Kevin Hart, Tom Segura, Shane Gillis may be headlining Great Outdoors Comedy Festival, but Spokane’s own Kelsey Cook is sure to draw many local laughs

For Spokane’s Kelsey Cook, much has changed since she was a student at Washington State University first discovering her comedic abilities. Now, the touring comedian will return home to bring her own style of humor to the Great Outdoors Comedy Festival, featuring Tom Segura, Shane Gillis, Kevin Hart and more.

Throughout her youth, making friends and family experience the human sensation of laughter was simply an aspect of life. To make a living off such a thing? Not even a remote idea.

In fact, Cook initially attended Washington State University as a math major and had the full intention of returning to her alma mater Cheney High School to teach the youth the ways of geometry, algebra and calculus.

Around the midway point of Cook’s college experience, her relationship with math fell into some complications. She “was just not loving it anymore.”

She pivoted to broadcast production and began to embrace the course’s required public speaking classes with a certain comedic flare. This was also simultaneous with the rise of a certain comedian that shifted her own perspective on the world of comedy.

“When I was in college, that was really the time when Dane Cook was booming,” Kelsey said. “I became more aware that stand-up comedy could be a full-time job and career.”

After spending a summer in Los Angeles on a video editing internship and performing stand-up at open mic nights in the city of stars, Cook returned for her senior year willing and ready to go all-in. She performed weekly sets in Pullman before graduating and spending a few years in the Seattle scene. She then spent three years opening for Jim Norton and found herself in the middle of her dream.

“Jim Norton was kind of my comedy fairy godmother who made it possible,” Cook said. “Once you’re a full-time opener you’re typically able to do it for a living at that point.”

Over a decade later, Cook’s success within the industry has only continued to expand and reach new heights.

Perhaps the prime example of not only Cook’s growth but her body of work thus far is her YouTube special titled “The Hustler,” which was also recently added to Hulu.

Since the special was uploaded to the video-based platform in March 2023, “The Hustler” has amassed over 3.2 million views and critical acclaim far beyond Cook’s expectations.

“When you’re entering into something that’s out of your control, you try really hard to manage your expectations because you don’t want to be disappointed,” Cook said. “Secretly, I thought ‘Oh, a million views would be really cool’ and then that happened in like the first month and I was just like ‘What is happening? This is insane!’”

Much of the inspiration behind the special – recorded in Denver in 2021 – comes from the place of a few large transitions within her life; adjusting to a divorce as the COVID-19 pandemic changed how the country operated.

“I was entering into this new territory of life as the pandemic struck, it was this multi-layered moment of ‘Oh my god, life is changing so much right now,’” Cook said. “And I think I shared a lot of stories that were funny but embarrassing, and those are some of my favorites to tell.”

This sense of openness and the ability to stay honest while adding a sense of dramatization to her experiences are both fellow factors to Cook’s relatability. And although it may seem obvious that one needs to be unique while also striking a personal chord with the masses in the game of stand-up, truly achieving these facets is much easier said than done.

“It’s important to be vulnerable and really trying to be yourself, just leaning into the stories you have in your life that are really only yours, but that people can still relate to,” Cook said. “I just love trying to connect with people and make them feel less alone, whether it’s something heavy or stupid and embarrassing.”

Another aspect of Cook’s recent growth is social media. Her Instagram and TikTok accounts have garnered “likes” and views soaring into the double-digit millions; this virality having its pros and cons.

On the plus side, Cook “has had so much growth through those platforms, especially in terms of people coming out to shows, so for me it’s been a real blessing.”

But on the other end of this spectrum is the disservice to long-form stand-up and the false expectations created by what social media platforms tend to push.

It’s no secret that short-form video content, especially clips under one minute or even 45 seconds long, are the major sellers within the modern era of the internet. Anymore, this concept is no longer new, and the majority of brands/content creators have shifted to fit in with this new norm in order to survive.

More specific to the world of comedy, Cook’s crowd-work is usually the viral sensation. Although she can’t exactly ascertain why, social media has the heavy tendency to push her examples of crowd interaction the most. And although this is a somewhat usual aspect of her sets, it also creates new pressures and perhaps the wrong ideas from incoming viewers – not to mention the new challenge of consistently editing and uploading videos.

“Sometimes it gives this impression that if somebody comes to your show, they’re going to want you to shout out stuff and do crowd-work the whole time, and at least for me personally, my comedy is very written and not based on crowd-work. I do have crowd interactions happen, but that’s not even close to the majority of the set,” Cook said, adding, “And now (social media) is so impactful that you need to constantly be posting clips and content to grow your following, because it does work and you can’t ignore it anymore.”

Nonetheless, Cook’s career and massive growth within the decade have taken her to places she would never have imagined – from massive venues earlier this year with Bert Kreischer to now living in Minnesota with her boyfriend and fellow comic Chad Daniels.

This weekend, she will return home to perform at ONE Spokane Stadium and the Great Outdoors Comedy Festival; going on the evening of Saturday before Shane Gillis.

Besides the obvious Spokane-focused jokes she doesn’t usually get to make, Cook is also looking forward to experiencing the newer (and very large) venue along with having multiple members of her family in attendance.

“I’m really excited!” Cook exclaimed.