Atsuko Okatsuka's brings big 'dad' energy to new special

Japan Times

3 days ago

It was a dad joke that nobody saw coming.
There stood comedian Atsuko Okatsuka, sporting her signature bowl cut, beside a man she hadn't seen in decades — her estranged father — under the dim lights of Tokyo Comedy Bar in Shibuya. Looking at his shoulders, she suddenly says, 'This whole time I've had the body of an engineer!'
This was back in April 2023, at a 'secret' stand-up set advertised with only a silhouette — and that bowl cut, an obvious giveaway to anyone who had seen the comedian's viral videos or her first special, 'The Intruder,' which had come out a few months prior on HBO Max. What the small crowd gathered to see her didn't realize was that they would get a rare chance to witness a family reunion, too.
The comedian's previous special, 2022's 'The Intruder,' won her rave reviews and in some ways led to an unexpected family reunion in Tokyo. |
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Okatsuka — who is Japanese on her father's side and Taiwanese on her mother's — was only 8 when she last saw her father. At that time, she was living with him in Chiba Prefecture, attending elementary school there. One day, her mother and grandmother took her for a holiday to Los Angeles and simply never brought her back.
As comedians often do, Okatsuka now finds the humor in her complicated history, joking about her life as an immigrant with both daddy issues and Stockholm Syndrome.
'My vibe is kidnapped. That's what I'm giving,' she says on stage with an exaggerated wail. 'I could have had a whole different life in Japan. Now I am an American ... with a story. You don't want to be that.'
Grandma and the 'drop challenge'
Her story will be a major part of her new comedy special, titled 'Father,' set to be released worldwide via Hulu and Disney+ on June 13, just in time for Father's Day weekend.
'I didn't want to leave and I had no choice,' Okatsuka says earnestly over an early morning video call from her home in LA. 'I lost my friends. I lost some family. And then I had to become a famous comedian to be able to come back.'
Okatsuka, now 37, changes her voice as if to mimic her grandmother, 'I'll take her to LA, she'll be a star!'
While she doesn't necessarily use the word 'grateful' when it comes to these past parental decisions, she clearly isn't resentful either, even referring to grandma as her 'best friend.' She backs the sentiment with actions, too. Fans will recognize her grandmother from many of the videos she posts to her million-plus following on Instagram, including her viral 'drop challenge' clips, which see her sink to the ground during a beat drop inspired by Beyonce's 'Partition.'
Okatsuka says giving people a relatable look into her life during the pandemic is what helped build her fanbase, which in turn enabled her to tour.
'I had been doing stand-up for so long. I was ready to tour but you need an audience to tour,' she says, adding that eventually the audience grew to allow her 'to go back to places that I came from ... Taiwan, Japan.'
Okatsuka's complicated family history — which included living as an undocumented immigrant for seven years and living with her mother's schizophrenia — is laid bare in her comedy. 'Nothing is private with me,' she says.
If you've been following Atsuko Okatsuka, you'll be familiar with her complicated past. "My vibe is kidnapped. That's what I'm giving," she says. |
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As a comedian who built her career over social media during the pandemic, Atsuko Okatsuka says by giving people a look into her 'relatable' lifestyle she was able to acquire fans, which in turn led her to being able to tour internationally. |
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In 'Father,' she also riffs on her husband (and the special's director) Ryan Harper Gray's vasectomy, and, judging by sets she tried out in Tokyo during her month-long stay in January, we're likely to hear about naked bathtime awkwardness with her grandmother as well as her dentist's suggestion to have a threesome.
Don't mistake Okatsuka's candidness for an intention to shock, though. Her delivery is whimsical, even naively child-like at times. She says she learned English from watching cartoons, which might explain her style, the vibrant and colorful outfits she's known for, and her comedic physicality: She often pulls funny faces or suddenly freezes on stage, a la 'Scooby Doo.' (Come to think of it, Velma had short hair and wore bright colors, too!) When Okatsuka talks about wanting to do something wacky, like ride a tandem bike with her husband, it's not that hard to imagine her doing it. Her humor is sharp, but never cruel.
'Male comedians come up here and what do they want to know? 'Are you two together? Are you fucking?'' she says to the audience in 'Father.' 'Nuh-uh. Not me. I want to know, 'How did you become friends?' That's all I care about.'
Okatsuka's draw isn't just about childish observations, eccentric outfits or that bowl cut — which is a common look with schoolchildren in Japan. It's also about the relatability of struggling with grown-up responsibilities — failing at 'adulting.'
'I didn't know how paperwork works, so me and Ryan didn't know we weren't married for the past seven years,' she says, explaining how the couple had forgotten to turn in the right forms at City Hall — which they finally got around to doing last year, filming it all for social media. In one of her comedy routines, she admits that she doesn't do laundry because, well, it baffles her. Her husband does it, though, 'and that is ... feminism.'
Call her daddy
In addition to touching on her family history, Okatsuka says, ''Father' is also a bit about the idea of gender role reversal.
'My fans call me 'mother,' but to me, mothers have it together. So, I'm more ... 'father' — thriving in life but clueless about the basics.'
She pauses, remembering her own mother isn't the nurturing type either.
'What does it mean for her to be a normal woman? Nobody is normal,' she says. 'There is no being one kind of person, let alone one kind of woman. So, yeah, call me 'father.''
With that 2023 homecoming show under her belt, and visits to Japan on her international 'Full Grown' tour the year after, it seems like Okatsuka has been getting reacquainted with her homeland. She and her husband were back in Tokyo around the New Year's holiday period to live here for a month. During that time, she did multiple shows at Tokyo Comedy Bar where she made her audiences sing the Japanese national anthem and flexed her improving Japanese skills, courtesy of Duolingo or, as she puts it, 'that owl that told me I was good.'
It's a reminder to know your audience — language-learning struggles are something a Tokyo crowd will understand well, whether they're new to Japan or locals who've tried to improve their English.
'So many people live in places they did not come from. So many people feel they don't belong anywhere,' she says. 'That feeling is in my comedy. That feeling is home for all of us. So we have each other, right?'
Atsuko Okatsuka waits backstage before performing in Tokyo earlier this year. The Japanese comedian who grew up in California has been making more and more trips to Japan as of late. |
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Yurie Collins, a comedian who is bilingual and bicultural, and opened for Okatsuka during some of her 'Full Grown' tour dates, says she can relate to those themes on many levels. Collins says watching Okatsuka perform was 'nothing short of inspiring.'
'She reminded me that when you're a true entertainer, there are no borders,' Collins adds. 'The audience's familiarity with English or stand-up comedy didn't matter; she connected with everyone in the room. She proved that if you bring heart, charisma and craft, you can win over any crowd.'
Future reunions?
During her holiday stay, Okatsuka won over the crowds at Tokyo Comedy Bar testing new material ahead of the 'Father' release. It was yet another family anecdote where she got the most laughs, though, telling the story of meeting her half-brother for the first time.
She insisted they meet at a theme park, 'her own turf,' as she puts it. So, they decided on Edo Wonderland Nikko Edomura in Nikko, Tochigi Prefecture. 'I needed distractions. Samurai and ninja chasing after us,' she says. One thing they have in common? An odd sense of humor: He asked her to pose like a cat for a photo as soon as they met. 'Are you kidding me?' she recalls. 'We are the same person!'
For those in Tokyo, we can only hope there are a few more relatives that Okatsuka has yet to meet. Maybe then she'll keep doing sets at Tokyo Comedy Bar. While remaining noncommittal, she doesn't rule out future visits.
'Anyway, if you have an apartment you want to let us rent, let us know,' she laughs.
Atsuko Okatsuka says her comedy caters to those who feel like they 'don't belong anywhere.' |
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'Father' premieres in Japan on Disney+ on June 13. For details, visit atsukocomedy.com