A five-way battle royale between comedians George Carlin (played by Peter Shukoff), Richard Pryor (played by ZEALE), Bill Cosby (played by Gary Anthony Williams), Joan Rivers (played by Jackie Tohn), and Robin Williams (played by Lloyd Ahlquist).
TROPES
- Actor Allusion
- Joan Rivers calls George Carlin Rufus.
- Robin Williams' verse is filled with references to movies and TV shows in which he had a starring role.
- Adaptational Karma: Bill Cosby was a case of Karma Houdini Warranty in real life; here, he is Hoist by His Own Petard while performing.
- Ascended to a Higher Plane of Existence: Upon his final line, Robin Williams "sets (him)self free" and flies off into the sky.
- Asshole Victim: Bill Cosby gets drugged, smacked and utterly eviscerated by Joan Rivers, but since he's a Serial Rapist, no one's really complaining.
- Broken Pedestal: While the battle itself doesn't specify it, Joan Rivers got her first big break in show business thanks to Cosby, for whom she now understandably expresses nothing but contempt.
- Brooklyn Rage: George Carlin boasts that he "was born in the Bronx and brought up in Harlem."note
- Bungled Suicide: Robin Williams makes fun of the time Richard Pryor tried to burn himself to death while high on cocaine.
- But Now I Must Go: The rap ends with Robin acknowledging his time is up and sets himself free.
- Butt-Monkey:
- Bill Cosby gets drugged and smacked on the head, and spends almost his entire appearance down for the count while Joan Rivers treats him with pure disdain and Robin Williams refuses to even acknowledge his presence.
- After Cosby, Carlin's the rapper most picked on by everyone else, mostly for them not finding him as funny and groundbreaking as he thinks he is.
- Carpet of Virility: Robin Williams states outright that he has more hair on his arms than Monchichi, a series of stuffed toy monkeys from Japan.
- Casting Gag: In a very meta, Take That!-based case of this, Bill Cosby's played by the actor of Uncle Ruckus, a character who embodies negative black stereotypes and internal toxicity to fellow African Americans.
- Catchphrase: Joan Rivers uses her signature "Can we talk?" and "Who are you wearing?" at different points in the battle.
- Character Filibuster: George Carlin's signature brand of wordy comedy is brought up as a boast on his part and an insult from Joan Rivers.Joan Rivers: And you just kept talking, you wouldn't shut up.
Honestly, I'm glad you died. 14 specials was enough! - Chekhov's Gunman: Bill Cosby was previously mentioned by both Mr. T and Donald Trump, the former reference predating the criminal allegations against him and the latter directly pertaining to them.
- The Chew Toy: Bill Cosby's entire appearance in the battle is just to be laughed at and verbally (as well as physically) thrashed by Joan Rivers.
- Cluster F-Bomb: George Carlin fills an entire verse with the 7 Words You Can't Say On TV.
- Country Matters: Subverted in that, while George Carlin uses the C-word, he does so very casually and it's not treated as being any more offensive than the other Seven Dirty Words.
- Cool People Rebel Against Authority: George Carlin brags about supporting the counterculture movement.
- A Dick in Name: Joan Rivers calls Richard Pryor "Dick" while bringing up his romantic failures.
- Dude, She's Like in a Coma: Joan Rivers calls Bill Cosby on his repeated acts of Date Rape.
- Dynamic Entry: Bill Cosby enters in a very dramatic way... after which things immediately and rapidly go downhill for him.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Joan Rivers mocks how George Carlin started out very strait-laced and conventional.
- Elephant in the Room: Bill Cosby tries to ignore the multiple rape charges brought against him, but Joan Rivers doesn't let him.
- Ethical Slut: Joan Rivers is open about her active sex life and multiple cosmetic surgeries.
- Everyone Has Standards: She tells really offensive sex jokes, but hates sex offenders like Bill Cosby.
- Evil All Along: Invoked by one of Joan Rivers' lines, as Bill Cosby is one of the most infamous cases of this within modern celebrity culture.
- Faux Affably Evil: Bill Cosby tries to pass himself off as a warm and friendly man befitting his former image as "America's Dad", but that doesn't negate the fact that he's a convicted sex offender.
- Fashion-Victim Villain: As Joan Rivers points out, Bill Cosby's fashion sense is just as disgusting as he is.
- The Fashionista: Joan Rivers, who finds Cosby's sweaters as awful as he is.
- Flipping the Bird:
- Richard Pryor gives Carlin the finger at the beginning of the battle (though it's blurred out).
- Joan Rivers uses her middle finger when mentioning Richard Pryor's sixth wife. Unlike Pryor's, her instance of giving the finger isn't censored.
- Formula-Breaking Episode: "George Carlin vs Richard Pryor" is a twist on the format of "Rasputin vs Stalin" and "Spielberg vs Hitchcock". It doesn't just become a five-way battle where each rapper gets one verse. The first surprise entry, Bill Cosby, is knocked unconscious by a roofie in his pudding before he can even finish his verse, and then Joan Rivers joins the battle, followed by Robin Williams. At one point, Cosby wakes up, only to be knocked out again by Rivers.
- Fun Personified:
- Robin Williams is shown as a boundlessly energetic, happy-go-lucky fellow whose disses toward the others never get more scathing than gentle ribbing.
- Subverted with Cosby, who tries to rap with his playful TV persona, but Rivers puts a stop to that.
- Genie in a Bottle: Robin Williams comes out of a genie lamp as a reference to his most famous role.I'm a genie in a bottle for some comic relief!
- Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow: Richard Pryor mocks George Carlin's male-pattern baldness.
- Historical Beauty Upgrade: Joan Rivers is played by the much younger Jackie Tohn, with no real attempt to replicate the years of plastic surgery apart from a face-lifting wire that pulls the sides of her face up from behind (and the effect is barely noticeable from afar).
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Because she used the Genie's lamp, Joan Rivers causes Robin William to show up and steal the final verse.
- Hurricane of Puns: Robin Williams' verses contains multiple puns based on his filmography.
- Impossibly Tacky Clothes: Joan Rivers mocks Bill Cosby's taste in sweaters.
- Incoming Ham:
- Joan Rivers:
- Robin Williams:
- Irony: The only still-living character at the time of upload, Bill Cosby, spends most of the video KO'ed on the floor.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Rivers is an unrepentantly harsh comedian, but she is livid over Cosby's sex crimes and stops him from rapping.
- Joke Character: Bill Cosby only gets to say two full lines before falling unconscious, and is completely annihilated by Joan Rivers.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Bill Cosby's been known to spike drinks to rape women, but in this battle someone spiked his pudding.
- Man on Fire: Richard Pryor makes an Obligatory Joke about the time he immolated himself. Robin Williams does the same later.
- Medium Awareness: George Carlin mentions censorship on TV, only to point out that, since he's on the Internet, he can say whatever the fuck he wants.
- Mêlée à Trois: The battle is a five-way royale between four of the most beloved comedians of all time and Bill Cosby.
- Motor Mouth: As befits the Rockin' Robin himself, he has a very fast-paced delivery.
- My Name Is Inigo Montoya: George Carlin's opening line:Here we go, it's George Carlin, I'm a mad dog snarlin'...
- Nice Guy: Unlike the other participants in the battle, Robin Williams' barbs are more good-natured ribbing than anything.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: Joan Rivers drugs Cosby's pudding and hits him over the head with Robin Williams' lamp. Notably, she actively denies him the chance to have his own verse at all.
- Persona Non Grata: Bill Cosby for his horrible sex crimes, is told he can't rap by Joan Rivers.
- Pie in the Face: Robin Williams brings his face down into a cake at one point, and comes back up with his face covered in frosting.
- Pungeon Master:
- Carlin's lines include a lot of wordplay.
- Most of Robin Williams' disses are puns on titles or famous lines from his movies.
- Rapid-Fire Comedy: George Carlin; as he puts it:No pauses in my punchlines, no commas in my comedy
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Joan Rivers really lays into Bill Cosby:Cosby, you can't be here! You're making people nervous
So let me end you real quick like I was Hannibal Buress!
It turns out you were just like your sweater: monstrous!
The men that I slept with only wish they were unconscious!
My sex jokes offend, you're on the sex offender registry!
Oh, who are you wearing now? Is that State Penitentiary? - Refuge in Audacity: Joan Rivers was someone for whom no material was off limits, and this battle is no exception.(to Carlin and Pryor) I'd have attacked you two first, but your hearts beat me to it!
- Sad Clown:
- Richard Pryor jokes about his own childhood traumas and failed suicide attempt. Later, Joan Rivers reminds him about his repeated heart failures and his six failed marriages.
- Robin Williams is outwardly one of the most upbeat and good-natured characters in the series, but makes coded references to his own cocaine addiction and suicide.
- Self-Deprecation:
- Pryor naturally makes a joke about setting himself on fire.
- In true Joan Rivers fashion, she claims that the men she's slept with "only wish they were unconscious!" and describes herself as "more plastic than flesh".
- Robin Williams doesn't avoid mentioning his own low points, and references his cocaine addition and depression in his verses.
- Serial Rapist: Bill Cosby's whole presence in the battle serves primarily to be called out for his sexual crimes while being subjected to Laser-Guided Karma in a way that amusingly relates to his onstage career as well.
- Serial Spouse: Joan Rivers mentions how Richard Pryor has had six wives.note
- Seven Dirty Words: George Carlin, the Trope Namer, he says them all in rapid succession.Now, there's seven words you can't say on a TV set
But this is the pissing fucking cunting Internet
And my cocksucking motherfucking bits are the tits
Non-stopping Brain Droppings like my wit's got the shits! - Shout-Out: Robin Williams' verses contain several references to his films.
- Slipping a Mickey: Cosby's pudding was spiked, presumably by Joan Rivers herself, to take him out of the battle similarly to how Cosby drugged the drinks of his victims.
- Son of a Whore: Richard Pryor mentions that his "momma was a prostitute and grandma ran the brothels!"
- Speak Ill of the Dead: Joan Rivers casually jokes about how George Carlin and Richard Pryor died, and even says she's glad Carlin passed away because he was becoming too much of a Long Runner.
- Special Guest: ZEALE as Richard Pryor, Gary Anthony Williams as Bill Cosby, and Jackie Tohn as Joan Rivers.
- Take That!:
- As the other tropes demonstrate, most of Bill Cosby's appearance consists of him being trashed for his crimes, while drugged and unconscious.
- Robin Williams' opening line is a blunt nod to the fact that despite his own fair share of movie bombs, he had a more consistently successful film career than what the other rappers can claim.
- Williams makes a sarcastic compliment on Joan Rivers' shoulder pads, as she also liked to make fun of other people's sense of style.
- Williams' line "I love the Prince, but you'll never have a friend like me" is a shot at the live-action remake of Aladdin, where Will Smith a.k.a. "the Fresh Prince" was cast as the Genie.
- Tap on the Head: When the drugs start to wear off and Cosby begins to wake up, Joan Rivers smacks him in the head with Robin Williams' genie lamp; amusingly, his interrupted line of "I think my pudding-" indicates that he hadn't even heard any of what she'd said to him up to that point.
- Toilet Humor: George Carlin lays out some bathroom jokes in his verse; since "shit" and "piss" were part of the original Seven Dirty Words, this makes sense.So call this Pryor-hea: I doo-doo on you constantly!
- Trademark Favorite Food: Bill Cosby brings up his favorite foods: pudding and chocolate cake.
- Thumbnails Always Spoil: When this rap was first uploaded, the thumbnail only contained Pryor and Carlin. For whatever reason, this was eventually updated to have all five rappers present.
- Wham Line: The aforementioned Dynamic Entry and Incoming Ham moments broadsided viewers who didn't expect those characters to arrive.
- Wham Shot: You notice that Joan Rivers specifically knocks out Bill Cosby with a genie lamp... and then the lamp starts moving...
- The Whitest Black Guy: George Carlin calls Richard Pryor "the least threatening black dude since Carlton!"
