Interview: NicePeter
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Beginning on his own on Youtube, Peter Shukoff, better known as NicePeter has built a 2 million strong following on the video site through his unique blend of music. Nowadays, he’s more commonly associated with Epic Rap Battles of History, a satirical channel he start with his partner in business and crime ‘Epic’ Lloyd Ahlquist. With 9 million subscribers and videos regularly going into the millions in a matter of days, to say the channel, and NicePeter, are a success is an understatement. Peter is about to embark on his first European tour, and I caught up with him to ask about where he started and what we can expect from the tour.
How did you get started with music?
I used to tap out little melodies on my teeth as a kid. Sounds weird, but I remember liking the feeling of creating catchy patterns.
As I got older, playing music was a socially accepted way to be the center of attention.
When did you get into comedy?
This is a true story (not just for the benefit of an Irish website)… starting at age six I got heavily into Irish step dancing. We would practice two nights a week, and do little shows and competitions. The group that I danced with loved to laugh, and I loved to make them laugh. I often credit those childhood friends from my Irish dancing days with helping me shape a sharp sense of humor.
Maybe it’s just something about the Irish – clever folk.
What made you decide to put the two together?
It was an accident, I was learning guitar, and I loved making people laugh, I discovered in my school lunch room that the two go together fairly well.
What made you start working on/uploading to Youtube?
I got hired as a songwriter for a small startup company that was making original content for Youtube. A whole world opened up to me as I realized that this huge audience was out there, in real time, eager to experience new music and entertainment. I used to perform live 2-4 times a week, and as I started learning more about Youtube, I transferred all that energy into making videos. It’s really like playing one big concert that the whole world can see.
How did you get involved with Epic Rap Battles?
I created Epic Rap Battles with my friend and business partner “Epic” LLoyd Ahlquist. My Youtube channel was growing, I had about 100 thousand people paying attention to the music and comedy I was creating online, so I started ferociously experimenting with new series and formats. Lloyd had an improv show where they got suggestions of celebrities and freestyled a rap battle, I thought that would translate great to Youtube. We started working on demos, and I started flushing out the idea for the visual world with our original director Dave McCary – now works at Saturday Night Live. We released the first battle – “John Lennon vs Bill O’Rielly” based on an audience suggestion left as a Youtube comment. It went well enough to inspire us to do a second one, we learned from what we did right, what we did wrong, and tried to improve, that’s still our operating philosophy. The second battle was Darth Vader vs Adolf Hitler, which spread like wildfire and kept us encouraged to keep pushing and working on new battles.
Was there a moment when you realized how popular ERB had become?
It’s been a pretty surreal journey, my Youtube channel got very popular very fast, I didn’t really notice a moment but I did notice people started recognizing me on the street. It’s popular because it appeals to the imagination, we just work hard to make it as good as it can be.
You’re touring with another member of ERB, Danté, how much Epic Rap Battles will feature live?
One third of the live show is going to be performing rap battles on stage with audience volunteers battling against me. It’s a lot of fun, and the fans usually know the words better than I do! The other part of the show is me playing songs, and singing along with audience, but perhaps the most important, is sticking around after the show to meet as many fans as I can.
What can people expect from your live shows?
It’s a lot of fun, and it’s real, things happen by accident things happen spontaneously, we have a set list that we almost always ignore. My background is improv comedy, and I like to remind the audience that this is really happening, and we can do whatever we all want to. Sometimes that ends up being a whole show filled with songs about that guy in the front row and his awesome jacket.
Anything else you’d like to say to your Irish fans?
I have gotten some of the kindest letters and email and tweets from Irish fans, they’ve kept me going on long days working on the projects, and made me inspired to make the trip to play a great concert in Ireland while I can.
Thank you for everything.
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NicePeter plays the Voodoo Lounge in Dublin on July 10th, details can be found here.
