Skip to content
Brick Wall Comedy
Brick Wall Comedy
Promotional art for The Hustler
Cover image credit:

Source

The Hustler

Kelsey Cook

YouTube · 2023 · 63 min

Post-divorce dating and the art of the foosball hustle.

Watch on YouTube(opens in a new tab)

or watch it free on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Kelsey Cook has a highly specific secret weapon: she is a world-champion foosball player who loves to hustle drunk men at dive bars. That title-giving premise sets the tone for a set about weaponizing her own life, but the real heart of the hour is her experience of getting divorced exactly one week before the 2020 lockdowns. While the rest of the world was hoarding toilet paper, Cook was left alone to process a sudden split, turning her isolation into a funny analysis of what happens when a marriage ends just as the world shuts down.\n\nFilmed at Comedy Works in Denver, Colorado, the show features Cook bringing a dry, conversational rhythm to the stage. She digs into the minutiae of her failed marriage, questioning if a relationship is doomed from the start when one partner has to give up peanut butter due to the other’s severe allergy, before moving on to the mundane realities of newly single life. Directed by Eric Abrams, the set covers everything from watching YouTube ASMR videos to feel less alone to the quiet victory of being able to pee in the shower without judgment.

The set list

3 bits

  1. Marriage doomed by food allergies

    Wonders if her marriage was doomed from the beginning because her husband was forced to give up peanut butter due to her severe allergy.

  2. Hustling drunk guys at foosball

    Describes playing poorly initially before hustling men in bars for money who are unaware that she is a world-champion foosball player.

  3. Adjusting to divorced life during the pandemic

    Contrasts the highs, such as peeing in the shower free of judgment, with the lows, such as watching YouTube ASMR videos to cope with loneliness.

How it plays

Tone
Dirty, sharply observed, raunchy, observational, and self-deprecating.
On stage
Reflects on relationships with the detached wisdom of a guru; blends an affable demeanor and laid-back confidence with blunt self-awareness.
Pace
Joke-dense, tight pacing, sharp and disciplined delivery without being loud or desperate.
About
divorce during COVID-19, modern dating and romance, sex and intimacy, competitive foosball hustling, family background

What the critics said

Praised for being smart, sharply observed, and consistently joke-dense with great pacing, though noted for featuring dirty and raunchy sex material.

In the room: Warm and receptive club atmosphere with unscripted riffs and crowd interactions.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: weownthelaughs.com, wbsnsports.com, tv.apple.com, themoviedb.org, letterboxd.com, spokesman.com, allmusic.com, en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, kelseycook.com.

Backstory

Cook went through a divorce one week prior to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, spending the subsequent pandemic adjusting to single life.

Details

Released
Taped
2022, Comedy Works Downtown, Denver
Runtime
63 min
Where
YouTube
Director
Eric Abrams
Topics
After
Mark Your Territory (2025)

More from Kelsey Cook

If you liked this