Game Grumps

Game Grumps is a Let's Play webseries created on July 10, 2012 by comedic game critic Jon Jafari and animator Arin Hanson. Jafari left the show in June of 2013 to focus on his primary YouTube channel, JonTronShow. He was replaced by comedy musician Leigh Daniel Avidan, also known as Danny Sexbang, from the musical comedy duo Ninja Sex Party. The channel also expanded to include new hosts in spin-offs: animator Ross O'Donovan, series editor Barry Nathan Kramer, and Suzy Berhow (Hanson's wife).

Jafari and Hanson have said they were inspired to make the show after seeing episodes of James Rolfe's video game webseries The Angry Video Game Nerd. Game Grumps is a part of Polaris, a network owned by Maker Studios.

Content

Each day, one to two videos that consist of usually two, but sometimes up to four, hosts playing a console video game are uploaded to the channel, featuring their own experiences with the chosen game (from their own choosing or from a fan). Longer video games would form series of ongoing gameplay and commentary by the two until completion. Occasionally, they would participate in two-player games against each other, as part of their Game Grumps Vs. series. Before Jafari's departure to work on his own JonTron series, the two appeared in a promotional video for the Warner Bros. movie Pacific Rim produced by Polaris. The video also featured other internet personalities Jesse Cox, Dodger, Mike Lamond and John Bain.^[1] In the video they played new recruits under training by "The Lieutenant Commander" played by Robert Kazinsky.

With Jafari's departure in June 2013, Ninja Sex Party vocalist Danny "Sexbang" Avidan came on to replace him as co-host. Danny would also join Ross "RubberNinja" O'Donovan as co-hosts of the spin-off Steam Train, where both play PC games (the title references the retailer Steam). This expanded the channel's output to three videos a day: two standard Game Grumps episodes and a single Steam Train episode. Steam Train later expanded to include Arin as a co-host at times (sometimes replacing Danny) as well as featuring the group's previous editor Barry Kramer and the group's secretary and Arin's wife Suzy Berhow. The expansion also introduced a new Steam Rolled series where four-player games (not necessarily PC games) are played by the group. In October 2013, the group began a gameplay series featuring Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate on the Polaris YouTube channel titled Game Grumps Present: Hunting Monsters. A second installment, featuring Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, began in February of 2015.

In December 2013, Barry and Suzy began hosting Table Flip, where they dress in Victorian/19th century American period clothing^[2] and play tabletop games, such as card games, board games, and tile-based games with other YouTube personalities. The series is professionally produced by Polaris, with seven cameras and extensive editing in post-production to fit the content to the show's 45 to 60 minute format on Polaris's website rather than the Game Grumps YouTube channel.^[3]

In November 2014, Kramer was replaced as video editor by Kevin Abernathy, allowing him to participate in the videos as a full-time host. Kramer still remained the editor for Steam Train.

In January of 2015, to celebrate reaching 2 million subscribers, they released a new show, "Grumpcade," featuring any combination of co-hosts playing any console games. The show also features guest YouTube personalities, such as ProJared. Shortly after, in February of 2015, GrumpOut, a channel dedicated to recreational and live-action video projects, was created, which has no schedule to follow.

Charity

In late 2013, the Game Grumps had put various games, which they'd received multiple copies of, on eBay for auction, with all the proceeds going to the children's charity Child's Play.^[4] After the auctions had ended, the total amount they had raised was over $7,000.^[5]

Popularity

Due to the popularity of the series, there has been a large amount of content created by fans based on the series. Common fan creations from the show include fan art and animated re-creations of scenes from the show featuring audio from the show, musical remixes of audio from the show,^[6] clip compilations,^[7] and also comic strips.^[8] The show and its hosts have also since been referenced in a number of video games such as DLC Quest^[9] and The Angry Video Game Nerd Adventures.^[10]

A specially modified version of the demo for The Stanley Parable was played on the show which addressed the show's hosts Danny and Ross.^[11] The show's host Danny will be appearing in the upcoming PC game Default Dan as a playable option.^[12] Special versions of Haunt the House: Terrortown and Electronic Super Joy were modded for them as well, featuring the hosts themselves. Arin, Danny, and Ross, along with Ross's cat Orph, will be playable characters in the game Hex Heroes for the Wii U. They will also be providing voiceover work.^[13]

Singer Hayley Westenra thanked the show for their version of her song "Prayer". She called it a "very fresh spin" and said that "performing that song will never be the same again."^[14]

Video game designer Markus "Notch" Persson has cited multiple times of being a fan of the series.^[15][16]

Comedy musician "Weird Al" Yankovic, during a Reddit AMA session, claimed that he enjoys Ninja Sex Party's content, as well as the shows, and has expressed interest in joining the show for a possible Guest Grumps episode in the future.^[17]

Arin and Danny appeared on Markiplier's channel in two videos titled "How to Pole Dance" and "How to Pole Dance 2".

Awards and nominations

References

External links

• Game Grumps at the Internet Movie Database
• Game Grumps's channel on YouTube