Bandit's Middle Name Is A Minisode Easter Egg & An IRL Homage

A new batch of Bluey minisodes dropped last Monday (and not a moment too soon; we were starting to get shaky waiting for new content) and while there were lots of great moments, we want to talk about one of our very favorite new minisodes, “Browny Bear.” This one gives us Bluey silliness at its best— from Bandit being cheeky with Chilli and the girls to creating a pitch-perfect yet kid-friendly film noir parody. But we also got something else we love to see in a Bluey episode: Easter eggs! One of our favorite Easter eggs in “Browny Bear” was the revelation of Bandit’s middle name and birthday.

This episode opens with Bandit —what else— teasing his family. He reaches over to Bluey, Bingo, and Chilli’s opposite shoulders and gives them a tap. When they turn around, to their surprise, no one is there. While they all suspect Bandit is the culprit, Dad is vehemently denying any wrong-doing. But soon, Browny Bear (one of the girls’ stuffed animals) is on the case, puppetted and voiced by Bandit, naturally.

Browny Bear isn’t a very good detective. Mostly he zones out when people talk to him because he’s imagining he’s a drummer for Led Zeppelin. But soon he’s given a tip: while sitting at a “bar” in the playroom, someone slides him an ID for Bandit Heeler. And seeing this perfect replica of an actual Queensland driver’s license, we get some new information on our favorite TV dad. For one, his birthday is October 25, 1978. We also get his middle name: Custard!

Now this would be fun information for any mega-fan in and of itself, but it’s knowing where these details come from that make it truly worth a chuckle. The answers primarily lie with David McCormack, the voice actor who does the voice of Bandit.

Bandit’s October 25 birthday makes him a Scorpio, naturally— what other star sign could dream up Unicorse? But it also means he shares a birthday with none other than David McCormack, who was born October 25 1968. Why the 10-year discrepancy, probably to put Bandit around 45 years old, which is about the same age as series creator and head writer Joe Brumm, who based Bluey on his own family life (and Bandit largely on himself).

Bandit’s middle name is also an homage to McCormack, who is the lead singer of the Australian indie band called (you guessed it) Custard!

Honestly, Bluey doesn’t need these details to be a truly engaging, fun family show, but the fact that the writers, animators, and everybody at Ludo chooses to include these “blink and you miss it” snippets is a reflection of how much thought and care they put into the characters and storytelling.