Smosh is a web-based comedy duo consisting of Ian Hecox (born November 30, 1987) and Anthony Padilla (born September 16, 1987).[3] Padilla first began posting flash movies on Newgrounds in early 2003, under the name Smosh. He was later joined by his friend Ian Hecox. Soon afterward they began to post videos on YouTube in the autumn of 2005 and became one of the most popular channels on that site. In January 2013 Smosh became the most subscribed channel on YouTube,[4][5] and as of April 2013 it has more than 8.7 million subscribers and 2.2 billion video views.[4] The Smosh team has expanded to include others to handle animated, Spanish language, and video gaming content videos.
History
2002-2006: Formation and Pokemon Theme Music Video
The franchise began when Anthony Padilla built a website in 2002, smosh.com,[6] and made several different Flash animations. He has stated that the name Smosh came from an incident where he mistook a friend explaining a mosh pit, as a "smosh pit".[7] Later, his friend, Ian Hecox, joined the venture. Padilla and Hecox first met in their sixth grade science class. They became friends, and quickly discovered their knack for comedy. In 2005, they joined YouTube and made several videos together, lip syncing to theme songs such as Mortal Kombat, Power Rangers, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. At first, these videos were not intended to be posted online, but after they sent them to their friends, they started a YouTube channel.[7]
One of Smosh's earliest videos, "Pokémon Theme Music Video," was released in November 2005. It followed the same style as their other earlier videos, featuring the duo lip-synching the original English theme song for the Pokémon anime. However, the video instantly became much more popular than any of their other videos; over the course of its lifetime, it gained 24.7 million views, becoming the most-viewed video on all of YouTube at that time.[8][9][10] It held that title for about six months, but was removed by YouTube[10] after the website received a notice fromShogakukan Productions Co., Ltd., claiming copyright infringement.[citation needed]
The success of their Pokémon video and other videos led Smosh to be featured in the "Person of the Year: You" issue of Time Magazine, published December 13, 2006 and on Time.com.[11] It also inspired them to expand their style beyond basic lip-synching videos, and eventually to start creating videos of various genres, such as mini-skits and sketch comedies.[citation needed] In March 2007, a user named Andii2000 re-uploaded the original Pokémon video; it has over 14.8 million views as of April 2013.[12] Due to the channel's continued success, and Smosh's partnership with YouTube, the two recreated the video in November 2010, this time changing the words to be critical of The Pokemon Company taking down the Pokémon theme video.[13]
2006-2012: YouTube Success
Over the course of the next few years, Smosh began to diversify. They started making short YouTube skits, such as their annual video series Food Battle[14] and That Damn Neighbor. Smosh continued to grow in popularity and became one the most subscribed channels on YouTube.[15] In 2009, Smosh prepared a massive redesign of Smosh.com, added a games section, and put extras in the video section. In January 2010, Smosh launched the "Smosh Pit" feature, a blog that consists of various pieces of pop-culture trivia, and written comedy. In addition, 2010 saw the channel launch 3 different Smosh-based web series: Ian is Bored, which started as a collection of comedic videos by Hecox, but then turned primarily into Smosh opening fan mail segments called Mail Time with Smosh; Ask Charlie (which is an interactive series where people ask Charlie, from their January 2010 Charlie the Drunk Guinea Pig video, random questions) ran from May 2010 to December 2011; and Lunchtime with Smosh, a comedy series featuring Smosh getting and eating food from various places, and answering Twitter questions from their fans on Twitter. Some of Smosh's most popular video series include Pokemon in Real Life and If ____ Was Real.[16] Also in early 2010, Smosh created the "iShut Up App" for Android phones as part of a Googlesponsorship; it eventually made its way to the iTunes app store. In 2011 Smosh was acquired by teen media powerhouse Alloy Digital, LLC.[10] In 2012 the duo started three new YouTube channels, El Smosh, with Smosh videos dubbed in Spanish, Shut Up! Cartoons, with various animated videos, and Smosh Games with gaming related content hosted alongside Mari, Lasercorn, Sohinki, and Jovenshire.[10][17][18][19][20] In 2012, Smosh was featured as guests on Ask A Naked Guy.[21] Hecox and Padilla have also provided guest voices on the machinima series Red vs. Blue.[22] Some of Smosh's most popular videos are video-game themed music videos.[23][24] These songs (along with other original songs) have been released in 3 albums to date - Sexy Album (2010), If Music Were Real (2011) and Smoshtastic (2012). In January 2013, the Smosh channel surpassed Ray William Johnson in subscribers.[25]
Channels
Smosh
The base "Smosh" channel, where both Hecox and Padilla post their skits and other videos, has new videos every Friday.
Smosh Pit
From "IanH" (used at first for vlogs and other non-scripted videos), the pair upload their side series "Ian is Bored" and "Lunchtime with Smosh" on alternating Mondays, while their associate performer Mari does "Smosh Pit Weekly" videos on Saturday.
Smosh Games
"SmoshGames" uploads twelve videos a week, consisting of Let's Plays, video game reviews, and video game related news shows. Padilla and Hecox appear less regularly on this channel, with hosts Mari Takahashi, David "Lasercorn" Moss, Matt Sohinki, and Joshua "Jovenshire" Ovenshire handling most hosting duties.
Anthony Padilla
"Anthony Padilla", hosts vlog-like videos uploaded by Padilla. The vlogs were rarely updated until November 2012, when Padilla began uploading more content. He has expressed a wish to post more videos.[26]
Schedule
| Channel | "Smosh" | "Smosh Pit" | "SmoshGames" |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | Ian Is Bored
Lunchtime with Smosh |
Why We're Single
Super Mari Fun Time | |
| Tuesday | Backseat Gaming
Dope! Or Nope | ||
| Wednesday | S.A.G.N.U.T.
Gametime With Smosh | ||
| Thursday | Smosh Games VS
Smosh Games Review | ||
| Friday | Smosh episode | Top 5 Friday
Smosh Game Bang | |
| Saturday | Smosh Pit Weekly | Gamer Nation | |
| Sunday | I Have A Raging Bonus |
Albums
| Year | Title | Chart positions | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. Comedy | U.S. Heat | ||||||
| 2010 | Sexy Album | 14 | -- | ||||
| 2011 | If Music Were Real | 5[27] | 26[28] | ||||
| 2012 | Smoshtastic | 3[29] | 27 | ||||
Awards and nominations
| Year | Award | Category | Recipient | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | YouTube Awards | Comedy[30][31] | "Smosh Short 2: Stranded" | Won |
| 2009 | Webby Awards | Experimental & Weird[32] | "Sex Ed Rocks" | Nominated |
| 2010 | Webby Awards | Viral[33] | "If Movies Were Real" | |
| 2013 | Streamy Awards | Best Comedy Series[34] | Smosh | |
| Audience Choice for Personality of the Year[34] | ||||
| Webby Awards | Branded Entertainment Short Form[35] | "Ultimate Assassin's Creed 3 Song" | ||
| Social Star Awards | Most Popular Social Show[36][37] | Smosh | ||
| 2014 | Streamy Awards | Best Comedy Channel, Show, Or Series | ||
| Best Gaming Channel, Show, Or Series | Smosh Games | Won | ||
| 2015 | Shorty Awards | YouTube Star Of The Year | Smosh | |
| Show Of The Year | Nominated | |||
| Best Gaming Channel, Show, Or Series | Smosh Games | |||
| 2016 | Webby Awards | Gaming Channel | Won | |
| Streamy Awards | Gaming | Nominated | ||
| Food | Put It In My Mouth | |||
| 2017 | Live | Smosh Live | Won | |
| Gaming | Smosh Games |
