Michelle Buteau is long overdue for her moment.
Although fans may recognize her from BET’s First Wives Club, Always Be My Maybe, or Key and Peele, one glance at Buteau’s IMDb page, and you’ll realize that she’s been in everything. Buteau’s frank humor and undeniable charm have mostly relegated her to “sassy and strong” sidekick roles, but that’s about to change.
The stand-up comedian, actress, and author can now add executive producer, showrunner, and screenwriter to her list of growing credits. Her best-selling book of essays Survival of the Thickest is now a new and promising Netflix series.
And it’s out to turn the concept of the romantic comedy on its head.
Why you oughta know Michelle Buteau…
Credit: Netflix
In 2020, while most of us adapted to working at home in pajamas over Zoom, Buteau built a prosperous relationship with Netflix. In January, she debuted as the host of The Circle, a social media reality show hybrid of Big Brother and Catfish. Then, in September, Buteau released her Netflix comedy special Michelle Buteau: Welcome to Buteaupia, in which she delivers her signature blend of observational humor and personal anecdotes, chronicling parenthood, marriage, career, and literally “falling on her boobs.” No less than three months later, Buteau’s book Survival of the Thickest dropped.
In 2021, executive producer Danielle Sanchez-Witzel (New Girl, The Carmichael Show) struck an overall production deal with Netflix(opens in a new tab), and one of her first projects was adapting Buteau’s book into a series with A24’s Ravi Nandan and Alli Reich. (Buteau also co-starred in Marry Me alongside Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson in February of 2022 — and is in talks for several other projects.)
Survival of the Thickest, the series, is less of an adaptation of the essays in the book specifically, and more inspired by Buteau’s body of work. The show introduces us to Mavis Beaumont (played by Buteau), a New York City fashion assistant…
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