Choices We Made: Mother or Father? (with Atsuko Okatsuka)

Choice Words with Samantha Bee

Lemonada Media

Comedy

4.4 • 1.7K Ratings

🗓️ 2 December 2025

⏱️ 61 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Comedian Atsuko Okatsuka joins Sam to talk about her new special “Father” and why in her relationship she is “father” and her husband is “mother.” They talk about recalibrating your goals once you’ve reached them–like when Atsuko fulfilled her only childhood goal of working at an ice cream parlor. They discuss Atsuko being unknowingly undocumented as a child after her grandmother brought her to Los Angeles, and why they both prefer the company of senior citizens. They talk about the decision to pivot her comedy from hobby to career, and why she only started making choices recently. Atsuko tells Sam about the online shows she does with other comedians who are children of moms with schizophrenia, how she thinks it takes ten years to find your voice in comedy, and why Sam is the kind of adult Atsuko hopes to be.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	The holidays should be a time to celebrate the food we eat, but more often than not, we end up wasting it.
0:07.2	I love a big meal as much as anyone. I just hate watching all those scraps and leftovers end up in the trash.
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0:36.7	cans. Mill turns your holiday food scraps
0:39.6	into nutrient-rich grounds you can actually use. You just toss in those sad leftover turkey
0:45.4	bones and pie crusts and mill transforms them overnight. No smells, no messes, and no more fruit flies.
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0:57.4	finally full, you can use your grounds in your garden, your green bin, or have mill, pick them up
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1:15.8	second one. Who buys two food recyclers? Apparently me. But listen, it's just that good. My kitchen
1:24.2	smells great. I'm wasting less. And I feel like an eco goddess every time I
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	...

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