Atsuko Okatsuka Nearly Became a Quarantine Home Farmer

Despite living in these frankly precedented times, we are also fully existing in the future. And a futuristic lifestyle calls for a modern approach to our traditional “Follow Friday” column. We at Vulture have pivoted from our Luddite ways, opting for a more interactive digital angle to what was once mere text-on-webpage. We want you to get to know our favorite up-and-coming comics, writers, and generally funny social-media presences face-to-face (or at least screen-to-screen). So we hope you enjoy our new and improved, Instagram Live–based version of “Follow Friday.”

This week, I sat down for a digital chat between tour dates with the effortlessly hilarious Atsuko Okatsuka (Late Late Show, Comedy Central Presents, running from trauma with her husband and grandma in tow) about egg jewelry, female serial killers, and chronic UTIs. She discussed the harrowing effects of internet fame on her newly in the limelight grandma, pondered if her often-emulating fans will ever graduate to wearing her skin, and gave some incredible advice on how to utilize your acting skills to successfully leave an unwanted conversation. She also described a close call she experienced during the thick of the pandemic in which she almost started a home garden: “I was, like, in a trance — I was under the spell, you know? From looking at other people’s Instagrams. I already had the lettuce ready. I was ready to plant it, and my husband slapped it out of my hands and said, ‘No! That is someone else’s interest, you are not a farmer!’ And I woke up, the spell broke, and I was like, ‘You’re right, I am not a farmer, I’m a Los Angeles comedian.’”

You can find Atsuko on Twitter and Instagram at @atsukocomedy.