Smosh

***Smosh*** is a YouTube channel of a comedic duo that consists of Ian Hecox and Anthony Padilla. They currently have over 19 million subscribers and are the 4th most subscibed channel on YouTube, behind **PewDiePie**, **Youtube Spotlight**, and **Movies**.

## History

Ian and Anthony are best friends who regularly make videos together, which they upload on YouTube and their own website Smosh.com. They were the most subscribed channel of all of YouTube, with over 10 million subscribers. At first, Smosh only consisted of half the pair. Anthony used to make flash games and movies on Newgrounds.com under the name "Smosh." The name Smosh originated when Anthony's friend was talking about a mosh pit, and he accidentally said "Smosh Pit" instead. This became an inside joke between Ian, Anthony, and their friends, and would later become the name of one of the biggest YouTube stars to this day.

Their fame started out in 2005. The videos they made then were extremely different to their videos now. One of Smosh's earliest videos, "Pokemon Theme Song" was an extremely big hit for the early channel, and remained on YouTube for at least 6 months with over 24,000,000 views before it was taken off due to copyright issues. By April 2006, it had become the most viewed video of that time. However, Shogakukan Productions Co., Ltd. forced YouTube to remove the video for copyright infringment.

Smosh became the #1 most subscribed user on YouTube in April 2007. By January 2010, Smosh was the 3rd most subscribed user on YouTube after they were surpassed by NigaHiga and Fred. However, Shane Dawson claimed #3 most subscribed user of all-time, which made Smosh #4 most subscribed user of all-time.

In May, 2012, Smosh was 3rd most subscribed channel on YouTube with over 5,000,000 subscribers, behind Nigahiga (#2) and RayWilliamJohnson (#1). Later, Smosh became the 2nd most subscribed channel behind RayWilliamJohnson with over 6,000,000 subscribers. In January of 2013, Smosh became the #1 most subscribed channel on YouTube, where they currently are at 3rd next to Youtube and Pewdiepie..

The duo soon stopped making music videos as often and moved onto comical 'episodes' which would become what they are most famous for. These started off with short videos such as "Dolls" and "Stranded." But later on, they turned to full 3-4 minute long skits and shows. The plots of these episodes would be about anything, from Ian's birthday to an Axe murderer. Even though they stopped making as many shorts, there are a few recent ones, like "Inappropriate Sonic" and "How Lady Gaga Got Famous." Now, their videos are usually longer skits, with more detailed plots and an older audience aim. On August 21, 2013 they held their first ever live stream which was meant to help donation for Food Battle: The Game.

## Video Series

These are their most recent video series:

* Food Battle
* How-To Videos
* Music Videos
* Movie Spoofs
* *If...Were\_Real|If...Were Real*
* "POKEMON IN REAL LIFE!"
* "Life as Ghosts"
* "Rejected Series"

Most of their videos are inappropriate, but are rated green in the age and content holder. A few of them have been flagged, such as "How to Hide a Boner in Public!" and "I'm Naked!". Both of those videos can be viewed at Smosh.com. Smosh sometimes makes episodic videos like "I Lost My Hair!" and "Homeless Millionaire!" and the *Life as Ghosts* series in 2008.

## Video Productivity

Smosh videos have been upgrading in content and quality since their debut in 2005. Usually, it will take about 2 weeks to make a complex 3-5 minute long Smosh video, with the filming, editing, and producing.

In an interview, Anthony said that it didn't take much work to come up with a video idea. The first thing they do is think of 4 or 5 different ideas, and discuss them. After the video idea is decided, they think about who will do what and when. In the same interview, Ian said that he's the one who comes up with most of the ideas, and Anthony extends them.

As part of the process, Ian said he would edit for a few hours before confronting Anthony to discuss it. When they found a video idea they both decided on, they would start working on a script to go with it.

Anthony said when it came time to shoot the video, they would collect some friends and producers that would make sure to get the properties and location for it.

When they're writing, they try not to make the ideas too complex because it's a lot of work to find certain locations, and they have to shoot every week.
Ian said that the process of producing a single video is never start-to-finish, but gradual. While Ian is writing, Anthony is editing a video that was filmed 2 weeks ago.

Anthony is usually the one who chooses the clips to be added onto the video with the help of their Professional Editor that guides him. 70% of the final video is chosen by their editor and 30% of it is either thrown or just another idea added in for fun. Then Ian would go in and edit the bloopers and extra components on his own.

It takes about 12 hours, on average, to complete the entire editing process.

## Trivia

* According to an interview with TIME Magazine, the name "Smosh" is derived from the phrase "mosh pit" (this would ironically also be the inspiration for the Smosh Pit).
* In an interview, Ian and Anthony said that the longest time they took in editing a video without sleep was 36 hours in editing their Food Battle 2009 video. They swore they would never do it again.
* They currently have 19,145,440 subscribers and 3,762,864,585 views.
* Smosh was featured in the official YouTube tribute "Rewind Youtube Style" (they first appear at 1:24). In the video, they are apparently members of the Propulsion Laboratory, but when their space probe explodes, they start crying and Anthony calls Felicia Day.
* Other than PSY, the singer of the main soundtrack, Anthony was the only person in the video to speak with his real voice (the others lip synced to the music).
* They also appeared in the 2013 rewind video (What does 2013 say?), in this video they were in an RV wearing green aprons, lab goggles and tighty-whitey briefs, a clear reference to AMC's Breaking Bad.
* ​Smosh recently got their own Magazine, and Smosh keeps retweeting people's picture of them with the Smosh Magazine.