Jesus

Jesus (/ˈdʒiːzəs/; Greek: Ἰησοῦς Iesous; 7–2 BC to AD 30–33), also referred to as Jesus of Nazareth or Jesus Christ, is the central figure of Christianity, whom the teachings of most Christian denominations hold to be the Son of God. Christians believe Jesus is the awaited Messiah (or Christ, the Anointed One) of the Old Testament.

Virtually all modern scholars of antiquity agree that Jesus existed historically, and historians consider the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) to be the best sources for investigating the historical Jesus. Most scholars agree that Jesus was a Galilean, Jewish rabbi who preached his message orally,was baptized by John the Baptist, and was crucified by the order of the Roman Prefect Pontius Pilate. In the current mainstream view, Jesus was an apocalyptic preacher and the founder of a renewal movement within Judaism, although some prominent scholars argue that he was not apocalyptic. After Jesus' death, his followers believed he was resurrected, and the community they formed eventually became the Christian church. The widely used calendar era, abbreviated as "AD" from the Latin "Anno Domini" ("in the year of our Lord") or sometimes as "CE", is based on the birth of Jesus. His birth is celebrated annually on December 25 as a holiday known as Christmas.

Peter Shukoff

Peter Alexis Shukoff (born August 15, 1979), also known as Nice Peter, is an American comedian, musician and personality. A self-described "Comic/Guitar Hero," he is best known for the comedy on his YouTube channel, NicePeter, especially the comedic series Epic Rap Battles of History. As of September 6, 2013, NicePeter has over 2.4 million YouTube subscribers. The day after hitting one million subscribers, the video game channel G4 crowned Nice Peter the King of Dot Comedy on Attack of the Show. His two channels, Nice Peter and Epic Rap Battles have a total of 12 million subscribers and over a billion views as of September 2013. He also has a third channel that he uses for vlogs and "Monday Shows", a show that he uploads on either Mondays or Tuesdays that he shows a couple different segments including "Viewer Mail", "Twitter Question Time", and "Ask a Giraffe". They have been featured on the Huffington Post,Billboard.com, and the January 2012 issue of Wired. An interview with Forbes details Peter and his partner Lloyd Ahlquist's rise to fame.

Epic Rap Battles of History

Epic Rap Battles of History is a YouTube video series created by Peter Shukoff (a.k.a. Nice Peter) and Lloyd Ahlquist (a.k.a. EpicLLOYD). The series pits famous historical and pop culture figures, real and fictional, against one another in a rap battle format. As of December 2015, it is the 18th most subscribed channel on YouTube with over 12.9 million subscribers and over 2.7 billion total video views.

Although early episodes of the series featured only Nice Peter and EpicLLOYD, later episodes have regularly featured guest appearances from other internet celebrities such as Lisa Donovan, Timothy DeLaGhetto, George Watsky, DeStorm Power, Jesse Wellens, Jenna Marbles, Ray William Johnson, Rhett and Link, and Smosh. Media celebrities like rappers Snoop Dogg and Chali 2na, parody artist "Weird Al" Yankovic, and the comedian duo Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele have also appeared in the series.

On July 3, 2013, Epic Rap Battle of History's Barack Obama vs. Mitt Romney became the first of its singles to be certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in the United States. Nine other singles, including Darth Vader vs. Adolf Hitler, Albert Einstein vs. Stephen Hawking, Dr. Seuss vs Shakespeare, Master Chief vs Leonidas, Steve Jobs vs Bill Gates, Justin Bieber vs Beethoven, Mario Bros. vs Wright Bros., Mr T vs Mr Rogers, and Abe Lincoln vs Chuck Norris were subsequently also certified Gold.

Michael Jackson

Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, record producer, dancer, and actor. Called the King of Pop, his contributions to music and dance, along with his publicized personal life, made him a global figure in popular culture for over four decades.

The eighth child of the Jackson family, he debuted on the professional music scene along with his elder brothers Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, and Marlon as a member of the Jackson 5 in 1964, and began his solo career in 1971. In the early 1980s, Jackson became a dominant figure in popular music. The music videos for his songs, including those of "Beat It", "Billie Jean", and "Thriller" from his 1982 album Thriller, were credited with breaking down racial barriers and with transforming the medium into an art form and promotional tool. The popularity of these videos helped to bring the then-relatively-new television channel MTV to fame. His 1987 album Bad spawned the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles "I Just Can't Stop Loving You", "Bad", "The Way You Make Me Feel", "Man in the Mirror", and "Dirty Diana", becoming the first album to have five number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100. With videos such as "Black or White" and "Scream", he continued to innovate the medium throughout the 1990s, as well as forging a reputation as a touring solo artist. Through stage and video performances, Jackson popularized a number of complicated dance techniques, such as the robot and the moonwalk, to which he gave the name. His distinctive sound and style has influenced numerous artists of various music genres.

Dave McCary

Dave McCary is an American filmmaker and a co-founder of the sketch comedy group, Good Neighbor. He currently works as a segment director for Saturday Night Live.

Early life

McCary attended the University of Southern California with his childhood friend, Kyle Mooney. It was there that McCary met future Good Neighbor members Nick Rutherford and Beck Bennett.

Career

Good Neighbor

In 2007, McCary came together with Kyle Mooney, Beck Bennett, and Nick Rutherford to form the sketch comedy group, Good Neighbor. The group received personal acknowledgements from Steven Spielberg and comedian Louis C.K.. Prior to landing on SNL, Good Neighbor had just finished filming a Comedy Central pilot, The Good Neighbor Show, that was produced by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay via their company Gary Sanchez. SNL reportedly had to work with Comedy Central to get them out of their contract so they could join the long-running sketch show.

Saturday Night Live

McCary joined Saturday Night Live for its thirty-ninth season as a segment director along with Good Neighbor co-founders, Kyle Mooney and Beck Bennett, who joined as featured players, and Nick Rutherford, who joined as a staff writer.