We launch a systematic study of the refined Wilf-equivalences by the statistics $\mathsf{comp}$ and $\mathsf{iar}$, where $\mathsf{comp}(π)$ and $\mathsf{iar}(π)$ are the number of components and the length of the initial ascending run of a permutation $π$, respectively. As Comtet was the first one to consider the statistic $\mathsf{comp}$ in his book {\em Analyse combinatoire}, any statistic equidistributed with $\mathsf{comp}$ over a class of permutations is called by us a {\em Comtet statistic} over such class. This work is motivated by a triple equidistribution result of Rubey on $321$-avoiding permutations, and a recent result of the first and third authors that $\mathsf{iar}$ is a Comtet statistic over separable permutations. Some highlights of our results are: (1) Bijective proofs of the symmetry of the double Comtet distribution $(\mathsf{comp},\mathsf{iar})$ over several Catalan and Schröder classes, preserving the values of the left-to-right maxima. (2) A complete classification of $\mathsf{comp}$- and $\mathsf{iar}$-Wilf-equivalences for length $3$ patterns and pairs of length $3$ patterns. Calculations of the $(\mathsf{des},\mathsf{iar},\mathsf{comp})$ generating functions over these pattern avoiding classes and separable permutations. (3) A further refinement by the Comtet statistic $\mathsf{iar}$, of Wang's recent descent-double descent-Wilf equivalence between separable permutations and $(2413,4213)$-avoiding permutations.