Mike Birbiglia's Working It Out - 69. Atsuko Okatsuka Returns: How to Become Yourself

Episode Date: April 4, 2022

When Atsuko was first on the Working It Out podcast, Mike only knew her from her viral Instagram videos and some of her stand-up. Since then, Mike and Atsuko toured together and their "pandemic friendship" became a real friendship. Now Atsuko returns, in person, to discuss what it's like to develop her new hour of comedy, and why it takes 10 years to become yourself on stage. Plus, stories and jokes about taking your mom and grandma to a "bottomless" show in Las Vegas, and what Mike has in store for Mike and Atsuko's upcoming show in Washington DC.Please consider donating to: Downtown Women's Center Los Angeles

The people I enjoy most watching are people where on and off stage, there's not that much of a difference. Yeah, same here, actually. Yeah. I like an open book. Yeah. You know? Even like Tig Notaro, for example. We were on tour in Portland, Oregon, Seattle together.

Yeah. We met up with Tig. And Tig is a perfect example if people are listening to this and they listen to a Tig album or they watch a Tig special you got Tig and that's why she's such a pain in the ass

to hang out with because she just won't budge and Tig if you're listening we love you we love you so much this is all But that's... It's all respect. That's the magic with Tig.

That's the voice of Atsuko Akatsuka, one of my favorite comics. She is on the rise. She has been on tour with me a whole lot this year. We were in Portland and Seattle and Minneapolis and North Carolina. And she's doing that. She's on her own tour. She'll be actually in D.C. with me. We just added a second show at the Warner Theater in Washington, D.C.

We're so excited about that. And she'll be at my Los Angeles Ace Hotel show for Netflix's A Joke Festival. All of my tour dates, by the way, are on Burbiggs.com. I'll be at Steppenwolf Theater for the month of May in Chicago. I'll be in London for three shows, Paris, for God's sakes, Iceland. And then I go back to Los Angeles for the month of August for the world premiere of The Old Man and the Pool with the set and the lights and all the bells and whistles. I'm so excited. It's in some ways what this podcast has all been leading towards. Very exciting. My relationship with Atsuko is so fun because it sort of comes out of the podcast itself. We became

friends from me finding her on Instagram and dropping her notes saying, hey, would you want to come on the podcast? She came on. You might have heard that episode in the fall. We got along great. And then we've been on tour together. And so I think she's so funny, so original, such a fascinating life story. She, you know, she moved to Los Angeles from Japan when she was 10 years old. She talks about it in her own show that she's touring with right now, which will be in Austin, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles. She does an Otsuko and Friends at Largo, which is one of my favorite comedy venues on the planet. She'll be in Atlanta, Vancouver, Minneapolis, and Hawaii, just to name a few.

All of this on Otsukolive.com. But really just like an amazing comedic voice, she created the Drop Challenge, hashtag Drop Challenge, where all kinds of celebrities have been doing this drop, this dance drop to a Beyonce song. I tried it. I had to use some kind of a coat rack to drop,

but I still did it. Everybody can do it how they do it. But enjoy my conversation with the great Hatsuko Akatsuka. We're back with a new episode of Working It Out. We're in the studio with Atsuko Akatsuka. Yeah, we are. In person. In person.

You're like two feet away from me. This is so strange, I have to say, we haven't. I mean, this is my mad scientist, you know, bulletin board of insanity. It's really exciting to be by all the note cards. The infamous. You know what's so strange about our friendship is that we're pandemic friends. I know. I know.

And then look how we progressed. I mean, in that we're now, you're also recording this live with me here live. It's a sign of better times. It is a sign of better times. Yeah. We met because someone, you know how Instagram works, is like someone I follow followed you and then I got served something you did. And I think it was probably a dancing video you did with Grandma and Ryan. And I was like, wow, that's fantastic. Because it's like this.

If people haven't seen it, go to at Otsuko Comedy on Instagram. Number one follow on Instagram. It's the best follow. Oh, so sweet. Thank you so much. Now on TikTok. Let's go, O. Oh, so sweet. Thank you so much. Now on TikTok. Let's go, let's go. Yeah, because of you.

I was super obsessive. When I got into TikTok, I was at that point on tour with you and Ryan. I was like, I think you have to be on TikTok because it's like your videos essentially are sweet spot perfect for TikTok. Yeah, and when you said it, I was like, okay, you okay, enough people had told me

like, hey, do you want to be forgotten? Are you trying to not be relevant? Enough people had told me that. That's what it takes. You were the last straw. Yeah, because I'm the least relevant person to bring up a hip trend.

It's like if Mike is bringing this up. I mean, no. And I wasn't trying to be like oh yeah you know you think of mike berbiglia you don't think tiktoker you know i would never say that you know i could see you on there in fact you're on there and you're doing great on there um it's just you know you as this comedian this person on the stage that I've watched for so long, you know what I mean? If you're the one telling me TikTok's the way, I have to listen. You know what I mean?

Now we're being insincere. I feel like the first part was correct, which is Mike is the last, he's the late adapter, and we'll get it. Okay, we'll say it like that. The late adapter's telling me I have to adapt. That just sounds mean, though. I like that, though. I'm not like, I don't. Okay, so bringing people up to speed, we'll say it like that. The late adapter is telling me I have to adapt. That just sounds mean, though. I like that, though. I'm not like, I don't.

Okay, so bringing people up to speed. We met on Instagram because I was fed one of your videos, and I was like, oh, this video is so original. They're so, you know, these videos you make, you're a great dancer, and then on top of that, they're so, like, oddly surreal. They're like, your husband Ryan is a filmmaker as well, and so you really put a lot of thought into the frames and the music and all this stuff.

And they're just so good. And then I started following you. And I was like, hey, come on, working it out. I didn't know how it would go. I actually, now we're friends. And we toured together a lot and spent a lot of hours together. Had a lot of breakfasts and lunches and walks around Denver and gosh. Other cold cities.

Other Minneapolis, other cold cities. Yeah. So we spent a lot of time together. But at the time I was like, I don't know how it'll go. Right. Maybe she doesn't have jokes. Yeah. Maybe she'll talk about process of making these videos.

Right. Who knows? You don't really know. Yeah. But then I thought it went well and then I was like, hey, want to do a show? And then it was like,

oh, Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison. Right. And I just thought it would have been fantastic. And then we've done like so many shows together since then and we're going to be in D.C. in a couple weeks. I know. It was a bold move, actually. Bold move to ask me to be on your podcast now that you

mention it. Just for my dance videos? One of the things that you said at one point that really struck me is the pandemic in some ways was good for comedians of color who weren't necessarily reaching a ton of people or getting booked on tons of shows. Yeah. Because in some ways, the internet, it's oddly a meritocracy of comedy. Yeah, exactly. I agree.

It's like a popular vote. Popular vote. Yes, that's right. A hundred percent. And so with your comedy, it's like, maybe we wouldn't have met. I don't know. A hundred percent. And I think that's right. 100%. And so like with your comedy, it's like, maybe we wouldn't have met. I don't know. 100%. And I think that's so true. And that's why I thought it was so cool that you reached out and like, you do what I call the ride back, right? Which is like, someone actually like Hasan Minhaj said it in his workshop, or that's the title of his workshop.

in his workshop, or that's the title of his workshop. It's called The Ride Back, where someone who's been doing it a while, someone of a higher level like you, then get back on the horse that you rode to get to where you are today in your career and come back and scoop up emerging talent. I love that. Yeah, it's The Ride Back. I love that. Yeah.

You know, it's funny. I tried to do the ride back with Hassan, but he was too successful before I could do it. You tried to do the ride back. You did it with me. And I think that's so cool because it is this thing where like, you know, when things shut down during the pandemic, a few people, different communities were like, huh, when it comes to the arts is it kind of gonna be like we went backwards 20 years you know yes with like because like uh arenas for musicians and stuff they're gonna want to go with the big names first right you're gonna want because places were shut

down money makers are going to be like ah let's go with the safe routes, the big names, not emerging talent that's of color. Yeah. And so with TV and stuff like that, there was talk like, oh, maybe the Laugh Factory will go back to just dudes again because they know that sells. Well, I think also part of it is it made me, when you said that the pandemic was beneficial for comedians of color, it made me think of all the bookers of comedy shows. Yeah.

I was like, oh, yeah, it's a lot of white men. Yeah. And where can we be seen for sure? On our phones. We can get on the phone and be like, hey, I got jokes. These are the jokes I wrote. And then the people vote, right? right and they go come to my city come to my city yeah right and then if you can prove with numbers yes that's how i started my first solo tour was i went i have an audience

yeah um and i could prove it it says it right here well i was i saw your show at the bell house last night it's wholly sold out in brook, one of my favorite venues in the country. And you're crushing for an hour, just crushing. It was so good. I got to work on the jokes during the pandemic. Yeah. Amazing. Yeah.

Thank you. I'm so excited for what that show's going to become. How it came about is because of a lot of me and you talking too. The latest structure of my hour. Well, I'm obsessed with your joke writing and your performance style and your authenticity as a performer because you're so much yourself. Like there's this whole theory that people go, I don't know, like it takes 10 years to become yourself

as a stand-up comedian. And I think there's truth to that. For sure, yeah. I have been doing it like 11 years. That's interesting. Yeah, so. Because when I watch you, like last night you did some bits

where I hadn't seen them on tour before and I was like, so that's brand new and it's immediately killing. And I think that the part of it is that once you develop

a voice. That's right, yeah. Once you develop a voice which takes years and years and years and that's usually the kind of sweat equity that people don't want to put in with stand up

or whatever art form drawing or painting because it's hard to face your own personality and figure out maybe my personality is boring so I have to come up with a brand what's my voice those are harsh truths

yeah oh my gosh and gosh there's successful comedians who still don't face who they are Those are harsh truths, right? Yeah. Yeah. No, that, oh my gosh, yes. No, that's, and gosh, I mean, there's successful comedians who still don't face who they are. Yeah, so, you know, and it's a performance for a reason, so that's cool too. Yeah, there's, yeah.

But you have to figure out what feels right for you. No, no, this is a funny digression, but it's like, no shade to people who play characters on stage, but there is, I enjoy, the people I enjoy most watching are people where on and off stage, there's not that much of a difference. Yeah. Same here, actually. Yeah. I like an open book.

Yeah. You know? Even like Tig Notaro, for example, like we were on tour in Portland, Oregon, Seattle together. Yeah. We met up with Tig. And Tig is a perfect example. If people are listening to this and they listen to a Tig album or they watch a Tig special, you got Tig.

You got Tig. Yeah. And that's why she's such a pain in the ass to hang out with. Because she just won't budge. Oh, my gosh. That's so funny. Oh, my gosh. Well, no, because it is funny.

It's a riot. No, she's really funny, right, to watch. Yeah. But what you see, right? Yeah. That is talking like this and Tigg and giving you a hard time like this. That's her in real life. Yeah.

Or like she stayed with us a few years ago and she'll, yeah, she'll just be like, where's the train station? You're like, you got a phone, right? You got a train station. Where's the cafe? The cafe across the street. You can just see it. Yeah, she's like an anime character.

She's like Paddington Bear meets a senior citizen that just moved to the city for the first time. And Tig, if you're listening, we love you. We love you so much. This is all respect. That's the magic with Tig. Just like you. Yeah, you're pretty much...

Easy. This is you. Easy. No, I'm just kidding like you're the same person on stage I mean not to give away your secrets you know but and that's why you're a pain in the ass exactly exactly I was walking into that the um no no I think it's I'm not that I'm not that different honestly I'm just not as packed with jokes and stories. I think that's the thing that disappoints people when I meet them is that I'm not gushing with like, let me tell you this story.

No, of course. It's like I am on stage. Yeah, no, of course. And it's such not a requirement, right? Right. It's called a stage. You're hitting the stage. Yeah.

So you turn it on. So yeah, I know that's such a stage. You're hitting the stage. So you turn it on. I know that's such a big thing. I think it was like Ryan's, my husband's uncle said to me once, how come so many comedians aren't funny offstage? I just truly think it's everyone's different processes. And again, it's not a requirement. Early in my career, I was, and we talked about this in our first episode of the show.

I was a much more naive character version of myself early in my career. I just wasn't comfortable. Right. I feel like you were sort of in the same vein. Maybe like a more naive version of yourself. When I'm on stage? Earlier in your career. Oh, earlier. Oh, for sure.

A hundred percent. Yeah. Yeah. And I, and I feel like it's like, what do you think? Cause now in improv, there's always this, a lot of improv gurus say like, always play to the height of your intelligence. And when I watch you, I'm like, yeah, that's what you're like. Yeah, that's the smartest art school we'll get.

And so that's the cap, you know, yeah. Yeah, that's the tops. But like, and I always try to play to the height of my intelligence, but early in my career, I really didn't. Do you feel like there was a point at which you made that pivot? Yeah, for sure. It wasn't that long ago. It was like right before the pandemic.

That's interesting. It was a lot of also trusting that the audience will find you relatable. Yeah. I think I had a hard time trusting that for a long time. It's like, maybe I need to dumb things down, or maybe these are the types of things people want to hear about. Yeah. Maybe in this type of way. Maybe I need to dumb things down or maybe these are the types of things people want to hear about. Yeah.

Maybe in this type of way. And, you know, the whole finding what your voice is thing. Yeah. And then I think maybe around the time I started, you know, interacting more with my fans online. Yeah. Right. Talking to them on stories. Yeah. And how they reacted. Seeing it kind of firsthand,

I started being able to trust myself for the stage more to be like, oh, I can be me and the way I talk and people will not just understand, but find it relatable and funny. That's an incredible inflection point for culture if you think about it. Yeah. Because for all of the things that drive us nuts about the internet and social media, that's really positive. Yeah. If you can find yourself in it, which is so like, it sounds like an oxymoron. It sounds like counterintuitive. Yeah. Spending more time online, know or on instagram but for me it was being able to interact with the fans that way and it helped to see my face talking to people and then how they would respond yeah so like zoom shows helped me too actually oh that's interesting

because zoom shows were the first time ever in our lives where while doing stand-up, you're forced to watch yourself. Oh, my gosh, yes. Oh, that's so true. You know? Never, ever do you do that, right? No. But I was learning little tics that I would do or like, oh, this one eye movement that I do after a punchline gets laughs.

And why is that? And I got to like, you know. Wow. Yeah. So you were like, essentially like you were the director and the editor and the performer and the writer at the same time. Yeah. In the Zoom shows. Totally. Yeah.

So the thing that I love about your stage show is like your performance, your joke writing, and then just your life story is so unique. And then we've talked about a lot on tour. But like you moved from Japan when you were like 10 years old. And you didn't know you were moving. Right. Yeah. You thought you were going on vacation. Some would call it a kidnapping, I think.

Yes. From your grandmother. My grandma kidnapped me. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Your grandma told you you were going on vacation, so the joke in the show was you packed light.

Yeah. Yeah, you packed lightly because, yeah. It's vacation. It's two months, yeah. You'll be back. Yeah. It's one carry-on. One carry-on.

You went to Los Angeles, and then you just moved to Los Angeles, basically. And you grew up as a tween and a teen in Los Angeles. Last time we talked about on the show that a ton of people on Instagram and Twitter wanted to talk about was this idea that I was like, who did you ever feel excluded from? And you were saying like Asian American kids. Yeah, for sure. Right, right. Because they somehow felt

like you were pulling them into being more bullied. That's right. That's right, yeah. And I totally understand because you know, everyone's trying to assimilate. It's like, we already did that. Yeah.

Can you do that on your own? Yeah, yeah. Can you work on that? and then we can be cool together yeah because kids are mean ultimately the message is you know people are mean they did that to them

other people did that to them but oddly that's how you started dancing because you joined like the the cheerleading squad you find your own community somewhere else. Yeah. My first friends were Latinas. Cheerleading squad, like rah-rah pom-poms cheerleading. Oh, right. So the cheer squad at my school. I'm like so ignorant of this area. The cheerleading squad at my school wasn't like the bring it on cheerleaders. Or cheer on Netflix.

Everyone's like good angles and very professional and hair ties and blonde or something. Our squad was very much like if we weren't for cheerleading we would have joined a gang.

A couple of them had been shanked before, had scars. was very much like if it weren't for cheerleading we would have joined a gang you know right a couple of them had been like shanked before had scars holy cow yeah this is in los angeles los angeles yeah holy cow and so uh you know it was it was cool though because it was like they were so open-minded i don't know if it was because of that. Yeah. But yeah, they took me in and they were like, no judgment, however you are, we like you. And then you had this like interesting

sort of like pivot into, you went to art school. Tell me if I'm getting this right. You went to art school, you started making like independent films. Right. You were in the universe of independent films and then somewhere along the way,

you started doing stand-up comedy. Yeah, I'm sorry. As you're describing my trajectory, it's like no wonder I had a hard time finding my voice. None of those things match, right? Those are so off-brand. Oh my gosh, that's so funny. You were a booty-shaking cheerleader to art school and then indie films.

Then you were making clay pots. It's like, no wonder I didn't know my voice. And then you worked on Superwoman. Oh, my God. Because you watched comedies. You watched comedy and stand-up, and you were into joke writing and stuff. You probably found your voice in comedy faster because you knew what you liked i mean yes and no i mean i wanted to be

a filmmaker the first and fourth right okay first and foremost i wanted to be a filmmaker and then i've studied screenwriting in college and then i got out of college and basically realized there's no sign-up sheet for being a screenwriter just ask the internet uh-huh i mean there's no sign-up sheet for being a screenwriter. Just ask the internet. I mean, there's no sign-up sheet. There's no classified ads. There's no monster.com. No one's looking for people to fill these jobs, right?

That's true. You're right. And so it's such a weird – I'm sure people, if young people are listening to this or in college or high school, and if you're thinking about pursuing a career in creative arts, it's like one of the things. Make sure you get a LinkedIn. LinkedIn is the closest. Get LinkedIn, of course. That's the number one piece of advice. Obviously the number one piece of advice is LinkedIn.

No, but it's like part of it is do the art that you're passionate about. But the other thing is, try and figure out what niche you're filling that anyone wants you to show up for. Interesting. Right? So like with me, no one wanted a screenwriter. I mean, I asked around.

Just generally. I go to film festivals. Right. Yeah, I mean, I went to film festivals. Wow. I would go to Nantucket Film Festival in Virginia and DC. I would go to every film festival and I would talk to filmmakers. Yeah.

And it's like, no one was looking for anybody. Right. They already got their person. Yeah. That they're going to work with forever. Not only that, they got the person they're going to work for forever. And it took hell and high water to even make the movie. That's right, yeah.

No, no, looking for more people. To pay. We barely even got here. That's right. That's so true. That's so true. And so then you meet people, and I realize, oh, nobody wants this. And then I was working the door at the Washington, D.C.

Improv where we're going to be in D.C. in a few weeks. But I was working the door and I just saw that the opening acts, these men and women who were making 50 bucks a show, even though it was a coveted job, it wasn't easy to get those spots. There was a universe where I could get a few of those spots. You know what I mean? Yeah. It opened up to you more. Yeah.

I was like. You had a place. Yeah. I was like, okay. I was like, I can do it. And occasionally they're looking for someone. Uh-huh. Uh-huh.

And so that just felt like an opening that was this small. Right. And I was like, if I could sneak through there. Yeah. And then I started just driving around the country, basically going to any comedy club that needed an opener. Yeah. Opening act, and then a middle act, and then eventually a headliner.

Yeah. And then I had to circle back to filmmaking. Interesting. Circle back to filmmaking after being, you know, doing stand-up and doing solo shows and all these things. Because I think that there's a way in which, and it's so funny because, like, you're developing a solo show now. And I think, which I think is, like, the best thing for your career because you're someone who, you're a storyteller, you're a filmmaker, you're, you know. A cheerleader. You're a cheerleader, you're a stand, you're, you know. A cheerleader. You're a cheerleader, you're a stand-up comedian, you're a great performer.

In some ways, solo shows are like the best way to just show your cards. Yeah. Finally, it makes sense. Yeah. All the things that sounded random earlier that, you know, made up my life. The clay pots. The clay pots. At art school.

I don't know if you made clay pots at art school. What was the strangest thing you made at art school? Oh, gosh. I think I just, I did like a horse head performance, but it was in the streets of Chinatown where I just put on a horse head and it was supposed to be the Chinese immigration experience. Oh, my gosh. Yeah, where I danced to Lil Jon. No way, really? And it was supposed to be the Chinese immigration experience somehow.

Oh, my gosh. Yeah, where I danced to Lil Jon. No way, really? With a horse hat on, yeah. And someone was dressed as Uncle Sam. It was a little on the nose, to be honest. Oh, my gosh. Yeah.

Turned down for what? You know, and then Uncle Sam gets a little too wild. And then, you know. Oh, and then makes us take the head off. Yeah, so stuff like that I was doing in art school. But it's interesting that if you've been doing it right and the universe is there with you, you will find like you circled back to filmmaking. You will come back to the thing that you've always loved, I think. Yeah.

And for me, it was always performing. Yeah. But now I get to do it, show off everything, like you said, right? Do you think that when you were a kid, did you think, I want to be a performer? I don't know. I didn't think that. I didn't think that was possible.

Yeah. I thought only, like, ten people did it. Right. Yeah. I thought only like 10 people did it. Right. Yeah. That's how many it is, by the way. Working It Out is brought to you in part by Helix Mattresses. Let me go way off script here. It's like the most sinking feeling sit on the bed, you're like, I'm not going to get a good night's sleep. This trip is a disaster. It's like the most sinking feeling that I have when I'm traveling, which is why I have at home

a Helix mattress. Helix is, it's a phenomenal mattress. You take a quiz. It's the easiest quiz you'll ever take. It gets shipped to your door for free. You don't even have to go to the mattress store. I hate shopping. Helix is awesome. It was awarded Best Overall Mattress Pick of 2020 by GQ and Wired Magazine. You should feel it for yourself.

Go to helixsleep.com slash perbigs. Take the two-minute sleep quiz. They'll match you to a customized mattress. It'll give you the best sleep of your life. Right now, Helix is offering up to $200 off all mattress orders and two free pillows. Wait a minute. What? Pillows, too?

Helixsleep.com slash perpigs. How do you find my audiences compared to your audiences? Oh. We have our shows we do together, but then you have your shows like Bell House last night. What's it like? How do they compare? I think, well, there's crossover.

There's some crossover. There's definitely crossover. There's folks who, I mean, you're Mike Birbiglia, so you're going to be recognized, but my fans were also like, hey, it's Mike, right? Someone actually DMed me last night, a different person, not the person that approached you, a different person, who said, hey, amazing show, whatever. LOL, I might have scared Mike off, though,

because when I realized he was behind me, I just shouted, hi, Mike! Oh, my gosh. Just LOL, oh, well, might have scared him. I'm like, oh, that's a big deal. You're scaring people. That's not cool. That person didn't scare me Might have scared him. I'm like, oh, that's a big deal. Like you don't want to, you're scaring people. That's not cool. That person didn't scare me, but the person, there's this large man next to me during the show who did the thing where he was like, like giving me the two fingers to lean into his face.

And it's like COVID, I'm not going to lean into your face without a mat. Like this. Right. Who needs that? And he's like emanating beer, like from our distance of like three feet or something. And I'm like, no, no, no, no, watching the show. Watching the show. And he's like, come on.

Come on. What? Oh, I didn't know that. Come on. Yeah, this is during your show. He's like, come on. I didn't tell it to you last night because I thought it was like too heavy. Because we were talking about your show.

I didn't want to steal focus. So now I'm going to steal focus. I thought it was like too heavy. Because we were talking about your show. I didn't want to steal focus. So now I'm going to steal focus. I saved it. I saved it. Now we're on your show. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly. Come on, come on, come on.

You got mad at me. I'm like, I'm watching the show. Yeah. What is that, entitlement? Yeah, that's entitlement. Yeah. It's heckler privilege. What?

No, I was just joking. It's heckler privilege. What? No, I was just joking. It's heckler privilege. Right. Okay. It's white heckler privilege. You're such a, you know, I get so into your stories that I'm just like, okay. And then he said, it's heckler privilege? No, no.

He didn't say it. That's psychotic. No, so he goes, come on, come on, come on. And then he goes, I'm watching this. He goes, you think this is funny? What? Yeah. Oh, my God.

I go, yeah, yeah, I'm watching this. He goes, I don't know. Oh, my God. I swear to God. He goes, I don't know. I think he was just, honestly, I think he was just like in the neighborhood. Yeah. Because then he said to me.

I mean, it doesn't sound like he would be my fan. Well, it had nothing to do with you or me, I don't think. He goes, I came to this place 10 years ago. What? And it wasn't that funny then either. I was like, this place? What? The Bell House?

What are you talking? And I didn't even like engage. I was like, I'm watching. Oh, my gosh. Yeah, I engage. I was like, I'm watching. Oh, my God. Yeah, I know. It was wild. Whoa.

It kind of chills down my spine. I'm like, first, you don't sound like you were safe. I didn't feel safe, no. Second, this guy is pissed off. I mean, I'm already creating a narrative about who he is. Probably maybe a comedian. Maybe, yeah. Or wanted to be one. Neighborhood. Yeah. Neighborhood. Neighbor Or wanted to be one? Neighborhood.

Yeah. Neighborhood. Neighborhood, want to be comedian? Yeah. Pops in, sees there's a comedy show, pops in. I mean, you would have to have enough anger. The kind of anger of like, this place, this comedian, not funny, I've been here. You know, that's someone who wanted to be a comedian.

Yeah, but then he goes, then you tell your Magic Mike story, which is a great story. I don't want to give it away. The audience is going to come see you. He looks at me and goes, that was funny. That was funny. Oh, my God. As though he and I are in some kind of relationship

where we're co-evaluating the show joke by joke, though we know each other zero, and he's completely drunk. I'm so sorry he bugged you for so long. Jesus Christ. That is wild. Look, Otsuka, those are your fans. You know. That's who you draw.

That is just some, oh, my God. It could be someone's husband. The wild thing is, I don't think I ever told you, but at my shows, there's, because most of my followers are women. My audience is 75% women, just in the insights. Yeah, in the Instagram insights. In the insights. And that is, so 75% of women come out, and then 25% men, but like a lot of them are queer. And so a couple of times the women will bring like their husband, just like maybe like two or three husbands of show.

Sure. And. You get a few husbands a show. Every single time or not every single time. A lot of the times after the show, one of the husbands will come find Ryan, my husband, not me, and say, I was really surprised. Like, I came with low expectations. Oh, my God.

She really made me laugh. I can see why, you know, so-and-so, my wife, loves her so much. Like, you know, I don't, you know, yeah. But only to Ryan. Like, as if, like, the guy-to-guy thing, like the guy tried to do with you, you know? Performers were so sensitive. Then we end up in these conversations where people are like, yeah, I can't believe people enjoy you. I know.

Exactly. It's like, well, do you know what that just did to me? Yes. Set me back five days, actually. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Isn't that wild? My next five days aren't going to be normal because there's this going to be lingering thing in the back of my head that some husband found me funny that's not a compliment to me yeah and ryan tried to not

tell me about this until like one time he finally was like i can't i have to tell you this has been happening oh the the husband's the husband thing yeah that's so weird and it doesn't ryan get weird stuff like does ryan get weird stuff? Does Ryan get weird stuff? Because you talk about Ryan in your show I've spent a lot of time with Ryan on the tour Ryan's very paternal And he's very much a fix-it person We're going to fix this

We're going to figure this out We're going to crack this He's got a real this he's a filmmaker he has a filmmaker mentality about life I think he said it last night that he's like my grandma he's like your grandma I married my grandma

some people marry their mom my grandma raised me so this is how it turned out to be yeah it's like super I'm just so thankful and so grateful Because my grandma raised me, so this is how it turned out to be. Yeah. Yeah. It's like super, I can't, I'm just so thankful and so grateful because I am so not like a, I live in the present so much. It's hard for me to think ahead sometimes.

And we all, of course, went on a tour. We had a tour bus. We had a tour bus. In North Carolina. Oh, my God. I was so excited about that tour bus. I've never been on a tour bus. So you and Ryan and I had a great time on the tour bus. We had a tour bus. In North Carolina. Oh, Mike, I was so excited about that tour bus. I've never been on a tour bus. So you and Ryan and I had a great time on the tour bus.

And then when I was going back to, I was actually taking the bus to Pittsburgh to film what was just announced. I'm in this Tom Hanks movie that's filming in Pittsburgh. It's exciting, yeah. I can tell people now. That comes out on Christmas, a man called Otto. So the bus was taking me back. Middle of the night, the heat goes bust on the tour bus.

And so then it was like basically like 15 degrees on the tour bus. No, for you. And it's just you and the driver. That's it. Who's so nice. You know the driver. I'm trying to think of her name. Yeah, Terry. Yeah, it was me and driver. That's it. Who's so nice. You know the driver. I'm trying to think of her name. Yeah, Terry.

Yeah, it was me and Terry. And they were switching over bus drivers overnight. So we're meeting someone like in Virginia along the way. That's right, yeah. We meet up. So, this is Terry. So I'm freezing. Yeah.

And I don't want to complain to Terry. Turned out Terry didn't want to complain to me. Oh, my God. So both of you are just icicles. So I go, Terry, are you cold? She goes, oh, I'm really cold. I didn't want to say anything.

Oh my God. Because I thought you were fine. I was grinning and bearing through it. I was like, no, I was grinning and bearing through it. Oh my God. So Terry and I had a moment. I'm so glad you both said something. So we just were on the side of the highway for like three hours. As someone came.

Essentially turning on a valve because it was a brand new bus. They turned on the heat valve. That's like, I'm trying to think. That's a little road trip short film. You did the sweetest thing, which is you posted a thing on Instagram recently with a series of photos of us together on tour. And you were like, you don't make a lot of friends as grownups. And I feel the same way.

Yeah, yeah. You kind of like have your friends already. A lot of people do. And they feel like, oh, we'll just be colleagues, you know. I'll see you around the circuit or whatever. And yeah, I think, and so I really value adult friendships. It takes me some time to really like become friends with someone, I feel like. I don't know if there's a part of me that's like a, I feel like that's such an introvert quality.

And I would consider myself an extrovert like you. But I think both of us have that sort of like we like to kind of have deep conversations yes you know um over just like like I don't like drinking games yeah like really because like we have some friends who would rather when we hang out right they invite us over we just do drinking games. But that's just like getting blackout drunk and I'd rather just talk, you know? And so it takes me some time to make friends and so that's why I was like,

you know what, this is so sweet. And we have all those, we have so much content together now. That's right. And I was like, I can make a whole post about this. So that helped too. Yeah. So this is a slow round.

What's the best piece of advice anyone's ever given you that you used? Yeah. The best piece of advice ever that anyone has given you. Well, if you don't have a choice, which hopefully life is full of like hopefully you get to make the choice. So you work hard until you get to make choices. But before you do, do the thing you're given proudly. So like when I was a kid, there was this school play that everyone wanted to be the princess in, but the princess had no lines.

Everyone wants to be the princess, not the old woman that has a lot of lines. Or the broomstick or the stool or whatever. Exactly. They don't want to be those things. But as girls, we really didn't want to be the old women. Totally. Totally. Even though she saves the day, she saves the princess. things yeah yeah but as girls we really didn't want to be the old women totally totally even though she saves the day she saves the princess it's like it was kind of this badass feminist

story where it wasn't the prince that saved the day was the old woman yeah well i got the part of the old woman interesting yeah and i was all bummed i went home to grandma and i was like i'm so like i wanted to be the princess i don't want to be an old woman. And that's when my grandma gave me that advice. She was like, well, first of all, I'm offended that you don't want to be an old woman. That's very funny. Okay? Be proud, you know? Yeah.

She's like, so take what you get and do it good and be proud and show them that you can be, you know, the star. Yeah. You can make choices from here. As the princess, you can't the star. You can make choices from here. As the princess, you can't make choices. Literally, there's no choices to make besides how are you going to smile when you're standing there waving your arm. The other phrasing of that that I learned in high school is no small parts, only small actors. Oh, wow. I played all the small parts.

No small parts, only small actors. So you see, my grandma didn't have theater colloquialisms like that in her back pocket. No, no. But I actually found that to be, I still as a grown up in the field, I still play small parts. And I do find it's like find it's a phenomenal exercise. Yeah, yeah. How do I fill out this two-dimensional thing in a three-dimensional way? Yeah, that's true. In the process of filling something out two-dimensional in a three-dimensional way,

you learn things about when you're given the chance to do a three-dimensional way, you learn things about when you're given the chance to do a three-dimensional thing, how you'd fill that out. Yeah, that's true. I mean, that's why a lot of us love the side characters or like supporting characters. Yes, so true. That's why we...

There's a lot of leads that I forget about. That's so true. Yeah, or maybe we find boring or very one-note. So that was the best advice. That was a great answer, best advice. Do you have a memory of like a near death from younger in your life where you're like, oh my God, I didn't even realize at the time how dangerous that thing was?

Yeah, when I was a teenager, I was in like a car with my boyfriend at the time and his friend. And the friend just kind of drove recklessly on the freeway. And we got in a car accident with the divider or something. And then we stopped. And I just jumped out of the car on the freeway. That's really dangerous. Super dangerous. And then like two seconds after I got off,

I watched as that car that I just got out of get crashed into. No! No! This is bananas. I know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I was like, oh my God. I mean, they were okay. Were they in the car when it got hit? They were still in the car, yeah.

But they were okay. They were okay, yeah. But maybe it was going like 40 miles per hour. Whoa. Yeah, it smushed the car even more, but they were okay. They were, you know, ended up in the hospital, but they weren't dead. But it was just wild because I was like, oh, shoot, like, should I have stayed in the car? I don't know. Either way, it was dangerous.

There's lots of cars not ready to stop that fast, you know, for this. What would you have told your younger self advice-wise? I don't know. I mean, stay in the car, but then they got hit. Yeah, totally. I shouldn't have gone out, but I didn't get hit. Okay, wow. But that's dangerous.

That's a good story, though, potentially. Right, yeah. She has very high stakes. Yeah. Well, I've had luck, you know, because I think life does, like, balance itself out, you know? I think, like, life was like, you suffered a lot as a kid, you know, mentally, emotionally.

So, you know, you won't die yet. Yeah. We're going to give you a few more years. Working It Out is brought to you in part by Allform. So if you've been listening to the show, which, by the way, we're at almost 70 episodes. Go back and listen to all the episodes. But you've been listening to me talk about Helix mattresses for a while.

You know I'm on board. You know I'm sold. Well, guess what? There's a newsflash on Helix. They've left the bedroom. They started making darn sofas. They launched a new company called Allform, and they're making the best sofas

that I've ever seen. I got two of them in my studio here, which is awesome. I absolutely love them. If you see some of the video clips from the show, you'll see I'm in a beautiful all-form red chair. They're great chairs. They're great sofas.

They offer a forever warranty. Forever. Wait, what? To find your... Nothing's forever except Allform couches and chairs. So if you're feeling bad about some kind of relationship, just know that one thing's forever. It's couches and chairs from Allform. To find your perfect sofa, check out allform.com slash perbigs. And Allform is offering 20% off all orders for our listeners at allform.com slash burbix.

They love working it out. Allform.com slash burbix. Working it out is sponsored in part by Cuts. Cuts! That's me at a football game. If you ever see me at a football game, that's how I sound. Cuts clothing is phenomenal. They send some to me.

I wear it constantly. It's super, super comfortable. They've revolutionized the traditional outdated T-shirt category. They make it easy to mix and match styles and colors. Couldn't recommend it more highly. Join the hundreds of thousands of guys who have made the simple decision to elevate their wardrobe with Cuts. They're going to sue me. Instead of being a sponsor, they're going to sue me.

They're going to go, you no longer can say it like that. Cuts! Get 15% off your first order by going to cutsclothing.com slash berbigs. That's C-U-T-S clothing.com slash berbigs. If you can't spell cuts, I don't know if you deserve to wear cuts. Let's be honest about this. Use code BRBIGS for 15% off the only shirt worth wearing. Come on!

Since Una was born, I keep a journal of things that she says that are sweet, which I highly recommend people do if they have kids. And so when Una was four, we were reading this book about the days of the week, and Una misread days of the week and called it The Days of Us. Oh. And I thought, that's better. Yeah, that is. Oh, my God. See, now that was like, boom, I felt it in's better. Yeah, that is. Oh, my God.

See, that was like, boom, I felt it in my heart. I almost cried. It got me. When I read it in my notebook, it got me choked up. I was like, I got to put that in. Yeah. It doesn't even have a joke. I just want to give it texture and, you know.

No, that's better. This is in my notebook too. At one point when we took her when she was younger to the pediatrician and sometimes the pediatrician, you want to be like, you got to be more specific with your questions because the pediatrician is like, Una, what's going on with you? And she's like, my knee hurts and it's my grandma's birthday. You don't really need to know about the birthdays. Yeah, that's hilarious.

You got to be specific. Yeah, my grandma's birthday. And then the other one I wrote down was the other day I drove my daughter to school. Sometimes she walks, sometimes she scoots. Sometimes I drive her. Sometimes if I'm on tour, she takes an Uber. I'm driving her to school. Sometimes she walks. Sometimes she scoots. Sometimes I drive her. Sometimes if I'm on tour, she takes an Uber. Driving her to school. And she goes, I like dad better

than Uber. Because we don't have to wait for dad. And I thought, that's what you prefer about dad? This dad is five stars. Yay! That's great. That's a good one. You like that one? Yay, that's great. That's a good one.

You like that one? Yeah, it's cool. Full circle. I like dad better than Uber is my favorite. I like dad better than Uber. She's so poetic. Everything she says makes me want to cry. So that's good.

Daughter of a poet. And then the punchline. And then the punchline. Yeah. What do you got? You got anything you want to kick around? There's this one part that you sort of mentioned a little bit, the Magic Mike Live thing.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. There's a part that I cut out because I don't really have a place to super go with it. Yeah, so I took my family to go see Magic Mike Live in Vegas. Yes, that's right. So it's not about Magic Mike Live. So it's like we went to Vegas, my husband, my mom, my grandma. And on the way to Vegas, you know, so my mom's memory is kind of going. Yeah.

And she kind of creates new ones of the past. And I embrace it because I don't want her to feel bad. And this is partly because your mom has schizophrenia, struggles with a lot of issues. That's right. Yeah. And so when she comes up with like new memories, I always go, yeah, that's right. You know, I embrace it. I don't want her to feel bad or feel embarrassed.

So on the way to Vegas, you know, we're going there and my mom goes, Vegas. Oh yeah, Vegas. Remember they used to have these shows. They had these shows where people are wearing tops But nothing on the bottom And I was like, oh no, you mean topless shows, right? Because I thought she's just remembering wrong You mean topless shows, they have topless shows

And my mom goes, no, they're wearing tops But there's nothing on the bottom Can we go see that? And I don't want her to feel embarrassed i was like oh sure okay like you sure like they're tops but everything else just exposed on the bottom she's like yes uh i want to see that okay i'll see about a bottomless show oh my god that's so funny so it's this bit that i've been working on. So that part's funny and then I look. I research it and she's right.

Yeah. There's a show in Vegas called The Puppetry of the Penis. Yes, there is. Have you seen it? I've seen it. It's bizarre. You've seen it! So maybe this is why the bit doesn't work because I've never seen it. I'm just pontificating on what it's about. I thought it was funny before you said it.

I forgot about it until you just said it. I thought it was a misunderstanding and now you're saying it. Yeah, just pontificating on what it's about. I thought it was funny before you said it. I forgot about it until you just said it. I thought it was a misunderstanding and now you're saying it. Yeah, yeah, there is a puppetry of the penis. She was right. I was the one being like, oh, my mom's just kind of losing it, you know? But she was right. She was talking about the puppetry of the penis. And then I just kind of, it's just, the joke is just pontificating

what the show is like. And maybe that's why I don't feel like it works because I haven't seen it. So, you know. You don't feel like it works because I haven't seen it. You might have to see it as research. Yeah. Honestly. I think we have to go to Vegas. You might have to go to Vegas to see Puppetry of the Miss.

That's something that's running. I mean, I saw it like 20 years ago. The idea that those penises, they can't be the same. First of all, they can't be the same penises. I think it's two different guys. There's no way. They're like 65-year-old penises at this point. It's possible.

No, it could be. It could be, but yeah, no. The puppetry of the penis, I saw years ago in Montreal at the comedy festival there. Oh, so they're like comedians. They treat it as sort of a comedic cabaret type of act. Right, yeah. Yeah, I mean, there's jokes in it. It's odd. And it's funny, but it's kind of like the way Jackass is funny,

where you're like, rah! Right. You know what I mean? No, of course, of course. It's just like. It does that? Rah! What time is it?

Yeah, what time is it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, and it actually is quite astonishing. Like, I just want to contextualize this Magic Mike story, because in your show, it's this very special sort of heartwarming moment where you'd had a hard time with your grandma and your mom, and you thought, like, let's do something fun that sort of breaks us out of, like, this sort of a sadder time.

For sure. And so you took them to Magic Mike. Right, right. And then along the way way that's when your mom brought that up yeah right yeah and so you know because that's already like such a sweet you know whole story yeah that's why i was like i don't know if i want to break it up with puppetry of the penis especially since i haven't seen it yet but i'll go see it and maybe there'll be something and also would your mom like it, do you think? I think

Brian is in the room and he's nodding his head. I think my mom would love it, actually. She might like it, because it's so silly and she seems to like silly stuff. Yeah, and physical comedy is universal, is what they say. No, I think absolutely. Yeah, so she would, you know,

no language barrier there. Right. So we're going to D.C. I'm going to take you to a restaurant that I waited tables at. I'm going to take you to two places. I'm going to take you to Washington, D.C., Improv, where I worked the door. I'm going to take you to the Tombs Restaurant in Georgetown, where I waited tables. And so I have, like, a couple things I jotted down about waiting tables at the Tombs, which are just memories. They're like, when I was in college, I waited on Andre Agassi several days in a row at this restaurant.

And every day he ordered the same thing, the chicken number one sandwich. Because when you're number one in the world, there's no other sandwich for you. Chicken number one for tennis player number one. To be clear, chicken number one, it was a real item, had chicken, bacon, lettuce, tomato, and cheese. He got it with none of those things. Oh, my God. He got chicken number one, mustard only.

Chicken number one, hold the everything. He was number one in the world, and he ordered the chicken number one. And for one split second, everything in the world made sense. All of those are like alt jokes. I don't know if you write jokes like this, but I essentially have a premise. Premise is Andre Agassi comes to the restaurant, orders chicken number one sandwich,

and then I just write a bunch of punchlines. Same, yeah. You do the same thing? I go, or this, or this, yeah, or this. That's so funny. That's exactly how I do every joke I have is I got five versions of it. Yeah, yeah, Yeah, yeah. Or this. Yeah, or this. It's so funny. That's exactly how I do every joke I have is I got five versions of it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then you choose, yeah, the best one.

But yeah, the way he ordered it is wild to me still. Oh, is that interesting? Yeah, that he got nothing that's on it besides the chicken. That's it. Just got chicken. Chicken and mustard. Chicken and mustard, yeah. That's the lunch of champions chicken. Chicken and mustard. Chicken and mustard, yeah. That's the lunch of champions, I guess.

Yeah, and I mean, it's in the title, right? Chicken number one. Chicken number one. Okay, then the other ones is the least enjoyable customers as waiting tables. People can discuss this in the comments. Couples on first dates because the only thing they have in common is you.

So the moment you leave the table, they will make fun of you. If you're bad, they're like, this guy should find another line of work. If you're good, they're like, looks like we got an all-star. No matter what. No matter what, you're the least cool person in the trio. That's so true. Oh, my God. It's good.

Yeah, you're this forced third wheel. Yes. You're the immediate third wheel. Yeah. You're a problem. You're like, I work here. And it's almost like you're the third wheel. You're the movie they're watching. You know what I I work here. And it's almost like you're the third wheel. You're the movie they're watching.

You know what I mean? Yes. You're the puppetry of the penis. Yes. Yeah. And you're working for them, you know? Oh, I know. You're dancing.

Yeah, you're trapped. Oh, my God. What about this? What about this? The thing that we conclude on is working it out for a cause. Is there an organization that you think is doing a great job, and I'll contribute to them and link to the show notes? Yes, Downtown Women's Center.

Downtown Women's Center. In Los Angeles. Yes. They work with unhoused folks, and I would like to give to them again. Okay, and it's downtownwomenscenter.org? Downtownwomenscenter.org. Downtownwomenscenter.org. And people should contribute, and I will contribute. And Atsuko, there's so much in store.

There's so many things that we can't even announce yet, but people should follow you on at Atsko Comedy on Instagram because there's so – I'm bubbling with excitement for where your career is about to go, but I also can't give away – This happened last year. Quinta Brunson was on the show. Oh, yeah. And this was before Abbott Elementary was announced. And it was like, I want to say some things that I know but I can't

and now it's like exploding that's how I feel about your career where it's like I just think sky's the limit you're just going

to massive places and just follow at Otsuko Comedy on Instagram and let's go Otsuko on TikTok thank you yeah

thank you yeah because someone else has Otsuko Comedy on TikTok is that true? I think it's me, but I can't get into it. So anyway. Thanks, Atsuko.

Thank you so much. We'll see you in D.C. See you in D.C. And maybe, maybe Iceland. And maybe Iceland. We have to figure that out. We'll find out. That's going to do it for another episode of Working It Out with Atsuko Akatsuka.

You can follow her on Instagram at atatsukocomedy. You can follow her on TikTok at letsgoatsuko. She's a riot. You can follow her on TikTok at Let's Go Atsuko, A-T-S-U-K-O. She's a riot. You should go see her tour, and hopefully we'll end up working together on something. I don't know what that thing is, but hopefully our working and relationship and friendship will continue. I just think the world of her.

So follow her on all the things. Thanks for listening. Our producers of Working It Out are myself, along with Peter Salamone and Joseph Birbiglia. Consulting producer Seth Barish. Sound mix by Kate Balinski. Associate producer Mabel Lewis. Special thanks, as always, to Mike Berkowitz,

Mike Insiglieri, as well as Marissa Hurwitz and Josh Upfall. Special thanks to Jack Antonoff and Bleachers for their music. They are on tour right now. They're playing some massive shows. My brother Joe saw them in Boston and they were on fire. As always, a very special thanks to my wife, the poet, Jay Hopestein. Our book is called The New One. It is at your local bookstore. We were named semifinalists in the Thurber Prize for American Humor, which is a great, great museum if you're able to go to the Thurber House in Columbus, Ohio. One of the best.

As always, a special thanks to my daughter, Una, who created the original Radio Ford. Thanks most of all to you who are listening. Thank you for writing those user reviews on Apple Podcasts. It means the world to me that you're telling your friends and you're telling your enemies because we're working it out. We're still going. See you next time.