Atsuko Okatsuka | My Kidnapper, My Best Friend

Atsuko Okatsuka | My Kidnapper, My Best Friend

From The Person Who Believed In Me with David Begnaud by Do Good Crew

August 10, 2026 · 1h 15m · Episode 25

About this episode

Atsuko Okatsuka shares her deeply personal story of growing up in a complex family situation and the belief of her grandmother that shaped her life.

Before Atsuko Okatsuka became an internationally renowned comedian, sold-out performer, and one of the most unique voices in stand-up, she was a quiet eight-year-old girl living in a garage in Los Angeles, undocumented and confused, trying to make sense of why her grandmother had taken her from Japan and why her father never came to get her. In this deeply personal and unguarded conversation, the trailblazing comic sits down with David Begnaud to share the story of the woman who believed in her when no one else could, and how that belief came wrapped in complexity, sacrifice, and what Atsuko calls minor tiny criminal activities. Atsuko opens up about being born in Taiwan, delivered by an untrained OBGYN uncle because her “family loves a discount,” and growing up in Japan with a mother suffering from paranoid schizophrenia. She talks about the speed dating marriage her grandmother arranged in Japan, the moment her mother held a kitchen knife to her own arm at 10 p.m. while Atsuko watched through a sliding paper door, and the night her grandmother put her on a bicycle and rode around Chiba for hours until 2 in the morning to outrun the trauma. She shares what it felt like to be…

People in this episode

Host: David Begnaud

Guest: Atsuko Okatsuka

Topics covered

Keywords

Mentioned in this episode

Places: Japan, Taiwan, Los Angeles, Chiba

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