3 weeks ago
Atsuko Okatsuka presents arsenic personification who knows precisely who she is and has nary problem expressing it. But successful truth, it’s taken nan comic immoderate clip to travel astir to this place.
These days, she travels nan world trading hundreds of thousands of tickets — an creator whose entreaty knows nary borders. But it was only wrong nan past 5 aliases truthful years that she embarked connected her touring profession successful earnest.
Okatsuka hints astatine her different trajectory in Father, her sophomore typical released connected Hulu past summer, which is being put up for awards information this year.
Calling herself a “late bloomer,” Okatsuka was pain successful Taiwan, spent her early years successful Japan, and came to Los Angeles arsenic a consequence of being kidnapped by a grandma pinch whom she’s very close. After seeing her parents divorcement early successful life, she moved into a car shed pinch her grandma and schizophrenic mother — an undocumented migrant surviving an different mean teen life.
During her teen years successful Los Angeles, Okatsuka recalls stepping by nan El Capitan Theatre and marveling astatine nan beauty of a venue wherever her family couldn’t spend to bargain movie tickets.
“I didn’t situation to dream large arsenic a kid erstwhile I didn’t person nan correct papers to moreover activity here,” Okatsuka says successful today’s section of Comedy Means Business. “I didn’t deliberation I could activity present aliases spell to assemblage aliases get a driver’s license.”
Little did she cognize that with Father, she’d go nan first female comedian to header nan historical L.A. venue.
Given that location wasn’t vulnerability to creation successful Okatsuka’s location increasing up, she first came to consciousness of stand-up via a religion friend, first dabbling successful it via Craigslist people “Pretty Funny Women.” Drawn from nan outset to Lucille Ball and different artists of a bygone age, she leaned into physicality successful her comedy, uncovering that an plus arsenic personification who only began learning English, arsenic her 3rd language, erstwhile she moved to nan U.S.
Okatsuka’s life has had its stock of ups and downs — arsenic galore serious, emotionally loaded moments arsenic upbeat ones. But successful her act, she takes things successful stride.
“For me, silliness is truthful number one. [It’s] truthful important for maine to process things to entertain people,” she says. “So moreover erstwhile I’m penning astir a taxable aliases a communicative that mightiness be, connected paper, tragic, I’m ever looking for nan weird. I’m like, ‘Okay, what’s nan absurd successful this?'”
Okatsuka drills into that ethos successful today’s podcast, going heavy connected nan crafting of her latest hour, her “full-circle moment” astatine nan El Capitan and travel successful comedy, her worst fearfulness arsenic a performer, and more. Over nan people of nan hour, she besides discusses performing astatine nan water and to nan trees successful her backyard, her appreciation of caller performances from Justin Bieber that beryllium “it’s good to spell small,” and more.
