The Comment Section with Drew Afualo - RAGE BAITING! Ft. Smosh

Episode Date: April 3, 2024

Smosh (Anthony Padilla and Ian Hecox) joins Drew on the show this week to talk being one of Youtube's original sketch channels, and react to some misogynistic comedy sketches on Tiktok. They unpack accidentally going on a date with a fan, AD House tours, when Drew’s dog got explosive diarrhea, extreme fan interaction stories, why shitting on men is a winning formula, and so much more! Drew: https://linktr.ee/drewafualo SMOSH: IG / TikTok For sponsorships/partnerships, email [e-mail]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This episode is brought to you by Ring. Check on your home with Ring's battery doorbell so you can see who's at your door and track packages in real time. Outdoor cam plus helps protect your yard at night with a wide view and clearer retinal 2K video. And for even more detail, upgrade to 4K cameras and doorbells with retinal vision so you can zoom in without losing clarity. Your door, your yard, your home. With Ring, it's protected. Shop cameras, doorbells, and more right now at Ring. My first Frenchie that I had, he was having stomach issues and, like, it was blowing shit out of his

ass, like a flare gun, like all over the wall. I was like, oh. And then at like the crack of dawn, we went to the specialist. She like came in and was like, oh, I need you to sign this. And I signed it. She's like, by the way, I'm such a big fan. Can I take a picture with you? No.

And I was like, whoa. You're like crying? And she's like, by the way, can I get a photo? He's like, why are you being a bitch? Hey, everyone. and welcome back to another episode of the comment section show starring me your favorite everybody knows me who cares about me on to the guests today we have two iconic legendary YouTubers the one and only smock who aka Ian and Anthony.

Hello. Welcome to the show. Hi. Thank you. I'm happy to be in the presence of greats. Oh. What's YouTube greats? Who paid you to say that?

We're like great-grandfathers. Yeah. We're very, very old. You are a lot older than me. I'm just kidding. Yeah. We're pushing 50. I mean, closer to 40 than we are 30 now.

That's true. That's true. I'm honored to have you all in the show. Thank you for having us. When I think of like original content creators, I think of people like y'all. Okay. Like people who like really pioneered like a new wave of like job employment. Yeah.

I'm thankful for it now. I'm thankful for it. So am I. Because we didn't think this was going to be a job. Yeah. Well, that's actually kind of what I want to start with. I'm so curious to know how y'all fell into YouTube and how it like started. Because I obviously I know your YouTube arc.

Yeah. But I'm curious how you all got into YouTube in the first place. It was all accidental, really, because we started making some, some videos just on our own with a webcam that I borrowed from my dad. And we hosted it on the website that I was programming, smosh.com. And then we did a Google search and found that it was uploaded to this new site, YouTube, that we had never heard of. And that's how we found it. It was all just an accident. And how do you all know each other originally?

Like, how did you start making videos together? Yeah, we've been friends since sixth grade, but we didn't really make videos until like we got out of high school. So it was like we were just kind of like, had we ever made a video before? Not really. We made like flash animations and stuff because that was popular in early internet days. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And we weren't even super close as friends, but then Ian started bumming rides off me in high school. And then we became close friends.

I don't know where you started with this propaganda. I don't know if that's totally, I don't know if that's totally true. That's in my head, the narrative, and I'm going with that until the day I die. I feel like he started this canon like two years ago. It's actually not true to the Lord. He like soft launched this like, he wasn't really my friend until he bumped him. He's been microdosing it over the last 10 years. Yeah.

But testing the water is with that. And, like, I think my problem was that because I don't trust my memory. So I'm gaslighting him and then I'm like, this is the new story, bro. This is the new, this is the new narrative and arc we're going with. Yeah, because he said it once and I was just like, yeah. Yeah, you're Florence Pugh and don't worry, darling. That's true. Don't remind me.

He put you to sleep. Dude, that movie, oh, God. Not a fan. I mean, it was one of the worst movies I saw in theater ever. It was, but it was like funny. She was great in it. We were laughing our asses off. Yeah.

That's how I felt about anyone but you. Have you all seen that movie? The Sydney Sweeney one. No, but that was like super successful though, right? Yeah, confused as to why, but like, I mean, love her.

It's not good. No, not even a little bit. It's not like funny. No, not even a little bit. It's funny because it's so bad. It's like,

wow. Yeah. You know? Like that's what it's funny. But it's like two hot people on screen. And I think that's why I did well. Yeah, sure. Good on you.

Happy for you. Unfortunately, some of us have to be funny for a living. Unfortunately. Yeah. Dude, that sucks. Sucks for us, man. Sorry.

Good for them. We're rich trolls compared to Sydney Sweeney, so. All right. I mean, isn't everyone. Okay, so you started bumming rides and that's how you be. Yeah, I think contemplating. You know, I want to fix the narrative now. I'm sorry for coming out for gaslighting you.

But I will say that we became closer friends because we were forced to be in the car spending time after school. together. That's true. Played video games at your place. We hung out at my place. We're bored. And then we picked up the camera and started messing around. Yeah. And then when you saw that it was put on YouTube, like what was the initial reaction? I think from y'all and audience. Yeah. There were, like, there were a very little amount of people that interacted with it. It was like 12 people that interacted with it. And they were like, oh, funny. And we were like, is this a platform that we should consider putting our stuff on. And it was free.

Yeah, exactly. Because people don't realize that in the early days of the internet, there weren't just like platforms that you could upload video to for free. Yeah. And if you hosted it on your own website, the more views that I got, the more that you'd be paying for bandwidth. And there was no way to make money. Yeah.

You're just spending money. You were just losing money. Yeah, I'm just paying for people to watch my webcam videos. Yeah. You're like, not those kind of. You're upside down in the business already. Yeah. So, yeah, it's not a good business.

Wasn't a good business plan. No. At the beginning. Not at all. When did you guys decide to like really lock in and kind of do this together? And like you're like, I think this could turn into something. Was it just like consistently putting out videos and seeing like traction or was it? I mean the, you know, I got into it just for the attention really.

Yeah, I got into the void in my heart. That's fair. That's valid. Yeah, I crave the attention. It made me feel important. I think you have to like attention to some extent in order to do this for a little. Oh, yeah. There's no way. Yeah.

The people that are the best at it are the most extreme narcissists. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. No. But I think like, I mean, it was just crazy because it's, that's not like, we didn't make these videos with any intention of it being like popular. We didn't even know that you could become popular for making internet videos. It was just like, oh, we made like some silly videos and then people, started watching her like what is this yeah um so we just kind of like rode the momentum we just

kept making more and more people kept watching them so then we just kept doing it um and uh and then uh and then yeah a little bit down the road it started making some money and then they're like oh like maybe this like maybe it's not a career but maybe we can like make this like a sustainable thing or like turn it into like a small business while we're going to college. And so that was kind of the initial plan. And then once we started making decent money, then we're like, oh, we can put college on hold and just focus on like making YouTube videos. Oh, okay.

So you guys dropped out at the same time. Are you guys both? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. We're both dropouts. Dropouts. Yep. Thank God it worked out.

I know, right. Your parents are like, who, they were a little bit like, But also I was like we can always go back if we really have to. That's true. We can't necessarily go back to this moment where like this is the perfect time for this new platform that's taking off. Yeah. So it was our argument. Yeah, I was going to ask too if you guys were doing it at the same time you're in college because that would be fucking hard.

Because I already graduated when I built a platform. Yeah. So I can't imagine having to do that at the same time of having to be a student. I feel like there was less pressure back then though. Because I think that we only release a video like every three weeks. Yeah. One video every three weeks. Yeah.

It's not like TikTok where you have to put out three videos a day. Yeah, or else you were relevant. Yeah, like we were putting out like, yeah, one video every three weeks. Yeah. And that was that was considered consistent. Yeah. Well, honestly, because at the time, people just made one-off viral videos or just one-off videos for their friends.

And there really wasn't like a continuous momentum that was even established. Yeah. Or people like following one specific person. Yeah. See just their content. Yeah, exactly. There were very few people that made consistent content with a consistent audience. Yeah.

Was there a video where you all like it went super super viral and you guys were like ooh Like maybe this could be something or like I mean like oh like a bad thing Because back then going viral was always a good thing now yeah yeah can be a horrible thing sure yeah oh yeah a lot of times it's a horrible thing yeah And going viral back then was different because going viral back then would mean like a hundred thousand views in a day Yeah which is crazy uh but no it's actually one of our first video so we didn't even get a chance to like feel out what this world was like before going viral which is the weirdest thing to say it was our first video that we uploaded specifically for YouTube it was like a week after we made our account damn yeah guess we're just lucky like that yeah like guess we're viral now pretty

pretty privilege turns out you are like Sydney Sweeney well back then we were we were we were a young supple 18 year old boys so now you're a man. Yeah, we're just, we're, at all. Just getting by. We're so strung out at this point. Yeah. Like, skins falling off.

Mm-hmm. When did you guys decide to, like, expand Smosh into more, like, the production side of things? Was it after you guys had seen, like, we could, you know, maybe we could help other creators or maybe we could platform other people? I think, what was the driving force behind us? It was, like, five or six years after we started. I think, like, we were, I think we were probably some of the.

first because we were on the platform so early we had realized that burnout was a very real thing probably earlier than a lot of other creators yeah I can only imagine and so like we we were we were talking and also talking to someone that was a business partner of ours and we're talking about ways that we could like make this a sustainable thing and like how can we continue to do what we do you know five or ten years later and and the decision was or the realization was was that we couldn't continue to do everything with just me and him doing every facet for forever.

At that point where you guys still, you guys were filming, editing, uploading, like all on you. Yeah, we had like a camera guy, and that was about it. And then Anthony would do all of the editing for the sketches. And so, yeah, it was just like, it was just a lot. Yeah. And I think like we had fortunately like realized that, you know, after after after after after a few years, it was like, oh, you know, we were just doing YouTube every single day.

And days are just blending into each other. We either didn't have a weekend. We had nothing except this. Just constantly filming, cutting. Yeah. And it was just like, of course when you're 18 or 20 like you can do that. Like you can just go hard, hard, hard, hard, hard. and be fine.

Totally. But, yeah, we were like, okay, maybe we should start treating this, like, a job. And, like, take weekends off. Yeah, not like our life. It's not, like, everything we do always. Yeah. Totally.

I haven't seen the sun in a couple weeks, so. Yeah, when I started getting vitamin deficiency, that was a wake-up call. Yeah, exactly. Like, I need to go touch grass or something. Yeah. Had a dog, go outside. Yeah.

That's, like, the hardest part. I think about doing this is like other than just being accountable. Adding a dog? No, not necessarily. That's relatively easy. It's like doing this for a living. It's like your whole entire life is online, your job, your like engagement, all about your emails, your team, like all communication is online.

So you're like, I think I need to go like be a normal human and God's side or something. Yeah. What do you, what sort of, do you set up boundaries? Like are there certain things that you don't share online? You go like, that's for me. Yeah, all the time. Okay. All the time.

There's like, for a while I didn't share my brother because my little brother just graduated from high school. So he's 19 now. And for a while I didn't share him because he went to public school. And people are weird and creepy. And like, they were like, oh, I think I know. Like my nail girl told me that some girls that she was doing their nails, they were like, oh, I know you have Drew as a client. Like, I'm a big fan. And she was like, okay.

Like, she's just real. she doesn't share anything about me and then they were like I think your brother's in high school do you know if he goes to high school like anywhere around here or like and I was like what the fuck like I got really weirded out by it so there's a lot of boundaries I've set around family yeah like my home because some people are like oh do a house tour and I'm like you're never getting a house store never you'll see one wall and that's it it's so tempting in the early days to like give people what they want yeah share everything but then it's just like the more you give the more they want yeah and then they remember everything.

You got to do the architectural digest thing. Where like a lot of those celebrities, they do the house tour and then they sell the house. Yeah. Right. When they do it when you know you're going to sell it. Or they do it right after they've sold it. Or after. Yeah.

But I think some of them use that as like a way to like boost the value of the house. That's such good marketing though for real. Yeah. Wow. Okay. I'm going to log that away when I'm important enough to be in there. Well, yeah. I mean, you know, when you're about to sell your house, just hit up AD, hit up an interior designer,

fill that house with fucking bowls of lemons. Yeah. The limes. I saw that one. I saw, you know, that's interesting you say that too, because I remember when Kendall Jenner did one,

like her, the guy who was like stalking her or whatever, like found that house and everything and she was still living in it. So that's like, I think she was planning on moving, but she hadn't yet. And like, it's just shit like that.

I'm like, nah, I'm not sharing it. I can't. Do you all set boundaries like that? You've been on the internet for a while. So I'm curious to know your thoughts if it's like changed at all.

Yeah, we've got Yeah, I mean, I used to put everything in my life on the internet. I had relationships, I had vlogs for years, I just had everything on the internet. He said, yeah, you sure did. He knew it was a bad choice.

He had a whole vlog channel and I disagreed with it. He knew that, he knew it was a bad idea at the time. I'm like, you don't get it, man. This is what people want. You got to give them what they want. It's true.

It is what they wanted. It turns out it was not a good idea. But I had to learn the hard way. It was successful. But it doesn't even matter. I had to do. learn the hard way some shit you just got to learn the hardware yeah I feel that's something I even talked about this yesterday with another creator but I was like

telling her this job is so niche that the problems you have in this job you would never learn about in any other job like there's just no way to know how to deal with it until you have to deal with it and then you learn from other people like oh that person had a stalker that found them because of this thing you're like exactly okay I've told people like my biggest piece of advice for you as a creator is to make other creator friends like make build community and like lean on each other and like ask for help and advice and all that because that's what I had to do because I'm like I had such normal ass jobs before this right I had no way like when I was a server they would not teach me how to like make sure

people can't find out where I live like right no fuck was I supposed to know that right and I've told people I'm like your like information is so readily available sometimes like you there's so many protocols you have to put in place in order to protect that yeah learn that shit in college No, and you know, it's wild. Like, for example, when we started shooting our sketches back then, there wasn't any Google Maps. The most that you could really get was like MapQuest, and that did not have satellite view.

It did not have Google Street View. So we would just be like, whatever, well, we could just shoot anywhere we want. And then we found out, the front of the house. And then we found out, like, a few years later, like, oh, shit, people can use Google Maps now. They can find us. perfectly pinpoint where you live. And that's what they did. And that was an issue.

Yeah. It was a huge issue for a while. Everyone knew where we lived. I was curious how you guys dealt with like the parissocial like boundary crossing. And it's more so like for people they love you so much. And they just like they want to show you how much they love you. But sometimes it's too much. It's like it's okay.

I think I think I would guess that streamers probably deal with us a little bit more. Because there is even more. of that direct like social engagement per social kind of relationship totally um i think i think because like we do comedy and a lot of our stuff is more like a joke and less like personal like hey like we're friends like i think i think our relationships with with our viewers are a little bit a little bit better yeah a little bit more removed yeah yeah like like i like i I've never had, I don't think I've ever had like an extremely uncomfortable interaction with, with somebody in, in real life. Really?

Um, well, actually, not even like, not even like when they recognize. There's one that I get, there's one that I get think of a big con. You're actually, I'm a liar. I was like, okay, like, you're, you're not taking social cues. Yeah, that happens. But, what happened? Oh, just, just the, you know, just some weird stuff. I think I know what one you're talking.

about yeah maybe not worth mentioning I'll share one with you when I I think it was like early last year I have a Frenchie well I have two Frenchies but my my first Frenchie that I had he was having stomach issues and like my boyfriend and I had to keep taking him to the vet like over and over again I was taking him to different vets like because they just could not figure out what was wrong with him and he would vomit all the time and it was just freaking me out so like at one point we took him to a specialist because I genuinely thought he was dying because he was up all night like he got a up every 20 minutes had to go and was blowing shit out of his ass like a flare gun like literally it was

like all over the wall i was like oh like watching i felt so bad for him he was up all night i was cleaning shit all night and then at like the crack of dawn we went to the specialist and we took him there and they took him back and they were like oh telling us it could be this it could be this it could be that and so what they were telling us was that he could have some sort of stomach cancer and that's why and then i was like thinking i'm going to have to put him down a night he's only a year old and and And we were both crying, like me and my boyfriend, very emotional. And they were like, okay, like, we're going to take him back really quick, run some tests, we'll be back. One of the nurse, like, or the vet texts, she like came in and was like, oh, I need you to sign this.

And I signed it. She's like, by the way, I'm such a big fan. And then I'm like, thanks. And then she's like, can I take a picture with you? No. And I was like, whoa. You're like crying? And she's like, by the way, can I get a photo?

I know this might be a little. awkward. I don't know when my window's going to close, though, would you mind if I took a photo? Like, I was like, do you care if I find out if my dog's going to die first and then maybe after, if I'm feeling up to it? I was going to say, did you know how to say no? Because sometimes it's so awkward. That was one of the first

times I said no. Like, I was like, do you mind if I, like, wait to see if I'm going to have to die alongside my dog or like. She's like, yeah, I do mind. Right now is the time. She's like, why are you being a bitch? No, literally, like, as soon as I was like, do you mind if I, like, wait until I find out what's wrong with my dog, she was like, okay. And she just walked away like she's pissed off at me.

What? What? Yeah, she was pissed at me. She's fucking mad at me. And I was like, all right. And I live in fear of that because I don't want people to have bad experiences with me. All it takes is one person, too, to, like, blow up this whole story about how. This is why I'm unfollowing Drew.

Yeah. They make a video about me and everyone's like, I fucking knew it. She's always been bad vibes. Like, yeah, the shit just rolls like that. For real. And so I was,

I remember posting on Instagram for the first time. I was like, let's talk boundaries, all right? Like, I really need you guys to hear me when I say this. Like, there are certain times and places.

It'd be great if you could read a room. That would be awesome. Like, some people can't read a room. They really can't. And I, and I, I get it to an extent.

Yeah. But at the same time, I don't. Because even now, like, y'all know, doing this now, it puts you in rooms

with some of the most famous people in the world. And even then, even then, I'm like, I'm not going to ask because that's weird. Like, if we're in a working environment where it's perfectly okay if I ask for a picture. And even then I'm like, eh, I don't want to bother that. That's weird. So I can't imagine doing it when someone's vulnerable. For real. I can imagine that.

I can definitely see. I totally agree with your side. And I think what you did was right. But I do see her side where she's like, I'm never going to get this opportunity again. I'm a big fan. And that's the tough part. I'll just go for it. Yeah.

And like, hey, hey, that's fine. But to give you attitude about it, that's the part where I'm like, okay, like, come on. Like, don't be a dick to me. It's definitely like read the room. Like she's used to like animals dying all the time. That's so true. She's desensitized, right? She's like, what's the big deal?

Your dog's dying. So what? She's like, you're going to die. I'm going to die. We're all going to die. Yeah. Bro. You know what's going to live forever?

That picture. Yeah. So let's go ahead and take that. Yes. The one immortalized thing we could get right in this moment. Yeah. The worst one I've ever gotten was at the gynecologist. That's the worst one.

No way. No, not in the moment. No, it was after. Like after my. That's still just as bad though. Like the doctor or another patient? It was a nurse. Yeah.

So like she was in the room though. Like when I was like getting my exam. And then when I left, she was checking me out. And like on the form and she was like asking me all these questions. And like personal questions. Like literally like. need like very vulnerable personal questions like you do with the nurse and the doctor and then at the end she's like by the way really big fan and i was like well see you didn't have to tell me that

i'm glad i'm actually but she didn't ask for a photo no oh i think it's because she read my energy because like yeah why would you tell me that after i told you my home address yeah and my you saw my private parts my private pot i'm like like you were literally in the room when i was getting a pap smear and now you want to big fan by the way yeah I don't and that's the thing is like if you do know you don't have to tell me yeah unless you're gonna ask for a picture which she didn't even end up asking for and I think that's why she's probably like she's chill she's real cool real cool with it yeah I don't know she seemed kind of annoyed I don't know if I don't know if I've ever I'm trying to think of like I don't

know if I've ever been in a situation where like somebody told me they're a fan and it was like aside from like I went on a date one time and and then the person told me mid-date that that they were like a fan and that they had like auditioned. Oh. And I was just like, bro. Again, you didn't have to tell me. Why? Well, well, I mean, I would have preferred they told me before we went on the date.

Yeah. Just knock on the date because that seems like a big like no-no. But this is like a really cool meet and greet. Yeah. Really cool meet and greet. Like one-on-one? Yeah. She's like, I did audition.

And I would like to try again if that's okay with you. Yeah, yeah, right. And she just starts doing a monologue in front of it. I do have something prepared if that's okay. She slides you a business card at the end. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's awkward too when people are like a handyman in my house or like working on something. They're like, big fan, by the way. So and they're like, they're in my home just like hanging out with me.

Yeah. It's a little bit weird. That's another. Yeah, that's another thing I fear. That happened once with Instacart. Like, I always, first of all, fake names on everything. Like, I tell them no contact, leave it at the door. Don't wait for me.

Literally get off my porch before I open my door. Like I literally write in there, just leave it. Don't ring the doorbell. It's okay. Right. And we left it. But I remember she was leaving the stuff. And I, one of the things needed to be scanned, it's like, you need an ID or whatever if it's over a certain amount or if it's alcohol or something.

So my boyfriend was like, oh, get the door. So he like went and he got it. took all this stuff she scanned and then she goes i think i know your girlfriend aren't you guys like really big on tech talk oh my god does she live here and then my boyfriend was like nope and he just close the door good move nope never heard of that person in my life i've got a lot better at setting boundaries but still every once in a while something will just catch me so off guard that afterwards i'll be like why did i say yes to that i'm a very i'm a very agreeable person yeah i'll usually i'll go along with most things that's his curse it's a problem

I had a USBS guy. A couple days ago, actually. Literally a couple days. Yeah, delivering box to me. And he's like, you need a sign for this. Oh, by the way, are you from Smosh? Can I get a picture? And I was like, why did I, I said yes?

Sure, do you want to come into my home? I was like, well, he's in his, he's in his outfit. I hope he can't post this. Yeah, literally. I think about that a lot too with things like that. Even, and I'm also like, as confrontational as I am online, like, I'm very bad at that with fans because I don't want them to have a bad experience and I understand and like I it's hard when you really appreciate yeah exactly so I don't want to be rude or a dick but like sometimes I like

really do like it is so incredibly weird and uncomfortable like one time I called my bank and like I had to ask them to help me with something and a lady's like oh yeah like she she's like let me ask you security questions right she took all my security questions my fucking passcode my address my phone number like all that shit my email my personal email takes all the information she goes okay great i'm going to transfer you by the way i love your tictox you're so funny and she's like wow i'm looking at your account they're paying you a lot yeah damn you're making that money she's like congrats yeah you've thought about investing in a savings account with us like she just leverages it into selling me something yeah yeah that part was that was really terrible too and i have a very small bank so

it's like there's only so many people that it could be. And you can't lie on those. Like I wish I could put a fake name. Right. Yeah. Like on my personal shit. Like my personal documentation, it's a lot harder. Yeah.

Unless I'm going to evade the law. But, you know. Change your name. That is true. I could legally change it. But then I have to tell everyone else. I guess. Oh, I guess I wouldn't, huh?

If I was like just making videos. Yeah, no, yeah. I never thought about that. You could just change your name and then not tell anyone you change your name. Yeah. Yeah. But then all your documents would be on it. Yeah, it's kind of like when, like, super famous people put fake names when they check

into hotels. Yeah. Yeah. How does that work? I don't know. That's why I'm like, how do they get to do that? Because you have to show an ID. I think that all the time.

I don't know. Like, Harry Stiles, if you're interested, please tell me how you do that. But even the truest fan girls, like, they'll find out what that fake name is. Yeah. Like one of my friends who used to like, she used to like, she used to follow one direction back in the day. She, like literally follow. Like literally. Like literally.

Yeah, she's in prison now. She did write it to me in a letter because we're pen pals. But no, she told me that she knows what name he uses. I don't even remember what it is when he goes to hotels. Shouldn't she be switching it up, right? You would think. You would think. But I guess the OGs know it.

I'm like, okay. They're getting smarter. We have to stay one step ahead. Right. Which is tough. I am curious, too, when it comes to like the world of content creation, Have you all seen like a major shift now that things like TikTok or like reels or whatever like short form content? Even mine back in like 2015-ish.

Yeah, definitely. As it like shifted the medium a lot. I feel like the biggest shift was when people just started making money. Yeah. I can't believe we were around to see like what people were doing when they were just like, I want to make this. And I guess I'm losing money and buying the equipment. But that was a big shift when people started realizing you can get rich off of this. And then just like a completely different mentality of like algorithm hacking.

That's true. Yeah. Right. Like baby things, like start working their way in. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, like you definitely like notice it. I think like VidCon is like a great example of like the, the people you see at VidCon and kind of the shift and like I feel like, um, there was like one shift where I was like, oh, everyone at VidCon now is like hot. Where like in the beginning it was like, you know, it's just a bunch of weirdos. You know, like, and it's like, oh, like, things change. Like, it's, this feels like, it feels very Hollywood now.

Yeah, it's like the worlds are blending together. Yeah. Like, at a rapid pace. And then, like, and now it's like, it's so, it's so, there's a lot of people that are just very business focused. So, like, a lot of people like will, like, just come up to us, not even say like, like, like, like, like, like oh hey like you know love your content or whatever it just be like hey

so I have those be like hey I'm blah blah I have 10 million subscribers on TikTok yeah check up my video this video has 20 million views on TikTok I'm like okay congratulations and it's like collab like what do you do and then you find out what they do and you're like

I'm good you're I can't really collab with that personally but I wish you the best you know it's so funny the only time that's ever happened to me And the most it's ever happened to me is at VidCon. Yeah. Shit like that. That's the only, I've been to Vidicon twice. Yeah, twice.

And, like, that's the only time that's ever happened to me. Yeah, because I think, I think it's like, I get it because it's like people don't, a lot of these people don't get an opportunity to, like, network with other creators. Yeah. Well, especially ones like, y'all, like, you guys have been in the industry forever. And, like, you guys are so well established and have created businesses out of content creation. So, like, I get what you mean. Like, I see it kind of.

what they're going for. But I'd like rather people like meet me and get to know you a at like a place of like what like let's talk about content. Yeah. And not and not about like numbers. Yeah. Because that doesn't matter because then when they start to explain their

content, I'm like. Like do you like do you know? Yeah. Oh yeah. He's like I actually hate it. Yeah. Yeah. So it's just like I don't know.

Like I don't enjoy those. I don't. don't enjoy those interactions. There are definitely creators that will come up and like talk, just be so excited and passionate about what they're making and they want to share that. Yeah. I love that. Yeah.

That's cool. You know, that's kind of what VidCon used to be in the earliest days. And it used to be so collab focused I feel like back in the day when I used to watch, I used to watch blogs of people at VidCon all the time. Like they're all like making videos together and like, I get what you mean. Yeah. Because I'm 28 going to be 29 this year. So like I was around when y'all were like huge on YouTube, like, like,

first you know what i mean and then like the jacky ina's the zuella's the like casper lees like all of them all everyone at the same time like i grew up in that era so i know what that looks like and then when i went is very different it's very it's very it's very different yeah yeah everybody's like everybody everybody everybody's a business person now yeah it's like business first and i and i and i get it like yeah everyone understands the analytics and you know the best business practices and the algorithm. Yeah. But I always say I really,

I do really appreciate how TikTok has, you know, Instagram Reels and all that has allowed anyone to make their own shorter form content. That doesn't, that's a lot more, that's a lot more, it's a lot more accessible than what YouTube required. Because YouTube was kind of that in the beginning,

but YouTube has evolved to kind of reward longer content. Yeah, a little bit more production, a lot, you know, a lot of that. So then it feels like TikTok and real. have kind of fell into that place to be accessible in the way that YouTube used to be about. Yeah, totally.

And I feel like even like when I've had interactions like that, it is very numbers focused. Like they're all like, oh, I have this many followers and I get this many views and I'm like, okay. What they're basically saying like, so here's my word. Yeah. So like, so you should make a video with me. Yeah. I just met you. Like that's weird.

It's so dangerous on the other end too, just like to see your own personal value as your number. Yeah. That's scary because then if that number, when that number eventually goes down, you know, you're not going to know how to come back up from it. Yeah, absolutely. I feel like too, and I've got, I got this question the most of Bitcoin too, which was like, how do I like grow a platform?

Like, how do I go viral? Yeah. I want to go viral, right? And I was like, well, okay, first of all, I can't tell you how to do that because I don't even know how I did it. Yeah. And I was like, but also too, like, I think you should just make content that you enjoy and that brings you joy.

Even if you went viral, are you going to want to keep making it after? Exactly. Well, I'm like, virality is so not, like there's no longevity in it. Like you cannot say, I'm going to be viral forever. It's not like you get viral once and then you're set. Exactly. Exactly. I've even told people like one time someone else to be like, what's the best piece of advice you

give me if I want to like, you know, take time off from work and like really try to focus on concert creation? Right. And I was like, have a lot of money saved because you're not going to make a fucking dime for a long time. Yeah. So just keep that at me. Like you really got to love what you do because you aren't going to make a cent for a while. And even if you do accidentally somehow stumble into a space where you do make money, you have to be prepared not to make money. I think almost like in order to make the content that is worthy of making the money.

And that's why like the truest advice is the most boring and overdone advice. Yeah, people like, that's not what I want to hear. Where it's like enjoy, enjoy what you're making. And it's like, you know. They're like, I've heard that before. We all hate repeating that. But it's true because like if you're not going to make any money, from it ever potentially or not going to make any money from for like three or five years

are you really going to make content that you hate for five years straight because how are you going to feel about that yeah in the hopes that you make money you have to be in the mindset that you can keep doing it for a long time you can keep refining and refining and refining and evolving exactly and if it's something that you like you're going to be excited about that that next step and evolving with it but if you hate it you're going to constantly be like well what about this that didn't work What about this? Yeah. Yeah.

Totally. And I feel like to virality has really warped people's idea of like, oh, I need to do it just like that person in order for it to do well. Yeah. It's almost like that person did it so it's not going to work. Yeah. Yes.

It's like, well, that's been done. Yeah. Don't worry about that. And I've said, I've made that joke before. I'm like, there's only one Emma Chamberlain.

Like, there's only one of her. So if she did it, we don't need to all be her in order for. If there was a recipe that she followed and everyone could do it. Yeah, they would. And that's why I was like,

Like when people are like, oh, just post like 15 videos a day, I can't be doing that shit. I don't have time for that. Like I was like, I'm tired. Do you have a theory for how you went viral? Like, do you like, like? Absolutely. It's like I kicked the shit out of men and people thought it was funny. Like that's literally it.

Like that's what. That's how you do. It's a winning formula. Yeah. It works every time. Every time. It's literally I like, I like, beat the shit out of men that were awful. And then people found joy in that.

Like that's literally what. what it was. It's cathartic. Yeah. For them, it was something that they hadn't, like, experienced before in their own life. And so that's why they liked me.

Yeah. And so I tried the opposite. It just didn't. It just wasn't a vibe. No, I tried kicking the shit out of women. And people were like, that's just not really a vibe.

That's how you and I met. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. It was, uh, yeah, that was my, that's my recipe. It was literally just that.

Like, it was like, and I told people, I've told people before. I can't tell you how to do that. Algorithms are unpredictable. I can't tell you how they work. And literally what made you viral today will not necessarily make you viral.

Exactly. That's why I was like I've evolved my content. As soon as I got the platform, I started rolling balls in other directions. I was like I got to start diversifying. I got to start doing other things because TikTok and social media as a whole is just not going to be forever. If you keep doing the same type of content, people slowly lose interest because that'll maybe have already found its core audience. Yeah, totally. They'll just dwindle in a way.

Yeah. You have to always be finding new audience. And like the Emma Chamberlain example is great because she's evolved. Exactly. Like she's not still a visco girl. Yeah, exactly. She has graduated to a MetGale girl. Yeah, exactly.

She's a fashion girl now. She is evolved as well. Yeah. So if she continued doing Viscoe girl, we would not be talking about Emma Chamehameh. Exactly. She wouldn't be at the level she's at now. And I feel like I'm curious your guys's thoughts on like the virality aspect. Because I know, like, especially with things like,

TikTok because it's like I feel like TikTok it's so easy to go viral it's not easy to sustain like a platform or build as it is on other platforms I'm sure but like I'm curious if you all have seen a shift in that kind of like hyper fixation on like I need to go viral I need to you know what I mean because even like hearing people say like I want to be an influencer like that's weird for me to hear like they're like I'm aspiring to that like I'm like that was like not even remotely an option back in the day wasn't even a thing when you know like you said you're old that wasn't even a in a thing when the upload audience. Yeah. I mean, I think we're very fortunate

to have built our audience on YouTube where you do build an audience and like a community of people that will

that will consistently come back and watch your content. Yeah. Where it feels like TikTok, it's very easy to get views.

Yeah. But it's very hard to build an audience. Yeah. To build community. Yeah. Unless you like really nail

like this one thing and then continue to do that thing. But then also evolve away from it. So it's, it's, I mean, yeah, I think, I think fortunately we built our audience on YouTube. Yeah.

And with TikTok, it's like we're, you know, we're not, we're not doing like crazy numbers on TikTok like you, but we're just kind of like fucking around on it because like we can't, we can't commit. We can't commit. I told you another thing. Another thing I got to do. Like when people bring new apps, they're like, oh, like, be real when that became a thing. I was like, I don't have, I don't have it in me.

I don't add another one to my plate. I can't do it. I don't want it. Stop making the platform. I can't do it. Stop it. Please stop adding them to my plate. I can't take them anymore.

I'm over it. Okay, we're going to go into the topic because I've been talking y'all's ear. I've been asking all lots of questions. Oh, let's go. But obviously, all are not like the godfathers of sketch comedy on the internet. And so I would like to run a couple sketch comedy sketches. Okay, you got some premises. Comedy loosely.

Okay. These are TikToks. Like these are men who like do sketch comedy on TikTok. Okay. But they're just only awful about women. Oh, oh. Oh, interesting. Great.

Great. It's a very specific niche. Yeah. These are real premises. Yeah. Like these are real, real sketches that exist currently on the platform. Oh, okay. But for copyright reasons, I can't show them to you, but I will describe them.

Okay. So we'll go on an imagination journey together. Oh, God, I can't wait to imagine this. The son is, okay, so this guy, he posts a lot of sketch videos where he makes fun and over sexualizes his girlfriend and women in general. Hilarious. It's already hilarious. Classic. In this sketch, in this particular sketch, he's walking out of a building with his girlfriend, holds the door open for her.

Another girl walks by, he keeps holding the door open for the second woman. The second woman says thank you and his girlfriend is mad at him for the rest of the day. essentially the joke is that his girl gets jealous over any small thing. Any sort of female attention. Wow. First off, hilarious. It's very evolved. It's very vine-coded.

That's true. This is what like all those like vine guys did back in the day. Yeah, real king batch type of humor. Yeah, where she's like, oh, women are jealous. Well, that's the joke. Do you think that they're like rage baiting? Like they're hoping that they get more interactions because it'll piss some people off? I'm sure that's the.

case for some of them. But this is supposed to be a sketch. Yeah. So I think I think it's honestly sometimes I think it's half and half like I think it's I think this is funny and I also think people who don't find it funny are going to be so mad they're going to get an engagement. Like they get a high off of yeah it's like a good win for them. Yeah. And so the comments on this one like this one says dumper the door girl is much hotter. These are real comments too from real people. I would check each other. So some of these people must assume this is real. Yeah. Is it like oh yeah like not a skit? Even though this is like, oops, there's a camera filming us.

This is why, like, 12-year-old should not be allowed to be on the internet. Because, like, because they don't have, like, any concept of, like, what reality is. Maybe not a 12-year-old, but a 9-year-old. Yeah. Like, you know. Even a 12-year-old. Like, I think Thomas the Tank Engine is a real, is a real living, breathing train. Or is it a guy with, like, a NASCAR shirt on and glasses.

Do you, do you know? I have no clue, honestly. I wish I did now. Oh, it's the sunglasses in the truck. This next one says, this is all the evidence. you need to find another woman. That one's broken. Okay.

Cool. Again, it's like, I don't understand, like, you said, like, there's just secret hidden cameras everywhere. Yeah. It's all cut together perfectly. I got to upload it. Like, the security guy was like, you should, like, put this on TikTok. Yeah. Maybe the acting was really good.

Oh, I bet. Maybe it was really, really good acting. Like Darmann. Yeah. Yeah. Oscar level, Darmine. Yeah. Type video.

Yeah, he casts all the best actors. Yes. This last one says, Meanwhile, she can post herself half naked on social media, and it would be no biggie, right? I love when people make up a scenario.

Is that an assumption? Or did they stalk that person's profile? No, he's just making up a scenario in his head. Like, Meanwhile, she could start an only fan to make $500,000 a month.

It's not fair. He's like, also, she stole money from me. Yeah. Where'd you get that from? That's so, I'm curious to like to know your thoughts on like how sketch comedy has changed on the internet. Like you know how some sketch comedy in its purest form is silly and fun and entertaining. Yeah.

And then I feel like again, the virality part of the internet has warped it to be like, I'm going to make something that pisses people off so severely. Yeah. That I'm going to go viral no matter what. Yeah, I think that's really what it's about now is like making the thing that you know will go viral. And usually that's because it's going to piss off a lot of people. Yeah. And unfortunately, that's what, you know, these, these platforms promote because it, they want engagement. They want, yeah, because they win no matter what.

Yeah, they want longer audience retention. And if it's, in that case, it's, it's fine, you know, for a lot of these platforms. Yeah, that's so, I find that so upsetting. And I feel like, too, it's really, it's really ruined the purity of, like, the silliness of early YouTube days. Because, like, even, like, back in the day, I would watch sketch comedy on YouTube. Like even Wang Fu, like, you know, they're like OGs too. And like they used to make silly things or serious things. And they were always so fun and lighthearted.

I feel like this kind of. And they were always sketches. Like they're always made up scenarios. They're written, whatever. So like this kind of shit, I feel like has really poison the water when it comes to that kind of stuff. Well, do you all feel that way? I think, well, I mean, if you look at like Wong Fu, like all those guys were like film grads. Yeah.

And so like they actually, they have like experience. and stuff. And then when, when you have something like TikTok that that lowers the barrier for entry, that's great. Yeah. But like when you lower the barrier for entry, you also bring in people that have like no idea like how to how to create a

sketch or they just don't have any like sensibility for like what, what is like not sexist. Yeah. Or they don't care. Yeah. They don't care. They're like, they might even know that it's like sexist, but,

but to them it's like, I mean, that's like, that's like dad humor where they're like, oh, the wife is jealous at me again because I open a layer. You know, it's just like, it's just, I don't know. Hate my wife. Yeah. So it's like it lowers the barrier for entry, which is great, which is great for comedy and also bad for comedy. Yeah. Yeah.

I feel like that person might have even seen that as a success, you know, depending on how much, how many views it got. Yeah. They're like, a win is a win. I'll take it. Yeah. I'm sure he probably made like five other videos that are the exact same thing. Yeah. Yep.

Well, just to wrap things up, I'm so, I would love to know what y'all's best piece of advice would be for people who are, want to get into, whether it's like sketch comedy writing or it's creating long form content at all, or even like building a business for creators. Because I know a lot of your, your guys' ability to like create a production, which can help amplify other creators or writers or comics or whatever. what's your guys's best piece of advice for people who either want to venture into this kind of content or maybe want to build something to help other creators like what's your guys's best piece of advice yeah i think you know just just just you have to enjoy what you do i hate it but it's real i know it sucks that it's so true uh gosh i mean like yeah i think i think a big part of it is oddly enough like finding what your like mission statement or goal is what you're making because if you're just kind of loosely with no direction just making stuff,

you can't really find your own niche. But if you're like, for Smosh, we kind of like huddle together and we're like, what is our main goal for Smosh in general? And it's comedy rooted in friendship. You know, so like that's, that has really helped us kind of set our sights on what is, what is our purpose. Yeah, totally. So aside from just loving what you do, I think having a purpose for like, why am I

making this? What do I want out of it? and can I sit with it through the long haul of all the tough times that I'm going to have, like getting to the place that I want to get to because there will be tough times. Yeah, totally. That's true. I mean, like, yeah, because you're going to go through ups and downs and it's very easy to just like want to follow whatever you think is going to be successful.

But as long as you have that sort of like north star of like, okay, like this is being successful, but how can I filter that through my sort of like mission? and I think to just have a strong point of view like work on yourself work on on maintaining like a strong point of view have specific values that you can filter your content through and then I think that that'll help you have a more distinct viewpoint and point of like point of view

so that you it just doesn't become like vanilla yeah I was like a lot of people you know like of course Taking risks is a good thing and taking risks is scary. People know that, but they get this idea that, like, the image they have for the perfect way it's going to unfold is the only way that it has to unfold. Yeah, totally. When in reality, you're not going to know how it's going to get to that point and you have

to have the patience and, like, discipline to keep it up throughout that entire process. Yeah, totally. And, I mean, obviously, way easier said than done. That is hard. Well, y'all have done it. You all have done it and proved it. So your longevity speaks for it. itself. Hey, I mean, he quit Smosh. Yeah, yeah, true. Ian fought through that shit.

Those tough times. So, you know, we haven't always been on it. But you're back and better than ever. Yeah. We sold our company for a million, for a zero million dollars. Zero million? And then, I don't know why I said a million because we sold our company for zero dollars and then had to buy it back for not zero dollars. We're not exactly business geniuses. Yeah, yeah. But you're still here. Well, thank you all for so much for coming on the show. Yeah, thank you.

It's an honor to have two legends, two giants in the biz. Stop. Thank you so much to all of you for watching. Thank you to my amazing guests. Where can everybody find you? Lots of things, but you can just search Smosh and you can find us there. That's our main channel. We do sketches, that kind of stuff.

Smosh Pit is our improv comedy, unscripted comedy type stuff. We read Reddit stories. it's a fun time we got smash games we got smosh cast we got the anthony pittia channel just sort of smosh anywhere find something

a lot of funny people people that are funnier than us are on our channels as well I'm like that's also true because I'm on there so it's true check out our roast check out the funeral roast

yeah the funeral roast with me me I also really quick want to say one of your one of the people there said a joke that was so funny I still think about it to this day but they were making fun of Spencewa

and they said that he is homophobia externalized. Oh, yeah, that was so good. To this day, one of the funniest roast I've ever heard. And it wasn't even about me. Yeah. And it was at my roast. But thank you all so much for coming on the show. Thank you.

All you guys are amazing. Thank you all so much for joining us on this episode of the comment section. Thank you so much to Ian and Anthony, the creators of Smosh, the legendary Smosh. And make sure you all go check them on everything. Anyways, thank you so much. I love you all. Thank you so much to Ian and Anthony. Make sure you all follow them on.

everything. And don't forget, new episodes of the comments section come out every Wednesday. You can stream the audio on all streaming channels, or you can watch the video for free, but it lives exclusively on Spotify. Please stop fucking asking me where the video is. It's not on YouTube. It's on Spotify. Thank you so much. And I'll see you next week. Bye.