T
he pandemic-forced shift to working from home came more naturally to some professions than others. Just imagine your livelihood depends on connecting with an audience, inspiring contagious laughter, a give-and-take that doesn t really happen easily on Zoom. Kelsey Cook doesn t have to imagine. Like so many, the standup comic found herself navigating technology and all its, um, joys as the Inland Northwest native worked to keep the momentum going in her career. It s been intense, Cook says. I joke about it on stage now, but I got divorced a week before COVID. Then all the comedy clubs shut down. I pivoted to doing a lot of virtual shows the past year. For a long time, I was using my cat tree as a mic stand. Most of the pandemic I was resting my laptop on this cat tree, and I d have to tell the audience beforehand that if at some point the camera starts shaking, it s my cats. I m in their space.