Smosh is an American YouTube sketch comedy-improv collective, independent production company, and former social networking site founded by Anthony Padilla and Ian Hecox. In 2002, Padilla created a website named "smosh.com" for making Flash animations, and he was later joined by Hecox. They began to post videos on Smosh's YouTube channel in the fall of 2005 and quickly became one of the most popular channels on the site. The Smosh channel has over 10 billion views and over 25 million subscribers.

Since 2012, the Smosh brand has expanded to consist of multiple channels, including a Spanish-language channel (ElSmosh), a channel focused on gaming content (Smosh Games), and a variety channel (Smosh Pit). The sketches have also included more actors. The Smosh channel has experienced three different spans as the most subscribed YouTube channel. The first period spanned from May to June 2006, the second from April 2007 to September 2008, and the third span from January to August 2013.

In 2017, Padilla left the channel to pursue independent ventures and focus on his own separate channel. On November 6, 2018, Smosh's parent company Defy Media abruptly closed without warning. Six days later, the Smosh cast released a video announcing that production of Smosh, Smosh Pit, and Smosh Games content was still ongoing, and that existing videos would be finished and other content would be released independently by Smosh on their YouTube channels. They subsequently joined Mythical Entertainment after their company was purchased by Rhett & Link on February 22, 2019. After four years of ownership under Mythical, it was announced in June 2023 that Padilla had returned to the channel, and that he, along with Hecox, had bought the company back from Mythical, re-establishing Smosh as an independent entity.

History

Formation and lip sync videos (2002–2006)

The franchise began when Anthony Padilla built a website in 2002, smosh.com, 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". Other content creators in the pre-YouTube era would also upload videos to smosh.com, including future YouTuber TomSka. Later, his friend, Ian Hecox, joined the venture; Padilla and Hecox first met in the sixth grade. They became friends, and quickly discovered their knack for comedy. In 2005, they joined YouTube and made several videos together, lip syncing the theme songs to Mortal Kombat, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Power Rangers, the last of which was their first video uploaded to the website. At first, these videos were not intended to be posted online, but after they sent them to their friends, they started a YouTube channel.

One of Smosh's earliest videos, "Pokémon Theme Music Video", was released on November 28, 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 over 24 million views, becoming the most-viewed video on all of YouTube at that time. This held that title until being dethroned by Judson Laipply's "Evolution of Dance". It was later removed for copyright.

The success of their Pokémon video and other videos led Smosh to be featured in the "Person of the Year: You" issue of Time, published December 13, 2006. 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 Pokémon Company taking down the Pokémon theme video.

Initial YouTube success (2006–2011)

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 and That Damn Neighbor, which were primarily filmed in and around a house in Rosemont, California. Smosh continued to grow in popularity and became one of the most subscribed channels on YouTube. 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 into both Hecox and Padilla making vlog like videos, and renamed Smosh Is Bored; Ask Charlie, where people ask Charlie, from their January 2010 Charlie the Drunk Guinea Pig video, random questions; 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 Pokémon in Real Life and If ____ Was Real. Also in early 2010, Smosh created the "iShut Up App" for Android phones as part of a Google sponsorship; it eventually made its way to the iTunes app store.

Defy Media and Padilla's departure (2011–2018)

In 2011, Smosh was acquired by Alloy Digital (later rebranded to Defy Media), while also enjoying a 40% boost in viewership.

In 2012, the duo started three new YouTube channels, ElSmosh, with Smosh videos dubbed in Spanish, Shut Up! Cartoons, with various animated videos, and Smosh Games, with gaming-related content hosted alongside Mariko "Mari" Takahashi, David "Lasercorn" Moss, Matthew Sohinki, and Joshua "Jovenshire" Ovenshire. Some of Smosh's most popular videos are video-game themed music videos. These songs (along with other original songs) have been released in four albums to date – Sexy Album (2010), If Music Were Real (2011), Smoshtastic (2012), and The Sweet Sound of Smosh (2013). In January 2013, the Smosh channel surpassed Ray William Johnson in subscribers to become the most-subscribed YouTube channel for the third time. Smosh released Super Head Esploder X, a video game for iOS, in February 2013, and in July 2013 started an Indiegogo campaign for an iOS and PC game, Food Battle: The Game. Hecox and Padilla raised $258,777 to hire video game producers to create a game based on their characters and the foods used in their annual Food Battle series. Smosh donated 10% of the funds to three charities in November 2014, as well as releasing the game.

In February 2014, Smosh released a mobile app to access Smosh videos and other content from their website, and in late 2014 an Xbox One app. Later in 2014, a fan run channel Smosh France became an official Smosh channel. In March 2015, Smosh re-launched the Smosh Games Alliance, a multi-channel network where fans join to enjoy network benefits in exchange for a percentage of the ad revenue. In 2015, the duo announced Noah Grossman, Keith Leak Jr., Olivia Sui, Courtney Miller and Shayne Topp as new regular cast members for Smosh videos. A sketch series, called Every (Blank) Ever, has been released every two weeks since May 2015.

In January 2016, a web sitcom was launched on the main Smosh channel. Part Timers is a comedy-drama which takes place at a fictional children's arcade and pizza place called Pork E. Pine's, which takes inspiration from Hecox's first job at Chuck E. Cheese's. Each episode presents a challenge that the team must overcome to keep the business going. The series features regular Smosh cast members, Grossman (as Pete), Hecox (as Ian), and Padilla (as Anton), in addition to Cat Alter (as Mads), Jade Martz (as Ella), Casey Webb (as Dinger), and Natalie Whittle (as Lori). The series was released every Monday on the Smosh channel from January to May 2016. During the month of February, Ericka "Boze" Bozeman joined the cast of Smosh Games. Also that year, cast member Mariko "Mari" Takahashi was selected to participate on Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X, though was the second player voted out.

On June 14, 2017, Padilla announced he would be leaving Smosh to pursue independent video ventures due to a "lack in creative freedom". Hecox stated he would remain with Smosh, adding "I'm really looking forward to taking Smosh to the next phase, and we can't wait for people to see what we have coming up."

Under Mythical Entertainment's ownership (2018–2023)

On November 6, 2018, Defy Media abruptly announced they were shutting down and laying off all its employees. Hecox said that Smosh was not "going away" and that plans were underway to find Smosh a new home. Padilla released a video the following day which went into more detail about his departure from Smosh and his issues with what Defy was doing with their employees and Smosh. He said that he and Hecox sold Smosh to Alloy Digital (which later became Defy Media) for stock, which had no monetary value because the company never went public. Padilla also expressed dissatisfaction with how Defy treated its employees and stated the company exploited them financially, took over his Facebook page, tried to take over his Twitter account, prevented him from joining the Screen Actors Guild, and that they had pressured them into starting a fundraiser for Food Battle: The Game before it had even been conceived, something that had at the time led to accusations of exploitation being leveled against himself and Hecox. He also explained that he had not previously shared this information because of worries that it would threaten the job security of his friends. On November 12, Smosh released an update video reaffirming that Smosh was searching for a new owner, and that in the meanwhile, content would continue to be released independently by the Smosh team. The cast clarified that they still had a significant amount of content from before Defy Media's shutdown in post-production. They also did not rule out the possibility of filming new content and releasing it independently, calling such an idea "old school", alluding to YouTube's early days when content was less commercialized.

On February 22, 2019, Smosh was acquired by Mythical Entertainment, a production company founded by fellow YouTube comedians Rhett & Link. This led to several changes in the Smosh cast and crew. During this time, Smosh operated out of Mythical Entertainment's Los Angeles office, though later moved into a specially built studio space in Burbank.

Padilla's return and Smosh as an independent venture (2023–present)

On June 20, 2023, Hecox and Padilla announced the latter's return to Smosh after the duo had decided to repurchase a majority stake in Smosh from Mythical Entertainment to become an independent entity again, with Mythical maintaining a minority stake and maintaining involvement in an advisory capacity. With this change, Padilla promoted Alessandra Catanese, the COO and executive producer from his own company Pressalike Productions, as CEO of the new Smosh entity, It was stated that the main Smosh channel would return to a more sketch-oriented output, moving away from the pivot to more improv-based content in the years prior. However, the unscripted Smosh Pit and Smosh Games channels would remain as they were.

Films

On September 18, 2014, it was announced that a feature-length film starring the duo was in development by AwesomenessFilms; it would be later titled Smosh: The Movie, and was released direct-to-video on July 24, 2015, by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, with Netflix acquiring the film's streaming rights. Directed by Alex Winter from a screenplay by Eric Falconer and Steve Marmel, it stars both Hecox and Padilla as fictionalized versions of themselves, alongside fellow YouTube personalities Jenna Marbles, Grace Helbig, Harley Morenstein, Mark Fischbach, Dominic Sandoval, and the Smosh Games crew, with Shane Dawson appearing in the Unrated version.

Smosh created the film Ghostmates for YouTube Red that was released on December 14, 2016.

Channels

Main channels

Smosh

Smosh is the original and main channel created in November 2005. The channel posts a video every Friday, typically alternating between a sketch or podcast centred around Ian and Anthony with occasional input from the rest of the main cast. Current Smosh shows include:

Smosh Pit

The Smosh Pit channel uploads every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. The videos consist of a variety of formats including game shows and challenges involving the cast. Current Smosh Pit shows include:

Current Smosh Pit shows

Smosh Games

The Smosh Games channel uploads every Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday. The videos consist of playing video games, board games and card games, with various recurring games and series. Current Smosh Games shows include:

SmoshCast

Smosh's podcast channel currently comprises two shows:

Smosh Mouth

Smosh Mouth (also referred as the SmoshCast) is based on the original format of SmoshCast's first iteration. The podcast was reintroduced on 26 June 2023 and is hosted by Shayne Topp and Amanda Lehan-Canto every Monday with one other rotating Smosh member and/or a guest joining them each episode. It includes them talking about their lives and various other topics and current events, revealing and discussing possible future ideas for various content and reading through and discussing various things on social media, such as Reddit posts and more.

Lunchtime with Smosh

A more ad-hoc podcast that features Ian and Anthony chatting about what's on their mind, while joined by Erica, a member of Smosh's production crew.

ElSmosh

ElSmosh uploads new Smosh episodes that have been dubbed over in Spanish. The videos are mostly from the main Smosh channel.

Current cast members

• Ian Hecox – Smosh (2005–present), Smosh Pit (2006–present), Smosh Games (2012–present)
• Anthony Padilla – Smosh (2005–2017; 2023–present), Smosh Pit (2006–2017; 2023–present), Smosh Games (2012–2017; 2023–present)

• Keith Leak Jr. – Smosh, Smosh Pit, Smosh Games (2014–present)
• Olivia Sui – Smosh, Smosh Pit, Smosh Games (2015–present)
• Noah Grossman – Smosh, Smosh Pit, Smosh Games (2015–present)
• Courtney Miller – Smosh, Smosh Pit, Smosh Games (2015–present)
• Shayne Topp – Smosh, Smosh Pit, Smosh Games (2015–present)
• Damien Haas – Smosh, Smosh Pit, Smosh Games (2017–present)
• Amanda Lehan-Canto – Smosh (2020–present), Smosh Pit, Smosh Games (2022–present)
• Chanse McCrary – Smosh, Smosh Pit, Smosh Games (2022–present)
• Arasha Lalani – Smosh, Smosh Pit, Smosh Games (2022–present)
• Angela Giarratana – Smosh, Smosh Pit, Smosh Games (2022–present)
• Trevor Evarts – Smosh Pit, Smosh Games (2024–present)

Discography

Studio albums

List of albums, with selected chart positions

Title	Album details	Peak chart positions
		US Comedy	US Heat.
Sexy Album	Released: December 15, 2010 Formats: Digital download	11	—
If Music Were Real	Released: November 11, 2011 Formats: CD, Digital download	5	26
Smoshtastic	Released: December 3, 2012 Formats: Digital download	3	27
The Sweet Sound of Smosh	Released: November 30, 2013 Formats: Digital download	4	33
Shut Up! and Listen	Released: December 10, 2015 Formats: Digital download	4	—
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory.

Awards and nominations

Awards and nominations for Smosh

Year	Award	Category	Recipient	Result	Ref(s)
2007	2007 YouTube Awards	Comedy	"Smosh Short 2: Stranded"	Won
2009	2009 Webby Awards	Experimental & Weird	"Sex Ed Rocks"	Nominated
2010	2010 Webby Awards	Viral	"If Movies Were Real"	Nominated
2013	3rd Streamy Awards	Best Comedy Series	Smosh	Nominated
		Audience Choice for Personality of the Year	Smosh	Nominated
		Best Animated Series	Oishi High School Battle	Nominated
	2013 Webby Awards	Branded Entertainment Short Form	"Ultimate Assassin's Creed 3 Song"	Nominated
	2013 Social Star Awards	Most Popular Social Show	Smosh	Nominated
		United States Social Media Star	Smosh	Won
2014	4th Streamy Awards	Best Comedy Channel, Show, or Series	Smosh	Nominated
		Best Gaming Channel, Show, or Series	Smosh Games	Won
2015	Seventh Annual Shorty Awards	YouTube Star of the Year presented by A&E	Smosh	Won
	5th Streamy Awards	Show of the Year	Smosh	Nominated
		Best Gaming Channel, Show, or Series	Smosh Games	Nominated
2016	2016 Webby Awards	Gaming (channel)	Smosh Games	Won
	6th Streamy Awards	Gaming	Smosh Games	Nominated
		Food	Put it in My Mouth	Nominated
2017	7th Streamy Awards	Live	Smosh Live	Won
		Gaming	Smosh Games	Won