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Brick Wall Comedy
Cover image credit: Thumbnail: YouTube · Kelsey Cook

Mark Your Territory

Kelsey Cook

Hulu · 2025 · 57 min

An honest, dry look at bad winters and worse medical procedures.

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Kelsey Cook’s second stand-up special focuses on the unglamorous reality of sharing a single bathroom with a partner, the pain of IUD insertions, and the specific misery of moving to Minnesota in the dead of winter. Filmed at Comedy on State in Madison, Wisconsin, the hour captures a transitional phase for Cook, who spent the preceding years rebuilding her life after a pandemic-era divorce. She spent years touring clubs before her 2022 debut found a wider audience on Hulu, and this follow-up keeps her material firmly rooted in the physical and the awkward. Rather than searching for grand takeaways, she presents the chaos of domestic life, her mother’s dementia, and an ill-timed menstruation disaster during an eighth-grade lake trip with a matter-of-fact clarity that prioritizes laughs over sentimentality.

The set list

4 bits

  1. Moving to Minnesota in the dead of winter and living in the Midwest

    Compares eight-month winters, high state taxes, cold bidet water feeling like local anesthesia, and vacations to Alaska to owning and renting a Nissan Sentra.

  2. Dating an older comedian boyfriend

    Details discussions on relationship labels, getting jealous in her 30s at his shows, men's bodies deteriorating in their 40s, and dating perks like financial security and a lake cabin.

  3. Her father being an international yo-yo champion

    Muses about receiving a specific amount of daddy issues sufficient to pursue stand-up comedy instead of OnlyFans.

  4. Women giving a urine sample

    Compares the unpredictability of women peeing to getting a dog's leash unstuck from its leg or stepping on a poked Capri Sun.

How it plays

Tone
Dirty, funny, levity-infused
On stage
Relatable, confident, fundamentally likeable with expressive facial expressions and straight deliveries.
About
dating an older man, IUD insertions, parent with dementia, moving to Minnesota, personal growth and heartbreak

What the critics said

Praised as consistently funny, confident, and relatable, with reviewers noting her strong mannerisms, facial expressions, and sharp turn of phrase as an improvement on or worthy follow-up to 'The Hustler'.

In the room: Energetic, enthusiastic Midwest crowd

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: deadline.com, 800poundgorillamedia.com, imdb.com, letterboxd.com, en.wikipedia.org, kelseycook.com.

Backstory

Cook moved to Minnesota in the dead of winter to live with her boyfriend, fellow comedian Chad Daniels, and incorporates dealing with her mother's dementia diagnosis into her act.

Details

Released
Taped
2024, Comedy on State, Madison
Runtime
57 min
Where
Hulu
Director
Eric Abrams
Topics
Before
The Hustler (2023)
After
Happy Hour (2026)

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