Atsuko Okatsuka: The Intruder

I was lucky enough to watch Atsuko create this special over the last year AND I managed to grab a ticket to watch the taping of it, and I couldn't be happier with the final result.

Atsuko's warmth and love for the craft of standup shines through in this special as she takes the viewers through the circus-ride that is her brain with hilarious bits about mental health, food, old person socialization, sisterhood & the infamous intruder.

Unlike many other specials I've seen, this one doesn't have any dead pockets of humorless sadness as she milks each bit fully before moving on to the next stop on the Hilarity Express.

Atsuko is fun as hell + a wonderful weirdo and if you like laughing, definitely check this special out!

There's plenty of comedians who'll do jokes about "my family's like this" or "my family didn't want me to do comedy cause I'm Asian" but Atsuko's comedy is about the love of jokes and the storytelling to the special has got a really cool structure. She nails showing a fresh perspective and takes on subjects I've never heard before.

She's so weird in a good way and her preference for silliness is really likeable. I'm a comedy nerd and this is a very modern take on traditional comedy. I'd watch her next specials to come, look out for her because she's gonna be a big star. She found a new fan in me and she'll do the same for you too!

I randomly saw an instagram video of Atsuko Okatsuka talking about her grandma now being allergic to gluten...& the story of white people & ALLLLL the stuff they are allergic to. IT HAD ME ROLLING. I decided to look her up & saw she had a HBO special. I watched it last nite & she is SO HYSTERICAL. A born storyteller. Adorably awkward, yet confident in a very real way. She takes you on a journey, hopes you are listening & if you are, then the point of it all will click. Atsuko is AWESOME. A new kind of comic that makes the unfamiliar familiar. I cannot wait to see her live when she comes back!!

I loved every minute of this stand-up special. Even though I love standup comedy, I often find specials to be a drag with lots of up and down moments throughout- not the case here with The Intruder.

Each line carefully delivered with exquisite timing and precise pacing throughout the show, Atsuko Okatsuka nails a fresh take on life experiences making content fresh and lively. Put the show on during a whim and it did not disappoint- was laughing the whole time.

I suspect we can continue to expect amazing things from Atsuko in the future. Definitely would recommend to friends and family over and over again.

Watched this because of its rating and was hoping for a fresh voice. And she is. Her comedy is also clean. Her best lines got me chuckling. Most of her material is related to her family being immigrants, which I can relate to. Awkwardness adjusting to America yet being subject to the old world values is a well-known tension in such families, but still rich enough ground to mine for comedy. Some of the humor also centers around having aging family members, and her relation to her white husband.

Why my reviews title? All 8 written reviews at the time of this writing were 10's! Obviously not terribly objective, the average is less than 7. What isn't this special a 10? I think she stretched her material a bit thin - repeating a line several times, long pauses, a lot of non-funny asides with the audience. None of these criticisms are fatal, just the signs of a new talent.

I'm looking forward to her next special.