We consider particle production by charged and rotating black holes. A simple derivation is presented for the leading term (n = 1) in the Schwinger formula for pair creation by a constant electric field. The same approach is then applied to charged-particle production by a charged black hole. The effect is due to the tunneling of created particles through an effective Dirac gap. Nonthermal radiation from a rotating black hole can also be explained in an analogous way. In the leading semiclassical approximation, this approach is applicable to bosons as well.