PFT Commenter
Barstool Sports podcaster who has co-hosted Pardon My Take with Dan “Big Cat” Katz since 2016, playing a parody of a ProFootballTalk commenter.
Sports · X · Updated Oct 21, 2026
PFT Commenter is the on-air name of Eric Sollenberger, who has co-hosted Barstool Sports’ Pardon My Take with Dan “Big Cat” Katz since 2016. The name comes from the comment section of ProFootballTalk, where he started the character before taking it to Twitter in October 2012, per Awful Announcing. As of October 2026 he is still on the show: the Pardon My Take feed lists Big Cat and PFT Commenter as hosts through the October 19, 2026 episode. In 2026 the show won Best Sports Podcast at the iHeartPodcast Awards, per Barrett Media, and the hosts’ book, Pardon My Book, debuted at No. 1 on a New York Times list.
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Questions people ask
Who is PFT Commenter?
PFT Commenter is Eric Sollenberger, a comedy writer and podcaster who co-hosts Pardon My Take for Barstool Sports with Dan “Big Cat” Katz. Before Barstool he wrote as the character for SB Nation and Kissing Suzy Kolber and hosted a Sirius XM show called The Steamroom, per his own post announcing the move to Barstool on March 1, 2016, where he wrote that Big Cat had spent about two years recruiting him. He went to James Madison University and was College GameDay’s guest picker when the show visited JMU in November 2023, per Saturday Down South.
What happened to PFT Commenter? Is he still on Pardon My Take?
Nothing has changed on the show: as of October 2026 he is still a host. The Pardon My Take feed describes it as hosted by Big Cat and PFT Commenter and runs through the October 19, 2026 episode, with the producer Hank Lockwood still on air beside them. What has changed is where the show lives: under a multiyear deal Front Office Sports reported in December 2025, worth eight figures a year to Barstool across three shows, Netflix holds the exclusive video rights to Pardon My Take, while the audio stays free on Apple and Spotify. In March 2026 the show won Best Sports Podcast at the iHeartPodcast Awards, per Barrett Media.
How did PFT Commenter get his name? What does PFT stand for?
PFT is ProFootballTalk, the NFL news site whose comment section he parodied. He described himself as “just a kid from the ProFootballTalk comment section” in his March 2016 Barstool post. He told Awful Announcing in June 2017 that he started the account in October 2012 while bored at an office job in Austin, Texas, and that the Pro Football Talk comments section “was one of the worst places on the Internet.” The name stuck when he moved to Barstool: Awful Announcing still described the show in August 2026 as built on parodying a Pro Football Talk commenter.
Why does PFT Commenter always wear sunglasses?
It started as part of staying anonymous. Awful Announcing reported in June 2017 that he wore sunglasses on camera so viewers could not get a clear look at him, and he said of the anonymity: “I think the joke’s a lot funnier, that’s the main reason why.” He told the same outlet that most people at Barstool just called him “PFT” and that about half the office did not know his real first name. By May 2018 Deadspin was pointing out that his name took about 30 seconds to find, and major outlets now print it.
Did PFT Commenter write a book?
Yes, with Big Cat. He and Katz announced the book on The Dan Patrick Show in July 2025 as a year by year history of the show’s first ten years, per Awful Announcing. Pardon My Book was out by August 2026, with chapters from guests like Joe Buck, Scott Van Pelt and Josh Allen, per NEWS10, and it debuted at No. 1 on the New York Times “Advice, How-To, and Miscellaneous” list, per Awful Announcing on August 27, 2026.
How old is PFT Commenter?
He is 41, born January 31, 1985, per Famous Birthdays.
What is PFT Commenter’s real name?
Eric Sollenberger. Deadspin printed it in May 2018, and Barrett Media and Awful Announcing use it in their 2026 coverage. On air he goes by PFT.
Is PFT Commenter married? What about his health, politics, kids or dating life?
We could not find a marriage he announced on his own channels or that major press reported, so we do not list one. The rest is not something we cover.
Where can I watch PFT Commenter?
On Pardon My Take, which posted three episodes a week through October 2026; the audio is free in the show’s feed and on Barstool’s show page, and the video streams on Netflix under the deal Front Office Sports reported. When FS1 launched the daily show Wake Up Barstool in September 2025, Fox listed him on the Thursday cast with Mark Titus, Jersey Jerry and T-Bob Hebert. He posts on X @PFTCommenter and Instagram @pftcommenter.
What is PFT Commenter’s net worth or salary?
He does not publish a number and neither do we. Barstool does not publish host pay; the one reported figure near the show is the Netflix video deal, which Front Office Sports put at eight figures a year to Barstool for three shows combined.
Who represents PFT Commenter?
We found no agent or manager named on his public profiles or in trade press; his podcast and TV work runs through Barstool Sports. Ames Create does not represent him; we cover him because people keep asking how he got the name and why he wears the sunglasses, and the answers are on the record. If that changes, this entry will say so.
Our read
Ames Create does not work with PFT Commenter. This is our view, from a team that works on creator brands for a living.
The format. A committed character inside a two-man sports show. PFT plays the overconfident fan who says the dumbest possible take with total conviction, and Big Cat plays it straight, so every bit has a built-in setup and punchline. Ten years in, the format is recurring segments, NFL picks and big-name guests, with the character never fully breaking.
Why it travels. The character is a joke every sports fan already recognizes, the guy in the comments, so clips land without context. The show feeds the rest of Barstool and now Netflix, a book that hit No. 1 on a New York Times list in August 2026 and a weekly FS1 slot that began in 2025, which keeps him in front of people who never search for a podcast.
Brand fit. Anything aimed at people who watch football fits the audience: beer, betting, apparel, food. The brand buys a spot on the show next to the character rather than a solo creator post. The satire depends on him saying things a brand would not say in its own voice, so a partner has to be comfortable with the joke landing next to its name.
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Sources: Pardon My Take feed; his Barstool post, March 2016; Awful Announcing, June 2017, July 2025 and August 2026; Deadspin, May 2018; Front Office Sports, December 2025; Barrett Media, March 2026; NEWS10, August 2026; Fox Sports press release, August 2025; Saturday Down South; Famous Birthdays.
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