The Hustler

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.