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Smosh is a web-based comedy duo consisting of Ian Hecox and Anthony Ballsack. Anthony Padilla first began posting flash movies on Newgrounds in early 2003, under the name smosh when later joined in by his friend Ian Hecox. Following up they started posting videos on YouTube in the autumn of 2005 and have become one of the most popular channels on that site, with over 2 subscribers. Until 2008, Smosh was the most subscribed-to YouTube account.

Four Smosh related channels exist on YouTube. The base "Smosh" channel, where both Hecox and Ballsack post their skits and other videos, "IanH", which at first was for vlogs and other non scripted videos, but now is used for posting their new side series "Ian is Bored" and "Lunchtime with My Ass". Their other channel called "AskCharlie" is based on the popular Smosh character, Charlie the Drunk Guinea Pig, and their last channel, "AnthonyPadilla" is where Anthony makes videos by himself. The base "Smosh" channel makes videos every Friday, while "AskCharlie" upload Charlie the Drunk Guinea Pig "ask and answers" videos every Wednesday, "IanH" upload "Ian is Bored" every Monday and upload "Lunchtime with Smosh" every Thursday.

History

Formation and Pokémon Theme Music Video: 2005–2009

Smosh began when Ian Hecox and Anthony Padilla made videos together lip syncing to theme songs such as Mortal Kombat, Power Rangers, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. At first, these videos weren't intended to be posted online, but after they sent them to their friends, they soon decided to start a Youtube channel. Each created two channels: "IanH" and "AnthonyPadilla." Ultimately, they decided on making a new channel, Smosh as their main channel, with "IanH" and "AnthonyPadilla" serving as alternate channels that would feature behind the scenes material, vlogs, etc.

One of Smosh's earliest videos, "Pokémon Theme Music Video," was released in November 2005, in the same style as their other earlier videos. The video features 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, and, over the course of its lifetime, gained 24.7 million views, becoming the most-viewed video on all of Youtube at that time, a title it held for at least six months. However, just as it was about to reach 25 million, it was removed by YouTube after the website received a notice from Shogakukan Productions Co., Ltd., indicating copyright infringement. In 2008 they said as an April's Fools joke that the Pokémon company were suing them for 20 million dollars because of copyright infringement, as an advertisement for the Smosh store. The two then posted a video called Pokemon Theme Song REVENGE, showing their hate towards their video being removed.

Nevertheless, 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 start doing their videos more like mini-skits and sketch comedies. In March 2007, a user named Andii2000 re-uploaded the original Pokémon video, it has over 10.5 million views as of February 2011.

2010 era

In January of 2010, Smosh launched the "Smosh Pit" feature, which is a blog that consists of anything they (or a handful of other "Smoshers") feel like posting. In addition, 2010 saw the channel launch 3 different Smosh-based web series': "Ian is Bored," which is a collection of comedic videos by Ian Hecox; "Ask Charlie" (which is an interactive series 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.

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.

In November 2010, they guest appeared in the 35 minute film Agents of Secret Stuff.

As of January 2011, Smosh is the fourth most subscribed channel on Youtube.

References

1. "smosh.com". Archived from the original on 2002-11-24. - Official Website.
2. "BB Suggests: The Best of Web TV". Batch Buzz. November 13, 2009. Retrieved 2009-11-16.
3. Virginia Heffernan (April 4, 2006). "Comic shorts, home on the Web". The New York Times. Retrieved November 23, 2009.
4. "youtube.com". - Smosh Sued for $20 Million (April Fools).
5. "Pokemon Theme Song REVENGE!". YouTube. Retrieved 2011-02-07.
6. Andii2000 (March 17, 2007). "SMOSH - POKEMON THEME SONG". YouTube. Retrieved February 14, 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
7. nigahiga (March 22, 2011). ""Agents of Secret Stuff"". YouTube. Retrieved March 22, 2011.

External links

• Official website

• Living people
• American comedians
• Comedy duos