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Michelle Buteau stole the spotlight on the August 21, 2025, episode of Celebrity Family Feud, where she and her squad crushed Fifth Harmony’s Normani in true game-show glory.
The 48-year-old comedian and actress showed up with her trademark mix of sass and charm, playing for The Trevor Project while reminding everyone why she’s become such a beloved face on screen.
Born July 24, 1977, in Hamilton Township, New Jersey, Buteau has managed to build a career out of doing everything from stand-up and hosting to acting and writing, and doing it well. Her team’s blowout win proved that her lightning-fast humor works just as well on survey questions as it does on stage.
Joining her on set were her husband, Gijs van der Most, and other family members, who gamely jumped into the friendly chaos of Steve Harvey’s format.
The whole premise of Celebrity Family Feud is simple: celebrities answer survey questions for charity cash. Buteau made it look bigger by emphasising LGBTQ+ youth and suicide prevention initiatives.
Watching her turn foolish responses into razor-sharp punchlines proved what has been true throughout her career: Michelle Buteau makes people laugh while making a point, whether she's behind a microphone, in front of a camera, or in writing.
Michelle Buteau’s journey so far explored
Michelle Buteau comes from a rich multicultural heritage that influences her comedy. Her father is Haitian with Lebanese ancestry, while her mother is Jamaican with French roots. She grew up in New Jersey before attending Florida International University. There, she studied television production with dreams of becoming an entertainment reporter.
After college, Michelle Buteau worked as a local TV news producer in New York City. She often pulled overnight shifts, covering breaking news stories for television broadcasts. Her colleagues frequently commented on her natural humor during work. They encouraged her to try stand-up comedy, though she initially resisted the suggestion.
For Michelle Buteau, comedy started as an escape hatch. After years of covering dark headlines, the September 11 attacks pushed her over the edge. Just three days later, she grabbed a mic for the first time, trading breaking news for punchlines. Five years of late nights and small clubs later, she snagged her first TV spot on Comedy Central, and suddenly the industry started paying attention.
By 2017, Esquire had Michelle Buteau on their “comedians to watch” list, and the following year she launched her podcast Late Night Whenever!, which Time crowned one of the best of 2018.
Netflix jumped on board soon after, featuring her in The Comedy Lineup, a showcase that introduced her to audiences worldwide. She didn’t stop there; by 2019, she was co-hosting WNYC’s Adulting with Jordan Carlos, tossing out hilarious but practical takes on everyday life.
That same year, she made a sprint into film and TV with roles in Someone Great, Isn’t It Romantic, Always Be My Maybe, First Wives Club, and Tales of the City. Each part proved she wasn’t just funny, she could nail heartfelt moments, too. When Netflix tapped her to host The Circle in 2020, she went from comic to full-on TV personality.
Fast forward to 2024, and she was stealing scenes again, this time in Pamela Adlon’s Babes as Dawn, the main character’s ride-or-die friend. Critics loved her performance, cementing her as more than a comic relief sidekick. Buteau’s career arc is proof that walking away from the news desk and into the spotlight was the right call; she’s been thriving on her own terms ever since.
Michelle Buteau’s achievements and family life
In 2020, Michelle Buteau dropped Survival of the Thickest, a book full of essays that mixed laugh-out-loud humor with honesty. Critics loved it, and Netflix loved it even more, turning the book into a show in 2023 with Buteau calling the shots and starring in it herself. Not long before that, her Netflix special Welcome to Buteaupia snagged a Critics’ Choice Award, officially placing her in the comedy big leagues.
Life offstage is just as busy. She married Dutch photographer Gijs van der Most in 2010, and they are still going strong. They had twins, Hazel and Otis, via gestational surrogacy in 2019, a process Buteau has publicly discussed, combining candour and humour in a way only she can. Van der Most may prefer to remain behind the camera, but he still appears with her on red carpets and at award presentations.
And of course, her family finds their way into her stand-up too, turning parenthood and marriage into punchlines that hit because they’re both super specific and totally relatable. That’s the Buteau secret. She makes you laugh, then makes you feel seen.
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Celebrity Family Feud airs Sundays at 8/7c on ABC and streams the next day on Hulu.
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