Last year was a true breakthrough for rising-star comic Atsuko Okatsuka, who not only released her critically acclaimed debut stand-up comedy special “The Intruder” on HBO, but also was named one of Variety’s 10 Comics to Watch For last year.
Her road to success has taken some unusual turns, growing out of a childhood that was challenging at times. Born in Taiwan, she spent her childhood in Japan before moving to the United States at 10 years old with her mother and grandmother and living undocumented for seven years.
But now she’s happily living out her comedy dreams amid a tour focusing on new material. She performs a series of six sold-out shows this weekend at the Den Theatre.
“This is the first time I’ve performed in Chicago more than one night at a time, so I’m looking forward to really getting to know the city and at least see a museum,” says Okatsuka. “Chicago loves comedy. I know that because a lot of comedians I know came from there and I know the background that’s in Chicago and, yeah, I’m looking forward to great comedy lovers.”
Growing up, Okatsuka didn’t experience much of American pop culture “because my mom and grandmother only watched Taiwanese TV and never had music on.” She discovered her idol and mentor Margaret Cho from a DVD another girl at her church gave her at the age of 17.
But while that stoked an interest to watch more comedy, she at first didn’t think it was possible to actually succeed in the art herself.
“I didn’t even know that comedy was a job I could dream to go after until around 2010 or so,” she recalls. “Seeing Margaret that first time, I was blown away and that’s when I realized this is really an art you craft. She was a huge inspiration for me, because she’s just unapologetically herself.”
Soon, she’ll be achieving a truly remarkable dream by appearing in a fashion spread in the New York Times’ T magazine supplement. The theme is women selecting their heir to their throne of success, and Okatska will be posing alongside Cho herself.
Okatsuka took the reins of her stand-up career in 2012, when she produced the Disoriented Comedy tour alongside two other female Asian comics. Later in Los Angeles, she was notable on the local scene for not only her strong comedy performances, but also her unique appearances at hipster venue Dynasty Typewriter and its Sunday afternoon “Go Day” series of audience-interactive experiences.
“They had me lead dances each time, which was fun but not at all what I really do,” she says. “I love dancing and being silly, but that is not my comedy at all. Comedy is about finding your true voice, and that was a challenge over the years.”
While Okatsuka has moved on from those appearances, she still defines being silly a key part of her creative process.
“It’s always what’s silly for me. If it just tickles me with silliness, that’s what I chase first,” she explains. “Then I try to find the macro and how to tie my joke into a bigger theme.
“I love the work of noodling it, that idea of finding the jokes within the joke and then that is like one complete joke about this certain topic or thing. Then I zoom out and go, ‘What’s that joke really about?,’ to go with jokes I wrote already. Can I write new jokes that go with it, and structure it for an hour?”
But perhaps her most widespread success is something that involves no real thought at all, just plain silliness. Okatsuka created the “Drop Challenge,” in which she drops down twerk-style as slowly as possible and up again — which has drawn more than 1.5 million views on TikTok and many imitation videos.
“That’s just stuff I do for fun. Even with friends or me dancing and stuff, it’s always silly first, and as long as it makes me happy, I figure it’ll make other people happy too,” she notes. “It’s exciting because that’s why I got into performing in the first place is spreading that joy and then having other people feel seen too in the process.”
