Erik Stolhanske
- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Best known as "Officer Rabbit" from the 2001 cult-classic comedy Super Troopers and the 2018 sequel Super Troopers 2, Erik Stolhanske is a popular Hollywood comedian, actor, writer, producer, and member of the Broken Lizard Comedy Group. As one of the five principal members of the famed sketch comedy troupe, he has starred in all of the Broken Lizard films including Beerfest (2006), The Slammin' Salmon (2009), Club Dread (2004), and Puddle Cruiser, as well as performed in The Sweetest Thing (2002) and The Onion Movie (2008). On television, he can be seen on the HBO critically acclaimed series Curb Your Enthusiasm and Six Feet Under, as well as the Comedy Central special Broken Lizard Stands Up.
Erik has written, produced and starred in all the Broken Lizard comedies, including all the Super Troopers films. Together, they collaborate on the screen-writing, acting and productions of all their films. He has worked alongside a number of Academy Award-winning actors and nominees from Cloris Leachman to Donald Sutherland and Michael Clarke Duncan. He acted alongside Golden Globe winner Brian Cox in Super Troopers and Super Troopers 2. He also starred opposite Rob Lowe in Super Troopers 2 and Bill Paxton in Club Dread. He is among Hollywood's top comedic actors, known to have worked with Jim Gaffigan, Will Forte, and Johnny Knoxville. Stolhanske has co-written various screenplays, including one with NFL star Jared Allen of the Minnesota Vikings. A regular guest of the #1 rated morning show "The Power Trip" on KFAN Minnesota Sports Radio Station, the humorous show and video podcasts feature local and national guests.
In 1994, the Broken Lizard Group wrote and starred in the comedy short Tinfoil Monkey Agenda - about a staged hoax in which the U.S. invades the small South American country of Palogna, directed by Kevin Cooper. It earned them a trip to the Ft. Lauderdale Film Festival, and cemented in the group's minds that they should be creating full-length feature films. Their 1996 film Puddle Cruiser, where Erik plays "Freaky Reaky," was their first full-length film and premiered at the Hamptons Film Festival, where it won the Grand Prize for "Best Film". It then went on to screen at Sundance Film Festival, South by Southwest, and the London International Film Festival, securing official selections at the Berlin and London Film Festivals. The movie was filmed entirely on the campus of Colgate University. The group put together the script for their first wide-release feature movie Super Troopers, (shot in 2000), which portrays rural highway patrolmen as regular guys desperate to make their jobs entertaining. The film was invited to Sundance, where raucous screenings earned it a distribution deal with Fox Searchlight Pictures, a unit of 20th Century Fox. The film was released in February 2002, and has since developed a growing cult following over the years.
Fox Searchlight financed and distributed the group's next feature, Club Dread (2004), a parody of slasher films that takes place at an idyllic tropical resort. It was here that Erik garnered the wildly-known title "Fun Police" after his role as Sam, in charge of games and activities on the island. After Chandrasekhar directed The Dukes of Hazzard for Warner Bros., Broken Lizard was offered a deal with the studio. This relationship resulted in the group's fourth feature, Beerfest (2006), about two brothers (played by Erik Stolhanske and Paul Soter) who discover an underground Oktoberfest beer-drinking Olympics and assemble a team to compete. In 2009, Stolhanske played Guy "Meat Drapes" Metdrapedes in the comedy film The Slammin' Salmon by Broken Lizard. In the film, former Heavyweight Champion of the World, Cleon "Slammin" Salmon played by Michael Clarke Duncan, is the celebrity owner of a high-end Miami seafood restaurant, Stolhanske's comedic talents are on full display as Guy, an arrogant waiter who rightfully gets his comeuppance in the end.
In 2013, Stolhanske starred in the independent comedy feature RockBarnes: The Emperor in You, which won him "Best Performance" at the Orlando Film Festival for his lead role as RockBarnes. Using the crowd-sourcing site Indiegogo, Broken Lizard raised more than $4.5m from fans to make Super Troopers 2-the sequel to Super Troopers. The movie was released by Fox Searchlight in theaters nationwide on April 20th, 2018. And on Friday, April 20th, 2018, Super Troopers 2 was the #1 movie in America.
On television, Erik can be seen on Larry David's critically acclaimed HBO series, Curb Your Enthusiasm, where he made a cameo as "Sven Johnson" in 'The 5 Wood' in 2004, and in the Six Feet Under episode 'In Place of Anger' in 2002. He also stars in the Comedy Central special Broken Lizard Stands Up (2010) as one of the five principal members of the famed Broken Lizard sketch comedy troupe.
Erik has written, produced and starred in all the Broken Lizard comedies, including all the Super Troopers films. Together, they collaborate on the screen-writing, acting and productions of all their films. He has worked alongside a number of Academy Award-winning actors and nominees from Cloris Leachman to Donald Sutherland and Michael Clarke Duncan. He acted alongside Golden Globe winner Brian Cox in Super Troopers and Super Troopers 2. He also starred opposite Rob Lowe in Super Troopers 2 and Bill Paxton in Club Dread. He is among Hollywood's top comedic actors, known to have worked with Jim Gaffigan, Will Forte, and Johnny Knoxville. Stolhanske has co-written various screenplays, including one with NFL star Jared Allen of the Minnesota Vikings. A regular guest of the #1 rated morning show "The Power Trip" on KFAN Minnesota Sports Radio Station, the humorous show and video podcasts feature local and national guests.
In 1994, the Broken Lizard Group wrote and starred in the comedy short Tinfoil Monkey Agenda - about a staged hoax in which the U.S. invades the small South American country of Palogna, directed by Kevin Cooper. It earned them a trip to the Ft. Lauderdale Film Festival, and cemented in the group's minds that they should be creating full-length feature films. Their 1996 film Puddle Cruiser, where Erik plays "Freaky Reaky," was their first full-length film and premiered at the Hamptons Film Festival, where it won the Grand Prize for "Best Film". It then went on to screen at Sundance Film Festival, South by Southwest, and the London International Film Festival, securing official selections at the Berlin and London Film Festivals. The movie was filmed entirely on the campus of Colgate University. The group put together the script for their first wide-release feature movie Super Troopers, (shot in 2000), which portrays rural highway patrolmen as regular guys desperate to make their jobs entertaining. The film was invited to Sundance, where raucous screenings earned it a distribution deal with Fox Searchlight Pictures, a unit of 20th Century Fox. The film was released in February 2002, and has since developed a growing cult following over the years.
Fox Searchlight financed and distributed the group's next feature, Club Dread (2004), a parody of slasher films that takes place at an idyllic tropical resort. It was here that Erik garnered the wildly-known title "Fun Police" after his role as Sam, in charge of games and activities on the island. After Chandrasekhar directed The Dukes of Hazzard for Warner Bros., Broken Lizard was offered a deal with the studio. This relationship resulted in the group's fourth feature, Beerfest (2006), about two brothers (played by Erik Stolhanske and Paul Soter) who discover an underground Oktoberfest beer-drinking Olympics and assemble a team to compete. In 2009, Stolhanske played Guy "Meat Drapes" Metdrapedes in the comedy film The Slammin' Salmon by Broken Lizard. In the film, former Heavyweight Champion of the World, Cleon "Slammin" Salmon played by Michael Clarke Duncan, is the celebrity owner of a high-end Miami seafood restaurant, Stolhanske's comedic talents are on full display as Guy, an arrogant waiter who rightfully gets his comeuppance in the end.
In 2013, Stolhanske starred in the independent comedy feature RockBarnes: The Emperor in You, which won him "Best Performance" at the Orlando Film Festival for his lead role as RockBarnes. Using the crowd-sourcing site Indiegogo, Broken Lizard raised more than $4.5m from fans to make Super Troopers 2-the sequel to Super Troopers. The movie was released by Fox Searchlight in theaters nationwide on April 20th, 2018. And on Friday, April 20th, 2018, Super Troopers 2 was the #1 movie in America.
On television, Erik can be seen on Larry David's critically acclaimed HBO series, Curb Your Enthusiasm, where he made a cameo as "Sven Johnson" in 'The 5 Wood' in 2004, and in the Six Feet Under episode 'In Place of Anger' in 2002. He also stars in the Comedy Central special Broken Lizard Stands Up (2010) as one of the five principal members of the famed Broken Lizard sketch comedy troupe.
