Atsuko Okatsuka: The Intruder

This special is truly great, from relating to every renter, to finding a fun relatable way to speak about mental illness. This has it all, and I laughed the whole time. The way that Atsuko keeps the audience engaged, while setting up a story arc, then surprising you with sudden wit and clever turn of phrase. The laughs come easily and often with this special. It was an absolute pleasure to learn about her family, and not only keeping us caring but laughing through tough topics with ease. Couldn't be more impressed with this comic, and look forward to seeing plenty more of her work in the future!

I'm so glad my sister told me to watch Atsuko special! She had me laughing all the way through!! Her jokes were extremely relatable and would be so with a diverse audience and delivered perfectly!

I also love that she mentioned mental illness in her special. It's still a stigma in the AAPI community and she is "normalizing" it! It takes a lot of creativity and charisma to mention the topic and as an Asian mental health therapist I'm here for it!

Atsuko is also extremely kind too! I've dm or commented on other female Asian comedians specials but she'll actually reply! Atsuko is gonna be the next big comedian.

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.

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 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!