The youngest member of the academy at the time, Eric wasn't socially developed enough to train with the other students who were older than him.  So his teachers (and later mentors), the husband-and-wife comedy duo of Jacob and Elaine McMillian, kept him in a small room away from the other students.  His early curriculum consisted of having to watch a steady diet of Saturday Night Live and SCTV tapes.  The long tape-viewing sessions engrained two theories into Eric's head that would last to this very day.  The first theory being that late-night sketch comedy shows make him laugh, and the second being that sketches that serve simply as one-note character-based vehicles kind of make him nautious. 

At the academy, Eric decided to major in Catch Phrases, to hopefully bring the recurring character type of sketch to a new level.  If anybody knows him, Eric is also never one to hide his influences.  If he's allowed to stand on shoulders, he would like to take a nod at the first two comedic Murray brothers (Bill and Brian-Doyle), Michael O'Donoghue, Hugh Fink, Adam McKay, Al Franken, Tom Davis, Conan, Bob Odenkirk, Judd Apatow, Alan Zweibel, Slovin, Allen, and the band T-Rex.

Graduating this year from The Winchester Preparatory Sketch Academy on his 22nd birthday, Eric's mentors (the McMillians) handed him his two most prized possessions:  An apple sauce birthday cake with Eric's top 25 catch phrases written in blue icing, and his Winchester Preparatory Sketch Academy diploma.