Cole Stratton (born September 21, 1976) is an American actor, comedian, podcaster, writer and producer, best known as one of the Co-Founders of SF Sketchfest, the San Francisco Comedy Festival and the co-host of the Pop My Culture Podcast.

Early life

Stratton was born in Lansing, Michigan and moved to Davis, California when he was 9 years old, where he attended Davis Senior High School. He graduated with a degree in Cinema from

San Francisco State University San Francisco State University (San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It was established in 1899 as the San Francisco State Normal School and is ...

. He moved to Los Angeles in 2003, where he currently resides.

Career

SF Sketchfest

Stratton co-founded SF Sketchfest, the San Francisco Comedy Festival with David Owen and

Janet Varney Janet Varney is an American actress, comedian, writer and producer. She is known for voicing the character of Korra in the Nickelodeon animated television series ''The Legend of Korra'', co-starring as Sheriff Evie Barret in the television ser ...

in 2002. One of the most prestigious festivals in the country, it showcases sketch, stand-up, improv, tributes, movies, cast reunions, musical and

alternative comedy Alternative comedy is a term coined in the 1980s for a style of comedy that makes a conscious break with the mainstream comedic style of an era. The phrase has had different connotations in different contexts: in the UK, it was used to describe ...

. Past performers include

Carol Burnett Carol Creighton Burnett (born April 26, 1933) is an American comedian, actress, singer and writer. Burnett has played dramatic and comedic roles on stage and screen. She has received List of awards and nominations received by Carol Burnett, nu ...

Conan O'Brien Conan Christopher O'Brien (born April 18, 1963) is an American television host, comedian, writer, actor, and producer. He is best known for having hosted Late-night talk show, late-night talk shows, beginning with ''Late Night with Conan O'B ...

The State A state is a political entity that regulates society and the population within a definite territory. Government is considered to form the fundamental apparatus of contemporary states. A country often has a single state, with various administrat ...

Gene Wilder Gene Wilder (born Jerome Silberman; June 11, 1933 – August 29, 2016) was an American actor, comedian, writer, and filmmaker. He was mainly known for his comedic roles, including his portrayal of Willy Wonka in ''Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Fa ...

Garry Shandling Garry Emmanuel Shandling (November 29, 1949 – March 24, 2016) was an American actor, comedian, writer, director, and producer. Shandling began his career writing for sitcoms, such as '' Sanford and Son'' and ''Welcome Back, Kotter''. He made a ...

, The Kids in the Hall, Mr. Show,

Paul Reubens Paul Reubens (; ; August 27, 1952 – July 30, 2023) was an American actor and comedian, widely known for creating and portraying the character Pee-wee Herman. Born in Peekskill, New York and raised in both Oneonta, New York and Sarasota, Flo ...

Upright Citizens Brigade The Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB) is an improvisational and sketch comedy group that emerged from Chicago's ImprovOlympic in 1990. The original incarnation of the group consisted of Amy Poehler, Matthew Walsh, Matt Besser, Ian Roberts, ...

Neil Patrick Harris Neil Patrick Harris (born June 15, 1973) is an American actor, singer, writer, producer, and television host. Primarily known for his comedic television roles and dramatic and musical stage roles, he has received List of awards and nominations ...

and many more.

Pop My Culture Podcast

Stratton co-hosted the Pop My Culture Podcast alongside Vanessa Ragland. The podcast ranked second on ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

''s Best Comedy Podcast of the Moment, one of the top 20 Comedy Podcasts of 2013 by Paste Magazine and one of 10 Favorite Comedy Podcasts by IFC and Mashable.com. After 6 years, the podcast wrapped up in January 2017 with their 213th and final episode with guests Paul F. Tompkins, Rhett Miller and Samm Levine. The episodes are available on

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

Nerdist Nerdist Industries, LLC (also simply known as Nerdist) is part of the digital division of Legendary Entertainment. Nerdist Industries was founded as a sole podcast ( The Nerdist Podcast) created by Chris Hardwick but later spread to include a net ...

and the podcast's website. He's a frequent guest host and improviser on

Kevin Pollak Kevin Elliot Pollak (born October 30, 1957) is an American actor, comedian, impressionist and podcast host. He has appeared in over 90 films; his roles include Sam Weinberg in Rob Reiner's ''A Few Good Men'', Jacob Goldman in ''Grumpy Old Men ...

's podcast, Alchemy This, appearing on over 40 episodes. He also is a recurring guest on Chuck Bryant's Movie Crush Podcast, with episodes focused on '' Searching for Bobby Fischer,'' '' The Manchurian Candidate'', '' Still Crazy'' and a special episode discussing his "100 Lesser-Known Movies to Watch at Home" list. Other podcast guest appearances include Voyage to the Stars, Dumb People Town,

Never Not Funny ''Never Not Funny'' is a podcast hosted by American comedian Jimmy Pardo, since spring 2006, currently releasing two episodes a week. He and producer/co-host Matt Belknap have appeared in every episode. Comedian Mike Schmidt appeared as co-host f ...

with

Jimmy Pardo James Ronald Pardo, Jr. is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and host of the comedy podcast ''Never Not Funny''. From the show's inception until mid-2015, he performed as the Conan O'Brien program Conan (talk show), ''Conans warm-up comedi ...

, Alison Rosen is Your New Best Friend, Comedy Film Nerds, Hello from the Magic Tavern, Jordan, Jesse, Go!, James Bonding, The JV Club, Totally Laime with Elizabeth Laime, Competitive Erotic Fan Fiction, The Wahlberg Solution, The Mutant Season, Talkin Walkin and Probably Science.

RiffTrax

Stratton has written and performed several comedic audio commentaries for films along with Janet Varney. These appear on the RiffTrax website under the "RiffTrax Presents" branding, as being officially sanctioned by RiffTrax founder and ''

Mystery Science Theater 3000 ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' (abbreviated as ''MST3K'') is an American science fiction comedy television series created by Joel Hodgson. The show premiered on WUCW, KTMA-TV (now WUCW) in Saint Paul, Minnesota, on November 24, 1988. It then ...

'' alum, Michael J. Nelson. RiffTrax commentaries featuring Stratton & Varney include ''

Dirty Dancing ''Dirty Dancing'' is a 1987 American romance film, romantic drama film, drama Dance in film, dance film written by Eleanor Bergstein, produced by Linda Gottlieb, and directed by Emile Ardolino. Starring Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey, it tel ...

'', ''

Ghost In folklore, a ghost is the soul or Spirit (supernatural entity), spirit of a dead Human, person or non-human animal that is believed by some people to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely, from a ...

'', ''

Footloose ''Footloose'' is a 1984 American musical drama film directed by Herbert Ross and written by Dean Pitchford. It tells the story of Ren McCormack (Kevin Bacon), a teenager from Chicago who moves to a small town, where he attempts to overturn a b ...

'', ''

Poltergeist In German folklore and ghostlore, a poltergeist ( or ; ; or ) is a type of ghost or spirit that is responsible for physical disturbances, such as loud noises and objects being moved or destroyed. Most claims or fictional descriptions of polter ...

'', '' The Lost Boys'', '' Jaws 3D'', '' Flatliners'' and '' Dreamscape''.

Television and film

Television appearances include: ''

American Horror Story ''American Horror Story'' (''AHS'') is an American horror film, horror anthology series, anthology television series created by Ryan Murphy (producer), Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk for the Cable television, cable network FX (TV channel), FX. Th ...

'', '' Good Girls'', ''

9-1-1 911, sometimes written , is an emergency telephone number for Argentina, Canada, the Dominican Republic, Fiji, Jordan, Mexico, Pakistan, Maldives, Palau, Panama, Iraq, the Philippines, Sint Maarten, the United States, and Uruguay, as well as ...

'', '' Nash Bridges'', ''

America's Most Wanted ''America's Most Wanted'' (often abbreviated as ''AMW'') is an American television program whose first run was produced by 20th Television, and second run is under the Fox Entertainment#Fox Alternative Entertainment, Fox Alternative Entertain ...

'' (featuring The Zodiac Killer), the

Animal Planet Animal Planet (stylized in all lowercase since 2018) is an American multinational pay television channel focusing on the animal kingdom owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks unit of Warner Bros. Discovery. First established on June 1 ...

original film '' The Retrievers'', MTV's '' Yo Momma'', and he was a cast member on NBC's competitive comedy pilot ''Comedy Colosseum''. Film projects include: ''Diani & Devine Meet The Apocalypse'', Callback opposite Kevin Farley, ''Around the Fire'', '' Dead Man on Campus'' and ''The Selling''.

Improv and sketch comedy

Stratton has studied improvisation at The Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre and M.I.'s Westside Comedy Theater, where he performs frequently with the groups Pretty, Pretty Pony and The Cobranauts. He tours with the improv group Theme Park (featuring Rachel Dratch,

Oscar Nunez Óscar Núñez (born November 18, 1958), sometimes credited as Oscar Nunez, is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his role as the Dunder Mifflin accountant Óscar Martínez on NBC's ''The Office''. The accolades he has recei ...

Simon Helberg Simon Maxwell Helberg (born December 9, 1980) is an American actor and comedian. From 2007 to 2019, he played Howard Wolowitz on the CBS sitcom ''The Big Bang Theory'' (2007–2019), and won the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Support ...

Danny Pudi Daniel Mark Pudi (born March 10, 1979) is an American actor and director. His roles include Abed Nadir on the NBC sitcom ''Community'' (2009–2015), for which he received three nominations for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supp ...

John Michael Higgins John Michael Higgins (born February 12, 1963) is an American actor, comedian and game show host whose film credits include Christopher Guest's mockumentaries, the role of David Letterman in HBO's '' The Late Shift'', and a starring role in the ...

Michael Hitchcock Michael Hitchcock (born July 28, 1958) is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, and television producer. Early life Hitchcock received his Bachelor of Science degree from Northwestern University and a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Un ...

, Ian Brennan,

and Jessica Makinson). Theme Park has performed at SF Sketchfest, the Bridgetown Comedy Festival, Bentzen Ball, the Moontower Comedy Festival and the Rooftop Comedy Festival. He co-founded the Bay Area sketch collective Totally False People (who performed at the 2004 HBO U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in

Aspen, Colorado Aspen is the List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule city that is the county seat and the List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous municipality of Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. The city population ...

). He's also performed with Greg Proops,

Patton Oswalt Patton Peter Oswalt (born January 27, 1969) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. His acting roles include Spence Olchin in the sitcom ''The King of Queens'' (1998–2007) and narrating the sitcom '' The Goldbergs'' (2013–2023) as adult ...

Jack McBrayer Jack McBrayer (; born May 27, 1973) is an American actor and comedian. He gained national exposure for his portrayal of characters on '' Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' and as Kenneth Parcell in ''30 Rock''. For his role in ''30 Rock'', McBraye ...

Bob Odenkirk Robert John Odenkirk (; born October 22, 1962) is an American actor, screenwriter, comedian, and producer. He started his career as a comedian and comedy writer before expanding his career by acting in dramatic works. His List of awards and no ...

Scott Adsit Robert Scott Adsit (born November 26, 1965) is an American actor, comedian, and writer. Born and raised in the Chicago suburbs, Adsit joined the mainstage cast of Chicago's The Second City in 1994 after attending Columbia College Chicago. He app ...

Rick Overton Richard Overton (born August 10, 1954) is an American actor and screenwriter. His writing credits include ''Dennis Miller Live'' (1994–2002), for which he received a Primetime Emmy Award, while his acting credits include '' Gung Ho'' and '' O ...

, Matt Walsh, and

Jeff Garlin Jeffrey Garlin (born June 5, 1962) is an American stand-up comedy, stand-up comedian and actor. He is best known for playing List of Curb Your Enthusiasm characters#Jeff Greene, Jeff Greene on the HBO sitcom ''Curb Your Enthusiasm'', and Murray ...

References

External links

Website for Cole Stratton
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stratton, Cole American male television actors Living people 1976 births People from the San Francisco Bay Area Davis Senior High School (California) alumni