Smosh

Smosh is a sketch comedy YouTube channel founded by Anthony Padilla and Ian Andrew Hecox. 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. 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 as well have their own website and other social media outlets to primarily promote their channels.

Since it's debut in late 2005, Smosh has remained one of the most popular media empires especially on YouTube, their main channel having over 22.69 million subscribers, making it the 8th most subscribed channel on YouTube behind PewDiePie, HolaSoyGerman, JustinBieberVEVO, YouTube Spotlight, RihannaVEVO, elrubiusOMG, and KatyPerryVEVO. If excluding topic channels, companies, and music artists, they are the 4th most subscribed user-generated channel in the world behind PewDiePie, HolaSoyGerman, and elrubiusOMG. Additionally, the channel has over 6.5 billion views making it the 55th most viewed channel of all time on the site.

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. 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 early to mid 2005, Anthony and one of his friends and future Smosh partner, Ian Hecox, uploaded videos consisting of them lipsyncing to theme songs such as Power Rangers, Mortal Combat and Pokemon on Smosh.com from Anthony's bedroom. It received many views requiring Anthony to have to pay a considerably good amount of money 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 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 most views and had received over 24.7 million views before getting taken down for copyright infringement by Nintendo's Pokemon Company.

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 range from themselves, self made personalities, famous fictional characters (Ian Hecox playing famous superhero Batman for example) and celebrities (Anthony playing Justin Bieber for example). 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 you like comes out. In May 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 live next to a celebrity. All of them said yes but in 2014, 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 "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, 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 and one of the first YouTube dedicated events they have attended as Smosh regularly attend Vidcon every year, were one of the hosts of Internet Icon in 2013, and many other YouTube occasions.

2006 was also a year where Smosh emerged some of their most famous script lines such as "Hell Yeah!" and "Bitch!".

On April 26, 2007, Smosh became the most subscribed Youtube channel for a second time and became the first channel to reach 100,000 subscribers sometime in June of 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 so the content creater(s) can make money), Smosh due to their channel having the biggest following on YouTube that time were one of the first benefit from it.on 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 to do YouTube full time.

In 2008, Smosh would make a video, an infomercial parody, promoting a fictional product called "Beef and 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 talked about in the video.

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, to Nigahiga on September 24th, 2008. During their second reign as the most subscribed channel, Smosh was the first channel to reach 100,000 to 500,000 subscribers.

Around this time, Smosh started shooting a majority of their videos in a studio house, referred to as the "Smosh house" by fans. Previously shooting in Anthony's house as well as other homes and outdoors, this house remained one of Smosh's most recognizable figures ever. Since 2016, Smosh has resorted back to filming outdoors as well as other homes and rarely shoot in this house anymore, however occasionally still do.



In 2009, Smosh started to obtain a more childlike but darker humor similar to the humor they blurt today. They also hired a production crew from their Adsense money, which saw their content feature more advanced editing and HD quality. Also within the year they started to promote companies and other products to their videos which they still do on occasion.

Additionally, 2009 was a year where they started to collaborate with other YouTubers in the community. Since then, Smosh have collaborated with dozens of YouTubers. Examples include PewDiePie, Nigahiga, and Rhett & Link.

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 was video was also made because it was the five year anniversary of Smosh at that 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.

2010 was also a year where many of their video series' first appeared on their channel such as "Best of 20--" and "Worst of 20--" and "If ___ were Real" and "Pokemon in Real Life".

2011-2015
In July 2011, Smosh's channel first partnered with Alloy Digital/Defy Media, a Youtube network specializing into entertaining 12 to 35-year-olds. Since this partnership, Smosh saw their view and subscriber gain skyrocket, especially in the years 2011 to 2015.

Throughout both 2011 and 2012, Smosh expanded the brand by having animation, French/Spanish-dubbed 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 and is also the most liked video on Smosh as well, with over 930,000 likes as of May of 2017.



Also in 2012, Smosh made it into the Forbes 30 under 30 list which was one of the starts of the duo getting recognition for their work's influence. Another example is Smosh getting rated the most popular people among US teens in 2014 by Variety.

On January 12th, 2013, Smosh became the most subscribed Youtube channel for the third and last time by 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.



Within the same month, Smosh issued their first edition of Smosh Magazine. The second and last edition was published later that year. From January 12 to August 15 of 2013, Smosh was the most subscribed YouTube channel from being at 6.780 million subscribers when they surpassed RayWilliamJohnson to 11.915 million subscribers by the time they were surpassed by current most subscribed YouTuber, PewDiePie. 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 being based upon a famous annual video series called "Food Battle" produced by Smosh since 2006. The concept was Ian having his "favorite food", a 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. However, 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 late 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 from different races, ages, and fanbases on their branded videos and other media projects such as movies which include actors, singers, wrestlers, and video game creaters. Merchandise and new apps also became more prevalent this year and has become more every year. Smosh also since then has taken part more outside of YouTube such as being temporary presenters in the Teens Choice Awards and being on Ridiculousness.

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 doesn'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. 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 their most popular videos on the Smosh channel. In July, Smosh became 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 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. The world premiere also featured many stars, including YouTubers and wax figures of Ian and Anthony. The wax figures were constructed by Madame Tussauds, the most famous and received wax figure companies of all time. It was the first time the company made wax figures for any YouTuber.

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 from Stone Cold Steve Austin to Markiplier and production such as Lionsgate 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 things relating to the anniversary on all their channels.

Around the same time, Smosh put out their fifth album and their first album in 2 years, "Shut Up! And Listen!"

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 plot was about the workers' adventures in a kids' playplace called Pork E Pine's. Also in May, Ian and Anthony's roles as Hal and Bubbles for the Angry Bird animation movie was featured in the film.

They around the same time also 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. 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.

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" which 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 2017, Smosh issued a second season of their Smoshtober special, "The Big What If".

List of Subscriber Milestones
SOME of the dates listed where Smosh hit a subscriber milestone is not accurate, however the date is close to the actual date where they hit that milestone of subscribers.

Smosh hit 1 Million Subscribers On August 24th 2009.

Smosh hit 2 Million Subscribers On December 4, 2010.

Smosh hit 3 Million Subscribers On July 20, 2011.

Smosh hit 4 Million Subscribers On December 24, 2011.

Smosh hit 5 Million Subscribers On July 5th 2012.

Smosh hit 6 Million Subscribers On November 25, 2012.

Smosh hit 7 Million Subscribers On January 21, 2013.

Smosh hit 8 Million Subscribers On March 2, 2013.

Smosh hit 9 Million Subscribers On April 11, 2013.

Smosh hit 10 Million Subscribers On May 23rd 2013.

Smosh hit 11 Million Subscribers On July 6, 2013.

Smosh hit 12 Million Subscribers On August 18, 2013.

Smosh hit 13 Million Subscribers On October 20, 2013.

Smosh hit 14 Million Subscribers On November 28, 2013.

Smosh hit 15 Million Subscribers On December 30, 2013.

Smosh hit 16 Million Subscribers On January 25, 2014.

Smosh hit 17 Million Subscribers On March 4, 2014.

Smosh hit 18 Million Subscribers On June 13, 2014.

Smosh hit 19 Million Subscribers On October 4, 2014.

Smosh hit 20 Million Subscribers On March 21st 2015.

Smosh hit 21 Million Subscribers On August 11, 2015.

Smosh hit 22 Million Subscribers On April 15, 2016.

List Of Video View Milestones
Smosh hit 1 Billion Video Views On November 19, 2011.

Smosh hit 2 Billion Video Views On January 4th 2013.

Smosh hit 3 Billion Video Views On February 13, 2014.

Smosh hit 4 Billion Video Views On January 18, 2015.

Smosh hit 5 Billion Video Views On November 21, 2015.

Smosh hit 6 Billion Video Views on October 20, 2016.

Public Image Of The Smosh Crew
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 improving 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 been respected for staying relevant on YouTube's platform since it's inception.

Smosh's comedy has been looked at as stupid, crazy, unique, creative, over dramatic, unpredictable, thoughtful, crude, and childish which many are appealed by.

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.

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 apps, merchandise, and other projects. Some 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.

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 partners.

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. Some believe that Smosh was never funny in the first place, their comedy being stupid 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 and even not making sense.

Specifically, Anthony has generally been described as being the "hottest" man out of the original duo. 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 criticised for being a vegan.

Ian is described sometimes as the hotter member of Smosh, more times the cutter one, but many find him to be average or below, especially compared to Anthony in looks. He is also proclaimed as the funnier member of the original duo but also the more shy one. He has well as been criticised for changing his hair from a bowl/breadhead haircut to a flattop in late 2016.

Courtney has been described as the hottest woman of Smosh by most as well as funny, talented, nice, 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 but also annoying 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. He is seen as being very comedic as well as talented and nice. He has been looked at for being corny and dumb before however, but that is only by the minority of fans.

Other Channels Under 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 crew 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.
 * ShutUpCartoons- A cartoon channel created by Smosh featuring shows like Smosh Babies and Super Smosh.
 * Smosh French - 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 member Olivia Sui. Here she has posted vlogs, her vine compliations, and challenges, story times, and fan exclusive fan 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.
 * Anthony Padilla - Personal vlog channel of one half of the original Smosh crew, Anthony Padilla.

Smosh 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, see Smosh videos along with extras, and check out Smosh news.

Trivia

 * Smosh has been the top subscribed channel for a total of 758 days holding the title of being the most subscribed the second most amount of combined days after current most subscribed PewDiePie.
 * Although Smosh has been recorded to be the most subscribed YouTube channel three times,they may have unofficially been the most subscribed channel on the site double those times.When the duo got their account suspended in July of 2008,their account wasn't visible for a while meaning that someone else was #1 during Smosh's absence.That person has yet to be identified although it could've been the person who surpassed Smosh officially not long after,Ryan Higa and his Nigahiga account.When Smosh became the most subscribed for the first time in 2006,they were quickly surpassed by JudisonLiapply.However there is evidence presented by a small YouTuber by the username Lofangas that Smosh surpassed him a bit later to be the most subscribed again,although the reign was much shorter than their previous.And in 2013,when Smosh surpassed RayWilliamJohnson to become the most subscribed for the final time,Smosh and Ray were "flip flopping" for the top spot twice in a minute before Smosh surpassed him for good.This means that Smosh has been the most subscribed 6 times on YouTube,however rounding dates and times and lack of evidence seeking suggests that Smosh has been the most subscribed on YouTube 3 times.
 * The Smosh squad used to have a Vine account but due to it's closing in October 2016, they no longer post vines.
 * Ian and Anthony met in their 6th grade Science class as they were forced to work on a project together and became friends as they realized they had the same sense of humor and have been friends ever since.
 * Ian has a small case of ADHD
 * Anthony has made a "Draw My Life", while Ian has yet to make one himself with no explanation as to why.
 * Anthony and Ian lived with each other for nearly 5 years. The reason that they split was because Ian was too clean and Anthony was too messy.
 * Anthony Padilla has anxiety and admitted it in his second "Draw My Life".
 * Anthony, at age 15, got caught masturbating by his mother as he confessed in an edition of fellow Youtuber Shane Dawson's podcast and several Smosh videos.
 * Anthony is 25% Filipino.
 * Anthony's real first name is Daniel.
 * Smosh was ranked 4th in WatchMojo.com's Top YouTube Comedy Channels.
 * SuperMarioGlitchy4 (SMG4) uses many sound effects from Smosh sketches.

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.

Smosh Smosh