About me
Cole Stratton is the co-founder of SF Sketchfest, the San Francisco Comedy Festival, a month-long annual event highlighting the best in improv, sketch, stand-up, TV and film comedy, which celebrates its twenty-first year in January 2024. Along with Janet Varney, he has written and performed downloadable comedic commentary to films for RiffTrax.com, an online venture helmed by "Mystery Science Theater 3000’s" Michael J. Nelson.
He co-created and co-hosted the Audible Comedy original series “The Bat: Improv in the Dark,” and co-hosted the popular "Pop My Culture Podcast," which recently ended its seven year run was named the #2 Best Comedy Podcast of the Moment by Rolling Stone; one of the 20 Best of 2013 by Paste Magazine; and appeared on Top 10 Lists by IFC.com and Mashable.com. He's also the frequent sub-host of Kevin Pollak's "Alchemy This" podcast, on which he also appears as a guest improviser. He has guested on other podcasts, such as "Movie Crush with Chuck Bryant," "Never Not Funny," "Voyage to the Stars," "Dumb People Town," "Alison Rosen is Your New Best Friend," "Comedy Film Nerds," "Sklarbro County," "Jordan Jesse Go!," "The Wahlberg Solution," "Competitive Erotic Fan Fiction," "Totally Laime," "The Long Shot Podcast" and "James Bonding."
Due to planet alignment, he has appeared on TV’s "Impeachment: American Crime Story," "American Horror Story," "9-1-1," "Good Girls," "For All Mankind," "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 Colosseum." He’s appeared in the films "Around the Fire," "Dead Man on Campus," “Callback” and the festival hit horror/comedy "The Selling," where he plays obnoxious office gossip Ed, a role which he reprised in the end-times comedy "Diani & Devine Meet The Apocalypse." He played Hot Basics lead boy bander Kip on IFC’s web series “Fortune Rookie.” 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.
As an improviser, Stratton tours with the Theme Park Improv Show, featuring a rotating cast including Scott Adsit, Ian Brennan, Rachel Dratch, Oscar Nunez, Danny Pudi, Simon Helberg, John Michael Higgins, Michael Hitchcock, Jessica Makinson and Janet Varney. Theme Park has performed at SF Sketchfest; The Moontower Comedy Festival in Austin, TX; The Bridgetown Comedy Festival in Portland, OR; The Seattle Festival of Improv Theatre; The Rooftop Comedy Festival in Aspen, CO; The Vancouver Comedy Festival; and the Bentzen Ball in Washington, D.C. He performs regularly with MI's Westside Comedy Theater's house improv team Cobranauts and their flagship show Mission IMPROVable, and runs his own monthly improv show called "Pretty, Pretty Pony", which was named one of the Best Things in Comedy by The Comedy Bureau. He also directed the Westside Comedy MainStage sketch team, Grifter.
Stratton is head writer and host of "Nerdology," a multi-media pop culture trivia show, which plays every Tuesday at the Inkwell Tavern in Burbank to much acclaim.
colestratton.com
Twitter (er, X): @colestratton
Instagram: @strattoncole
