Shelagh Ratner began doing stand-up in late 2001, she trained at Groundlings East and participated in several improv and sketch groups. She contributed to "Stories at the Moth" where, given situation and characters, she incorporated highlights of every story told into an entirely improvised finale.
An unusually mobile childhood and youth - eleven moves before college, to and from Europe, South America and the East and West coast - fostered in Ratner a wry take on Stateside life. In her stand-up, she thrives on taking the culture to its absurd limits with deft riffs on Laura Bush's baffling reasons for hooking-up with George W. or Suze Orman's zealous fiscal fitness or the distressing social implications of colorless M&Ms.
Analytic and psychologically astute, she has genuine affection even for America's excesses, especially in the sports world (she's a devoted Oakland Raiders fan). Unafraid to call things as grimly as she sees them, Ratner maintains a warm connection to the audience. At her first Luna Lounge gig in 2002, host Janeane Garofalo pronounced her "my favorite new comic." Look for her live at The Comedy Store and The Improv in Los Angeles, and on television on "VH1's Total Access"; she also contributes regularly to "Style Slip-Ups" in "Life and Style" magazine.
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Currently, she is the voice of AT&T Wireless and gives frequent talks to aspiring voice-over actors. She recently finished shooting an all-improvised mocumentary entitled "We Got Spirit" which she starred in and directed; besides performing as a stand-up she also appears as Hillary Clinton and gives a speech followed by improvised answers to questions from the audience.
Ratner has lately been tapped to host various shows, a position that allows her to combine stand-up with improv. She relaxes with math histories and biographies but has yet to work Paul Erdos into her act.
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