Sad On Vacation is Jon Barinholtz, Mort Burke, Wes Haney, George McAuliffe, Conner O’Malley, Andrew Peyton, Mark Vannier, Sam Weiner, and Chris Witaske. They have been performing together in different capacities for the last several years in Chicago. Some of their credits include critically acclaimed shows at the iO Theater, The Annoyance Theatre, The Second City, TBS Just For Laughs Festival, Stand-up Tour with David Cross, and many, many others.
Sad On Vacation’s goal is to produce original, professional-quality alternative video sketch comedy. We can customize videos for your company or bring our hip irreverence to your town/college/company for a live show comprised of video and live sketch material.
Jon Barinholtz recently moved to Los Angeles from his hometown of Chicago and, although he misses his daily breakfasts with the rest of the Sad On Vacation members, he couldn’t be more excited to never have to deal with a Chicago winter again. Since graduating from Colgate University with a degree in English Creative Writing Jon returned to Chicago to complete the training programs at The Annoyance Theatre, IO (formerly Improv Olympic), The Second City Conservatory, and The School at Steppenwolf 2007 and performed weekly at these theatres in a variety of shows (Barinholtz and Belushi, Buffet Shark, Diplomat Motel, Tommy’s Place). In Los Angeles Jon does a lot of famous things like walking on Hollywood Blvd, looking at the Hollywood sign in the hills, and hanging out with his good friend Keanu Reeves. L’Chaim!
Mort Burke was born in St. Louis and started doing comedy at City Improv. Then he moved to Chicago and did more comedy. He was a resident at io where he was on teams such as Quincy and Let Them Ho’s Fight. He’s been to tons of improv festivals (Seattle Improv Fest, Del Close, etc.) and toured the nation’s colleges with Mission Improvable. He performed a ton of shows at the Annoyance Theater such as Sodomites and Love Is Dead, which went to the New York Fringe Festival. He also performed in Bob and David and Friends at the Just For Laughs festival in 2009, toured with David Cross and will be appearing in Cross’ new special Bigger and Blackerer. He couldn’t be more excited to be working with his hot friendz in Sad On Vacation.
Wes Haney grew up in Indiana, did some comedy at Ball State University, liked it, then moved to Chicago to do some more. Wes has written and performed in a bunch of shows at The Annoyance Theater with his SOV boys, including An Aerosmith Christmas, Daredevilry, Scientology! The Unauthorized Musical, Hardstone 2010: Year of the Bloodlaw, Foot Clan Diaries, Splatter Theater and more. He has also traveled about, performing at various improv festivals and colleges with the likes of Baby Wants Candy, Feverberry Mountain, and Cutlass Supreme. Wes currently improvises with Mrs. Dad at iO Chicago, where he directs the ensemble Love & Basketball, was a co-creator/cast member of the long-running live sitcom, Guy Friends and was a writer/performer for the weekly sketch show, TV Show. Wes was recently a cast member in the 2009 season of Maine’s ImprovAcadia and is currently a humor writer for Groupon.com. Check it out.
George McAuliffe knows these videos are cute, but what else does this beast do? George recently attended the Sundance and South By Southwest film festivals with the film All My Friends are Funeral Singers. This young man has written, performed and directed over a dozen shows at the Annoyance Theater in Chicago. He also performs regularly with some of iO Chicago’s finest and was recently voted one of the theater’s top ten performers.
Conner O’Malley has been performing comedy in Chicago since 2005. He has written and performed in many original productions at The Annoyance Theater including Dr. Amazing, Your Country Needs You, An Aerosmith Christmas, and Swear Jar. He also improvises at iO with his team Mrs. Dad. Conner has appeared in videos for the Second City and also worked for 1-800-Got-Junk hauling away people’s unwanted trash.
Andrew Peyton moved to Chicago from Pennsylvania in 2005 to pursue a career in comedy. He has since been employed at restaurants, video stores and currently the Illinois Department of Employment Security. He has been fortunate enough to find a home at the Annoyance Theatre where he is a writer and performer of comedy. Some of the work that he is most proud of at the Annoyance includes Dr. Amazing, Your Country Needs You, Arm Soup: The Story of How Five People Went West and Ate Each Other, Daredevilry, Hardstone 2010: Year of the Bloodlaw, Swear Jar and the always messy, anything goes sketch show Grabass. He has also performed in various improv shows at the iO Theater and acted in videos for the Second City. He recently went through a quarter life crisis.
Mark Vannier has written, performed in, or directed more than two dozen comedy and comedy-like shows since 2005. Shows like Arm Soup, Bodyslam, Daredevilry, and his two-man sketch tirade Fancy Lads (with George McAuliffe), all at the Annoyance Theatre. You can also see him “performing” regularly at the iO Theater. He teaches comedy writing at The Annoyance and at the Second City Training Center. He has a MFA in fiction writing from Southern Illinois University that help him write smart and nice.
Sam Weiner has written and performed in numerous productions including Dr. Amazing, Your Country Needs You and An Aerosmith Christmas at the Annoyance Theatre, where he also directed the acclaimed shows Bandicoot! and Hardcore Dad. Sam has also performed improv as part of Bernard Feinstein and in the improvised sitcom, Guy Friends at iO. Sam has appeared in videos for the Second City and has also performed solo material as James Madison, in which he attempts to make sex with monsters a constitutionally protected act. Sam is proud to write for the fast-growing Chicago start-up, Groupon.com.
Chris Witaske is very excited to have his bio on our sexy, sexy web site. Chris’ credits include writing and performing in over 12 original productions at the Annoyance Theater. Some of the show titles were Swear Jar, Sodomites The Musical, Scientology The Unauthorized Musical, Bodyslam, ThunderPussy, Stop That Show and Splatter Theater. Chris has also performed short and long form improvisation in many shows at the iO Theater including Unwanted, Bernard Feinstein, Alpine Rescue and was the long time host of The Jam. Other credits include a tour for the Second City Theater aboard the Norwegian Dawn, Chicago Sketchfest, TBS Just for Laughs Festival and College tours. Recently he assistant directed the Second City Mainstage 50th anniversary revue Taming of the Flu under Director Mick Napier. Chris is most proud of his two-man sketch comedy group Buffet Shark and Sad on Vacation both of which just performed shows at the Comedy Central Stage in L.A. He’s also a shitty Magician.
