By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

“In general, when I look back at where I was and where I wanted to be, if I knew I would be doing the things I’m doing now, I’d be so ecstatic.”

That’s how comic Adam Cozens, a West Seattle native, sums up what’s transpired in the four years since last we checked in with him. He had already been pursuing his dreams in New York for a few years when we interviewed him during holiday-season visits home in 2009 and 2010.

Then in December, he e-mailed WSB to let us know he’ll be back in the area this month, starting with a headliner show at Comedy Underground on January 21st. So we talked with him by phone to find out what’s changed in the four-plus years since he was last here doing a Seattle stand-up show while visiting family (his parents are still here in West Seattle, where, as we first noted in 2009, he attended Schmitz Park Elementary, Madison Middle School, West Seattle High School, and Seattle Lutheran High School).

One big change: He lives in Los Angeles now. (Pasadena, to be specific.) But that might not be the biggest.

Adam got married back in May, to his longtime girlfriend Laura – five years of dating, more than a decade as acquaintances, since his freshman year in college; they reconnected when she showed up in New York for grad school.

NY was his home for about five years, as he focused on standup comedy. “In hindsight, I really should have started in Seattle – some people think you should start in a smaller place.” But he has no regrets about that: “It was good for me to just get thrown into it.”

What wasn’t so good about life back east: His work was his “entire life.” Even though he and his now-wife were dating, his career seemed to override everything. “I was learning every night – it was much more of a ‘comedy education,’ getting exposed to all of it, learning all of it, similar to college – college was fun, but when school wasn’t going well, nothing was going well, and that was kind of how New York was me. If I wasn’t doing well in standup … my entire life was awful, because that’s what I was out there for. I was getting up on stage, like five times a night, seven nights a week.”

Now, he continues to perform often – here’s a clip he pointed us to:

You can see the most recent gigs listed on his website; he’s been performing “regularly at the Hollywood Improv, The UCB Theater, The Ice House, and really wherever else they will let me get on stage” – and he is writing professionally (more on that shortly). Being in Los Angeles, he says, has led to a “much-more-fulfilling quality of life outside of work, and I think that makes my work itself that much better. I have friends who aren’t comedians, friends who don’t talk exclusively about show business.”

When he’s onstage, “I try to make the most of it, quality over quantity. I’ll still do any show people ask me to do, but I like having a night at home with my wife, real moments that I can write about and talk about on stage. If your life is (just) going from club to club, you don’t have much to talk about.”

And yes, he has “day jobs” – including dog-walking. “It’s important to have a routine, important to make money, important to maintain sanity.”

His offstage time is also spent with paying work relating directly to his art – writing for TV. “That was one of the reasons I got into standup in the first place, to become a writer … I would like to be doing it full time.”

But you have to start somewhere. And right now, he has a prestigious freelance gig: “I got picked up as a freelance ‘Weekend Update’ writer for ‘Saturday Night Live.’ It’s a huge opportunity and a huge thrill for me, one of the shows I watched growing up, such a huge influence on what I do and on my writing.”

So how did that happen?

“Years ago, I was an opening act for a comedian who did some writing for ‘Saturday Night Live’ and he knew that just for fun I would write a prospective monologue for (TV shows) and post it on social media. He thought I would be a good fit (for SNL) because they do use freelance writers. So he recommended me to the producer.”

But if you think “knowing someone” is a sure bet for getting a gig – not so, Adam says. Every year SNL considers adding freelancers to the roster, via a week of tryouts – he got rejected “three or four years in a row” before making the cut. “This year I got accepted; I kept improving and working hard at it.”

Since he’s not in New York, sitting in a room with the writing staff, what freelance writing involves is getting a “packet” with what they’re looking for on a given day; he writes jokes, sends the packet back, and “sees what might get on.”

Back to his impending return to Seattle, and his January 21st show. The plan started because of something he’s doing nearby immediately afterward – sharing the bill with a friend.

“When I was first starting in standup, I became good friends with comedian Joe Machi. We were starting out together. He was hilarious. Last year, through his incredible talent, he got fourth place in (the TV show) ‘Last Comic Standing.’ America’s going crazy for Joe. He’s having me open for him on the road this whole next year (when) we can make it work with our schedule.”

That includes a stint in Kirkland, January 22nd-24th (more on that here). But an opening act is maybe 10 to 15 minutes. Adam decided to make even more out of his visit back home.

“So I thought, ‘I haven’t produced my own show in Seattle in four years now!’ Since I was going to be here, I thought it would be fun to do another show.” He’ll do a full hour on January 21st at Comedy Underground, preceded by two friends, “Daniel Carroll, who is also from West Seattle – we met in New York and realized we both grew up (here),” and Scott Losse. (Tickets, only $10, are available online.)

That in turn is a prelude to a big gig coming up in May: The first time he’s headlined a club for a full weekend. “I’ve headlined off-nights here and there, different clubs on a Tuesday or Wednesday somewhere.” But nothing like this – a club outside Detroit, Comedy Castle in Royal Oak, Michigan, where he’s headlining May 28-30.

We ask, for at least the second time in our conversation: How did THAT happen?

“Years ago I submitted to (the owner) to come work as a host or middle act. He watched my tape and thought I was funny but didn’t know if it would be worth it to fly me in for the amount they could pay me, just not a lot of money when you’re the middle act. We stayed in touch through the years, I submitted (a tape) to him again,” and this time he got the invitation to come headline.

So, more than a few years after leaving West Seattle and heading out on the classic quest for show-biz success, Adam says, “I couldn’t be more excited about where I am … going on the road, opening for people, writing for TV shows, being able to have a successful personal life and getting married to the girl of my dreams – I always thought it would be one or the other, happy personal life OR successful in my dream career.”

He has a realistic view of it too: “I know my limitations and I know my strengths. I used to think I could do everything. I now know I can do some things better than other things. I tried writing movie scripts, not my strongest suit, but I’m good at writing short things like topical monologue jokes, so I’m playing to my strong suits. Instead of trying to be OK at a lot of things, I’m (working at) being good at, what I’m good at.”

And that includes working at “being a much-better comedian onstage. I hope to never get content at what I’m saying and doing; I would hate to look back after 10 years and be doing the same thing. As I grow up and age, I hope my act grows up and ages.”

As for how he’s grown up in the four years since his last Seattle show – “I want (people) to know I’m really happy.” And he’s hoping to make you happy, at least for an hour or so, by making you laugh: “I think I’m doing the best standup of my life. I’m writing from a clear perspective, jokes but not long stories … I like to take very real moments and condense them down to a :30 observation. I’ll be doing a lot of that.”

See for yourself at 8 pm January 21st:

Comedy Underground is just across the bridge, in Pioneer Square, at 109 S. Washington. (Tickets are $10, available online.) The rest of Adam’s 2015 performance schedule, so far, is here.