Comedian Atsuko Okatsuka joins Trending to dish on her first HBO special, 'The Intruder.' The comedy special, directed by Tig Notaro, comes out on December 10. 

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Atsuko Okatsuka Talks First HBO Comedy Special 'The Intruder'

by the way in her first ever HBO stand up special comedian Osco Okhotsk is dedicating it to the Weirdos who ever felt like they were a little different, directed by legendary comedian Signa Tero, the intruder is inspired by her up breaking and the pitfalls of growing up, keep your head down and blend in as much as possible at least that's what my family would tell me. And then they named me as Kokoszka and then they went on to choose english names for themselves. Thanks Mom and I sat down with the comedian to discuss. She is so funny to take a look. Let's talk about your first HBO special, The intruder finally coming out this week. You mentioned in an interview, you wrote this special when you realize that things that made you feel like a freak growing up actually your superpowers. I love that. So what does it mean for you to finally have the special premiere? It's so great. It feels like an anthem, you know, to all the Weirdos out there, to the beautiful weirdos, the people who ever felt like they were different and that was something they were maybe maybe made fun of. But you know now it's actually it is your superpower, you know, and so yeah, I'm so excited to share with the world, I've been working on it through the pandemic and then when things opened up, I was able to tour it and now it will be documented now. It's been documented. I have, I have, we can't wait for it. What went into your creative process when you were writing this material for your first ever HBO special, Gosh, well, you know, I think when the pandemic hit a lot of us were forced to look inwards and so that was part of the process for me to looking inwards and then challenging myself to talk about things that was historically hard to talk about for me, you know, like my mom's mental illness and how to find levity in that, because I think ultimately a lot of people were, you know, figuring out, gosh, like there are some things that make me sad, you know, and as a comedian, for me, it how to make that funny for people. And so a lot of talking to my plans at home, uh and then they of course die, you know, and yeah, a lot of a lot of doing that, exercising and getting back into my body, there's a microphone at home that my husband set up and I just sort of practice to nobody. Um and so that was all part of the process. So the comedy special was directed by comedian Tig Notaro, how did she help you bring your concept to reality? Yeah, and so during the writing process, it was actually another comedian, friend of mine, Mike Birbiglia, who is an amazing comedian as well and has a show on broadway right now, the old man in the pool, he's really great at like storytelling, and so I had written the hour of jokes and I was touring it out and I was with Mike Birbiglia, who I was also touring with at that time and he said you know this intruder came to your house three times in the same day, that's three acts and I was like oh my gosh, and so he helped me figure out the structure and then take Notaro I grew up, she's like my idol, you know, and she came on to direct and so she really helped with like the performance aspect once we, you know, once the hour was done and ready to go. Yeah, you were named one of variety's 10 comics to watch this past year. Your HBO special is about to debut 2022 has been your year? I'm sure there's more success coming your way. What's it been like to have this upward trajectory this past year? It's been so cool. I'm like, wait, is it december already? 2022 has been great. Wait, don't go yet. Oh my gosh, it's december. And my specialist coming out in december 2022. So it's it's it's nice. It's like it feels like a nice ending, you know, for it to be, are you feeling any pressure? Yeah, sure. Are you seeing any pressure or feeling any pressure as you're going into the New Year. Gosh, you know, a little bit, but it's all exciting I think as a comedian you have to embrace chaos and I love chaos and that's part of why I got into performing and so you know, now that I've shot the HBO special and it's coming out, I have to tour with a new hour already in like three weeks. And so that's exciting though, you know, challenging myself, tapping into my brain, you know, new experiences that I can start talking about. Um, so yeah, it's exciting and scary at the same time. I have about a minute left, but I have to ask, like you mentioned, you talked about your family a lot in this special, what's the reaction been? Oh gosh, my grandma, when we first, when we flew to new york to shoot the special, we got to fly first class for the first time ever. My grandma was like, okay, this comedy thing, Yeah, you should do more of it when she was like laying down flat in the first class, eating beef, eating, drinking champagne, you know, she was like, yeah, can you yeah, keep doing it, this is great. She is hilarious. Thanks to comedian Otto casa, her HBO original comedy special. So Kostka, the intruder debuts december, not the easiest name, know what kind of fun to say, it's a pretty name. I like it