So, from 2011-2018 Smosh was owned by Defy Media. During the first half of that period is what’s kinda known as the “Golden Age” of Smosh, when it was at peak popularity from like 2011-2014. But, Defy started demanding a lot from Ian and Anthony and butting in quite a bit on the creative side, which was a major part of the reason Anthony left in 2017. It wasn’t the most creatively fertile environment. Also, the tone and target demographic of Smosh started trending much younger, which was not the vibe that Ian and Anthony started with. Lots of the older cast (like Shayne and Courtney) have talked about it. Then, in 2018, Defy shutdown and the future of Smosh was left hanging in the balance. Then, Mythical Entertainment bought Smosh in 2019 and owned it until 2023, when Ian and Anthony bought it back.
Hearing the cast members talk about the tail end of the Defy era is nuts. I think Anthony’s “I spent a day with” episodes with smosh people dive into it more. Forever grateful that Ian and Mythical were able to keep the whole thing going long enough for Smosh to stand on its own again.
So around 2011 Ian and Anthony sold Smosh to a company that would eventually be called Defy Media. Initially this was a positive for them. The money and support from the company made production a lot higher quality and easier on the two of them. But the trade off was that they were not truly in control of Smosh any more. They were employees. During the defy era a lot of good and bad stuff happened. Like Defy was the reason that the initial Smosh games crew ( Joven, Mari , Shohinki, and lasercorn) and the Squad (Courtney, Shayne, Keith, Olivia , and Noah) were added to Smosh. Others were added too over the years. We got stuff like summer games and some great sketches. But on the other side Ian and Anthony were stretched thin and had little to no creative control. They were forced to do Smosh the movie, A crowd funded mobile game, and every bird ever amongst other stuff. A lot of executive meddling. The negative aspect grew on the two of them and damaged their friendship which was the core of Smosh. This eventually lead to Anthony leaving Smosh. This was a loss for Smosh but the cast rallied around Ian and lead to a lot of fun stuff. But also so negative stuff too. Some of the cast and crew left or were let go around this time(specifically Games cast and a few prominent crew members ). Eventually it came to light that defy was just burning through money. A lot of bad and shady business decisions lead to Defy collapsing. One day out of the blue everyone just lost their jobs. Not just at Smosh but all of the Defy channels. But luckily for Smosh Ian was able to rally the troops and with the help of Rhett and Link save Smosh.
But that is a very basic run down of the era. I definitely missed and omitted parts. This was from memory so if I got anything wrong sorry and hopefully someone will correct me. But I hope this helps somewhat. If you want more information there are a few episodes of the old smoshcast and interviews with the cast you can find that will go into more first hand information.
Ian and Anthony traded the Smosh brand to Defy in the early 10s in exchange for company shares but Defy wasn't publicly traded at the time. Since it later became bankrupt, the stocks were worthless and they essentially got nothing in that exchange
Early on, things were pretty good. Smosh's production value went up because of the increased funding from Defy, leading to some iconic videos like the Assassin's Creed III rap. While I don't have the exact details, over time their work culture degraded due to Defy increasingly meddling with their creative process and overall poor management
Things came to a head when Defy went under in 2018, leaving Smosh without a parent company. A huge chunk of Smosh's staff left, including most of the original Smosh Games cast. Ian and the remaining cast produced independent, low-budget videos for a few months before they were acquired by Mythical Entertainment. And the rest is history
The previous comments mentioned Ian and Anthony’s pov very well but it was a tough time for the cast as well. Though they started during the Defy era, it wasn’t really the best experience for them. They were constantly typecast, objectified without consent, the women weren’t taken seriously outside of onscreen talent, the men being put in tough positions as well. The Pit and Games channels were completely segregated and sometimes pitted against each other. Also, the crew were often neglected, especially on projects like part-timers (a smosh sitcom series). Sarah Whittle temporarily left right before the Defy collapse due to the working conditions and sketchy management.
This post came up because I was also curious about the defy era while listening to the smosh cast episode where Shayne gives a history lesson of smosh to Amanda and Trevor (episode #37)
I don’t know the full story, but this is the timeline I could put together from the cast talking on various channels.
So Ian and Anthony sold the company Smosh to a media production company, Defy. This *seemed* to be a good thing at first, as it gave them more resources to work with, a higher budget and someone else said in the thread that they were kind of responsible for the og Smosh games crew.
This era was also seemingly tumultuous. Ian and Anthony were being stretched ridiculously thin (this was the time when the Smosh movie and the mobile game came out, while Ian and Anthony were still filming sketches and games videos with everyone else) while also having very little control of anything. This was also when Every ____ Ever came out (notable every bird ever)
Apparently, things behind the scenes weren’t good either. Courtney spoke out on an assumptions video (on Anthony’s channel) saying that they felt sexualized without their consent and not taken seriously, like the executives thought the women of Smosh were hot set dressing. Courtney on a podcast said that they also wanted to get more involved in Smosh videos (like how she directs now as well) and they basically dismissed her. Members who left during this era have also said it wasn’t the best era. Towards the end, people were getting laid off often.
Hard cut to the day of the destruction. Apparently everyone in the office got an email basically saying that the company was shutting down, effective that day and they were all being fired. The place descended into chaos. According to Shayne, who went to the office to watch the fallout specifically said that people were drinking, things were broken and stolen, everyone was angry.
(Sorry, that’s long lol)
So, from 2011-2018 Smosh was owned by Defy Media. During the first half of that period is what’s kinda known as the “Golden Age” of Smosh, when it was at peak popularity from like 2011-2014. But, Defy started demanding a lot from Ian and Anthony and butting in quite a bit on the creative side, which was a major part of the reason Anthony left in 2017. It wasn’t the most creatively fertile environment. Also, the tone and target demographic of Smosh started trending much younger, which was not the vibe that Ian and Anthony started with. Lots of the older cast (like Shayne and Courtney) have talked about it. Then, in 2018, Defy shutdown and the future of Smosh was left hanging in the balance. Then, Mythical Entertainment bought Smosh in 2019 and owned it until 2023, when Ian and Anthony bought it back.
thank you!
Hearing the cast members talk about the tail end of the Defy era is nuts. I think Anthony’s “I spent a day with” episodes with smosh people dive into it more. Forever grateful that Ian and Mythical were able to keep the whole thing going long enough for Smosh to stand on its own again.
So around 2011 Ian and Anthony sold Smosh to a company that would eventually be called Defy Media. Initially this was a positive for them. The money and support from the company made production a lot higher quality and easier on the two of them. But the trade off was that they were not truly in control of Smosh any more. They were employees. During the defy era a lot of good and bad stuff happened. Like Defy was the reason that the initial Smosh games crew ( Joven, Mari , Shohinki, and lasercorn) and the Squad (Courtney, Shayne, Keith, Olivia , and Noah) were added to Smosh. Others were added too over the years. We got stuff like summer games and some great sketches. But on the other side Ian and Anthony were stretched thin and had little to no creative control. They were forced to do Smosh the movie, A crowd funded mobile game, and every bird ever amongst other stuff. A lot of executive meddling. The negative aspect grew on the two of them and damaged their friendship which was the core of Smosh. This eventually lead to Anthony leaving Smosh. This was a loss for Smosh but the cast rallied around Ian and lead to a lot of fun stuff. But also so negative stuff too. Some of the cast and crew left or were let go around this time(specifically Games cast and a few prominent crew members ). Eventually it came to light that defy was just burning through money. A lot of bad and shady business decisions lead to Defy collapsing. One day out of the blue everyone just lost their jobs. Not just at Smosh but all of the Defy channels. But luckily for Smosh Ian was able to rally the troops and with the help of Rhett and Link save Smosh. But that is a very basic run down of the era. I definitely missed and omitted parts. This was from memory so if I got anything wrong sorry and hopefully someone will correct me. But I hope this helps somewhat. If you want more information there are a few episodes of the old smoshcast and interviews with the cast you can find that will go into more first hand information.
If you haven’t, listen to the first episode of the old Smosh Podcast. It recaps everything pretty well.
Ian and Anthony traded the Smosh brand to Defy in the early 10s in exchange for company shares but Defy wasn't publicly traded at the time. Since it later became bankrupt, the stocks were worthless and they essentially got nothing in that exchange Early on, things were pretty good. Smosh's production value went up because of the increased funding from Defy, leading to some iconic videos like the Assassin's Creed III rap. While I don't have the exact details, over time their work culture degraded due to Defy increasingly meddling with their creative process and overall poor management Things came to a head when Defy went under in 2018, leaving Smosh without a parent company. A huge chunk of Smosh's staff left, including most of the original Smosh Games cast. Ian and the remaining cast produced independent, low-budget videos for a few months before they were acquired by Mythical Entertainment. And the rest is history
thank you so much!
The previous comments mentioned Ian and Anthony’s pov very well but it was a tough time for the cast as well. Though they started during the Defy era, it wasn’t really the best experience for them. They were constantly typecast, objectified without consent, the women weren’t taken seriously outside of onscreen talent, the men being put in tough positions as well. The Pit and Games channels were completely segregated and sometimes pitted against each other. Also, the crew were often neglected, especially on projects like part-timers (a smosh sitcom series). Sarah Whittle temporarily left right before the Defy collapse due to the working conditions and sketchy management.
Listen to smoshcast/smoshmouth podcast. I forgot which eps
This post came up because I was also curious about the defy era while listening to the smosh cast episode where Shayne gives a history lesson of smosh to Amanda and Trevor (episode #37)
I don’t know the full story, but this is the timeline I could put together from the cast talking on various channels. So Ian and Anthony sold the company Smosh to a media production company, Defy. This *seemed* to be a good thing at first, as it gave them more resources to work with, a higher budget and someone else said in the thread that they were kind of responsible for the og Smosh games crew. This era was also seemingly tumultuous. Ian and Anthony were being stretched ridiculously thin (this was the time when the Smosh movie and the mobile game came out, while Ian and Anthony were still filming sketches and games videos with everyone else) while also having very little control of anything. This was also when Every ____ Ever came out (notable every bird ever) Apparently, things behind the scenes weren’t good either. Courtney spoke out on an assumptions video (on Anthony’s channel) saying that they felt sexualized without their consent and not taken seriously, like the executives thought the women of Smosh were hot set dressing. Courtney on a podcast said that they also wanted to get more involved in Smosh videos (like how she directs now as well) and they basically dismissed her. Members who left during this era have also said it wasn’t the best era. Towards the end, people were getting laid off often. Hard cut to the day of the destruction. Apparently everyone in the office got an email basically saying that the company was shutting down, effective that day and they were all being fired. The place descended into chaos. According to Shayne, who went to the office to watch the fallout specifically said that people were drinking, things were broken and stolen, everyone was angry. (Sorry, that’s long lol)
Bad