Laurel and Hardy, Abbott and Costello, Burns and Allen, Pappas and Diederich… Pappas and Diederich? You’ve never heard of them, right? Neither frenetic, crazies or prop lunatics, they are rather a low-key duo – a patch of calm water in the rolling sea of stand-up comedy.

Actually, John Pappas and Jim Diederich don’t even tell jokes. Their slow building, quasi-musical act seems mostly offhand, and they constantly risk entering Comedy Hell by utilizing dangerously long pauses and “takes”.

Like the classic comedy teams before them, their comedy flows from extreme juxtaposition. Pappas is tall and muscular, with a classical Greek stature; Diederich on the other hand is short and stocky, squinting behind granny glasses, like a fussbudgety CPA with a dippy haircut. Pappas, who handles the singing and impressions (such as a would be Mick Jagger rendering of “Take My Wife, Please”) maintains a sensual street punk attitude. Accompanying him on guitar Diederich calmly sports a cynical, cerebral façade as the duo sums up today’s pop music in a hilarious parody, “It Was Easy to Write This Song”.

The roles they play on stage aren’t that far removed from their real life experiences. Growing up on the streets of Oakland, California, Pappas emulated motorcycle toughs and was booted out of school. “John would have been a juvenile delinquent, but by the time he got to high school, he was too old, Diederich says. Pappas was eventually placed in a program in which the curriculum consisted of smoking, reading the newspaper and drinking wine – and he made A’s. “At graduation one guy got sick on heroin and had to run off the stage,“ Pappas recalls.

Diederich’s upbringing was slightly different. “I went to Catholic school for 12 years. Guys got sick at my graduation too – too much oatmeal,” he states.

Pappas and Diederich first met at a San Francisco improvisational workshop in the early 70s. Years later in Los Angeles two women with whom they had been performing quit just prior to a nightclub booking. Unprepared but determined, they took the stage as Pappas and Diederich, and they managed to get laughs. Working in tandem, they’ve gotten laughs ever since and have avoided the heavy rejection that embitters many a comedian. “Sometimes the audience laughs at one of us and not the other,” Pappas concedes. “But you have to realize that if they don’t like you, it doesn’t mean that as a human being you’re totally screwed. “

With comedy, booming and show business there’s a ton of competition shticking around, talking loud and fast , vying for the precious agents and managers who lead hopefuls to the big money. Pappas and Diederich are negotiating through the funnyman flotsam and maintaining and even keel. They’re continuously honing their act, working toward what Pappas claims is a milestone for up-and-coming comics: “a spot on the Tonight show is the ultimate.”