History Podcast / Rifftrax

* {{Mondegreen}}:
** In-universe and invoked. The riffers make a lot of rather puerile (but ''very'' funny) gags about mishearing the word "bonus" as "boners" during ''Film/{{Alien}}''. Cue many references to "the boners situation".

** In ''Film/TheMatrixReloaded'', they wax adoring of the Merovingian's unnamed bouncer, [[FanNickname "Big-Dead-Ass-Guy"]].

* EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys:
** Discussed in several of their riffs. For example, when Odin hurls Film/{{Thor}}'s hammer to Earth, they want a monkey to find it.
** For the first ten minutes of ''Laser Mission'', the guys keep asserting that the movie would be several times better if it were actually "Laser Chimps", as they randomly guessed at first.
** During the climactic arm-wrestling match in ''Film/OverTheTop'', Mike muses on how the film would have been vastly improved if Creator/SylvesterStallone had been teamed with a chimp, rather than a boy. Amusing activities the chimp could have engaged in would've included pickpocketing Robert Loggia's wallet.
** Notably averted in ''Film/OneGotFat''. Bill is basically traumatized throughout the entire piece. Granted, those ''papier-mâché‎'' chimp masks did plunge pretty far down the UncannyValley.
** In "Making Sense with Sentences", they notice a live monkey randomly in the background at the beginning and for the rest of the riff they talk about all the cool things the monkey could be doing off-screen and lament the fact that the short didn't focus on it instead.

* BaldOfAwesome[=/=]BaldOfEvil: If a character is bald, they will remark on it repeatedly, pitying or making fun of him. If multiple characters are bald, they find it disturbing, as in ''Film/TheFifthElement'': "How many bald guys does one movie ''need''?"

* ItIsPronouncedTropay: In ''Sharknado'', Bill introduces the movie as "Sharknahdo".

'''Mike:''' Ladies and gentlemen, Bill Corbett has just made a reference to an obscure work by Dr. Seuss entitled "The Zax", included in the book, ''Literature/TheSneetchesAndOtherStories''. It describes two creatures who become stuck when they stubbornly refuse to get out of each others' way. By implying that a book with a protagonist who refused to move over the course of many months has more action than the past seven minutes of ''Mesa of Lost Women'', Bill has disparaged the film in an over-the-top manner. This message paid for by Dr. Seuss Explanatory Footnote Council. Member FDIC.

* BadassMustache: Or not so badass, as the case may be, but every mustache that appears on screen brings comments of either admiration or scorn.

* BlackComedyRape: In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Beowulf 2007}}'', the riffers make a joke about a king being violated by a dragon.

* FauxlosophicNarration: Present in some of the shorts, including "American Thrift", "What It Means To Be An American" and "Your Chance To Live".

'''Mike:''' It's nestled between Norway and China.\\

** In ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', they actually make ComicBook/TheJoker ''even crazier''.

** In ''[[Film/{{Twilight}} Breaking Dawn Part 1]]'', Bill interprets one of Edward's many bizarre facial contortions as him trying and failing to fart. This starts up a running gag that culminates with Kevin enumerating Edward's flaws, ending with "you can't fart." Bill's response?

** Kevin wonders if Mark from ''Film/TheRoom'' is God based on the fact that he seems to be able to hear the movie's soundtrack.

** At one point during ''{{Film/Transformers}}'', Kevin calls Creator/MeganFox a "porker."

* HypocriticalHumor.

* JokeAndReceive: In ''Film/TheGuyFromHarlem'', when Al is talking about keeping Wanda safe before meeting up with her father the next day, Mike jokes that they can hide out at Al's girlfriend's place, which he did earlier in the movie (to her chagrin). A few minutes later, they show the interior of her place, and Mike says "They actually went there!? I was kidding!"

* LieBackAndThinkOfEngland: Kevin seems to be fond of saying this as a joke; he used it in ''Film/TheMatrix'' and ''Film/TheRoom'', and possibly others.

* MadeOfExplodium: Mike likes {{Lampshading}} this. When something explodes for no good reason, he's likely to shout something like "No! Not my collection of antique kerosene lanterns!"

** In-universe and invoked. The riffers make a lot of rather puerile (but ''very'' funny) gags about mishearing the word "bonus" as "boners" in their ''Film/{{Alien}}'' riff. Cue many references to "the boners situation".
** In ''Film/BatmanAndRobin'', Mr. Freeze freezes Robin and quips, "Stay [[PungeonMaster cool]], bird boy." The riffers mishear it as "''beard'' boy", thanks to [[Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger Freeze]]'s accent.
** In ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'', Kevin mishears Han's line "We'll soon be gone" as "bassoon beagle."
** In ''Film/{{Daredevil}}'', when Elektra Natchios introduces herself.

** In ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'', they mishear Bones' line "Genesis, I presume" as "Jim, this is Music/CypressHill".
** In ''Film/{{Twilight}}'':

*** In ''Eclipse'':

** In ''Film/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince'':

** From ''Film/Plan9FromOuterSpace'', the line "I really do love you, darling," is mumbled so badly that the riffers hear it as "I'mma go to Levytown."
** In ''The Sons of Hercules'', they think one of the lines in the theme song is "The mighty sons of Hercules / As men as men could be."[[note]]The sound quality of the movie is terrible, so it's anyone's guess what the actual line is.[[/note]] Several times in the movie, they question how "men" the main character is.

** In ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'', they deliberately mistake Creator/StanLee for Creator/JackKirby during the CreatorCameo. While Lee was in part responsible for reintroducing Cap to [=1960s=] readers, Kirby originally created the character with Joe Simon.

'''Bill:''' ''[As clumps of strained white gelatin run over a conveyor belt]'' Wait, sorry, these are the tapeworms we pulled from the pigs. Eat Hormel!\\

** Invoked during ''{{Film/Highlander}}''. In one scene, Bill mentions something (an implied sex act) called a "Kentucky Wedding." He keeps trying to get the others to ask him what a Kentucky Wedding is, but they refuse to take the bait.[[note]]If there really is such a thing as a Kentucky Wedding, aside from the literal meaning, Google is unable to find it. One suspects it's a reference to the infamous 1938 exploitation film ''Child Bride'', which took place in the Ozarks, which the crew had screened for ''[=MST3K=]'' but refused to riff.[[/note]]
** In ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'', Kevin states that he once had to carry Creator/RobinWilliams on his back for a week. He says it was court ordered, and he doesn't want to get into it.

--> '''Kevin:''' ''(in regards to the Quidditch scene in ''[[Film/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban Prisoner of Azkaban]]'')'' So you need parental permission to go on a field trip to the toffee shop, but with Quidditch, the less parents know the better.

* NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer: During the live ''[[Recap/DoctorWho20thASTheFiveDoctors The Five Doctors]],'' Bill, as TheBrigadier, laments that no one calls him by name, saying that it's [[OverlyLongName Sir Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart]]. He immediately tells the audience to Google it if they don't believe him.
* NotSoAboveItAll: In ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'' when Rey meets a bunch of baby aliens who are played up to be adorable, Bill snarks that [[Series/TheMandalorian Baby Yoda]] makes them all look like dog crap.

** From ''Film/TheLastAirbender'':

** From ''Film/BattlefieldEarth'':

** From ''[[Literature/{{Twilight}} Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2]]'' after the big final battle is [[spoiler:revealed to be a vision of Alice's.]]

** From [[UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco SF Sketchfest 2015]], the "Writing Better Social Letters" short, regarding an invitation to a "Washington's Birthday Ball":

** In ''Film/SuperMarioBros'', they give a LongList of the ways the big vehicle chase scene is inferior to ''VideoGame/MarioKart''...before concluding that at least there's no "f*cking Blue Shells".

** In ''Film/TheGuyFromHarlem'', after Al orders a well done New York strip steak and J&B Scotch:

** Their tendency to avoid language the film doesn't use gets mentioned in "Behavior of Domestic Pigs", when Bill points out that since the narrator said "teats," he's now free to say it as much as he wants.
** From ''Oblivion 2: Backlash'', Mike gets unusually heated about his passions:

** From ''The Sword and the Sorcerer'', regarding the fairly ridiculous-looking King:

** Mike and the other boys make fun of this trope, especially when they riff ''Film/ThreeHundred.''

* ThisIsReality: They will sometimes joke after watching a character suffer blunt force trauma about how they should be crippled or dead after that. A notable example is in the beginning ''Film/IronMan'' when Stark gets blown up and falls hundreds of feet.

** In ''Film/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets'', when Hermione turns around to reveal she's accidentally turned herself into a CatGirl, Mike mentions that a new type of {{Slashfic}} has just been invented.
* RunningTheAsylum: Invoked; most of the jokes in ''Film/BatmanAndRobin'' were submitted by fans, which sadly comes with a major dose of EndingFatigue as the riffs become noticeably sparse during the climax of the film. It's probably why they haven't done another fan written riff.
* SanitySlippage: ''Rollergator'' was already testing the crew's patience to start with, but the revelation that the manager of the amusement park in the film has an alligator head and the film ending with said manager biting someone's head are what really breaks them. They then spend the rest of the credits LaughingMad and shooting with machine guns all over.

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Joked about several times in various riffs. Perhaps the best example is when Bill flat out sprints to get away from having to do ''Film/TransformersDarkOfTheMoon''. He moves faster than a 50 year comedian has any right to.

--> '''Bill''': "I haven't been in such a terrible movie since ''Film/MeetDave''!" Ha ha, self burn!
* SelfReferentialHumor: A lot. But special mention goes to the opening of ''Film/{{Highlander}}'' where Bill and Kevin begin with a generic template of their normal dialog.

** In ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', this exchange takes place, as a jab at fanboys:

** In ''Film/IronMan1'', while Stark is building his first suit [[MemeticMutation IN A CAVE! WITH A BOX OF SCRAPS!]] The riffers can't stop lamenting the various stupid hats Stark is wearing.

** Early in ''Film/BatmanAndRobin'', when one of the cops gets hit on the head, for some reason the movie produces a very cartoony "bonk" sound. The guys comment on the poor man's "coconut head." Later on, Kevin makes an IncrediblyLamePun, and Mike smacks him on the head, producing the very same sound effect. Mike then apologizes to Kevin, saying that he forgot about his "coconut head."
** Often, they will make a joke during the opening of the Rifftrax, and then deliver a follow up at the end.

* DudeWheresMyRespect: A running gag throughout the ''Film/HarryPotter'' series, particularly with regard to the continued distrust of the boy that saves Hogwarts once a year.

'''Bill:''' ''[continuing as Harry]'' Also I've saved the school four times and have a flawless record of being on the side of truth and justice.

* EditedForSyndication: Some riffs are condensed versions of the film. Most cases are that the film itself featured some kind of graphic violence/sexual content[[note]]Notably, ''Film/{{Jack Frost|1997}}'' is missing the infamous death by rape scene[[/note]], copyright issues[[note]]''Film/ItsAWonderfulLife''[[/note]] or simply have too much padding for its own good.

* BangBangBANG: Mike on the first firing of Indy's pistol in ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk''.
-->'''Mike:''' His pistol sounds like a deck gun on the ''Bismarck''!
* BerserkButton: Nothing seems to upset the riffers as much as Jar-Jar Binks from the ''Franchise/StarWars'' prequel trilogy. While they make scornful remarks about a lot of characters, a lot of the time they don't even bother to make jokes about Jar-Jar, they simply pile hatred on him.
* BookEnds: At the end of ''Film/TheForceAwakens'', the guys joke that [[spoiler:Jar-Jar]] is the hooded figure who greets Rey on Ach-To. At the end of ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'', [[spoiler:Jar-Jar]] is once again the figure who meets Rey, this time as a Force Ghost.

** In ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'', Kevin tells Mike during the GreasySpoon scene regarding slovenly cook Dexter, "Mike, I invite you to think about his underpants." Mike understandably reacts in horror and cries out, "WHY, Kevin?!" Kevin subverts the trope by telling him that as long as he's thinking about Dexter's underpants, he's forgetting the rest of the movie. Mike sighs happily, "You're right. Ah, his underpants..."

** In ''Film/TheRoom'', every sex scene is greeted with horror, and Kevin's reaction to Creator/TommyWiseau's pasty white rear end is priceless.

** In ''Film/StarTrekGenerations'', when a shot of the Duras Sisters makes Kevin wonder if they were seeing the only hairless part of their breasts through the window of their clothes, Mike screams in horror.
** In ''Film/SupersonicMan'', the guys are quite horrified at the beginning at the almost nude body of our hero with Kevin describing it as him wearing "a super-tiny thong and a gimp mask".

* BreadEggsMilkSquick: In "Welcome Back Norman":

** In ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'':

** {{ComicBook/Hawkeye}} takes a lot of abuse during ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'', thanks to being massively OvershadowedByAwesome. [[Film/HarryPotter Ron Weasley]] also gets this reaction. Hell, Hawkeye and Ron get this treatment even when they aren't in the movie being riffed. It's basically devolved to Hawkeye being the low bar for super heroes from that point on and Ron becoming synonymous with general lameness or failure. Poor guys.

-->They've officially taken the activity out of Paranormal Activity.

* {{Corpsing}}: More often than not, the guys are laughing along with their own riffs, especially if the material is bizarre. Bill utterly breaks when Mike drops into a Scooby-Doo impression in the live ''Film/{{Night of the Living Dead|1968}}''.

* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: The theme song points out that Rifftrax has "professional jokes by professional comedy professionals."

** Expertly inverted during a particularly slow scene in ''Mesa of Lost Women.''
--> '''Bill''': My God, Dr. Seuss' [[Literature/TheSneetchesAndOtherStories The Zax]] had more action than this!
--> '''Mike''': Ladies and gentlemen, Bill Corbett has just made a reference to an obscure work by Dr. Seuss entitled [[Literature/TheSneetchesAndOtherStories The Zax]], included in the book, Literature/TheSneetchesAndOtherStories. It describes two creatures who become stuck when they stubbornly refuse to get out of each others' way. By implying that a book with a protagonist who refused to move over the course of many months has more action than the past seven minutes of ''Mesa of Lost Women'', Bill has disparaged the film in an over-the-top manner. This message paid for by Dr. Seuss Explanatory Footnote Council. Member FDIC.

** The VOD for ''Film/SuperMarioBros'' edits out a brief shot of [[UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror the World Trade Center disintegrating]].

** Discussed and lampshaded during ''Deathly Hallows, Part 2'', in a brutal scene of the cast grieving their losses (including [[spoiler:Mrs. Weasley weeping over her son Fred and stroking his hair]]).

'''Mike:''' Sure Kevin. Just out of curiosity, can you name these beloved characters, Kevin?\\

** In ''Film/TheSwordAndTheSorcerer'', the three are all legitimately disgusted by the joking treatment of an attempted gang-rape, and the "hero's" attempts to use saving the heroine from said gang rape to coerce her into sex.

** The first live show had Veronica Belmont hosting, musical numbers from Johnathan Coulton, and random commercials. None of those were received very well and all of the live shows since have been pretty much about riffing the shorts and feature films.
** A common RunningGag is taking [[TakeThat venomous potshots]] at ''Series/AccordingToJim''. One of the early riffs, ''Film/{{Firewall}}'', Kevin shows some general knowledge of the show, [[ActuallyPrettyFunny admits to finding it fairly entertaining]], and even recommends it to Mike. One has to wonder what soured the hell out of that relationship.
* EldritchAbomination: How they interpret [[spoiler:Renesmee Cullen]] from ''[[{{Literature/Twilight}} Breaking Dawn Part 1]]'', with Kevin flat out screaming "CTHULHU!" when he sees her during the birth scene.

* ViewersAreGeniuses: As with ''[=MST3K=]'', the guys like to make ''very'' obscure jokes, things that only a handful of the fans can be expected to get. Sometimes they {{Lampshade}} it, like when Mike makes a joke about ''Film/{{Crossroads|2002}}'' during ''Film/{{Avatar}}'', and Kevin says, "[[LampshadingTheObscureReference The 0.1% of the audience who got that joke thank you, Mike.]]"

* RealityEnsues: They will sometimes joke after watching a character suffer blunt force trauma about how they should be crippled or dead after that. A notable example is in the beginning ''Film/IronMan'' when Stark gets blown up and falls hundreds of feet.

--> Bill: My God, Dr. Seuss' [[Literature/TheSneetchesAndOtherStories The Zax]] had more action than this!
--> Mike: Ladies and gentlemen, Bill Corbett has just made a reference to an obscure work by Dr. Seuss entitled [[Literature/TheSneetchesAndOtherStories The Zax]], included in the book, Literature/TheSneetchesAndOtherStories. It describes two creatures who become stuck when they stubbornly refuse to get out of each others' way. By implying that a book with a protagonist who refused to move over the course of many months has more action than the past seven minutes of ''Mesa of Lost Women'', Bill has disparaged the film in an over-the-top manner. This message paid for by Dr. Seuss Explanatory Footnote Council. Member FDIC.

** Expertly inverted during a particularly slow scene in Mesa of Lost Women.

--> Mike: Ladies and gentlemen, Bill Corbett has just made a reference to an obscure work by Dr. Seuss entitled [[Literature/TheSneetchesAndOtherStories The Zax]], included in the book, The Sneetches and Other Stories. It describes two creatures who become stuck when they stubbornly refuse to get out of each others' way. By implying that a book with a protagonist who refused to move over the course of many months has more action than the past seven minutes of Mesa go Lost Women, Bill has disparaged the film in an over-the-top manner. This message paid for by Dr. Seuss Explanatory Footnote Council. Member FDIC.

--> Bill: My God, Dr. Seuss' [[[[Literature/TheSneetchesAndOtherStories The Zax]] had more action than this!

--> '''Kevin:''' ''(in regards to the Quidditch scene in ''[[Film/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban Prisoner of Azkaban]]'')'' So you need parental permission to go on a field trip to the toffee shop, but with Quidditch, the less parents know the better?

** In ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'', they deliberately mistake Creator/StanLee for Creator/JackKirby during the CreatorCameo. While Lee was in part responsible for reintroducing Cap to [=1960s=] readers, Kirby originally created the character.

-->'''Kevin:''' [''after being wrong about'' {{Film/Eragon}} ''ending''] I never get that right.

--> '''Kevin:''' So you need parental permission to go on a field trip to the toffee shop, but with Quidditch, the less parents know the better?