Atsuko Okatsuka

Atsuko Okatsuka (/ˈɑːtskoʊ oʊˈkɑːtskə/ 岡塚 敦子, Okatsuka Atsuko) is a Taiwanese-American stand-up comedian, actress, and writer based in Los Angeles, California. She was named one of Variety's "Top 10 Comics to Watch" in 2022 and was the second Asian American woman to have a standup special on HBO. She started the viral #Dropchallenge with her grandmother.

Early life and family

Atsuko was born in Taiwan to Japanese and Taiwanese parents, and spent her childhood in Japan. At age eight, she moved to the United States with her mother and grandmother and lived undocumented for seven years.

Career

In 2020, Atsuko released her debut album with Comedy Dynamics, But I Control Me. She hosted and executive produced Let's Go Atsuko, for the now defunct Quibi. Paste said that her comedy style "has a childlike quality to it, with stage persona informed by a complex and challenging upbringing."

Okatsuka notably performed a stand-up set during an earthquake at The Ice House comedy club in Pasadena, California, in 2019 which went viral. She was commended for keeping the audience calm and serving quick-witted jokes while the earthquake went on.

She made her late-night debut on The Late Late Show with James Corden on November 1, 2021 which was praised by Vulture which said it "won late night" the week that it aired.

In September 2022, Atsuko alongside Joel Kim Booster and EDM DJ Freya Fox, hosted a comedy special at Life is Beautiful 2022.

Atsuko taught Chelsea Handler and Guillermo Rodriguez how to do her Drop Challenge as a guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in 2022. She made Stephen Colbert laugh with silly Bible puns when she was on The Late Show in January 2023. She talks about how she discovered standup comedy through a Margaret Cho DVD, given to her by a friend during a boring sermon at church.

On December 10, 2022 Atsuko's debut stand-up special The Intruder premiered on HBO and HBO Max, which The New York Times named Best Debut of 2022, and Vulture listed as one of the Best Comedy Specials of 2022. The show won best comedy special at the Gracie Awards and Variety listed her in their 2023 Comedy Impact Report.

Atsuko's life story of being kidnapped by her grandmother to come to the U.S. was told on This American Life in September 2023 in an episode titled The One Place I Can't Go. She was featured in Vanity Fair November 2023 issue photographed by Mark Seliger playing the quarterback of a made-up football team while wearing couture. She was profiled in PBS Newshour where she called the interviewer Amna Nawaz a 'fellow weirdo' and said that performing for people means finding community. She was on the cover of New York Times Magazine with Margaret Cho where Margaret crowned Atsuko as her heir to comedy.

Works

• 2018 – Soft Focus with Jena Friedman

• 2023 – Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Yuri
• TBA – Outcome

• 2020 – But I Control Me

• 2022 – The Intruder - filmed at the Elsewhere Stage in Brooklyn, NY

• 2022 – Fairview
• 2023 – History of the World: Part II
• 2024 – After Midnight

• Why Won't You Date Me?, herself
• Trusty Hogs, herself
• Yo, Is This Racist?, herself
• Hollywood Handbook, herself
• The Margaret Cho, herself
• Natch Beaut, herself
• Sloppy Seconds, herself
• Alison Rosen Is Your New Best Friend, herself
• The Bechdel Cast, herself
• Pep Talks, herself
• Go Fact Yourself, herself
• I Said No Gifts, herself
• Don't Ask Tig, herself
• WTF with Marc Maron, herself
• Mike Birbiglia's Working It Out, herself
• Lovett or Leave It, herself
• Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!, herself
• The Three Questions with Andy Richter, herself
• Busy Phillips Is Doing Her Best, herself
• Office Hours Live with Tim Heidecker, herself
• Las Culturistas, herself
• The Blocks Podcast, herself
• Funny cuz it's true, herself
• Everything Is Alive, bagpipes