Michelle Buteau Finds A Lifeline In Humor

Fresh Air

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Tv & Film, Arts, Society & Culture, Books

4.4 • 34.4K Ratings

🗓️ 26 June 2024

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Buteau says covering the news of the 2001 terrorist attacks crystalized her desire to go into comedy. She spoke with Tonya Mosley about her journey to the stage, needing humor in dark times, and proving her college professor wrong. She stars in the film Babes and in the Netflix series Survival of the Thickest.

Also, Ken Tucker shares three summer songs he's had on repeat.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, this is Olivia Alan Price, host of Bay Curious.
0:04.0	The podcast that explores the San Francisco Bay Area one question at a time.
0:09.0	Whether you just moved here or have lived here your whole life, our show will teach you new things about the Bay Area. Check out Bay Curious, a podcast from KQED, part of the NPR Network.
0:22.0	This is Fresh Air, I'm Tanya Mosley.
0:24.0	In the days after September 11th, 2001,
0:28.0	Michelle Buto made a life-changing move.
0:31.0	She was working overnight as a TV news editor when she decided to take a leap and do stand-up comedy.
0:36.0	For years, her coworkers had been telling her she was funny,
0:40.0	but it would take one of the most tragic events in U.S. history
0:42.0	to give her the courage to take the step into comedy.
0:46.0	23 years later, Michelle Buto is booked and busy.
0:50.0	She has her own show on Netflix, survival of the thickest, a semi-autobiographical comedy
0:55.7	that will soon enter its second season. And this summer she stars in the new film,
1:00.1	Babes, with Alana Glazer. The two who are friends in real life play best friends on their
1:05.4	journey to motherhood. In this scene Eden played by Glazer has taken several pregnancy
1:10.7	tests and can't believe the results keep showing up positive.
1:14.6	Her best friend Dawn, played by Michelle Buto, has recently given birth herself, and as she's
1:19.8	pumping for breast milk, she gives her friend a dose of reality.
1:24.2	Alana Glazer speaks first.
1:26.7	I'm stinking.
1:28.9	Maybe, just maybe, I am a pregnant person.
1:34.0	I'm 28 for 28. I could do a 29th.
	...

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