Social media phenomenon and HBO comedy special star Atsuko Okatsuka has left her teenage cheerleading career behind; now, it’s her mop-top wig-wearing cult followers who lead the cheers.
Instagram and TikTok follower counts can sometimes be deceptive: people might like, comment, subscribe for free, but will they buy a ticket and leave the couch and the streaming services on a winter evening to see a live show? And more importantly, will can the initial hype be translated into sustainable success?
Atsuko Okatsuka, who went mega viral dancing with her grandma for the Drop Challenge, is not an influencer, though she’s influenced fans across the globe to don a bowl cut and whip out the most colourful items of clothing in their wardrobes. She is not an overnight sensation, either; she has more than a decade of stage experience, and two masters degrees specialising in the art of writing and creating. Yes, lightning struck, but Atsuko is ready to ride the electricity.
Read our chat with Atsuko.
Following an enthusiastically received raunchy warm-up set from local stripper-turned-comedian Nona Mona, Atsuko danced her way on stage, then rarely missed a beat as she traversed her favourite themes: the difficulties understanding social norms and household tasks, her unusual and traumatic upbringing, and navigating it all with her co-dependent husband, Ryan. While many comedians thrive on put-downs, of putting others in the cross-hairs, Atsuko’s hour of material scarcely brings others down: there were jokes about the Bible and a consultant in the audience, but even these were framed through the lens of Atsuko not understanding that religion or that profession, rather than belittling those that do. Like all the best comedians, the jokes interweaved; there were recurring motifs, rather than just a random jumble of gags.
In a sell-out crowd, which included fans who travelled from interstate, because they couldn’t get tickets where they live, every joke landed; even a few that might not hit the mark in a different room on a different night. Some cheerleader material, for example, did not as readily translate to Australia, where high school and college cheer squads are not as embedded in the culture as in the US. We are all one global, social media culture now though: a world where Atsuko is mother to an burgeoning family of weirdos.
While she opened her set lamenting how difficult it is to make friends, performances like this one should remind her that from now on, anywhere she goes, she’ll have friendly faces and wigged heads waiting for her.
