Comedy hip-hop duo Epic Rap Battles of History began as a live improv show in which Peter “Nice Peter” Shukoff and Lloyd “Epiclloyd” Ahlquist would battle-rap as famous people. ∙ The first Epic Rap Battles of History videos launched in late 2010, kicking off with “John Lennon vs. Bill O’Reilly.” ∙ Beginning with 2012’s “Barack Obama vs. Mitt Romney,” the duo have had 11 Gold-certified singles. ∙ Epic Rap Battles of History Season 2, released in 2013, reached No. 11 on Billboard’s Top Comedy Albums chart. ∙ Snoop Dogg, T-Pain, and “Weird Al” Yankovic are among the many celebrities who have guested on episodes. ∙ Shukoff and Ahlquist had cameo roles as battle-rapping seagulls in 2015’s The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water. ∙ The series has been nominated twice for Primetime Emmy Awards—in the Outstanding Short Form Variety Series category in 2016 and 2017.