History Creator / The1491s

* Ryan [=RedCorn=] (Osage Nation): Artist, writer, actor

* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: "More Indianer Than You" features a competition between a white man and a Native man, with the white man proving his assertion of being able to out-Indian the other guy at every turn. He wins at everything from having a bigger bolo tie to counting coup while dancing in much fancier regalia and impregnating a Native woman while [[MasturbationMeansSexualFrustration the other guy sits sadly with a bottle of lotion and some toilet paper]].
* AnachronismStew: Despite "Origin Stories - Gathering of Nations" being set in 1981, the plot centers around a man who falls and hits his head while trying to take a photo of his friends with a smartphone.
* AnthropomorphicPersonification: Jealousy in "Fighting Jealousy" appears as a man whispering in the guy's ear that causes him to act out. They then get into a physical fight, but to anyone else, it looks like the guy is fighting himself and saying strange things of his own volition.
* AssShove: The practice sparring in "Self Defense" consists of the more expert of the two repeatedly trying to stick things up the novice's butt while grappling.
* BaitAndSwitch: "Hunting" sets up the woodland footrace between the two loincloth-clad hunters to result in hunting wild game, only for their destination to be a fast-food restaurant.
* BasicInstinctLegsCrossingParody: Upon waking, Wood Spirit Guy in "Deer Hunter" crosses and recrosses their legs while cheerfully addressing the hunters. The spirit's wearing underwear under their pelts, thankfully.
* BestialityIsDepraved: ""Native American Porn Audition" takes a shot at the Navajo, explaining that the actress won't need to work with any sheep because they "couldn't find any Navajos who would do a straight porno."
* BitchSlap: The titular "Slapping Medicine Man" helps people's problems by bitch-slapping them for actively detrimental behavior that's the root cause of their woes, such as a man who doesn't bother turning up for work but complains about getting fired often.
* BizarreAlienReproduction: Intercourse for the Na'ai is described in "The Avatars" as the male inserting his braid into the female's vagina. K'arl cut his hair off to avoid sex and child-rearing with his overbearing wife, and Grandpa Turok Makto III is insistent that his braid can still work, despite its ragged appearance.
* BraidsBeadsAndBuckskins: "Indian Store" has the two shopkeepers attempting to invoke this, swapping out their hoodies and Starbucks cups for shirtlessness and beaded accessories once it's time to open for the day.
* ByTheHair: In "Hunting," Ryan-as-Hawk Eye pulls Dallas-as-Chingachgook's long hair to get ahead of him in their footrace. Ryan having short hair means the same can't be done to him.
* ComicSutra: The basis for "Native American Porn Audition," as the actress is asked if she's okay with a wide range of moves such as the "treaty-breaker," the "Muscogee marble-toss," and the "Blackfeet duck-and-dive."

* CrotchGrabSexCheck: The titular hunter in "Deer Hunter" tries this on the catatonic wood spirit he accidentally shot, but comes up inconclusive.
* CuttingBackToReality: The guy in "Fighting Jealousy" gets into a [[WrestlerInAllOfUs WWE-style fight]] with the personification of Jealousy, only for the camera to cut to him fighting and yelling at himself.
* DisproportionateCelebration: "Honor Song" pokes fun at the Dakota propensity for performing honor songs for very small actions, such as picking up litter and lending a friend a single dollar.

* FanDisservice: "N4 Indian Shoes" stars comedian Tito Ybarra, advertising the titular sneakers. He makes a big show of stretching, and dancing seductively at two girls (all played in slow-motion), but neither are entranced because he is quite rotund and his skin-hugging exercise gear leaves nothing to imagination.
* GruesomeGrandparent: Grandpa Turok Makto III of "The Avatars" does not get along with his grandsons Jeff and Rapatar Blue Bush, with all their exchanges coming in the form of curse-laden insults. He's racist towards Jeff's Sky Woman wife and kicks Rapatar out of the tree for being a jobless stoner.
* HauntedHouse: Dallas goes to stay at Mig's isolated cabin in "Cabin in the... Forestses," only to be haunted by a creepy apparition of an Indian man.
* HenpeckedHusband: K'arl Makto barely talks at all during "The Avatars" when he's interviewed alongside his wife K'luk K'luk, as she's a rugged Na'ai woman who spends their interview portion delivering ''her'' opinion on ''Film/{{Avatar}}'' and its misrepresentation of the strong matriarchal Na'ai society.
* HypocriticalHumor: Bobby denounces the usage of marijuana and alcohol in "The Poisons That Kill Us." He continues his tirade while drinking coffee and eating a White Castle meal, complete with soda. At the end, he leaves to buy cigarettes.
* IJustShotMarvinInTheFace: The title character of "Deer Hunter" is barely finished telling the others "safety first" when his rifle goes off and shoots (what they had thought was) a deer. Upon further examination, the shooting victim was a wood spirit wearing pelts and antlers.
* IndianBurialGround: Revealed to be the reason for Mig's haunted cabin in "Cabin in the... Forestses." A spirit plate appeases the ghost, and he happily skips off into the forest.
* KissingCousins: In "Fighting Jealousy," a guy drives his girlfriend away after saying weird things under the influence of Jealousy, and she rebuffs his attempt at reconciliation. The first reason she cites is the aforementioned weirdness. The second is that they're first cousins.
* KitschyLocalCommercial: "Bad Medicine Removers" videos advertise a cleaning crew of natives who clear bad spirits out of locations. The first showcases an office space cleanse, citing spirits as the reason for malfunctioning technology. The second one advertises smudging hotel rooms before the customer arrives, cleaning everything from suspect bodily fluids to "dead hooker spirits" from the room. The commercials feature stilted voice work, awkward action shots of the employees, and exaggerated "happy customer" reactions.
* LikeFatherUnlikeSon: "Willie Jack" follows the adventures of Film/BillyJack's son, who defuses situations through love and forgiveness rather than his father's brand of violence. He laments that people want his father more, seeing the fighting as a sign of masculinity.

** The "A Day In The Life Of A Powwow Emcee" series is shot like a documentary, intersplicing interviews with scenes from his daily life. The first and third are about his home life (his unenthusiastic wife and teenage sons, then his overbearing new wife who forced him into retirement) while the second documents the training of a new emcee.
** "The Avatars" interviews the Makto family of Na'ai about their culture, family, and depiction in ''Film/{{Avatar}}''. The interviewees are crotchety veteran grandfather Turok Makto III, passive K'arl and his overbearing wife K'luk K'luk, half-Na'ai Jeff and his Sky Woman wife, and rapper-wannabe Rapatar Blue Bush.
* NoodleImplements: When Noah's auntie walks in to retrieve him from his weird uncle Dallas's advice session in "Man Talk," Dallas is interrupted mid-explanation of a bizarre set of instructions.
-->'''Dallas:''' See, first thing you do is get some Miracle Whip-\\

'''Dallas:''' ''[makes gesture of spreading it inside something]'' -and you have to put it-\\

* NotWhatItLooksLike: In "It's not what it looks like!" Migizi has a discussion with Bobby about the latter's unfortunate choice of accessories, as displaying "rolling logs" (a swastika) and an eagle on his hat and a banner with a lightning-shaped SS (for his Seriously Sober group) unintentionally make him look like a Nazi. Bobby then accidentally inks a [[UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler black smudge above his lip]].
* OffingTheAnnoyance: The annoyingly perky Wood Spirit Guy promises constant companionship in this life and the next to the hunters. Cue gunshot sound and the hunters relishing in a meal of game meat.
* ParentalObliviousness: Emcee [[OverlyLongName Howard LittleHeadFiddlerOldHorn]] of "A Day In The Life Of A Powwow Emcee" is very out-of-touch with his children. He describes his younger son as a "[[{{Juggalo}} juggler]]" fan of "[[Music/InsaneClownPosse Insane Circus Posse]]," but more egregiously, can't read between the lines about why his older son is focused on his flute and why [[ClosetGay he really likes fancy danc]]''[[ClosetGay ers]]'' but not so much the dancing itself.
* {{Pixellation}}: Jimmy Jack Johnson of the Cowboy-Indian Alliance in "Pipeline Protest" has his genital region pixellated. The entirety of his outfit is a hat, socks, and shoes.
* ShoutOut: The Native characters in "The Halloween Hell No" are dressed as WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}} and Francine, allowing the Arthur to [[https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/arthurs-fist ball his fist per the meme]] when he spots a white guy wearing Native clothing as a costume.
* ShroudedInMyth: In "Origin Stories - Gathering of Nations", Chief Crazy Horse is described as having "skin red like fire," ankle-length hair that was blacker than a black guy, and a six-foot penis.
* StripPoker: At a college party, a boy asks a girl for her number, only for her to initiate the titular "Strip [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handgame Hand Game]]" with the scrap of paper instead of giving it to him outright. It takes until he's down to his socks and underwear until he successfully guesses the correct hand.
* StylisticSuck: The spirit vision of Crazy Horse in "Origin Stories - Gathering of Nations" involves a variety of blatant stock photos. Crazy Horse himself is poorly superimposed on a night sky image.

* TrainingMontage: The second installment of "A Day In The Life Of A Powwow Emcee" focuses on the training of a new emcee in the local gym. His tasks range from the practical, like helping a curmugeonly walker user get to the elder seating section, to the inexplicably athletic tasks of running suicides and practicing punches.
* TranslationYes: Dallas, as [[Literature/TheLeatherstockingTales Chingachgook]], says a lot of words in nonsense Ojibwe that the subtitles translate as "True that." in the "Hunting" video.
* TropaholicsAnonymous: The subject of "Indian Man's Anonomy's" is a support group for men confessing their bad vices and shortcomings, which include fathering thirteen children, liking white women, sending dick pics, and being a know-it-all.
* WhiteMansBurden: "Wounded White Warrior Savior Photographer" intercuts a Magazine/NationalGeographic interview of photographer Aaron Huey with video of Ryan taking awkward (and often intrusive) photos at a powwow. Huey describes his photography at Pine Ridge Reservation and how being there on assignment changed his perspective on life, while the 1491s' video wordlessly demonstrates the interloping nature of these photographers.

[[http://www.1491s.com/ The 1491s]] are an indigenous sketch comedy group based out of Minnesota and Oklahoma, taking their name from the year before UsefulNotes/ChristopherColumbus's arrival. Debuting on Website/YouTube in 2009 with "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmFxJYFSXy0 New Moon Wolf Pack Auditions!!!!]]", a parody of "''[[Literature/{{Twilight}} The Twilight Saga: New Moon]]''," the troupe has since gone on to release over 100 videos depicting aspects of contemporary Native life through a comedic or satirical lens on [[https://www.youtube.com/user/the1491s their channel]]. While most take the form of comedy sketches, some are music videos or highlights on other Native creators.

* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: "More Indianer Than You" features a competition between a white man and a Native man, with the white man proving his assertion of being able to out-Indian the other guy at every turn. He wins at everything from having a bigger bolo tie to counting coup while dancing in much fancier regalia and impregnating a Native woman while the other guy sits sadly [[ADateWithRosiePalms with a bottle of lotion and some toilet paper]].

-->'''Interviwer:''' The, uh, "land bridge."\\

* IndianBurialGround: Revealed to be the reason for Mig's haunted cabin in "Cabin in the... Forestses."

* {{Mockumentary}}: The "A Day In The Life Of A Powwow Emcee" series is shot like a documentary, intersplicing interviews with scenes from his daily life. The first and third are about his home life (his unenthusiastic wife and teenage sons, then his overbearing new wife who forced him into retirement) while the second documents the training of a new emcee.

* ParentalObliviousness: Emcee [[OverlyLongName Howard LittleHeadFiddlerOldHorn]] of "A Day In The Life Of A Powwow Emcee" is very out-of-touch with his children. He describes his younger son as a "[[{{Juggalo}} juggler]]" fan of "[[Music/InsaneClownPosse "Insane Circus Posse]], but more egregiously, can't read between the lines about why his older son is focused on his flute and why [[ClosetGay he really likes fancy danc]]''[[ClosetGay ers]]'' but not so much the dancing itself.

* TropaholicsAnonymous: The subject of "Indian Man's Anonomy's" is a support group for men confessing their bad vices and shortcomings, which include fathering thirteen children, liking white women, sending dick pics, and being a know-it-all.

* Ryan [=RedCorn=] (Osage Nation): Artist and actor