Smosh is an American YouTube sketch comedy-improv collective, independent production company, and former social networking site founded by Anthony Padilla and Ian Hecox.

[6][‡ 3] Padilla created the website's logo through juxtaposing a fast-forward sign and the letter "S" from a Linkin Park-based text font.

It followed the same style as their other earlier videos, featuring the duo lip-synching the original English theme song for the Pokémon anime.

They started making short YouTube skits, such as their annual video series Food Battle, which shows Hecox using a pink-frosted sprinkled doughnut and Padilla choosing a variety of foods voted on by fans,[16][17] and That Damn Neighbor, which were primarily filmed in and around a house in Rosemont, California.

[6] In addition, 2010 saw the channel launch three different Smosh-based web series: Ian Is Bored, which started as a collection of comedic videos by Hecox, but then turned into both Hecox and Padilla making vlog like videos, and renamed Smosh Is Bored;[19] Ask Charlie, where people ask Charlie, from their January 2010 Charlie the Drunk Guinea Pig video, random questions;[20] and Lunchtime with Smosh, a comedy series featuring Smosh getting and eating food from various places, and answering Twitter questions from their fans on Twitter.

Cartoons, with various animated videos,[23][24] and Smosh Games, with gaming-related content hosted alongside Mariko "Mari" Takahashi, David "Lasercorn" Moss, Matthew Sohinki, and Joshua "Jovenshire" Ovenshire.

[25][26] The pair also ventured into music, creating comedic songs for licensed media such as The Legend of Zelda and Assassin's Creed 3, among other original compositions.

[‡ 5][33] That same year the duo announced Noah Grossman, Keith Leak Jr., Olivia Sui,[34] Courtney Miller and Shayne Topp[35] as new regular cast members for Smosh videos.

The series features regular Smosh cast members, Grossman (as Pete), Hecox (as Ian), and Padilla (as Anton), in addition to Cat Alter (as Mads), Jade Martz (as Ella), Casey Webb (as Dinger), and Natalie Whittle (as Lori).

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.

[41][42] On June 14, 2017, Padilla announced he would be leaving Smosh to pursue independent video ventures due to a "lack in creative freedom".

Padilla also expressed dissatisfaction with how Defy treated its employees and stated the company exploited them financially, took over his Facebook page, tried to take over his Twitter account, prevented him from joining the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), and that they 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 leveled against himself and Hecox.

[‡ 6] On February 22, 2019, Smosh was acquired by Mythical Entertainment, a production company founded by fellow YouTube comedians Rhett & Link.

[51] During this time, Smosh operated out of Mythical Entertainment's Los Angeles office, though later moved into a specially built studio space in Burbank.

The stream featured the cast performing sketches alongside reenacting several of their segments, "Try Not To Laugh" and "Eat It or Yeet It", while under the influence.

Smosh is the original and main channel created in November 2005, with current output focusing around the show Bit City.

[61] Lasting for 33 days from July 22 to August 24, the campaign raised $259,247 in total over a $250,000 goal, with Hecox and Padilla donating 10% of the funds to the "DoSomething", "Child's Play" and "FEED USA" charities.

[67][68] Directed by Alex Winter from a screenplay by Eric Falconer and Steve Marmel, it stars both Hecox and Padilla as fictionalized versions of themselves, alongside fellow YouTube personalities Jenna Marbles, Grace Helbig, Harley Morenstein, Mark Fischbach, Dominic Sandoval, and the Smosh Games crew, with Shane Dawson appearing in the Unrated version.

[73][74] Hecox and Padilla also had voice roles in the 2016 animated film The Angry Birds Movie (with the latter returning in its 2019 sequel),[75] and appeared in an episode of the Epic Rap Battles of History web series.

Likening them to Saturday Night Live, Grossman opined that "[t]heir genius... is in their unswerving, unwinking commitment to idiocy.

She also praised Smosh for Hecox and Padilla's lack of embarrassment or fear, and their enjoyment of "mucking around" as a reason for retaining their viewership.

[6][7] Borden noted their acting style emphasized their personalities over finesse,[6] while Petersen asserted that if one "find[s] their humor juvenile, you're missing the point: It's not for you.

[6][85] Troy Dreier of Streaming Media Magazine ascribed their fan base's affinity of the duo to their image "as likeable (if crazy) guys next door.

"[87] Their 2006 video Feet for Hands, which featured the Zvue audio player as part of a promotional deal, was cited as an early example of influencer marketing by journalist Chris Stokel-Walker.

[92] Both Fast Company and Tubefilter highlighted the brand's diversification and expansion into other areas as a way to stay relevant, while other early YouTubers have since faded into obscurity.

[83][93] A 2017 Mashable article remarked on their lasting popularity in comparison to other YouTube content creators; writer Saba Hamedy claimed that the duo "still haven't fallen out of the internet's favor.

[94] TheGamer's Jade King similarly considered Smosh's return to be a "rare victory" for both YouTube and the Internet, reflecting on the duo's friendship and the brand's history.

In a 2014 survey from the University of Southern California published by Variety, they were ranked the #1 most influential personality among U.S. teenagers, listed ahead of celebrities including Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio.

[6] In addition to once holding the most-viewed video on YouTube with their Pokémon theme song,[6] Smosh has held multiple records on the site.