‘The Sex Lives of College Girls’: Give it Up for the Funny Phenoms of The Catullan

By Maddy Casale @madhoops
Published Feb. 8, 2022, 3:15 p.m. ET

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The Sex Lives of College Girls

Don’t let the somewhat raunchy-seeming name fool you, because The Sex Lives of College Girls is an absolute triumph. Mindy Kaling’s writing is as sharp, culturally relevant, and hilarious as ever, but her work on the HBO Max teen comedy-drama is further elevated by the show’s incredible cast. While the cast definitely touts familiar names and faces like Sherri Shepherd and Rob Huebel, it also benefits from the presence of plenty of up-and-coming talent that should be on your radar.

I could go on and on about pretty much anyone in the cast and their natural chemistry with one another, but most of all I wanted to make sure to shout out the shout out the ladies after Kaling’s own heart. That’s right, we’re talking about the three women in comedy who act as members of fictional Essex University’s esteemed writing group, The Catullan, as well as actress Amrit Kaur, who plays sex-positive comedy fanatic Bela, and takes to comedic work like a fish to water. So who are these ladies, and where might you have seen them before? Even more importantly, where can we see them again? Keep on reading to find out!

What is The Catullan, and Who Plays its Female Phenoms?

The Catullan is the most esteemed and prestigious comedy group at Essex. It’s a writing group modeled after The Harvard Lampoon, which is similarly an exclusive humor publication with its fair share of successful alumni. It is also based after several other college comedy groups, especially when it comes to their methods of selecting members and the particular (cliquey) culture. As is the case with many of these types of comedic groups, women tend to be in the minority of members (even more so when it comes to women of color), making for an at times difficult environment to break into and be heard.

Luckily, The Catullan benefits from (and eventually loses) the presence of four funny women: Bela (Kaur), Evangeline (Sierra Katow), Jo (Cheyenne Perez), and Carla (Isabella Roland). While this role was Kaur’s first major professional experience with comedy, her three fellow slapstick sisters all actually came from comedy backgrounds of their own. Clearly, Kaling just helped to put them in the roles they were born to play.

Who is Sierra Katow?

In the series, Katow’s Evangeline is one of the leading members of The Catullan, even taking over as co-editor after Ryan (Conor Donnally) is ousted for his sexual misconduct. Katow’s standout comedic prowess also translates outside of the show, where she is a stand-up comedian, writer, actress, and podcaster. Like her character is The Sex Lives of College Girls, Katow also made a splash in the comedy world early on as a member and eventual Vice-President of The Harvard Lampoon while attending Harvard University.

During her time in Harvard, Katow was also performing stand-up around Boston on the side, continuing to hone and refine her material after getting her first taste of doing stand-up while still in high school. In 2015 (a year before graduating college), she was a contestant on Last Comic Standing: Season 9 and hasn’t looked back since, accumulating writing credits on shows like The Wedding Coach, Close Enough, and Earth to Ned in addition to continuing to perform stand-up. Now, you can keep up with her work by follow her on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and Facebook, by listening to her podcast, “Stay Podsitive,” or by checking out her website.

Who is Cheyenne Perez?

While Perez had already appeared in shows like For All Mankind, Solve, and Girl Meets World before making her mark as Jo, one of only two girls on The Catullan before new members are brought in, she already had some extensive experience in comedy.

Perez has been improvising for over a decade in addition to gaining experience with stand-up comedy and sketch writing. She has had training and performing opportunities with big-name comedy institutions like The Upright Citizens Brigade, The Annoyance Theater, Comedy Sportz, and The Groundlings. Perez has plenty of funny content to check out on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and TikTok, so make sure to check out her work there and on her website to see what making now!

Who is Isabella Roland?

Roland plays lovable goofball Carla, a new member in the same incoming class of The Catullan as Bela, who, beyond her first impression of being a lot (you can only drop a “my wife!” à la Borat in casual conversation so many times… and that’s usually zero times. So yeah.) is actually a very brave character in addition to being funny, as she gives up her spot on The Catullan and speaks out after being harassed by one of its senior members. But before her work on The Sex Lives of College Girls, she honed her acting and comedy skills while attending Sarah Lawrence College in New York, as well as by studying improv and acting as a student of The Upright Citizens Brigade and The Groundlings.

Flexing her humor and acting muscles alike by performing improv and sketch comedy live at places like UCB and theater onstage in numerous productions also helped Roland to grow, and helped lead her to cultivating an onscreen presence in shows like I Love Dick, Dimension 20, and Turnt. She has also helped to develop shows at NBCUniversal, Comedy Central Digital, Facebook Watch, and Snapchat. For even more of Roland and her work, be sure to give her a follow on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok, and while you’re at it, you can check out her new Real Housewives podcast “Is This Real Life,” as well as her website.

Who is Amrit Kaur?

Fans of The Sex Lives of College Girls will likely be shocked to know that Kaur, who plays comedy fanatic Bela, technically has the least comedy experience of any of The Catullan ladies. While she was the captain of her high school improv team whilst growing up in Markham, Ontario in Canada, Kaur left any potential career as a professional comedian behind in favor of going to university for acting, earning a BFA in theatre at Toronto’s York University. Since then, Kaur has appeared in episodes of shows like American Gothic, Odd Squad, Kim’s Convenience, The Bold Type, Nurses, and The D Cut, in addition to feature films like 2017 sci-fi fantasy Brown Girl Begins and 2018 romantic-comedy Little Italy.

There’s no doubt that her work as Bela in The Sex Lives of College Girls is a breakout and star-making turn for Kaur, and we have no doubt that we’ll be seeing a lot more of her soon. Heck, she’s already got a role in crime film Stealing Vows in the bag and ready to be eagerly viewed by us later this year. It’s just the first of many roles to come! But if you want to see what she’s up to in the meantime, make sure to follow the actress on Instagram and Twitter!

And lastly, let’s lift all of these hardworking and laugh-worthy ladies up, people! Give them a hand and remember their names. This is just the beginning of what’s sure to be long and successful careers for ’em, after all!