Erwin Sikowitz

Erwin Sikowitz is the Improv teacher at Hollywood Arts. His teaching style is very strange and weird. He himself is quite strange and often does odd things, such as drinking out of a coconut in class (he says coconut milk gives him "visions") and climbing into his classroom through the window. However, all the students appear to like him and enjoy his class. He teaches Tori and her friends first period improv class. His students appear to consider him as a good friend. In Freak the Freak Out Tori and the rest of the group all run up and give him a big hug after his performance at Kareoke Doke. Jade stated on TheSlap that Sikowitz is her favorite teacher despite his strangeness. Often he writes odd facts about acting and performing arts on his white board ie: improves is like a fine cheese, but not really." and "Theater is life, Film is art, TV is Furniture." He is the only teacher at Hollywood Arts to have a TheSlap page, because the students who made his page would get extra credit. So far, Sikowitz has made 7 appearances in the show: Pilot, The Bird Scene, Beck's Big Break, The Great Ping Pong Scam, Cat's New Boyfriend and Freak the Freak Out. Also Sikowitz shows his singing talent in Freak The Freak Out. Plus he's funny: He Doesn't know what the ringing was and thought Tori's phone was something terrifing. And he calls Jade a "gank", whatever that means.

On TheSlap, it appears that the singing of the students sometimes "gets on his nerves".

He seems to have an on-going conflict with his mother according to his status on TheSlap. He once quit teaching until his demands were met by the school administrators, however his mother threatened to cut him from her will if he didn't go back. The list of demands he had were:
 * 1) A Coconut vending machine MUST be added to the Asphalt Cafe so that I can get my daily serving of coconut milk.
 * 2) My mother MUST be banned from the Hollywood Arts premises. Every time she comes to visit, she hurts my feelings.
 * 3) A pay raise would be nice. Tie-dyed clothing is back in style and becoming rather pricey.
 * 4) A new PearTV MUST be installed in my classroom so I can play my acting reel on a continuous loop -- for educational purposes, of course.
 * 5) Have security stop searching my satchel every morning. What's inside a man's satchel should be private.

Trivia

 * Sikowitz apparently has the look of a 'homeless person', since Tori mistaked him for a homeless man in "Pilot".
 * Sikowitz is the only teacher at Hollywood Arts who is barefoot.
 * Coconut Milk gives him "visions".
 * Sikowitz mysteriously disappeared after "The Bird Scene", not even being mentioned (except Wi-Fi in the Sky), but returns in "Beck's Big Break" and has appeared in every episode following that.
 * Sikowitz might be a pun on the word "psycho" meaning crazy.
 * Sikowitz owns two vehicles; A customized 1973 Ford Econoline van, and a Volkswagen Beetle from the late-1960's, the latter of which contains a cooking grille in the trunk.
 * He is a parody of Mr. Henning from iCarly.
 * He believes that he was an unicorn in one of his past lives.
 * In the end credits, his portrayer, Eric Lange, is listed as a guest star.
 * In "Rex Dies" it is shown he makes his own butter but doesn't like dairy - so he throws it out.
 * As of the episode The Diddly Bops he is 34 years old.
 * Sikowitz plays the harmonica, but he dropped his harmonica in the men's room toilet. However, he proceeds to play it.
 * On a picture on TheSlap.com, Sikowitz said that his parents sent him to an all-male school.

Classroom Techniques and Activities

 * All students must pass The Bird Scene before they can be allowed to audition for any school plays. In order to pass you must stand up for your own choice in doing the scene even though the teacher constantly tells you that you did it wrong. The students think that the props are required. After the Bird Scene, everyone has to participate in plays. The Bird Scene is Level 1 and the plays are level 2 and it goes on.
 * "Drive-by-Acting Exercises"; he will tell students as what to act (for example: terrified dolphins) and his students have to do so until he stops the exercise.
 * A variation of this shown on TheSlap.com is that he will randomly assign roles to students he meets somewhere and make them improvise a scene.
 * One of his ways to test your acting abilities is throwing a ball at you in the middle of a scene because "a good actor stays in character no matter whats happening around them!"
 * ABC improvisation; students must improvise a scene; their sentences must start with the letters of the alphabet in the correct order. (first sentence A, second sentence B and so on)