'Happy Hour' humor: Comedian Kelsey Cook brings comic relief to real life situations

Kelsey Cook takes real-life and flips it on its head.

Life is better than fiction and Cook has new material in her pocket that she is ready to roll out on her “Happy Hour” tour that makes a stop at Quezada’s Comedy Club & Cantina on Friday, Jan. 24, and Saturday, Jan. 25.

When it comes to her stand-up, one memorable highlight is her text conversation with a friend about burying her deceased cat in her yard after it was sadly struck by a vehicle. Problem is, her smartphone changed the name of the cat to the name of a friend with a similar name, leading to a mutual friend horrified and thinking the human friend had been killed and was now buried in Cook’s yard.

“I feel like, the longer you do comedy, the more you start to pay attention to just your everyday life,” Cook said. “And for me, that has been the easiest source of material. For me, it’s to just pay attention to what’s happening in my life that’s unusual or funny and just share those stories on stage. I’m excited because my new special is coming out soon, and so the new hour I’m touring with is different from the special. I’m excited to get to Albuquerque and start to share the new hour.”

The “Happy Hour” tour has a little bit of everything.

“I am calling the tour the ‘Happy Hour’ tour, because I feel like getting into your 30s and 40s, you are starting to try to figure out what are the things that bring me happiness?” Cook said. “And I got diagnosed with depression for the first time about a year ago, and so I kind of open up on stage about trying to navigate that. And, I have also stopped drinking, and just a lot of transitioning into kind of more adult life, of like, ‘OK, what is truly going to make me happy?’”

Audiences have appreciated Cook’s openness about her depression diagnosis, with many relating to the condition.

“I’ve been talking about it a little bit towards the end of this past tour of mine and it has felt so rewarding to have people come up to me afterward and just say, ‘Oh man, thank you for being open about this. I also struggle with depression,’” Cook said. “‘Sometimes it is uncomfortable for people to talk about, so just thank you for finding ways to bring some humor to it.’ So that’s all nice to hear.”

The “Happy Hour” tour is Cook’s first time headlining in New Mexico.

“I’ve been twice, I opened for Jim Norton on tour there years ago, and then also opened for Kevin Nealon.,” Cook said. “Actually, this is also several years ago, but I’ve gotten to open for some great people in Albuquerque, but this will be my first time coming through to headline the comedy club.”

Cook has plenty of ongoing projects that are worth a listen. She co-hosts the “Pretend Problems” podcast with her boyfriend and fellow comedian, Chad Daniels. Her foosball web-series “Wrists of Fury” is also worth paying attention to. Cook is a world champion foosball player and has more than 20 episodes hustling young comedians on the show, according to her website.

Cook is the daughter of an international yo-yo champion. She has garnered three million views on YouTube for her stand-up special “The Hustler,” which is currently streaming on Hulu.