If you’re fluent in internet history, you’re probably familiar with Smosh—which started as a website coded by co-founder Anthony Padilla, before it became a YouTube channel created with classmate Ian Hecox.
While in high school, the teens wrote, directed, filmed, and edited comedy sketches, making content that naturally developed catchphrases (“SHUT UP!”) for adolescents across the country.
Over two decades later, Smosh has amassed over 43 million subscribers across its YouTube channels and over 4 million followers on Instagram, despite temporarily losing ownership of the company and a member of the duo.
Hecox and Padilla have since rebuilt the company with an ensemble cast of comedians from throughout L.A.
The humor often runs satirical, with the comedians improvising as obnoxious true crime podcasters, “boy moms,” aka mothers who dote way too much on their adult sons, and familiar pop culture characters (like in this tense and dirty Teletubbies reunion).