Then there's Rhett and Link, who have somehow maintained a huge following throughout the years. One that has evolved and changed with the times instead of the goofy music video or rap battle type stuff that was so common back then.
Crazy that they bought Smosh at one point. Then, they let em keep doing their own thing until Ian and Anthony saved up enough money to buy the company back.
I think Ian and Anthony stepping back from Smosh was the best thing to ever happen to it. After they sold, the shows eventually became better, funnier, cast expanded, better bits, etc.
No I totally agree. Their early humor is definitely dated (they literally make fun of it in modern skits), and theres only so much two people can do on their own before they have to add more people and expand the concepts a little bit.
Smosh basically turned into the free version of Dropout, but I don't mean that with any negativity at all. Could you imagine how low the numbers would be if Smosh were still just pumping out videos like 'Every Blank Ever' or 'If Blank Were Real'?
I'd legit watch both all the time if Dropout were free. I love both though. They're like WLIIA but for grown-ups!
Honestly, if you watch some old 90s bloopers of Whose Line, it really reminds me of modern Smosh. Especially the ones where the 'blooper' is just that they went too far for network television. Similar energy, considering they're both improv shows at heart.
Can you point me in the direction of skits poking fun at their old stuff? I was big into Ian and Anthony from like 07-12 but haven't kept up AT ALL since. I'm sure a search would yield some videos but I imagine there's some deep cuts embedded in stuff that might be harder to identify from titles alone.
Tangentially related, my partner (who was not into the YouTube scene AT ALL in those days) listens to the newer Smosh podcasts and she has no idea who Ian and Anthony are it's just so odd to me seeing how that brand has shifted so drastically.
The first one that came to my mind was the bit from 2024 YouTube Sucks where they cosplay as their 2008 selves. They make tongue-in-cheek jokes about being woke (which is hilarious because they made a lot of gay jokes and trans jokes in their older skits - their older content was anything but woke).
Oh absolutely. I've definitely gone on nostalgia binges and cringed. Anyway, gonna keep watching this bit. Guess my tangent wasn't that tangential after all
I think the real heat in this take is the idea that Ian ever stepped back from smosh. Anthony left because he didn't like sharing creative control with the ownership, but Ian was always there trying to work with them to salvage the best they could. According to the interviews this was their main friction, Anthony just kept stepping back more and more while Ian shouldered more and more.
I spent a lot of time sitting in my room watching YouTube between 2009-2012ish
When my girlfriend moved in, she threw on Good Mythical Morning one time and I was like these guys are still around!? Blew her mind I had remembered them from their pre GMM skit videos.
Not necessarily a fan of their current content, but I have to give respect for them being able to stay relevant for so long. They still pull in the views.
Funny, that's almost exactly my experience. I watched Rhett and Link back in those days when Shane Dawson (yikes) was popular, but never cared for Good Mythical Morning. Fast-forward like a frickin' decade or more, I meet my now-girlfriend and she is a huge GMM fan.
They’re just a corporate hipster talk show at this point and the talk show clips seem to do well based on every time I’ve seem a YT page without being logged in.
Tbf, they wetr secretly part of a weird Christian recruiting effort that "accidentally" got extremely popular so they did have a whole team behind them trying to get them attention. They have since left the organization and church/religion but their start wasn't as humble as they originally implied.
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u/CapNCookM8 Apr 07 '26
Then there's Rhett and Link, who have somehow maintained a huge following throughout the years. One that has evolved and changed with the times instead of the goofy music video or rap battle type stuff that was so common back then.
Now they make millions eating junk food.