Web Video / Pop Quiz Hotshot

He doesn't have hair in the show (or even host apart from the pilot episode).

"Welcome to Pop Quiz Hotshot, where funny gets you money, contestants are kidnapped and the loser... dies."

— Critic

A game show made by Channel Awesome, hosted by Brad Jones, and starring two guests competing against each other, Fard Muhammad as General Anesthetic, Barney Walker as Colonel Kink, Tamara Chambers as Miss Stockholm, and The Nostalgia Critic as sort of a final boss for the contestants to have the last round with.

The gimmick is Brad Jones is crazy, kidnaps people to be on his game show, and losers die. After getting many Sarcasm Mode insults thrown at them.

...or at least until the second episode. No Brad, no Colonel Kink, no Tamara, and Critic is the one hosting and kidnapping people instead. He's helped by General Anesthetic, gets clingy with the contestants and anyone who loses still dies.

Funded by Indiegogo contributions in 2013, the pilot episode finally came out on March 31st, 2015.

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This show displays examples of:

• Angrish: A few episodes have Doug making garbled frustrated noises when the contestents decide to improvise fucking with him, especially when said contestents are Brad and Yo.
• Awful Wedded Life: In the first episode, contestant Tom jokes about how because he's married, he has nothing left to live for. Critic gives Tom points for that, saying that even if Tom wins, his wife is going to kill him anyway.
• Ax-Crazy:
  • Brad. He wanted to do an official game show but got refused, so he kidnapped various people with the help of General Anesthetic's gun and chloroform, tortured contestants for his amusement, and keeps Miss Stockholm handcuffed in a dungeon.
  • New host Critic gets more into the spirit than Brad did,^note if you follow reality, reasons why might be clear. linking arms with a kidnapped Jim and waving happily, thinking friendship is being punished when you don't do what the important one says, and having serious issues with his childhood.
• Believing Their Own Lies: According to Fard, the General's stories shouldn't be trusted at face value.
• Big Beautiful Woman: What General Anesthetic used to be at his old job as a showgirl. Critic's surprised, but it's not treated as gross and they keep flirting.
• Bias Steamroller: Played for Laughs, but if you insult someone that Critic doesn't like he'll usually give you the points.
• Bilingual Bonus: Colonel Kink's only purpose in the pilot is to come in, shout random untranslated German, and go out again.
• Biting-the-Hand Humor: Episode seven might as well be called "Brad Jones And Uncle Yo Make Fun of Doug", making (not so nice) jabs at Dragonbored, Demo Reel, and Pop Quiz Hotshot's pilot. Not that Doug himself doesn't get in on the act, relating to Brad about how hard the host job is and complaining to offscreen people about the questions.
  • Tamara lampshaded the sexism of her character way back in the pilot, and the biting worked as Miss Stockholm doesn't appear again.
• Blood Is the New Black: In "Iron Man's Coke", Critic's Labcoat of Science and Medicine is the only one stained with blood.
• Bloody Handprint: In Iron Man's Coke, Critic's labcoat is covered with dried blood, including an example of this trope near the bottom of it.
• Bodyguard Crush: The General and Critic have plenty of Homoerotic Subtext, and while Critic is the boss, he's also a Sissy Villain who doesn't want people fighting back and the General is quick to pull his gun out on anyone who insults Critic.
• Brains and Bondage: The stinger for episode one has Critic saying he's into leashes, and General Anesthetic has S&M parties on alternate Saturdays.
• Broken Smile:
  • Miss Stockholm does the fakest smile when Brad says he thought he was kidnapping the easter bunny and ended up with her.
  • When a contestant guesses Batman & Robin (incorrectly) for a Batman quote, Critic grits his teeth and smiles hugely trying to avoid a meltdown.
• Brown Note: In episode seven, Yo and Brad intentionally use the buzzer sounds to drive Critic insane and piss him off. Episode 5 has Ed and Ethan do the same thing, driving him to almost tears.
• Butt-Monkey: In both iterations of the backstory explaining, Jim Jaeroz gets kidnapped and then never seen again.
  • Critic takes nearly every opportunity he can to insult Shader in episode three.
  • The whole point of episode five and its “Ed from Ed, Edd n Eddy” gimmick is clearly to get Critic frustrated and nearly crying for funsies. Exaggerated in the seventh episode, as Yo and Brad both mock him completely and he's the one who gets shot at the end.
• The Bus Came Back: Seven episodes in and Brad is back... as a contestant.
• The Cameo: Barney Walker's voice is plainly heard in the fourth one when he and Critic argue that “credit” doesn't count as points.
• Canon Discontinuity: The pilot got a really bad reception, and Brad was open about not wanting to do it, so episode one starts again with Critic being the Ax-Crazy one instead. It's even referred to as the first episode, completely ignoring the pilot's existence.
• Celebrity Edition: Episode seven has Brad Jones and Uncle Yo as contestants and the prize money goes to charity.
• Change the Uncomfortable Subject: Yo icily brings up Demo Reel in episode seven, and Critic very quickly very prickily tells him nobody remembers the show (despite that obviously not being true) and changes subject fast.
• Chewing the Scenery: In the Star Wars edition, Doug's impression of the Emperor isn't great, but at least he's having fun.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: The General gets an Et Tu, Brute? from Brad at the start of episode seven and kills Critic off at the end while buddying up with the former. Fard said on twitter that nobody should trust the guy. In the review of BMX Bandits he's working for Diamanda Hagan and holding Critic at gunpoint.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: After the pilot, Brad, Miss Stockholm and Colonel Kink have all vanished.
  • Brad returns in Episode 7 of the new version as a contestant. In the same episode, General Anesthetic says Miss Stockholm died.
• Continuity Nod:
  • The Trauma Monkey from Critic's show makes a return in the first episode, when Critic is rocking with it in his studio. This also isn't the first time he's been desperate for friends, as one can gather from the Scooby-Doo rant.
  • In episode six, he says that a lot of people equate getting a job with dying. Speaking as someone whose job has made him kill himself (for drama and for comedy), he would know.
• Continuity Porn: The seventh episode is Yo's “revenge” after the Garfield review (with Tamara's Take That! impression of him), Brad comes back and references his invoked Creator Backlash of the pilot, Yo and Doug make fun of Dragonbored and Demo Reel's Elephant in the Living Room status, and there are plenty of other in-jokes.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: In David Bowie's Codpiece, Critic gives the impression that he likes to stab, shoot, poison, freeze, hang, electrocute and burn people for fun-times.
• Cool Crown: Most contestants who win, even the women, get a Burger King-style crown, but if Critic wins he gets a pretty tiara (tell him he looks pretty). Episode five's winner also got the tiara, but as Doug noted it's way too small for him.
• The Comically Serious: General Anesthetic. He reads off Villain Songs in a serious tone and Doug corpses when he gets to Aladdin.
• Corpsing: Invoked as one of the rules; if you can get Critic to laugh at an incorrect answer, you still get points. When Chris in episode three thinks a song from The Jungle Book (1967) is from The Land Before Time, Doug turns around, ducks offscreen and chokes back giggles.
  • In the opening challenge for episode five, Doug starts laughing as it all goes a bit wrong and the pieces of paper are too curled up.
  • At the end of the Star Wars edition, Critic says he's lying about The Force Awakens sucking because it'll be awesome and Fard breaks character to laugh.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Both Donald and David in episode six give such weird answers that Critic has to ask General Anesthetic where he got them from.
• Cringe Comedy:
  • Poor Max in the pilot, because he's losing badly, has to answer questions as first Optimus Prime and then Rita Repulsa, both including the costumes.
  • Christian in episode 10 trying to make Critic laugh by singing “Pig Power In The House”. It's so desperate and Critic is so unamused it turns into pathetically funny.
• Cuddle Bug: Critic is in glompy form, running over to hug the contestants if they've made him happy in some way. Episode 5 has a particularly cute moment where he's overjoyed at Ed dying and gets picked up by Ethan in a spinny hug.
• The Cutie:
  • Megan in episode four. Critic is a lot nicer to her than previous contestants, even when he's annoyed about losing.
  • David in episode six, who is nearly always smiling. When he has the Rita Repulsa hat on as penalty, Critic calls him “Rita without the hate”.
• Deadpan Snarker: Brad and The Critic as expected.
  • Multiple contestants such as Tom or Shader as well.
• Death Seeker: Miss Stockholm implies she's suicidal when she squeals “can't wait!” after Brad tells her that the walls in her dungeon are asbestos and they're all going to die.
• Defiant Captive: Shader spends most of his time insulting Critic for kidnapping him and fights back when it's time to be shot.
• Depraved Bisexual: Critic's in this mode for episode one, liking the thought that a contestant is hitting on him and being disappointed when General Anesthetic doesn't invite him to an S&M party with leashes.
• Discontinuity Nod: After the climactic Rock Paper Scissors match in the end of episode 5, the general says that Brad thought of it.
• Distressed Dude: While he doesn't seem to care that much, Critic is there against his will up until the retool. Jim Jaeroz is also kidnapped in both versions to do the set design, and most contestants are male.
• Distressed Damsel: Miss Stockholm is kept in a dungeon and has to wear handcuffs all the time. Megan's the first kidnapped female contestant in episode four, although she's treated a lot nicer than Miss Stockholm ever was.
• Domestic Abuse: Brad's the emotionally abusive kind to Miss Stockholm, telling her he's “not all bad” because he stole his sister's dress for her.
• Dramatic Thunder: In the intro, when Critic evil costume switches to his lonely kid self to an adult, ominous storm noises pop up behind him.
• Dropped a Bridge on Her: In The Stinger of episode seven, Brad asks the General how's Miss Stockholm and it's casually revealed she's dead. They both have a good laugh over it.
• Due to the Dead: Evil version, with Critic and the General going off to drink Quinn's remains in The Stinger of episode four.
• Enemy Mine: In episode five, while Ethan hates Ed as well, he bands together with him annoying Critic because it's funny.
• Epic Fail: Episode 7 where the contestants are Brad and Uncle Yo, and they don't even do the challenge because they're pissed at Critic for various reasons.
• Establishing Series Moment: The teaser has Brad lampshading that he accidentally turned off his mike and that the game they bought is a cheap rip-off, which sets the tone.
• Et Tu, Brute?: When General Anesthetic tries to bag Brad in the seventh episode, Brad acidly asks him “et tu, General?” and makes him stop.
• Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Critic having no clue on a question and so answering with a Your Mom, gets him barked at by the General.
• Even Evil Has Standards: While General Anesthetic is all too happy to kill people, and will threaten them if they say anything against Critic, he's apparently not allowed to wound them before that.
• Evil Costume Switch: In Bat Nipples, Critic goes from playing a kid version of himself in a Transformers t-shirt to his normal clothes, with Dramatic Thunder and smirking that he now has power.
• Funny Background Event: After Tom makes his first Awful Wedded Life crack, General Anesthetic wanting to fistpump him and getting ignored.
• Girls Have Cooties: In episode 11, Matt tells Critic about the time he crossdressed in kindergarten because he liked a girl. Being fond of crossdressing himself, Critic's only problem is that girls are cootie-filled at that age.
• Gold Digger: According to the episode seven stinger, General Anesthetic likes being with Critic because he gets to "live in the life of luxury".
• Go-Go Enslavement: Miss Stockholm is the only captive of Brad's that has to wear something sexy along with some fuzzy pink cuffs.
• Groin Attack: The physical challenge for David Bowie's Codpiece has the contestants throwing bananas in Critic (dressed like Jareth)'s general crotch area. He very quickly regrets it.
• Hate Sink: Ed in episode five. He's meant to be horribly irritating, and even the other contestant wants to kill him in a secret ploy to steal the gun so he could use it on the Critic in the final round to finally become a game show host.
• Head Desk: Sometimes funny answers will make Doug corpse so hard that he has to hide his face in the host stand.
• Heel Realization: At the end of episode six, when Anesthetic shoots... something off David, Critic tells him to put it back on and says “we're too mean here”. Not that he cares.
• History Repeats: In Episode 11, Matt "vomits" during the Spazzy cartoon. In Episode 5, Ethan used the same joke. Both episode ends with the final round being a tie and going to Rock, Paper, Sissors.
• Holy Hitman: Downplayed when the General makes the sign of the cross when he thinks about what will happen to the loser (who he'll be killing).
• Homoerotic Subtext:
  • Episode one has Critic approving of Ryan hitting on him and giving him a hug later on, he tells Tom that his ass is beautiful, and the stinger has him being disappointed that the General doesn't invite him to a BDSM party. He also gets turned on by Ryan scaring him.
  • Continues in David Bowie's Codpiece as Critic tells Ian “while [he's] down there” when he's at crotch level, has gay porn of David Bowie, and outright asks the General if he thinks he's pretty. For his part, the General replies in the affirmative.
  • In Iron Man's Coke, after Chris does his Chris Rock impression, Critic doesn't want to let him go because it's "darling".
  • In episode six, Critic calls both men “lovely hostages” and has a Bait-and-Switch telling Donald “you complete me” (“oh and that's also the answer”).
  • In episode seven, Brad and Yo are on the show, and Critic being annoyed because they both hate him, asks General Anesthetic where he got them from, and automatically assumes they're dating. Brad for his part makes a shh gesture. Also Critic gets upset and clingy over the General being friendly with Brad and the former says that being with Critic means he gets the life of luxury. And he gets clingy with Yo later on, saying Brad can't have him. Extra bonus points for referencing Demo Reel a few minutes earlier, where Donnie and Yo had a confirmed romance.
  • In Dirk's Diggler, Critic calls Mike smacking his Joker lips “irresistible”, fully gives Mitchell a hug, and asks Anesthetic again if he looks pretty in the tiara.
  • Critic/General even goes over to real life, as when Doug is squeeing about new shows in Too Many Games, Fard in character asks if that includes a new season of Hotshot, and Doug replies "for you General, anything".
• Hostile Show Takeover: In episode seven, Critic loses and Brad wins, and he sends the former to his death.

  Brad: I finally enjoy being on this show! Stay tuned next time for another Pop Quiz Hotshot.

• Hypocritical Humor: In episode six, when a contestant gets caught cheating, Critic says “we are fair here at our hostage situation thing”.
• I Just Want to Have Friends: Miss Stockholm gets excited about someone losing in the pilot because then she might have a new friend in the dungeon.
• Ironic Echo:
  • Given that Hyper Fangirl stepford smiler kidnapped Critic and forced him to play along as her boyfriend, one can see where he got the idea to stepford smiler kidnap other people and force them to be his friends.
  • Not long after Demo Reel is brought up and Critic gets angry about it, he gets possessive of Yo, shouting that Yo is his and he's in charge of him. Donnie and Yo had a confirmed by Doug romance, with Egoraptor making the Love Triangle.
• Improv: The only things that seem to be written in advance are the question cards.
• Jump Scare: The Spazzies do this to signify the end of round one. Doubles as one In-Universe as even Critic is spooked by them when they appear.
• The Kindnapper: Subverted with Critic, as even though he might be nice to you if he likes you, you'll still die if you lose and you can easily lose his favor.
• Lack of Empathy: General Anesthetic and Brad have a good chuckle over Miss Stockholm either being killed or dying of starvation/neglect.
• Lampshade Hanging:
  • Brad points out the Development Hell of the show in the pilot, saying “look, we made these questions several months ago”.
  • Tamara also lampshades that her character is not exactly the most progressive.
  Miss Stockholm: Well, as a strong female character I really shouldn’t like this but I can’t get over these cuffs! So soft!
  • She also notes how stupid the penalties are, as after reading out that Max has to read every question like Rita from Power Rangers, she wrinkles her face and says “you guys are weird”.
  • When the show came back in December, having been away since late August, Critic stepforded "madness doesn't die, it just takes a break".
• Lovely Assistant: Parodied with Miss Stockholm, as she's the host's tortured captive instead of being there of her own volition.
• Love Triangle: Referenced for giggles when Critic gets pissy literally calling Yo “I'm in charge of him now! He's mine! He's mine!” and Brad laughs that Yo's heart will always belong to him.
• The Mad Hatter: While his Sanity Slippage is a big thing over on his show already, Critic's a lot more open about being mentally ill here, offering Doug his meds and pointing out that madness never actually goes away.
• The Man Behind the Man: Episode seven gives the impression that Critic isn't the authority he wanted to be, as Brad (the previous host) tells him welcome to purgatory, the audience laughs at him for being irritated at the questions, and he has a rant about how crappy it is being the host wearing black and with lights burning him. Plus General Anesthetic turns on him at the end and he gets shot.
• Medium Awareness: In the sixth episode, Critic interrupts the intro to tell the camera to rewind and reveal that Donald was cheating.
• Misaimed Fandom: In-universe, as Critic says he's learned a lot from watching A Clockwork Orange. In-character at a panel, General Anesthetic called his role model Sergeant Hartman from Full Metal Jacket
• Mr. Fanservice: Critic as both Cute and Psycho with a pretty tiara, and Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds who likes flirting with everyone, was like catnip to fangirls.
• Ms. Fanservice: Whether she actually is fanservice depends whether or not you like Go-Go Enslavement, but Tamara's in a very low-cut dress as Miss Stockholm.
• Mood Whiplash: In the pilot, there are questions about bombings and international warfare peppered in between the more expected questions about 80s/90s pop culture.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: General Anesthetic, who kills the losers. Colonel Kink doesn't do anything but shout in German but his name doesn't speak of good things either.
• Never Heard That One Before: At the end of Bunny Boobies, Critic/Doug complains bitterly because every convention he goes to, someone expects him to do the bat credit card/Doug Freak Out. (if you've seen more than one panel video, you'll know he's not kidding)
• Not So Stoic: General Anesthetic is usually no-nonsense and pointing guns at people, but he can't stop laughing at Critic making Minion shout “Skeletor” three times and then not giving him the point.
• Oral Fixation: General Anesthetic is chewing a toothpick most of the time. Critic can also make some suggestive motions with his party blower.
• Orphaned Series: Hasn't had a new episode since Demember 2015, with no word about it's status.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: Usually one contestant will have a gimmick or just make Doug laugh harder, and the other will fall by the wayside.
• Overused Running Gag: Anytime someone gives a wrong answer and Critic says it would be a very different movie if that were true.
  • In the first episode, Critic telling the contestants he's glad he kidnapped them before they were able to kidnap him (or anyone else).
• Out of Character: In episode seven, where the entire purpose is meta and for Doug, Brad and Yo to snipe at each other (affectionately) and the show, they get serious and themselves when they're talking about what charities they're playing for.
• Painted-On Pants: Downplayed, as Doug tends to just wear tight jeans, but he lampshaded this penchant in David Bowie's Codpiece when he says he “proves” he's a man by wearing tight pants usually.
• Parody Sue: Shader comes off like one, being a "too cool for this" Defiant Captive snarking at Critic, beating up the general, having super bullet-proof armor, coming back to plug his stuff and winning again in the stinger.
• Pet the Dog: In episode four, Critic backtracks on telling Megan she'll be sorry when she looks upset, although he tries to save face by calling it a Death Glare.
• Police Are Useless: Chicago police don't seem to notice that a lot of people are being kidnapped to a random studio. Justified in the first episode, as when Ethan has to be let go, Critic tells him to not go to the police or they'll punish him. Plus in his own show, Critic gets threatened with prison at least twice for kidnapping people.
• The Power of Friendship: In "Bunny Boobies", Critic tells Christian the trope isn't a thing and friendship is conditional with a time limit.
• P.O.V. Sequel: It's probably not a coincidence that Critic's review of Christmas With The Kranks (where he shares his hatred of his old memes, especially bat credit card), and Bunny Boobies (where a contestant spews his memes and he gets angry about Never Heard That One Before) came out in the same week.
• Product Placement: A non-profit version actually. Shader is actually this guy, and he joined just to plug his stuff (with the costume being a cosplay of his Dark Champion Shader character).
• Psycho for Hire: General Anesthetic. In the pilot he was just The Voiceless pointing guns at people, but the first episode gives him at least more character, holding up a sign that says "will kill for fun" and Critic beckoning him with money.
• Psychopathic Manchild: Critic's trait makes a crossover. Best example would be threatening Tom with taking out his eyes one minute, and squeefully giving Ryan a hug for liking The Kentucky Fried Movie the next.
• Retool: The first episode had Critic kidnapping people so they would be his friends instead of Brad doing the same thing because he wanted a game show, no Miss Stockholm, and a more active role for General Anesthetic.
• Rock–Paper–Scissors: In episodes 5 and 11, Critic and the contestant tie in the final round, so General Anesthetic decides the winner of Rock Paper Scissors will win the round.
• Rule of Funny: Literally, as a wrong answer will still get you points if it makes Doug laugh. This is quite helpful at keeping the laughs going, as people can just blurt out some random funny thing if they don't know the answer.
  • According to Ethan on one of the comments pages, you also get points if you only make Rob laugh, because apparently that means you made a joke that went over everyone else's heads.
• Rule of Three: In the first episode, Critic says three times that he's glad that he kidnapped the contestants before they could kidnap him, especially when Tom says he has rope in his car.
• Scary Black Man: General Anesthetic, who has no lines in the pilot and just points his gun at people menacingly while wearing a military uniform.
• Self-Deprecation:
  • The end of episode one, with Critic saying he's always hated the awkward stingers where the host talks to a showgirl, is a Take That! to episode one where that exact thing happened.
  • In David Bowie's Codpiece, after seeing a particularly violent “spazzies” animation, Critic says “I don't know who animates those but I should give them some of my medication”. Doug animates them.
  • Thankfully Doug knew when to stop doing his Lebowski impersonation in episode four, saying it was obnoxious and turning into the Bum's voice.
  • Episode seven is full of it:
    • There's a dig at the invoked Schedule Slip of the Adventure Time vlogs, as Yo tells Critic he's watched way more of the show than Doug has at this point.
    • The Critic show also gets teased, with Critic!Yo mocking that his backgrounds are never the same and his audience is in their pre-teens.
    • It has Brad Jones as a guest, and Critic has to ask him about being on a game show and how it went over.
  Brad: Just read the comments.
  • Brad isn't impressed by the spazzies, saying it'll just be gory and bloody, and that bores him considering he's had to review much worse.
  • Yo mocks the floor of the set, telling Critic that he stole Tim Burton's kitchen tiles.
  • In episode 9, Critic says that CA can relate to having a failing youtube channel.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: They're both evil, but Critic wears a princess tiara, lampshades that he wears tight jeans and asks Anesthetic if he looks pretty, while the General's a stoic enforcing Psycho for Hire who doesn't even let Critic borrow his gun.
• Shameless Self-Promoter: Shader turns out to be a guy who has a webcomic. Critic asks him if he came on the show just to promote himself, and when the answer is yes, the General stabs him.
• Shout-Out: The title “Pop quiz, hotshot” comes from one of Payne's lines in Speed.
  • The opening physical challenge is one to Double Dare while the Spazzies are one to the Whammies.
• Sliding Scale of Plot Versus Characters: Way over on the character side, as the questions are just a side-note to continuity nods to the NC show and Doug improvising how messed up Critic is.
• Sore Loser: At the end of episode four, Critic says he probably won't do another themed episode because he really doesn't like the fact that he lost.
• The Smurfette Principle: Insulted in Bunny Boobies, when Critic complains about “that time when sports films had girls with no personality other than being female”. He also complains that The Matrix only had two women in significant roles: Trinity and the Oracle.
• Spotlight-Stealing Squad: In episode three, Shader. He's a Defiant Captive that insults Critic and punches out Anesthetic, plus The Stinger reveals him to be alive and actually someone from the indie comics scene promoting his work.
• Stepford Smiler:
  • Miss Stockholm, although her facade cracks pretty often, like when she's scared of getting abused again or gets sad about not being able to see movies anymore.
  • Critic's stepford trait from his show comes out in the first episode, having a big smile when he explains about his abusive childhood and if kidnapping people is a way to get friends then so be it.
• Stockholm Syndrome:
  • Miss Stockholm, a Stepford Smiler who Brad refers to as “his partner in crime”. She doesn't actually want to be that, but he's groomed her enough for her to help him.
  • Possibly Critic too, because as confirmed by Doug in other instances that he's prone to this kind of thing, and he's even more of a Blood Knight here than in his show.
  • Name-dropped by Ryan in the first episode when Critic comments that he's “totally fine” with Ryan as Popeye hitting on him.
• Studio Audience: From point of Doug hosting, there's a lot more people around to make the show seem less dead. When Shader in episode three calls Critic a virgin who can't drive, he gets points because he got a Saved by the Bell-style “oooo” from them.
• Subverted Catchphrase: Critic usually says at the end of every physical challenge, “I'm the Nostalgia Critic and this is Pop Quiz, Hotshot”, but after the fifth one is an Epic Fail, he says the first thing followed with “I don't know where I am right now”.
• Suspiciously Specific Denial: At the end of David Bowie's Codpiece, when Minion is surrounded by fire and flying demons, and Critic is surrounded by hearts, the caption says “Critic requested no favoritism in these shots”.
• Take That!: Subverted in episode four, with Critic complaining that anyone who orders a white russian is a beginning drinker who just watched The Big Lebowski, but saying he has no room to talk because he loves that drink.
  • Episode seven has plenty, mostly at Critic's (and by default, Doug's) expense.
  • Near the end of Bunny Boobies, the useless prize running gag gets subverted when they say if the contestant wins they'll explode Donald Trump because someone has to.
• Take That, Audience!:
  • In Bunny Boobies, Critic cheerfully tells a contestant that the audience watching will read any code but will refuse to help someone who needs it.
  • In episode 11, he mocks the people calling the show's Framing Device “too dark and intense” by saying they should try the rest of the internet.
• The Teaser: The pilot starts out with two people, who we don't know the names of yet, playing Magnet Fish (and playing it wrong, as they're just grabbing random fish) while Brad watches and makes snarky comments that are hard to hear over the music.
• There Are No Therapists: Subverted, as even Critic in Ax-Crazy mode has medication to stop him feeling even worse, and offers some to whoever made the violent spazzie animations.
• Trigger-Happy: General Anesthetic has met intelligent life in space, and “shot them all”.
• Troubled Fetal Position: Critic rocks with his trauma monkey when he's watching nostalgic advertisements with zero friends.
• Twofer Token Minority: General Anesthetic is a black transgender man.
• The Voiceless: General Anesthetic in the pilot, who doesn't even say anything when Brad asks him if he wants to watch M*A*S*H later. Lampshaded in episode seven where Brad comes back and tells the General he had no clue he actually talked.
• Underestimating Badassery: In episode three, Shader accuses Critic of this, because he claimed to have seen Shader and figured he was the least threatening and unlikely to fight back. He ends up being the only contestant to fight General Anesthetic and the only contestant to lose and survive.
• Undesirable Prize: From Critic's time as hosting onwards, they embrace the show's cheapness by offering things like a “free car! ...model” or a "paid trip to this resort! ...postcard in the middle of our hallway".
• Unholy Matrimony: The General and Critic flirt a lot, Critic somehow managed to get out of being shot after episode 7, and they kidnap people together.
• Unsettling Gender-Reveal: Subverted at the end of episode one, as the General comes out casually as a transgender man, and Critic's cool with it, asking to be invited to a BDSM party.
• Unsportsmanlike Gloating: Critic gets all gleeful when he wins in the final round. With the tiara and sending people off to the deaths, you can see the reason why Doug's compared him to the Queen Of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland.
• Victim of the Week: In episode three, Critic tells the contestants that he sees them more as this than anything else.
• Viewers Are Goldfish: David Bowie's Codpiece has the same explanation playing for why Critic is doing this as Bat Nipples, in case anyone forgot.
• Walking the Earth: Fard has tweeted that whenever there's not a show for a while, the General is travelling the world, but will come back immediately when Critic needs him.
• Weakness Turns Her On: In "David Bowie's Codpiece", Critic finally is on the other end of this trope when he tells Minion that "defeated He-Man" is touching "in all the right ways".
• White Guilt: Crossed over with Politically Incorrect Villain, Critic says Chris Rock makes him feel both ashamed and happy to be white.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Critic in the first episode. He kidnaps people because his childhood is so awful and he didn't have any friends, something we already knew about. There's even a few times where he gets confused who's kidnapping who.

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