Melinda Claire Buttle is an Australian comedian, television and radio presenter and writer. Buttle is co-hosting ''

The Great Australian Bake Off ''The Great Australian Bake Off'' is an Australian television baking series that is based on the BBC baking competition ''The Great British Bake Off.'' The series first premiered on 9 July 2013 on the Nine Network and ran for one season with ...

'' alongside

Claire Hooper Claire Hooper (born 5 September 1976) is an Australian stand-up comedian, television and radio presenter and writer. Hooper is co-hosting '' The Great Australian Bake Off'' alongside Mel Buttle. She appeared as a team captain on the 2008 rev ...

. In April 2013, she was awarded the Directors Choice Award at the

Melbourne International Comedy Festival The Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF) is the largest stand-alone comedy festival and the second-largest international comedy festival in the world. Established in 1987, it takes place annually in Melbourne over four weeks, typicall ...

for her solo show 'How Embarrassment'. She wrote on and starred in Network Ten's, '' This Week Live'' as a live correspondent. She was a regular guest on radio stations

Triple J Triple J (stylised in all lowercase) is a government-funded, national Australian Radio in Australia, radio station intended to appeal to listeners of alternative music, which began broadcasting in January 1975. The station also places a greate ...

, Nova and

612 ABC Brisbane ABC Radio Brisbane (callsign: 4QR) is an ABC Local Radio station in Brisbane, Queensland. It is one of the largest stations in the network, serving as a base for Queensland programming - many programs are broadcast across the ABC Local Radio ...

, wrote weekly for the Queensland statewide newspaper ''

The Courier Mail ''The Courier-Mail'' is an Australian newspaper published in Brisbane. Owned by News Corp Australia, it is published daily from Monday to Saturday in tabloid format. Its editorial offices are located at Bowen Hills, in Brisbane's inner northern ...

'' and ABC television's, '' The Drum''.

Early life

Buttle was raised in Samford, a semi-rural suburb north-west of Brisbane, Queensland. She completed her schooling as a boarder at St Margaret's Anglican Girls' School in

Ascot, Queensland Ascot is a north-east suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Ascot had a population of 5,777 people. Geography Ascot is characterised by large Queenslander homes and is located approximately north-east of Brisbane ...

. She is one of 20 students listed as Notable Alumnae. She completed a Bachelor of Secondary Education (Drama) in 2003 at

Griffith University Griffith University is a public research university in South East Queensland on the east coast of Australia. Formally founded in 1971, Griffith opened its doors in 1975, introducing Australia's first degrees in environmental science and Asian s ...

and became a teacher at

Calamvale Community College Calamvale is a southern suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Calamvale had a population of 17,124 people. Geography The suburb is loosely bounded to the north by Beaudesert Road and Compton Road, to the east by Gowa ...

before moving to Perth in 2004 to complete a Post Graduate Diploma in Marketing at Curtin University. Buttle began stand-up comedy as an open mic comedian in Perth before returning to Queensland in 2008 and representing the state at the Raw National Comedy Finals in Melbourne.

Stand up comedy

In 2010, Buttle made her debut at the

and

Brisbane Comedy Festival Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

with her show "Sista Got Flow" for which she was nominated Best Newcomer. In 2011 she returned to the festival circuit with her second show "Buttle & Buttle". She also toured extensively with Comedian Josh Thomas as a support act for his Barry Award Nominated show "Surprise". In 2012 she performed her show "Stop It, You Are!" at the

Sydney Fringe Festival The Sydney Fringe is an alternative arts and culture festival held for the first time in September 2010 in the inner west of Sydney, Australia. The Fringe is an initiative of the Newtown Entertainment Precinct Association.

which won her Best Comedy. After a one-year hiatus teaching students with special needs at Everton Park State High School, Buttle returned to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival with her show "How Embarrassment" which was well received by critics and won her the Directors Choice Award. "How Embarrassment" also debuted at Brisbane Comedy Festival and was nominated for Best Local Act at

Sydney Comedy Festival The Sydney Comedy Festival is an annual comedy festival held in Sydney. Launched in 2005 as The Cracker Sydney Comedy Festival at a number of inner city venues, the Festival has grown quickly and now attracts 111,000 patrons every year at venue ...

2013. Other notable live performances include stand up comedy at the

Sydney Opera House The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive buildings and a masterpiece of 20th-century architec ...

Homebake Festival Homebake was an annual Australian rock festival, featuring an all-Australian lineup (with the occasional artist from New Zealand). The festival was first held on 3 January 1996 at Belongil Fields in Byron Bay, on the far north coast of New So ...

Woodford Folk Festival The Woodford Folk Festival is an annual music and cultural festival held near the semi-rural town of Woodford, north of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is one of the biggest annual cultural events of its type in Australia. Every year ap ...

, Harvest Festival, Melbourne International Comedy Festival Roadshow and Up Front Gala. In late 2012, Buttle opened for well known American comedian and actor,

Aziz Ansari Aziz Ismail Ansari (; born February 23, 1983) is an American actor and stand-up comedian. He is known for his role as Tom Haverford on the NBC series '' Parks and Recreation'' (2009–2015) and as creator and star of the Netflix series '' Mas ...

on his "

Buried Alive Premature burial, also known as live burial, burial alive, or vivisepulture, means to be buried while still alive. Animals or humans may be buried alive accidentally on the mistaken assumption that they are dead, or intentionally as a form of t ...

" tour at the

Queensland Performing Arts Centre The Queensland Performing Arts Centre (also known as QPAC) is part of the Queensland Cultural Centre and is located on the corner of Melbourne Street and Grey Street in Brisbane's South Bank, Queensland, South Bank precinct. Opened in 1985, it ...

Radio

In 2011, she began a weekly segment on

's breakfast show with

Tom Ballard Thomas Colin Ballard (born 26 November 1989) is an Australian comedian, radio and television presenter. Early life Ballard was born to parents Judy and Neil Ballard and grew up in Warrnambool, Victoria. He attended Brauer Secondary Colle ...

and

Alex Dyson Alexander Edward Dyson (born 22 June 1988) is an Australian radio presenter who presented the breakfast show on Australian youth radio station Triple J from 2010 to 2016, alongside Tom Ballard and then with Matt Okine. He is also a small busin ...

titled ''Message in a Buttle,'' followed by ''Buttle Theatre'' and finally ''Mels Strongly Worded Letters'' concluding at the end of 2012. In addition, she has regularly appeared on Triple J's Hack and Drive programs. Buttle is a regular guest on 612 ABC Brisbane and in 2011 she filled in on ''Afternoons with Richard Fidler'' with Katrina Davidson. During the summer of 2010 she filled in for ''

Meshel, Tim and Marty ''Kate, Tim & Joel'' is an Australian drive radio show with Kate Ritchie, Tim Blackwell and Joel Creasey. It is broadcast on Nova FM from 4pm to 6pm on weekdays. A daily podcast featuring the best bits from each show is available on iTunes ...

'' on Nova 106.9 Breakfast. Buttle co-hosted Nova's national ''Saturday Session'' with

Dave Thornton Dave Thornton (born 13 December 1979) is an Australian stand-up comedian, actor, television and radio presenter. He has performed stand-up comedy throughout Australia, in Edinburgh, Singapore and New York. He has also appeared on Australian tele ...

in 2011 and filled in for ''

Hughesy & Kate ''Hughesy & Kate'' was an Australian radio station drive show on the Hit Network. The show was hosted by Dave Hughes and Kate Langbroek with anchor Jack Laurence. In addition to the national radio drive show, an inflight version was also produc ...

'' on Nova Melbourne Breakfast with Tommy Little in June 2013. In August 2020, Buttle joined

ABC Local Radio ABC Local Radio is a network of publicly owned radio stations in Australia, operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. ABC Local Radio stations broadcast across the continent using terrestrial transmitters and satellites. Its programm ...

to host Weekend Afternoons.

Television

Buttle has appeared on '' The Circle'', '' The Project'', ''

The Weekly with Charlie Pickering ''The Weekly with Charlie Pickering'' is an Australian news satire series on the ABC. The series premiered on 22 April 2015, featuring Charlie Pickering as host with Tom Gleeson, Adam Briggs and Judith Lucy in the cast who joined the show i ...

'', ''

Tractor Monkeys ''Tractor Monkeys'' is an Australian comedic television quiz show hosted by Merrick Watts. Seventeen episodes screened on ABC1 in 2013. Format The show features two teams of guest panellists, one led by comedian Dave O'Neil David O'Neil (b ...

'', '' This Week Live'', ''

Good News Week ''Good News Week'' is an Australian satirical panel game show hosted by Paul McDermott that aired from 19 April 1996 to 27 May 2000, and 11 February 2008 to 28 April 2012. The show's initial run aired on ABC until being bought by Network Ten in ...

'', '' Celebrity Name Game'', ''

Show Me the Movie! ''Show Me the Movie!'' was a weekly Australian television comedy panel show, which premiered on Network 10 on 22 March 2018 and ran until 28 March 2019. The program was hosted by Rove McManus who, with team captains Joel Creasey, Jane Harber ( ...

'',

Patriot Brains ''Patriot Brains'' is a New Zealand comedy panel game show, airing on TVNZ 2 in New Zealand and SBS Viceland in Australia since April 2021. The show, hosted by English comedian Bill Bailey in series 1 and Sue Perkins in series 2, focuses on ...

and ''

Hughesy, We Have a Problem ''Hughesy, We Have a Problem'' was an Australian comedy panel television series which premiered on Network 10 on 30 January 2018. The program was hosted by Dave Hughes, who along with a panel of comedians, attempted to solve problems of viewers ...

''. Buttle first appeared on Network Ten's ''

The 7PM Project ''The Project'' (previously ''The 7PM Project'' from 2009 to 2011) is an Australian news-Current affairs (news format), current affairs and talk show television panel program, airing weeknights across Australia on Network Ten, Network 10, produc ...

'' in 2010 as a Metro Whip reporter. In the same year, she covered the 2010 federal election for Network Ten's program '' The Circle''. She has appeared in both season one and two of ABC's ''

'' as a panellist. She has also performed stand up comedy on the Comedy Channel and ABC2's ''Comedy Up Late''. Buttle appeared weekly as a live correspondent on Network Ten's '' This Week Live'' and often reports for the "Metro Whip" on '' The Project''. Along with Ray Matsen, Buttle co-wrote the comedy mini series titled ''Fruit Unit'' for Network Ten, in which she also appeared. In July 2015, Buttle and

were announced as the hosts of the second season of ''

'', which began airing on

LifeStyle Food Lifestyle Food (stylised as Lifestyle FOOD) is an Australian pay-TV food channel, solely dedicated to food, wine and restaurant society. The channel is a subsidiary of Lifestyle, which runs 24 hours a day on the Foxtel. On 19 September 2016, ...

in October. The series returned for a third season in October 2016, and a fourth season in January 2018.

Writing

Since 2011, Buttle has written a weekly column for the Queensland statewide newspaper, ''

The Courier-Mail ''The Courier-Mail'' is an Australian newspaper published in Brisbane. Owned by News Corp Australia, it is published daily from Monday to Saturday in Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format. Its editorial offices are located at Bowen Hills, ...

''. She is also a writer for ABC's '' The Drum'' and Triple J's "J Mag". She has also been published in "Madison" magazine. She has written for television shows such as ''

You're Skitting Me In Modern English, ''you'' is the second-person pronoun. It is grammatically plural, and was historically used only for the dative case, but in most modern dialects is used for all cases and numbers. History ''You'' comes from the Proto- ...

'' (ABC3) and for Josh Thomas on his show ''

Please Like Me ''Please Like Me'' is an Australian television comedy-drama series created by and starring Josh Thomas. Thomas also serves as a writer for most episodes. The series premiered on 28 February 2013 on ABC2 in Australia and is now available on Ne ...

'' (ABC2) and co-wrote his live show "Everything Ever".

Podcasts

Since 2011, Buttle has co-produced the podcasts ''The Minutes'' and ''You're Welcome'' with friend Patience Hodgson from indie pop rock band

The Grates The Grates were an Australian indie rock band that formed in Brisbane, Queensland in 2002. They were brought to national attention in 2004 when a demo of their single "Trampoline" received airplay on radio station Triple J. Their first two albu ...

. Both podcasts debuted at number two on the Australian iTunes Podcasts chart.

Personal life

Buttle currently resides in Brisbane and is managed by Token Artists.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buttle, Mel 1982 births Living people Australian women comedians Writers from Queensland Australian LGBT entertainers I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! (Australian TV series) participants People educated at St Margaret's Anglican Girls' School