The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - South Beach Sessions - Atsuko Okatsuka

Episode Date: May 8, 2025

“These grandmas are straight up in Mafias.” Atsuko Okatsuka is magnetic, hilarious, and was kidnapped as a child… by her grandma… who is also her best friend.  Atsuko and Dan compare their upbringings, looking beyond the bounds of the “typical” immigrant experience… and Atsuko shows off her incredible ability to make deep trauma extremely funny. She shares her experience learning to care for her schizophrenic mother and coming to terms with her past. They also talk about the necessity of loving support in success, revisit Atsuko’s pre-comedy resumé, and explore the freedom of imagining a better future for yourself. Watch Atsuko’s new Hulu comedy special, “Father” streaming June 13th and go to atsukocomedy.com for upcoming shows and tickets. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to Draft Kings Network. Get free, unlimited searches and views of key family history records on Ancestry until May 13th. To help you get started, we've selected the best record collections to make your first discovery. Including the 1931 Census of Canada, voters lists, and marriage indexes, it's the perfect time to start building your family tree. Register at ancestry.ca with just your name and email. No credit card details required. Free access ends May 13. Terms apply. Okay, I'm ready. She doesn't seem ready.

I'm happy to see her here. She says she's ready. She's yawning, she's just wanting to get flexible to start our South Beach session. I'm excited about this one because she's fun, she's vibrant, she's viral, and your journey is unlike any I've seen. I was very thankful that your husband came in here and was very meticulous about telling me how to pronounce your name correctly because he didn't want me to get it wrong. He said, Atsuko or Katsuka. Yes.

Perfect. Crushed it. Okay. You crushed it, he crushed it and I just get to benefit from the fruits of both of you really, really working at that together. Yeah, really. I'm proud of myself for being able to get that part right. Your journey. And you are Don. Dan, thank you. No, I'm just kidding. I've been to get that part right. Your journey. And you are Don. Dan, thank you.

No, I'm just kidding. I've been practicing all day. It's Don. But if I made you do the last name, we'd need your husband's help, I feel like, again. I feel like. Yeah, yeah, yeah, of course. That's okay, though. We're going to get to know each other now.

That's what we're working on here. Yes. Hello. Hi. It's nice to meet you. And I don't understand how you got here. You are the funniest victim of kidnapping that there has to have been in the history of comedy

and I will tell everybody that she tells her story on her Hulu special that's called Father. Right. So how did you get here though? How did this all happen? It's really unlikely. Yeah, how did I get here? It's such a, when people ask a question like that, like who are. Yeah how did I get here? It's such a when

people ask like a question like that like who are you? How did you get here? I'm like you're gonna get me existential sweetie. I'm like who am I? How did I get here? You mean like to this studio? No. The map that brought you from Japan to this country undocumented for several years to a space in competitive comedy where you have Elaine that is uniquely yours. Right right a lot of it the comedy part took a while to figure out though you know to figure out that lane but just physically getting somewhere you know as a kid you just go where your family says we're going.

So hence I think I'm an easy victim of kidnapping and that it's not so wild, I don't wanna scare people by saying that but yeah, I was born in Taiwan, I grew up in Japan, I was there until I was eight and then my grandma told me we were coming to LA for a two month vacation. So she brought me and my mom. And then 20 something years later,

I'm in West Hollywood with you. Grandma didn't ask for permission. Grandma, like you were too young to know what was happening there. Yes, yeah, she didn't ask. And we've talked about it since, thanks to Ira Glass. And I always joke that you never want to have the help of Ira Glass figure out something like that.

That means things went bad, right? You never wanna be on This American Life. Cause that means someone messed up, okay? And like if, you know, a whole journalist helping you try. Thanks to Ira Glass is not an expression that I was thinking we were gonna have as part of this story. But yes, he told the story of you and your grandmother.

Right, right, and he helped me figure out that it was technically a kidnapping, right? What she did. He actually like looked up California law and with like statute of limitations or whatever, he was like, you could technically still press charges. And I was like, okay, I'll hold that to her. But yes, she didn't tell me anything

because just flat out, and it's true, she said, if I would have told you we were gonna move for good, you would have resisted or said no. And I was like, I would have. At 10? At 8. Yeah. Okay. So you would have resisted and because the transition was very hard, was it not? There was

a lot of, I mean, I would imagine it would be hard. Yeah. Especially since I didn't know, right? I thought it was temporary. So as I'm slowly realizing two months is over, I'm still here, it's been three months. Four months, five months, I'm enrolled in school here now. You know what I mean? All our stuff just got shipped from Japan. Like, as you're putting it together,

as you're realizing you are getting bamboozled as a kid, at the same time you're having to quickly catch up and okay, I better learn the language then and the culture and try to make friends, right? It's like, I survive, survival skills, at the same time, the person that brought me here, my confidant, my guardian, my grandma, is a liar, you know what I mean, all these things,

but at the same time she's my best friend. It's a lot of complex things, so yeah. Yeah, assimilating was hard, because it wasn't just like, learn the language like you do on Duolingo. I mean, that would have been hard enough, though. Learning the language alone would have been a really hard culture shock, just that.

Oh yeah, yeah. I mean, I'm going through that right now, and things have settled, right? Like I'm, you know, in that, I'm on Duolingo yeah. I mean I'm going through that right now and that things have settled, right? Like I'm, you know, in that I'm on Duolingo now is what I'm saying and that is hard, okay? But maybe because I'm used to like chaos, like I just described, I'm like just learning one language on Duolingo? No, no, no, sweetie. I'm learning three at the same time because I think I need that kind of stimuli.

I wonder if that kind of like upbringing, you know, trained my brain to be able to, to always want to do a bunch at the same time. That's interesting. I would also think that comedy would make you very precise about language and when you combine it with your perfectionism, then all of a sudden you're in a place where you want to get very sharp

at learning quickly, things that are tools for your job. That's true, yeah, I think it all goes hand in hand. It all comes from the same brain. All this, yeah. Well, I've seen you, when you get interviewed about your inner child, from afar, the pop psychology I'm doing is I'm imagining, well, a good portion of her childhood

was probably stolen, like that was so confusing that I would imagine that she had to grow up fast amid that confusion? Yeah, right. Emotionally, I had to grow up fast, yeah. So sometimes, you know, growing up fast, I think means not healthy things, like suppressing your feelings.

Oh, she's such an old soul. No, no, bitch, it's because I'm suppressing things. Oh, she doesn't complain, she's so quiet. Oh, she's so well behaved. Uh-uh, I'm traumatized. But because of that, right, I look more adult as a kid, right? I'm not running around and, you know, watch me, watch me, watch me, or, you know,

cause sometimes I'm just observing going, okay, is something wrong gonna happen again, you know? So, in a way, yeah, I did grow up faster, but I don't know if those were healthy. Well, what, the woman who sits before us today, the seminal, where is she? Where is she? Oh.

Shaped by what most? Like, is the relationship with grandma? Like, if you had to choose the one thing most responsible for shaping the adult before us, her comedy, everything else, what are you looking at there? Yeah, oh it's a lot of mistakes, a lot of trial and error honestly. I think my upbringing for sure is one and then but also being in like the wrong relationships sometimes and then just know, delving into things like comedy, right?

Like, I started comedy when I was 20. Yeah, I think 20, 21. And, you know, so like there's a lot of failing at it at first because I was like, I don't know how to do it the right way. I wasn't always the best at making friends too. So, you know, I had to fail a lot. I was in a bad relationship for seven years too. It was kind of toxic and, you know,

I was kind of stuck in it. And so, all those things shaped me. I think being in situations I didn't want to be in for a long time and I go, okay, so let's not do that. Yeah, but that's a lot of learning in relationships is I don't want that, I don't want that, I don't want that, and then you figure out what you do want. Right, right, knowing what you're not into,

knowing who you're not. Sometimes it takes years, right? And you go, oh my gosh, yeah, maybe I'm not a filmmaker. I thought maybe I was gonna be a filmmaker, right? I was like, oh, I was just doing what my ex wanted to do or was, you know? So it's a lot of, all those things shaped me, right? Including my childhood, you know,

and seeing what went wrong and going, okay, I don't do that. I think partly that's why I'm not gonna have kids. I'll get into that with you in a second. The comedy is also in here though? The ability to be funny, are the seeds of it in the darkness, in some of these places where you have the discomforts? Yeah, for sure, yeah.

I think that, you know, I didn't know about, like, making people laugh, not necessarily naturally. My family are not funny people. My family are not even laughers. My family don't even really talk. We sit and eat in silence. Our dinners are just like, you just hear the clanking of the plates and the fork and the

spoon. Like, you just think, oh, did someone die? Every time we eat together as a family. What is that? What's happening there? Because that's not you at other dinners, is it? No, no, no, no. No, at other dinners I'm like,

oh, I had to learn to have a personality almost. Cause if I just learned personality from my family, I would just be like a quiet person, still suppressed and not funny or, you know, like yeah, it's wild. I think, obviously, I think this is my true self. I love funny things, I love making people laugh. I'm an observer first, maybe, is what I'm realizing.

As a kid, like I said, I observed a lot, right? So then I would call out the elephant in the room, you know, if we're eating in silence. I remember one time at dinner, once I did learn humor a little bit from watching TV, Chelsea Lately, Scooby Doo, or a couple funny classmates, I was like, okay, that's how jokes work?

Okay. One time we were eating in silence again with my family and I remember just going midway through it. This is really fun, we should do this again. And then I saw my uncle kind of like chuckle because he's like, it is pretty ridiculous. We just eat in silence. Like we're at a funeral.

Yeah. And so little bits like that would come out and then I would go, okay, I had to learn to be funny though. Dr. Mark Saltz Okay, but you're also doing it to bring a spark to what is otherwise boredom, right? Because you don't want to be sitting there in silence, correct? Dr. Julie Loftus Yes, I think that's what it is.

Yeah, boredom, right, it is boredom. I had to entertain my poor brain. Dr. Mark Saltz But your family also didn't want to talk about the stuff going on with your family, right? Like none of that was being expressed. Right, to the point we barely even small-talked. You know, I was like, gosh, y'all need, they need to be on the show. My relatives need to be questioned.

Talking out? They need to be, they need to be. There's two more mics here. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. be talking out they need to be there's two more mics here yeah yes yeah and so that I would grill them why do you eat in silence and and why why why did grandma have to rush to take her away to another country and lie to her about it that's right yeah why are you so afraid to laugh do you not know comedy they kind of don't are they proud of now? Do they understand what is happening now?

They do, they do. Yes, yeah. You know, I had to, my grandma and my mom have seen, have come to a couple comedy shows. So they've seen what American stand-up comedy is. Or else it's not really a thing in Taiwanese culture. They didn't grow up watching it. I would assume the way you make a living is at least somewhat confusing to people who are eating in silence. Oh yeah, for sure, for sure, yeah. I think, you know, they do live in LA, my uncle, my aunt, my mom and grandma. So for the most part, you know,

I think by now, right, with like social media, Instagram, you know, TikTok, people watching standup clips on there. Your grandma's famous, right? They love your grandma, your fans. They do love her. My fans do love her, yes. And because I do feature her a lot on my social media,

she had a Twitter account for a second. Yeah, 17,000 followers. What? She literally just started an account and said something like, hello, I love you, and then boom, 17,000 followers. I said, do you know how many comedians try for years tweeting funny things, oh man, maybe this will stick,

trying to get, I don't know, even up to 10,000 followers? Meanwhile, this 89-year-old is just like, hello, hi. Do you see me? And they're like, yes bitch, we do. We want to, every day. So yes, she is known. So she's pretty quick to figure out things. Me and Ryan, my husband, explain to her how Twitter works.

Okay, so these are actual real people that are following you because they're interested. Some of them. Yes, exactly. Yeah. Explain that part to her. Oh, I haven't been able to explain that part to her. But she's off Twitter now, kind of because of it. You know, how do you explain that? Yeah. That there's bots and... Well, how do you explain your relationship with her though? Because it's changed over the years in a variety of different ways than the adult you now has come to grips with what with closure on what your relationship is with your 89 year old grandmother. Yes, yeah. How has it changed over the years? I think you know I had to, maybe the toxic

relationship helped where I was like okay okay, I'm with this boyfriend. He does not make me feel good. I wasn't really able to have my own friend groups during that time, chase my own dreams. It was all about him and serving him. And I didn't really see my family during that time. But I was also trying to take time away from time, but I was also like trying to take time away from my family, because I was like, there are a lot, right?

Living in a garage with my mom and grandma, you know, for seven years, when we were undocumented, that's a lot, not enough boundaries, my mom had schizophrenia, so she was also confusing and aggressive and toxic too, sometimes. And then when we would eat with my uncle and aunt, we all ate in silence. And then so, right, so, so then, you know, for me, I thought that break was nice with that boyfriend.

But then during that time, I was like, oh, this is toxic. Maybe I do miss my family, you know, and I think I was able to, maybe through, you know, what is it, absence? Through absence, I was able to put more perspective into what my family's going through. And so then after that, after I broke up with that boyfriend, I started seeing my mom and grandma more again. And then it wasn't until, honestly, maybe these past 10, 11 years that we really rebuilt

a relationship, me and my mom and grandma. That was healthier. In mentioning the toxic relationship as a shaper now a couple of times, what have you learned about yourself in the examination of how it is that you got stuck in something that wasn't good for you? Oh, well, you know, it really is trying to create a better sequel to your childhood, right? Or finding your own family, I think. I mean, everyone goes through that. They call it chosen family, right? You can't help your blood family,

but you can choose who you do hang out during Thanksgiving. You also can't choose, right, what passes for love in your household before you learn outside the doors of your household what love should be, right? Like, if you're, I would imagine in your childhood, whatever it is that's there passes for your normal, and so that's what love becomes for you.

And I don't know in what ways we then choose in our future partners some things that are about our patterns in the past that might not be healthy for us, until we learn the things that have to be learned about what we don't want, so that we choose the things we do want. No, that's very true, yeah, for sure.

I think that repeating what you knew from home is such a typical first step to trying to get out of the family even, yeah. And some people stay in it, you know, for the rest of their life too. It's very easy without ever seeing it really. It'd be very easy to do, to just choose the same things. I think most people end up living pretty close to the place that they grew up, whether actually

or metaphorically or emotionally. I think that you can not outgrow your surroundings, but you've done so in a way that you recognize the braveness and the choices you've made, correct? Yeah, right. Yeah. I mean, the braveness. So sweet. But I guess, I guess it's some braveness. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, you went from a sheltered experience into choosing a sheltered, silent at the dinner table experience to choosing something much bigger than that for yourself by chasing the arts. Sure, right, right.

That's true, that's true, yeah. But you don't think of it as brave. It just, it called you. You didn't go call it. Well, yeah. I did call it, it called me, yeah. I really need it and I love it. And it's my way of communicating to people.

It's my way of finding community. It's, yeah, so it felt necessary. So, you know, to say it was brave, right, I didn't really ever think of it that way because it's like, oh, you know, to say it was brave, right, I didn't really ever think of it that way because it's like, oh, people say, oh, it's so brave to do comedy or to do standup. I could never, oh my gosh, the guts you have to have to do that.

I'm not even talking about the act of performing though, that too. I'm saying choosing a career choice that has both the expectation of funny in it and you're just, it's you and your talent. That's what you got. There's not a team of people helping you get there and there's not a health insurance company

that is interning comedians. Sure, yeah. I mean, I would say it was brave to be stuck in a garage with a mom with schizophrenia and a grandma who kidnapped you too. Okay, all right, fair enough. Look, I wanna talk to you about how, my, my. No, but yes, I will take, I will take the compliment.

You will accept it. Yeah. Thank you. Yes, no thank you. No, I'm bad at accepting compliments, so thank you for stopping me right there and accepting the compliment. I did not have that sheltered a childhood,

but my parents were political exiles and so it was very small. My world wasn't very big, but it wasn't a garage seven years undocumented with a grandmother and I don't know what the details are on mom being schizophrenic that would make that a particular kind of nightmare. Because it seems like that would be really claustrophobic.

Yeah, for sure. Yeah. I always, I have joked to that a garage, cause you know, during that time, uh, so I went to like puberty in a garage and, uh, an eating disorder in the garage in middle school. Uh, I went through figuring out high school, my first like crushes, masturbation, all of that. Meanwhile my mom has schizophrenia, severe depression. A garage is not enough space to hold

even just an eating disorder, okay? I said there's, that's not enough space. It's not perfect for any of those things you just did. A garage is enough space for a car. A car, maybe a dog. I think some people keep a dog in there. A garage with grandma and mom is not a place for masturbation or any of those other things. Oh my God, yes, doing homework on top of where my mom's eating dinner you know what I mean masturbating really quickly we we shared

a bed and then my we would take turns sleeping on the ground too so two people on the bed and then seven years. For seven years. The economy and this economy. I mean but that seems okay but that seems hard but it also made you have a job What rent? That was you know, right and so but yes, sorry keep going. Oh, it made you strong. I imagine Well, I don't know if I was strong in a way it made me weaker because I was like, you know I mean, I it was just it was just confusing. It's just a lot, yeah. I remember when I got my period in that garage

and my mom was going through menopause, I was like, we should not be having full circles, a full ass circle of life here. Me and my grandma's like, I've done both of those things 20 years ago. She's just watching us, my poor grandma, like, are you hungry? I'll microwave something. You know what I mean?

You used the word trauma though, like it was that, right? That all of it was traumatizing. It wasn't just confusing, it was also traumatizing, was it not? Yes, yeah, for sure. Yeah, that's why, you know, I think I was like, boyfriend! You know, yeah. That's why I think I was like, boyfriend. Yeah, so you can get out, right? I don't know the details in what it is to be raised by a mother who is schizophrenic. What ends up happening there where grandma feels, I've gotta get everyone out of here to a new life,

to a transition that had to be scary for everyone involved. Like I don't know how you get out of the situation of seven years in a garage undocumented without feeling almost entirely hopeless. Yeah, right. I mean, you know, my grandma is many things, but she's also a hustler, right? Asian grandmas, immigrant grandmas, all grandmas are in a network with other grandmas.

These grandmas talk. And now that they have cell phones, I don't know if you know, but they are online, on WhatsApp, and they're in these text threads together. And they're a crime family of strength. They can get together. These grandmas are straight up in mafias. These are gangs, okay? My grandma is part of, in a thread, text thread,

with other Asian grandmas, and they mostly give each other tips about like discounts, like where to get the cheapest meat, loopholes to get more money out of the government, you know, where to move your money to a bank. Just hustle, just general, there's a general hustle that will not die. It's a crime family. Yeah, and so, you know, so she figured out things like,

you know, yeah, I'm like, am I allowed to even talk about this now? I'm gonna, in this administration? Yes, the statute of limitations. Well, that's a good point actually. I am a citizen now, but I don't know. That's a good point. You think the statute of limitations isn't up

on some of those garage hustles? I don't know. I don't know how this administration works. I keep thinking, maybe I figured it out. And then they're like, nope, actually we can undo that too. Fair enough, better to keep it safe then. But I will say that, you know that my grandma was able to figure out through talking to her community of other grandmas

that she met once we got to LA, through church, my uncle and aunt were going to church. That's a quick way for immigrants to find community. They were like, do you want friends? That's how they get you, right? You want friends, right? Free food, and we're like, of course. So we ended up-

Finger foods and friends is how the church gets you, it's how cults get you. Oh, suddenly we were Christian. We were like, yes, I'm Christian. And you know, there's like free trips to, you know, I don't know, we would go play basketball at the park or whatever, right? Little outings, go to Third Street Promenade, you know at the park or whatever, right, little outings,

go to 3rd Street Promenade, you know. No, community, you got it right. Community, well, especially how you grow up, I would imagine there would be some starvation for community. Like, I was describing a small exile life to you, yours is considerably smaller than that because there's also- We don't have to have an oppression off. It doesn't have to be one or the other.

Okay, well, but I feel like you'd win an oppression off. I feel like you would. It's okay, you're right, we don't have to do it. There was no outside war in our family, okay? I moved from Tokyo. Okay, fair enough. I moved from the future, okay? That was the other confusing thing.

People would be like, oh my God, you're undocumented? From like a war torn country, right? And I'd be like, no, Tokyo? It sounds like though, there was a lot of just fear in your life. Like at some point you escaped all of that, right? That kind of fear. Yes, yeah, yeah, yes, yeah. My mom, you know, I'm still figuring out, right? That kind of fear. Yes, yeah, yeah, yes, yeah. Mm-hmm. My mom, you know, I'm

still figuring out, right? She makes me feel all kinds of things, but I have so much empathy for her and I have more resources and I have more, um, yeah. Whether it's financial or mental and emotionally and also like Ryan, my husband, you know, and friends and community that I can deal with my mom a little easier than when I was a kid. That must be nice though, to have a loving relationship there that is a testament to your adulthood. Mm-hmm, yeah, totally. Yeah.

Because that can be hard, right? You can just, somebody like that, you can have all sorts of blind spots and resentments about somebody who raised you without arriving at a place where you're like, the boundary is, you get out of here. Get out of here, you've caused too much damage. Right, and that's probably healthy too,

for people, some people, right? Yeah. Because you need to do what's best for you. So there are people who are like, yeah, I don't talk to my mom with schizophrenia. I don't talk to so and so with mental illnesses. Yeah. But you still don't talk, the family still can't talk about any of these things? Like, it's still, if you go back to dinner, it's going to keep being quiet at dinner?

For the most part, yeah, they still do things behind each other's back. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So do you feel alone inside of that? I think that, you know, sometimes, more recently actually, you know, I had a realization where, yes, my family was trying to decide something again

without really telling me or my grandma, but it pertained to my grandma. And I was telling Ryan, I was like, oh, gosh, I feel like we have to just go with this plan. Like, I just, I found out. We all found, me and my grandma found out later. And I was telling Ryan, oh, I guess we just have to go with this plan, you know? And then I found, I guess, I took time to think about it and then I realized, wait, what? No, I don't, I don't have to go with this.

I'm an adult and not just an adult. I'm, I am a known comedian. I has resources, I have community. I can stop this from happening, right? Because my grandma didn't want this to happen either. It pertained to my grandma moving to Taiwan. They were like, let's just move her there by one way ticket to her, for her to go to Taiwan.

And I was like, gosh, just like that? My grandma, I'm just gonna lose my grandma, you know? And then they're like, and then your mom, you know, is now yours to full-time take care of. And I was like, wait, there's gotta be a middle ground, right, and so anyway, we're still figuring this out. Probably too soon to be talking about it because we're figuring it out.

But what I was gonna say is that I swear this had something to do with what you asked. Well, you know, I think you learned your own power in there somewhere. Right. Like how to be an, I was talking to you about the freedom of adulthood and being able in a family of people who don't talk to have your own agency and that's what you were articulating that you're in the middle of and and made clear by the way even as you talked about it that something was being decided for your

grandmother that you weren't okay with this and you I can't even imagine how close you are to that woman like given well you just explained the details of how physically close you were to her for seven years but just all just all of it that would be responsible for you having, you being able to reach a life that isn't just always forever eating silently at the dinner table in a very small world. Yeah, no, I think we could, in like a,

what is it called, a lineup, like a prison lineup, without our faces, I could point, just based on body, I could tell you which one grandma is. She could do the same with me. I did have a left nipple piercing and a belly button one that didn't heal. So I'm easier to spot. But I could spot my grandma. Just like that.

Is that TMI? No, that's okay. That's what this whole thing should be. It should all be too much information. Just like that. Is that TMI? Uh, no, that's okay. That's what this whole thing should be. It should all be too much information. We're already probing around in like all of the dark spaces. Yeah, so what's my grandma's body? That's just a light walk in the park.

It's just collateral damage on what we're doing here. We're gonna go grab every shame vulnerability that we can find. Right, right. Mm-hmm. Well, you guys have listened to Oral History and you know that the origins of this show were once just a dream for Dan and for Stu Gottson. That dream turned into the show and now the business of MetalArch Media and the show that you're listening to today. But starting your own business is a dream that lots of us share.

Too many of us let it remain just a dream. So don't hold yourself back thinking, what if I don't have the skills? What if I can't do it alone? Turn those what-ifs into why-nots with Shopify by your side. Shopify powers millions of businesses worldwide, including 10% of all US e-commerce. Whether you're Mattel or you're just getting started, Shopify's got your back. Not a web designer? No problem at all.

Shopify has beautiful ready-to-go templates. Need help with the details? Their AI tools can enhance product images, write descriptions, and even generate discount codes. Worried about finding customers? Shopify makes marketing easy with email and social media tools. And if I ever get stuck, Shopify's award-winning 24-7 support is always there. Turn those dreams into... And give them the best shot at success with Shopify. Sign up for your $1 per month trial and start selling today at Shopify.com slash B'Tard. Go to Shopify.com slash B'Tard.

Shopify.com slash B'Tard. The NBA playoffs are here, and it's time for all the high stakes drama, clutch moments, and jaw-dropping plays. If you're looking to make the playoffs even more exciting, DraftKings Sportsbook has you covered as the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Make it a playoff run to remember with DraftKings. Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app now and use code BEACH. That's code B-E-A-C-H for new customers to get $200 in bonus bets when you bet just five bucks. All in DraftKings, the crown is yours. in Kansas. 21 and over. Age and eligibility varies by jurisdiction. Voighton, Ontario. New customers only. Bonus bets expire 168 hours after issuance. For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see dkng.co.slash.audio.

What was your break though? Like as you decide, do you have any kind of epiphany or illumination when you say, comedies for me, comedy is what I'm gonna choose, I'm gonna make a go of this. Oh yeah, well, you know, being in a healthy relationship with Ryan really helped that, because I was suddenly like, I think, you know, like, just like my grandma for the most part, as she tried her hardest when I was a kid to try to let me have as much of a normal childhood as

possible. I know that sounds wild considering how my childhood was, but you know whenever she was struggling, like I didn't know our financial struggles for the most part, she wouldn't tell us right. You know if I wanted a Barbie doll even if it it was like a discounted one, she would make sure I got one. You didn't know that the family was struggling? Right, right. You were too young to know, even in a garage? Yes, yeah.

I didn't know she was having to get medicine from Taiwan smuggled over so that my mom had medicine because we didn't have healthcare. I didn't know these things because she just wanted me to play with friends if possible. I would always play with our neighbors. I would sleep over there a lot sometimes even, even though we were just a two-minute walk away. But it was her partly trying to protect me from seeing how dark my mom

would get sometimes at night. And so just like that, she allowed me some space to be able to play, maybe daydream, you know. Ryan allowed that for me, you know, when we first started seeing each other. I wasn't like, I was, I've been doing comedy for like what 16 years now I guess? Oh my gosh, 15. And, but you know, and I was doing comedy when we met too, but not as much because I

didn't tell myself, oh, this is my full-time job. This is, and it wasn't my full-time job. You know, I was walking dogs, I was teaching dance fitness, I was teaching community college cinema at the time, and doing standup, but not as much, because it was so scary to be like, yes, this is my full-time thing. Who has that self-confidence? A lot of people, but I didn't, you know?

So, you know, it took him being like, at one point, the community college I was teaching at, which I was not a great teacher, I was bad at my job. I've been fired from most of my jobs in my life. That one is one of them. And all deserved? It sounds like you weren't wronged as an employee. Oh yeah, well how do you know? Just saying, from the way that you're smiling.

From the way that you're smiling. How do you know? From the way that you're smiling. Maybe I was wrong. It sounds like you were justifiably fired at every stop. No, I was a terrible employee. I was. But before that firing, I was given the chance to be a full-time teacher at this community college, which meant like my salary, I would have a salary,

or I don't even know the difference. I was like getting paid monthly, right? And then now it would be like this, a full-time salary, right? And I talked to Ryan and I was like, well this would mean I really can't do stand-up as much. Because I would be there all the time, so much homework, so much homework, so much planning, right?

I have to really care about these kids' futures, and you know. And then it made me like really sad to be like, oh, I wouldn't be able to do stand-up as much, or at all. You know, and Ryan said, you know, because Ryan was at the time working at restaurants and he was like, I'll keep working these jobs and you should do comedy, you should pursue comedy, you should do it more full time. And then when we invest like that, it's bound to happen

because you know, he really believed in my talent you know and So so that really helped what a beautiful love story. Oh my gosh. I know I'm sometimes like oh, what does he get out of this? besides my my looks and Well, he seems very happy taking care of you like it seems he's he's it's nice to see him enthusiastically making sure that everything is good with you. So I juxtaposed against seven years of toxicity. I wonder how it is that you guys met

and how it is that you sort of very quickly realized, oh, this is what it's supposed to feel like. Yeah, well, so we met through a mutual friend who also ended up officiating our wedding, but he forgot to turn in, I think, the marriage paperwork. Me and Ryan didn't know we weren't actually married till recently. Okay.

Yeah, I tried to put him on my health insurance, and yeah, we were like, oh, we never turned in a paperwork. We're not actually married. Right, right, to put him on my health insurance and yeah, we were like, oh, we never turn in a paperwork. We're not actually married. Right, right, yeah, which is very us. That's so me and Ryan. Because Ryan is more with it and put together than me, but we're both still like artist brain at the end of the day.

Bad at the details? Oh yeah, I mean, yeah, we're artists. Why would we know what paperwork, where we put our paperwork? Are we professional organizers? No. We don't work at the DMV? That's correct.

And so, I don't even know, who deals with paper? Oh, DMV. Kinko, we're not Kinkos. But yes, so that's how we met. How we realized that we, you know, this was right. I think, you know, we both kind of came out of a relationship that was like seven years long. We were like twins or something around the same time.

And so, yeah, I don't know. It was one of those things where like, when you, it's so silly to say, when you know, you know. But I think just very, very easy and truly coming from a place of like love and empathy. And we have a lot of fun together. That was very important too. Well, that's a good combination.

That makes life on the road, right? Without kids, that must make it a real joy for, to be able to have, not just be at the mountaintop of what it is that you're doing, but have someone there who can share the view with you so that you're not alone while you're having your success. But also, you know, feels very much a part of being responsible for the caretaking of all of it, which is also your happiness. Yeah, yeah, totally. I think a lot of times, you know, especially like in a workaholic world, right,

because of the economy, because hustle, the rent is high, you know, it's easy to just be so into work, but work is very lonely in general. Work can be very lonely. Even if you work with your partner, you know, romantic partner or something or family, right? And oftentimes, you know, a lot of successes

in your workplace, it's like, is it worth it if you're celebrating a milestone, and then, but you're alone in it, or you know what I mean, or your partner can't be there in the same city as you're like, performing at your biggest venue yet in Chicago, you know what I mean? My biggest theater in London to 3,500 people,

but Ryan isn't there, you know? And sure, I can come home and tell him about it. I love to talk. But you know, it's right, I feel like- No, it's a shared experience without words. It's a shared experience. Like I would imagine that on this last tour that there were any number of times You tell me if I'm wrong where you're locking in with him on something

That you have not yet become numb to around success whether it's 300 tickets in Singapore that becomes 3,500 tickets very quickly I imagine you have a lot of shared that where business resides. Yeah, totally, yeah. I think it's important to have that with friends or whoever you can share that with, you know? Some comedians bring an entourage with them to tour

or a couple friends, I think it's for that reason. Well, but comedians are also competitive too, I don't know. Do you have a lot of comedian friends who are happy for your success? I think it's for that reason. Well, but comedians are also competitive too. I don't know. Do you have a lot of comedian friends who are happy for your success? I think, yeah. I think so, yes. I mean, we tell each other that.

Yeah, I have comedian friends and we tell each other we're proud of each other. I think that, yes, they mean it. My nose starts to bleed. Of course they mean it. Why? What have you heard? What did John say? John who was your guest earlier? He's not a stand-up. No, he is not a stand-up. Do you have a story from this last trip that would articulate what it is that we're talking about where you feel

at the height of your game and that you have the things in place that would make it feel like joy. Oh yeah, I mean, so I kinda named two of them, Chicago Theater, right, that was like a 3,500 seater, and then London at the Apollo, even Tim Apollo, because I had just done London four months before too at another theater, Hackney Empire. So it was like my encore show back at an even bigger

theater just a few months after. And so I'm like, I'm already doing an encore show just a few months after. And then I did my whole Europe tour. It was my first time, you know, doing shows in Europe for my European fans. Because of scheduling and stuff, I had to push it back and I hadn't been able to go to them yet. So I'd done my Asia tours and they were incredible

and sold out and it's so cool to see locals coming out to watch my comedy. I'm not changing my words. I'm not changing my show. And they feel seen and I feel seen because I'm like, oh my gosh, you were here. You really sold out this theater, thousands of people, people from different cultures.

And yeah, this is the whole point, right, of doing art for me, right, is to, gosh, internationally, we understand each other, you know? And not only that, you find the same things funny, or, you know, so generally that's been really cool to experience together, me and Ryan, where we're like, who would have thought, like, Japan? You know, American comedians don't really,

can't really perform in Japan, because Japan, they're still learning English, and stand-up comedy's new there, they're also very shy. Like, people tour Singapore, American comedies knew there, they're also very shy. Like people tour Singapore, American comedians tour Singapore, because Singaporeans speak English, you know, Filipinos even, a lot of Southeast Asia, but like Japan, Taiwan, where, you know, I'm from too.

So those were cool, like full circle moments. It's like, I'm from here, I'm from Taiwan, I'm from Japan. And, you know, Japan was somewhere I was taken from and couldn't go back to because when you're undocumented in the States and you wanna come back, you can't leave and come back. So I couldn't see Japan for a long time when I didn't have the papers.

And suddenly I'm selling at shows in Tokyo, two strangers, and they're telling me welcome home. You know, so that was those those were really really cool, cool moments. Sorry, that was a long story. No, but it's great. It's what I was asking you. Is your perfectionism more of a blessing or a curse? Oh, it's both, yeah. Just like my haircut. It's every three weeks, it's a trim. In what ways is it both?

Like when I say perfectionism, how does it serve you and how does it not? Well, you know, my shows, I want to make it good. And so, you know, even now, tonight, I'm doing my first hour of new show. I just came back from Europe, like a month ago, doing another show, a whole hour. That's crazy, everyone says it takes a year

to make that material live up to the expectations of the previous one. You're doing it, you're, most comedians I've talked to say as soon as they end the tour it's a bit scary because it's a blank canvas and now you gotta start all over again. For sure, yeah. And I've been working on it for a couple of months

when I've been able to, but it's hard when you're in a new country every day. Like I was in Europe, during that time I couldn't work on this new hour of show. So, you know, but I was out there hustling, bustling, just like, you know, and sometimes it means that, when Ryan's just trying to relax at home, I'm in his face with a mic being like,

does this work, does this work? Okay, so the other day I was here, it's insane, I'm out in my front porch talking to the trees, that's how I practice. Well you gotta feed the machine, right? It's a hamster wheel of you've arrived at what represents largely your professional dreams. You got there at least in part by grinding the entire time to get to this freedom.

Now you don't want to lose it. Now you've got to keep it. Everybody wants the things that you want. So now you're a perfectionist and I would imagine there's some workaholism in there as well, or that you're always thinking about it. For sure, yeah, yeah. It's not like riding a bike. The hard work was in the beginning.

I learned it. I can take a break for, I don't know, 40. And when I pick up a bike, it'll be back. It's not like that, not at all, yeah. The pressure gets bigger every time. Okay, you got your second special. First one was good. Second special. And I honestly feel like the second special

is even better and funnier. And you can see that there is even growth. And I'm like how? But that's how we are as humans. It's easiest to see growth in babies, right? Because they're literally small and then you're like, wow, I didn't see you for a year, now you're walking or whatever.

I think it's like that with adults too, actually. You can see it in your work though? Like that's a- I can see it in my work. You've arrived at a pretty confident place if you believe that you have met your standard of expectation from the previous special and that you have the confidence of like,

no, if I met my standard, then you guys are gonna like this. Oh, for sure. Like I'm excited about you guys seeing this. Oh, I care about other people's experiences a lot. I care about the audience experience a lot. Down to, I mean, what I'm wearing, down to the lighting, down to the dance that I am going to entertain you with

before I do my standup, down to my opener, right? I watch, you know, before I was bringing Dylan Adler, my opener, across the US, and I brought him in Europe too. It's hard to find someone with the right energy, the right material, the right, you know, all of that. For the show, it's a full show, it's a whole show, I think, about that, and the length of the show.

How much time is he gonna do? How much time am I gonna do? Has it changed? How much is too long? I think that people like you, I don't know if your audience knows this. I don't know if perhaps the laughter is something best not deconstructed.

But I don't think most people watching you know quite how hard it is to make it look that easy. people watching you know quite how hard it is to make it look that easy. Yeah, I wonder. Maybe, yeah, I mean the point of- It's not easy, correct? Right, right. You would not argue that the honing of your act,

the finished product is not in any way easy. All of it's work, correct? Oh yes. And much of it is lonely work and getting in Ryan's face when he's tired and doesn't want to hear the ninth joke That doesn't quite make the cut. Right. Yes. It is it is it is a ton of work stand-up comedy I feel like I'm so proud of just the art form in general because we have really arrived internationally people because we have really arrived internationally. People know stand-up comedy.

People get stoked about stand-up comedy. People are going to see it, you know, more than ever, I think. And we were always like the stepchild in art forms. I think because, like you said, it's so much work. It is so much work. I'm out there every night doing multiple spots a night and after I do one show, then I'm on my drive

to the next one fixing which joke I feel like, okay, that didn't need those two extra words. Okay, good. All right, so that one didn't do as good. I think I'm gonna cut it now. All right, what can I replace it with? Right, really fast while I'm driving to the next one. And then I try that at that show, right?

And then I go home and then that's when I'm talking more. Sometimes till like 2 a.m., right? That's when I'm mostly, people work differently but I really, really work well at night because I'm a vampire. And like, you know, I feel like a lot of comedians are. So the work is a lot, but the point of stand-up comedy is to, when you're performing it, is to hide the work.

It's to look like you're saying it for the first time. That's why we don't get standing ovations, to be honest. Solo shows, that's showing your work. I talk really fast and then I talk really slow. I'm gonna talk really loud and I'm gonna be honest. Solo shows, that's showing your work. I talk really fast and then I talk really slow. I'm gonna talk really loud and I'm gonna be really exaggerated and then I'm gonna talk really slow again and that's how I beat cancer. Lights out, standing ovation.

You know what I mean? Like it's theatrical. Stand up comedy is like, all right, so. Like I was doing this and I feel like you might think this too, okay? My mom, you know what I mean? You're just like having lunch with your girlfriend. Trying to connect, finding something that

connects you to the audience. And it's supposed to feel casual, but I have done, said that sentence 400 times. But you feel like, we're just hanging out, you know? Yeah, and so I love the art form so much. I'm sometimes a snob about it because yeah, it is. The best always are. I would assume that any of your peers that you would consider excellent

would say almost all of them are snobs about it. Jay Leno will talk about critiquing the hand movements of somebody in an act because when you're watching somebody's act, you're watching it differently than I am. No, for sure, yeah. I think you had Anthony Jeselnik too. Yeah, he's also someone who really takes the craft.

Seriously, I love watching him and listening to him talk about it, yeah. Has it given you a freedom that you could have even dreamt about back when? Life was so confining Like what has how much freedom has there been in? Doing this as a career. Yeah, there's a lot of freedom, but also freedom comes with restrictions. What was the saying? It's like responsibility comes with what?

No, no, what was it? Power, responsibility, right? The more power, the more responsibility you have. Right, that's Spider-Man. I don't know if that's the saying, I don't know. What's the saying? Do you watch Spider-Man? I'm not a Spider-Man person.

Who's Spider-Man? Who's a Spider-Man person? With't I'm not a Spider-Man person. Who's Spider-Man? Great responsibility great power becomes great. Yeah, but I didn't know that was Spider-Man I don't know if it was him that said it at first It could have been a guy in Greece or something like but spider-man Musical the musical. Sorry I stepped on your joke there. No, no, no, no, no, no. A lot of philosophers come from there, so I just assume maybe it was some Greek philosopher. So wait a minute, you're being agreeable here, but you don't think it's freedom. You think it's been responsibility that comes with restrictions. A little bit, yeah. And by the way, I would recognize it because

I thought when I started my own business that I was starting toward freedom, like true freedom away from corporate overlords, from restrictions and everything else. And as soon as I got out the door, no, it came with responsibility and restrictions. So I recognize what you're saying. But I assume that because it was laughter and lighter, and perhaps I erred in assuming this, you must be so competitive about staying on top that all of a sudden it doesn't feel like freedom,

I've gotta keep feeding this machine. And not only that, not only that, your popularity has been rocket fueled by what you are in the social media space, and that thing needs to be fed all the time. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, right, right, that too, yeah. And also, you know, because it's like building a community or even just something as logistical

as like being out and about. Can I take a picture with you, you know? Oh, you've been watching me this whole time as I was having a tiny little argument with Ryan? You know what I mean? Or like right now, this whole conversation, As I was having a tiny little argument with Ryan, you know what I mean? Or like right now, this whole conversation, I've been like sit up straight, sit up straight, sit up straight at the back of my head.

Don't put your hands, don't put your hands in a weird place, whatever, you know what I mean? Things like that because we're being filmed. I'm being myself. No, I understand what you're saying, but fully aware always that you're being watched as well. Like when you are, I don't know what the comfort, where are you most content in privacy?

Right, right. And then also making sure that, yes, exactly. So that's one big thing. And then another one is, I don't know, even when I said, okay, I have the freedom to tell the relatives, no, you're not sending grandma away to Taiwan. But that means I have to quickly figure my shit out too,

because I'm like, okay, I have the, maybe the finances and the resources, like an assistant now to help figure out where to put grandma and mom. But that is restricting too because it's like, okay, I have to quickly then set aside that money or something, you know? It just comes like that. Are you gentle with yourself in your perfectionism?

Because you didn't, I don't know that we've fully got to where it is that your perfectionism is a plague or can be a plague. Right, yeah. I'm learning to be, yeah. And Ryan has really helped me with that. I now have a therapist too. It's only been two sessions though, so. And I was supposed to see her today,

but I had to move it because I was seeing you. Well, here you go. Here you go, some replacement therapy for you here. Don't let her know. She might be watching or she might watch, I don't know. I don't know what the rules are with a therapist watching your stuff. Two sessions in though, only two sessions in. So you are just starting the process now of, I need to analyze, well, I would imagine this, whatever culture shock has been in your life up to now,

I would also imagine there is some culture shock in being recognized for what it is that you do. I don't know, I don't pretend to know what it is that you're dealing with in therapy, but I imagine your life has changed yet again. Seeing a therapist? No, I'm saying just the success that you've had. Oh, sure.

Just everything that's come with, sometimes your dreams arrive as you expected them to arrive and sometimes they come with complications you were not expecting. I'm being presumptuous here. I have no idea why you've decided now I'm going to try therapy. Oh, sure, yeah.

I mean, it's been, yeah, it's all of that. It's the quick, what was it, the momentum of the career, but also family stuff, you know. My grandma's aging, my mom's mental illness is getting worse and she's also aging, so it's kinda hand in hand with mom. And Ira Glass put all your business out there. Oh, but thank goodness for that, because I'm always like, oh, put it out there.

I don't mind that. I like that. But it forces you to examine it as well though. Like after a lifetime of family members not talking about this stuff and I don't know when you came to the realization, oh, my family doesn't talk about shit. Oh gosh, a long time ago as a kid,

when I would go to other people's homes and have dinner there with their family and they're like laughing and talking catching each catching each other up on their days even if it was like drama even if it was like they were fighting I was like you guys fight they're like your family doesn't that's so awesome I'm like yeah but we also don't laugh we don't share don't share anything. I don't know what my uncle's been up to all day. I don't really know if I know what he does for work. You know what I mean? Pete Slauson That's remarkably repressed.

Kirsten MacKenzie Oh, yeah. Pete Slauson It is off the – what you're describing, you know it vastly better than I imagine anybody listening to this, but what you're describing is the height of repression. It seems like a lot of stuff would get stuff down there and that any of those people would benefit from examining it with an expert who examined such things psychologically. Right. In our family, it was always up to the spouse that the blood family married to be the one that's more lively and like, oh, you know, so like it's the aunt family married to be the one that's more lively and like oh you know so like it's the aunt

that married into my family that's more talkative or Ryan is the one that actually gets my family talking at dinners now yeah but you've escaped you realize that right because i i know that in my family my uh fathers uh all of the grandparents and uncles uh they were in a band that was famous in orchestra, but it was just all men and it was all caricature, repressed men who weren't exploring their feelings. And so all of that ends up getting passed down and I'm somebody who tries to break free from all of that, but it can be a bit of an anchor. You, the career you chose is so flamboyantly colorful that I keep going back to sort of the freedom

of your inner child getting now to experience what would be the equivalent of childhood in adulthood, but it comes with all of these restrictions and responsibilities as well, and then the aging of your mother and your grandmother as well, which is also very complicated. Right, right, totally, yeah. And so my therapist has a lot of things ahead of her.

Okay, week two, yeah, I was like, oh yeah, we have a lot to cover. But you know, she's great, I love her. Your confidence now though would be at the highest point that it has been professionally, right? Yes, that is, yeah, undeniable, yeah. That is something, yeah. Your confidence now though would be at the highest point that it has been professionally, right? Yes, that is, yeah, undeniable. Yeah, that is something.

Well, but that must feel very secure and very soothing because, I mean, if you dream about doing this and are perfectionist about doing it, my guess is that the fear of failure throughout would be something that would be very damaging to happiness. Yeah, right. That's true. Yeah, yeah. that's true, yeah, yeah. And you know, you're always a little scared, yeah, and always want things to work out, so there's sometimes a little fear,

but yeah, but the confidence is easier to tap into for sure. And are you finding it that it's rewarded, it's being rewarded at every turn? Like are you finding that now failure is not as present? The fear of failure is not? Oh, yeah. Oh gosh, it isn't, but also, you know,

there's more pressure as you do the next project, the next project, right? Okay, so the answer's no then. Then the answer is not fear of frail. No, because now you've arrived at a place where you have expectations, and I can see why those, or how those would be a burden as opposed to a pleasure.

Right, right, yeah. But I do have confidence going into it. It's more just, I'm kind of self-critiquing. Like, okay, nope, that joke wasn't it. I'm gonna rewrite it, you know, which will then force me to write another 15 new minutes because that's a new topic and different. How do I make that fit into this new hour that I'm writing? I gotta be ready in a week. because that's a new topic and different, you know? How do I make that fit into this new hour that I'm writing?

I gotta be ready in a week. See, what you're articulating here is not joy, and I understand it because this is something that I struggle with all the time. It's been a recurring theme in many of these conversations that I have, which is, if I've gotten to the place that I've always imagined myself being, how is it that I cannot just stop and enjoy it while I'm in it with a cognizance that doesn't have this plague of how do I make it better?

This isn't good enough. I got to keep doing. I got to until you just you know fall over one day because you were working all of your life. Like this is the struggle for me. And you and it sounds every time I talk to you, every time I say to you something about freedom or something else, your response is, no, well yeah, maybe, but what about, I got this restriction over here, and also I need to make this better,

and let's wrap this up, I've got jokes to write. Yeah, I wonder if it's because, I think having like a, and I've seen people do this, my friend Chelsea Handler does this. She writes the gratitude list, right? Like having a gratitude list, things you're thankful for. I think that I should start practicing that. Because then you can, you know, you say,

oh, you said if you've arrived at where you've always dreamed of being, and you're like, it's not enough, it's not enough. But my problem is I never dreamed of anything. So I don't know what my ultimate goal is. Does that make sense? I didn't have self-confidence to dream that big. I never saw standups on TV and said, I could do that like some comedians have.

I'm like, your upbringing must have been so good that you can see someone and go, that's gonna be me one day. What, in what world? I was like, no way that's gonna be me. Why would it be me? Well, you were too busy surviving. But also I'm like, okay, I think,

at that time in the industry too, it was like, there were only 20 stand-up comedians that were on TV, and that's it. Margaret Cho was one of them. I thought it was so cool. I thought it was so cool to see an Asian American woman doing stand-up comedy. But in what world would I think

there's gonna be a second one? I'm like, no, this is it. She got the slot. It's awesome. That's it. I was stoked. I was like, oh, stand-up comedy is cool. It's only for 20 people at a time.

Because they sure made it feel that way. They really did. Margaret Cho was the first Asian American woman to have a stand-up special on HBO, and I was the second. It was 27 years in between. Why would a little Asian girl watching TV think she could do stand-up too, if it took that long? I'm lucky we know each other, we're friends.

You know what I mean? And so maybe that's part of why, like I'm like no, we must go, must go, because I don't know what I've reached, you know? Maybe I need to spell out gratitude list, maybe I need to spell out, I will be, I'm happy enough, I don't know, five stand up specials and everyone in my family is happy and healthy

and I have that TV show and that movie and I can pause and be happy. Maybe I take a break in Japan or something like that. Maybe I need to spell it out, you know? And I don't know if that's what you have done, or I don't know if you've said this is where you wanna be. I'm trying to be very conscious,

but this, the particulars of talking to interesting people in a way that is revealing and intimate. In Los Angeles, enjoying my work. No, this would represent while I'm sitting in it what I want and so I am grateful for it for your time and for everything that we've done here because I can be in it right now as we're experiencing it as can you be when you're in London with your husband and you're coming off of stage and that is a place where you can for a moment not be off to the next special.

Right, right. Or in Miami with you next time. All right. Well, I look forward to that. Let me tell the people here that you can watch her special on Hulu. It's called Father and you can get her shows and tickets. I'm sorry because Atsuko is very popular and AtsukoComedy.com is where you go for shows and tickets if they're still available.

They are, right? Yes, yes they are. They're not sold out everywhere? For the new material show, this is my new hour. Yes, yeah. They should be. They should be sold out everywhere. A lot of shows are, but we're just adding them.

By the end of the sentence, there might not be any more tickets yet. You heard her, she promised to see us in Miami. You've got to watch her Hulu special, it's called Father, and at Otzko.com for upcoming shows and tickets. Also she's in a Pixar film, Elio, I didn't even mention that. Congratulations on all your success. Oh, thank you. I was very happy to get to spend this time with you, I'm gonna hold you to it you when you're in Miami

you got to spend time with us I will I will how do I tell you that it's OtsukoComedy.com okay you can do it right now what did I say what I saw com it's okay okay you got this okay OtsukoComedy.com is where it is we got it let me stumble at the end and you got it right. You professional at the end. You crushed it. Me here to serve. I'm sweating. Can you see how much I'm sweating?

["Dreams of a New World"]