The crowd is packed into The Roundhouse at the Garden of Unearthly Delights for Queensland comedian Mel Buttle.

Before we get there, she has brought along support act Bronwyn Kuss, whose show Pillows XXXX is at the Rhino Room until February 24. Kuss is a delightful appetiser and before Buttle has even stepped on stage, she’s earned a tick for the introduction.

Most people will recognise Buttle for her television work – she’s a regular on The Project, The Hundred and Question Everything – but she really shot to fame through her uncanny social media depiction of an average Australian mum via her character Lynn.

While Lynn made an appearance on screen in Buttle’s Fringe show last year, this time around she is notably absent, but not disappointingly so. As Buttle says: “Lynn is the bait next to the boat to get the sharks to come, and here you are.”

You know those laughs that last long after a joke is told? When your mind keeps drifting back to the punchline and you find a new, hilarious nuance each time?

Mel Buttle is a master at enticing that reaction out of her audience, and stifled giggles run long into the beginning of each new joke.

Right off the bat, she sets the tone – she’s now the mother of a 17-month-old boy and parenthood is a treasure trove of material.

But what Buttle is best at is transporting us back to 1980s Australia with the most subtle of quips about life before smartphones and gentle parenting. She has an innate ability to entice long-forgotten recollections of ordinary childhood memories.

There’s the hot-take on cauliflower’s glow-up – it’s gone from “grass-flavoured cloud” to the star ingredient in a taco.

There are also the recollections of the ways in which we filled long hours without the invention of time-sapping technology.

Lynn or no Lynn, just as she is, Buttle delivers a show that’s a little bit like a conversation with your funny best friend – if your friends were funnier

Mel Buttle – Not Here to Put Socks on Centipedes is on at The Roundhouse in the Garden of Unearthly Delights until February 22.

Read more 2024 Adelaide Fringe coverage here on InReview.

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