Taking a seat at the crowded table of Netflix stand-up specials, Michelle Buteau does have one thing to help her stand out: She's not transphobic. As Netflix continues to lean harder into anti-trans comedy specials, Buteau took a swing at the head of the table in her new special, Michelle Buteau: A Buteau-ful Mind At Radio City Music Hall. Following a run about her Black lesbian friend, Buteau argued that it was possible to tell jokes about sensitive subjects that need "not disparage a whole community" for the sake of a weak punchline—her prime example: Dave Chappelle. "We can do that. We can make it funny," Buteau says in the special.
However, Buteau doesn't ignore the elephant in the room, which is that writing a joke is harder than coasting on biases. "We just have to work at it, right?" Buteau says. "So, if you ever run into Dave Chappelle, can you let him know that shit? I don't think he knows that shit." Additionally, Buteau has taken to referring to Chappelle as "the GOAT," a slightly awkward acronym for "going off about trans people." Still, it's much easier and more lucrative to endanger the lives of marginalized people, especially at a time when anti-trans sentiment is driving actual policy and what the Human Rights Campaign calls an "epidemic of violence" against the transgender community. Chappelle's brand of anti-trans comedy fits in line with Netflix's comedy specials, which have taken a hard-right turn in the last few years despite the disgust from Netflix employees. With specials from Joe Rogan, Ricky Gervais, Tom Segura, Tim Dillion, and Shane Gillis, there's no shortage of transphobic comedy for fans to clap along to. Meanwhile, Buteau joins Will & Harper as the few non-transphobic comedy offerings on the world's biggest streamer.
"Dave, it's not funny, it's dangerous," she says. "Make it funny. I can't believe somebody would make millions and millions of dollars for making people feel unsafe. That is so wild to me, truly. I'm manifesting this shit tonight. This is a Radio City Music Hall takeover, and I'm gonna tell everybody I wanna make millions and millions of dollars for making people feel safe, seen, secure, heard, and entertained."
