Michelle Buteau's plus-size comedy is sexy, joyful and real

22:45Michelle Buteau’s plus-size comedy is sexy, joyful and real

Women are often made to think that once their 20s are over, they're past their prime — stuck in the same unfulfilling career or mediocre relationship for the rest of their lives.

But comedian Michelle Buteau thinks it's never too late to start over.

In an interview with Q's Tom Power, Buteau says her Netflix series Survival of the Thickest, which is now in Season 2, is a testament to anyone who feels like a bit of a "hot mess." Based on her book of the same name, the show follows Mavis (Buteau), a stylist navigating single life in New York City after finding out her boyfriend is cheating on her. 

According to Buteau, every woman in her family, including herself, has been cheated on. She's become all too familiar with what it looks like to rebuild your life, and the show is her way of helping other women make peace with change, no matter what stage of life they're in.

"You figure out your voice, figure out who you are and keep it moving," she says.

Survival of the Thickest also centres body positivity in a way that Buteau never got to see when she was growing up. Mavis is unapologetically sexy and proud of her body, curves and all.

"When I was growing up, plus-size women were shunned, they were made fun of, they were the butt of the joke," Buteau tells Power. "Just because you gain some weight or you're a bigger person doesn't mean you're unhealthy, doesn't mean you're useless, doesn't mean that you're not sexy. And if we're not showing that, how do we know?"

While representation matters to the people seeing themselves on-screen, it's also important for people who don't necessarily relate to the characters.

"That's what diversity is," Buteau says. "That's what comedy should do. It should reel you in and teach you and make you want to hang out with us."

Survival of the Thickest is all about highlighting the joys of being a plus-size woman, but Buteau points out that she often finds herself having to work through some painful memories before being able to write jokes about them.

Before going into stand-up comedy, she worked in a New York newsroom — she had wanted to go into entertainment reporting, but a professor told her she was too fat to be on camera.

"I believed him because I was raised not to question authority and I didn't see anyone like me [on-screen]," she says.

Instead, she decided to work behind the scenes, editing video footage. Buteau managed to bring a lighter energy to the workplace, and people were telling her to seriously consider pursuing stand-up comedy as a career. It wasn't until she was working in the newsroom during the Sept. 11 attacks, combing through horrific footage and thinking about what the coming weeks at this job could mean for her, that she decided to take a leap of faith.

Three days later, she did her first stand-up set.

"It was like group therapy," she says. "I just remember thinking, 'Oh man, I feel good, I feel happy, I feel alive … I'm sharing a warm connection with people. We don't know what the hell we're doing, but we're just trying to get through it."

The world of comedy came with its own set of standards, as female comedians are often treated like an anomaly. Over time, Buteau taught herself that it was OK to take up space, learning to be sure of her own worth and letting go of people who weren't able to see it too.

"I do think comedy has saved me in more ways than one," she says. "It forces you to work through your pain…. I started advocating for myself, asking for things [and] calling people out by their name. I've got the microphone. I'm doing my thing."

The full interview with Michelle Buteau is available on our podcast, Q with Tom Power. Listen and follow wherever you get your podcasts.

Interview with Michelle Buteau produced by Vanessa Nigro.