CODEX O’HEALEY MELCHER is a writer, folklorist, and insufferable historical gossip.

They graduated from Denver’s Lighthouse Writers Workshop’s Book Project in 2025 and were published in the anthology "All The Lives We Ever Lived, Vol. 5" in December 2024.

Formerly, Codex was the producer and host of the podcast Tomefoolery (featured in The Stranger and Queerty.com), co-Head Writer of the live talk show Talk Hard at ComedySportz (named in The Chicago Reader’s Best of Chicago 2012), and a regular contributor to the infamous live magazine The Paper Machete.

Their parody/satire production Star-Spangled Sitcoms: Huzzah & John Adams was featured in The Chicago RedEye and was called “clever and relatable” and “a master combination of American history and American television” by the Loyola Phoenix. They performed two shows at The Indianapolis Fringe Festival and their live essay show In Falsitas Veritas was released as a book and album in 2017.

As a comedian and emcee, they performed at clubs, events, and festivals all over the country (and Sweden) and was a Finalist in The Advocate’s National Queer Comedy Search and the 2016 NYC Laughing Devil Comedy Festival.

“…ridiculously zesty…” — The Chicago Tribune

“…brought gales of laughter from the audience…the likable Melcher endeared [themself] to an audience that clearly appreciated [Codex's] quirkiness,” — Examiner.com

“Best Comedian With an Encyclopedic Point Of Reference That Also Includes The Facts Behind the Cottingley Fairies Hoax.” — MAD Magazine’s Former Senior Editor Dan Telfer