festival.
Nadesan did take a break from the world of comedy in 2022 for several months. He left Australia behind to live with Buddhist monks in Sri Lanka, an experience that helped to change his life and give him a new perspective. He wrote about it for ABC News. Not long after moving back to Australia from Sri Lanka, the comedy channel Yeah Mad formed.
Nadesan has also been a frequent guest of other social media groups and podcasts to talk about comedy, especially since some of the comedy he employs in Yeah Mad can get a little dark. He spoke with Comedy Land about his journey and his work with Yeah Mad, calling what the original cast had “lightning in a bottle” and committing to trying to build a similar rapport with newer cast members.
While other cast members have been added to the series since five of the original cast members left, it’s unclear how many of those are in the show for the long haul, or simply feeling out the comedic opportunity offered by the popularity of Yeah Mad on YouTube.
