Michelle Buteau, an American comedian, actor, television host, and podcast host, has a starring role in the new film “Marry Me,” which also stars Jennifer Lopez, Owen Wilson, and Sarah Silverman. The film, which is directed by Kat Coiro, tells the story of a musical superstar named “Kat Valdez,” played by Lopez, and a math teacher, “Charlie Gilbert” played by Wilson, as two strangers who agree to get married and then get to know one another. As the story develops, a romance arises between the two different people who are looking for something real in an environment marked by relationships based on perceptions gleaned via social media.
Buteau noted that the best thing about working on the film was being with so many dynamic women, and she had only praise for Jennifer Lopez, who was integrally involved with the film’s production. She also said she felt the difference being directed by a woman and in a cast with diversity. She remembered that when she was growing up, she did not see people like herself in the movies, but now, with Lopez and Maluma living their dreams on stage and being good people represented more than a movie< “It’s a movement,” she added.
Buteau was born in 1977 in New Jersey. Her father is of Haitian and Lebanese descent, and her mother is a Jamaican of French descent. Buteau attended Florida State University where she was studying for a career in journalism before deciding to move into comedy. She began her pursuit of a comedy career just a few days after the tragedy of September 11, 2001. After five years of stand-up work, she appeared on television for the first time on Comedy Central, and by 2017, she was listed by Esquire magazine as one of its “ten comedians to watch.” She became the host of the “Late Night Whenever” podcast in 2018, a broadcast named one of the best of 2018 by Time magazine. She was also a member of “The Comedy Lineup” on Netflix. Her film career began in 2019 when she made appearances in several movies, including “Someone Great,” “Isn’t It Romantic,” “Sell By,” and “Always Be My Maybe.” The year 2019 brought more exposure for Buteau when she started hosting the “Adulting” podcast on WNYC with co-host Jordan Carlos and appeared in two television series – “First Wives Club” and “Tales of the City.”
In 2020, Buteau began hosting “The Circle,” a reality television show from Netflix. She also published her first book, a collection of personal essays titled “Survival of the Thickest” in that year. In 2021, her show “Buteau’s Michelle Buteau: Welcome to Buteaupia” won a Critics’ Choice Television Award in the Best Comedy Special category.
Buteau has no problem staying busy. The “Marry Me” film was released on February 11, 2022, and the comedian signed a new deal with Netflix for a series based on her novel “Survival of the Thickest.” With the series, she hopes to represent “curvy and thicker women” through honesty, which she is hoping will prompt “difficult conversations.” The show will be based on her own experiences, and she says she wants to find “humor through pain.”
Photo – Amazon/Netflix
