I am EpicLLOYD, the co-creator of Epic Rap Battles of History, here with the comedy troupe Mission Improvable. We're performing in Montreal on 7/26 at Just For Laughs comedy festival, ask us anything!

Any chance of Simon Cowell VS Gordon Ramsay?

hhhhhmmmmmmm... it's a long shot.

Hi EpicLLOYD!

During his AMA, Weird Al said it was "an honor and privilege to engage in a rap battle with Bill Nye's doppelgänger". How was it like collaborating with Weird Al in an ERB video?

Top to bottom awesome. i have unofficially named Weird Al the "Ultimate Check yo-self man". because he's been in the game so long and yet he is still completely humble and open and totally sharp and on his game. It makes me work to be the same way.

Are there any other special guests you guys plan on having? Anybody you really want to see?

i'd really like to work with some of the hip hop greats who taught me how to rap. conversely there are a ton of super talented young new stars coming up on youtube and vine and it'd be great to work with some of these young and talented people as well.

How was it meeting Snoop Dogg?

i highly recommend it.

I see what you did there.

the old man still has it!

How long does each video take to produce? And how do you get all those costumes?

Also, what's your fav and least fave rap battle?

Oh, and do you feel guilty dressing up as Hitler? ;p

Oh and btw welcome to Canada :)

we have an amazing art director named Sulai Lopez who makes nearly all of the costumes and props happen. we do several little interviews with her in the Behind the Scenes on ERB2. Each battle takes around two weeks although we don't really do them all at once anymore. this season we started out writing and tracking all the songs for 6 weeks. then we shot everything in 6 weeks and then we edited everything. the edits take the longest just cause of the nature of how that process works so that took about 3 months total to get all 6 done.

dressing up like Hitler didn't make me feel guilty only because I knew I was playing him as a villain.

and thanks! We're super excited to be coming to Montreal, Canada rulz

Hello Lloyd I'm a big fan, thanks for doing this AMA! My question for you is, Are there any frequently requested ERB that you have not done, and wouldn't? If so, why?

Also, what would you say is the most rewarding part of your career so far?

we get lots of suggestions every season, and usually one suggestions ends up being super hot for a few months. we try to make the most popular suggestions happen just as long as they are characters that we feel are truly EPIC. i think the most requested ever was superman vs goku so we knew we had to do that one this year. most rewarding part of my career so far was be able to wear a TMNT suit for a whole day.

That episode should have been so much longer with all those great people!

we've heard that a lot and i guess it should be addressed. we never really go into songs with an idea of making them longer or shorter based on the guests or really anything. we just kinda write the song that comes out. we wrote the ARtists vs turtles and it just came out blasting and never stopped. if we wetn in to make it longer just for the sake of it being longer i think the whole video would have suffered. Also, i guess if we want to split hairs, with respect to the TMNT the actual amount of rapping time is right on par with most other battles (not the russians but certainly the season 1 finale). it was faster however. the bpm of that track is something like 102 or something which makes it go by really quickly. at the end of the day, we listen to all the comments good and bad and it helps us shape the vibe and culture of the show. if we are hearing people say that they wish the songs were longer, in my mind it's a good thing cause it means people like what we are doing and want more. thanks for the feedback. i think maybe one day we'll make one of the battles like 10 minutes long just for the hell of it. we thought about doing that with Doctor Who vs Doc Brown (just making the loop go on for ever) but it would have made it impossible to finish and upload the video.

Those suits turned out really good. Major props to your costume department.

for sure. it was easily the hardest thing i've ever done on camera physically. it was totally worth it though. plus the guy who made the suit was named Dragan. how cool is that?

Hey Lloyd! I was just wondering if there were any rap battles you really WANT to do, but haven't had the chance to do?

i've been a big fan of Conan vs Conan for a while. Hasn't quite happened yet but I'm pushing.

Well I wish you luck in getting a chance to do it!

thanks!

One member of Whose Line is it Anyway you'd like to perform with someday?

Ryan Stiles. He's the best all time.

Hey Lloyd! Is Peter ever going to challenge you to a rap rematch after you crushed him at the end of Season 1?

i hope not. that one was really tough to write. it was like picking a fight with your friend for the fun o fit.

Could you make one without cursing so I could show it to my students? I teach history and I thought it would be fun to show them a few, but the school doesnt allow it due to language. Edit: Ok everyone, I understand that there are clean versions.

ha. fair enough. there are a couple of the battles that are without curses. Mario Brothers vs the Wright Brothers I believe is clean, I believe Gates vs Jobs as well.

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for sure. i love that site, you guys have been around since the start.

Hey guys! I am a huge fan and I can recite most of y'all's battles from memory to my friends! My favorite would have to be Einstein vs Hawking or Jobs vs Gates, but most recently I love your weird al one Newton vs Nye! Darth Vader vs Hitler was awesome too! I do have some questions for yall that I hope you answer!

• What is your favorite battle?

• Who is your favorite character you played?

• And what are some funny/interesting things that we don't get to see in the videos?

Thanks for doing the AMA and I hope you guys have a fun time doing this! Again I am huge fans and enjoy watching your videos and can't wait till next season!

Personally, as a writer, I love the way Pete does the Easter Bunny voice. Cracks me up. The Russian one was also a blast to write.

The Russian one gave me chills the first time when Lenin showed up. I got my history degree with a concentration on the Cold War.

It was just so unexpectedly perfect, it gave me a frisson.

Awesome! Chills are good!

yup. that's the goal!

Did the TMNT VS Artists rap battle come from a suggestion or was it brainstormed by you guys? I remember commenting on every video this season asking for it to be the finale because it felt so right...

I can't help but feel awesome you guys actually did it!

it was all you guys. all the match ups come from suggestions.

How much do bananas weigh?

i hate banannas! i refuse even to spell the word correctly.

I remember you saying that you hated bananas in the Elvis VS Michael Jackson behind the scene.

Honestly the behind the scenes videos are as great as the actual battles IMO.

RIP heroin joke

thanks man. we take a lot of pride on those. i think there are some pretty boring bts videos out there so we really work hard to try to make them funny and informative.

<sigh> RIP the heroin joke

Hi, I have a question that I've been dying to ask. If you were to meet any historical figure from any time in human history, who would it be and why?

I think I would like to me someone from a really long time ago like maybe a King Richard the Lion Heart. There are many reasons for this.... 1. If I got to meet a King most likely I'd be treated like a King and that would be rad. 2. Because we'd be in a different time period I could ask him about that time period as well if his answers about his personal stuff got boring. 3. If I maybe said something moving to the King, maybe he'd be influenced to rule differently and then I would have changed history mwuahahahahaha!!!

How well did you think ERB was going to do after you made the first one? Did you think it was going to explode like it would?

i never really thought about it. we just did that one for fun and had a great time doing it. i never saw all this coming at all.

Do you guys ever watch fanmade ERB's? (Examples being VideoGameRapBattles' battles, ERBParodies' battles, HarryPotter2875's battles, InfiniteSource's battles, etc)

yup. it's very flattering to see people bring their own energy to these videos i am a part of making. it's pretty rad.

Lloyd, you're one of the realest rappers I've ever seen. Yours songs are amazing, and powerful.

What inspired you to write those kinds of songs? Specifically, Ain't got no Watch, and Pawn.

aw thanks guys. i started writing raps as an alternative to being funny. i was touring doing comedy shows for years and some pretty heavy stuff was going down in my life. it's hard to be funny all the time during those parts of your life so i started writing poetry and rap about them. i had a really great time doing it and so it started to stick. Pawn came out of the struggle i was feeling with the battle between what i wanted to do with my life and what i was being faced with. felt like i had to make my own rules. all the guys in the improv troupe were the same way. it's one of my favorite things i've written. Ain't got No Watch literally happened because of an interview i was in at Vidcon. The interview guy made a light hearted comment about me not having a watch and then it just kinda occurred to me that in terms of rap people, i dress all wrong.

Is that interview the intro to the song? Cause I've always been curious about that.

yup. that is the actual audio tape from the interview.

Hey Lloyd! I'm a huge fan and can't wait for the next season. My question is how much research do you do for the characters to come up with all of these references? Whenever I look up the rap meanings I always find some obscure reference.

we do weeks of reading and watching and talking and thinking about each character. it's nice cause i was never that good at history in school and now i get to catch back up. one month my job was to watch the walking dead and breaking bad. not bad.

If you could bond with one horse sized animal, what would it be?

i think a gorilla. a giant horse gorilla would be badass!

Hey Lloyd first off I want to thank you for giving me the courage to last night come out in front of all my friends explaining that I have a mild schizophrenia... something I've been dealing with on my own for a long time.. All because off diss raps for hire see.. seeing you stand up for the little guy showed me I can do the same.. my question is, what made diss raps for hire become a thing? Did random people start messaging you out of the blue.. I love them man they are all very good and the one with Zach Sherwin is amazing. Keep it up! (Written on a phone) Edit: spelling as messaged on phone.

much love my friend. good for you, and i trust that if they are your real friends, they were accepting and happy that you shared that part of yourself with them.

i think folks like you made dis raps a thing. i did the first episode and then so many people responded with likes and comments and support of all kinds i just felt like i had to do more.

Hey Lloyd... As a kid who has moved around a lot in my life, Mr. Nothing has been a particularly powerful song, and I want to thank you for giving voice to that for people like me.

What was you inspiration for making the Dis Raps for Hire vids? Is Zack Sherwin as cool as I think he is?

As a side note, DA BEARS!

Bear Down!!!

Thanks man. Lots of people are always repping their home towns and there are plenty of us who never really had one.

Dis raps came out of me getting pissed off at something i read on my youtube page. i kid worte me and described how he was getting bullied by his brother and asked if i would write a song destroying him. it made me angry to hear a kid getting picked on by his own brothers so i got a hair up my ass and ripped the kid a new one in the song. the idea caught on so i just went with it.

Zach is the shit.

What's one piece of advice you would give to aspiring comedians? Love you guys!

don't have a back up plan. i don't know anyone truly successful in this business who ever gave themselves a time limit or spent time hedging their bets with a side career or something. if you want to do comedy, than jump in and understand it's kind of a life sentence. you'll either make it or die trying.

Hey Lloyd, thanks for doing this! Love ERB to death!

You guys are known for your clever wordplay in your lyrics. What's your personal lyric you've ever written, either from an ERB song or one of your originals?

in ERB we do a lot of writing together. one person throws out a nugget then another person adds a little and we keep batting things around until it lands on the final lyric. i think one of my proudest lyrics is "I'm committing verbal murder in the major third degree, my name is Beethoven mutha fucka maybe you heard of me." we just all loved that one when it came together.

as far as person stuff, i've always thought that the line "the only words to rhymes i remember are mine" was pretty good. that's on one of the first songs i ever uploaded called "Back to Work". it's just very accurate and it explains a lot about me in a very small amount of words...unlike this response lol.

I'm a big fan of epic rap battles of history. Im a member of Erboh forum (my name is Erb Crazy). I write fan made rap battles. I sometimes feel like I'm rushing. How long does the actual writing of the lyrics take?

takes a long time. i know you want to get the rap written and then move on the next step in the process but everything starts with those lyrics being sharp. keep working them until every line makes you either laugh, cringe or learn something. hopefully some of them will do all three of those things at the same time.

How the fuck did you get Chali 2na on ERB? Dude is a fucking legend. Also, is he as amazingly awesome as I imagine he is?

yes to all that. he was so bad ass and chill and full of life and laughs. he seriously cracked us up the entire day we got to work with him.

we literally just reached out to him through his website. his manager was familiar with the battles and got back t us right away and then it was super smooth sailing from there. it was literally one of the best ERB moments for me ever.

Hi EpicLLOYD and crew. Thanks for doing an AMA!

Two questions:

1.) At what point (which battle) did you guys realize that your comedy idea had legs and would be such a huge hit? Was there a specific turning point or did the growth in popularity come organically?

2.) You have been sentenced to death for a crime you did not commit. What would you choose as your last meal?

i think i realized something big was going down when Vader vs Hitler got featured on the front page of youtube and banned in Germany in the same week.

i think my last meal would be a chain saw. then i'd make my escape!

What the most complicated rap battle to make?

I'm a huge fan of you guys and think y'all are amazing!!!

Keep doing what y'all are doing!!!

i think the Russian Showdown and Gates vs Jobs were the two most complex battles content wise. There was just such a deep amount of info. to get through.

What was the inspiration for 'Dis Raps for Hire'? And also, do you ever feel bad for not choosing certain people's comments?

i got a message on my youtube page from a kid named Sharpietwintip and it just jumped out to me that lots of people might be feeling the same way. i do feel bad but there are so many people writing that it'd be impossible to get to them all so it's a little unrealistic for me to think i could.

Hey guys! I'm an admin over at the erboh.com forum, and I just wanted to say hi on behalf of the whole community! We're all absolutely obsessed with the ERBs and can't wait for season 4. Here are some questions from some guys over at the community:

We've heard that you guys attempted Alexander the Great vs. Ivan the Terrible and Hillary Clinton vs. Henry VIII in the past, but neither worked out. Do you see yourselves giving either of those another go or are they completely scrapped?-Wumbo

The forum is very split on who Ash Ketchum and Charles Darwin should go against. So which of these would you guys rather try: Ash Ketchum vs. Charles Darwin OR Ash Ketchum vs. Noah (from the bible) and Charles Darwin vs. Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter?-PolarBore

big shout out to the forum. so great to have all y'alls support. it visit you weekly but am often just a lurker. #creepy

not sure if we'll ever follow through with the lost battles. i think maybe if hilary runs we might have to do something. tbd. alexander the Great vs IVan was always just more of an idea. it didn't go too far in the process.

as far as the Ash vs Darwin concept, i think i'm a much bigger fan of Darwin over Noah. Not sure if we'll ever do it, but if i had to argue for one over the other I'd say Darwin has a lot more to talk about with Ash and there would be more historical facts to pull from.