Riding the Laughs with Wyatt Cote

Laughter and love were in the air on Valentine’s Day at a packed Marin Showcase Theater. It was time for another Best of the San Francisco Comedy Competition show, headlined by 2022 runner-up Wyatt Cote with the support of three supremely funny comics: Marcus Howard, your humble correspondent and Emily Van Dyke.

In a world where comedic taste can be laser-focused, it’s an increasingly rare treat to see a show where every act resoundingly crushes with seemingly every audience member. Such an occasion certainly requires a great audience but more than anything it requires skilled comics who know how to read that crowd and deliver the goods.

Wyatt Cote was a sensation.  A lifetime, passionate surfer hailing from Long Beach, CA, Wyatt was attending the University of Hawaii, studying biochemistry, when he dropped out to pursue comedy. We’re glad he did as his hard work on countless stages is paying off. With a remarkable knack for authenticity and concision, he delivers bits that are both relatable and dense with punchlines.

Wyatt’s jokes resonate. His down-to-earth, pragmatic approach conceals a calculated, razor-sharp wit wherein the crowd, relaxed with its guard down, is repeatedly hit with unexpected precision. It’s smart humor that cleverly constructed as it effortlessly weaves through topics such as being born to older parents, the absurdity of Spirit Airlines pricing and the challenge of dropping out of college for a career in comedy.

For example: “My friends who have degrees are making a fraction of what I make . . .roughly ten thirds as much.”

It was a tour de force no doubt making for a wonderful Valentine’s occasion had by all. The house was rocking from top to bottom, from beginning to end, and, one would assume, in the minds of fans later than night as they drifted off to sleep. 

We sat down with this rising star to discuss his early days in showbiz, surfing, his memories as a Comedy Competition contestant and not overthinking things.

You started comedy at 19, and you were a student when you started, correct?

Yeah, I was in college. I was going into my sophomore year and I kind of just, like…I wanted to get started in high school, but you know, the fear kept me offstage for a while, so when I was 19 I started to lightly dabble in open mics. I would do like a few a year, and they would go reasonably well for me, so when I was 22 and college wasn’t working out for me I decided to take a leave from school and pursue comedy full-time.

You were in school in Hawaii. Was it there where you went on stage for the first time?

It was my summer break home, and I went to North Hollywood to an open mic up there. I wanted to go out of town to avoid running into anybody I knew, because I was so embarrassed, or so scared, I should say, not embarrassed. My sister drove me, and I drank the whole way because I was so nervous. 

That sounds familiar! So you dropped out as a senior. Had you been thinking about that for a while? 

Yeah, I was thinking about it the whole time. I was going into my last year…

…And you waited until your last year so you could accumulate as much debt as possible before you dropped out? 

No, luckily I didn’t have any!

Your major was biochemistry. What’s harder, comedy or biochemistry?

To me, biochemistry for sure. It entirely depends on who you ask, you know?

I’ll take your word for it. There are people who hate comedy competitions, and there are people who seem to thrive in them. You seem to have a knack for it. Was it your first SFCC, when you were a finalist in 2022?

Yeah, that was the first time that I did San Francisco. I did Seattle the year before though [Wyatt was a finalist in that competition, in 2021].

At the beginning of the SFCC, the sets are short. Did you focus on getting as many punches as possible in? Do you change your approach, based on the prelims being 5-or-so-minute sets?

Basically, I just put together my best 5 minutes, and I make sure that it’s very tight, you know? That’s the advantage of the shorter sets, that you can really piece together your best stuff. I have a sort of one-liner style that works well in competitions, and that’s just my strategy. If it’s not broken, I don’t fix it. If I place with that set I just keep doing the same set, and I don’t try to do too much. You can’t win in the first round, so my focus on each round is just advancing, just getting to the next round.

Right, don’t overthink it.

Yeah.

Are you traveling a lot to do comedy now?

Yeah, I travel almost every weekend now, so I’ve been all over the country. I’ve worked in 27 states and Canada as well, which I know is not another state.

Not yet.

I’ve worked in British Columbia and Nova Scotia.

Are you based in L.A.?

Long Beach, still in Long Beach, so very close to L.A.

Are you surfing a lot these days?

Yeah, every day that I’m home. I grew up surfing. That was definitely my first love. I learned how to surf when I was 6-years old and surfed competitively through high school. A lot of what I learned in surfing I was sort of able to carry over with me into comedy.

Do they compliment each other? Are comedy crowds like surf conditions?

Yeah, kind of, yeah! Sometimes they’re more cooperative than others. Just like, you have good crowds and bad crowds, you have good waves and bad waves, and to be a professional in either you have to do well in both. You have to still be able to do well with a bad crowd.

One thing is flow. As you know, in comedy, it’s all about the timing. A lot of it is the timing. You have to read the crowd. Do I speed up? Do I slow down? “Alright, their laughing has tapered off – now I’m gonna start the next joke.” Timing is such a big part of it, and surfing, very similar: I take off on a wave, I spot up my first maneuver, and then I look down the line, see where I’m gonna hit next. Do I need to speed up? Do I need to slow down? And I get the rhythm, just like that.

Any particular memories from the SFCC in 2022?

God, the whole thing was memorable. Definitely the show here [Marin Showcase Theater] was one of my fondest memories. I had a great night here. This was where I was when I sealed my advancing to the next round. So I definitely remember here. It was the only show that I won in the prelims. I remember in the semifinals I got myself into the weeds there, so I remember that in kind of a bad way, worrying if I had done well in the prelims only to get eliminated in the semis. Of course, the last couple nights of it, all the great places that I got to go to, and I met so many great friends and audience members. It was kinda my second big credit, getting runner-up. The event as a whole is very much a staple of my career so far.

Did it feel very competitive while you were doing it? Were you looking at certain people and thinking, “Oh man, they’re gonna be super tough,” or was there more camaraderie? Or both?

It was both, yeah. I got love and respect for all the guys and ladies who I was in it with. Everybody was really good. 

I got to the finals, and I kept going neck-and-neck with Chris Riggins. He won the first night, I won the second night, and then he actually clinched it on the third night because I had a not-great set in Carmel. I made fun of Monterey, thinking they would like that, but I guess everyone in the crowd was from Monterey because they didn’t like it at all! That was the night that I fell out of contention to win it. Chris had it sealed on the third night, so I was in a not-great situation coming into the last night because all I could do was maintain second place. So I was hoping I could do that. 

I cruised down the coast and surfed in Monterey and just tried to take my mind off it a little bit, just enjoy where I was. I went into the last night and was able to maintain second place, and my mom and her friend came up from Long Beach to watch it, so it went about as well as it could’ve.

Did you see a lot of doors open up for you after that?

Definitely, especially in the Bay Area, getting to do shows like this. It’s helped me build a lot of connections up here. This is a great place to work. I think the Bay Area has one of the best comedy scenes in the country. I get to do shows in a place where I can just drive up to, don’t have to fly across the country.

It’s been very helpful. Just getting into other clubs as well, and moving up to headliner. I moved up to headliner the year following the SFCC, so definitely one good credit is great, but having two was even better.