Cole Escola

Cole Escola (born November 25, 1986) is an American comedian, actor, and singer. They are best known for their cabaret work and appearances on the television series Jeffery & Cole Casserole (2009–2010), Difficult People (2015–2017), At Home with Amy Sedaris (2017–2020), Search Party (2020–2021), and Big Mouth (2022).

Early life
Escola was born and raised in Clatskanie, Oregon. They are of Finnish and Norwegian descent. When they were six, their father chased the entire family out of their mobile home with a gun,  after which Escola, their mother, and their brother subsequently lived in government housing. Their sister was not living with them at this time. Escola participated in community theater and starred in high school productions of Fiddler on the Roof, Les Misérables, and Little Shop of Horrors. After graduating from R. A. Long High School in 2005, Escola moved to New York City to study humanities at Marymount Manhattan College, dropping out after one year. They subsequently performed at children's birthday parties and worked at the Scholastic bookstore.

Stage
From 2008 to 2012, Escola was a regular guest performer in the Our Hit Parade cabaret series, and later began performing monthly solo shows at the Duplex Cabaret Theatre. They appeared in Scott Wittman's 2012 cabaret show Jukebox Jackie at La MaMa and played an unborn fetus in Bridget Everett's 2014 cabaret show Rock Bottom at Joe's Pub. On June 14, 2017, Escola's hourlong solo show ''Help! I'm Stuck'' premiered at Joe's Pub, where it has since played numerous sold-out engagements.

In 2013, Escola played Roland Maule in the Two River Theater revival of Noël Coward's Present Laughter.

In 2024, Escola wrote and starred in their play Oh, Mary! at the Lucille Lortel Theatre, in which they played First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln. It was directed by Sam Pinkleton and also starred Conrad Ricamora and James Scully. The show transferred to Broadway in July 2024, marking Escola's Broadway debut as an actor and playwright. At the 2024 Outer Critics Circle Awards, Escola was awarded the John Gassner Award for Oh, Mary!.

Television
In 2008, Escola met fellow comedian Jeffery Self in New York; bonding over a shared love of theater and 1990s sitcoms, they began creating surreal, semi-scripted YouTube videos under the moniker "Very Good Looking (VGL) Gay Boys." The sketches, in which Escola often played the demented comic foil to Self's straight man, received over 100,000 views, prompting coverage in New York magazine and a development deal from Logo TV. Jeffery & Cole Casserole premiered on Logo on June 19, 2009; it ran for two seasons and has been deemed as a "cult classic" by Vice magazine. Escola and Self also wrote the screenplay for an as-yet-unproduced comedy in which two friends "have to go through a lot to redeem their free sandwich."

From 2015 to 2017, Escola played Matthew on the Hulu television series Difficult People, a role that series creator Julie Klausner wrote with them in mind. They have appeared in recurring roles on Mozart in the Jungle, Girlboss, and At Home with Amy Sedaris, in which they play Sedaris' neighbor, Chassie Tucker. In 2020, Escola appeared as Chip (The Twink) on the HBO Max original Search Party. Chip became a season regular in season 4. Escola voiced The Secret Keeper on the Cartoon Network animated series Craig of the Creek in the episode "Secret in a Bottle". In 2021, Escola voiced a gargoyle in an episode of What We Do in the Shadows.

Personal life
In 2022, Escola came out as non-binary. Escola owns dozens of wigs, which they store under their bed in 7-Eleven doughnut boxes. Their wigs often shape and inform their recurring stage characters, which include Broadway performer Bernadette Peters, suicidal homemaker Joyce Conner, scheming furniture heiress Jennifer Convertibles, and The Goblin Commuter of Hoboken.