Sarah Tiana

Early life

Sarah Tiana was born Sarah Tiana Haynes on February 17, 1978 to Susan and Tony Haynes in Hayward, CA. Her parents moved to Calhoun, GA when Sarah was 5 years old (January, 1983) because her mother got a job there. Her father became a distributor for Pepperidge Farm. Sarah has one sister, JoAnna Haynes Bartlett.

Education

A graduate of Gordon Central High School in Calhoun, GA, Sarah began her college education at the University Of Georgia in 1996, but transferred to Georgia State University in 1997 because she was performing at Six Flags Over Georgia and the commute was too far from the Athens, GA campus. Sarah majored in Film and minored in Theater. She studied theater in Paris, France the summer of 1999 taking classes at both the Sorbonne and the Comedie Del Arte. Sarah graduated Georgia State University, cum laude, in May, 2000 and moved to Los Angeles, CA the following January.

Career

Sarah did not pursue stand up comedy until she had been in Los Angeles for 2 years. Before Sarah “made it” in comedy, she worked various jobs, most notably for the Four Seasons Los Angeles in Beverly Hills, CA and the Beverly Hills Hotel. She started stand up on a “dare” after a friend told her she was too funny not to try. Sarah had only ever seen one comedy show in her life (Mitch Hedberg gave her tickets to a show after she interviewed him in college). She wrote one joke, tried it at an open mic, got laughs and was immediately hooked. That was February, 2003 and by May she decided to put the majority of her focus into stand up.

In August, 2003 Sarah tried sketch comedy for the first time with a company called “Sitcoms Blow.” After the company dissipated a year later, Sarah and a few other Blow Show members decided to revamp the company under a new name and thus formed The Straitjacket Society. The Straitjacket Society was created as a way to help young actors in Hollywood accelerate their stage time and gain exposure while still having fun. She has currently put over 500 actors through the program. Sarah’s Straitjacket Society character “Carmen” was made famous on the television show Reno 911! in four episodes of Reno 911!’s 7th season.

Sarah has done over 10 tours of comedy for the troops including Germany, Singapore, Afghanistan, Guam, Okinawa, and several Wounded Warrior Facilities. A trip to Iraq at the beginning of the war is highlighted in the documentary film, “We Love You Mrs. Bevins.”

On September 14, 2010, Sarah Tiana released her first comedy CD, ComODDity, on the New Wave Dynamics label.

In 2012 Sarah was hired by Jeff Ross to be a writer on his Comedy Central television show “The Burn.” From there Sarah began appearing on television more as a correspondent, both for “Whatever Whitney” and “The Soup Investigates.” In 2013 Sarah became a regular panelist on the show “Chelsea Lately.” She also performed stand up in 2013 on "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson".

An avid sports fan, Sarah wrote for ESPN's 2013 ESPY Awards and the Rob Riggle NFL segments on FOX.

In 2015, Sarah co-hosted and wrote "The Roast of Justin Bieber Pre-Show" on Comedy Central. She also became a writer for The Josh Wolf Show on CMT. On June 5, 2015, Sarah performed in front of her largest live audience to date, performing in front of approximately 17,000 people at The Hollywood Bowl as the opening act for country star Brad Paisley. On August 6, 2015, Sarah opened for Aretha Franklin in front of 4,500 at the Santa Barbara Bowl in Santa Barbara, California.

Actress

Writer

As Herself

Discography

2010 ComODDity (CD, MP3)

Track listing:

Personal life

Sarah dated comedian Aron Kader for 5 years. After their breakup in 2010 Sarah went to therapy for the first time. Sarah credits therapy for discovering more about herself and her ability to analyze relationships in a better (more funny) way. Sarah currently resides in Los Angeles, CA.