FUNNY... SHEESH Co. Bio's

JASON GROSSMAN - Jason has been writing, producing and directing the New York City-based sketch group Funny... Sheesh for six years and is the founder and director of "Funny... Sheesh Alternative Variety Shows" (a venue for non-commercial, alternative performance comedy, dance, music and theatre). He starred in "It's a Wonderful (One Man Show) Life!" based on the Frank Capra classic film in which he played over 20 different characters and played the human lab rat Freddie in Sharon Fogarty's acclaimed "The Overdevelopment of Scott." He portrayed the evil Dr. Victor Frankenstein in "Bride of Frankenstein: An Experiment In Intimacy," co-starred as the angel Phil in 'heaven' and was most recently praised for his faithful portrayal of Elvis Presley in "Putnam." He appeared in numerous productions with the A/NY Theatre Company and was the voice of Pecos Bill and other characters in Union Signal's production of American Tall Tales With A Twist at the Public Theatre. He and his writing partner John Hartmann have been writing for numerous projects including a long-running cable television show, and he is a writer for the TV Land channel's "Ultimate Fan Search." He was a founding member of the sketch groups Big Oily Brains, Crispen Tickle, Euphobia, Evil Twin and Parts & Labor. Jason Grossman teaches improvisational acting, sketch comedy writing and regularly conducts his popular motivational course, "The Art of Socializing and Networking" to students of all ages. He has just become the founder and Program Coordinator for the new Performing Arts Program at Baruch College Continuing and Professional Studies in New York City. He is an active member of the Loos Scrooz improvisational group and has starred in and hosted hundreds of improvisation shows at colleges, schools and camps throughout the Northeast. He currently directs and hosts the "Funny Sheesh Comedy Game Show." Jason graduated from S.U.N.Y. Albany where he received a B.S. in Business Administration with a minor in Psychology and has a law degree from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. He has studied improvisational acting extensively with Chicago City Limits, Improv Central and Upright Citizen's Brigade and writing with Gotham Writers Workshop. Jason also performs stand-up and alternative performance comedy.

SHARON FOGARTY - Sharon studied improvisation Thomas Reape, Gloria Maddox (Keith Johnstone), Gisela Fritsching (Viola Spolin) and several Chicago City Limits folks including Rob Schiffman, and Joe DeGuise II. She also performs with Improv Central's 'Loos Scrooz Shows.' A two-time recipient of the Workspace for Choreographers' grant, Fogarty's 'anti-musicals' include 'On The Ark', 'Bride of Frankenstein ~ an experiment in intimacy', 'heaven', 'Next to Nothing' and most recently 'The Overdevelopment of Scott' which starred Sheeshers Jason Grossman, John Hartmann, Karen-Christie Ward and Sam Reigel.

JOHN HARTMANN - John is a versatile dramatic actor, stand-up comedian and singer. He can be seen regularly in the courtrooms of both Law & Order and Law & Order: SVU. He can be seen in many, many national commercials for Disney, Hall's, Sears, Staples, to name just a few. He performs with the improv troupe Funny...Sheesh and is currently crooning with the a capella group The Alley Cats in Los Angeles. He received rave reviews co-starring in a musical review show called I Heart NY. He was agent Ron Lambert in the movie Ransom. Other movie credits include Cherry, The Pallbearer, Shame no More, Gasline and many more. He was Kyle on All My Children and regularly plays an ER Doctor on One Life to Live. He also had featured roles on the Cosby Show, Spin City, And Now and Again. John stars in "Algetcha!" a short film soon to be released. John studies with the Groundlings and conducts seminars on commercial acting, cold reading and power auditioning.

RENÉE TORRIÈRE - Originally from Boston, Renée has appeared in a variety of stage and film roles: from an over-sexed nun in Giovanni Bocaccio's Decameron to Frankenstein's wife in Bride of Frankenstein: An Experiment In Intimacy. Recently, she starred in A Sign of the Times: The Songs of Petula Clark. She has performed improvisational comedy with Chicago City Limits and Loos Scrooz, at such venues as: The Duplex, Upstairs at Rose's Turn and Surf Reality. Renée is a founding member of Downtown Vocals which has performed at Don't Tell Mama and Alice Tully Hall. She has studied voice with Dennis Kaiser and acting with Atlantic Theater Company.

KAREN CHRISTIE WARD - Karen just performed as Gracious in SFDT's production of The Overdevelopment of Scott. She performed with the Hiatus Improvisational Troupe and the Jubilee Dancers African Dance Troupe. She can be seen as the title role Medea on the Manhattan Neighborhood Network Channel, and in the independent film Call Waiting. Karen has played a variety of comedic roles, from a cafeteria matron in the interactive comedy Class Reunion to a prudish preacher's wife in the live soap Ailanthus Grove. Dramatic credits include Iago in an adaptation of Othello at Aaron Davis Hall, and Josie in Moon for the Misbegotten. Karen has also performed in several radio plays including The Keeper presented at the Public Theatre and broadcast on WBAI. In December 1999, Karen and husband Dug announced the arrival of a beautiful baby girl named Natalie. Growing Natalie gobbles up most of Karen's time and just about anything else that's left lying around the house. The slaphappy couple is not expecting another bundle. (More little Sheeshers on the way!)

TIMOTHY JOSEPH RYAN - Tim is a graduate of the National Shakespeare Conservatory and was recently seen starring in Sharon Fogarty's production of Next to Nothing. He was also recently seen at the Hippodrome State Theatre as Mitch in A Streetcar Named Desire. Other recent credits include an Irish prisoner on One Life to Live, the actor in The Woman in Black, multi characters in Two Gentlemen of Verona and a SWAT team member in an Oz Production. Tim also portrayed Evans in Terra Nova at the Maine Public Theatre and appeared on Conan O'Brien.

Al Quagliata has been a comic, actor, writer and musician since he fought with the Dutch Settlers in the Boer War of 1899. Then, in the late 1940's while working as a tailor on New York's Lower East Side, Al had an epiphany and became acutely aware of the advent of television. He then left New York and took a job as the host of the Pennsylvania Dutch wake-up program "Good Morning Lancaster," which NBC executives abruptly cancelled when they realized that the Amish don't own televisions. Feeling rejected and despondent, Al started hitching back to New York on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, when a prison bus stopped and offered him a ride. It was there that he met the recently paroled Jason Grossman, who invited him to join the "Funny...Sheesh" troupe. Having always wanted to perform with a group that boasts not two, but three periods in their name, he quickly accepted. "It was the benevolence of the Pennsylvania Parole Board that brought my career to the point it is at today." states Al. Which is to say "Lost on a turnpike with no direction."

LENNY MARCUS - Lenny is one of the up and coming comics in New York City. He started his career in 1995 at the Stress Factory Comedy Club in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Within a year and a half he appeared on NBC's Friday Night Videos. Since then he has made multiple T.V. appearances including MTV and has appeared in comedy clubs throughout the U.S. In recent years he has appeared in several sketch comedy/improvisational comedy shows and has recently completed a two year acting program at the prestigious Ron Stetson studio in the Big Apple. Most recently he has been seen on t.v. in commercials for Mariott and Tiger Toys.

SAM RIEGEL - Sam was a successful child actor, having appearing in "The Sound of Music" at Lincoln Center, the National Tour of "Les Miserables," and off-Broadway in the award-winning revival of "I Can Get It For You Wholesale." He just starred as Ross, the charismatic villain, in "The Overdevelopment of Scott. More recently, Sam has turned to the other side of the business, producing two films last year, "Midnight Gospel" (with Frances Sternhagen) and "Semmelweis" (with his sister, Eden Riegel). He performs regularly with the FUNNY... SHEESH Improv Troupe, plays bass and sings in "Segway," a Latino pop band. Sam writes and performs sketch comedy with his partner, Robert Blatt, and is the voice of Prince Daiman on the cartoon, "The Meadowlands."

ROBERT BLATT - Rob is a former lobbyist, now entertainer/writer transplanted from the wild and woolly town of Washington, D.C. In addition to performing in original sketch comedy pieces, Rob and his writing partner, Sam Riegel, compose screenplays, television scripts, and short works of fact and fiction.

[PICTURE OF KENNY DAVIDSEN]

KENNY DAVIDSEN - Kenny is a singer/songwriter/pianist and a lifetime New Yorker. In September, 1999, he released a live album, 88 Broken Strings. Kenny is also the musical director of the off-off-off-off-off-off-Broadway musical by Peter Dizozza, Prepare to Meet Your Maker. You might find Kenny around town at a piano bar singing songs to a drunken, nostalgic public.

FELICIA SCARANGELLO - Felicia has performed on stages throughout the United States and comedy clubs all over NYC. Last summer she played a set of male twins (a redneck and a hustler) in Icons & Outcasts at the Midtown Fringe Festival. The show was voted "Best of the Fest". She just closed Circle at The Raw Space, which will be revived at PSNBC this summer. Though cut to shreds on the editing room floor, she was one of Jeanne Tripplehorn's bridesmaids in the Warner Bros. film Mickey Blue Eyes. Felicia was one of the regular pranksters on CBS's Candid Camera and was the host of Pseudo.com's game show Unnatural Acts. She also was an on the air reporter for Cherrybomb.com's Sex on the Sidewalk (PG rating despite the name). Unfortunately, those dotcoms are like doing laundry - fold, fold, fold. Please don't let that impulsive joke be a reflection of my comedic skills. Currently, she is associate producing Classifieds, a pilot for MTV Networks. She is a graduate of The Actor's Studio MFA program and thinks Funny.Sheesh people are nice and talented folk. (SAG, Equity, AFTRA)

Our new members: RICK YOUNGER, MICHELLE NEWMAN, JAMIE MELSER (Bios and pix to come soon).