Rating: 5 out of 5.
Alternative comedian Mel McGlensey is no stranger to the Adelaide Fringe, having toured her previous hit show, Motorboat, here in the past two years, even picking up a couple of awards in 2024 and a league of devoted fans too!

Mel is back in 2026 with her new game-based show Mel McGlensey is Normal, and I knew instantly this show would be at the top of my list to review! Shockingly, the real Mel has been trapped inside of a simulation. To escape, she must work with the robotic simulation of herself, aka Nor-Mel, and be normal for one hour to be released. But what exactly is normal?

With the guidance of the crowd, Nor-Mel works her way through various stages of the simulation, with a vote that determines which task is performed during each stage. At the end of the stage, the task is given a normal score based on how normal the task was. Simple, yeah?

The show begins with a quick run down from Nor-Mel, on how the next hour will play out. Audience participation features heavily in the show and is a key part of the journey, with some audience members having important roles, such as the penalty person, who must throw a yellow flag on the stage if things get to not normal! But realistically, nothing in this show is close to normal!

In all honesty, this show is absolutely genius! Co-created with game designer Douglas Wilson, the show is driven by an actual video game engine. It takes different inputs, such as the volume of the crowd’s cheers, applause for voting, or the normality scores to create a choose your own adventure style clown show and determine whether the simulation was a success or a failure.

Because of this, it makes every show a completely unique experience, and an even wilder ride each time!

I absolutely loved this show! If you know Mel’s previous works, you’d have an idea what to expect with her oddball and whacky humour, and it linked in so well with the video game aspect of the show. Each task had the whole crowd on a hook and erupting with laughter or squirming with discomfort, because best you beware, not every task is as straight forward as it may sound.

Mel McGlensey is Normal is such a unique and crazy idea, I’ve never seen a show like this before. It’s no easy feat to pull this off too, it is a risky move and could have fallen flat, but Mel nails the execution and is the perfect performer for this show. Mel has honed her skills over the years and became one of the best crowd workers I’ve ever experienced, with top notch improv skills and comedic timing like no one else!

I truly can’t recommend Mel McGlensey is Normal enough, it needs to be experienced! And if you come out of this thinking that’s all normal, you need to question some things…

Mel McGlensey is Normal’s season is currently on at The Bally at Gluttony and runs until March 1st.
For more information and ticketing, visit:
https://adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/mel-mcglensey-is-normal-af2026
https://www.instagram.com/melmcglensey