Nick Milleson was the kid who liked piano lessons. He even asked for lessons, after his parents got a piano when he was just 6 or 7 years old.

Two decades later, those lessons are paying off as Milleson performs in the "rock 'n' roll dueling pianos" show at the Shout! House bar in downtown Minneapolis.

"I don't foresee myself having a better job," said Milleson, 26, who has been at the Shout! House since it opened six years ago. "It's never a grind to go into work." The crowd is different every night, Milleson said, and so is the show, which is driven by audience requests. The challenge of learning to play and sing hundreds of songs and performing any of them on the spot keeps it interesting. The show involves two piano player/singers squaring off at face-to-face grand pianos. When they're not playing, they're joking with bar patrons and each other. Audience participation, with sing-along and clap-along numbers, also plays a big part.

The one downside is that Milleson's schedule, working nights Tuesdays through Saturdays. Getting up for early classes — he's studying mechanical engineering — isn't fun.

Neither is working opposite hours from his wife, who is a teacher. Then again, he met her at Shout! when she was among a group of early regulars there

Milleson began playing professionally seven years ago. He was working as a tow truck driver and studying at the University of Minnesota when he answered an ad looking for a piano player and singer at Axel's Bonfire restaurants.

Three and out with Shout! House's Nick Milleson

• How many songs do you know?

Completely memorized without having to look up the lyrics, probably 400 or 500. If I can look at the lyrics, it's probably up toward 1,000.

• Do you get weird requests?

In our break room we have our Wall of Shame, covered with ridiculous requests, 100 or 150 of them: "I Will Survive," by Urethra Franklin, "Moondance," by Van Halen, "American Pie," by the Beatles.

• What song do you never want to play again?

"Pour Some Sugar On Me." It's not that I don't like the song, it's just I can't stand playing it."

Three more and out with Milleso

• What do you like to play?

I'm a big Steely Dan guy. I try to do "Reeling In The Years" sometimes. I never get to but I do like to play "Hey 19" or "Kid Charlemagne." Sometimes "Peg."

• Do people try to stump you?

Some people do that, request ridiculously old songs or really deep cuts on an album. The greatest thing is when you can actually play it when they're trying to stump you.

• What do you like to do when you're not playing piano or at school?

Hanging with the wife. Watching "Dexter." During the summer it would be fishing, the St. Croix River. I can be out all day and not catch a single fish and still have a great time.