WEBVTT - Ian Hecox - On Founding Smosh, Staying Power on Youtube, and Advice for Creators 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:02.600 Welcome to Behind the Influence, a production of I Heart 0:00:02.680 --> 0:00:07.560 Radio and TDC Media. To say that we always just 0:00:07.600 --> 0:00:08.959 kind of like went by the flow, that I guess 0:00:09.000 --> 0:00:11.080 that's not completely true. Like we we did have this 0:00:11.240 --> 0:00:17.919 vision of what Smash could become. We've been friends for 0:00:17.920 --> 0:00:23.079 for nineteen years. So the moment we did that, we 0:00:23.239 --> 0:00:26.840 found a remarkable increase in in our sanity. There was 0:00:26.880 --> 0:00:29.880 a moment in time that I didn't know if Smash 0:00:29.960 --> 0:00:36.600 was going to continue. Ian he talks, is in the house. Guys, Hello, 0:00:36.800 --> 0:00:38.879 you don't know who Ian is? What do you know? 0:00:39.120 --> 0:00:40.720 I know that was aggressive, but if you don't know 0:00:40.760 --> 0:00:43.360 that name, we got to reevaluate life. I mean, the 0:00:43.360 --> 0:00:45.559 internet is a big place. I never assume anybody you're 0:00:45.600 --> 0:00:50.000 pretty a video of mine, but I assume so. And 0:00:50.120 --> 0:00:52.279 the reason you're here is because of that. You were 0:00:52.320 --> 0:00:55.360 one of the pioneers in the YouTube space. And not 0:00:55.480 --> 0:00:58.040 only did you pioneer in a world that a lot 0:00:58.040 --> 0:01:00.560 of people didn't understand back in two thousand five, by 0:01:00.560 --> 0:01:03.920 the way, when people weren't really doing the YouTube thing. Yeah, 0:01:04.000 --> 0:01:07.160 I mean, YouTube wasn't really a thing. It wasn't a thing. 0:01:07.800 --> 0:01:10.000 It just recently, I think in the last decade has 0:01:10.040 --> 0:01:12.840 become a thing in two thousand five. Starts with a 0:01:12.920 --> 0:01:16.080 little a silly video, just you and your friend And 0:01:16.160 --> 0:01:18.280 did you ever know that it would turn into this 0:01:18.400 --> 0:01:22.040 empire that has employed so many people and made so 0:01:22.040 --> 0:01:25.560 many people so much money. And yeah, we had no 0:01:25.560 --> 0:01:28.560 no idea whatsoever. It was just us, you know, messing 0:01:28.600 --> 0:01:31.319 around with the webcam. We started with lip syncs. We 0:01:31.360 --> 0:01:33.360 did the Power Rangers theme song. That was our first 0:01:33.400 --> 0:01:35.920 slip sync, and then we did a Mortal Kombat and 0:01:35.959 --> 0:01:39.040 then Pokemon and then the Pokemon theme song music video 0:01:39.200 --> 0:01:41.880 was the video that like really really blew up and 0:01:42.080 --> 0:01:44.480 for I think a year and a half it was 0:01:44.600 --> 0:01:47.640 the most viewed video on YouTube. And back in the day, 0:01:48.240 --> 0:01:51.840 there was no discovery ability on YouTube. So the only 0:01:51.840 --> 0:01:55.920 way that you could find quote unquote quality content, which 0:01:55.920 --> 0:01:57.840 that video looking back, is not the only way you 0:01:57.880 --> 0:02:00.280 can find quality content is if you went to the 0:02:00.280 --> 0:02:02.840 most viewed page like most people of all time. Okay, 0:02:02.840 --> 0:02:05.040 so all those videos that had the most views must 0:02:05.120 --> 0:02:08.160 be the best videos on YouTube. That would be the theory. 0:02:08.440 --> 0:02:10.880 But you know, our videos up at the top, and 0:02:10.919 --> 0:02:12.880 it was like, think, why do you think about so 0:02:12.919 --> 0:02:18.360 many views? Because nothing else like that was on YouTube, 0:02:18.440 --> 0:02:20.800 and you guys were just kind of creating your own lane, 0:02:21.240 --> 0:02:24.119 and people were curious because that's what I would think. Yeah, 0:02:24.160 --> 0:02:26.959 I mean, I think music is universal. I mean, that's 0:02:26.960 --> 0:02:30.200 why all the top view videos are are music videos. 0:02:30.560 --> 0:02:33.200 So I think that's one thing Pokemon is, you know, 0:02:33.400 --> 0:02:37.280 the sort of global unifier who doesn't like Pokemon. At 0:02:37.280 --> 0:02:38.880 that time, a lot of people were doing lip syncs, 0:02:38.919 --> 0:02:41.079 but a lot of people were just kind of standing 0:02:41.120 --> 0:02:44.280 there and just lip sinking. But we were also throwing 0:02:44.320 --> 0:02:48.320 in jokes into it, so like kind of like criticizing 0:02:48.360 --> 0:02:51.880 the Pokemon while we were singing the song. Just the 0:02:51.919 --> 0:02:54.400 fact that the like Pokemon in a strange way is 0:02:54.440 --> 0:02:57.360 like animal abuse. So we had some like jokes. I 0:02:57.480 --> 0:02:59.640 never thought of it. I don't need to left, but 0:03:00.440 --> 0:03:02.639 I never thought about it. Yeah, I mean, you're you're 0:03:02.680 --> 0:03:05.120 forcing it's it's it's no different than a than a 0:03:05.200 --> 0:03:10.880 dog fight, and we don't allow that. So we, uh, 0:03:11.000 --> 0:03:13.440 we kind of made some some jokes in the video. 0:03:13.440 --> 0:03:14.919 I think that's what kind of made it stand out 0:03:14.960 --> 0:03:16.960 from the other sort of lip syncs is we actually 0:03:16.960 --> 0:03:19.600 had a take on it. I'm not saying like it's 0:03:19.720 --> 0:03:23.880 supreme art, but Also, back in the days of YouTube, 0:03:24.040 --> 0:03:27.640 you're not really competing with that much quality content. Anything 0:03:27.680 --> 0:03:30.680 that's like sort of above like the worst quality ever 0:03:31.000 --> 0:03:33.840 would automatically rise above everything else. So it had a 0:03:33.880 --> 0:03:37.720 little bit of thought behind it, some creativity and use music. 0:03:38.040 --> 0:03:40.600 What compelled you guys? First of all, for people who 0:03:40.640 --> 0:03:43.080 don't know, who did you do the video with? Yeah, 0:03:43.080 --> 0:03:46.280 so I did the video with my childhood friend Anthony. 0:03:46.320 --> 0:03:48.880 We met in like the sixth grade, and we did 0:03:48.960 --> 0:03:53.480 a share boredom. We just graduated high school. I was seventeen. 0:03:53.960 --> 0:03:56.600 He might have been seventeen as well. Yeah at the time, 0:03:56.600 --> 0:04:00.280 he's also seventeen. You guys go to the same high school. Yeah, okay, yeah, yeah, 0:04:00.280 --> 0:04:02.240 so we went to the same elementary school, middle school, 0:04:02.320 --> 0:04:05.360 high school, best friends, and we're both bored. All of 0:04:05.400 --> 0:04:07.720 our friends were going off to real colleges. We were 0:04:07.760 --> 0:04:10.040 staying in Sacramento and we're going to go to a 0:04:10.040 --> 0:04:12.840 community college. So we were pretty bored. Over the summer. 0:04:13.360 --> 0:04:17.120 We had actually started making videos and posting them on 0:04:17.240 --> 0:04:20.120 my Space before we even knew what YouTube was. The 0:04:20.120 --> 0:04:22.320 only reason we found out about YouTube so early was 0:04:22.400 --> 0:04:27.799 because somebody had stolen our video and uploaded on YouTube. Yeah. 0:04:28.000 --> 0:04:31.080 So that's how we actually found out about YouTube was 0:04:31.080 --> 0:04:34.359 because somebody had ripped our content. So we started upload 0:04:34.400 --> 0:04:38.200 kind of a compliment. Yeah right, yeah, so we started 0:04:38.279 --> 0:04:41.840 uploading on there, it started getting the views, and to us, 0:04:42.000 --> 0:04:45.160 over a hundred views was insane. And at that time, 0:04:45.200 --> 0:04:48.040 you could just refresh YouTube and see the counter go up, 0:04:48.480 --> 0:04:50.400 so like we would just like refresh and see like, 0:04:50.440 --> 0:04:52.160 oh my god, there's five more views. Oh my god, 0:04:52.160 --> 0:04:53.960 there's ten more views. So that was that was a 0:04:54.000 --> 0:04:57.400 weird experience for us. What was monetization like back then? 0:04:57.560 --> 0:04:59.640 Did you guys even think that this was something you 0:04:59.640 --> 0:05:02.200 could make money from that early on? There's no way 0:05:02.200 --> 0:05:05.159 of monization. I mean, like I guess we we had 0:05:05.880 --> 0:05:10.279 sort of like the first Patreon in a sense where 0:05:10.839 --> 0:05:14.040 we just not like solicited our viewers for donations, but 0:05:14.080 --> 0:05:17.360 we said, like, hey, we want to film with more 0:05:17.360 --> 0:05:20.600 than just a webcam that's tied to the computer. We 0:05:20.600 --> 0:05:23.680 we would like a handicap. So people actually donated money 0:05:23.720 --> 0:05:26.840 to us to buy a handicam so that we can 0:05:26.839 --> 0:05:30.760 actually go beyond Anthony's bedroom, and then we put their 0:05:30.839 --> 0:05:32.720 names and their like donation, I think we can put 0:05:32.720 --> 0:05:35.920 their donation amounts like on the screen of our videos. 0:05:36.200 --> 0:05:37.799 So at the end of the video, it's like, thanks 0:05:37.800 --> 0:05:42.640 to this person for donating thirty So ahead of the times, 0:05:42.720 --> 0:05:45.240 because I feel like that was a very early iteration 0:05:45.279 --> 0:05:48.679 of what actually ends up happening if you fast forward. Yeah, 0:05:48.800 --> 0:05:50.600 and the same time with the same thing with merch, 0:05:50.800 --> 0:05:53.960 So we wanted to keep doing it. And then once 0:05:54.000 --> 0:05:57.919 the Pokemon theme song music video was removed for copyright infringement, 0:05:58.000 --> 0:05:59.800 we were like, hey, you know, we should probably start 0:05:59.800 --> 0:06:03.040 making more original content that's not using other people's stuff. 0:06:03.080 --> 0:06:05.360 And so from that point on, pretty much we were 0:06:05.400 --> 0:06:09.680 we were wholly original content, not using copyrighted music or 0:06:09.760 --> 0:06:12.279 you know, images or whatever. So we then sort of 0:06:12.279 --> 0:06:15.279 transitioned to sketch comedy, and that's kind of the road 0:06:15.320 --> 0:06:18.760 we went down. So sketch comedy for the first few 0:06:18.839 --> 0:06:22.080 years of YouTube was kind of like the king of YouTube, 0:06:22.120 --> 0:06:24.720 Like everybody wanted to do sketch comedy, and you know, 0:06:24.920 --> 0:06:28.680 there's channels like balloon Shop that really pays me off. 0:06:28.720 --> 0:06:30.680 Why would you knock the drink out of his hand? 0:06:30.680 --> 0:06:32.200 What would you do that? Why would you do that? 0:06:32.440 --> 0:06:37.000 The Lonely Island Lonely Island, obviously, Anie Sandberg, Kiva and Jorma, 0:06:37.160 --> 0:06:39.560 who then went on to SNL and then bigger and 0:06:39.760 --> 0:06:43.320 bigger things. Hello, welcome to the party. Hi, I've never 0:06:43.360 --> 0:06:47.719 met you before. You know, just two guys and we're 0:06:47.720 --> 0:06:52.120 having a good time. Derek Comedy where Donald Glover Childish 0:06:52.120 --> 0:06:56.360 Gambino came from that sad one to YouTube. Sir sat 0:06:56.400 --> 0:07:02.080 Opposite Day, Sir James Goody Endings? Or can I not 0:07:02.520 --> 0:07:06.320 ask you something about Opposite Day? No? But sketch comedy 0:07:06.360 --> 0:07:09.720 is really hard to continue and it's expensive. It's more 0:07:09.720 --> 0:07:11.840 expensive than just doing a vlog, Like you need to 0:07:11.960 --> 0:07:16.920 like hire people, and you know, writing sketches and shooting 0:07:16.920 --> 0:07:19.080 it and editing. It takes a little bit longer than 0:07:19.320 --> 0:07:21.520 normal kinds of things. So a lot of people burnt 0:07:21.560 --> 0:07:24.640 out on making sketches. You're right out of high school. 0:07:24.800 --> 0:07:28.480 What makes you think I'm qualified to be doing sketch Because, 0:07:28.520 --> 0:07:30.960 like you said, it's not just about hiring people. Like 0:07:31.000 --> 0:07:32.720 you could have the money. I know people who have 0:07:32.760 --> 0:07:34.440 all the money in the world. But if you're not 0:07:34.480 --> 0:07:37.520 a good writer, if you don't have good ideas, it's 0:07:37.520 --> 0:07:41.000 not gonna fly. So how did you guys get to 0:07:41.000 --> 0:07:44.080 the place where you were qualified enough to do successful 0:07:44.160 --> 0:07:47.520 sketch comedy. I don't think we're qualified at all. Well 0:07:47.760 --> 0:07:50.040 something made you think you were. I mean, it's really 0:07:50.080 --> 0:07:53.560 we just kind of paid attention to the feedback on YouTube, 0:07:53.560 --> 0:07:55.600 and I know that's not always the best idea to 0:07:55.600 --> 0:07:58.520 read the comments, but some people have some pretty constructive 0:07:58.520 --> 0:08:02.080 criticism that are acting sucked and our ideas sucked. So 0:08:02.280 --> 0:08:04.720 we continue to go to community college, but only in 0:08:04.800 --> 0:08:07.720 classes that applied to whatever we were doing. So we 0:08:07.760 --> 0:08:10.800 took some acting classes, we took some writing classes, we 0:08:10.880 --> 0:08:14.600 took some improv classes, took some film classes, and then 0:08:14.600 --> 0:08:16.560 once we burned out on those. Once we did all 0:08:16.640 --> 0:08:20.239 those classes, we just left. But with with sketch comedy, 0:08:20.360 --> 0:08:22.920 you know, it takes a lot of time. We were 0:08:23.160 --> 0:08:25.400 out of high school, so we're living in our parents 0:08:25.440 --> 0:08:28.560 house and you know, start to have bills, so you 0:08:28.600 --> 0:08:31.560 have to find some way to create an income. And 0:08:31.640 --> 0:08:33.959 so the choice was either well, you try to find 0:08:33.960 --> 0:08:37.280 a job and then find some time to make sketches, 0:08:37.600 --> 0:08:41.520 or you can commit fully to creating sketches and try 0:08:41.559 --> 0:08:44.560 to build a business doing that. So that then turned 0:08:44.559 --> 0:08:47.240 our focus. What did family think about That family was 0:08:47.280 --> 0:08:50.440 totally known. They were down there anything better, well, because 0:08:50.520 --> 0:08:52.480 I think now it would be a lot easier for 0:08:52.640 --> 0:08:54.760 you know, a fifteen year old or sixth year old 0:08:54.800 --> 0:08:56.800 to convince their parents, like, look, Jake Paul is making 0:08:56.800 --> 0:08:59.360 twenty two million dollars year, so can I two thousand five, 0:08:59.360 --> 0:09:01.160 two thousand six. Whenever you were doing it, that was 0:09:01.280 --> 0:09:03.440 not the case. So you didn't have a case study 0:09:03.480 --> 0:09:05.440 to point to and say, these people are making a 0:09:05.480 --> 0:09:07.520 living doing this, I'm gonna build an umpire. You had 0:09:07.600 --> 0:09:11.320 literally nothing but your own drive and an idea. Yeah, 0:09:11.440 --> 0:09:13.760 and we had viewers. You had viewers. I think my 0:09:13.840 --> 0:09:16.640 dad's an accountant, so he kind of understands business, and 0:09:16.679 --> 0:09:20.040 I think we had viewers. So that had to event something. 0:09:20.240 --> 0:09:23.280 It's like, oh, well, if we're getting similar views to 0:09:23.640 --> 0:09:27.679 like a local TV show or something like, that's gotta 0:09:27.800 --> 0:09:29.880 that's gotta mean something like, there's gotta be a way 0:09:29.920 --> 0:09:33.520 to to monetize that. There was no way at that 0:09:33.559 --> 0:09:37.520 time in regards to add revenue. I remember our first 0:09:37.559 --> 0:09:41.400 brand deal we did for five dollars. That was a 0:09:41.440 --> 0:09:44.559 big deal to us. But we we found other ways 0:09:44.600 --> 0:09:48.040 of monetizing. We uh started selling merch and I think 0:09:48.120 --> 0:09:50.600 we were some of the first people on the platform 0:09:50.679 --> 0:09:53.280 to do that. We knew this like guy that worked 0:09:53.280 --> 0:09:55.040 out of a warehouse down the street that was a 0:09:55.040 --> 0:09:56.920 screen printer. Pretty sure he had one leg, but he 0:09:57.000 --> 0:10:02.000 never showed us. Um, but we need I need to 0:10:02.040 --> 0:10:05.359 find out. So we So then we started like marketing 0:10:05.480 --> 0:10:07.400 our merch and like these little sort of like funny 0:10:07.400 --> 0:10:10.120 commercials at the ends of our videos, Oh my god, yes, 0:10:10.280 --> 0:10:15.400 what what look at my shirts? Oh my god, stoppers shirt. 0:10:15.800 --> 0:10:18.400 We would have this guy screenpin all the shirts. Then 0:10:18.440 --> 0:10:22.080 Anthony had a program that would take all the orders 0:10:22.080 --> 0:10:24.800 in with like their names and their addresses, and then 0:10:25.000 --> 0:10:27.920 we would package all the shirts ourselves. That we would 0:10:28.240 --> 0:10:30.800 then load all the shirts into his car and then 0:10:30.840 --> 0:10:34.000 we would drive to USPS and get very ugly looks 0:10:34.040 --> 0:10:36.480 from the workers there because we'd be mailing out maybe 0:10:36.600 --> 0:10:39.480 hundreds of shirts at a time. But that was the 0:10:39.480 --> 0:10:42.760 way that we first sort of supplemented the income for 0:10:42.920 --> 0:10:47.160 the business. That was that was so entrepreneurial. I knew 0:10:47.160 --> 0:10:49.840 I was going to suck that up. Yeah, every time 0:10:49.880 --> 0:10:51.440 I tried to say that one. But you know what 0:10:51.480 --> 0:10:56.920 I mean, guys, entrepreneurial of you? Yeah, I mean we 0:10:56.920 --> 0:10:58.880 didn't have any I mean We didn't have any choice. 0:10:58.920 --> 0:11:01.280 It was like that was our only option. It was 0:11:01.440 --> 0:11:04.360 trying to sell merch to create an income, to stay 0:11:04.400 --> 0:11:06.560 out of a job or work a job and not 0:11:06.559 --> 0:11:09.320 be able to create content. So and you're so young 0:11:09.400 --> 0:11:11.679 to figure that out. Yeah, well, I think I think 0:11:11.679 --> 0:11:14.160 I probably had some advice from my dad to we 0:11:14.200 --> 0:11:16.360 didn't really have any other choice. It's just like that 0:11:16.440 --> 0:11:17.800 was the only way to do it at the time. 0:11:17.840 --> 0:11:20.080 And you're still going to school at this point, and 0:11:20.080 --> 0:11:21.800 what were you majoring in? Was it anything to do 0:11:21.880 --> 0:11:24.840 with this world? That was just general ed. We didn't 0:11:25.160 --> 0:11:27.200 really know what we wanted to do. I think Anthony 0:11:27.640 --> 0:11:30.560 thought he would get a business degree, but I think 0:11:30.600 --> 0:11:34.000 he didn't really know quite what that meant. He's just like, 0:11:34.040 --> 0:11:36.440 I don't know, business sounds nice. And he was already 0:11:36.640 --> 0:11:38.600 he was running the website on his own, so he 0:11:38.679 --> 0:11:41.960 kind of already had like a knack for entrepreneurial kind 0:11:42.000 --> 0:11:44.160 of like, look at you. He just said it the 0:11:44.200 --> 0:11:47.440 first time, Did I do it? Like? It was like, Butter, 0:11:48.000 --> 0:11:52.160 I'm really jealous, you'll get it, you know. We we 0:11:52.200 --> 0:11:55.680 didn't have any sort of set plan, and our parents 0:11:55.679 --> 0:11:59.719 didn't have any expectation for us to become lawyers or 0:11:59.760 --> 0:12:02.160 doc there. So there was nobody pushing us in a 0:12:02.200 --> 0:12:05.000 specific direction. So that kind of allowed us to kind 0:12:05.000 --> 0:12:07.920 of just see that this is a big opportunity that 0:12:08.000 --> 0:12:11.520 it was our only chance to possibly take, so we 0:12:11.600 --> 0:12:13.120 just kind of went full into it. But just like 0:12:13.200 --> 0:12:16.040 they weren't pushing an agenda, it doesn't really sound like 0:12:16.160 --> 0:12:19.120 you necessarily had an agenda either. It wasn't like some 0:12:19.120 --> 0:12:21.439 people start a YouTube channel because the ultimate goal is 0:12:21.480 --> 0:12:23.959 to be an actress, a series regular, or they want 0:12:24.000 --> 0:12:26.199 to break into music. It just seemed like you guys 0:12:26.280 --> 0:12:29.040 were throwing things to the ceiling and seeing what's stuck 0:12:29.080 --> 0:12:31.640 that you enjoyed doing. But it didn't seem like you 0:12:31.679 --> 0:12:33.760 had a well we're doing this because we want to be, 0:12:33.840 --> 0:12:36.960 you know, movie stars in five years. Yeah. I'm a 0:12:37.120 --> 0:12:39.800 very much go with the flow kind of guy. So 0:12:40.440 --> 0:12:45.600 for me, I didn't have aspirations. I guess I wouldn't 0:12:45.600 --> 0:12:48.800 say like, well, they'll look at you. It just fell 0:12:48.880 --> 0:12:52.080 into a lot of success. I don't know, but I 0:12:52.120 --> 0:12:54.520 think you worked very hard for that. I didn't have 0:12:54.760 --> 0:12:58.120 I didn't have any I didn't feel like I deserved anything, 0:12:58.400 --> 0:13:01.120 you know, I think a lot of people actors, you know, 0:13:01.200 --> 0:13:04.240 they put a lot of time into this dream of 0:13:04.280 --> 0:13:06.960 becoming an actor, and then when they get sort of 0:13:06.960 --> 0:13:10.679 a taste of success, then they feel like I deserve this, 0:13:11.320 --> 0:13:13.920 Like anything anything that comes my way, I don't feel 0:13:13.960 --> 0:13:16.200 like I deserved it. I mean, I worked towards it 0:13:16.360 --> 0:13:18.960 and it happened, and then I just try to, you know, 0:13:19.000 --> 0:13:21.640 not take anything for granted. And that's just kind of 0:13:21.640 --> 0:13:24.400 been the way that I've always kind of looked at 0:13:24.400 --> 0:13:26.439 our career. It's like just kind of go with the flow, 0:13:26.559 --> 0:13:29.679 go with like wherever this crazy thing is taking us. 0:13:30.240 --> 0:13:32.719 Would you say that that has a lot to do 0:13:32.840 --> 0:13:36.720 with the fifteen plus years of success this brand that 0:13:36.800 --> 0:13:39.640 wasn't a brand at the time has seen because of 0:13:39.679 --> 0:13:42.600 your mentality and because of your attitude towards everything you 0:13:42.640 --> 0:13:44.839 were doing every day. Yeah, I think so. And I 0:13:44.880 --> 0:13:49.520 wasn't looking to use Smash as a platform to become 0:13:49.600 --> 0:13:55.120 a television actor or you know, a director or anything like. 0:13:55.480 --> 0:13:59.440 To me, all those things are awesome and I love 0:13:59.520 --> 0:14:02.720 doing that, um and I'll take those opportunities if they come. 0:14:03.360 --> 0:14:06.679 But Smash has always made the most sense to me 0:14:06.920 --> 0:14:11.319 as like that's my sort of base, That's what I understand, 0:14:11.400 --> 0:14:14.040 and it's what I think that we're good at and 0:14:14.080 --> 0:14:18.880 everything else is is nice, But there's probably other people 0:14:18.880 --> 0:14:21.080 they're better at it than me. So you're creating content, 0:14:21.200 --> 0:14:23.960 you're making you're getting little brand deals here and there, 0:14:24.040 --> 0:14:27.200 you're selling merch just to keep things afloat. When did 0:14:27.240 --> 0:14:32.120 it become something that you felt like wasn't a hustle struggle. 0:14:32.360 --> 0:14:34.480 It was more of like, Okay, we have a system 0:14:34.600 --> 0:14:37.240 going and this is this is a real business. Was 0:14:37.240 --> 0:14:39.760 there like a video that went viral? Was there a 0:14:39.840 --> 0:14:43.880 moment a validation? Can you remember a time when it 0:14:44.000 --> 0:14:46.440 felt real, because I'm sure it took a while to 0:14:46.480 --> 0:14:51.000 feel like a real quote unquote real Job's say, in 0:14:51.120 --> 0:14:56.920 like two thousand seven, we were contacted by um, this guy, 0:14:56.960 --> 0:15:01.720 Barry Bloomberg. He was Disney television executive that had left 0:15:01.720 --> 0:15:04.040 Disney and he was kind of looking for the next 0:15:04.080 --> 0:15:06.960 thing to focus on and he sort of saw, you know, 0:15:07.120 --> 0:15:10.280 online media as being this sort of next thing. So 0:15:11.080 --> 0:15:13.640 he started working with us and was like, if you 0:15:13.640 --> 0:15:15.640 guys want to do this for a long time, you 0:15:15.680 --> 0:15:18.560 need to start thinking of Smash as like a comedy brand. 0:15:18.760 --> 0:15:20.760 So it was now small at this point, you had 0:15:20.920 --> 0:15:23.880 evolved into Smash. Yeah, I mean Smash was a name 0:15:23.920 --> 0:15:27.800 that we had actually had since sophomore year of high school. Okay, 0:15:27.800 --> 0:15:30.800 so that was not like evolved into the name Smash. 0:15:30.800 --> 0:15:33.240 You guys always kind of called it Smash. Yeah. That 0:15:33.360 --> 0:15:35.640 really worked out because, like at the time of like 0:15:35.800 --> 0:15:38.680 the beginning of YouTube, everybody was like their channels were 0:15:38.720 --> 0:15:42.080 just like their names. If we didn't have Smash, we 0:15:42.160 --> 0:15:45.239 might have called our channel like Ian and Anthony Productions, 0:15:45.720 --> 0:15:49.880 which doesn't exactly lend itself to longevity. But luckily we 0:15:49.920 --> 0:15:52.160 had this great name because it was a it was 0:15:52.200 --> 0:15:54.440 an inside joke that our friends that came up with, 0:15:54.520 --> 0:15:57.520 and then Anthony created a website for it, and then 0:15:57.560 --> 0:16:00.000 when the YouTube video started picking up, we're like, well, 0:16:00.040 --> 0:16:03.120 let's just continue to have it tied to this Smash name. 0:16:03.800 --> 0:16:06.480 At that time, it was just Anthony and myself as 0:16:06.600 --> 0:16:10.840 the faces of Smash, and it was Barry that you know, 0:16:10.960 --> 0:16:12.800 sort of said, if you guys wanted to be doing 0:16:12.840 --> 0:16:15.760 this ten years, twenty years, whatever years down the road, 0:16:15.880 --> 0:16:17.440 it needs to be more than just you two. It 0:16:17.480 --> 0:16:20.880 needs to be a brand. And that's something that we 0:16:20.880 --> 0:16:22.360 weren't thinking of the time. I don't think that was 0:16:22.520 --> 0:16:26.920 something anybody's thinking about at the time. Nowadays, every Instagram 0:16:27.080 --> 0:16:30.880 model is like, this is my brand. Everything is happiness 0:16:30.920 --> 0:16:34.440 and beauty and positivity. Everybody's thinking like what their brand 0:16:34.520 --> 0:16:37.240 is now. But back then it's like, no, our channel 0:16:37.280 --> 0:16:39.280 is like we're just like two guys. But it made 0:16:39.280 --> 0:16:41.400 a lot of sense to say that we always just 0:16:41.480 --> 0:16:42.880 kind of like went by the flow that I guess 0:16:42.880 --> 0:16:44.960 that's not completely true. Like we we did have this 0:16:45.080 --> 0:16:48.520 vision of what smash could become. I mean just from 0:16:48.560 --> 0:16:52.000 the beginning, you screenprinting your own merch you may have 0:16:52.000 --> 0:16:54.080 been go with the flow and attitude of like where 0:16:54.080 --> 0:16:58.320 this goes, but you were very much proactive in everything 0:16:58.320 --> 0:17:01.600 that you guys did, like the to the Patreon, your 0:17:01.600 --> 0:17:04.400 own version of Patriot. Yeah, that ended once we started 0:17:04.480 --> 0:17:06.480 like actually getting money from merch. Were like, okay, we 0:17:06.520 --> 0:17:08.560 can't just ask for money from We can't just be 0:17:08.680 --> 0:17:11.000 like can I have five dollars? We can give you 0:17:11.000 --> 0:17:12.800 a shout out at the end. Yeah, we stopped. We 0:17:12.800 --> 0:17:15.479 stopped doing that. We're like, okay, that's just kind of wrong. 0:17:15.680 --> 0:17:18.200 And I'm not I'm not talking Patreon. I think Patreon 0:17:18.320 --> 0:17:20.159 is great, but you were not pay I mean you 0:17:20.240 --> 0:17:23.320 were just saying five dollars please. Yeah. Yeah, We're like, hey, 0:17:23.359 --> 0:17:25.119 we'll show you on the video if you give us. 0:17:26.119 --> 0:17:28.720 But yeah, that that changed once. That probably paid for that. 0:17:29.400 --> 0:17:31.720 I mean people do. But if we were look back 0:17:31.720 --> 0:17:37.080 and be like Tatiana Bruckly, Um, so Barry comes along 0:17:37.160 --> 0:17:40.720 two thousand seven. This was I believe around the time 0:17:40.920 --> 0:17:45.480 when YouTube started their partner program two thousand right, yeah, 0:17:45.520 --> 0:17:49.320 I think, yeah, so that is when the partnership program. 0:17:49.680 --> 0:17:52.240 I'm sure you were one of the very first. Yeah, 0:17:52.280 --> 0:17:54.919 we were one of the first ten channels actually. For 0:17:54.960 --> 0:17:57.560 the partnership program. YouTube was like, hey, we'll pay you 0:17:58.080 --> 0:18:01.399 this base amount of money and we're gonna put ads 0:18:01.440 --> 0:18:03.479 on your videos. And that was something we were nervous 0:18:03.480 --> 0:18:05.920 about at first because there had never been an add 0:18:05.960 --> 0:18:08.320 on YouTube, like maybe on like a banner on the 0:18:08.320 --> 0:18:10.800 front page, but to have an ad play before the 0:18:10.920 --> 0:18:13.119 video or just at that time, it wasn't even pre 0:18:13.240 --> 0:18:15.280 role pre roles weren't even a thing. It was just 0:18:15.359 --> 0:18:17.560 a pop up they put in our videos. Our fans 0:18:17.600 --> 0:18:19.760 freaked out, They're like, what is this garbage? Oh you 0:18:19.760 --> 0:18:22.080 guys sold out, like, well, we need to do this 0:18:22.119 --> 0:18:24.640 if we're going to continue to create videos, and and 0:18:24.680 --> 0:18:28.480 at that time, like the audiences didn't really have an 0:18:28.560 --> 0:18:32.720 understanding of, oh, if they want to keep creating content, 0:18:32.800 --> 0:18:36.560 they actually need to make money doing this. Now everyone understands, 0:18:36.720 --> 0:18:40.680 and now like audiences are excited when they see YouTubers 0:18:40.800 --> 0:18:44.840 or instagrammers or even tiktoker's get brand deals. They're like, 0:18:44.840 --> 0:18:47.159 they're like, yeah, get that money, get that money. But 0:18:47.320 --> 0:18:51.040 for probably the first six years or maybe even beyond that, 0:18:51.119 --> 0:18:53.840 whenever we did a brand deal, we just got shipped 0:18:53.880 --> 0:18:56.320 on all the time. Was it the nature of the 0:18:56.359 --> 0:18:58.560 brand or was it any time you did a brand 0:18:58.640 --> 0:19:01.760 Because I could see if a brand was like completely unaligned, 0:19:02.040 --> 0:19:04.040 people being like, why are you doing a Tampax? Not 0:19:04.080 --> 0:19:08.480 that did that, I mean, but if they came and 0:19:08.520 --> 0:19:10.600 they you know, had some good you know, we we 0:19:10.600 --> 0:19:13.439 we toss some good creative back at them. Tampax hit 0:19:13.480 --> 0:19:14.919 us up. And I feel like, if there's somebody that 0:19:14.920 --> 0:19:17.840 could pull it off, I would be you guys. I 0:19:17.840 --> 0:19:20.720 think it's you know, also, some some people were very 0:19:20.760 --> 0:19:23.240 young and don't understand that. You know, when you leave 0:19:23.280 --> 0:19:25.520 your parents house, you need to make money. And I 0:19:25.560 --> 0:19:27.520 think you know to to a degree, like a lot 0:19:27.560 --> 0:19:29.960 of the things we're doing are brand integrations, which at 0:19:29.960 --> 0:19:32.959 that time nobody had really done on YouTube. Obviously, like 0:19:33.119 --> 0:19:36.119 television does it. You know, American Idol has a Coca 0:19:36.200 --> 0:19:39.080 Cola cup next to them, But also a lot of 0:19:39.119 --> 0:19:44.520 those companies didn't trust online brands to get their message 0:19:44.520 --> 0:19:47.399 across well. So a lot of the messaging that we 0:19:47.480 --> 0:19:50.640 had to put into videos was insane, like you have 0:19:50.760 --> 0:19:52.600 to say this slogan and you have to do this, 0:19:52.640 --> 0:19:54.120 and you have to do that, and it's like at 0:19:54.160 --> 0:19:56.480 that time, a lot of brands didn't understand like no, 0:19:56.840 --> 0:20:01.119 like allow this person to work your and into the 0:20:01.200 --> 0:20:05.000 creative rather than forcing them to create what's essentially a commercial. 0:20:05.160 --> 0:20:07.560 I cannot relate more. I'm not going to name the company. 0:20:07.560 --> 0:20:09.560 I was working for a company that they did a 0:20:09.600 --> 0:20:13.160 deal with Turbo Tax, which I'm on a red carpet 0:20:13.240 --> 0:20:15.879 for the Grammys, and they're like, work in Turbo Tax. 0:20:15.920 --> 0:20:19.000 I'm like, what do you fucking mean? They so then 0:20:19.040 --> 0:20:22.000 I was like, so have you done your taxes? Miley 0:20:22.200 --> 0:20:25.560 cyrus like it was just and the way that they want, 0:20:26.000 --> 0:20:28.399 you know, And then they didn't. They weren't thinking ahead. 0:20:28.400 --> 0:20:30.760 And I think it's really great that they do trust 0:20:30.800 --> 0:20:33.240 content creators, but trust content creators to come up with 0:20:33.280 --> 0:20:35.600 a creative way to do it because but I also 0:20:35.640 --> 0:20:38.280 think in everyone's defense, it was such a new concept, 0:20:38.400 --> 0:20:40.960 and I just remember being so uncomfortable being like a 0:20:41.000 --> 0:20:42.920 little way and have you done your taxes? I mean, 0:20:42.920 --> 0:20:45.439 I'm not saying you didn't, but have you? It was 0:20:45.480 --> 0:20:48.359 just awkward, and I just remember being in these awful 0:20:48.440 --> 0:20:52.480 situations with these brands. Turbo tax scarred me a little. Yeah, 0:20:52.720 --> 0:20:55.720 shout out, I don't blame you. Yeah, we had some 0:20:55.800 --> 0:20:57.880 pretty bad ones. And it was also just like they 0:20:57.880 --> 0:21:01.159 were very controlling about the creative and they'll be like 0:21:01.480 --> 0:21:04.199 silly violent things that would happen in our videos, and 0:21:04.200 --> 0:21:06.879 they'd be like, oh, I'm sorry, could the lawn flamingo 0:21:07.000 --> 0:21:10.000 not hit her in the head. You're like, no, it 0:21:10.040 --> 0:21:12.320 has to hit her on that. Yeah, that's just too violent. 0:21:12.520 --> 0:21:14.359 That's too violent. I'm sorry, Like, we don't want to 0:21:14.359 --> 0:21:16.720 promote violence. So it's just we we had to deal 0:21:16.760 --> 0:21:18.800 with a lot of that garbage. And I feel like 0:21:18.960 --> 0:21:21.480 brands are a little bit better now and they trust 0:21:21.560 --> 0:21:23.520 the creators a little bit more, and now they just 0:21:23.680 --> 0:21:26.520 if they want to market their product to young people. 0:21:27.040 --> 0:21:30.359 They have to work with us because they're not watching television. 0:21:31.119 --> 0:21:34.120 We are the only option for these companies. And someone 0:21:34.160 --> 0:21:37.520 would much rather watch you throw a flamingo at someone's 0:21:37.560 --> 0:21:40.159 head to sell a product than like some I'm being like, 0:21:40.200 --> 0:21:42.359 you should get this product. It just it doesn't work 0:21:42.400 --> 0:21:45.000 if they're smart. But I mean not every not everybody's 0:21:45.000 --> 0:21:47.280 there yet. I think brands are definitely coming around. I'm 0:21:47.280 --> 0:21:50.760 seeing brands really trust content creators, especially on Instagram, these 0:21:50.800 --> 0:21:53.080 like short little videos and people are able to make 0:21:53.160 --> 0:21:55.639 up their own sketches to promote whatever. I'm seeing that 0:21:55.720 --> 0:21:58.400 a lot, and it's very refreshing. But you're right, there's 0:21:58.400 --> 0:22:01.200 a lot of brands it's still probably don't fully get 0:22:01.240 --> 0:22:03.400 it yet. A lot of the bigger brands are still 0:22:03.560 --> 0:22:06.800 very concerned about this idea of Middle America where they 0:22:06.840 --> 0:22:09.879 think that everybody in quote unquote Middle America is this 0:22:10.040 --> 0:22:14.600 sort of like very delicate, you know, very religious, like 0:22:14.720 --> 0:22:18.320 if they say anything about violence or sex, like they're 0:22:18.359 --> 0:22:21.000 gonna leave this brand forever. And it's like, no, they're 0:22:21.040 --> 0:22:25.040 just people, but they're very concerned about offending. If anything, 0:22:25.080 --> 0:22:28.680 I think people are so unaffected now and people want 0:22:28.880 --> 0:22:32.399 fun and a little bit more just lighthearted stuff. I think, 0:22:32.680 --> 0:22:35.760 and especially I think the people that you're targeting the millennials. 0:22:35.920 --> 0:22:39.440 I love that term, but you know, you influence the millennial, 0:22:39.480 --> 0:22:42.000 the people that spend the most money. Those people they 0:22:42.040 --> 0:22:43.960 want to see you doing it, so you start getting 0:22:43.960 --> 0:22:46.960 brand deals, money is coming in, you're dealing with content. 0:22:47.320 --> 0:22:50.439 This was still just you and Anthony at this point, right, 0:22:50.480 --> 0:22:53.480 we're still the faces we started on. One of the 0:22:53.520 --> 0:22:55.720 other things that that Barry was kind of pushing for 0:22:55.880 --> 0:22:59.560 is early YouTube, you're doing everything yourself. There's nobody that 0:22:59.600 --> 0:23:02.439 was really building a business off of YouTube. There's no 0:23:02.480 --> 0:23:05.399 sort of guidelines on what's a healthy way to work 0:23:05.440 --> 0:23:08.920 on online. Every YouTuber is working seven days a week, 0:23:09.080 --> 0:23:11.680 fourteen hours a day. And Barry was one of those 0:23:11.680 --> 0:23:14.280 people that's like, you need to treat this like a job, 0:23:14.600 --> 0:23:17.160 and in in that way, you're taking the weekends off, 0:23:17.400 --> 0:23:20.560 you're hiring people to help you. The moment we did that, 0:23:20.720 --> 0:23:23.800 we found a remarkable increase in in our sanity, and 0:23:23.800 --> 0:23:26.639 I think that's something that like I have always tried 0:23:26.720 --> 0:23:29.679 to preach to other YouTubers. I'm like, the moment you 0:23:29.720 --> 0:23:32.840 make any sort of extra income, like put the workload 0:23:32.920 --> 0:23:36.040 onto somebody else that can help you create content, whether 0:23:36.080 --> 0:23:40.240 it's editing, or whether it's an assistant or whether it's 0:23:40.240 --> 0:23:43.000 a producer, like anybody that can take that workload off 0:23:43.160 --> 0:23:46.159 off what you're doing. Artists are very controlling about the 0:23:46.160 --> 0:23:49.560 thing they're putting out, so they have this mindset that like, oh, 0:23:49.600 --> 0:23:51.600 but nobody can do it like me, And that's just 0:23:51.640 --> 0:23:53.879 not the truth for a lot of YouTube content, a 0:23:53.920 --> 0:23:55.919 lot of people like I just can't find an editor 0:23:56.080 --> 0:23:58.720 that understands what I'm doing, Like, I just I just 0:23:58.760 --> 0:24:01.080 can't do that. It's like, there's a lot of very 0:24:01.080 --> 0:24:03.399 talented people out there, and like, as long as you 0:24:03.440 --> 0:24:05.919 just stay with them and teach them the sort of 0:24:05.920 --> 0:24:08.520 way that you create content, they can get there. Was 0:24:08.560 --> 0:24:11.480 it hard for you, guys? Obviously you're starting to hire people. 0:24:11.960 --> 0:24:14.840 You edited your own stuff from the beginning of time. 0:24:14.960 --> 0:24:17.040 Now other people are editing your content. Was that like 0:24:17.080 --> 0:24:18.760 a hard thing because it is hard to let go, 0:24:18.840 --> 0:24:20.960 like you said, if you're creative, Was it hard for 0:24:21.000 --> 0:24:24.800 you and were there any challenges with becoming bigger because 0:24:24.840 --> 0:24:26.760 in a sense now you have very involved it's not 0:24:26.840 --> 0:24:29.400 just you and Anthony sitting at a table collaborating saying 0:24:29.400 --> 0:24:32.000 we want to do this, there's people invested in involved 0:24:32.560 --> 0:24:35.280 that have an effect on your content. Was that hard 0:24:35.280 --> 0:24:38.160 for you as far as the creative and writing process goes, 0:24:38.320 --> 0:24:42.040 we were. We were writing everything for the first maybe 0:24:43.000 --> 0:24:48.040 five for six years, so creatively we were still we 0:24:48.119 --> 0:24:53.320 still had control. As it went on and as the 0:24:53.440 --> 0:24:57.480 channel expanded, we couldn't do everything, so we hired an editor, 0:24:57.920 --> 0:25:01.119 and then later on when we started doing another channel, 0:25:01.359 --> 0:25:05.080 we hired a writer who's actually still with us, so 0:25:05.119 --> 0:25:07.879 he's been with us for about nine years. I really 0:25:08.440 --> 0:25:11.720 believe in collaboration. I don't think I have the best ideas. 0:25:11.920 --> 0:25:15.520 I think I have ideas, but I'm perfectly okay with 0:25:15.520 --> 0:25:17.760 with passing them by somebody and say, hey, is this 0:25:17.880 --> 0:25:19.760 a good idea or is this a shit idea? And 0:25:19.800 --> 0:25:22.160 if they're like shit idea and they can explain why, 0:25:22.320 --> 0:25:24.840 then I'm okay with that. And for me, I think 0:25:24.920 --> 0:25:27.040 that collaborating with people is only going to create a 0:25:27.040 --> 0:25:35.200 better product unless you're a genius than unless you're Kanye West. Yeah, yeah, sure, sure, 0:25:36.040 --> 0:25:40.800 no comment, but I think, you know, I think in 0:25:40.840 --> 0:25:44.600 most cases, collaboration never hurts, or at least never hurts 0:25:44.640 --> 0:25:47.320 to run it by a second opinion, I couldn't agree 0:25:47.359 --> 0:25:50.080 with you more so. I read an article actually that 0:25:50.560 --> 0:25:52.760 said that on multiple occasions, I think it was like 0:25:52.880 --> 0:25:56.240 three or four different time periods between like two thousand 0:25:56.200 --> 0:25:58.480 and eight and two thousand and fifteen, Smash was the 0:25:58.560 --> 0:26:02.000 number one most subscribe to channel on YouTube. Do you 0:26:02.040 --> 0:26:05.040 pinch yourself when you think about that, because it's massive, 0:26:05.240 --> 0:26:08.480 especially as we get later in time like two, when 0:26:08.480 --> 0:26:11.880 there are so many content creators and so many YouTube channels. 0:26:12.000 --> 0:26:16.680 What do you think attributed to this consistency and success? Yeah, 0:26:17.119 --> 0:26:19.320 I think the thing is we were always doing the 0:26:19.359 --> 0:26:22.320 content that we wanted to do at the time. We 0:26:22.320 --> 0:26:25.560 were never chasing trends. Like the reason why we hit 0:26:25.760 --> 0:26:29.880 the most subscribed four times was because a certain trend 0:26:29.880 --> 0:26:32.879 would hit or YouTube would shift an algorithm. Then a 0:26:33.000 --> 0:26:37.000 creator would get this crazy bump, crazy bumping views, crazy 0:26:37.040 --> 0:26:40.760 bumping subs. Then they would rise above everyone else, and 0:26:40.800 --> 0:26:43.560 then the algorithm would shift or trend would shift, and 0:26:43.560 --> 0:26:46.400 then their content would no longer be favored, so then 0:26:46.840 --> 0:26:49.320 they would maybe sort of drop out of favor. But 0:26:49.359 --> 0:26:52.600 we were always just constant, which is remarkable because it's 0:26:52.640 --> 0:26:55.600 not just like, oh, you guys took over two thousand eight. 0:26:55.680 --> 0:26:59.440 It was like to be able to consistently be at 0:26:59.480 --> 0:27:03.160 the top, you've got to be evolving NonStop and knowing 0:27:03.200 --> 0:27:05.840 what your viewers want because your viewers are also growing, 0:27:05.880 --> 0:27:08.000 and so there's this like balance of like what do 0:27:08.080 --> 0:27:10.679 we want to do as creators because you're evolving, and 0:27:10.720 --> 0:27:12.720 then what do our fans want? It has to be 0:27:12.760 --> 0:27:15.320 such a hard thing to balance and figure out, like 0:27:15.359 --> 0:27:17.760 what the secret sauces in a sense, But you guys 0:27:17.840 --> 0:27:21.240 figured it out. I mean, I mean, there's the algorithm 0:27:21.240 --> 0:27:24.000 is always shifting, so it's it's never it's never like, 0:27:24.040 --> 0:27:27.359 oh we figured it out, We're good forever exactly. It's like, 0:27:27.400 --> 0:27:30.040 you know, every once in a while, we'll have something 0:27:30.160 --> 0:27:32.640 that will that will hit and will be like, oh, okay, 0:27:32.800 --> 0:27:35.600 that works, so then let's kind of keep going down 0:27:35.680 --> 0:27:38.840 that route. But there's obviously people right now that are 0:27:39.080 --> 0:27:42.159 killing the game, killing it way more than us, Like 0:27:42.200 --> 0:27:44.879 we just look like little teeny tiny tadpoles compared to 0:27:44.920 --> 0:27:47.439 them because they've figured it out. But do you think 0:27:47.480 --> 0:27:51.000 it's a temporary figured it out? Like I think I 0:27:51.000 --> 0:27:53.160 think as long as as long as they're savvy, then 0:27:53.280 --> 0:27:56.640 then they could probably stay up there forever as long 0:27:56.680 --> 0:27:59.479 as the YouTube keeps favoring that content. But you know, 0:27:59.600 --> 0:28:02.680 YouTube gets something like three hours of video every second 0:28:02.760 --> 0:28:05.320 or something like that, So what you see on YouTube 0:28:05.440 --> 0:28:08.240 is just this teeny tiny little tip of the iceberg 0:28:08.760 --> 0:28:12.120 above like all the other stuff on YouTube. So I've 0:28:12.119 --> 0:28:15.560 always kind of, you know, had this this mentality that 0:28:15.640 --> 0:28:18.240 it could be over the next day. That's why we 0:28:18.440 --> 0:28:21.080 had always put focus on our website because we're like, okay, 0:28:21.119 --> 0:28:23.920 we can at least control whatever happens on the website. 0:28:23.960 --> 0:28:28.480 We own that we own, you know, anything that happens there. Nowadays, 0:28:28.760 --> 0:28:32.600 you know, the sort of landscape online is completely shifted. 0:28:32.760 --> 0:28:35.120 Like you don't go to websites anymore. How many websites 0:28:35.160 --> 0:28:38.640 do you go to that aren't Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, 0:28:38.800 --> 0:28:40.440 And you're not even you're going to the app on 0:28:40.480 --> 0:28:43.840 your phone. You're not even like actually going to website. Right, Yeah, 0:28:43.880 --> 0:28:48.120 websites are irrelevant now. It's it's become completely whittled down 0:28:48.200 --> 0:28:51.880 to a few social media sites, in my opinion, So 0:28:52.120 --> 0:28:54.960 our strategy of build the website that that became less 0:28:55.000 --> 0:28:56.840 and less relevant as it went on, So like, okay, 0:28:56.880 --> 0:28:59.640 we just need to focus on social media. Then unfortunately 0:28:59.640 --> 0:29:02.080 you don't. We don't own that. So it's just kind 0:29:02.120 --> 0:29:05.320 of like our strategy has always been, like, don't discount 0:29:05.600 --> 0:29:07.960 the other social media, like don't put all your eggs 0:29:07.960 --> 0:29:12.080 in one basket. Don't mean yeah, don't be just a YouTuber, 0:29:12.240 --> 0:29:14.400 like also be on Facebook. Like we get a ton 0:29:14.440 --> 0:29:17.000 of yous on Facebook. We're also on Twitter and Instagram, 0:29:17.040 --> 0:29:20.240 not quite on Snapchat, you guys dabble and twitch at all. Well, 0:29:20.280 --> 0:29:24.080 the thing with twitches that Twitch is in a weird 0:29:24.200 --> 0:29:25.960 kind of place and that if you want to be 0:29:26.000 --> 0:29:29.280 a prolific person on Twitch, you have to be able 0:29:29.320 --> 0:29:33.600 to stream something like five hours a day. I mean 0:29:33.680 --> 0:29:36.600 you have to consistently be on Twitch to even for 0:29:36.680 --> 0:29:39.120 anyone to even notice you. We've had good meetings with 0:29:39.200 --> 0:29:41.160 the people at Twitch, and I think it's an awesome 0:29:41.200 --> 0:29:44.120 platform and I love for us to be on it, 0:29:44.240 --> 0:29:45.800 Like I'd love to find a way for us to 0:29:45.800 --> 0:29:48.720 be on it, But if it's gonna take me being 0:29:48.800 --> 0:29:51.520 on Twitch for five hours a day, three times a week, 0:29:51.680 --> 0:29:53.960 I just physically can't do that with all the other 0:29:53.960 --> 0:29:56.360 stuff we do. So I totally believe in Twitch and 0:29:56.400 --> 0:29:59.160 I think it's a great platform. I'm interested to see 0:29:59.320 --> 0:30:02.800 what happened with the sort of public opinion on the 0:30:02.800 --> 0:30:05.120 creators on there, because I think I think a lot 0:30:05.160 --> 0:30:07.560 of the creators on there being worked to the bone. 0:30:07.800 --> 0:30:10.120 I mean just in the news this week with streamers 0:30:10.120 --> 0:30:12.560 and people who are in competitive gaming, like all the 0:30:12.600 --> 0:30:15.080 news that came out with bass Plan and it's a 0:30:15.080 --> 0:30:17.600 whole world for sure. The thing I love about Twitch, 0:30:17.600 --> 0:30:19.320 and I'm sure this is one of the reasons you 0:30:19.360 --> 0:30:21.880 love it, is the real time interaction with your fans 0:30:22.320 --> 0:30:24.360 that like, you can't beat that. But I know that 0:30:24.400 --> 0:30:27.160 you guys do interact and you have engagement on YouTube, 0:30:27.200 --> 0:30:29.560 and I'm sure you do Facebook lives and things like that, 0:30:29.680 --> 0:30:32.360 but allow you to connect. But you would think, because 0:30:32.560 --> 0:30:36.040 you guys do fall into the gaming category that it 0:30:36.080 --> 0:30:40.720 would be a natural but not. It's it's a little 0:30:40.800 --> 0:30:43.560 it's different for us because we've never been about competitive 0:30:43.600 --> 0:30:46.480 gaming exactly. So like a lot of times brands will 0:30:46.480 --> 0:30:48.800 come to us and they'll be like, so smash e 0:30:48.960 --> 0:30:51.840 Sports and we're like, no, like have you seen my content? 0:30:52.600 --> 0:30:55.040 Like so we have Smash Games, which is another channel 0:30:55.080 --> 0:30:57.280 that we have and that's our that's our gaming stuff. 0:30:57.600 --> 0:31:00.760 But none of us are good gamers were our sort 0:31:00.760 --> 0:31:04.040 of outlook on gaming. For for Smashes, it's it's a 0:31:04.080 --> 0:31:07.560 group of friends having fun and that's that's how it's 0:31:07.560 --> 0:31:10.120 always been. And none of us are particularly good at it. 0:31:10.240 --> 0:31:13.440 That's one side of twitches, like people that competitively play, 0:31:13.480 --> 0:31:15.680 people that are good. You have the Ninjas and the 0:31:15.760 --> 0:31:19.080 te Fews of the world. That's definitely not us, and 0:31:19.120 --> 0:31:21.920 I think there's there's obviously room for both. You were 0:31:21.960 --> 0:31:25.800 talking about how you in your head always said this 0:31:25.840 --> 0:31:27.960 could end any day, and there have been some close 0:31:28.000 --> 0:31:30.320 calls in the career who got a touch on it, 0:31:30.840 --> 0:31:34.520 but you're still going strong. You specifically are still you know, 0:31:34.640 --> 0:31:38.640 carrying out the Smash legacy. Anthony is no longer um 0:31:38.640 --> 0:31:40.600 a part of the brand, but still very close friend 0:31:40.640 --> 0:31:42.800 of yours. Can you just for people who may not 0:31:43.120 --> 0:31:45.280 be aware of there were things in the last I 0:31:45.280 --> 0:31:47.920 would say like five years that affected the brand and 0:31:48.360 --> 0:31:52.200 how you kind of ruled with those times. So yeah, 0:31:52.200 --> 0:31:54.040 I say five years is probably a good a good 0:31:54.200 --> 0:31:56.960 distance to go back. So you know, one of our 0:31:57.440 --> 0:32:00.360 big direction we want to go Smash was grows Smash 0:32:00.400 --> 0:32:03.800 beyond Anthony and myself sort of the idea that I 0:32:03.800 --> 0:32:06.680 had always had is you know, you look at Smash 0:32:06.720 --> 0:32:10.880 like a Saturday Night Live that has a cast of talent, 0:32:11.120 --> 0:32:14.560 we would be the sort of Lauren Michaels of the 0:32:14.600 --> 0:32:17.520 Saturday Night Live. And that's the direction that I've always 0:32:17.560 --> 0:32:19.680 wanted to go. I don't think I need to be 0:32:19.800 --> 0:32:23.120 the star of the channel forever, and I still want 0:32:23.120 --> 0:32:25.960 to be heavily involved. But I think, you know, if 0:32:26.000 --> 0:32:28.000 if you look at our content now, we have people 0:32:28.360 --> 0:32:31.880 like Shane Top, Courtney Miller, Olivia Sway Like, it's just 0:32:32.000 --> 0:32:35.160 incredibly talented people and they bring something to the table 0:32:35.320 --> 0:32:38.480 that I can't bring. You built that table, you better 0:32:38.520 --> 0:32:41.720 not forget it. But like I'm I'm also just like 0:32:41.800 --> 0:32:47.200 a white guy from suburban Surprise, I'm just a white 0:32:47.240 --> 0:32:50.640 dude from suburban northern California. Like I, I have a 0:32:50.640 --> 0:32:53.880 certain life experience that I can draw from. But the 0:32:53.920 --> 0:32:56.840 beauty of comedy is that it comes from life experience. 0:32:56.920 --> 0:32:59.560 So I can only tell one side of comedy. So 0:32:59.600 --> 0:33:01.800 if I can bring in people from all walks of 0:33:01.880 --> 0:33:05.520 life to tell their sort of side, than that's representing 0:33:05.920 --> 0:33:08.480 more of the country or the world. All these people 0:33:08.480 --> 0:33:12.240 started joining on, you guys get acquired a couple of times, right, 0:33:12.280 --> 0:33:15.760 I mean, not specifically Smash, but through changing hands a 0:33:15.800 --> 0:33:18.480 few times. Can you talk us through the different companies 0:33:18.520 --> 0:33:21.120 that you kind of had to associate with along the 0:33:21.120 --> 0:33:23.400 way and then severed ties with Yeah. So I think 0:33:23.560 --> 0:33:26.640 the very very first thing was we we needed to 0:33:26.680 --> 0:33:30.640 grow beyond what we were capable of becoming on our own. 0:33:30.880 --> 0:33:36.040 So in two thousand leven I think, we sold Smash 0:33:36.160 --> 0:33:39.120 to a company called Alloy Digital, and they were a 0:33:39.120 --> 0:33:43.920 company that they were starting to acquire other digital entertainment properties, 0:33:44.040 --> 0:33:46.520 one of which you know very well, Clever, which was 0:33:46.560 --> 0:33:49.280 an entertainment news company. So for us, it was it 0:33:49.320 --> 0:33:52.240 was a chance to be part of something bigger than ourselves. 0:33:52.640 --> 0:33:55.880 And it was obviously a risk, but every choice in 0:33:55.960 --> 0:33:59.560 business is a risk, and at the beginning it seemed 0:33:59.600 --> 0:34:03.120 like a really good idea. Obviously, they helped us grow 0:34:03.320 --> 0:34:05.760 to a point that we couldn't have gotten to ourselves. 0:34:05.800 --> 0:34:07.640 So I'm not saying it was all a bad thing. 0:34:07.920 --> 0:34:10.319 I think that they helped us greatly, and I mean 0:34:10.360 --> 0:34:13.000 we're we're paid just fine doing it, so it's like 0:34:13.239 --> 0:34:16.359 it wasn't a totally bad bet. So eventually Alloy then 0:34:16.440 --> 0:34:20.600 merged with Break Media, famous for the break website, which 0:34:20.680 --> 0:34:23.239 was at the time just uh. It was a lot 0:34:23.280 --> 0:34:25.279 of like, oh, here's a girl in a bikini. That 0:34:25.320 --> 0:34:28.400 was kind of their business model. I think I'm not 0:34:28.440 --> 0:34:31.200 the biggest fan of that content. But so anyway, they 0:34:31.520 --> 0:34:37.080 merged and became Defy Media. Then they would acquire more brands, 0:34:37.360 --> 0:34:40.200 and I was like, okay, that's fine. They they gave 0:34:40.280 --> 0:34:43.480 us so much creative freedom to do what we wanted 0:34:43.520 --> 0:34:47.000 to do. They didn't meddle in that side of our business, 0:34:47.040 --> 0:34:50.279 so in that respect they were great. Apparently they made 0:34:50.320 --> 0:34:56.840 some bad business, bad business decisions, and the company effectively collapsed, 0:34:57.400 --> 0:35:00.000 which left Smash in a weird place because I didn't 0:35:00.040 --> 0:35:03.480 known it anymore, but it was no longer in their possession. 0:35:03.600 --> 0:35:07.680 There was a moment in time late last year that 0:35:07.840 --> 0:35:11.719 I didn't know if Smash was going to continue. Somebody 0:35:11.880 --> 0:35:15.719 very wonderful at Defy gave me access to the logins 0:35:15.880 --> 0:35:20.440 to the YouTube channels during the downtime. Legally was they 0:35:20.520 --> 0:35:22.880 don't know. I think I think for I think it 0:35:23.000 --> 0:35:27.640 was wise for all parties to allow us to create 0:35:27.640 --> 0:35:30.680 content and keep the channel alive. Because the bank that 0:35:30.760 --> 0:35:35.880 was selling the properties obviously they don't want a depreciating assets, 0:35:35.880 --> 0:35:39.120 so for us to continue to create content and keep 0:35:39.160 --> 0:35:42.520 the brand alive, that's just you were. You were creating content, 0:35:43.040 --> 0:35:46.359 not getting paid, just just hoping to keep this thing 0:35:46.400 --> 0:35:49.720 alive what you did. So, I think that's really interesting. 0:35:49.760 --> 0:35:52.440 I didn't know that people were getting paid and people 0:35:52.480 --> 0:35:55.640 actually put in a lot of work. Are our longtime 0:35:55.680 --> 0:35:58.640 director Ryan Todd, who has been with us for ten years, 0:35:58.800 --> 0:36:01.960 he's living up in Acrimento. He was flying down to 0:36:02.080 --> 0:36:05.200 help us shoot these videos with no pay on his 0:36:05.239 --> 0:36:09.279 own dime. And our cast also not getting paid. They 0:36:09.320 --> 0:36:12.040 were coming like we had some crew people, like longtime 0:36:12.040 --> 0:36:15.200 crew people showing up to help us shoot. They're all 0:36:15.239 --> 0:36:17.319 doing it for no pay. It was just like it 0:36:17.400 --> 0:36:19.399 was a really cool thing to to sort of see 0:36:19.440 --> 0:36:22.120 like this is something that we all put work into 0:36:22.320 --> 0:36:25.040 and to see people you know, have a commitment to 0:36:25.120 --> 0:36:27.600 it at that level is really really awesome. Well, it 0:36:27.640 --> 0:36:30.279 goes to show that people really believed in the in 0:36:30.320 --> 0:36:32.960 the brand and the product, right, I mean, you've been 0:36:32.960 --> 0:36:36.120 in this for so long. They're basically saying we we 0:36:36.160 --> 0:36:38.319 believe in your baby, and we don't want it to 0:36:38.360 --> 0:36:41.640 go away. Yeah. Yeah, And I think yeah, everyone believed 0:36:41.680 --> 0:36:43.759 in it, and they and they believed in what it 0:36:43.800 --> 0:36:48.359 could still do in the future. So well it worked out. Yeah, 0:36:48.400 --> 0:36:50.640 it worked out. I mean I I set out to 0:36:50.719 --> 0:36:53.400 try to pull together investment to pull it out myself. 0:36:53.760 --> 0:36:57.480 The timeline was too crazy for that. And then last minute, 0:36:57.520 --> 0:37:00.640 Retton Link stepped up. Retten Link, who are also long 0:37:00.800 --> 0:37:04.680 time YouTubers. They run a show called Good Mythical Morning. 0:37:05.080 --> 0:37:07.800 They are also childhood friends like Anthony and myself, and 0:37:07.880 --> 0:37:11.640 they stepped up and they acquired Smash and it's been really, 0:37:11.680 --> 0:37:15.440 really awesome. And now we can announce that Rhett in 0:37:15.640 --> 0:37:19.040 Link have bought Smash and made us a part of 0:37:19.120 --> 0:37:22.200 Mythical Entertainment, which we are so excited about because they 0:37:22.200 --> 0:37:26.439 are creators helping creators. It really is an awesome thing. 0:37:26.680 --> 0:37:30.400 We get to do whatever we want and we're super 0:37:30.480 --> 0:37:34.279 super excited. That's so great. I mean, this is you 0:37:34.320 --> 0:37:36.799 don't hear stories like the story of Smash, which is 0:37:36.800 --> 0:37:39.160 why I really wanted you to come in, because you 0:37:39.200 --> 0:37:43.399 guys defied every odd You stayed true to who you were. 0:37:43.840 --> 0:37:45.959 You didn't kind of as we touched on, you didn't 0:37:46.040 --> 0:37:48.719 roll with the trend. You kind of just stayed consistent, 0:37:48.800 --> 0:37:52.920 and because of that consistency, you gained new fans. But 0:37:53.000 --> 0:37:56.000 then I'm assuming a lot of your Day one fans 0:37:56.040 --> 0:37:58.240 are still with you. There. There has to be, because 0:37:58.480 --> 0:38:01.960 our demographics or I mean it's it's eighteen to twenty 0:38:01.960 --> 0:38:04.600 four is the largest demo, but then the second largest 0:38:04.600 --> 0:38:07.200 demo according to YouTube, And obviously I'm sure there's kids 0:38:07.239 --> 0:38:09.760 are using their parents accounts, but our second largest demo 0:38:09.880 --> 0:38:13.080 is thirty five, So those are like the Day one 0:38:13.239 --> 0:38:15.719 I think, so. Yeah, So there's definitely there's definitely a 0:38:15.760 --> 0:38:18.759 group of legacy viewers people have been watching since the 0:38:18.800 --> 0:38:22.000 beginning or relatively since the beginning. And then there's the 0:38:22.040 --> 0:38:25.080 people that are that are just now finding Smash. That's incredible. 0:38:25.480 --> 0:38:28.399 And so Anthony is no longer with Smash. You guys 0:38:28.440 --> 0:38:30.799 are still good friends, I assume, Yeah, we stay in touch. 0:38:30.920 --> 0:38:32.480 Was it hard for you to make the decision to 0:38:32.560 --> 0:38:34.560 stay or was that just not even an option not 0:38:34.680 --> 0:38:40.080 to when your other half essentially leaves. Yeah, we definitely 0:38:40.120 --> 0:38:42.480 talked about it because he he told me like, hey, 0:38:42.880 --> 0:38:46.080 you know, thinking about leaving, and and he asked me 0:38:46.160 --> 0:38:47.480 to keep it a secret for a little bit, what 0:38:47.760 --> 0:38:50.480 for a little while, So he could sort of get prepared. 0:38:51.160 --> 0:38:55.480 And obviously I honored that Anthony is leaving Smash. This 0:38:55.560 --> 0:38:59.160 is not click bait, this is not a sketch. I 0:38:59.239 --> 0:39:03.120 just need to do it's best for me, and that 0:39:03.320 --> 0:39:06.000 right now for me is to focus on creating stuff 0:39:06.080 --> 0:39:09.839 as an independent creator on my own channel. And that's 0:39:09.840 --> 0:39:13.279 something that I fully support and I cannot wait to 0:39:13.400 --> 0:39:17.080 see what Anthony goes out there and create some I'm 0:39:17.120 --> 0:39:20.200 excited for him. Thank you. I like, I'm talking about you, 0:39:20.400 --> 0:39:24.640 like literally, I'm excited for you. Did you feel pressured 0:39:24.719 --> 0:39:27.360 to jump ship with him just because you had started 0:39:27.400 --> 0:39:29.680 it together? Or were you just he he asked me 0:39:29.719 --> 0:39:32.080 if if I wanted to leave, and and he's like, 0:39:32.239 --> 0:39:35.600 you're thinking about leaving? I was like, I just doesn't 0:39:35.680 --> 0:39:38.840 feel right. It's just not doesn't feel like the right time. 0:39:39.520 --> 0:39:41.600 I think that a lot of those kinds of decisions 0:39:41.600 --> 0:39:43.520 you just have to trust your gut. You might not 0:39:43.560 --> 0:39:46.840 be able to put it into words. Why, But like, 0:39:46.880 --> 0:39:48.640 I feel like there's so much more we could do 0:39:48.800 --> 0:39:53.520 with Smash, And I think it's such a cool Brandon 0:39:53.640 --> 0:39:58.160 for me. The ability to employ, you know, thirty people 0:39:58.719 --> 0:40:01.960 is is a source of pride for me for myself, 0:40:02.000 --> 0:40:04.960 and I think what he did like he needed to do, 0:40:05.560 --> 0:40:07.960 and I don't think what he did was selfish in 0:40:08.000 --> 0:40:12.680 any way. Also, being being a solo creator isn't attractive 0:40:12.719 --> 0:40:16.239 to me. Like I said, I like collaboration, and you 0:40:16.280 --> 0:40:18.520 guys were the dynamic duo. It was just it was 0:40:18.560 --> 0:40:21.440 Ian and Anthony. So that had to be a transition 0:40:21.560 --> 0:40:23.799 for you as well. Well. At that point there was 0:40:23.840 --> 0:40:26.719 already the the other cast, so that that was something 0:40:26.719 --> 0:40:30.040 that was started maybe about four years ago. And the 0:40:30.080 --> 0:40:33.160 company that was, you know, Defy, they were very insistent 0:40:33.320 --> 0:40:36.200 on like forcing them into the content, like, Okay, they're 0:40:36.200 --> 0:40:38.320 just gonna be in the videos now are we talking 0:40:38.360 --> 0:40:41.080 about like the so Hankies and the Jovins of the world, 0:40:41.200 --> 0:40:43.640 and that was Smash Games. But yes, but they were 0:40:43.680 --> 0:40:48.239 also doing crossover into some of your content, right, yeah, 0:40:48.320 --> 0:40:50.160 but that made a little bit more sense because we 0:40:50.160 --> 0:40:52.520 were starting a whole new channel. It's like they're gamers 0:40:52.560 --> 0:40:55.160 and we're gamers. That in a less sense, but it 0:40:55.239 --> 0:40:59.120 was the people like Courtney Miller, Shane top Le, No Grossman, 0:40:59.160 --> 0:41:02.040 olivious way. So you didn't feel completely on your own 0:41:02.120 --> 0:41:04.280 in the sea of what do I do? You had 0:41:04.320 --> 0:41:06.480 you had a great team at the at the point 0:41:06.560 --> 0:41:08.800 that Anthony left. Our channel was more than just E 0:41:08.960 --> 0:41:11.319 and Anthony by by the time he left. But there 0:41:11.360 --> 0:41:15.360 was obviously some really painful transition periods when we started 0:41:15.440 --> 0:41:19.040 introducing the cast four years ago, because the company insisted 0:41:19.040 --> 0:41:20.960 on just throwing the people in there, like, that's not 0:41:21.000 --> 0:41:24.479 how YouTube works. This isn't the Disney Channel. You can't 0:41:24.520 --> 0:41:26.920 just hire a bunch of young people and throw them 0:41:26.960 --> 0:41:29.600 on and expect people to be okay with that. Were 0:41:29.600 --> 0:41:33.239 you in a position that you could voice that no, no, 0:41:33.560 --> 0:41:36.000 I mean I voiced it, but you weren't in a 0:41:36.080 --> 0:41:39.680 position where it had weight Because now this the company, 0:41:39.840 --> 0:41:42.680 huge company is just too bad. We're paying them, so 0:41:43.120 --> 0:41:45.920 you need to use them, I mean for us and myself. 0:41:46.000 --> 0:41:47.480 You know, I'll go with the flow. So it's like, 0:41:47.520 --> 0:41:49.440 okay if you say so, And we tried to do 0:41:49.480 --> 0:41:52.160 it and as natural of a way as possible. But 0:41:52.280 --> 0:41:55.680 with YouTube you can't lie. You can't, well you can, 0:41:55.800 --> 0:41:59.840 but eventually catches up to you. But you can't like 0:42:00.040 --> 0:42:02.960 bullshit your way through your content. So you know your 0:42:02.960 --> 0:42:05.280 fans would call you out in two seconds. Yeah, exactly. 0:42:05.400 --> 0:42:07.279 So a lot of people were like, who are these 0:42:07.280 --> 0:42:09.040 new people, Why are they doing this? And it was 0:42:09.239 --> 0:42:12.359 very clear it had to happen. I think it could 0:42:12.360 --> 0:42:15.759 have been a little bit softer of a of a transition, 0:42:16.360 --> 0:42:19.800 but it happened. Some people got mad, but then people 0:42:19.880 --> 0:42:24.000 then realize like, oh, they're literally just helping the content 0:42:24.160 --> 0:42:27.279 be better, because you can't just continue to do the 0:42:27.360 --> 0:42:31.800 same thing for fourteen years, like you have to evolve 0:42:31.920 --> 0:42:34.840 and it can't just be Ian and Anthony sitting in 0:42:34.880 --> 0:42:38.360 a living room on a couch for every single sketch, 0:42:38.760 --> 0:42:41.239 and that's what it was for for what felt like 0:42:41.520 --> 0:42:47.480 too long. So in hindsight, fifteen fourteen years later, you 0:42:47.960 --> 0:42:51.399 can whisper into young Ian's ear and tell him one 0:42:51.440 --> 0:42:56.000 piece of advice that might make things transition smoother business 0:42:56.040 --> 0:42:58.759 deals better. Would there be something that you would, in 0:42:58.880 --> 0:43:02.799 hindsight tell younger I I don't think so. I mean, 0:43:02.840 --> 0:43:05.200 I think obviously there was. There was things that didn't 0:43:05.280 --> 0:43:09.240 work out, but that's still worked out in a sense. Yeah, 0:43:09.360 --> 0:43:11.719 I mean, whether it was like a bad brand deal 0:43:11.760 --> 0:43:14.880 and we got backlash or you know, some sort of 0:43:14.920 --> 0:43:18.120 bad business deal, or like oh we hired this person 0:43:18.200 --> 0:43:20.920 and they weren't great, Like that's all part of learning. 0:43:21.360 --> 0:43:25.560 So whatever bad things happened, they happened, and we became 0:43:26.040 --> 0:43:29.600 better because of it. Absolutely, it actually shaped your journey 0:43:29.640 --> 0:43:32.759 and probably taught you, you know, how to get over 0:43:32.800 --> 0:43:35.480 the hurdle. And you guys are thriving. Now. How many 0:43:35.560 --> 0:43:38.560 I think I've saw twenty four million subscribers across it 0:43:38.600 --> 0:43:43.280 might I might even be think we're twenty five something. 0:43:44.920 --> 0:43:47.040 We were we were stuck. We were stuck at twenty 0:43:47.080 --> 0:43:50.680 two million for like I think, like a year because 0:43:50.880 --> 0:43:53.800 just our content was not was not in the right place. 0:43:53.840 --> 0:43:57.160 And then once once we got things correct and we 0:43:57.160 --> 0:43:59.760 started doing the things that we felt like we needed 0:43:59.760 --> 0:44:03.600 to do, you it immediately changed. Can you wrap your 0:44:03.600 --> 0:44:06.840 head around it's a big number. Twenty five million people 0:44:07.239 --> 0:44:11.200 wait for your content. That's a lot that's subs and 0:44:11.280 --> 0:44:14.799 that's also people that subscribe maybe eight years ago that 0:44:14.840 --> 0:44:18.160 are that moved on, So it's not necessarily million people 0:44:18.200 --> 0:44:21.880 that are watching. Okay, fine, but still I mean, starting 0:44:22.000 --> 0:44:26.880 from a couch doing lip singing videos, fast forward fourteen years, 0:44:27.200 --> 0:44:31.120 you've built an empire that huge beheamoths of companies have 0:44:31.239 --> 0:44:34.000 wanted to buy. It started on a couch you and 0:44:34.040 --> 0:44:36.040 your best friend that's got to be a pinch me. 0:44:36.320 --> 0:44:39.640 It's weird. It's pretty weird. I mean, you're so in it, 0:44:39.640 --> 0:44:41.799 it's your life, so you probably don't see it that way. 0:44:41.800 --> 0:44:45.560 But from the outside it's an insane story. I I agree, 0:44:45.560 --> 0:44:48.000 it's insane, and thank you for sharing you with us today. 0:44:48.680 --> 0:44:51.279 I'm really excited to see where Smash goes in the 0:44:51.320 --> 0:44:53.160 next couple of years. Do you have any do you 0:44:53.160 --> 0:44:55.799 have a vision for what you think? Let's not even 0:44:55.840 --> 0:44:57.279 do a big one, but like, where do you see that? 0:44:57.480 --> 0:44:59.719 Where do you see Smash in the next year? Let's 0:44:59.719 --> 0:45:02.880 go super small? Yeah. Well, we we got back on 0:45:02.920 --> 0:45:08.640 our feet in February with Mythical and if these past 0:45:09.120 --> 0:45:12.920 four months are indicative of where we're going that I 0:45:12.960 --> 0:45:16.160 feel very very positive about our future. That's awesome. It's 0:45:16.200 --> 0:45:20.480 been nothing but good ship. The ship is going to 0:45:20.600 --> 0:45:23.879 get better and better, like the biggest, best ship you've 0:45:23.880 --> 0:45:27.680 ever seen. Yeah, and you know what we're ending on that. 0:45:29.000 --> 0:45:31.520 Thank you so much for stopping by. I'm really excited 0:45:31.560 --> 0:45:34.200 for everything that you have going on, big big things, 0:45:34.320 --> 0:45:37.319 big big ships. Yeah. Well, thank you for having me 0:45:37.360 --> 0:45:39.719 on here to talk about my ships. Now all day, 0:45:39.760 --> 0:45:42.080 you can always come and talk about your pooh. All right, 0:45:42.600 --> 0:45:44.800 I just said pooh, and we're definitely just going to 0:45:44.920 --> 0:45:49.239 cut right now. Hi guys, thanks for listening. Behind the 0:45:49.320 --> 0:45:51.640 Influence is a production of I Heart Radio and t 0:45:51.800 --> 0:45:52.440 DC Media