History WebVideo / CGPGrey

*** In "You Are Two", Left Brain picks up an Applejack figure, which Right Brain justifies as being "Because she's the best pony."
*** That's Twilight Sparkle, dumbass!

** In "Which Planet is the Closest?", all the planet humanoids are represented by their standard Myth/RomanMythology god/goddess appearances. Saturn specifically has blood leaking from his mouth, as a reference to Creator/FranciscoDeGoya's ''Art/SaturnDevouringHisSon''.

* ExcitedShowTitle: "How to be a Pirate Captain! 🌈☠️🌈", which has an exclamation point at the end, emphasizes the Captain's jolly behavior. By contrast, "How to be a Pirate Quartermaster. 📈💎📈" highlights the Quartermaster's much more reserved disposition.

Colin Gregory Palmer Grey is an American-born, UK-based educational [[Website/YouTube Youtuber]] who produces explanatory videos on a wide variety of topics, including history, politics, geography, economics, and pop culture. He's noted for his deep and rigorous research, with later videos occasionally having follow ups where he details how topics were investigated and produced.

He also takes part in a few podcasts, most notably in ''Podcast/HelloInternet'', which is hosted alongside Brady Haran of WebVideo/{{Numberphile}} fame, as well as appearing on [[https://www.relay.fm/cortex Cortex]], hosted by [=Relay.FM=] owner Myke Hurley.

* {{Catchphrase}}: "Hello, Internet".

--> '''Grey:''' Okay, look, 'whirl around' and 'spin' don't mean what you think down here, because in the land of quantum, words mean ''nothing'', there is only math, that we’re ''not gonna do''.

* {{Homage}}: Music/HankGreen’s WebVideo/VlogBrothers video, "Apples! (CGP Grey style)" is this to C.G.P Grey’s videos.

* MexicanStandoff: In "Who Owns Antarctica?" there's a two-second scene of [[NationsAsPeople the Axis and Allied powers]] pointing guns at each other to illustrate who was threatening who (if you're wondering what that has to do with Antarctica, Argentina and Chile made claims that overlap with the UK who they believed wouldn't be able to object because of the impending World War II). [[spoiler: America, who's looking off the right edge of the scene whistling, is apparently not paying attention to Japan.]]

* ANuclearError: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhgLasBFr6o&t=0s "What is TEKOI?"]] reported that the Tekoi test range in Utah was a facility testing engines for the Minuteman ICBM, though in the exploration video, Grey found documents stating that the engines were for the Trident SLBM. He documented his making the mistake in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ua4QMFQATco another video]] and uploaded a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCeMCwxayp0 corrected version]] with some changed wording and an appropriate missile model.

--> "The motions we choose but the sum of forces upon us. I became a pirate as the gold in this grail chose this form."

* RayOfHopeEnding: Even after "The Rules for Rulers" makes it clear that structures of power and corruption go hand-in-hand, the viewer is encouraged ''not'' to turn away from politics, but to understand the rules if they ever want the power to bring the change they seek. It ends with the message that even if the viewer doesn't like the rules, better they be in power than someone else, and by knowing them, maybe they'll be different. [[note]] Of course, the very last, easy-to-miss shot is of the potential ruler becoming a dictator, showing that the viewer themselves could potentially [[HeWhoFightsMonsters become corrupt later in life]].[[/note]].

--> "[...] working 9 to 5 on a ship of the Empire for minimum wage, staying out of trouble and saving for retirement as banal days pass, eroding the dreams and aspirations of your younger self, leaving you at the end to wonder how it all slipped away."

* ComicallyMissingThePoint: In his description of how pirate crews are paid in shares, the Pirate Quartermaster states that surgeons rarely have a personality matrix that predisposes them to piracy and so often the carpenter is the surgeon… much to the audience stand-in's horror.

* {{Determinator}}: "The Race to Win Staten Island" recounts Grey's mission to find out the truth behind the dubious story of Christopher Billopp securing Staten Island for New York. In pursuit of this goal, Grey flew to New York to visit the New York Public Library to see if the crucial editions of Richmond County Gazette. After confirming that the copies really are missing, he takes a boat to Staten Island to visit the Billopp House and Dissoway's gravestone. The video ends with him laughing maniacally as he wanders through the Staten Island Cemetery in a rainstorm.

* {{Determinator}}: "The Race to Win Staten Island" recounts Grey's mission to find out the truth behind the dubious story of Christopher Billopp securing Staten Island for New York. In pursuit of this goal, Grey flew to New York to visit the New York Public Library to see if the crucial editions of Richmond County Gazette. After confirming that the copies really are missing, he takes a boat to Staten Island to visit the Billopp House and Dissoway's gravestone. The video ends with him laughing maniacally as he wanders through the Staten Island Cemetary in a rainstorm.

* EverybodyHatesMathematics: While Grey is perfectly fine with physics, forces, algebra, and what have you, he [[DownplayedTrope Draws the line]] at UsefulNotes/QuantumPhysics.

** He takes this tone again in "Rules for Rulers", his longest video so far at almost 20 minutes, has a machiavellian tone on how people are supposed to get in positions of power and how they keep it.

* UranusIsShowing: Discussed in one video, where he mentions the problematic pronunciations of Uranus, i.e. "you-RAIN-us"[[note]]your anus[[/note]] and "YUR-in-us"[[note]]urine-us[[/note]]. In TheStinger he asks the viewers to avert this trope and pronounce it like the Greek Ouranos ("oo-RON-ohs") instead. [[note]] Someone in the comment then pointed out that the Ouranos version had conotations of Ron Weasley porn.... ThisIsWhyWeCannotHaveNiceThings. [[/note]]

* WhoWantsToLiveForever: Deconstructed. Grey posits in "Why Die?" that death is a degenerative disease like any other, and that accepting death as natural was a dangerous deterrent to the life-extension that he believes will be feasible, comparing resigning yourself to aging to [[StockholmSyndrome a hostage falling in love with their kidnapper]].

* AnythingThatMoves: Noted as one of the requirements for Domestication in his video on the topic.
-->'''Grey:''' Hunter-gatherers needed an animal so eager to breed, it gets it wrong sometimes.

-->'''Pirate Captain:''' "But lose, and you might beg for mercy in the last and longest moments of your life! Boop!"

* BoringButPractical: in "Hexagons are the Bestagons", Grey explains why hexagons are the best shape for tiling structures and why they are so common on the molecular and cellular levels.

-->'''Grey:''' "Ignore my emails? I might just show up!"

* ExcitedShowTitle: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8xhdL8BPvU The Battle For SHARKS!]] is an example, along with the titular art piece. ''SHARKS!'' (also known as ''Sharks!'') is a sculpture that was the subject of a long-running dispute about planning permission. Grey notes with approval that it was consistently written as ''Sharks!'' in court documents, and constantly made him smile whenever he saw it.

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: If Grey's speech departs from the usual MotorMouth (i.e., he speaks more slowly and it's easier to follow what he's saying), it's a sign the video is going to be depressing and sobering - "Humans Need Not Apply" is about how [[JobStealingRobot robots are set to displace humans]] in all aspects of the labor force beyond just manual labor, the first "Americapox" video starts with the historical fact that ~90% of the population of pre-Columbian America was killed by diseases from Europe (and why the reverse didn't happen), "The Rules For Rulers" explains why politics and all the seeming backstabbing and corruption among those in power is nigh-inevitable (short answer: if you don't you won't stay in power for long). "Why Die?" dissects the ethics of mortality. "Spaceship You", released during the initial lockdowns of the UsefulNotes/Covid19Pandemic, discusses the importance of maintaining health while isolated from the rest of the world.

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: If Grey's speech departs from the usual MotorMouth (i.e., he speaks more slowly and it's easier to follow what he's saying), it's a sign the video is going to be depressing and sobering - "Humans Need Not Apply" is about how [[JobStealingRobot robots are set to displace humans]] in all aspects of the labor force beyond just manual labor, the first "Americapox" video starts with the historical fact that ~90% of the population of pre-Columbian America was killed by diseases from Europe (and why the reverse didn't happen), "The Rules For Rulers" explains why politics and all the seeming backstabbing and corruption among those in power is nigh-inevitable (short answer: if you don't you won't stay in power for long). "Why Die?" dissects the ethics of mortality. "Spaceship You", released during the [[initial lockdowns of the COVID-19 pandemic]], discusses the importance of maintaining health while isolated from the rest of the world.

* ANuclearError: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhgLasBFr6o&t=0s "What is TEKOI?"]] reported that the Tekoi test range in Utah was a facility testing engines for the Minuteman ICBM, despite in the exploration video, Grey found documents stating that the engines were for the Trident SLBM. He documented his making the mistake in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ua4QMFQATco another video]] and uploaded a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCeMCwxayp0 corrected version]] with some changed wording and an appropriate missile model.

* BlackBox: In "How Machines Learn" the bots that learn to separate images of bee from a three end up with a complex algorithm that cannot be explained by a human or the teacher and builder bots.