Comedic duo return to 'yinzer' roots with Palace show

A lifelong friendship has morphed into a stage show for 1989 Greater Latrobe Senior High School graduates Eric Slivoskey and Erik Piisila.

The two, both 49, now live in North Dakota and Maryland, respectively. They will appear at The Palace Theatre on Jan. 4 with “Plain Fun #2 With Eric and Erik.”

The “plain” is a play on where he lives, says Slivoskey, referring to his small town in the plains.

They describe their show as “storytelling/music/stand-up comedy.”

Getting them to be more specific is a bit of a comedy routine in itself.

Piisila works as an art director for a marketing company and is a music director with his church.

He has sung and played guitar with secular acts Planetary Zygote and Thread, and performed and toured with contemporary Christian acts Prodigal Son and The Jordan Wade Band.

His son, Makai, 14, will join him on bass during the Greensburg show.

Slivoskey has worked as a college professor and football coach who’s getting more involved with stand-up comedy and travel writing.

Last summer he performed at the Laugh Factory in Hollywood, and earlier this month auditioned for the television show “America’s Got Talent.”

From opposite sides of the country, they have put together an act they premiered in a recent fundraising performance to benefit the renovation of the historic Opera House in Ellendale, N.D.

“We don’t rehearse. I trust him and he trusts me,” Piisila says.

Then the humor breaks through.

“(Slivoskey) says, ‘I pay good money to see people worse than you,’” Piisila says.

Growing up yinzer

Proud of their Western Pennsylvania backgrounds, the two say audiences who “love the Stillers, remember childhood visits to Pechin’s, have ever had to ‘red up’ your room or believe that pierogies are one of the four major food groups” will enjoy their show.

“A lot of what we did together was watch HBO comedy specials,” Piisila says.

One story the two will share is how they, not exactly legally, came into a large pool of money as teens.

“Eric believes people don’t do things because of rules — what you can and can’t do,” Piisila says.

“We’ve been (breaking rules) our whole lives, not ones that hurt anybody,” Slivoskey says, laughing.

Regarding that pool of money — no spoiler, go see the show — things worked out in their favor.

Blending their skills

“The storytelling aspect with my music is I’m performing music by people I’ve been influenced by who are great storytellers,” Piisila says.

“Lyle Lovett often tells a story and then sings. I’ll do a couple of obscure artists,” he adds.

Slivoskey spent part of his teenage years working as an usher at The Palace Theatre.

He’s now a full-time freelance writer, including blogging about adventure travel. He’s visited all 50 states and 51 countries, and shares some of his adventures on coachingoutofbounds.blog spot.com

“I’ve had a lot of things go right, a lot of things go wrong,” he says.

Performing stand-up comedy, Slivoskey says, is part of “building my platform.”

“We want to challenge people to find a stage of their own, whatever it is in life, to not limit themselves, to think big in terms of possibilities,” he says.

Showing up at The Laugh Factory on a summer afternoon, Slivoskey says at first he was not given a slot to go on stage. “I just persisted,” he says, laughing again.

He gave a spiel about coming all the way from North Dakota. Eventually, he found himself in front of an audience primarily there to see comedian Ken Jeong from “The Hangover” fame.

“It was a surreal experience. I’m glad I did it,” Slivoskey says.

He will mesh some of that routine, some of his “America’s Got Talent” audition and some regional bits he thinks local residents will enjoy in the Greensburg performance.

Reigniting friendship

Despite a close friendship lasting into their young adult years, family commitments and distance keep Slivoskey and Piisila from spending much time together.

“That’s probably been one of the best things about this whole thing, reigniting a friendship,” Slivoskey says.

Over the last year, he says, he’s committed to being creative and taking chances, including giving comedy “a go.”

“I thought, we could pull this off, make this sort of a variety show,” he says.

Piisila is game to give it a go, as well.

“It’s his dream to do this and its becoming my dream. … (The audience) might laugh at us or they might laugh with us. As long as they laugh, we don’t care,” he says.