Meet Kazu Kusano | Comedian, Actor & Performance Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kazu Kusano and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kazu, where are your from? We’d love to hear about how your background has played a role in who you are today?

I was born and raised in Japan. I immigrated to America in my 30s all alone by myself to do comedy. Now I’m living my dream in L.A.

Why did I want to do comedy in a different language in a foreign country? Perhaps, it was because of my dysfunctional family and the societal sexism in Japan, though sexism is all over the world.

I grew up with my mother suffering from mental illness, schizophrenia, and my father, a drunk sailor who was often absent. In these situations, I learned to use humor to survive and process my trauma. In some way, it was like discovering my superpower.

In school, I became the class clown, but at the time in Japan, being funny wasn’t accepted as proper for girls. Every day, my teachers and classmates told me, “Be quiet! You are a girl!” Nevertheless I persisted. Later, I tried hard to fit in, but always felt miserable.

In my late 20s, I felt that I was a loser, but one day I saw the iconic comedic lead actress of the ’90s, Whoopi Goldberg, in Hollywood movies. I was shocked to see the funny woman was treated as cool and respected. I started dreaming about moving to America to pursue comedy.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?

I’m a stand-up comedian, actress, and performance artist.

You can see me at clubs, in theaters, and on Comedy Central UK’s Channel Hopping w/Jon Richardson as a Japanese correspondent.

After I moved to San Francisco, I created a geisha girl comedic act which flips ethnic and gender stereotypes. Luckily, I was invited to perform by the Yerba Buena Center For the Arts as a part of the exhibition “Women, Politics and Art.”

Then, I started doing stand-up comedy. As English is my second language, it has been very challenging. At the time, I was in America just 5 years and my English was limited. Also, with my cultural background as “Women are supposed to be quiet,” it was difficult for me to speak up, and still is. A few years later, I moved to L.A.

Meanwhile, I created my autobiographic comedic drama, Pretty Beast. In the show, I talk about my mom’s mental illness, family dysfunction, sexism, and what it means to discover your own empowerment. I’ve performed my show at colleges as a speaker for Women’s & Gender Studies. Pretty Beast won Best of Fest at the San Francisco Fringe Festival, the Hottest Selling Show at the Vancouver Fringe Festival, and more.

It’s important for me to perform my own art. These days, Asian Americans are getting more of the spotlight, but it’s still rare to hear the voice of Asian female immigrants with accents, especially in a comedic tone. Also, Asians don’t usually talk about their family’s mental illness. I’m grateful when audiences tell me, “Thank you for sharing your story. I feel that I’m not alone.”

One thing that made me overcome my challenges is a poster of my comedy hero, Whoopi Goldberg. It’s from her very first one woman show called Mom’s. When I started out, I had a chance to work with theater director, Ellen Sebastian, who created Mom’s with Whoopi. When I told Ellen that Whoopi was my hero and motivated me to pursue comedy in America, she gave it to me. Since then, the poster has been hanging on my wall encouraging me.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.

I would take my friend on a Westside tour in Mar Vista for Japanese food and entertainment. The tour starts in my hood’s Japanese grocery store, Mitsuwa, to have ramen at Santoka. Then we go to the Venice Pier to walk and enjoy random free exhibitions by locals like the karaoke sing-along. After, we’ll stroll around the Venice Canal to say hi to ducks. Then we go to Izakaya, Azabu in Marina Del Rey, and sip hot sake. At night, we’ll go to a female owned comedy club, the Crow, in Santa Monica to support feminism.

Link:
The Crow: https://www.crowcomedy.com

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?

My shoutout is to my supportive husband Allen Gittelson. By day he is a computer engineer, and by night he is a mentalist. Though we don’t perform together (‘cuz I’m not his assistant), occasionally we perform in the same show. Sometimes I open for him, and vice versa. Recently he opened for me, and by the time I performed, the audience was familiar with me and Allen, so it was extra fun to make fun of our relationship.

Another shout out is to the Fanatic Salon. I can’t thank enough the theater owner, Thomas Mitchell, for supporting my artistic journey to create my solo show from its inception.

Allen Gittelson: https://mentalwires.com

The Fanatic Salon: https://fanaticsalon.com

Website: KazuKusano.com

Instagram: instagram.com/kazu_kus/?hl=en

Facebook: facebook.com/lovelykazumikusano

Youtube: youtube.com/@KazumiKusanoComedy

Image Credits
Kim Newmoney, Richard Michael Johnson, Matt Misisco