Cole Stratton is currently “paying his dues” in Los Angeles, where he enjoys losing parts to minorly more successful actors such as Barry Levinson’s nephew. Due to planet alignment, he has appeared on TV’s Nash Bridges, re-enacted on America’s Most Wanted, played with puppies and Betty White on the Animal Planet original The Retrievers, thrown-down like the sarcastic white boy he is on Wilmer Valderrama’s Yo Momma, and was a cast member on NBC’s competitive comedy show Comedy Coliseum. He’s a lead in the indie comedy Callback opposite Kevin Farley, has also appeared in the films Around the Fire and Dead Man on Campus, and will be seen soon as office gossip Ed in the horror/comedy The Selling. He’s also hawked wares in national commercials for Verizon, Popeye’s Chicken, a Wilco-scored VW spot, and a five-spot campaign for Group Health. Along with Janet Varney, he has written and performed downloadable comedic commentary to the films Dirty Dancing, Ghost and Footloose for RiffTrax.com, an online venture helmed by Mystery Science Theater 3000‘s Michael J. Nelson.

Cole is co-founder and co-director of SF Sketchfest, the San Francisco Comedy Festival, which has brought some of the greatest comedic minds to the Bay Area, including Gene Wilder, The State, The Kids in the Hall, Dana Carvey, Paul Reubens, Bud Cort, “Weird Al” Yankovic, and hundreds more. He co-founded the sketch collective Totally False People (who performed at the 2004 HBO U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colorado), and LA’s improvising Pretty, Pretty Pony, Mosey and Theme Park. He performs regularly with MI’s Westside Comedy Theater’s house improv team, Bruce, and just launched a bi-weekly podcast with Bruce teammate Vanessa Ragland called Pop My Culture (www.popmyculturepodcast.com). Be sure to check out his humorous ramblings on weird album covers, cinematic gems, fake celeb gossip and other randomness on his blog at riverbottomnightmareblog.blogspot.com.