About
Kazu
Kazu Kusano is a comedian, actress, and mischievous Japanese woman . She has a Japanese accent, crazy physicality, a dark sense of humor, and hot flashes. Kazu immigrated to America alone in her thirties to do stand-up comedy.
Kazu can be seen on Comedy Central UK’s Cannel Hopping as a Japanese correspondent.
She’s is also the undefeated champion of Joke-E-Oke at SF Sketchfest, where the late great Robin Williams gave her a huge compliment, “She’s hilarious!”
Kazu has performed her stand-up comedy at clubs, festivals and colleges all over the U.S. including Las Vegas’s Camp EDC, and was a finalist at the Westside Showdown in 2017.
Her one-woman show, a comedic-drama, PRETTY BEAST won Best of Fest at Crazy Woke Asian’s Solo Fest and Pick of Vancouver Fringe Award as a Hottest Selling Show in 2019.
A child class clown, Kazu was obsessed with impersonating Japanese male comedy troupe, the Drifters/ザ・ドリフターズ. However, being funny wasn’t considered as a proper for a girl in Japan. Every day, her teachers and classmates told her, “Be quiet, you are a girl!” Nevertheless she persisted. In her 20s, she saw Whoopi Goldberg in movies, and she was shocked that women can be funny and cool at the same time. She struggled with gender stereotypes, and then, decided to pursue comedy in America. In her 30s, she moved to San Francisco alone with $2,000…in debt. She worked as a waitress at a Sushi bar, at a Diner, and at an Indian restaurant. She studied English and Political Science at Foothill College, and was awarded as an Out Standing Student in English. Eventually, she became a comedian and made her dream come true.
Married to a Jewish mentalist, she currently resides in Los Angeles.
Past Appearances
2016 - Present
2020 Something happened in the world…
2019 WON Pick of the Fringe Award of Vancouver Fringe
2019 WON BEST OF FEST at Crazy Woke Asians Solo Performance Festival
2019 The Winner: Joke-E-Oke, S.F. Sketchfest
2019 SF Sketchfest (Stand-Up)
2018 Desi Comedy Fest
2017 42nd San Francisco Comedy Competition
2017 Desi Comedy Fest
2017 Burbank Comedy Festival
2017 Laughlin LaughFest
2017 FINALIST: Westside Comedy Showdown
2017 NACA Northern Plains Convention
2017 NACA National Convention
2017 SF Sketchfest (Stand-Up)
2016 The Comedy Comedy Festival, Los Angeles
2016 San Diego Fringe Festival, CA
2016 Laugh Riot Grrrrl Festival, Los Angeles
2006 - 2015
2015 AsiaFest, Adelaide, Australia
SBS Radio, Melbourne, Australia – in Japanese
2015 Derby City Comedy Festival, KY
2015 Ventura Comedy Festival, CA
2015 The Comedy Comedy Festival, Los Angeles
2015 Laugh Riot Grrrl Festival, Los Angeles
VNMN-TV Comedy Stir Fry
2014 Hella Gay Comedy Festival, San Francisco
2014 Out of Bounds Comedy Festivals, Texas
KTLA(FOX) Good Day LA
2014 Ramen Yokocho Festival, Los Angeles
2014 Hollywood Fringe Festival, Los Angeles
2014 3rd Place: Flappers/Indi.com, CA
2013 Samurai Geisha Festival, Los Angeles
2013 3rd Place: Walk the Plank, San Francisco
2011 Wish for Japan I & II -Fundraisers-, San Francisco
2011 The Winner: Joke-E-Oke, San Francisco Sketchfest
2010 Finalist: The Battle of the Bay, San Francisco
2010 The Winner: Joke-E-Oke, S.F. Sketchfest
2008 San Francisco Theater Festival
2008 The Identity Shifts, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
San Francisco
2007 Clown Bible, Berkeley CA
2006 ~99 Cent~ Miss Saigon, Berkeley CA
