Smosh is a sketch comedy YouTube channel founded by Ian Andrew Hecox (born: November 30, 1987 [age 30]) and Daniel Anthony Padilla (born: September 16, 1987 [age 30]). Ian and Anthony, from 2006 to 2014, would on occasion add actors to their videos, but the videos would mostly contain themselves. In 2015, they permanently added actors in their videos. On June 14, 2017, Anthony announced his departure from Smosh to pursue his solo YouTube channel, leaving Ian as the only co-founder that is currently an active member of the Smosh team.
Summary
The original Smosh channel was created in 2005, and, since then, multiple other Smosh-related accounts have been made to include gaming, animations, French-subtitled and Spanish-dubbed videos. They have also evolved to having a presence on other social media along with their own website which they created three years prior to the Smosh channel's debut.
Since 2002, Smosh has remained one of the most popular media empires, most known for their main YouTube channel which has over 23 million subscribers as of May 2018, making it the 21st most subscribed channel on YouTube. If excluding topic channels, companies, and music artists, they are the 9th most subscribed user-generated channel in the world. The channel also has over 7 billion views making it the 75th most viewed channel of all time on the site.
History
2002-2005
Smosh was formed in 2002 by Anthony Padilla.
He brought up with the name "Smosh" because one of his High School friends accidentally pronounced "mosh pit" as "smosh pit" while he was talking about being in it when he went to a Hannah Montana concert. Since it was a trend and an inside joke for their group of friends, he later created a website based on the name where he would talk to his peers and upload Flash animations, a hobby he enjoyed then, for his friends to see. It soon became a site where not just his friends hung out on but then the entire school and shortly afterwards teenagers all over the entire state of California, which they lived and still live in.
In the summer of 2005, Anthony and his closest friend, Ian Hecox recently graduated High School and were filled with boredom. Both in Anthony's bedroom at that time which they spent much of their time together in, they decided to make silly videos to make themselves have fun in the process. As a result, they created videos consisting of them lipsyncing to the English version of theme songs from popular children's television shows and movies such as Power Rangers, Mortal Combat and Pokemon. Anthony uploaded these videos on Smosh.com and it received many views and due to the traffic on the site, Anthony had to pay a considerably good amount of money he received from Smosh.com, Newgounds.com and outdoor jobs each month just for people to view the videos.
Anthony eventually got tired of having to pay money for people to see the videos on his website, so on November 19th, 2005, he created a YouTube account and posted the videos so people can see them on a major platform site which supported content creaters' video activity quantities without him having to pay money. Their first video uploaded was the "Power Rangers Theme".
2006-2010
The video in particular that made them famous was the "Pokemon Theme Music Video" which, from March 12, 2006 to May 19, 2006 was the most viewed video on YouTube. It became first YouTube video ever to reach 5 to 10 million views and had received over 24.7 million views before getting taken down for copyright infringement by Nintendo's Pokemon Company.
Anthony (left) and Ian (right) in their Pokemon Theme Video in 2005.
Although discouraging for the duo, they started to create sketch comedy videos and on occasion make homemade music videos. Since then the characters in their videos ranged from themselves, self made personalities (some being friends and family, however their family do play themselves but in a more amplified role for Smosh's fanbase such as Ian mom's savage ways in Smosh videos she has guest starred in), famous fictional characters (Ian Hecox playing famous American superhero, Batman for example) and celebrities (Anthony Padilla playing Canadian pop star, Justin Bieber for example). The Pokemon theme video can still be seen today but by other YouTube accounts who archived it. There used to be many copies of the original video on YouTube having tens of millions of views between them, however most were eventually deleted. There are now only some copies of the video on YouTube with not as nearly many views combined as the others uploaded. The original video can also be seen on other sites, including Anthony's Newgrounds account under the name "Smosh" which he no longer uses.
In late 2005, YouTube launched the "Subscribe" feature which is bascially a button one could press to be notified when a video from a channel they are interested in comes out. In April of 2006, YouTube displayed the most subscribed list for the first time with Smosh having the most with nearly 3,000 subscribers, having double second most subscribed, FilthyWhore.
On June 7, 2006, Smosh uploaded a video titled "The California Stereotype Experiment" where Ian would ask random people if they lived next to a celebrity and if they surf. All of them said yes but in 2015, it was later revealed by Ian and Anthony that the video was rigged and they asked the participants to say that. This is the first video that includes Smosh's infamous "Shut Up!" intro which is still used today.
Smosh, however, quickly lost the most subscribed crown to Judson Laipply on June 12, 2006, as his "Evolution of Dance" video had taken over Smosh's Pokemon Theme video as the most viewed video for a good time by then, which propelled him to the top of the subscribe ranks. Despite such, Smosh received outside media attention from the increasing popularity of their videos, such as being on the evening news in the late summer of 2006, which paved the way for future interviews on either TV, the radio, or online, being featured in the "Person of the Year: You" issue of Time Magazine, published December 13, 2006 and on Time.com and getting one of their nicknames, "Saturday Night Live of the Internet". In the same year, Smosh received an award for comedy of the year for one of their Smosh short videos, which was the first of various awards they have received or been nominated and one of the first YouTube dedicated events they have attended.
Due to their new found popularity on the internet, Smosh opened up their P.O. Box so fans can send mail and have gotten much mail since then. Ian also by then uploaded vlogs of Anthony and him on his personal channel, now called Smosh 2nd channel, so fans can see more of how they are besides their characters on Smosh.
Smosh in their third edition "A Day In The Life Of Smosh" video in 2006
2006 was also a year where Smosh emerged some of their most famous script lines and trends such as "Okay!" and "Bitch!" as well as having one of their first many photoshoots from Smosh but at this time, only them taking the picture.
In early 2007, Smosh lost it's most viewed channel title to CBS. They had held on to this title for a decent amount of 2006 however the Smosh channel became the most subscribed YouTube channel for a second time on April 26, 2007 and became the first channel to reach 100,000 subscribers on or around May 15, 2007.
Due to YouTube being bought by Google in late 2006, YouTubers were now allowed to get paid using Adsense (sponsors and ads put near the videos of content creater(s) so they can make money). Smosh due to their channel having the biggest following on YouTube at this time were one of the first ten video creaters on the site to benefit from it. This inspired Ian and Anthony to continue YouTubing by having a career of making videos they liked to create while making money, now not only being friends but long-term business partners.
Shortly afterwards, Smosh dropped out of American River College after attending for around 2 years to do YouTube full time.
In 2008, Smosh would make a video, an infomercial parody, promoting a self made fictional product called "Beef N' Go", which was a bottle convenient that was made for you to eat beef on a go. The video has over 100 million views being their most viewed video ever, most likely due to the thumbnail consisting of Britney Spears' censored genitalia which was subtly and briefly talked about in the video. This video however is age restricted due to this and is slightly difficult to find. Since 2017, the video's thumbnail has changed to just Anthony's face for age restricting reasons. It is unspecified whether Smosh or YouTube itself did this.
In July of that year, Smosh would get their account suspended due to a YouTube bug. They got their account back shortly afterwards and continued making videos.
Despite consistent effort and increasing popularity on YouTube and overall online and media culture, Smosh again lost its most subscribed crown, this time to fellow rising YouTuber, Nigahiga on September 24th, 2008. During their second reign as the most subscribed channel, Smosh was not only the first channel to reach 100,000 subscribers but the first to reach 200,000 to 500,000 subscribers during their nearly a year and a half span as the most subscribed YouTube channel.
The next month, 2007 founded Santa Monica based digital studio entertainment company, Deca invested in Smosh for the purpose of handling ad sales, business development and distribution. Deca as well wanted their company to flourish by putting in a great number of brands with good potential like Smosh.
Around this time, Smosh started shooting a majority of their videos in a studio house, referred to as the "Smosh house" by fans. The Smosh house many times were not featured in the majority of the videos' length but many times were. At times they didn't film in the Smosh house at all. Previously shooting in Anthony's house as well as other homes, buildings and outdoors, this house remained one of Smosh's most recognizable figures ever. Ian and Anthony as well started living together there.
In late 2008, Ian and Anthony hired a production crew from their Adsense money, which saw their content feature more advanced editing and HD quality by mid 2009 and has improved every year since. Since then the production team has expanded and have also helped them with their video content and how fast and persistent it's uploaded to YouTube. This change had a lot to do with Deca now being apart of Smosh. As a result, Smosh have been posting videos on their channel every Friday since, as other videos have intertwined in their upload schedule more or less over the years, they currently post 2 videos a week, occasionally posting a special video that comes any day of the week but almost always 3:00 PM eastern time just like their scheduled videos.
In 2009, Smosh started to promote companies and other products to their videos which they still do on occasion. Smosh throughout it's history have made commercials about their channels and uploaded them on their channels and Smosh.com, too.
2009 was also a year where Smosh started to collaborate with other YouTubers in the community. Prior, they have done it a few times but since then, Smosh have collaborated with dozens of YouTubers from different genres, races, genders, subscriber counts, and fanbases.
Additionally, 2009 was a year where many of Smosh's video series' first appeared on their channel such as "Worst of 20--", "Best of 20--" and "If Blank Were Real".
In 2010, Smosh made a revenge video roasting the Pokemon company for deleting their "Pokemon Theme" video while in the tune of the "Pokemon Theme song". This video was also made because it was the five year anniversary of Smosh's YouTube channel at the time.
The same year, Smosh released their debut album titled "Sexy Album" which consists of the music collection they created and uploaded on their main YouTube channel from 2006 to 2010. This album and the ones after featured the uncensored versions of the songs they made and uploaded to their YouTube channel due to a majority of their videos censoring R rated language and Smosh wanting to give an exclusive aura of the album.
2011-2015
In July 2011, Smosh's channel first partnered with Alloy Digital/Defy/Break Media, a YouTube network specializing into entertaining 12 to 35-year-olds. Smosh has seen their view and subscriber gain skyrocket since, especially in the years 2011 to 2015.
Smosh by then had already broken off of Deca Media but since then, Smosh has been the #1 content brand for the company. The company has helped Smosh expand and appeal to a larger audience than ever before.
Throughout both 2011 and 2012, Smosh expanded the brand by having animation, French/Spanish translated channels and gaming channels. Smosh also released their next two albums, "If Music were Real" in 2011, and "Smoshtastic!" in 2012.
In October of that year, Smosh would upload a video titled "ULTIMATE ASSASIANS CREED 3 SONG [Music Video]". This currently is their second most viewed video on all of the Smosh branded videos, their most viewed music video and is also the most liked video on Smosh, with over 940,000 likes as of June of 2017.
On January 12th, 2013, Smosh became the most subscribed YouTube channel for the third and final time, this time surpassing RayWilliamJohnson's channel at around 6.780 million subscribers. Two days later, Smosh was featured on Ray's "Equals Three" show on the channel as a congratulations from Johnson where they took over most of Ray's reacting to viral videos on that episode.
The same month, Smosh announced that they will have their first magazine. The magazine first became avaliable in July 2013 and was released in 40,000 retailers in the USA and Canada and costed six dollars. It also had an app on Itunes for digital download. The magazine received many buys.
Earlier in July, Smosh were one of the guest hosts of Internet Icon, an elimination contest show for aspiring YouTubers.
On August 15 of 2013, current most subscribed YouTuber, PewDiePie surpassed Smosh to become the most subscribed channel on YouTube when both channels were at around 11.915 million subscribers. Smosh collaborated with PewDiePie a day afterwards to congratulate him on his accomplishment.
A week later, Smosh finally raised 250,000 dollars for one of their first games titled "Food Battle: The Game", which was avaliable on mobile devices, specifically IOS and Android, being based upon a famous annual video series called "Food Battle" produced by Smosh from 2006 to 2016. Nearly 10,000 dollars more was added to the wanted amount.
The concept of the video series was Ian having his "favorite food", a pink frosted sprinkled donut and Anthony's favorite food (which changed every year which was typically one that is in the shape of a stick to simulate sexual references with his and Ian's food) do everyday tasks and the food and person that survives the battle wins. The game however was an animated 3D one player adventure game where Anthony would go in unique worlds, unlocking and equipping all of his favorite foods to compete against the the baker's evil hordes of pink frosted sprinkled donut minions. The last location/level required all of the weapons/food combined to beat the final pink frosted sprinkled donut boss. The money took slightly less than a month to raise. The fundings went to indiegogo but, there was controversy surrounding the funding of the game. Smosh asked their fans to donate a quarter million dollars for the production of their game, and that sparked negative attention from various fans and haters asking why Smosh needed to ask their fans for $250,000 when they were pratically millionaires and could fund it themselves. Moreover, many asked why Smosh needed $250,000 for a small mobile game in the first place. Some people referred the comedy duo as "scammers" and two guys who were deliberately taking advantage of their fanbase by "stealing their money".
In September 2013, Smosh released their second and last edition of the Smosh magazine.
The magazine was going to be issued every two months but for an unknown reason was cancelled. The last magazine also gained a lot of customers and had the same distribution as the last. The app on ITunes was shortly erased after due to the abrupt discontinuation of the magazine.
In December of 2013, Smosh updated their album history by putting forth a fourth album titled "The Sweet Sound of Smosh".
In 2014, Smosh further expanded their YouTube channel by having more celebrities appear on their videos which they have done in the past and still today. Some of the list of celebrities that appeared on the channel that year includes The Rock, Stan Lee, and Emma Watson. They have had a large variety of celebrities on their Smosh branded videos and other media projects such as movies which include actors, music artists, professional wrestlers, famous chefs and video game creaters. Smosh personally have also met celebrities (YouTubers as well) in their history but have not featured them in their videos.
New apps became more common throughout this year especially Food Battle: The Game which finally came out for on November 19, the Smosh channel's nine year anniversary. They donated 10% of the fund to charity the at same time period. Merchandise and Smosh products (calendars for example) became more prevalent this year and has become more every year as well. Smosh also since then has taken part more outside of YouTube and gained more recognition for their videos' and it's influence such as getting rated the most popular people among US teens in 2014 by Variety, being temporary presenters in the Teens Choice Awards, being on Nickelodeon's Awesomeness TV show, TMZ and MTV's Ridiculousness, along with being guests on several radio shows.
In 2015, Smosh introduced actors because they wanted to create more content and have more personalities to make their videos more interesting. The Smosh crew now just didn't involve Ian and Anthony, but as well as Keith Leak Jr, Olivia Sui, Courtney Miller, Shayne Topp, and Noah Grossman. All of these actors have had acting experience in prominent roles before whether on TV or the internet. They have also done so after getting hired from Smosh from their auditions such as Shayne appearing on ABC's "The Goldbergs" in March 2017 along with the whole cast collaborating with social media stars outside of YouTube, more so than Ian and Anthony. Due to the increased number of cast members and crew supporting them, Smosh got their own office.
In May of 2015, Smosh introduced "Every Blank Ever", their first series of videos which came at a specific schedule where they poke fun at stereotypes of a subject in the world. Examples of some of the videos they have made for this series include, "Every Bird Ever" and "Every High School Ever". This series is currently one of their most popular videos on the Smosh channel.
In July, Smosh became one of the first people to receive YouTube's diamond play button, an award for YouTubers exceeding 10 million subscribers, at Vidcon.
Also at Vidcon, Smosh released their first movie titled "Smosh: The Movie". This was the gala world premiere of the movie which is primarily about Anthony and Ian trying to erase an embarrassing video consisting of Anthony from High School just in time for his 5th high school reuninion where his High School to current crush, Anna, played by Jillian Nelson would be there. The world premiere additionally, was live streamed on their YouTube channel on it's date July 22 at 6:00 PM. The gala featured many stars, including YouTubers, some being guest stars in the movie and wax figures of Ian and Anthony. The wax figures were constructed by Madame Tussauds, the most famous and received wax figure company of all time. It was the first time the company made wax figures for any YouTuber. Ian described it as the "weirdest and most validating thing Smosh has ever done".
The screening at Vidcon took place in Weidham California. The movie received many negative reviews from movie critics but also many positive ones, especially from their fans. The movie was ranked #1 on the I-Tunes comedy chart and #2 on it's movie chart overall at that time.
The movie featured a heavy abundance of guest stars and production such as Lionsgate (issued the movie internationally) 20th Century Fox (issued the movie in the U.S and Canada), Defy Media, and more. The Movie became available on DVD a month later.
2015 for Smosh was also the first time where Ian or Anthony weren't on an original Smosh channel video as "Every Blank Ever" is mostly reserved for Keith, Noah, Shayne, Olivia, and Courtney. In late 2015, they celebrated their 10 year anniversary of the Smosh brand by having a week's worth of content relating to the anniversary on all their channels. They also had a ten year anniversary party where everyone was welcome.
Around the same time, Smosh put out their fifth album and their first album in 2 years, "Shut Up! And Listen!" which featured two never before heard Smosh songs.
2016-Present
In January to May 2016, Smosh created two seasons of a YouTube Red exclusive sitcom titled "Part Timers", which was based on Ian's first job at Chuckie Cheese's. The series also was put on Smosh's main channel every Monday at 3:00 PM eastern time during that time period. The plot was about the workers' adventures in a kids' playplace called Pork E Pine's.
During that time in February, Smosh's roles as Freddy (Anthony) and One-eye (Ian) for the Artic Adventure: On Frozen Pond 3D movie was featured in the film.
In May of that time period, Ian and Anthony's roles as Hal and Bubbles for the Angry Bird animation movie was also featured in the film.
This time also saw Smosh starting to move away from establishing Ian and Anthony as the faces as they changed their YouTube profile picture from a picture of them in 2013, to the Smosh logo. Even Smosh's latest album at the time didn't feature Ian and Anthony on the cover.
They around the same time period released a comic book consisting of their characters along with occasional Smosh character, Stevie titled "Super Virgin Squad" which is about the three men using their virginity for good.
A few months later, the duo produced their first live show in front of a studio audience, Smosh Live, with the rest of the Smosh squad. Sponsored by 5 Gum and hosted by sketch comedian, friend, and producer of Smosh, Joe Bereta it was live streamed on Smosh's YouTube channel at 3:00 PM eastern time as well featuring commercials and an aftershow where it featured the Smosh cast answering fan questions live, something Ian and Anthony has done at Vidcon before.
The next month, Smosh's channel would get hacked by an anonymous user. The hacker uploaded a video basically acknowledging he hacked Smosh in writing. The video was up for an hour or two and received over 100,000 views before the Smosh crew got ahold of their channel and deleted the video. There are no updates on what happened to the relationship between Smosh and the hacker.
Smosh eventually got rid of their Smosh house around this period, too. Over the past couple of years before 2016, Smosh started to feature the house less until completely abandoning it in their videos as well as stop leaving there to move in their own homes. Since it's departure in 2016, Smosh has resorted back to filming outdoors as well as other homes and buildings.
Later in 2016, Smosh created new video series' such as "Smosh Animated" and "The Big What If" for the month of October. This month was named "Smoshtober" by the channel's crew. Smosh, however, expanded the series' to exceed a few months. Ian and Anthony also created a second movie which was exclusively on YouTube Red titled "Ghostmates". This movie also received good and bad reception in December. Due to the movie, Smosh wasn't able to appear in YouTube's yearly YouTube Rewind video ending their four year appearance streak in the videos. In the same month, Smosh ended their "Food Battle" series after 11 years.
In May 2017, Smosh issued a second season of their Smoshtober special, "The Big What If". Similar to "Every Blank Ever", the series started off with Anthony and Ian taking part in it but then transitioned to Keith, Noah, Courtney, Olivia, and Shayne along with guest stars at times being the only members of the set of videos.
Anthony Leaves Smosh
On Wednesday, June 14, 2017, the original Smosh duo announced that Anthony Padilla would be leaving Smosh for good. In a video uploaded to their YouTube channel as well as Smosh.com, the duo went on to state that it wasn't because they had a disagreement or argument and it was Anthony's idea to leave the comedy channel. Anthony already two months prior to the announcement started to appear less in Smosh videos with Ian taking more of an initiative for being in their videos and it's thumbnails.
Ian stated that Anthony and himself had been talking about Anthony's departure for some time by then. Anthony in the video went to thank Ian for being supportive of his endeavor to leave the channel to focus more on his personal channel and his life in general. He also went on to thank their fans for supporting them since their YouTube debut, their big break, in 2005.
Anthony admitted his nervousness of moving on from Smosh and creating videos on his personal channel and expressed his emotions of sadness, happiness, and anxiousness. Ian as well seemed sad of Anthony leaving in the video but maintained composure. Also, Ian said that Anthony and him have been friends for 19 years at that point and that they will remain friends, however with Anthony gone, he will continue Smosh with the Smosh squad. Hecox asked to keep the comments positive although it featured mixed opinions. The video then ended with Anthony and Ian saying their goodbyes and thank you's for the good memories they have had together.
The topic of Anthony leaving quickly became trending on Google with many articles reporting it as well as fans on their social media sites heavily discussing the matter. That day, the Smosh channel started to lose subscribers rapidly due to Anthony no longer being there but their subscriber count slowly built back up as tension between the viewers and Smosh eased.
Anthony's personal channel however saw a big subscriber boost, gaining over 200,000 new subscribers that day although the channel's average subscriber gain a day was slightly over 200 subscribers at that time. This was the biggest subscriber jump on Anthony's channel as well as one of the several biggest subscriber gains for that day and one of the biggest subscriber gains in YouTube history. This 24 hour subscriber gain is also a feat the official Smosh channel had never done before.
Anthony the same day made a video by himself discussing why he left Smosh again but in more details. He expressed similar emotions in the video him and Ian were in, in this video.
He opened up the video saying that he assumed that many watching were confused and upset with the new outcome of Smosh so he decided to make the video addressing them so they can understand the circumstance better.
Anthony reminisced back to having good times with his friend, Ian and how no matter what they went through it was good to know that they were always by each other's side. Anthony admitted that since joining Alloy Digital/Defy/Break Media in 2011, he always, especially recently wanted to make Smosh what it was before they were a brand owned by a company which was Anthony and his friend uploading videos for amusement and being fully in charge of what it's content composed of.
He went on to explain that since Smosh was now a brand owned by a company his creative decisions was filtered into what was appropriate for the Smosh brand deemed by the company.
Anthony proclaimed that he wanted to create whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted and be creatively happy again and that being an independent creater on his channel would fulfill his needs. Anthony then said that he was scared that he was walking away from something he created as a teenager which became a large media empire as well as leaving Ian, who he says he never made anything without him by his side in the video. Anthony added that he was also excited to work hard consistently in making his own content which he also pointed out in his other social medias.
Anthony lastly said that he was grateful in his fans supporting him, making Smosh have a big of a following as it does to motivate him to create more entertaining content and that he hopes his fans will support him in his new transition.
Anthony's video garnered over 8 million views in just a week, holding the #1 spot on trending videos on YouTube for it's first day uploaded as well. The Smosh uploaded video peaked at #2 on trending videos and tracked over 5 million viewers in seven days, too.
Many fans made videos expressing their opinions on Anthony leaving Smosh, as well as famous YouTubers such as Lazercorn (a member of Smosh Games) who reacted to the Smosh uploaded video and Onision who made a parody of Anthony's uploaded video titled "Why I left Smoosh". Many YouTubers supported Anthony's decision, examples including PewDiePie liking Anthony's uploaded video.
Alloy Digital/Defy/Break Media wished Anthony the best on the new chapter in his life and the company along with Ian expressed their will to continue Smosh but in a new and fresher state.
The president of Defy Media, Keith Richman compared Anthony leaving Smosh as a regular cast member of Saturday Night Live leaving the show. He said that the company has been preparing for this day for a while, the day where a prominent member of Smosh was going to leave it for good.
He says that the company's intention is to make Smosh a long running foundation, one that can capitalize on the departures of it's founders and continue it's legacy as well as evolving which is why they have been equipping for situations like Padilla's departure. He stated that most people cannot continue a brand that they created after they leave it. He went on to say that burnout is pretty common before departing from YouTube which means it is not unusual that Anthony left Smosh.
The Smosh squad (their newer cast), the Smosh Games crew, and production team as well supported Anthony in his new passion.
Anthony furthermore, expressed his excitement and support to Ian and the rest of the Smosh crew to make Smosh different but hopefully better than it ever was.
In a interview by variety the same day of the announcement, Anthony revealed details about the conversation he had with Ian several months before leaving the sketch comedy YouTube channel. He said that it was a very difficult conversation to have as this was going to be a big change for a creation they made a long time ago which would be unusual. Anthony said in the interview that he thought Ian sensed it based on his intution beforehand. He was surprised by the support of his former Smosh partner, he also said.
In the interview, Anthony also said that the initial purpose of Smosh for him was to be excited to make original content for his fanbase but it has now turned into a numbers game.
Padilla said his plan was to upload videos every Monday and Friday on his channel and besides vlogs and sketches, he is also looking forward to talking to his audience about his personal issues such as his social anxiety to help people going through problems and to have his fans connect with him on a level they have never been on with him before.
He also expressed his desire to play in more voice acting roles as well as to get in the television business as he is in the beginning stages of writing several television pilots.
Moreover, he told the interviewer that many of his fans have supported his decision but there are many who are upset and who are urging him to change his mind. He then said that him coming back wouldn't be the same, shooting down the possibility of him returning.
The following day after Anthony's announcement, the Smosh channel saw an increased traction in subscriber and view gain, especially Padilla's who gained subscribers every day along with 1 to 3 million views on average despite getting less than 20,000 views daily on average previously. He gained nearly 900 thousand subscribers in the month of June, something the Smosh channel has only done twice and something the Padilla channel never done before. Padilla collaborated with fellow YouTuber, IISuperwomanII the same day as well and the video gained over 2 million views the first day of it's upload and as well made it on the trending page of YouTube.
The next day, Smosh uploaded a video. Every Friday at 3:00 PM eastern time, Smosh uploads a regular sketch to their YouTube channel but this video was a special regarding about Anthony no longer being present on Smosh. The video started with Ian saying that the week was an "interesting" one regarding Smosh and said that he was making this video to explain how Smosh will be without Anthony.
Afterwards he said for a long time, Smosh hasn't been just Ian and Anthony and that they have a crew that helps them with their brand.
He introduced Ryan Todd, their producer and director and his crew, Smosh Games, the writers, the video editors, the producers who makes sure that Smosh content is distributed properly, the group of people that controls everything behind the scenes of Smosh to make sure it is stable and doing things that Ian said he would most likely forget to do, and lastly the Smosh cast.
Ian finally introduced himself and said that his role is doing everything as he used to with Anthony whether on or off camera and that the Smosh fans' encouragement pushes him so he can be a better comedian and creater. He then said it is what he enjoys and what he is passionate about and that there will be many new and entertaining things coming from Smosh's YouTube channel and other social media they own. He then said that he is excited for what the future holds and he promises that Smosh will continue with it's humor it has always acclaimed and then walks off half naked as a joke and pun to what he just said.
The video received about 3.5 million views it's first week of upload and like previous videos uploaded by the broken up Smosh duo and Anthony himself, made it on YouTube's trending page.
On Monday June 19, Anthony uploaded a video on his channel featuring Gabbie Hanna, HolaSoyGerman, Superwoman, Joey Graceffa, Anna Akana, Daniel Howell, and Paint. The video was Anthony's first sketch since leaving Smosh where it surrounded Anthony interviewing the YouTubers on how to be a successful YouTuber in 2017, what he would expect now he left Smosh, asking the interviewers for favors, if they subscribed to his channel, and jokes surrounding him, Smosh, and the interview. This video almost instantly became popular on YouTube along with people discussing it online. Just like the Smosh video announcing his resignation and the last Padilla video, it gained many likes and comments in a short amount of time. He then transitioned into making videos about each YouTuber's advice and then went on wit
On the week's Wednesday, Smosh changed their channel background picture from Ian and Anthony to their logo and schedule.
Then on Friday, Anthony made a video which attracted nearly 2 million viewers that day, double Smosh's. Due to Anthony leaving, Smosh not only starting promoting Ian and the Smosh squad as their faces but started to delete or alter things such as finalizing their cartoon channel's "Smosh Babies" and "Super Smosh" series' and adding different captains to their Smosh Summer and Winter Games series to replace Anthony on their second and gaming channel.
Subscriber Milestones
- 1 Thousand Subscribers: April 3, 2006.
- 2 Thousand Subscribers: April 28, 2006.
- 3 Thousand Subscribers: May 18, 2006.
- 4 Thousand Subscribers: May 30, 2006.
- 5 Thousand Subscribers: June 4, 2006.
- 6 Thousand Subscribers: June 13, 2006.
- 7 Thousand Subscribers: June 22, 2006.
- 8 Thousand Subscribers: June 28, 2006.
- 9 Thousand Subscribers: July 4, 2006.
- 10 Thousand Subscribers: July 10, 2006.
- 20 Thousand Subscribers: September 27, 2006.
- 30 Thousand Subscribers: November 16, 2006.
- 40 Thousand Subscribers: January 8, 2007.
- 50 Thousand Subscribers: February 5, 2007.
- 60 Thousand Subscribers: February 28, 2007.
- 70 Thousand Subscribers: March 22, 2007.
- 80 Thousand Subscribers: April 11, 2007.
- 90 Thousand Subscribers: April 24, 2007.
- 100 Thousand Subscribers: May 15, 2007.
- 200 Thousand Subscribers: November 28, 2007.
- 300 Thousand Subscribers: March 29, 2008.
- 400 Thousand Subscribers: June 22, 2008.
- 500 Thousand Subscribers: September 2, 2008.
- 600 Thousand Subscribers: November 18, 2008.
- 700 Thousand Subscribers: February 2, 2009.
- 800 Thousand Subscribers: April 26, 2009.
- 900 Thousand Subscribers: July 6, 2009.
- 1 Million Subscribers: August 24, 2009.
- 2 Million Subscribers On December 4, 2010.
- 3 Million Subscribers On July 20, 2011.
- 4 Million Subscribers On December 28, 2011.
- 5 Million Subscribers: July 5, 2012.
- 6 Million Subscribers: November 25, 2012.
- 7 Million Subscribers: January 21, 2013.
- 8 Million Subscribers: March 2, 2013.
- 9 Million Subscribers: April 11, 2013.
- 10 Million Subscribers: May 25, 2013.
- 11 Million Subscribers: July 6, 2013.
- 12 Million Subscribers: August 20, 2013.
- 13 Million Subscribers: October 24, 2013.
- 14 Million Subscribers: November 30, 2013.
- 15 Million Subscribers: December 30, 2013.
- 16 Million Subscribers: January 28, 2014.
- 17 Million Subscribers: March 7, 2014.
- 18 Million Subscribers: June 18, 2014.
- 19 Million Subscribers: October 11, 2014.
- 20 Million Subscribers: March 21, 2015.
- 21 Million Subscribers: August 11, 2015.
- 22 Million Subscribers: April 15, 2016.
- 23 Million Subscribers: May 6, 2018.
Video View Milestones
- 1 Billion Video Views: November 13, 2011.
- 2 Billion Video Views: January 8, 2013.
- 3 Billion Video Views: February 16, 2014.
- 4 Billion Video Views: January 22, 2015.
- 5 Billion Video Views: November 21, 2015.
- 6 Billion Video Views: October 20, 2016.
- 7 Billion Video Views: January 30, 2018.
Public Image Of Smosh
Smosh, specifically Ian and Anthony has been regarded as one of the first YouTube stars and has influenced people to make their own videos. Additionally, their comedy has been said to improve the lives of many of their fans, especially kids and teens. Many of their viewers grew up watching them, some have drifted away to other entertainment as many stuck around.
They have as well been respected for for staying relevant on YouTube's platform nearly since it's inception. In 2017, Tubefilter called them the "most consistently successful YouTube channel". Whether YouTube's algorithm changed for or not for their favor, they have still remained one of YouTube's top channels.
Whether through online forums, discussions in real life, videos or articles made about them, Smosh has maintained much importance since 2005, whether postive or negative.
People as well fond over how the duo have been friends for nearly 2 decades and have been on many adventures together along the way from dropping water balloons from their school roof to having their own movie. This is why some people think Ian and Anthony are related, most of them thinking they are either half or full blooded brothers.
Ian and Anthony's friendship in Smosh videos have been compared to Spongebob and Patrick from Spongebob Squarepants and Mordecai and Rigby from Regular Show. In a 2006 New York Times article, the writer(s) referred to them as being Matt Damon and Ben Affleck of viral video.
There are thousands, maybe even millions of photos and videos on the internet highlighting the duo's nearly 20 year friendship and nearly 15 year career from not just them but from the media as well. There are also many pictures and videos highlighting the actors and crew who have joined Smosh since 2006 as well.
Their channel generally moves away from most YouTube drama and are professional but examples of exceptions include their Food Battle: The Game funding controversy and Anthony expressing that he no longer enjoyed being on Smosh. Smosh is also known to be very private and do not express or show certain things to their audience unlike YouTube vloggers for example who make a living putting out their lives and opinions to their audience.
Smosh though have engaged with their audience such as going to Vidcon every year, content creaters' biggest convention to meet fans and sign autographs or take pictures of them and meeting up with the highest Food Battle: The Game doner.
Smosh has also been to events that have no affiliation with them such as MTV's 2014 Music Awards, still getting some people to recognize who they are.
Smosh's comedy has been looked at as stupid, crazy, unique, creative, over dramatic, unpredictable, childish, thoughtful, corny, crude, and childish which many are appealed by. In the beginning it was more slowed, clever, and family friendly.
Many even love their "Shut Up" intro which is used in a vast majority of their Friday videos, an exception to not just important announcements but very relevant ones. In 2006, Smosh briefly abolished their "Shut Up!" intro but due to much uproar, they adopted it back permanently and is still loved today.
Smosh has uploaded mostly sketches, some being episodic, along with fan interaction videos (rarely, but videos such as Food Battle:The Game live stream, subscriber milestone thank you videos and pranks on fans; Smosh has been apart of "Prank It Forward" since 2013), pranks in general (ex. Prank It Forward, April Fools videos), parodies (ex. Pokemon Theme Song, infomercial parodies such as Beef N Go, and My Strange Addiction), announcements (ex. Food Battle and album announcements, The TRUTH about Smosh), and music videos (ex. FireTruck song and Parents Suck! Song).
The times where Smosh's videos gets the most views and the channel gaining the most subscribers is if they capitalize off an old idea (the last Food Battle for example) or do something drastic (examples include the Smosh: The Movie trailer uploaded on Smosh's main channel the month before it's release got over 2 million views the first day of it's upload despite Smosh's average views per video is a bit over 1 million and Anthony announcing he had left Smosh increased the channel's subscriber gain and the video receiving many views).
Their humor has since been more mature and slowed rather than fast paced and inappropriate in the past, but still value stupidity and at times crazy, dark humor. They also feature more self made characters and characters other than themselves than they did in the past and do more compilations in their skits rather than them doing mostly just a thorough sketch before. Moreover, Smosh does the same amount of video game related videos which comes every so often, as well as doing videos based on other things in popular culture, and at times just random sketches, a genre they used to inherit more often.
Smosh has said in an interview that they will stick with YouTube and not explore other media platforms to take over their brand. They as well said they will make content that they find funny and hope their audience does too.
Smosh have also made fictional creations for their videos as well as featured famous set locations such as the Smosh house and it's park next to it. Since 2016, they haven't used these places in their videos anymore.
There are some people however who despise Smosh. Smosh has been profiled by many as being money grabbers, constantly looking for every way to get money from their fans whether from their videos' thumbnails (known as clickbait where your video's thumbnail or title is misleading but appealing to get a lot of clicks thus getting more money from adsense and viewers, Smosh doesn't always do this but very often does), apps, merchandise, and other projects. Even popular YouTuber Onision have placed accusations that Smosh stole his content for their videos back in 2012. Other YouTubers have also mouthed or written negative opinions of Smosh although most do not and the ones who do are not really popular.
Others say they are jerks and hypocrites saying that they care for their fans but really don't. They have also been looked at by even fans as being lazy in the quality of their comedy these days and not as hard working and passionate about their comedy, reminiscing and begging for Smosh to make content they did similar to their earlier days, examples being the ending of Food Battle and fans wanting it back and wanting a past written content by Smosh known as Smosh Magazine.
As well, many feel as if Smosh have grown more mature and they liked when they had a younger mindset although they do say that Smosh somewhat awkward, shy, humble, dumb, immature, strange (in a likable way) in their beginning, some saying they still are that now or at least somewhat.
There are a good number of fans who do want to see Smosh succeed, examples including fans wanting Ian and Anthony play a bigger role in the Angry Birds animation movie and wanting Smosh to continue to acclaim it's popularity.
Many people, even if they don't know what Smosh is make fun of the name. This has been going on for nearly the existence of Smosh. People also point out how good looking many the actors on Smosh are or were, more so the women than the men.
Anthony's name is sometimes purposely spelled as Anthony "Padildo" by fans due to that joke in a Smosh video back in 2012. Ian's last name is also purposely spelled as "Hecocks" due to the joke being used the same year in a Smosh video titled, "Smosh On The News!
Ian and Anthony have even multiple times been accused as being secretly gay, especially with themselves. There is no solid evidence to prove this however and both men do have female partners.
In 2006 when Smosh started to do vlogs of each other, many of Smosh's fanbase thought that they were drug abusers, specifically using weed on a persistent basis due to their quirky personalities. There again is no evidence of this and the rumors died down as Smosh got older and reached to more people.
Fans and haters alike have expressed their opinion about Smosh's quality of content. Some believe that Ian and Anthony just making sketches before was better and that their production team and new crew is killing Smosh's charm as well as hogging the original duo's spotlight with fans wanting Ian and Anthony to still be the main characters on Smosh. Some believe that Smosh was never funny in the first place, their comedy being stupid, cringe worthy and desperate by it's over dramatic tones to be funny as well as believing Smosh doesn't deserve the fame it has maintained. Some also find some of the topics Smosh does for videos as being boring, not unique and even not making sense.
Specifically, Anthony has generally been described as being the "hottest" and most youthful looking man out of the original duo. Some say he is better looking now as others don't agree, same with Ian. He is also seen as nice and inspiring by many of his fans and talented in comedy. He was also known for his "emo" hair in Smosh for the first 8 years before cutting it off for good. He has been criticised for this. He has also been ridiculed for being a vegan. Anthony left Smosh in June of 2017 and has been judged for leaving the brand as well as being begged for to come back to Smosh. But he has also been congratulated for moving on with his personal channel. Some say that his content is better than Smosh's currently and is similar to the type of humor Smosh used to display. Some even say it was right and smart for him to leave the "failing/dead channel with some saying he seemed sad when he was still with Smosh for the past couple of years.
Smosh since Anthony's absence has been slaughtered with negative comments on how it is not as good with Anthony, some opposing. Some say that Anthony is doing a great job as an independent creater and that Ian should leave Smosh to go on Anthony's personal channel to make videos with only them made by them.
Ian though is described sometimes as the hotter member of the original Smosh duo, more times the cutter one, but many find him to be average or below, especially compared to Anthony in looks. Moreover, he is seen as the chill and cooler member of the original duo, although Anthony is at times. He is also proclaimed as the funnier member of the original duo but also the more shy and serious one which also refers to him as being more boring than his former Smosh partner, Anthony. He is considered to be smarter than Anthony in real life but dumb in comparison to Anthony in Smosh videos. Ian though is said to be a better actor than Anthony, one of the best on the Smosh cast in general. Ian sometimes gets made fun of for appearing older than he is in some fans' opinion. This has been going on for the past recent years as some think he started to resemble someone older than him around this time period. He has also been criticised for changing his hair from a bowl/breadhead haircut to a flattop in late 2016 as well as jokefully body shamed for gaining weight over the years.
Courtney has been described as the hottest woman of Smosh by most as well as funny, talented, nice, humble (as most if not all of the Smosh crew), encouraging, quirky, smart and dumb.
Olivia by some is said to be hotter than Courtney and hot in her own class. She is said to be weird, hyper, creative, but also dumb, annoying and desperate to be funny by many Smosh fans.
Noah from the Smosh sqaud is described as a weird, laid back, funny, cute, and kind.
Keith is looked at as being cool, hyper, talented, funny, and good looking by some fans, more so women.
Shayne is described as one of the best looking men from the entire Smosh squad, perhaps second to Anthony overall. He is seen as being very comedic as well as talented and nice. He has been looked at for being corny, the most bland person on Smosh, and dumb before however, but that is only by the minority of fans.
Some fans, the ones who write fan fiction, write fan fictions about the crew's love lives. This community is best known for pitting Anthony and Ian, and Shayne and Courtney in their fantasies.
Other Channels In The Smosh Brand
- Smosh 2nd Channel , which was initially Ian's personal channel titled "Ian H" is their second channel. The original purpose was to put stuff that he thought shouldn't be on the main Smosh channel but should still be on YouTube but it emerged to Ian and Anthony's vlogging channel and was renamed "Smosh's 2nd channel" in 2013 because of it. Nowadays, it's where you see the Smosh cast do things other than sketches.
- SmoshGames - Here, gaming entertainment videos are posted with an entirely different crew. Ian and Anthony do appear on Smosh Games sometimes but not as much as it's beginning in 2012.
- Smosh Games Alliance - This is the second channel of Smosh Games where aspiring gaming YouTubers and fans of Smosh Games can be featured in their videos to get exposure. Here Smosh Games also answers fan questions.
- AskCharlie - There they posted episodes of Ask Charlie from May 2010 to December 2011. Since the last episode, the channel has become inactive.
- WatchUsLiveAndStuff - Anthony and Kalel's channel where they vlog their lives together. Anthony is no longer a part of this channel, due to him and his ex-fiancee Kalel breaking up. When Anthony broke up with Kalel, the channel was renamed to Kalel.
- ElSmosh - Smosh videos dubbed in Spanish. First they were dubbed by two guys called "Antonio and Juan" and due to people saying the voices were weird, they started being dubbed by Patricio Maulen (a chilean youtuber) who also has a channel called Patrick NeluaM .
- ShutUpCartoons- A cartoon channel created by Smosh featuring shows like Smosh Babies and Super Smosh.
- Smosh France - Smosh videos subtitled in French
- Smosh Keith - Channel owned by Smosh cast member Keith Leak Jr. He currently hasn't uploaded any videos to the channel yet.
- Smosh Olivia - Personal channel owned by Smosh cast member Olivia Sui. Here she has posted vlogs, her vine compliations, and challenges, story times, and fan exclusive videos.
- Courtney Miller - Here, Courtney Miller, the other woman cast member of Smosh has posted her vine compilations, vlogs and story times about her personal life, fan exclusive and interaction videos, and music covers such as Justin Bieber's "Let Me Love You" single.
- SmoshShayne - Owned by Smosh cast member Shayne Topp. He has uploaded 2 videos as of 2017 which consist of his vine compliations.
- AnthonyPadilla - Personal channel of one half of the original Smosh crew, Anthony Padilla. Here he posts vlogs, comedic sketches, and verbal stories about his life. It's now his full time channel due to Anthony leaving the Smosh family in 2017.
Website
Since the debut of Smosh's YouTube channel in 2005, Smosh.com have shifted from being a site where teenagers can conversate to a site where millions of Smosh's fans can buy Smosh merchandise which also includes some of the props Smosh has used in their videos over the years, read articles which are generally for entertainment purposes, see Smosh videos along with extras, and check out Smosh news.
The site currently gets tens of millions of views a month along with tens of millions of unique visitors, the website having having more activity than Smosh's main YouTube channel. There is also a contact section on the site where the viewers can connect with Smosh. The Smosh team does reply sometimes as well as reply or comment on accross their YouTube channels occasionally.
Trivia
- Ian and Anthony met in their sixth grade science class. They were assigned a science project and became friends because they had the same sense of humor. They have been friends for nearly 20 years.
- Ian and Anthony went to Middle School, High School, and College together.
- Ian and Anthony went to Del Campo High School.
- Ian and Anthony used to live with each other for nearly 5 years but separated because Ian was too clean and Anthony was too messy.
- Ian ran track in Del Campo.
- The Smosh channel was in the top ten most subscribed YouTube channels from 2006 to 2016.
- Anthony was the oldest Smosh cast member until leaving in the middle of 2017. Since then, Ian is.
- Ian despite Anthony leaving in June of 2017, has still been in more Smosh videos than Anthony.
- Anthony's first name is Daniel although he rarely uses it. No one knows why.
- Ian and Anthony have kissed before. The first and only time was in the their "Kiss Currency" video in 2016.
- Anthony is 5'11.
- Ian is 5'8.
- Ian and Anthony's favorite video they ever made was The Legend Of Zelda Rap back in November 2011.
- Ian has a small case of Attention Deficient Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) although Anthony's is said to be more serious (but less noticebale).
- When Anthony was 15 years old, he feel asleep after masturbating. The next morning, his mom went to wake him up for school but saw his naked body there. Anthony has revealed this secret in an interview on Shane Dawson's podcast back in 2014 and several Smosh videos and labels it as one of the most embarrassing moments of his life.
- Anthony is mostly Caucasian but is also 25% Filipino. Some people think he is Asian or Mexican.
- The Smosh channel has the second most amount of days as the most subscribed channel on YouTube behind, PewDiePie.
- Smosh and PewDiePie both hold the record of the channel that has been the most subscribed the most, which is three.
- Although Smosh has been recorded to be the most subscribed channel three times, they actually were double those times. In 2006 when the Smosh channel experienced it's first span of being the most subscribed channel, they had actually surpassed Judson Laipply after he had did to become the most subscribed YouTubers again, although their reign was much shorter than their previous. This has been proven by a small YouTuber by the name of Lofangas, who used to post most subscribed YouTube lists. When Smosh got their channel suspended by YouTube accidentally two years later, someone else took their #1 spot while they were gone. That person could've been Nigahiga, the person who surpassed Smosh for the most subscribed title two months later. Then finally in 2013, when Smosh passed RayWilliamJohnson, Ray actually surpassed them back but held on to the top subscribed title for only a few seconds before Smosh surpassed him again for good. Due to this evidence, Smosh has been the most subscribed channel six times but due to lack of evidence seeking and rounding the times they were #1, historians suggest Smosh was the most subscribed channel on YouTube three times.
- Anthony has had many panic attacks, once having on the set of Smosh. Since 2014, he hasn't had one.
- Ian has a phobia of bees. This is due to a bee hive attacking him when he was on the swings when he was a child.
- Ian's favorite donut is not actually pink frosted sprinkled.
- Smosh used to have a Vine account but since it's closing in October 2016, the Smosh crew no longer post vines.
- Ian and Anthony are the third youngest people to become the most subscribed personalities on YouTube, doing so when Anthony was 18 years and 8 months old and when Ian was 18 years and 5 and a half months old in May 2006, behind Nigahiga at 18 years and 3 months old in September 2008, and Fred at 15 years and 2 months old in October 2008.
- Anthony got his first girlfriend at the age of 12.
- In a "Smash Or Pass" video uploaded on Smosh's second channel, Anthony said he would "smash" deceased rapper, Tupac.
- In 2012, Ian and Anthony made it into Forbes 30 under 30 list.
- Ian is the one who says "Shut Up" in the regular sketch intros.
- Smosh's net worth is estimated to be 6 to 10 million dollars.
- Smosh is one of the few YouTube channels to get their own movie (it wasn't anything difficult or new due to them already producing videos similar to movies on their channel since 2010).
- Noah is the youngest person on the Smosh cast, being 18 years old.
- Smosh's Food Battle The Game live stream is their first live stream along with being their longest video to date.
- Ian has never been in a fight before but was accidentally hit by Anthony in a action movie scene in their "If Movies Were Real" video back in January 2014.
- Smosh has privated and deleted videos, most of them being in the beginning of their channel.
- Smosh has had their "How To Hide A Boner" video flagged three times.
- Ironically, the uncensored version isn't age restricted at the moment but the censored version is.
- Some people think Smosh is an EDM comapny.
- Ian had his bowl/breadhead haircut since early to mid High School briefly changing it in early 2008 before resorting back to it in the later part of that year, only to permanently abolish it in late 2016.
- Anthony had his emo haircut from the middle of High School to before changing it throughout 2007 and 2008 before changing it back in 2008 before permanently abolishing it in November 2013.
- Anthony had an afro in half of his High School life.
YouTube Wiki Polls
- Smosh was voted "Favorite Smosh Channel". Smosh beat SmoshGames, Smosh 2nd Channel, ElSmosh & Shut-Up Cartoons
- Smosh was Voted "All-Time Favorite Most Subscribed Channel" beating nigahiga, Ray William Johnson, Geriatric1927, LonelyGirl15 & Fred.