Sarah Noel Colonna (born December 29, 1974) is an American stand-up comedian, actress, and comedy writer. She appeared as a roundtable regular on the hit
E! cable TV network comedy/talk show ''
Chelsea Lately
''Chelsea Lately'' is an American Late night television, late night Television comedy, comedy talk show created by Brody Stevens and hosted by comedian Chelsea Handler which was broadcast on E! The show debuted on July 16, 2007, and was produced ...
''.
Early life
Colonna was born in
Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...
, West Germany. She grew up in
Farmington, Arkansas
Farmington is a city in Washington County, Arkansas, United States. The community is nestled in a valley among the Boston Mountains, a subset of the Ozark Mountains. Although the first settlers came from the Deep South in 1828, the community did ...
with her mother, who is a secretary in a funeral home. Her father was a newspaper sports editor in Los Angeles, California. Her great-great uncle was actor and comedian
Jerry Colonna. She attended the
University of Arkansas
The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and the largest university in the state. Founded as Arkansas ...
and later moved to
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
in pursuit of a career in acting and stand-up comedy. Colonna also worked as a bartender before becoming an entertainer.
Career
Colonna's first televised stand up appearance was on Comedy Central's ''
Premium Blend
''Premium Blend'' was a stand-up comedy series created and directed by Paul Miller that aired on the American cable television channel Comedy Central from 1997 to 2005. In 2005 the show was changed, and now known as "Live at Gotham".
The show wa ...
,'' hosted by Harland Williams. In 2006, she was one of 5 finalists in TBS and Myspace's "Stand up or Sit Down Comedy Challenge," which aired on TBS and was taped at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Colonna also appeared on BBC's ''The World Stands Up,'' which tapes in London and features popular comedians from around the world.
In 2008, Colonna filmed a pilot for
TBS titled ''Comedy Road Show'' which taped on location in
Macon, Georgia
Macon ( ), officially Macon–Bibb County, is a consolidated city-county in the U.S. state of Georgia. Situated near the fall line of the Ocmulgee River, it is located southeast of Atlanta and lies near the geographic center of the state of Geo ...
. That same year, she also began appearing regularly on the hit E! show ''Chelsea Lately'' as a roundtable guest, and in 2009 was hired full-time as a writer for the show. Handler's production company, Borderline Amazing Productions, produced the ''Comedians of Chelsea Lately'', which featured some of the popular comics from her show, on which Colonna was featured. The special was taped at the Nokia Club in Los Angeles, shown on E!, and sparked a tour of the comics across the country which began in the fall of 2009.
Colonna also has appeared on various television shows, including ''
Battle Creek
Battle Creek is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan, in northwest Calhoun County, at the confluence of the Kalamazoo and Battle Creek rivers. It is the principal city of the Battle Creek, Michigan Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), which encom ...
'',
The United States of Tara
''United States of Tara'' is an American television comedy-drama created by Diablo Cody, which aired on Showtime from 2009 to 2011. The series follows the life of Tara (Toni Collette), a suburban artist and mother coping with dissociative ident ...
'',
''
Monk
A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...
,'' ''
Strong Medicine
''Strong Medicine'' is an American medical drama with a focus on feminism, feminist politics, health issues and class conflict that aired on the Lifetime Television, Lifetime network from 2000 to 2006. It was created and produced in part by Who ...
'', ''
Invasion
An invasion is a military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitical entity aggressively enter territory owned by another such entity, generally with the objective of either: conquering; liberating or re-establishing con ...
'', and ''
Days of Our Lives
''Days of Our Lives'' (also stylized as ''Days of our Lives''; simply referred to as ''Days'' or ''DOOL'') is an American television soap opera that streams on the streaming service Peacock. The soap, which aired on the American television net ...
''. She was also a regular on the hit hidden camera
Sci Fi
Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. Lau ...
show ''
Scare Tactics
''Scare Tactics'' is an American comedy horror hidden camera television show, produced by Scott Hallock and Kevin Healey. Its first two seasons aired from April 2003 to December 2004. After a hiatus, the show returned for a third season, beginn ...
'',
which was originally hosted by actress
Shannen Doherty
Shannen Doherty (, born April 12, 1971) is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Jenny Wilder in ''Little House on the Prairie'' (1982–1983); Maggie Malene in ''Girls Just Want to Have Fun'' (1985); Kris Witherspoon in '' Our Hous ...
, and later hosted by comedian/actor
Tracy Morgan
Tracy Jamal Morgan (born November 10, 1968) is an American stand-up comedian and actor best known for his television work as a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' (1996–2003) and for his role as Tracy Jordan in the sitcom ''30 Rock'' (2006 ...
of ''
Saturday Night Live
''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...
'' fame. She also co-starred in Michael Rosenbaum's film ''Back in the Day'' and Diablo Cody's ''Paradise''.
Colonna has been headlining nationally as a comedian and has also performed with
Chelsea Handler
Chelsea Joy Handler (born February 25, 1975) is an American comedian, actress, writer, television host, and producer. She hosted the late-night talk show ''Chelsea Lately'' on the E! network from 2007 to 2014 and released a documentary series, ...
at venues such as
Radio City Music Hall
Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue and Theater (structure), theater at 1260 Sixth Avenue (Manhattan), Avenue of the Americas, within Rockefeller Center, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Nicknamed "The Showplac ...
and The Colosseum at
Caesars Palace
Caesars Palace is a luxury hotel and casino in Paradise, Nevada, United States. The hotel is situated on the west side of the Las Vegas Strip between Bellagio and The Mirage. It is one of Las Vegas's largest and best known landmarks.
Caesars P ...
. She starred as part of the ensemble cast of E!’s network television series ''After Lately'' and also served as a producer on the show.
Her first book, ''Life As I Blow It'', was released on February 7, 2012 and debuted at number 5 on the ''New York Times'' Bestseller List. Her second book, ''Has Anyone Seen My Pants?'' was released on March 31, 2015 by Gallery Books, an imprint of
Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publ ...
. Colonna continues to headline nationally throughout the country and also has a weekly podcast with fellow ''Chelsea Lately'' comedian Josh Wolf called Off The Rails, which is available on iTunes.
Colonna appeared as a guest spy on ''
Bar Rescue
''Bar Rescue'' is an American reality television series that airs on Paramount Network (formerly Spike during the first five seasons). It stars Jon Taffer, a long-time food and beverage industry consultant specializing in nightclubs, bars and p ...
'' when she did recon for Second Base, formerly Extreme's, in addition to appearing alongside Jon Ryan as one of the recon spies for Black Light District Rock & Roll Lounge.
In 2017, it was announced that Colonna was cast as Angie Bladell in ''
Insatiable'', which premiered August 10, 2018 on
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
.
Since 2019, Colonna has appeared as Lori on ''
Shameless''.
Personal life
Colonna became engaged to
Seattle Seahawks
The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 as ...
punter
Jon Ryan
Jonathan Robert Ryan (born November 26, 1981) is a retired Canadian professional football punter. He played college football for the University of Regina Rams, and began his professional career with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (CFL) after being ...
in 2014. They married July 9, 2016, in
Los Cabos, Mexico. Comedian
Ross Mathews
Ross Mathews (born September 24, 1979) is an American television host and personality. He first rose to fame as an intern and a correspondent for ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno''; he was known as "Ross the Intern" on air.
Mathews has appeared ...
, who introduced the couple to each other, officiated at the ceremony.
Published works
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References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Colonna, Sarah
1974 births
Living people
American television actresses
American women comedians
Actresses from Arkansas
Actresses from Los Angeles
21st-century American actresses
People from Washington County, Arkansas
University of Arkansas alumni
21st-century American writers
Writers from Arkansas
21st-century American women writers
People from Wiesbaden
Comedians from California
21st-century American comedians