Miles Hlivko doesn’t take social media too seriously.
The Akron native’s Instagram and TikTok accounts are a mix of goofy, comedic videos spoofing everything from radio DJs to Gov. Mike DeWine, along with outtakes from Hlivko’s musical projects and radio voiceover work.
“Anything good I’ve ever done is just one of those things where, I wake up [and] the idea is fully formed in my head,” Hlivko, 43, said of his approach to social media. “Anything I’ve ever done that’s actually funny, it just comes as some sort of divine intervention like that.”
Hlivko’s latest bout of divine-intervention-turned-viral-video is also his most popular. At least, he’s pretty sure. (“I think in the late 2000s, I made a video about Parma that was a parody of ‘Empire State of Mind’ by Jay-Z and Alicia Keys,” he said. “And that video, I don’t think is on the internet anymore, but at the time, that got up to like a few million views.”)
A couple weeks ago, Hlivko created a satirical Akron tourism video that made the rounds on the internet. (This writer had at least three friends send her the video.) In it, Hlivko pitches Akron to people who “want the perks of living in Ohio but Cleveland seems too fancy.” His pitch for the Rubber City includes horrible weather, salad, that one guy who knows The Black Keys and of course, corn.
With 1.3 million views on TikTok and more than 55,000 likes on Instagram, the video quickly found its intended audience. People in the comments praise Luigi’s famous salad, commiserate over Ohio winters and ask for corn recommendations. The video also got more than a few comparisons to Mike Polk Jr.’s popular “Hastily made Cleveland tourism video” from 2009.
“I was just honestly trying to make it as niche and as Akron-specific as possible,” Hlivko said. “The Luigi’s salad is something that only people from Akron who’ve been here and have been to Luigi’s will know what that is. But, if you know what it is, as soon as you see that pile of cheese, you know exactly what it is.”
Pointed digs aside (Why are there so many sinkholes here?), he has a lot of love for his hometown. He moved to Los Angeles in 2015 for a job at KIIS-FM but returned to Akron during the pandemic.
“I never really aspired to leave Northeast Ohio or anything. I’ve always been pretty happy here. But living away for several years definitely made me appreciate some of the things that I took for granted before,” Hlivko said, citing the city’s green spaces and cost of living, as well as being close to family and friends, as some of its perks.
Still, that doesn’t mean Akron is safe from Hlivko’s comedic eye.
“Now that I know that there is an underserved audience there, I think I definitely need to make more of that,” he said. “I don’t like to pander or really have an agenda when I make stuff. It won’t be until I think of something that’s actually funny to me.”
