Christopher Alan Strait (born January 14, 1976) is an American comedian and writer. He is best known for being a regular contributor to
TRU-TV's ''World's Dumbest'' series.
Personal
Strait was born in
Inglewood, California
Inglewood is a city in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 107,762. It was incorporated on February 14, 1908. The city is in the South Bay ...
, and grew up in the
Ladera Heights
Ladera Heights is a community and unincorporated area in Los Angeles County, California. The population was 6,634 at the 2020 census. Culver City lies to its west, the Baldwin Hills neighborhood to its north, the View Park-Windsor Hills co ...
section of
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
near
Baldwin Hills. He is the older of two sons, and also has a half-sister (from father's side). Strait is of predominately English and German descent, although he claims to be a "European mutt".
He graduated from
Culver City High School
Culver City High School is the main public high school of the Culver City Unified School District (CCUSD) in Culver City, California. It was established in 1951. The school's colors are blue and silver, and the mascot is the centaur. As of 2021, it ...
in 1994, and subsequently earned a bachelor's degree in History from
California State University, Dominguez Hills
California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH, CSU Dominguez Hills, or Cal State Dominguez Hills) is a public university in Carson, California. It was founded in 1960 and is part of the California State University (CSU) system.
In 2020, ...
in 1999. Strait then received his master's degree in Psychology from
Antioch University
Antioch University is a private university with multiple campuses in the United States and online programs. Founded in 1852 as Antioch College, its first president was politician, abolitionist, and education reformer Horace Mann. It changed its n ...
in 2001. He had intended to be a
psychotherapist
Psychotherapy (also psychological therapy, talk therapy, or talking therapy) is the use of psychological methods, particularly when based on regular personal interaction, to help a person change behavior, increase happiness, and overcome pro ...
, but was told by supervisors that his problem-solving style was "too aggressive".
He began his comedy career while still in
graduate school
Postgraduate or graduate education refers to Academic degree, academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by higher education, post-secondary students who have earned an Undergraduate education, un ...
, in the summer of 2000. His Masters Thesis was on the subject of humor. Early influences included
Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks (born Melvin James Kaminsky; June 28, 1926) is an American actor, comedian and filmmaker. With a career spanning over seven decades, he is known as a writer and director of a variety of successful broad farces and parodies. He began h ...
,
Bill Cosby
William Henry Cosby Jr. ( ; born July 12, 1937) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and media personality. He made significant contributions to American and African-American culture, and is well known in the United States for his eccentric ...
,
Bob Newhart
George Robert Newhart (born September 5, 1929) is an American actor and comedian. He is known for his deadpan and slightly stammering delivery style. Newhart came to prominence in 1960 when his album of comedic monologues, ''The Button-Down Mi ...
, and
The Smothers Brothers
The Smothers Brothers are Thomas ("Tom" – born February 2, 1937) and Richard ("Dick" – born November 20, 1938), American folk singers, musicians, and comedians. The brothers' trademark double act was performing folk songs (Tommy on acoustic gu ...
. Later his admiration shifted to the likes of
George Carlin
George Denis Patrick Carlin (May 12, 1937 – June 22, 2008) was an American comedian, actor, author, and social critic. Regarded as one of the most important and influential stand-up comedians of all time, he was dubbed "the dean of countercul ...
,
Bill Hicks
William Melvin Hicks (December 16, 1961 – February 26, 1994) was an American stand-up comedian, social critic, satirist, and musician. His material—encompassing a wide range of social issues including religion, politics, and philosophy—wa ...
,
Richard Pryor
Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor Sr. (December 1, 1940 – December 10, 2005) was an American stand-up comedian and actor. He reached a broad audience with his trenchant observations and storytelling style, and is widely regarded as on ...
, and
Louis CK
Louis Alfred Székely (; born September 12, 1967), known professionally as Louis C.K. (), is an American stand-up comedian, screenwriter, actor, and filmmaker. C.K. won three Peabody Awards, three Grammy Awards, six Primetime Emmy Awards, and a ...
. In addition to his comedy career, Strait has also been employed in real estate, finance, behavioral therapy, and journalism.
Strait was previously married from 2004-2017. He has a daughter (born 2007), and a son (born 2011). He and his second wife had a son in 2018. They married legally in December 2019, but their official wedding was delayed to June 2021, due to the
Covid-19 Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
.
Career
Strait has headlined over 50
comedy club
A comedy club is a venue—typically a nightclub, bar, hotel, casino, or restaurant—where people watch or listen to performances, including stand-up comedians, improvisational comedians, impersonators, impressionists, magicians, ventriloquists, ...
s in the U.S. and Canada, and has also performed for the U.S. military in the USA, as well as in Cuba, Japan, Bahrain and Germany.
"I've been to all 50 states, as well as 6 continents, and 34 countries. I've done casinos, cruises, corporates, private parties, bars, comedy clubs, colleges, and military bases. Pretty much all the categories of places one can do stand-up." After many years hiatus from international shows, Strait performed in South Africa at Goliath and Joe Parker's clubs in Gauteng in 2017. He has also worked as a private auctioneer and motivational speaker. From 2018-2020, and 2021 onward. Strait has been primarily performing on cruise ships... but shifted to do over 100 virtual shows for private companies during the Covid-19 pandemic.
In addition to his contributions on TRU-TV, Strait has also done commentary on
E!,
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
, and
Fuel TV
Fox Sports 2 (FS2) is an American sports-oriented pay television channel owned by the Fox Sports Media Group, a unit of Fox Corporation. The channel is based at the Fox Sports division's headquarters on the Fox Studio Lot in the Century Ci ...
. He has performed stand-up comedy several times on
Fox's "Laughs", as well as single performances on
Nickmom,
Playboy TV
Playboy TV (originally The Playboy Channel) is a pay television channel based in the United States.
History
The channel first launched on December 9, 1980, as Escapade by Rainbow Programing Services (a joint-venture of four cable companies, ...
,
Bitesize.tv, and
Starz
Starz (stylized as STARZ since 2016; pronounced "stars") is an American premium cable and satellite television network owned by Lions Gate Entertainment, and is the flagship property of parent subsidiary Starz Inc. Programming on Starz consist ...
. He also wrote/produced/starred in a series of video sketches for
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
.
Strait has also lent his voice to video games, industrials, and film trailers. He was a writer for 'National Lampoon's Sports Minute', and appeared in the
National Lampoon Film, "Lost Reality 2".
He has self-released two DVD's (2006 – The White DVD / 2009 – Safe Bet), and one CD (2003 – No Point of View). His first commercially available CD, "Hitting The Wall", was shot in Indianapolis in Oct of 2011, and released on Next Round Entertainment's label, on December 13, 2011. His first commercially available DVD, "Urban Suburbanite" was released on Amazon in September 2015. The special had been shot nearly 3 years earlier, at the
Comedy & Magic Club in
Hermosa Beach
Hermosa Beach (''Hermosa'', Spanish for "Beautiful") is a beachfront city in Los Angeles County in the U.S. state of California, United States. Its population was 19,728 at the 2020 U.S. Census. The city is located in the South Bay region of th ...
, CA but production issues delayed its release. It was rereleased on
Tubi
Tubi is an American over-the-top content platform and ad-supported streaming service owned by Fox Corporation. The service was launched on April 1, 2014, and is based in Los Angeles, California. In January 2021, Tubi reached 33 million monthly ...
in 2022.
Strait released three more stand-up comedy CDs in 2019: "Incorrect Correctness" and "Personal Growth" for BSeenMedia. He also self-released "All Full" for all digital platforms. His Dry Bar Comedy Special "Laugh Till You Run Out of Air" was released in January 2020.
Strait has also written and self-released several e-books. Two books on boxing, "Strait on Boxing", and "Boxing Lists For the Die-Hard Fan", as well as a food review book, entitled "Eating Los Angeles". He has also released three books of poetry, "Free Thinker", "Tongues Lenguas", and "High-Cool" under the pen name, Alan Kimble, in 2016, 2019, and 2020, respectively.
The last one was a dedicated book of haiku, written during the 2020 Covid-19 quarantine. In September, 2016, he released a travel essay book, entitled "40 Years, 50 States". He also released several books in 2019, "Borderless", a travel journal; "Psychology of Humor" and "Empty Bucket", the latter being his personal memoirs, told via bucket-list format.
Boxing
Strait has worked as a live commentator and ring announcer for professional boxing shows, most notably on
CBSSports.com
CBSSports.com (formerly CBS SportsLine.com and SportsLine USA) is an American sports news website operated by Paramount Streaming, itself a division of Paramount Global. It is the website for CBS's CBS Sports division that features news, highl ...
,
VYRE,
UFC Fightpass, and
FITETV.com. He has been a freelance
boxing
Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...
writer, blogger, and
vlog
A video blog or video log, sometimes shortened to vlog (), is a form of blog for which the medium is video. Vlog entries often combine embedded video (or a video link) with supporting text, images, and other metadata. Entries can be recorded in ...
ger since 2000. He has written for cyberboxingzone.com, boxingcentral.com, boxingtalk.com, ropeadoperadio.com, and Boxing Digest magazine. He was the head boxing writer for convictedartist.com and Punch Drunk Sports, and has also hosted several of his own boxing
podcasts.
Punch Line Boxing podcast
Strait also competed as a boxer, fighting in many underground matches. He also won a USA Boxing sanctioned Los Angeles area tournament in the Super Heavyweight (over 201 lbs) division in 2001. Extremely nearsighted
Near-sightedness, also known as myopia and short-sightedness, is an eye disease where light focuses in front of, instead of on, the retina. As a result, distant objects appear blurry while close objects appear normal. Other symptoms may include ...
, he was unable to obtain a professional license.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Strait, Chris
1976 births
People from Inglewood, California
Living people
People from Hawthorne, California
Boxing commentators
American male poets
American people of English descent
Comedians from California
People from Ladera Heights, California
21st-century American comedians
21st-century American poets
21st-century American male writers