Cast Bios
Current Cast Members
Joe Blum:
Joe Blum received his improv training at the Westside Eclectic Comedy Theatre in Santa Monica, CA. He had performed with three different long-form improv teams around Los Angeles before moving to Syracuse in June, 2008. He is currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in photography at Syracuse University. Joe says he will be your friend forever if you come to the Saltine Warrior shows. Then again, Joe says a lot of things.
Mike Borden:
Mike took up the improv torch in high school and honed his skills with In Between the Lines at the University of Rochester. He bounced around a few troupes in the CNY area before finding his happy place with Saltine Warrior. His interest in improv can probably be traced to his short-lived acting career. It was dejectedly cut short when the spell checker relegated his role in the 7th grade production of “Tom Sawyer” from “Muff Potter” to “Mutt Potter.” Also, he can’t memorize things well. As a consequence he has to tattoo them all over his body like in Memento. But instead of being cool and interesting tattoos, they say things like “remember to get milk” and “underwear first, then pants.”
Nick Davoli:
[Editor’s note: Nick wrote this for his bio (and I quote)…] “Nick Davoli is currently studying Politics and Theater at LeMoyne College… Ah screw it.” [With this attitude, in either Politics or Theater, Nick will indeed go far.] Actually, Nick is a talented actor and improviser…and has performed with the Boot and Buskin and Major Arcana theater groups at LeMoyne. He takes his comedy quite seriously…and is a highly valued member of Saltine Warrior.
Andy Friedson:
Andy spent three years performing with the Strong Jugglers in Rochester, NY. During that time he also worked as a volunteer teaching children how to juggle and helping them to create their own performances. He has been a member of two previous improv troupes, including In Between the Lines at the University of Rochester, his alma mater. It is also true that Andy can lick his own elbow. Although this is commonly considered to be impossible, Andy claims that it’s quite doable.
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Gabe Infantino:
Gabe is enjoying his Work-Release Program, and says he finds performing improv comedy a nice departure from committing felonies. Though new to improv, he claims a long list of TV credits (America’s Most Wanted, Cops, and Unsolved Mysteries.) He’s extremely proud of his world’s record for the most consecutive cavity searches in a 24 hour period [Although, it's not clear whether he was on the "giving" or "receiving" end...pardon the expression...of those. Ed.] Gabe says his hobbies include: telling kids there’s no such thing as Santa, collecting change from mall fountains, and training falcons to hunt small game.
Jeff Kinsler:
Jeff has blah, blah, blah over twenty years as a performing artist blah, blah. Yadah, yadah, blah, blah radio, television, film, stage, and blah, blah stand-up comedy. Jeff yadah, yadah, yadah commercials for blah, blah. Jeff has worked with blah, blah, blah; and trained at yadah, yadah Upright Citizens Brigade, and blah, blah City. Blahdie, blah the CNY School for the Performing Arts. In addition, Jeff blah, blah, woof, woof snorkel dialectics fizz goop. Also; I like milkshakes, but they don’t like me.
Former Cast Members
Joanna Jewett:
Joanna (Nix) Jewett has been performing professionally for over 20 years. As lead singer of Syracuse-area party band The Critics, Joanna performed for countless brides and grooms from throughout New York and New England, as well as the opening act for well-known groups such as Three Dog Night, The Turtles and Eddie Money. For the past 4 years, Joanna has been performing with The Cortini Brothers Experience, a light jazz/soul/R&B group. And, after years of feeling very comfortable on stage, Joanna auditioned for Saltine Warrior and was quickly reminded just how much fun butterflies in the stomach can be. As a founding member, she helped make Saltine Warrior what is is today. With more free time, now that she’s left the troupe, Joanna says she wants to focus more on her favorite leisure activities…which she lists as: skydiving, long walks on the beach, Haiku and beekeeping.
