| Smosh | |
|---|---|
Anthony (right) and Ian (left) at YouTube Live |
|
| Born | Anthony Padilla: September 16, 1987 [1] Ian Hecox: November 30, 1987 [1] |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | YouTube comedy duo, YouTube Partner |
| Years active | 2005–present[2] |
| Home town | Sacramento, California |
| Website | |
| smosh.com | |
Smosh is a web-based comedy duo consisting of Ian Hecox and Anthony Padilla.[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, with more than 4.0 million subscribers as of January 2012.[4]
Four Smosh-related channels exist on YouTube, though only two are very active. The base "Smosh" channel, where both Hecox and Padilla post their skits and other videos, has new videos every Friday. From "IanH" (used at first for vlogs and other non-scripted videos), the pair upload their side series "Ian is Bored" on Mondays and "Lunchtime with Smosh" on Thursdays, while their associate performer Mari does "Smosh Pit Weekly" videos on Saturday. "AskCharlie", active from May 2010 to December 2011, hosts videos from the Ask Charlie series, where an anthropomorphic guinea pig, named Charlie the Drunk Guinea Pig, answers viewer submitted questions. "AnthonyPadilla", hosts vlog-like videos uploaded by Padilla, which are uploaded only rarely.
Contents |
Smosh began when Ian Hecox and Anthony Padilla 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.[5]
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.[6] It held that title for about six months, but was removed by YouTube after the website received a notice from Shogakukan Productions Co., Ltd., claiming copyright infringement.
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. 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.. In March 2007, a user named Andii2000 re-uploaded the original Pokémon video. It has over 13.2 million views as of January 2012.[7]
In January 2010, Smosh launched the "Smosh Pit" feature, a blog that consists of various pieces of pop-culture trivia. 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.
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. As of January 2012, Smosh is the third most-subscribed channel on YouTube.[4]
| Achievements | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by nigahiga |
Top Subscribed Channel on YouTube smosh Ranked third as of January 2012 |
Succeeded by machinima |
| Preceded by DeStorm |
Top Subscribed Channel on YouTube IanH Ranked 45 as of January 2012 |
Succeeded by WHATTHEBUCKSHOW |