![]() In 2010 I was doing a freestyle rap improv show call "Check OneTwo" with one of our writers, MC Mr. I would write and perform at open mics but never really had a true outlet for that passion. Lloyd: I met Pete in Chicago while I was at a party, sitting on a porch, and freestyle rapping. Pete is just a natural musician and excels at all types of music and I have been a closet rapper for years. How did this idea come about? Why rapping? I shared my knowledge with other YouTubers, and they shared their knowledge with me, and we all grow. I knew a lot about performing onstage, but I didn't know anything about making videos. There is a level of mutual respect and collaboration across YouTube talent that I haven't seen in other entertainment sectors. But those same content creators learn fast, and we all inspire and challenge each other. Pete: I personally don't see mistakes on YouTube, I see people paving their own road, and the inevitable bumps that come with it. Telling the same joke over and over again in the same video happens a lot too. Long uninterrupted shots with no movement lose the attention spans of viewers. Random videos that don't have anything in common are a hard sell cause people don't know what they are coming back to watch, they don't know what to expect from the video. Performing live is all about making it easy for people to understand what you are doing and being engaging enough to make them continue to watch once they start. Lloyd: Most of these things are performance or concept related. In doing that translation, I wonder if you see common mistakes on YouTube that being on the road helped you avoid. I think we're lucky in that those skills you learn from performing live, really do translate to the screen in a cool way. Saying the words isn't the tough part it's that act of winning over the audience and earning their trust, which is the real challenge. That skill, I think, comes over time. Like Pete said, we spent ten years on the road performing thousands of times and learned by a process of trial by fire. I think it has a lot to do with how much the audience trusts, and for lack of a better word, "likes" you. To your bigger point: It might be sad to say, but I've found that typically the funnier and more experienced you are, the easier it is to tiptoe across the fine line between gross and rad. I own a comedy club, and I've seen two different comics say the same exact thing and one will get laughs while the other gets thrown off stage. For that reason we try to stay as true to our original sense of humor as we can. There are folks who might cringe at certain things but those who have enjoyed the series for a long time, enjoy its edginess. I think that is a function getting to know our audience over time and having a good grasp on who it is that likes this stuff. Lloyd: We'll both know right away if something needs consideration. We thought long and hard about every single line, as we always do. Hitler is not going to pull his punches, and you can't use him without mentioning the holocaust. If you put those two characters in the same trans-dimensional room and let them duke it out with words, the whole idea behind the series, they'd have some vicious s**t to say. Adolf Hitler because it's an epic suggestion. We had John Lennon say "suck my d**k" we had Bill O’Reilly say "f**k." I guarantee you both men have.įor our second battle, we had to up the stakes, we had to keep pushing, and we had to stay honest. ![]() Hip-hop speaks honestly it speaks bold and brash. After starting the rap battles, Lloyd and I decided that they had to be "rap" battles. That inspired a huge shift in my content, with higher standards, and an almost paranoid awareness of every single line of appropriateness out there. When I started focusing on YouTube two years ago, I started with that same “anything goes” approach. This time, my audience told me, through comments, messages, and encouraging feedback, that I could raise my standards for my own comedy and music. They were engaged, listening, and ready to react to more subtlety. The audience got wasted, I got wasted, and any line of appropriateness that ever existed disappeared. Pete: I spent the first ten years of my comedy career saying anything I wanted. I played two-hour shows with just a guitar, in the back rooms of dirty bars in Chicago. ![]()
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