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, with the name "Smosh" coming from an incident where he mistook a friend explaining a
mosh pit as a "smosh pit". Padilla created the website's logo through juxtaposing a fast-forward sign and the letter "S" from a
Linkin Park-based text font. 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, the duo created
lip sync videos of the theme songs to
Mortal Kombat and
Power Rangers, which were created in Padilla's bedroom at his family's home in
Carmichael, California. They initially hosted the videos on smosh.com and their
MySpace page, but discovered
YouTube after finding their
Mortal Kombat video uploaded on the website, where it garnered several thousand views. They officially joined YouTube on November 19, 2005, uploading three videos on the same day: the
Power Rangers and
Mortal Kombat videos with
The Epic Battle: Jesus vs Cyborg Satan sketch, with the former being their first video uploaded. One of Smosh's earliest videos, "Pokemon Theme Music Video", was released on November 28, 2005, and followed the same style as their other earlier videos, featuring the duo lip-syncing the
original English theme song for the
Pokémon anime. The video's creation followed an audience poll the duo posted on MySpace for their next video, where
Pokémon won. However, the video instantly became much more popular than any of their other videos. This held that title until being dethroned by
Judson Laipply's
"Evolution of Dance". 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 on December 16, 2006. By 2006, they transitioned to making original comedy skits, which were primarily filmed in and around a house in
Rosemont, California. During this time, they created various series such as
Food Battle,
That Damn Neighbor, and
If X Were Real. Smosh also launched a second channel based on Hecox's individual "IanH" account that he created in 2006, which contained behind-the-scenes footage and extras.
Defy Media, further expansion and Padilla's departure (2011–2018) 2014|alt=Ian Hecox to the left and Anthony Padilla to the right at VidCon 2014, sitting down while signing autographs In 2011, Smosh was acquired by Alloy Digital (later rebranded to
Defy Media), while also enjoying a 40% boost in viewership. Blumberg would also become the chief content officer of Defy Media. By December 2014, the Smosh website had accumulated over 60 million page views, and according to
Alexa Internet was ranked among the top websites in the world. In 2015, Smosh began hiring cast members for their videos, including Noah Grossman, Keith Leak Jr., Olivia Sui, Courtney Miller and
Shayne Topp. 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. Also that year, the Smosh cast streamed a live sketch show on YouTube on August 26. Compared to
Saturday Night Live, the 90 minute show featured improvisational sketches and fake TV commercials, which Hecox and Padilla stated was an adjustment from their typical scripted comedy. Regarded as the first live sketch show on YouTube, the stream reached around 58,000 concurrent viewers and over 1.3 million views within several days. Smosh also launched several short-lived web series in the fall of 2016, which was dubbed "Smoshtober"; the programming block succeeded Defy's raising of $70 million during the summer. 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". Blumberg also resigned from his position at Defy earlier that year in March. Following Padilla's departure, Smosh expanded their second channel into Smosh Pit while adding multiple series. The
Smosh Pit Weekly series, which had ended in 2015, was revived with Takahashi hosting once more.
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. 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. Padilla released a video the following day explaining in further detail his departure from Smosh, alongside his issues regarding Defy's ownership of the brand. Declaring Defy as "evil and shady", he revealed that he and Hecox sold Smosh to Defy for stock, which had no monetary value because the company never went
public. Padilla also expressed dissatisfaction with Defy's treatment of its employees and stated the company exploited them financially, took over his
Facebook page, tried to take over his Twitter account, and prevented him from joining the
Screen Actors Guild (SAG). He also revealed that Defy 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 levied 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. Hecox later revealed in a March 2019 interview with
TheWrap that throughout the brand's ownership under Defy, they suffered through "aimless and poor leadership", and that had they not found a suitable company to buy the brand that he "would not continue with the brand." On February 22, 2019, Smosh was acquired by Mythical Entertainment, a production company founded by fellow YouTube comedians
Rhett & Link. A majority of the Smosh cast and crew returned to the company following the acquisition. Smosh also created a new weekly podcast, "SmoshCast", following the announcement. During this time, Smosh operated out of Mythical Entertainment's Los Angeles office, though later moved into a specially built studio space in Burbank. Smosh subsequently joined the
Studio71 network in April. They later hired several new staff following the acquisition: Daniel Tibbets as their first CEO in October 2021; Lesley Wolff as their director of on-air talent in April 2022; and Joel Rubin as their Executive Vice President of Programming and Content in July 2022. In October 2019, Smosh announced they would go on their first live tour in February 2020 across five cities:
Seattle,
Portland,
Sacramento,
San Diego and
Phoenix. The tour is based on their "Try Not To Laugh" web series, which involves the cast members performing improvisational skits towards an individual member in an attempt to make them laugh. Smosh created another live show in a similar manner as their 2016 stream, named "Under the Influence". The stream featured the cast performing sketches alongside reenacting several of their segments, including "Try Not To Laugh" and "Eat It or Yeet It", while
under the influence. The stream aired on June 30, 2022. They hosted a similar event on December 15, 2022 called "Under the Mistletoe."
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; Rubin and Tibbets both exited the company. 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. They also launched a subscription-based membership program which offers exclusive content such as behind-the-scenes videos and live streams. Their current output focuses on
Bit City, a series advertised as "if Smosh did a
late-night talk show" which features various cast members such as Hecox, Padilla, and hosts Angela Giarratana and Chanse McCrary.
Bit City premiered on August 23, 2024. == Channels ==