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Atsuko Okatsuka

American stand-up comedian From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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.[1][2] 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.[3][4] She started the viral #Dropchallenge with her grandmother.[5]

Quick Facts Born, Medium ...
Atsuko Okatsuka
Born1988 (age 36–37)
Taiwan
Medium
Stand-up
podcasts
Television
film
Years active2008–present
SpouseRyan Harper Gray
Websitehttps://atsukocomedy.com/
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Early life and family

Atsuko was born in Taiwan to Japanese and Taiwanese parents,[6] 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.[7]

Career

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Perspective

In 2020, Atsuko released her debut album with Comedy Dynamics, But I Control Me.[8] She hosted and executive produced Let's Go Atsuko, for the now defunct Quibi.[9] Paste said that her comedy style "has a childlike quality to it, with stage persona informed by a complex and challenging upbringing."[10]

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.[11]

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.[12]

In September 2022, Atsuko alongside Joel Kim Booster and EDM DJ Freya Fox, hosted a comedy special at Life is Beautiful 2022.[13][14][15]

Atsuko taught Chelsea Handler and Guillermo Rodriguez how to do her Drop Challenge as a guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in 2022.[16] 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.[17]

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,[18] and Vulture listed as one of the Best Comedy Specials of 2022.[19] The show won best comedy special at the Gracie Awards and Variety listed her in their 2023 Comedy Impact Report.[20][21]

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.[22] 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.[23] 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.[24] She was on the cover of New York Times Magazine with Margaret Cho where Margaret crowned Atsuko as her heir to comedy.[25]

Works

As writer

Film

Albums

  • 2020 – But I Control Me[27]

Specials

  • 2022 – The Intruder - filmed at the Elsewhere Stage in Brooklyn, NY[28]

Television

Podcasts

References

External links

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