History WebVideo / CrashCourse

* ExtendedAnalogy: Invoked. When explaining about nutrients and essential biomolecules, Hank uses the analogy of a sandwich. Turns out, while it's theoretically sound and has everything you need, said sandwich (peanut butter and hard-boiled egg on wheat) tastes horrible.

* ShoutOut:
** In one video, Hank mentions himself and his brother discussing who their favorite Series/DoctorWho is (Tom Baker and Creator/DavidTennant respectively) which immediately caused fans to point out [[IAmNotShazam the character's name is actually The Doctor]].
** In one episode there was a Tardis shown, and the caption read: "You're welcome Whovians."
** In one Psychology episode, mention is made of the thoughts going through your head as you're suddenly woken up, such as whether or not [[Series/DoctorWho Weeping Angels]] are real.
** In another video, John says that, just like [[Literature/HarryPotter Voldemort's soul,]] he's gonna break the video into eight parts.
** A sticker on John's laptop reads "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_machine_kills_fascists This machine kills fascists]]".
** "Fighting over such things, like whether the proverbial [[TheCakeIsALie cake is a lie]] rarely accomplishes anything."
** In the episode about Japanese History, the Thought Bubble had [[Videogame/{{Okami}} Amaterasu]] do a cameo.
** In another episode Thought Bubble had [[Franchise/MetalGear Solid Snake]] do a cameo, and in the US History episode they had {{Music/Skrillex}} appear as a US delegate.
** Just about any mention of tortoise shells brings a [[VideoGame/MarioKart Red Shell]] to attack John in ''World History'', therefore overlapping with RunningGag.
** Any Thought Bubble sequence -- especially when John's reading a quotation -- tends to be littered with shoutouts and pop-culture references. There are also a couple of minor recurring characters that appear throughout the ages in ''World History''.
** A particularly clear one in ''Psychology'': "Measuring Personality" opens with a lineup of people who are fairly obviously [[Series/OrangeIsTheNewBlack Bennett, Morello, Crazy Eyes, Red, Norma, and Taystee]].
** US History video number 6 contains a "Libertage" (liberty montage) captioned with "America: [[Franchise/StarWars making the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs]] since 1776."
** The ''CC Games'' episode on PC gaming opens with Andrew giving a shout out to the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PC_Master_Race "PC master race"]]--a term coined back in 2008 by ''WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation''.
** Episode 15 of Psychology has a ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' reference in the form of a chibi Hank hitting Brick Blocks and getting an Anglerfish suit as a powerup from an invisible block.
** Episode 16 of Psych has a brief moment where a guy playing ''VideoGame/DanceDanceRevolution'' appears on the side.
** Film/{{ET}} and [[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} a Pokéball]] appear in Episode 19 of Psych.
** [[ComicBook/{{Watchmen}} Rorschach]], [[VideoGame/GodOfWar Kratos]], Franchise/{{Superman}} and [[Series/SesameStreet Count von Count]] appear in episode 21 of Psych.
** [[Anime/{{Pokemon}} Ash Ketchum]] makes a few appearances in Episode 25 of Psych.
** Episode 34 of Psychology contains quite a few references, including [[Franchise/BackToTheFuture a transformed Delorean]], a passing reference to ''WesternAnimation/{{Bambi}}'', and cameos from [[Franchise/TheMatrix Neo]], [[Film/BillAndTed Ted]], Music/MileyCyrus, [[Series/BreakingBad Walter White]], and [[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3 the Angry Sun]].
** Starting at Episode 12 of Philosophy, in the new Squarespace sponsor there's a person waving a sign. [[FreezeFrameBonus If paused at the right moment,]] behind them, [[Series/{{Sherlock}} Sherlock Holmes]] can be spotted in the crowd.
** Frequently, speeches about railways will include a character holding [[WesternAnimation/ThomasAndFriends Thomas]].
** In the episode on Langston Hughes and the Harlem Renaissance, the very first Thought Bubble annotation on a historical monologue/writing features several class symbols from VideoGame/TeamFortress2.

** Frequently, speeches about railways will include a character holding [[WesternAnimation/ThomasTheTankEngine Thomas]].

* AcceptablePoliticalTargets: John pretty much [[InvokedTrope declares open season]] on any slavery apologetics in the comments section of the Slavery video. [[InternetJerk This did nothing to stop them from descending on the comments section like a swarm.]]

* AcceptablePoliticalTargets: John pretty much [[InvokedTrope declares open season]] on any slavery apologetics in the comments section of the Slavery video. [[{{GIFT}} This did nothing to stop them from descending on the comments section like a swarm.]]

-->"What do we do with this? Do we laugh? Do we scream? Do we feel purged of our pity and terror and ready to rejoin democractic society as rational and engaged citizens with absolutely no desire to stab eyeballs or sear face parts? [[DarknessInducedAudienceApathy Or do we feel just really, really bad?]]"

* WrittenByTheWinners: Discussed for the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wc5zUK2MKNY Vikings]], as the Vikings themselves had a very limited literal culture, and their reputation as brutal and bloodthirsty is based in part on accounts by victims of their raids, usually Christian monks who was very well-versed in writing things down.

** Episode 34 of Psychology contains quite a few references, including [[Franchise/BackToTheFuture a transformed Delorean]], a passing reference to ''Disney/{{Bambi}}'', and cameos from [[Franchise/TheMatrix Neo]], [[Film/BillAndTed Ted]], Music/MileyCyrus, [[Series/BreakingBad Walter White]], and [[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3 the Angry Sun]].

* BlackAndWhiteMorality: Usually averted, but in the case of World War II John makes an exception, on the basis of [[UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler who]] was the driving force behind the Axis. He even puts a disclaimer on his video on the resource-taking side of World War II that the traditional "Good Vs Evil" narrative is not false, even if it lacks nuance.

* CaptainObvious: A throw-away sight gag in World History #4: "DID YOU KNOW? Fish live in water."
** Also: "DID YOU KNOW? <name of historical figure> is dead."
* CatchPhrase: John has "Best wishes!" and "As they say in my hometown, don't forget to be awesome!"

* EdutainmentShow: The whole point.
* EnforcedPlug: When [[Literature/TheFaultInOurStars Hazel and Augustus]] appear in ''Romeo and Juliet Part 1''.

* WrittenByTheWinners: A lot of history to some extent, actually, according to CCWH.
** Averted for the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wc5zUK2MKNY Vikings]], as the Vikings themselves had a very limited literal culture, and their reputation as brutal and bloodthirsty is based in part on accounts by victims of their raids, usually Christian monks who was very well-versed in writing things down.
--->'''John Green:''' So history isn't always written by the winners, but when it's written by the losers, they're really bitter about the winners.

** [[ComicBook/{{Watchmen}} Rorschach]], [[VideoGame/GodOfWarSeries Kratos]], Franchise/{{Superman}} and [[Series/SesameStreet Count von Count]] appear in episode 21 of Psych.

** Frequently, speeches about railways will include a character holding [[ThomasTheTankEngine Thomas]].

* CatharsisFactor: Mike discusses this idea in the Grand Guignol episode of the Theatre series, wondering why patrons would want to go to plays [[Gorn notorious for their bloody and grotesque imagery.]]

--?"What do we do with this? Do we laugh? Do we scream? Do we feel purged of our pity and terror and ready to rejoin democractic society as rational and engaged citizens with absolutely no desire to stab eyeballs or sear face parts? [[DarknessInducingAudienceApathy Or do we feel just really, really bad?]]"

---> '''John Green:''' What? I call it scoodilypooping, I'm not going to apologize.

** Averted for the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wc5zUK2MKNY Vikings]], whose brutal reputation is based in part on accounts by victims of their raids.

** ''Literature/CatcherInTheRye''

* Kids Science: Hosted by Sabrina Cruz of Nerdy and Quirky fame, this course, covering US fifth grade science standards, includes a variety of topics from various disciplines of natural science. It was launched alongside WebVideo/SciShow Kids as part of YouTube Kids, a mobile app containing pre-approved, comment-less videos aimed at children.

** Unless you're, wait for it, the Mongols!

* DethroningMomentOfSuck: The Human Geography series was aborted and withdrawn after two episodes following a [[InternetBackdraft maelstrom of complaints]] from viewers about its factual errors and political bias. Eventually John put out an apology and said the series would be remade at a later date.

--> '''[[CoolOldGuy Mr. Fleming, High School History Professor]]''' A state's rights to ''[[ASlaveToTheIndex what]]'', sir?

* BlatantLies: The term [[{{Catchphrase}} "DFTBA"]] was apparently coined by Queen Elizabeth I.

* BrickJoke: In the episode discussing the Dark Ages, John finds a pair of champagne poppers in the secret compartment, but is confused as to why they are there. Later in the episode, he mentions that the Chinese invented gunpowder, leading to the development of explosives. Then he realizes why the poppers were in there.

* TheGhost: Stan, the camera man who is oft-referred to, but never seen. However, he is heard correcting John in one episode over the latter thinking they were talking about the Dark Arts from Harry Potter.
** ...until World History 2(07), ''Humans & Energy'', in which Stan subs in for John. Stan then hosts the Intellectual Property series (released Spring-Summer 2015).