In the more heady and less two-clicks-away-from-vaccine-denial days of YouTube, an undisputed comedic goldmine was the “Epic Rap Battles of History” channel. Nice Peter and EpicLLOYD presided over side-splitting, surrealist and weirdly historically accurate MC battles: pitting the likes of Henry Ford versus Karl Marx, Hitler versus Darth Vader, J.R.R. Tolkien versus George R.R. Martin, Jim Henson versus Stan Lee, and our personal favorite, Terminator versus Robocop. (“I can’t help it if I’m fresh / It’s my prime directive.”)
The series raked in billions of clicks and featured guest spots from the likes of Key & Peele, T-Pain and Weird Al. It’s still a going concern today, with a recent addition to the canon pitting Tom Cruise against Evel Knievel.
And now Nice Peter and EpicLLOYD are playing a clutch of Florida shows (why not?), just days after Wu-Tang Clan brought their farewell tour through Florida (why not?). As each video promises, “Who won? Who’s next? You decide!”
8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 2, The Abbey, 100 S. Eola Drive, abbeyorlando.com, $44.
