Nathaniel Stroman, known professionally by his stage name Earthquake, is an American

stand-up comedian Stand-up comedy is a performance directed to a live audience, where the performer stands on a stage and delivers humorous and satirical monologues sometimes incorporating physical acts. These performances are typically composed of rehear ...

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

voice artist Voice acting is the art of performing a character or providing information to an audience with one's voice. Performers are often called voice actors/actresses in addition to other names. Examples of voice work include animated, off-stage, off-scr ...

and radio personality. He presently hosts a radio show entitled, ''Quakeshouse'' for

SiriusXM Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting corporation headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. The company was formed by the 2008 merge ...

and Kevin Hart's Laugh Out Loud Network. His first Netflix special entitled ''Chappelle's Home Team- Legendary: Earthquake'' was produced by

Dave Chappelle David Khari Webber Chappelle ( ; born August 24, 1973) is an American stand-up comedy, stand-up comedian and actor. He starred in and co-created the satirical comedy sketch series ''Chappelle's Show'' (2003–2006) before quitting in the middle ...

and his Magic Lemonade production entity in February 2022. Earthquake performed a half-hour

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

special as part of the series ''

One Night Stand A one-night stand is a single sexual encounter in which there is no expectation that there shall be any further relations between the sexual participants. It draws its name from the common practice of a one-night stand, a single night performanc ...

'', which first aired on August 26, 2005. His film credits include a small role in Kevin Smith's film ''

Clerks II ''Clerks II'' is a 2006 American black comedy film written and directed by Kevin Smith, the sequel to his 1994 film ''Clerks'', and his sixth feature film to be set in the View Askewniverse. The film stars Brian O'Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Rosa ...

'' (2006), and a supporting role in the film, '' The Longshots'' (2008). His television appearances include a recurring role on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

sitcom '' The Neighborhood'' (2018-2021) starring

Cedric the Entertainer Cedric Antonio Kyles (born April 24, 1964), better known by his stage name Cedric the Entertainer, is an American stand-up comedian, actor and television host. He hosted BET's '' ComicView'' during the 1993–1994 season and '' Def Comedy Jam'' ...

'','' cameos on '' South Side'' (2019), '' In the Cut'' (2017), and more. Earthquake's additional television credits include a

recurring role Recurring means occurring repeatedly and can refer to several different things: Mathematics and finance *Recurring expense, an ongoing (continual) expenditure *Repeating decimal, or recurring decimal, a real number in the decimal numeral syste ...

Chris Chris is a short form of various names including Christopher, Christian, Christina, and Christine. Chris is also used as a name in its own right, however it is not as common. People with the given name * Chris Abani (born 1966), Nigerian autho ...

' Uncle Mike, on ''

Everybody Hates Chris ''Everybody Hates Chris'' (stylized in all lowercase) is an American semi-autobiographical sitcom created by Chris Rock and Ali LeRoi that originally aired on UPN from 2005 to 2006, and then on The CW until 2009. The series is based loosely ...

''. He voiced Root the Rooster in the 2006 CGI film, ''

Barnyard A barnyard or farmyard is an enclosed or open yard adjoining a barn,Oxford English Dictionary Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) © Oxford University Press 2009. Barn. n. and, typically, related farm buildings, including a farmhouse. Enclosed ...

'' and in the

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

of the same title, and continued to do so on the TV series spinoff, ''

Back at the Barnyard ''Back at the Barnyard'' (originally advertised as ''Barnyard: The Series'') is an American animated television series created and executively produced by filmmaker Steve Oedekerk based on the 2006 film '' Barnyard'', which he wrote, co-produc ...

''. Earthquake reprised his voice role as Uncle Mike in '' Everybody Still Hates Chris''.

Early life

Nathaniel “Earthquake” Stroman was born in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

; his mother gave him the nickname “Earthquake”. She said: “Any time you take all the precautions not to have a kid, from the diaphragm to .... a condom, and you still have a child, there's nothing else you can name that child but a natural disaster." He enlisted in the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

after graduating from

Ballou High School Frank W. Ballou Senior High School is a public school located in Washington, D.C., United States. Ballou is a part of the District of Columbia Public Schools. History Ballou High School was founded in the early 1960s to serve residents in the So ...

. Later he explained that he joined the military to get out of his mother's house.

Military career

Stroman enlisted in the

Air Force An air force in the broadest sense is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army aviati ...

on the day after his high school graduation. As stated by Stroman to Matt Ehlers of the ''

Raleigh News & Observer ''The News & Observer'' is an American regional daily newspaper that serves the greater Triangle area based in Raleigh, North Carolina. The paper is the largest in circulation in the state (second is the '' Charlotte Observer''). The paper has be ...

'' “My mother argued with me, hollered at me, and I wasn't getting a check, so how hard could basic training be?”.

Early comedic career

In the early 1990s, Earthquake started off doing gigs in small clubs. By 1993 he co-owned Uptown Comedy Corner in Atlanta's vibrant

Buckhead Buckhead is the wikt:uptown, uptown commercial and residential district of the city of Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, comprising approximately the northernmost fifth of the city. Buckhead is the third largest business district within ...

entertainment district. While there he continued to hone his skills as the much sought after house host and featured some of the greatest minds in stand-up. Later he opened a club of his own, Earthquake's Comedy Corner II in Dallas, Tx. and Atlanta, Ga., respectively. In 1997, Earthquake got his national break when he was asked to join the

Russell Simmons Russell Wendell Simmons (born October 4, 1957) is an American entrepreneur, writer and record executive. He co-founded the hip-hop label Def Jam Recordings, and created the clothing fashion lines Phat Farm, Argyleculture, and Tantris. He has p ...

Def Comedy Jam Tour. Earthquake started his career in the Airforce in the talent show “Tops and Blues”. In 2002, Earthquake joined Latham Entertainment Presents Comedy Tour. In 2004, he signed a deal with

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

to create his own sitcom called ''Earthquake'',” which later fell through, although in 2005 he performed one of his most popular best shows “About Goddamn Time”. In 2007, he appeared in ''All Star Def Comedy Jam'', and in 2008 appeared in with TBS Comedy Festival Lollapalooza. In 2009, Earthquake starred in Shaquille O Neal’s All star ''Comedy Jam Special'' (comedy zone). In 2011, he made a guest appearance in TV One: Way Black When show.

WBLS

Earthquake started off in radio contributing every Tuesday and Thursday on ''

The Steve Harvey Morning Show ''The Steve Harvey Morning Show'' is a national radio program which is currently broadcast from Los Angeles. The nationally syndicated show features host Steve Harvey and a team of comedians and commentators. The show runs approximately four ...

'' and has been known to fill-in as a personality while

Steve Harvey Broderick Stephen Harvey Sr. Also aired August 16, 2015. (born January 17, 1957) is an American comedian, television host, actor, writer, and producer. He hosts ''The Steve Harvey Morning Show'', ''Family Feud'', ''Celebrity Family Feud'', '' ...

was on vacation. In 2013, Quake joined 107.5

WBLS WBLS (107.5 MHz) is an urban adult contemporary radio format, formatted FM broadcasting, FM radio station, city of license, licensed to New York, New York. It is currently owned and operated by Mediaco Holding, along with sister station WQHT (97 ...

as a full-time radio personality weekdays from 3pm to 7pm with Déjà Vu. He left the station in February 2016.

Recognition

In April 2013, he appeared on ABC’s ''

The View ''The View'' is an American talk show created by broadcast journalist Barbara Walters. , in its 28th season, the show has aired on American Broadcasting Company, ABC as part of the network's ABC Daytime, daytime programming block since August ...

'' in a special segment of stand-up comedians showcased by the cast of ''The View'' as their personal favorites; Quake appeared on the show as the favorite of comedic great Whoopi Goldberg. Comedian

John Mulaney John Edmund Mulaney (born August 26, 1982) is an American Stand up comedian, stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and producer. Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, Mulaney first rose to prominence for his work as a writer for the NBC sketch comedy ...

included ''About Got Damn Time'' on his list of his favorite comedy albums, saying, "just trying to mix

Spalding Gray Spalding Gray (June 5, 1941 – ) was an American actor, novelist, playwright, screenwriter and performance artist. He is best known for the autobiographical monologues that he wrote and performed for the theater in the 1980s and 1990s, as well ...

and Earthquake and

Bernie Mac Bernard Jeffrey McCullough (October 5, 1957 – August 9, 2008), better known by his stage name Bernie Mac, was an American stand up comedian, actor and film producer. He joined fellow comedians Steve Harvey, Cedric the Entertainer, and D. L. H ...

into some kind of amalgam has been the goal of my career."

References

External links

* *
Biography on Comedy Central website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Earthquake 1963 births Living people 20th-century American comedians 20th-century African-American male actors 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American comedians 21st-century African-American male actors 21st-century American male actors African-American male comedians African-American stand-up comedians American conscientious objectors American male comedians American male film actors American male television actors American male voice actors American stand-up comedians Male actors from Washington, D.C. United States Air Force airmen Comedians from Washington, D.C. African-American United States Air Force personnel