Frat Pack The Frat Pack is a 1990s 2000s era nickname given to a group of male Hollywood comedy actors who have appeared together in many of the highest grossing movies since the late 1990s including Ben Stiller Jack Black Will Ferrell Vince Vaughn Owen Wilson Luke Wilson and Steve Carell It was coined by USA Today in a story from June 2004 USATODAY com Wilson and Vaughn Leaders of the Frat Pack Before USA Today dubbed this group the Frat Pack Entertainment Weekly referred to them as the Slacker Pack but this term is rarely used Meanwhile EW had earlier used the term Frat Pack to describe Leonardo DiCaprio Matt Damon Ben Affleck Edward Norton and Ryan Phillippe but this usage has not been seen elsewhere Since then EW has dropped the Slacker Pack term and also began referring to the group as the Frat Pack The name is a take off of the Rat Pack a nickname given to a group of entertainers in the 1950s and 1960s combined with the shorthand term for a college fraternity a reference to the group s popular film Old School In December 2007 Italian cinema magazine Nocturno published the first 70 pages dossier completely dedicated to the Frat Pack phenomenon The Pack The USA Today article which coined the Frat Pack term listed Jack Black Will Ferrell Ben Stiller Vince Vaughn and brothers Owen Wilson and Luke Wilson as members of the group By 2006 Steve Carell was also included in the Pack when USA Today published another article Carell claimed membership when hosting Saturday Night Live Though he did not use the term Frat Pack he did say he was one of those guys now and specifically referenced Stiller Vaughn Ferrell Owen Wilson and Black A year before citing Carell as a member USA Today tagged him in addition to Judd Apatow Paul Rudd David Koechner Mindy Kaling Nancy Walls and Leslie Mann as the Frat Pack s Junior Varsity USATODAY com Carell just wants some love Kaling and Walls haven t been as associated with the group elsewhere but Details Magazine has cited Apatow in addition to directors McKay and Phillips as The Frat Packagers The Power 50 DETAILS Article on men style com while Paul Rudd was cited as a Frat Pack member in the New York Post among other publications In an interview with The Advocate when questioned if Knocked Up will officially welcome him into the Frat Pack Rudd speculated that he is a pledge that hasn t been initiated yet into the brotherhood Issue Number 980 Big gay following Paul Rudd Advocate com The members of the Frat Pack often work with certain directors multiple times Wes Anderson is a college friend of the Wilsons and directed them in both Bottle Rocket and The Royal Tenenbaums which also starred Stiller while Todd Phillips directed both Old School and Starsky Hutch Adam McKay directed Anchorman The Legend of Ron Burgundy and Talladega Nights The Ballad of Ricky Bobby Judd Apatow is the writer producer of several Frat Pack comedies including Anchorman The Legend of Ron Burgundy He made his directorial debut with The 40 Year Old Virgin starring Steve Carell and followed up with Knocked Up starring Seth Rogen and Paul Rudd with a cameo by Carell Apatow was also a cocreator of The Ben Sti