Smosh Productions

Background

Smosh Productions (also known as Smosh, LLC) is an American production company founded by Anthony Padilla in 2002 and originally made flash animations for their site. His friend Ian Hecox later joined him and the duo started making YouTube videos three years later. They are one of the first channels on YouTube to ever exist.

Currently, they own the standard YouTube channel, Smosh Pit, Smosh Games, and formerly Shut Up! Cartoons. All of their brands were former properties of Rhett & Link's Mythical Entertainment after being dropped by Defy Media when the latter company's assets were liquidated on November 6, 2018.

The name originates from when one of Anthony's friends, Ryan, had mistakenly said "smosh pit" instead of "mosh pit". In 2017, Padilla left Smosh to pursue his own YouTube career until June 20, 2023, when he returned to the channel and bought back the company from Mythical (although they retained a minority stake).

1st Logo (2003-2006)

Visuals: On a dark steel background, each letter of the company name in white and a stylized font zoom out from the bottom and into the center, dimming their glow when still and in-sync with the audio. After all the letters appear, blue electricity sparks around the logo while a 3D and shiny double forward arrow sign ">>" with a lowercase "s" sandwiched in between fade in. The logo shines after the sparks disappear and then stutter with a motion blur effect. Electric sparks continue to reappear briefly alongside the shine before the logo crossfades to static. Lastly, the screen turns off.

Technique: Flash animation.

Audio: The "Stand Alone" DTS trailer soundtrack.

Availability: It appeared before various flash animations on the company's site such as Die Smoshing, which were taken down due to a hard drive crash. As a result, they became lost media before gradually resurfacing over the past few years.

2nd Logo (June 7-September 24, 2006)

Visuals: On a white background in a narrow letterbox format is the arrow sign from before. The camera then pans out a bit while the insignia backs up to the left side of the screen before propelling forward to the right, revealing the company name. After a few seconds, the letterbox closes.

Technique: 2D computer animation, probably made with Adobe After Effects.

Audio: A random sounder or one-liner (which varies depending on the video), before Ian Hecox interrupts shouting "Shut up!!!".

Audio Trivia: According to Ian in a video with Wired, he recorded the "shut up" sound using a very cheap microphone which explains the low quality of the sound.

Audio Variants

The California Stereotype Experiment: A short snippet of "California" by Phantom Planet.
Boxman: A lighthearted ukulele rendition of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" plays while a baby giggles.
Stranded: Seagulls chirping.
The Best Car EVER: The sound of a car revving.

Availability: Can be seen on 2006 shorts on the Smosh YouTube channel.

3rd Logo (October 4, 2006-March 6, 2009)

Visuals: Same as the previous logo, but the insignia is larger and zooms out from the camera before hitting the background (making a visible cloud), and the animation is smoother.

Variant: Starting with Hardcore Max, the logo's background is a gray/white checkerboard pattern filled with tiny Smosh insignias. Also, the URL appears below and a "TM" bug appears next to the company name.

Technique: 2D computer animation.

Audio: Same as before or silence. On Ian's Birthday and Santa is Real!, Ian shouts the line less effectively.

Audio Variants: See this page.

Availability: Can be seen on earlier shorts from 2006 to 2009 on the Smosh YouTube channel.

4th Logo (March 6, 2009-September 6, 2017)

Visuals: On a light blue background, two large pieces of cardboard appear. One piece is whole and appears from the bottom, while the other appears from the top and has the word "SMOSH" cut out of it in a stencil font. A blue spray can appears and sprays its respective colored paint onto the cardboard. When it's finished, the piece with the name etched in is removed to reveal the initial piece, which has the company name in blue sprayed onto it now. A "TM" bug appears next to the "H" while the "M" starts leaking a bit. A green forward arrow flips in from the right and places itself next to the company name, which expands to reveal the insignia like before. The text ".COM" pops up letter-by-letter under it. A few seconds later, the logo closes like before.

Trivia:

It is worth noting that even though the "O" cut out from the cardboard has a line across the middle to keep the hole intact, the spray-painted "O" on the cardboard is fully intact with no line.
Although the paint can depicted in the logo sprays blue paint, upon scanning the barcode on it, it is revealed that the spray paint is actually black.

Variants:

On SMOSH: The Movie and various announcement videos on the company's YouTube channel, the logo starts at the "Shut UP!!!" voice clip.
On a few videos, the animation looks noticeably smoother.
On IF APPS WERE REAL, the animation is in delayed motion.
There's a 10th Anniversary variant that starts with a sped-up version of the logo before the logo moves down offscreen revealing "S10SH" (along with the insignia) in a white psuedo-3D font with a black outline. The numbers turn to gold one by one, syncing with the usual slogan. It closes like usual. The logo plays at its usual speed in FOOD BATTLE X.
On a few shorts from 2009/2010, the text "SHORT" (made to look like it was stamped onto the screen) appears over the text at the end.

Technique: 2D computer animation made in Adobe After Effects.

Audio: Same as before. Typically outside ambiance would play accompanying it before the shut-up line plays.

Audio Variants: See Logo Variations.

Availability: While no longer current, it's seen on all of their videos from the era, starting with That Damn Prison Break (appearing after the third logo) and ending with ONE LETTER OFF KIDS SHOWS. It also appears on shorts from the company on their YouTube channel as well as announcement videos and SMOSH: The Movie.

5th Logo (December 14, 2016)

Visuals: Upon a light blue background similar to the previous, albeit more paper-like in nature, a different image of a piece of cardboard with a revised Smosh wordmark cut out is placed onto it. A hand holding a different graffiti can (a la the Shut Up! Cartoons logo) sprays blue graffiti over it like before. Once this is finished, the cardboard slides down as before, revealing the wordmark on the blue background. this suddenly cuts to a dark gray background, where the Smosh wordmark is now placed, albeit with brighter colors. The insignia, in bright green, slides out of the wordmark. While it does, the word "PRODUCTIONS" in a condensed spaced-out typeface, appears by blurring in and spacing out simultaneously. The finished result slowly zooms out during the rest of the duration of the logo.

Trivia: Unlike the previous logo, the letter "O" has no stencil lines, which would be physically impossible in real life.

Technique: 2D computer animation.

Audio: Outside ambiance plays alongside a spraying sound effect. A lightswitch switching off sound effect plays as the background turns dark, shortly followed by the same voice clip as before.

Availability: Only seen on Ghostmates.

6th Logo (June 30, 2023-)

Visuals: Similar to the 4th logo, but with some differences: the background is now dark gray, the cardboard stencil and spray paint can are redesigned (with the latter saying "EST. 2005") and have updated animations, the can now sprays neon green paint, and when the stencil slides down, the "SMOSH" wordmark (which is now the revised version and has a glow around it) is revealed, and the insignia (now in yellow) comes out of the "H", with the background darkening to black. After a few seconds, the logo closes like before.

Trivia: Same as the 4th logo.

Technique: Same as before.

Audio: Same as the 4th logo.

Availability: Used in the vast majority of sketches starting with WE SUMMONED A DEMON!, the first sketch released since Padilla's return. It does not appear on Flashback With Smosh or trailers/announcement videos, and is omitted from some sketches such as Apple Vision Pro SUCKS.