"Ask ERB" Pete & Lloyd - Part 3 (Patreon)

Here is Part 3 of the answers to the questions you posed Pete & Lloyd in 'Ask Erb'. 

Note: You can read Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

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For the rejected appearances of God, Ronald Reagan, Bernie Sanders and Jean Philippe - did you actually get to the stage of casting any of the roles?

Peter: I was meant to be voice of God, Lloyd was cast as Reagan and Sanders. Jean Philippe from Hell's Kitchen - I don't remember.

Lloyd: I was gonna come in as Reagan for a hot second but we quickly realized we didn't need it.  We were looking at a couple professional Trump impersonators to play Trump. but once the song got done we saw we could handle it using me instead. Kimmy was always slotted for Hillary - she's bomb.

How do you guys go about deciding what backgrounds/locations to use for rappers (Black Gate of Mordor for Tolkien, sewer for Deadpool, etc.)?

Lloyd: Pete and the post team handle most of that. I pop in with my opinions from time to time, but I kinda enjoy just seeing what they end up using.  

Peter: It's a long conversation with lots of ups, downs, and changes. We try to find the right environment for the character, the costume, the video, the editors we have on hand, lots of variables. In the end, it should look cool, have some movement, and allow for flexible editing, no small tasks.

ERB has a history of hiding teasers for future rappers/battles at the end of videos - when did you decide to start doing this & what made you think fans get excited by this?

Lloyd: Very early. Started putting the ERB logo into the props and labels pretty early. The Dumbledore rings and the Cat and in the Hat are first logo sneaks I can remember.  

Peter: It's always been fun to keep a story-line going, make things feel like they exist more than in just one video.  That's how it's always been on the inside for me and crew, so it just kind of was inevitable that it would sneak into releases. I think it consciously began with the Vladimir Putin quote at the end of Season 1, I wanted to do some kind of big Russians battle, and wanted to build up a story around it. At that point I didn't know Putin himself would be coming into the battle, but I liked the idea of him desiring it, and demanding it. There's a loose professional wrestling vibe we try to keep up with all the characters in and out of history, as if they exist in this big drama that revolves around rapping. The teasers are more about keeping that excitement of a larger show going than anything else. I hope fans like it, I know I do. 

Have you guys ever personally wanted to portray someone - that either went to the other person or to a guest rapper?

Lloyd: Personally no. If I want somebody bad, it's always fair game.  

Peter: Oh I'm sure, but we have to yield to whatever is best for the show. That kind of feeling happens a lot, but its critical to real teamwork to be able to let something go for the greater good. I can't think of any specific examples, but it's happened for sure.

Can you tell us one of your favourite Epic Rap Battle rhymes EVER? Are there any that you're especially proud of?

Lloyd: "I'm committing verbal murder in the major 3rd degree, my name is Beethoven Mother fucker, maybe you heard of me?" is one of my all-time favorites.

Peter: Different rhymes and lyrics pop into my head sometimes and make me smile and feel really good about the work, but there aren't any in there right now.  Most recently a lot of lyrics from Bond vs Austin Powers were kicking around my head, I really like the writing and rhyming in that one. Connery's entrance is one of my favorite moments in ERB lyrically, musically, and visually.

Could you tell me which Genelec monitors do you use in your studio?

Peter: We have two sets of Genelecs. I do rough mixing and vocal editing at home now and am using an old set of Genelec HT205 w/ subwoofer I picked up at a garage sale during season 1. Those were our main monitors for first two years.  Then they became our main playback speakers on set, now they're my rough mixing monitors.  For the big speakers at the studio, we invested in a new set of Genelec 8330A speakers with matching sub. That one uses their SAM system to calibrate the room.  It was expensive, but we needed a much better mixing environment.  We were finding a lot of problems translating mixes. The Genelecs reveal all the problems in a mix so we can fix them the first time, instead of going out to Lloyd's car with a USB drive 8 times to get the bass right.

Despite being the world's most popular sport, we have yet to see a battle with a soccer player - is there any chance we could see one? 

Peter: We did an unofficial ERB spin-off in Spanish with Javi our editor. He created it. Me and Lloyd did cameos. It's between Ronaldo and Messi, and that might be the closest we come to a soccer player soon.  We had Pele on the big white board at one point, but I think he didn't make it for one reason or another.

Lloyd: Javi's video was pretty rad.  I do think that a soccer player will one day make an appearance in ERB. You can watch Javi's video here.

Has there ever been a really edgy match up that someone on the crew has thought of? If so, what was it?

Lloyd: We've done a lot of them. I really push for us not to shy away from controversial things as long as they are historically significant. If the series doesn't have teeth it really becomes forgettable.

Peter: Not really, nothing comes to mind, we more have edgy lyric ideas that don't make it. My most recent favorite being - "you look like HIV positive Papa smurf"

Has anyone ever gotten injured during a shoot?

Peter: Not seriously. Just small nicks and cuts here and there.

Lloyd: It wasn't on set, but I tore my meniscus dancing at an Emmy nominee party. That sucked. 

Any chances of another fully animated battle?

Lloyd: Yes. It's on my wish-list for sure. I think we're past Peter Griffon vs Homer Simpson though. That feels old now, so it'd need to be more current.

Peter: Yes. We'd love to. Any suggestions?

You have yet to feature Disney Princesses. Any chance they can be represented this season?

Peter:  I don't see it happening. 

Lloyd: Those characters are so far away from familiar to me, I'd hate to misrepresent them. 

Do you think you will find time to tour again in the near future?

Lloyd: I hope so. It's one of my favorite things.

Peter: We talk about it. I can't imagine making it work right now, but I also can't imagine never touring again.

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Thank you for all the questions. We will do more Q&A's throughout the year.