Meet Grant ‘GrantCotter’ Cotter

Today we’d like to introduce you to Grant Cotter.

Thanks for sharing your story with us, Grant. So, let’s start at the beginning, and we can move on from there.
I was born in London, England, but it all started for me in the Poconos in Pennsylvania. My parents were Dutch/Cuban Quakers living in an Artisan Co-Op. A small farming community with a nightly séance. We didn’t have electricity and only wore yellow, so our auras shined bright. When I was eight, my parents were excommunicated because my father got me a Nintendo Gameboy in order to help with my panic attacks. My father took the excommunication hard so, he left and started his own Artisan Co-Op somewhere in Texas. My mother was fed up of the simple life and took me to California so she could pursue her dream of me being a famous actor.

We moved to LA, and I booked my first child acting job on the hit TV drama, “Boy Meets World.” I played a troubled youth who smoked marijuana. Being an actor in LA costs a lot of money, so my mother had to hustle for extra income. She started selling CutCo Knives, door-to-door. She would take me with her to get sympathy sales. We would drive to rich neighborhoods like Bel-Air and some parts of Koreatown. Going door-to-door holding butcher knives and paring knives while asking the nice people to give us money. My mom had to go away for a while, and that’s when I met Lenny.

Lenny became my mentor. He was a truck driver who my mom met at a propane convention in Van Nuys. Lenny took me to my first comedy show at the Laugh Factory when I was ten. I got to see Rodney Dangerfield perform in his pajamas and Richard Pryor perform in his wheelchair. Seeing those two guys make a room full of people laugh while wearing their nightclothes, and sitting down sparked something in my young mind. I needed to talk to and get paid for it. From then on, I was a student of comedy.

Every day after school, I would go home and watch comedy VHS cassettes of the classics: 3 Ninjas Knuckle Up, Die Hard 3 with a Vengeance and Moonwalker. I would study the funny parts and recreate them with my own twist Saturday evenings at church for the newcomers.

Flash forward some years, and I’m illegally going to college at USC. My friend Paul had a full-ride scholarship, and I lived in his dorm room with him. We would go to class, and I enjoyed studying things like 3rd Party Microeconomics, PE, and Stand-Up Comedy.

Has it been a smooth road?
It hasn’t been such a smooth journey — lots of ups and downs. When you start doing stand-up, you start in dive bars and libraries before you get to comedy clubs and football arenas.

One time at a show in Cheyenne Wyoming, a woman broke a wine glass on the table and tried to stab me because I said I could probably dribble better than Kobe Bryant. When such a violent act happens to a young comic, it’s easy to get traumatized and give up. For the next couple of months each time I saw a wine glass, I would flinch. Thankfully I outgrew that phase.

Comedy is hard on an emotional level. It is easy to feel like you’re a 7 in a room full of 9’s. I often get down on myself for not having the trendiest haircut, but when I get on stage and make a room full of people laugh, all of my insecurities go away for those 20 minutes. I also got caught shoplifting condoms at Target and had to hire a lawyer to get the charges dropped, but that wasn’t really a comedy struggle, just a life struggle.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with your work – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of  and what sets you apart from others.
I am in the business of funny. If it’s funny, I am all about it. Stand-up, memes, six-second videos, I do it all.

A lot of comedians do comedy for themselves- but I do it for others. I like touching people with my words.

Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and the least?
The best part about Hollywood is all the celebrities you see. Just the other day I saw Jennifer Lopez at Winchell’s donuts. Stars- they really are just like us! It’s awesome to see people in their natural habitat.

I also love secrets about LA that only people who live here know- like, when there’s a lot of traffic TAKE FOUNTAIN! It’s a secret street that will zip you from one side of LA to the next. Shhh, don’t tell anyone!

What I don’t like about Hollywood? There are so many amazingly talented actors stuck working retail jobs. I wish they all had their chance to shine! Hollywood Blvd. is a magical place and I think everyone should see the stars and take a picture with Elmo in front of Jimmy Kimmel’s studio at once in their life!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.GrantCotter.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/GrantCotter
• Facebook: www.Facebook.com/GrantCotter
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/GrantCotter
• Other: www.youtube.com/grantcotter

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