Netflix's Funniest New Heroine Is Here

Survival Of The Funniest

Mavis Beaumont, a struggling stylist who is newly single, tries to rebuild her life with a little help from her friends, writes Joshua Muyiwa.

NETFLIX'S’s Survival of the Thickest finally gives comedian Michelle Buteau her flowers. In this eight-part comedy, Buteau is front and centre. She deserves it: Buteau is funny — the kind of funny that has me remembering her joke weeks later and laughing in a public place. (First softly, then loudly — there are way too many startled auto rickshaw drivers in my city to count.) If her cutting, colourful commentary on Netflix’s The Circle makes it worth the watch, her stand-up special — Welcome to Buteaupia — is the full serving, where she tells hilarious tales of bathing slippery babies and being married to a Dutchman, to learning she’s “an achievable Beyoncé” and working on Marry Me with JLo.

Not surprisingly, Buteau brings that same observational wit, humour and steal-a-scene energy to Survival of the Thickest. This series is based on Buteau’s book of essays and has been adapted for television by Buteau and Danielle Sanchez-Witzel. This sense of ownership on the material makes sure that the show is gentle with its characters while they make their way through normal, messy situations in their lives. They don’t seem to have the entire answer but the parts of it that they do, feel correct.

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By Joshua Muyiwa

Here’s the plot: Buteau is Mavis Beaumont, a fashion stylist who wants to dress larger bodies of women, queer and non-binary people to bring out their best. We meet her when she’s working as an MVP assistant to a dictatorial, diva lead stylist. One day, a desperation to pee in the privacy of her own bathroom while scurrying around the city like a task rabbit leads to the discovery that her photographer husband Jacque is cheating on her, in their bed, with a model. Mavis moves out and into a shared apartment with a quirky flatmate Jade who is convinced that olive oil is the solution to all of life’s troubles. There’s also a cat, Coco — short for Cocaine Xavier, of course.

In these dire straits, Mavis leans on her two best friends — Khalil (played by the salt-and-pepper bearded Tone Bell), a recovering “fuck-man” finding his way through his first serious relationship; and Marley (played by the statuesquely beautiful Tasha Smith), a corporate badass hesitantly exploring her sexuality. Buteau, Bell and Smith have a delightful, delicious and devilish charge between them, which works as the perfect strong spine that strings together this series. They have an ease with each other that allows for them to shift gears between a shoulder to cry on, a shot of the tough truth, absolute adoration, Judge Judy and even the guaranteed conspiratorial eye roll of such friendships. It feels like hanging out with these three might even be fun. The friendship of the trio is one of the true pleasures of Survival of the Thickest.

There are other cameos that sparkle: reality television star Garcelle Beauvais plays Natasha, a former supermodel who hires Mavis to style her for husband’s funeral, which turns into a viral moment. And there’s fellow comedian Nicole Byer from Netflix’s Nailed It! and RuPaul’s Drag Race alum Peppermint who bring believable banter to the show.

It feels rather silly to congratulate Survival of the Thickest for making Mavis’ weight simply another element of the show rather than building the whole show around it. Mavis is never ashamed of her body but dresses confidently to accentuate her best bits. She dates “normal” men who aren’t treating her like a fetish. Unlike other shows where this might have been an important narrative point, here it isn’t made extraordinary. Even Jacque’s infidelity isn’t ever pinned on Mavis’ weight. She is just beautiful, has great taste, is infectiously enthusiastic, whip smart, funny, good at her job, and sexy. Netflix’s Survival of the Thickest is that rare television show — and a comedy at that, which meaningfully makes Mavis the heroine, and it’s a treat to follow her adventures.

The shortcoming of the show is its need to play with so many possible tangents and political topics. This isn’t entirely a bad thing for most series but squeezing so much into such a short format does show. Survival of the Thickest just needed more wiggle room. Here’s hoping in the second season, they make those subtle alterations to an already good show. Buteau deserves this other bouquet too.

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