YouSaid · the spoken record

Michelle Buteau

lines on the record: 49
first: 2025-03-31
most recent: 2025-03-31
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“Like a few hundred people that make movies, and it's just like that, you know, I can make a movie too. So I just feel like for me, the thing I want to do is be working, is to be an artist, to create, to executive produce my own shit, to give people a voice to tell their stories, to uplift people, to change their resume, to make sure that people who have not had access to things have them get them in the room, give them confidence to believe that they can do it. And while I'm also, hello, making money too, let's go, you know, to really create some generational wealth so we can have some generational health, period. So there isn't one title because the title is Michelle Buteau. Hello?”
2025-03-31 · On with Kara Swisher · Michelle Buteau on Comedy, Community and Calling Out Dave Chappelle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Oh my goodness, I just sort of had this conversation with one of my really good friends last night. A title like late night or talk show hosts, like daytime show host, or movie star, I feel like that shit's limiting. And by saying movie star, then I'm like giving my power over to”
2025-03-31 · On with Kara Swisher · Michelle Buteau on Comedy, Community and Calling Out Dave Chappelle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Especially when people are saying, We want you to be happy. I'm like, do you? Then this would make me happy. If I can't do that, how do we come to some sort of like happy medium? But and if people are just like, oh, I don't get it or that's not funny is it's like, oh my God, okay. Then it's my job to figure out, you know, how to make it funny and for you to get. So I don't mind taking notes and going back to the drawing board because, you know, it's not personal. It's like, you know, it's a living organism is always going to like change and grow and all that stuff. But like for me, I want to be in it. I want to know. I want to know who you are and what you think. And I want to be a part of the process. So being selfish for me is like getting up in it because people are so different when we're not in the room.”
2025-03-31 · On with Kara Swisher · Michelle Buteau on Comedy, Community and Calling Out Dave Chappelle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That's so interesting. So there's nothing that I don't want to do when it comes to my So being selfish for me is putting my foot in it and doing all of it. I want to be a part of all those conversations. I want to be a part of all those meetings. I want to see how people are talking about black, brown and queer background hair and makeup department. I want to be a part of all of it. And I think Especially running two seasons of my own show, which is like so amazing, right? I love being in the rooms because working with people, they always say, but they want they want. It's just like, okay, we are the day. So start saying we What do we want? What do we want to do? And so, you know, the thing I won't do for sure is try to make other people happy.”
2025-03-31 · On with Kara Swisher · Michelle Buteau on Comedy, Community and Calling Out Dave Chappelle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“What, you know, and everyone, and like even this chick Michelle that was in season two, like she started barbecuing because her father passed away and it was her and her sisters and every Sunday he would barbecue and they missed him and they missed the Sunday barbecue. So she taught herself how to barbecue and it's just all these stories. So anyways, all this to say connection like if I can be sassy and friendly and a little shady, then that's like my sweet spot.”
2025-03-31 · On with Kara Swisher · Michelle Buteau on Comedy, Community and Calling Out Dave Chappelle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“But also, like, how can I make the most money in the shortest amount of time and feel inspired? I love connection. And so what I loved about barbecue showdown, it's like, you know, UC barbecue, but once you get in there with the pits, it's like people are reclaiming their ancestors' stories through a recipe, you know. This guy that won Firen in season two, I've never met like a black man from Appalachia. And the first time he had barbecue, his mom was so poor. She found a discarded refrigerator and learned how to smoke meat in it.”
2025-03-31 · On with Kara Swisher · Michelle Buteau on Comedy, Community and Calling Out Dave Chappelle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Absolutely not. I'm not working from a place of fear. Fuck that. No, if no, no. I've worked too hard on myself and in my credit. No. And it's too important. No. No. Edit yourself No. No, so many people edit themselves and they do what they think they should be doing and then they beat themselves up. Know when it doesn't get a second season or get green lit, and it's just like. No, I need to sleep at night, and if I'm not doing what I know I need to do, what my intuition tells me I need to do, then I'm not going to sleep. So, no, working from a place of fear is don't do if you're an artist, get over that shit real quick.”
2025-03-31 · On with Kara Swisher · Michelle Buteau on Comedy, Community and Calling Out Dave Chappelle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I can't say that I see a difference because it's always been hard. Just always been hard Trying to get shit greenlit, period. But I really hope not. I really hope Netflix is like, no, we are international. We are behind, you know, every voice, you know, for better or for worse, whatever that means. And so I really hope not. And this is the beauty of stand up because it's like no matter what, like I always have the power to do what I want to do and say what I want to say. Now, you know, depending on what platform will have me, but I'm just like, I don't even want to speak it into existence because I'm scared. I'm really scared.”
2025-03-31 · On with Kara Swisher · Michelle Buteau on Comedy, Community and Calling Out Dave Chappelle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“A lot of white kids lose their innocence when they find out Santa's not real. But what about the little Afro-Latina and black and brown kids that lose their innocence when they've been called a nigger on the playground when they're five or six? And so It's not a shared experience, but we can, and I like to overcommunicate, we can talk about it. And, you know, and if you're open to it, we can understand each other.”
2025-03-31 · On with Kara Swisher · Michelle Buteau on Comedy, Community and Calling Out Dave Chappelle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“But yeah, it's sort of like it's this thing where you've never had to think about anybody else. And so for someone like me, a little light skinned a thick Caribbean gal in central Jersey going to an all-white school, I've had to think about me. I've had to think about my family that is darker than me. I've had to think about my Chinese and Indian family. And I've had to figure out how to like move in a white space since I was like in first grade. And sort of explain why my hair does this. I have vocabulary about hair density at seven and eight, you know. It was so important to me in season one, episode five to put in the show the first time I was called the N-word. Because that is a story that so many people can relate to. Everyone's got that story, and you definitely lose your innocence, you know.”
2025-03-31 · On with Kara Swisher · Michelle Buteau on Comedy, Community and Calling Out Dave Chappelle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I think it's because so many I don't want to generalize, but a lot of white Americans, just like saying Americans, because I know some Europeans too, but let's just say that never have to think outside of themselves. They never have to think outside of their five block radius. And they will always be protected. Social situations without anyone even knowing the moment before, they are protected, whether it's in a kindergarten class, whether it's on a football field, whether it's late at night, whatever it is. Are always protected. Excuse me. So sorry, I'm allergic to racism. Yeah, I have allergies. It's called Fox and Friends.”
2025-03-31 · On with Kara Swisher · Michelle Buteau on Comedy, Community and Calling Out Dave Chappelle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“When I see that, I'm just like, okay, I get to have a show. It's going to be the biggest, the blackest, the queerest, the baddest, the sexiest shit you have ever seen. Because everything is feeling like a takeover.”
2025-03-31 · On with Kara Swisher · Michelle Buteau on Comedy, Community and Calling Out Dave Chappelle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Lit up, and as a street woman, I'm lit up. And I'm like, what is happening? And so Look, do I think it made a difference in her life? I don't know, but I know I feel better about it. And I wrote a joke about it. Yeah, sometimes you just got to say the thing and no one to walk away.”
2025-03-31 · On with Kara Swisher · Michelle Buteau on Comedy, Community and Calling Out Dave Chappelle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, it's so wild. Like, you know, it's so wild when you feel like you're an adult and, you know, you know how to protect your peace and you're not gonna like, you know, participate in road rage, but some people just push your button sometimes. They get the right moment, the perfect storm with no George Clooney. Right. And I got like the Jersey Mall parking lot in the back of my throat, and I'm just like, are we doing this? Am I a DMX song? Are you really coming for me? But it was bigger picture because I knew exactly, it's just like woke Okay, it really felt like I was on a Megan Kelly podcast. I was like, let me just tell you something. Like, I can't even imagine what it would be like as a non binary or trans person trying to defend yourself to somebody. Like that is so insane because I'm lit up.”
2025-03-31 · On with Kara Swisher · Michelle Buteau on Comedy, Community and Calling Out Dave Chappelle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“The tour guide was like so happy. He's like, she never does this. She trusts you. She loves you. And I was like, she sure do. But honestly, right now it's giving they them. Just being on the real, real And then I heard a voice in the pack of camoufl saying You want them woke ones? And so, you know, I'm a little high. And I go, what'd you say? I couldn't hear you three or four good teeth. Don't come for me unless I send for you, bit You know, people don't think that I can be mean because it is giving jolly, you know, bag fat, freckles, you know what I mean?”
2025-03-31 · On with Kara Swisher · Michelle Buteau on Comedy, Community and Calling Out Dave Chappelle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, and because there's like so many sick people in my family, I know that we're not promised tomorrow. And so I'm just like, I am who I am. I'm going to stand on business. It's going to be hard. It hurts my feelings. I move on. It doesn't determine my worth or happiness. And I'm doing it for those people that need it, you know, because I... That one voice matters, you know what I mean? Like, if I can make someone feel. Better scene, then that's all that matters. And, you know, the DMs that people send me or the stories that they... Tell to my bloated freckled face at 4 a.m. in the airport. I do appreciate.”
2025-03-31 · On with Kara Swisher · Michelle Buteau on Comedy, Community and Calling Out Dave Chappelle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It's life. You know, I told Netflix from Jump I want to show my version of New York City. And this is my, you know, like I grew up in New York City in my 20s, my 30s. And now it's just like, I love sex in the city. I love friends. I love Seinfeld. But I'm just like, y'all don't have one Puerto Rican Y'all live in New York City? That's crazy. Not one black. Not one girl. What is going on? So, like. Yeah, I'm like, we're not going to a diner. We're going to the drag bar.”
2025-03-31 · On with Kara Swisher · Michelle Buteau on Comedy, Community and Calling Out Dave Chappelle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You know, because these people are like really rich and they get to say whatever they want to say, then they go on their private jets and they talk to who they're going to talk to and they have, yes, people around them and everybody works for them. And they go home and they're safe. No, we have to be out in the world. We have to walk down that street and get ourselves home. We have to be on the subway. Know, and people are like looking up to these people and listening to them, whether they're a politician or musician or a comedian. And so”
2025-03-31 · On with Kara Swisher · Michelle Buteau on Comedy, Community and Calling Out Dave Chappelle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And culture makes a difference. Look at Kendrick Lamar's halftime show Okay, you can do that. I'm not saying everybody's got to, you know, stand on business and be political all the time. But like if you're going to say something. At least make it funny.”
2025-03-31 · On with Kara Swisher · Michelle Buteau on Comedy, Community and Calling Out Dave Chappelle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That's not even how comedy really works. And so a lot of these comedians who are just like, you can't say anything anymore. You can. Just make it funny. Put the work in. You can do it. You've done it before. By the way, y'all were woke 20, 25 years ago. Don't forget that. I think it's really egregious to say. Horrible things, not just a lot of people, like it's okay to say these really egregious things about people who cannot defend themselves, people who are trying to live their life stand in their truth, and you have the government saying you don't exist and you shouldn't exist, that's insane.”
2025-03-31 · On with Kara Swisher · Michelle Buteau on Comedy, Community and Calling Out Dave Chappelle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I feel like once you're given the opportunity. Speak your mind on a platform, then be responsible and do that. And so I can show up and be funny and write jokes and not offend. But it's not about that. It's about making people think. Have some thought provoking anything. I really had to say something because it is dangerous. People are being rewarded for that. And I'm just like. And the internet really tried to hand my ass back to me, you know, and it's like. The same parallel with this administration is just like why do you get to say the most egregious, but I can't put my hand up and say, I do not agree. That's dangerous too. Why would you punch down on a marginalized community?”
2025-03-31 · On with Kara Swisher · Michelle Buteau on Comedy, Community and Calling Out Dave Chappelle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“this shit tonight this is a radio city music hall takeover and i'm gonna tell everybody i want to make millions and millions of dollars for making people feel safe seen secure heard and entertained”
2025-03-31 · On with Kara Swisher · Michelle Buteau on Comedy, Community and Calling Out Dave Chappelle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You know, I think around college I came up with this mantra for myself and it was dating, but it actually applies to the industry if you don't want to hear from me, you're going to hear about me. And so I moved on and I started the pound puppy cabbage bash kid club. And I invited four or five girls”
2025-03-31 · On with Kara Swisher · Michelle Buteau on Comedy, Community and Calling Out Dave Chappelle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You put your heart and soul out there, and someone's like, I don't know, not for me. It's like, you can't even appreciate the thing I made. She's very mother-in-law at Thanksgiving. It's like, but taste it, you know.”
2025-03-31 · On with Kara Swisher · Michelle Buteau on Comedy, Community and Calling Out Dave Chappelle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“This is going to be really fun, and I get to be artistic. And then also I was rejected. I was like, okay, got it. You don't want to hear from me? That's weird. Such like a moment for what this career is.”
2025-03-31 · On with Kara Swisher · Michelle Buteau on Comedy, Community and Calling Out Dave Chappelle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That's a great question. Yeah. This is so ridiculous Maybe I was seven or eight and I lived on a cul de sac in Jersey. And instead of just drawing, I made like a little magazine because I found the stapler and I was like, oh, I could put it together. And then I decided to make a bunch of magazines. And I called it head over heels. And I had like a severed head and a shoe. I was very literal. And then I would kind of write stories about all the happenings on the cul-de-sac. Like so-and-so's dog pooped. So-and-so's like doing their pullover. And I would put it in everybody's mailbox. And at one point, the neighbors asked my parents for me to stop putting stuff in their mailbox. But I just remember thinking, this is so fun. I didn't understand what community organizing was then, but I was like, I'm going to bring everyone together.”
2025-03-31 · On with Kara Swisher · Michelle Buteau on Comedy, Community and Calling Out Dave Chappelle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Oh my goodness, you know that saying you are the company you keep. I do think it's the same in comedy. What I love is about comedy is like it's such a motley crew. It's such a ragtag of like fuckery. And you're really forced to be in a space with some of that you ordinarily would never hang out with. And the common theme is how do we make funny? We've all been through a lot. Everyone's been through a lot, but we recognize it and we talk about it, you know, and we just see the world a different way. And so I actually miss going to comedy clubs and hanging out with people, but I don't miss late nights because I want to be in my bed at 9.30. Can I answer your question? I don't even know.”
2025-03-31 · On with Kara Swisher · Michelle Buteau on Comedy, Community and Calling Out Dave Chappelle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And even the reasons that, because we talked to a bunch of officials, and even the reasons that they were talking about, but is it sex work? And it's just like sex isn't even involved. Like, why are you sexualizing everything? How come alternative family planning is not a priority on your list? Everyone deserves love. And this is like also the themes in my show. Everyone deserves love. It doesn't matter what they look like or how they identify. You know, it's called Humanity, bitch. Look at the fuck up. Like, what are we talking about? And so, like, it was so crazy and beautiful and like just heart-wrenching meeting cancer survivors who were able to save their eggs because they want to, you know, they knew that they want to start a family and they knew that they were going to survive cancer. How are you to say to them, no, like, what are you even...”
2025-03-31 · On with Kara Swisher · Michelle Buteau on Comedy, Community and Calling Out Dave Chappelle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And, you know, if anything, being the only child and going to so many schools has taught me to collaborate well, listen to people, be a team player. It isn't all about me. We can work better together. We're stronger together, recognize when someone doesn't have your back and move on. Don't try to convince a bad person that you're a good person. Because I used to be like, no, no, no, we can do this. No, no, no, we can do this. I'm just like, why am I so upset? And so the manhands of it all, I was like, I mean, I really found my inner Karen. Yeah. You know? And then I stomped with Andy Cohen in New York to overturn gestational circusy.”
2025-03-31 · On with Kara Swisher · Michelle Buteau on Comedy, Community and Calling Out Dave Chappelle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It was like a Costco sized serving of road rage. Just to, you know what I mean? And I feel like no matter what life in the universe is always telling me to share your space, share your heart. Defend people when they need it the most.”
2025-03-31 · On with Kara Swisher · Michelle Buteau on Comedy, Community and Calling Out Dave Chappelle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And I remember she had to go to another doctor at the end, and she started to bleed. Because he was rough, and she was pretty. And I was just, it felt like someone just lit me up. I wanted to run to Pennsylvania at that point.”
2025-03-31 · On with Kara Swisher · Michelle Buteau on Comedy, Community and Calling Out Dave Chappelle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Because I wasn't able to carry, so we had a surrogate. And so it felt so outside of my body because surrogacy was illegal in New York. So we went to the closest state, which was Pennsylvania. Cirros are like walking angels on earth.”
2025-03-31 · On with Kara Swisher · Michelle Buteau on Comedy, Community and Calling Out Dave Chappelle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That's crazy, and I am bending over backwards, killing myself to have health insurance, which is like a luxury in America. And when I even show up, I have to make my male doctor feel comfortable, which is What I love about those scenes that Alana and Josh wrote in babes, it's like even though we are in our most vulnerable positions, legs up, scoot down, why am I scooting down? Why is there even a chair? You know what I mean? I still have to make you.”
2025-03-31 · On with Kara Swisher · Michelle Buteau on Comedy, Community and Calling Out Dave Chappelle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Under attack. Like we were literally fighting to make decisions about our own holes insane. I can't. Oh my God, Mish McConnell and his three chins. Let's just move on. I don't want to body shame his face, but look.”
2025-03-31 · On with Kara Swisher · Michelle Buteau on Comedy, Community and Calling Out Dave Chappelle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Not really kind of tired. I'm actually exhausted. I have been tap dancing for the patriarchy way too long. You know, and we keep talking about a boys club and this, that, and the third. I'm just like, what about the gays and the days? You know, getting back to the whole like Mavis is not going to apologize for being big and being loved on. I have so much in common when I talk to gay men and they talk about like being in high school and the guys that like always really loved him, but we were always a secret. And it's just like, we're not a secret anymore. Say we're as secret is to say something's wrong with us. And I think also for women, especially since our bodies are.”
2025-03-31 · On with Kara Swisher · Michelle Buteau on Comedy, Community and Calling Out Dave Chappelle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, Lona and I were talking about this too. It's so crazy because we were just like, how is this raunchy when it's just the female truth? We realize that females aren't allowed to say things. Don't complain. Don't talk about your body. Be sexy, not too sexy. Be smart, but not too smart. You know, have an opinion, but don't keep talking. And so it's just like we're constantly figuring out how to take our space up, whether it's in a room or like on the subway. I'm really kind of tired of it.”
2025-03-31 · On with Kara Swisher · Michelle Buteau on Comedy, Community and Calling Out Dave Chappelle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Right. I think that that was it. I'm so tired of that Yeah, I think enough people are talking about Ozempic. It was more just like a joke because it's so in the zeitgeist. Do you know what I mean? There's a lot of those little throwaways that mean something, you know. Like deep in the season, I think it's like episode seven or eight. Maybe this gets into it with a fashion designer who has decided to just design skinny bodies. And I remember one of my improv lines that I fought to keep in there was like, Leave dressing skinny white women to Kanye, that's his thing. Everyone's like, oh, we don't know about that. I'm like, I do I do. Leave it in there. You know, it says what it needs to say. We can move on.”
2025-03-31 · On with Kara Swisher · Michelle Buteau on Comedy, Community and Calling Out Dave Chappelle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I think it's more of a general vibe. You know, there's at no point where my character doesn't think she's sexy or worthy of love. And I feel like let's lead by example. You know, it's funny because in the pilot. When my character gets cheated on, she tells her best friend Khalil, like, how dare he leave me for a skinny version of me? And a lot of people were like, uh-oh, here we go. Another big girl feeling sorry for herself. It's like, no, like, she's sorry that this happened and she's sustaining what happened. No point does she think that her size is not beautiful, and that is the main takeaway.”
2025-03-31 · On with Kara Swisher · Michelle Buteau on Comedy, Community and Calling Out Dave Chappelle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“But even editing people and field producing, I was so tired of telling basic people how to have fun. I'm like, where's your joy bitch? Find it. Why are you here?”
2025-03-31 · On with Kara Swisher · Michelle Buteau on Comedy, Community and Calling Out Dave Chappelle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That's true and sort of accepted it. Went into production. So I'm like, well, at least I still get to be a part of the process”
2025-03-31 · On with Kara Swisher · Michelle Buteau on Comedy, Community and Calling Out Dave Chappelle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Oh my goodness, I really want to be an entertainment reporter. I want to be Mary Hart, John Tesh. I want to wear statement lip and have some shoulder pads and give you the news for a half hour after dinner. And that's what I really wanted to do. Because my mom and I loved reading The Inquirer and like. Just having tea time and I went to school in Miami for TV production. And I remember we were going around the class and my professor was like, what do you guys want to do with this degree? And I said, entertainment, journalism and entertainment reporter. And he said, well, you're just simply too fat to be on camera. I was so young, I was like 18 or 19, and I was taught to respect my elders and not question people And so while I was kind of embarrassed, I was also like, he's right. I don't see myself anywhere on TV. So I guess.”
2025-03-31 · On with Kara Swisher · Michelle Buteau on Comedy, Community and Calling Out Dave Chappelle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You have to fight, you have to hustle, you have to listen to your inner voice. You know, intuition is everything. You have to put yourself out there. And then also, I thought being a stylist was a great way to showcase the indiscrepancies in fashion. And, you know, and really being a stylist is serving the stories where everybody deserves to feel loved on and that we don't have to live up to some unrealistic patriarchal standard of beauty. Like even though we don't see ourselves in those magazines, we could see ourselves within each other. And so I thought fashion was a great way to do that too. And then honestly, being a stylist, I was like...”
2025-03-31 · On with Kara Swisher · Michelle Buteau on Comedy, Community and Calling Out Dave Chappelle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I thought being a stylist was such a great parallel to stand up comedy, you know, having parents from the Caribbean, they work so hard to give you everything in a good education And when I told my parents I was doing stand up, they're like, but you still have a job, right? They couldn't wrap their mind around it. And I could see Mavis' parents being like, people can dress themselves. What are you doing? And so there was that. And being a stylist is also one of these great artistic jobs in New York where. You could make no money or make all the money. You could be in a back alley styling someone or like in a penthouse like in two days. It's also one of those jobs much like comedy too where”
2025-03-31 · On with Kara Swisher · Michelle Buteau on Comedy, Community and Calling Out Dave Chappelle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Just keep pitching and writing, or you go to a festival. But it's like, no, pouring your heart and soul out in a bunch of essays about anything.”
2025-03-31 · On with Kara Swisher · Michelle Buteau on Comedy, Community and Calling Out Dave Chappelle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, I mean, I was just like, get it done. I don't know who's going to read it and who cares, you know? I didn't realize that a lot of people were waiting for a lot of IP. Me because I was pitching a lot of stuff. I was writing a lot of stuff, but I realized that I wasn't writing it in my voice. I was writing stuff for what I thought people wanted. And that's why I wasn't able to sell any of it. So when Kristen Zolner, an amazing executive that was at Netflix, and now she's moved on to other stuff, she read it and she was like, this has to be a show. And this is even the name of the show. And I couldn't imagine that that's how a show would get done because I thought you'd do like a really strong stand-up set on Fallon. You know, all of Roseanne Barr or Ellen, you know, and that's how you get your show.”
2025-03-31 · On with Kara Swisher · Michelle Buteau on Comedy, Community and Calling Out Dave Chappelle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So I signed on. I tried and I couldn't really get anything together and I didn't know what I want to share. I was either sharing too much or not enough. I'm like, is this funny? Is this too emotional, too sincere? What's my place? What's my voice on paper? But I had all these stories through podcasting or storytelling shows that didn't fit into straight up stand-up that I was like, these stories mean something and they're wild, but where do they go? And Phoebe Robinson gave me a great piece of advice when she was writing her book that she told me and she didn't make it up, but someone told her write like everyone you know is dead. I don't know that worked for me. I was able to sort of get over my writer's block and just spaghetti theory, that shit.”
2025-03-31 · On with Kara Swisher · Michelle Buteau on Comedy, Community and Calling Out Dave Chappelle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You gotta try, you know what I mean? You gotta try, it doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to be done, and then when I finally was over this IVF journey and brought my twins home. Hospital. I'm like, I think I have time to write a book now that I have twins at home. What was I thinking?”
2025-03-31 · On with Kara Swisher · Michelle Buteau on Comedy, Community and Calling Out Dave Chappelle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I guess it would be like impositive syndrome or something. I don't know what to call it, but I was doing that thing where I was telling myself, no, before other people told me no. And I was like, I don't, what's the point? Which is so, like, I think that's part of the process, and you should feel that. But you got to.”
2025-03-31 · On with Kara Swisher · Michelle Buteau on Comedy, Community and Calling Out Dave Chappelle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“There's a journey. There's a journey, right? And there's like a list that everybody, but, anyways, I want to write a book. I met a book agent, Robert Gunzler, who's working with Phoebe Robinson and Jeannie L. Charay. And I didn't understand what the idea was. I just was like, I have buckets of personality. I want to do something. And this is so long ago. And then I started my IVF journey. And I'm like, I'm busy. I don't have time to do this. And I was doing morning TV on VH1. And he kept checking in. He's like, what's the book? What's the book? At this point, I'm like 2016, 17, 18. I'm like, I don't have time to write a book. Plus like who's going to read it? And so I got into this like.”
2025-03-31 · On with Kara Swisher · Michelle Buteau on Comedy, Community and Calling Out Dave Chappelle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT