The
"Frat Pack" is a nickname given to a group of male
Hollywood comedy actors who have appeared together in many of the highest grossing comedy movies since the late 1990s. The group usually includes
Ben Stiller,
Jack Black,
Will Ferrell,
Vince Vaughn,
Owen Wilson,
Luke Wilson, and
Steve Carell.
The term was used by
USA Today in a June 2004 story,
and was soon picked up by other media outlets as well.
Before
USA Today dubbed this group the "Frat Pack",
Entertainment Weekly had referred to them as the "Slacker Pack,"
having earlier coined the term "Frat Pack" to describe
Leonardo DiCaprio,
Matt Damon,
Ben Affleck,
Edward Norton, and
Ryan Phillippe.
By 2005,
EW had dropped the "Slacker Pack" term and followed suit, referring to the newer crop of actors as the "Frat Pack".
The name is an allusion to the
Rat Pack (and the later
Brat Pack), combined with a reference to the group's popular
fraternity-related film
Old School and the sophomoric style of humor employed in many of their films. Ben Stiller, however, has decried the use of the term, saying, "I think the whole thing about the Frat Pack group is completely fabricated anyway."