S2: #80 - Talkin’ Twitch!

Summary

Smosh Mouth Podcast Summary Episode: S2: #80 - Talkin’ Twitch!
Release Date: September 16, 2020
Hosts: Shayne Topp (Short), Amanda Lehan-Canto (Tall), and rotating Smosh friends

---

1. Introduction to Smosh’s Twitch Endeavor

The Smosh team delves into their recent venture into the streaming world with the launch of their Twitch channel. Hosting a discussion among Shayne, Amanda, and Damien Haas, they explore the motivations, plans, and expectations surrounding this new platform.

Notable Quote:
Damien Haas [00:30]: "I think some people have, like, this, like, warped sense of, like, oh, when you're running out of ideas, it's over."

2. Goals and Vision for the Twitch Channel

Shayne and Amanda articulate their objectives for integrating Twitch into the Smosh brand. They emphasize creating a unique live experience that differs from their traditional YouTube content, aiming to engage viewers in real-time and offer a behind-the-scenes glimpse into their creative process.

Notable Quotes:
Shayne Hecox [11:49]: "What are your goals for the Twitch channel?... We're building this thing from the ground up that's completely different than what we've done before."
Amanda Whittle [15:28]: "I was the only patient in there... We want to deliver the Smosh experience... a live experience."

3. Balancing Twitch with Existing Content and Preventing Burnout

The conversation shifts to the challenges of managing multiple content streams without overwhelming the team. They discuss strategies for scheduling, role distribution, and ensuring that each member can maintain their well-being while contributing to both Twitch and other Smosh projects.

Notable Quotes:
Amanda Whittle [26:23]: "Every person is not going to be in every stream... There's a lot of freedom of movement there too."
Damien Haas [28:21]: "People's mental state is the number one priority. We don't want to put anyone on live."

4. Live Streaming vs. Pre-recorded Content

Shayne shares her preference for live streaming over scripted recordings, highlighting the spontaneity and genuine interactions that come with live content. This segment underscores the value of authenticity and real-time engagement with the audience.

Notable Quotes:
Amanda Whittle [38:35]: "I prefer live to scripted a thousand times over... that's what I like."
Shayne Whittle [44:13]: "Being yourself is the key... changing the mindset."

5. Handling Online Harassment and Seeking Validation

The hosts address the darker side of online presence, particularly harassment and the quest for external validation. They discuss personal experiences with negative interactions on social media and emphasize the importance of internal validation and setting boundaries to protect mental health.

Notable Quotes:
Shayne Whittle [53:18]: "Nobody's seeing this, but you're really wanting someone to tell you something nice... it's not okay that you're doing that."
Damien Haas [52:30]: "If you're harassing women online, we don't want you."

6. Community Engagement and “Shoot Dudes” Segment

A lighthearted segment, "Shoot Dudes," features the hosts sharing humorous and cringe-worthy personal anecdotes. This portion illustrates their camaraderie and ability to connect with the audience through relatable and entertaining stories.

Notable Quotes:
Damien Haas [55:08]: "So this one... she ended up sending all 175ish invitations before being told by my dad that she accidentally ended her funeral invitation with a big LOL."
Ian Hecox [57:16]: "Almost 18. Oh, no."

7. Concluding Remarks and Future Directions

As the episode wraps up, the hosts reiterate their excitement for the Twitch channel and encourage listeners to engage with their new streaming platform. They also reflect on the importance of teamwork, adaptability, and maintaining a positive online presence.

Notable Quotes:
Damien Haas [60:46]: "The Twitch channel, obviously, is Smosh Games. Twitch.tv/SmoshGames."
Shayne Whittle [62:07]: "Thank you so much. Check us out on Twitch. Love you so much."

---

Key Takeaways:

• Expansion to Twitch: Smosh is actively expanding its content portfolio by launching a dedicated Twitch channel aimed at providing live, interactive experiences.

• Team Dynamics and Sustainability: Emphasis on teamwork and careful scheduling to balance Twitch streaming with existing content creation to prevent burnout.

• Authenticity in Live Streaming: Preference for genuine, unscripted interactions over highly produced content to foster a stronger connection with the audience.

• Mental Health and Online Interactions: Acknowledgment of the challenges posed by online harassment and the importance of internal validation and supportive team environments.

• Engaging Community: Use of relatable segments like "Shoot Dudes" to entertain and engage listeners, showcasing the hosts' chemistry and humor.

---

For anyone interested in Smosh’s latest ventures and insights into their creative processes, this episode offers a comprehensive look into how they're navigating the live streaming landscape while maintaining their unique brand identity.

Transcript

[Ian Hecox]

Stay warm and save every day. All in the Fred Meyer app. Get select Post cereal or Kroger peanut butter for $1.49 each. With the digital coupon and we've lowered prices, save 15% or more on hundreds of items like Thomas Mini Bagels, Campbell's Spaghettios, and more. Shop these deals at your local Oregon Fred Meijer today or click the screen now to download the Fred Meyer app to save big today. Fred Meijer Fresh for everyone. Prices and product availability subject to change restrictions apply. See site for details.

[Damien Haas]

Ramble I think some people have, like, this, like, warped sense of, like, oh, when you're. When you run out of ideas, it's over. People have been telling me that Smosh ran out of ideas in 2007.

[Sarah Whittle]

Nobody's seeing this, but you're really wanting someone to tell you something nice, and they're not doing it. So you see me, and so you sort of have to bring me down a peg or two. It's not okay that you're doing that, but I do understand why you got there.

[Ian Hecox]

I love Twitch because it feels like you're peeking behind the curtain. You are getting as close to, like, a real shoot in real time. Validation doesn't come from the outside. It comes from the inside. What is your worth in the world? Only you can find it. No one can tell you any different.

[Damien Haas]

Yeah, Sarah Whittle. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. What's up? Gamers and non gamers and people that don't even know what a gamer is.

[Sarah Whittle]

I think you covered everyone.

[Damien Haas]

Well. I think I covered everyone. There's, like, three categories of people. Non gamer.

[Sarah Whittle]

I don't know if this introduction was better than you belching into the microphone or whatever.

[Damien Haas]

That wasn't a belch. It was discreet spelling. That was me expelling all the sputum from my throat.

[Ian Hecox]

Sputum. Sputum sounds like a German dish.

[Sarah Whittle]

Oh, mit Schweinefleisch.

[Ian Hecox]

We should just do a whole podcast speaking in German, and then Ian will just not know what's happening.

[Damien Haas]

Is mein lieber. Does that mean something?

[Sarah Whittle]

I, my love.

[Ian Hecox]

Love.

[Damien Haas]

I, my love. I, my love.

[Sarah Whittle]

I imagine you, like, disheveled in Germany. Yes, exactly. Just like, please. I, my love.

[Damien Haas]

I, my love. They're like, would you like some? Would you like some. Some beer? And I'm like, I, my love. So why are you naked? I, my love.

[Sarah Whittle]

How did you and I have the same mental image of you just half naked in Germany begging people? Like, the second you said, I, my love. I'm like, Yep. That's what that.

[Ian Hecox]

Spend so much time together. You synced up.

[Sarah Whittle]

That's true. We're pest.

[Damien Haas]

When I'm. When I'm in Germany, I hope I'm half naked.

[Ian Hecox]

Okay.

[Sarah Whittle]

This is the German way.

[Damien Haas]

I want to. I feel like that's what's going to happen if I ever. If I ever make my way to Oktoberfest.

[Sarah Whittle]

We had talked about this.

[Ian Hecox]

I was gonna go this year. That was my 2020 plan.

[Sarah Whittle]

We were all gonna go this year.

[Ian Hecox]

Then you were gonna go this year, too, I think. Oh, that would have been insane.

[Sarah Whittle]

That would have been straight up. I talked about destiny.

[Damien Haas]

I talked about wanting to go. That's. That's a bucket list.

[Ian Hecox]

And Kevin was planning to go, too, apparently. We're all gonna do a pill.

[Damien Haas]

You know what?

[Ian Hecox]

To Germany this year.

[Damien Haas]

We're gonna take a smosh. P. Not this year, because that sounds really unsafe.

[Sarah Whittle]

Oh, the global catastrophe. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Damien Haas]

The bitcoin is low. Yeah. Yeah. I want to. I want to do Oktoberfest this year.

[Ian Hecox]

Honestly, I was, like, planning to go to Japan in the spring.

[Sarah Whittle]

Oh.

[Ian Hecox]

We were gonna go to Germany and Italy for a wedding. This year was gonna be the year of me traveling.

[Damien Haas]

Oh, man. I got all my trouble. I got all my travel wigglies out right before everything hit. Hit the fan.

[Ian Hecox]

We were in Australia, dude.

[Damien Haas]

I traveled. I traveled more than I've ever traveled. Like, in the first three months of. Of 2020, I got it all out, baby. I got.

[Sarah Whittle]

I got sick.

[Ian Hecox]

Yeah.

[Damien Haas]

And we went on tour. Yeah. Yeah. I went to a lot of places and really filled out my dating profile with really cool travel photos. So I look super interesting.

[Sarah Whittle]

Sowing your seed. Making it.

[Ian Hecox]

I like how your thumb matches your hat.

[Damien Haas]

Okay, thank you.

[Sarah Whittle]

I corrected it.

[Damien Haas]

For those that are listening and not seeing this right now, Damian is wearing this very nice purple twitch hat, and he appears to have a matching purple cast on his thumb.

[Sarah Whittle]

It's more of, like, a wrap. I did a terrible job. It looked great before this morning, but I had to rewrap it.

[Damien Haas]

So, Damian, why do you have a twitch purple wrap on your thanos?

[Ian Hecox]

Snap did it too hard.

[Sarah Whittle]

That's true. It reversed. And I had Ron Weasley's wand and it reversed upon me. No. So I. I was making an awesome sandwich last night with a really hard baguette, and I started cutting it on the table as you're supposed to do, and I couldn't really get it started, and so I lifted it up just to, like, start the most gentle, like, Corner of the bread just to get a little. A little.

[Damien Haas]

How stale is this bread?

[Sarah Whittle]

It was like a day old, but it's a baguette. Baguettes can have really.

[Ian Hecox]

I know they're crusty, but.

[Damien Haas]

What kind of knife were you using? Were you using a bread knife? Are you going to let me get.

[Sarah Whittle]

Yes, I was using a bread knife.

[Ian Hecox]

It was.

[Sarah Whittle]

I was using the. Oh, you want to look at the cut and tell me whether or not I was using the raised bread knife? So I held it up to start the corner and it immediately slipped and sorry for squeamish people. Check back in in three minutes. I've got a nice little, like, sort of wraps around from like the left side just under my fingernail to, like the right side a little closer, like midway to the knuckle. It was a lot.

[Damien Haas]

So it stayed on.

[Sarah Whittle]

Oh, so it stayed on. Yeah. But initially when I looked at it, I was just like, ah, damn, I feel like an idiot. And I went upstairs and I have my own, like, liquid stitches stuff. So I like painted it on quick and it immediately was like, not working. And I was like, ah, man. And then I moved a little bit and I saw the actual situation I was dealing with. Like, okay, time to go. Yeah.

[Damien Haas]

So that makes me so squeamish.

[Sarah Whittle]

I'm sorry, but.

[Damien Haas]

No, no, no, keep going.

[Sarah Whittle]

But thankfully, it was an urgent care that I really like and I was the only patient in there.

[Ian Hecox]

Oh.

[Sarah Whittle]

And they were like, we don't know if we can do this. You usually need like a hand specialist for stitches and. But we'll at least take a look at you. And the person that took a look at me was like, oh, we can just like derma bond you, which is like skin glue. And I was like, that's dope.

[Damien Haas]

It's just super glue, right?

[Sarah Whittle]

I mean, more or less.

[Ian Hecox]

It's kind of like. It's probably just high liquid stitch.

[Sarah Whittle]

I literally asked. I was like, can I get this over the counter? And they're like, not quite.

[Damien Haas]

Oh, interesting, because I think that's how super glue was invented, like in Vietnam. Like, they. It was invented as like, like a field medic kind of way of closing up wounds.

[Sarah Whittle]

It's pretty bonkers. That being said, don't. Don't use super glue unless you're in a survival situation. There are better options.

[Ian Hecox]

Yes.

[Sarah Whittle]

Yeah. So it didn't hurt in the moment, but then once adrenaline wore off, it was a little rough. And when they had to clean it out, they use like a really high powered, like, of like water and so they were like. They were like, hold this bucket under your hand, please. And I was like, what's the bucket for? And they were like, okay, just tell us if you need a break. And I'm like, what's the bucket for?

[Damien Haas]

It just like, your tears that hurt a lot.

[Sarah Whittle]

Yeah, more or less tears. It. It reopened, like, a minute before the podcast started, so that's why. I know it. Yeah. But they were like, we can't do anything for you for another few hours at the urgent care. So I was like, I'll do the podcast.

[Damien Haas]

So you just start getting lightheaded in the middle of the podcast.

[Sarah Whittle]

I was extremely tired for the rest of the day yesterday, and I was like, I think I need usually to give you juice and a cookie, so I need to.

[Ian Hecox]

I did almost, like, one time I had. I had to do, like, a fasted getting my blood drawn.

[Sarah Whittle]

Oh, really?

[Ian Hecox]

And they took, I think, like, four or five vials out. And like, by the third one, I was like, guys, I'm feeling lightheaded.

[Damien Haas]

But I mean, like, the vials. Like, the vials does. I mean, when you're donating blood, you're giving way more blood.

[Ian Hecox]

I know, but I was fasting for 12 hours before.

[Damien Haas]

Oh, you were fasting?

[Ian Hecox]

Yeah, because it was. The blood test needed me to be. Not have food in my system. And so they took so much blood, and I have very thin blood already. And it was like I felt getting myself getting woozy, and I was like, guys, we gotta quit doing this. Pretty soon I'm feeling weird.

[Sarah Whittle]

That reminds me of the John Mulaney joke when he's talking to the nurse and he's like, hey, I get a little woozy when I give blood. And the doctor said, you're fine. So when I woke up, I.

[Ian Hecox]

And he had. He. She. Like, he was wearing glasses to show.

[Sarah Whittle]

The time had passed. Time had passed. Exactly. Oh, that John Mulaney.

[Ian Hecox]

Anyway, introduce us.

[Damien Haas]

I didn't even introduce you guys or what this podcast. No. So maybe we'll put this at the beginning. What's up, everybody? This is Ian Hecox here on the Smosh cast, joined by two lovely people, Damien Haas at. Damien Haas, gamer boy.

[Sarah Whittle]

Nope.

[Damien Haas]

19.

[Sarah Whittle]

Nope. Someone's gonna take that. Someone's gonna take that.

[Damien Haas]

You're right. That's just Damien. Also joined by the illustrious Sarah.

[Ian Hecox]

Yeah.

[Damien Haas]

Is that your name? Okay.

[Ian Hecox]

Yeah. Sarah Gamer is my gamer.

[Sarah Whittle]

Tag, please. Sarah Gamo was my father. Please call me Mr. Professor. Dr. Sarah Game today, we're.

[Damien Haas]

We're gonna be talking about Twitch about the fact that we launched a Twitch channel last week. Well, I mean it's last week to us right now, but it's two weeks ago for you guys.

[Sarah Whittle]

Oh, God.

[Damien Haas]

Because time travel, for those of you that don't know the. Well, so the reason why. Why we thought it'd be good to have myself and Damien and Sarah on is because Damien is. Is sort of our. Our resident Twitch boy.

[Sarah Whittle]

I'm a Twitch boy.

[Damien Haas]

Damien has spent, I guess you could now say years, almost two years on Twitch.

[Ian Hecox]

Wow.

[Sarah Whittle]

Yeah, time flies.

[Damien Haas]

Almost two years on Twitch.

[Sarah Whittle]

I already owned this hat before today, so.

[Damien Haas]

And then Sarah is our director of Unscripted, so she has taken on a lot of this Twitch responsibility. And in regards to programming and like what we do on there, we also have a. We also have another guy who you guys might have like seen pop into Streams, like his arm and stuff Lane, who's. Who's like running the day to day, sort of like Twitch operations.

[Ian Hecox]

But I don't know if we talked about like since like the couple of times I've been on the podcast, my like job role and that it changed at the top of the year. So I used to be head of the social team and kind of like all the non YouTube programming and then at the top of the year hopped over as director on Unscripted to oversee Smosh pit and smosh games. And now Twitch.

[Sarah Whittle]

Nice.

[Damien Haas]

Yeah.

[Ian Hecox]

Yeah.

[Sarah Whittle]

Hell's yeah.

[Damien Haas]

So actually we have a. We have a couple questions here. Oh yeah? Yeah. We fielded some questions related to our Twitch. Some of you guys have some. Some burning questions. Know that you know, some. Some of the popular questions. If we don't, if we don't get to them, we see them.

[Ian Hecox]

They're a work in progress.

[Damien Haas]

We see your questions. We are not ignoring them. They are all a work in progress. So if you see something that we haven't answered that has been asked a lot, trust us, we see it. We're working on it.

[Sarah Whittle]

Find four more ways to say it.

[Damien Haas]

We have come across some questions. You say Wap.

[Ian Hecox]

Yeah. Work and progress.

[Damien Haas]

Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Sarah Whittle]

That's that car.

[Damien Haas]

Let's be progress. So this first question comes from Lovable Haas.

[Ian Hecox]

What a opposite. No, I'm just kidding.

[Sarah Whittle]

It's true. A face only a mother could love. But she is all 1 million of our viewers.

[Damien Haas]

So I like that your moms. One million moms.

[Sarah Whittle]

Mars needs one.

[Damien Haas]

That sounds like a really good like protest CBS show. CBS show. Welcome back to One Million Moms. Like damn, that's an expensive show. It's literally just like one studio just.

[Ian Hecox]

Packed full of 1 million out, but with moms.

[Damien Haas]

All right, so this lovable house asks, what are your goals for the Twitch channel? Sarah, I guess being that you are. This is sort of been a. It's not your. It's not your one responsibility, and it's not all on you. But being that it is, like Smosh Games is a focus for you, what. What are some. What do you see as some of the goals for the Twitch channel?

[Ian Hecox]

Well, just in general, like, adding Twitch to Smosh and the whole Smosh, like, brand, I guess, is what you would say. Like, it's a huge deal. It's basically like opening up a whole new YouTube channel. And so we're now in a place where we're kind of like, building this thing from the ground up that's completely different than what we've done before. We've done live on Facebook for a while, but that was at Defy, and obviously that was structured very differently. And so this Twitch thing is like a new, exciting challenge that we're all kind of having to face. And luckily we have people like Damian who have been on the platform and know the in and outs from, like, personally running it. But now we're figuring out, okay, what does Smosh games bring to Twitch? And the thing I'm very excited about is, like, we're gonna consistently now be doing Bored af. And, like, last year or no, earlier this year, it's the same year we had the first episode of Bored AF come out. And I think the YouTube viewers and our fans were expecting a more consistent thing, not knowing that we were kind of planning this big thing to go on Twitch and bring more consistent Bored af. And so I'm really excited about that. I'm really excited about the viewers and the subs having the ability to affect gameplay in real life. Because sometimes when we're shooting the Smosh Games videos, it feels like we're crazy people entering a studio. We do our crazy thing, and then the edit comes out, like, three weeks later. Now we're having an opportunity to, like, react and be in the moment and be present all in real time, for sure. That's really exciting for me. And then we are going to be cutting down those board afs to go on the Smosh Games YouTube channel just in case people missed it. So that's what I'm really excited for. And, like, as far as the goals for Twitch, it's just kind of like to try what we do and innovate what we do on Twitch. On a live platform. And it is a challenge. And we have things that are work in progress. We have things that are wap. And that's kind of like. The great thing is all of our fans are along for the journey. You're gonna see us grow and adapt and learn new skills and figure it out. And I feel like live is a little more forgiving that we can just be like, Lane, what's the next thing?

[Sarah Whittle]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Something I'm very excited about. And full disclosure, just a little bit of backst. Um, I've been on Twitch for almost two years now. I started right after Defy shut down and immediately fell in love with it for my own channel. It was the first thing I'd ever done that felt like it was mine. Like, I. As. As a voice actor, as, you know, as a, you know, YouTube personality, I've always come into something that's already existed. Even, like, when I was on Disney, Shane and I joined the last season of a show. So it was nice to be able to be like, I'm starting this. And I just fell in love with it. And that's. I consistently want to do it all the time. So I was very precious with it when. When we first started talking about doing Twitch as Smosh. You know, I've had a lot of people that are part of the community that found me just randomly through the Explore page or through new me, through other things, or for voice acting, things like that. But a lot of people are Smosh folks. So I was initially like, well, shoot. Like, I already do this thing where I'm, like, sitting in front of a camera playing a video game. I don't. I don't want to see us do the exact same thing because I don't. I don't want to lose my community. Like, I was, you know, legit worried, but I think what is actually exciting about this and what I want to see and what it seems like we're doing is what can Smosh do that I cannot? What can Smash do that the average one person with a camera in their room can't do? Because even if I had a big, grandiose idea and put together something, I could make that happen. But to have a team working on it, to have multiple cameras, to have a studio, to have a tech squad, it's the free. There's so much more freedom of movement there. So, like, yeah, I don't. I'm less excited about, like, I don't think we're going to be doing, like, one person on a camera playing a Video game kind of deal. I'm excited to see a group of people play a board game together. Like, that's awesome. That's. That's critical role. That's. That's other popular channels. And I, you know, it's also nice to not have to. Although I'm like, offering expertise, quote unquote, when I can. It's not on me to like, start to finish, set up. What am I going to be doing today? How am I going to get this to work? So there's a little bit of, like, freedom of movement there too. So that's exciting.

[Damien Haas]

This is something that we have been planning for a long time. Like, it wasn't something that we just looked at Twitch and we're like, oh, people are successful over there. We can do that too. Like, this is something that. That we've been planning for a long, long time. We spent a lot of time preparing for it, getting the right team for it.

[Ian Hecox]

It got delayed because of COVID and kind of the uncertainty of that situation.

[Damien Haas]

Yeah, I mean, we were supposed to launch, like, months ago. I think we did the right thing by. By holding off and just making sure everything was. Everything was truly ready to go. We want to give you guys the best possible experience right from the get go, so.

[Ian Hecox]

And also doing it in a safe, responsible way, too.

[Damien Haas]

Like, totally.

[Ian Hecox]

That's a priority. That's a priority that, like, you know, none of us anticipated at the beginning of this year, but that's, like, now has completely changed productions at every level. Even, like, from the Goldbergs.

[Sarah Whittle]

Yeah.

[Ian Hecox]

Big productions like that. To small productions like YouTube companies or podcasts or whatever.

[Sarah Whittle]

I don't know if this is too inside baseball, but just like, to double down on how safe we're being. I wasn't able to be in the stream yesterday because I didn't get a COVID test in time. Like, we. We want to be safe and have everybody be on the up and up and all that stuff. And because I wasn't, it's like, all right, well, then we don't have you.

[Damien Haas]

You know, Damien, as you were saying, the difference between like, your. Your stream and. And. And our stream, it is that, like, we. We want to be able to deliver what we see as sort of like the, you know, without. I mean, there's no way to say this. I'll be sounding cheesy, but, like, deliver the Smosh experience. Like, you get a certain experience from. From Smosh videos.

[Sarah Whittle]

No, totally.

[Damien Haas]

On. On YouTube and, you know, whether it's on Smosh games or Smash Pit or the main channel. And we want to give that same kind of, like, special experience on Twitch our sort of interpretation of what a live experience should be. I think it's not something wholly new. It's not something that, like, we went in and say, no, we're gonna do it our way. Like, we still took a lot of advice from. From Twitch and from the people that. That do it successfully. I think one of the. One of the best nuggets of advice that. That I think we got from Lane, who's been streaming for. For a good long while and has done a lot of really creative things. He's like, this isn't. This isn't like doing, like, Saturday Night Live, or this isn't like doing a live show on television where you have to be on and just, like, fully engaged for three hours straight. Like, you. It needs to be a little bit more relaxed. Like, the audiences able. The audience can accept you fucking up or, like, you know, yeah, totally.

[Ian Hecox]

Like, I. That's. That. That was like, the biggest thing was like, I love Twitch because it feels like you're peeking behind the curtain. And especially when it comes to what, like, we're trying to bring to Twitch, like, you are getting as close to, like, a real shoot in real time, and you're not seeing any cuts and you're seeing the mistakes and you're seeing the flubs or the questions. And, like, to me, that makes me feel like I'm a part of it. That makes me as a viewer, it makes me feel like I'm hanging out with everyone. And that's why I really like Twitch very much so. I think also to the point of, like, Damien's Twitch channel versus, like, the Smosh games Twitch channel. Yeah, this goes for, like, YouTube programming, too. When you look at it as a whole, and I'm looking at, like, Smosh Pit and smosh games, YouTube programming, it's like, okay, let's. Let's say like, a trend is happening. And it's like, oh, this. This trend, this YouTube video trend is popping off. We can't just produce or replicate what someone else is doing for our channel. We have to figure out what is the Smosh twist. As corporate and lame as that sounds, that's. That's the creative process. It's like, okay, this thing is trending. How can we put our smash spices on it, make it for our audience? And I think as like, a creative person that wants to, like, be a part of digital media, like, that's kind of the analytical, creative meeting each other. You got to get Those, both parts of those brains working together totally to like try and get the best result. And at the end of the day you never know how the audience is going to react.

[Sarah Whittle]

And there's some extra expediency there as well. Like sometimes the way we produce things there will be a trend and we'll film it as soon as possible. But after like edits and the way our schedule already is, we're a month late. Whereas with Twitch you can just hop right in. And to your point there, Sarah, I also think like what's, what's been really cool and what I've really appreciated is, you know, everybody is aware of how important my Twitch community is to me and my ability to stream and all that stuff. And they have. It hasn't just been like, yeah, we hear you. It's like, I really do feel heard, which is nice. So I think that there has been good communication. Like for example, like, are you laughing at me or your cat?

[Damien Haas]

No, all three cats open the door.

[Sarah Whittle]

And coming in, this is like that interview where they're like a little girl just hops it. But yeah, no, what's been good about like communication is like, for example, when we were doing our big livestream extravaganza, Matt was like, hey, don't go anywhere. We're going to be doing more stuff. Subscribe because you want to check some things out and who knows, maybe we'll be doing some VR chat content. Damien, you like that, right? I was like, huh? And like as soon as we were done, I turned him. I was like, hey man, I'm sorry. I've actually been teasing, doing VR chat on my own streams for about a month now. Is that cool? Like, and then it was like, yeah, of course. So like we're not stepping on each other's toes. There's, there's room enough, there's room enough for everybody to have fun. And other than those very rare situations like that, it's just, it's gonna be different. It's.

[Ian Hecox]

Yeah. And sometimes there's parallel thought and that's why those things are important to like communicate to each other because it's like, you know, there, there is a world where it's like you might have mentioned it in a pitch meeting or not mention it at all. And it pops in my brain one day and I say it and it's like, that's when like the communication and kind of like the non baggage conversation happens. And I think that's very vital and important.

[Sarah Whittle]

Totally. Yeah.

[Damien Haas]

Yeah. I think it's an interesting creative problem. Like the fact that most people that we follow on, you know, whether it's on Twitch or YouTube or Instagram, they're all individual creators. There aren't too many sort of, there aren't too many like creative collectives like Smosh that exist. So there's not really a lot of other examples that we can draw on for what we do. I think it's great. Like, I don't, I don't really ever seeing there being too much overlap between what you do on your, on your personal Twitch and, and what we're doing. And I mean, from the little that we've done so far, I'm really excited to see what, what happens with the rest of the Twitch. I mean, like I said, we've been planning this for a long time. This isn't like a quick cash grab for us. Like it's, you know, it's, it's a long term thing. We're going to, we're going to be here and we're going to keep making some sweet shit.

[Ian Hecox]

Yeah. And I think when you say creative problem, I think like for me, when, when that, when you say that, I just think of it's a challenge. It's another challenge to kind of like face on. And I think the best creativity comes out of a challenge. And you learn, you learn the most from how creative can you really get with a challenge. The eat it or yeet it Spin the wheel is a perfect example of like being faced with a challenge and trying to troubleshoot and creatively thinking of a way. Because like, the reason that format came out was when we were talking about coming back to the studio because we obviously all were quarantined and not shooting and we were shooting from home when we were like, okay, let's get back in the studio. And for me I was like, I don't want everyone lunging for a bell when we're trying to like, I know we're sitting close to each other and we're all kind of taking the best precautions we can while we're on set. But I'm like, let's just take that layer out where we don't have to worry about, you know, going for a bell contact and. Yeah, and that's where the wheel was born. And it was. And the fans loved it. And the fans were inspired and had more suggestions, which I always think is a good sign that the creativity sparks more creativity. So that's like a perfect.

[Damien Haas]

Adding Garrett to the wheel.

[Sarah Whittle]

Bleep it out. Actually bleep out the last 10 minutes.

[Damien Haas]

Well, why Not. Why not? Why not tease it? You guys suggested putting a little sliver for Garrett on the wheel just in case it lands on Garrett, then he has to eat it. And I love that idea.

[Ian Hecox]

I love that idea.

[Damien Haas]

I think next time we shoot it, I think next time we should eat or eat it. We should make that sliver a little bigger maybe.

[Ian Hecox]

Maybe there are more twists we should have.

[Sarah Whittle]

We should have one monochromatic wheel. And, and the color is Garrett.

[Ian Hecox]

Okay, I have more twists in the works right now.

[Damien Haas]

Yeah. So this, this, this next question comes from Violet Vendetta. They asked, do any of you worry about burning out? I worry a little about Damien since he streams three other days a week with all your other content. This is a lot of work for everyone to take on.

[Ian Hecox]

That's so nice of people to notice.

[Sarah Whittle]

That is very nice. Full disclosure. Yeah, definitely. I mean, it's been an ongoing conversation, but when Twitch was originally pitched, you know, because Matt sat down with me and was like, very earnest and he's like, look, this looks like a fun opportunity for us, but I know, you know, you care about your community and, you know, you doing it already, we would do alternating days so, you know, you wouldn't have to miss your own streams, you know, for our thing. And I was greatly appreciative of that. But that aside, my main concern immediately was like, man, I'm going to be tired. Like, people I don't think realize, and I think a lot of the cast, honestly, who hasn't, who haven't done live things before, didn't really realize how much it can really take out of you if you're really putting yourself out there for like a few hours in a row. So, like, even if it fits into the schedule, like, and we're going to be doing it every week, even when we're doing sketch and pit filming things, you know, filming four sketches in a day and then going on to Twitch is. I was worried I was gonna straight up be dead. But that being said, you know, I've expressed all my concerns and I felt like they were really heard and were already being worked on before I even said anything. Of course, because you guys care. And already, you know, we're working on things, so it seems like, you know, we're. Every person is not going to be in every stream. They're gonna really, like, shuffle around things for filming days where, like, it's not going to be in general a 12 hour marathon of things, you know, there will be a day here and there that gets a little, little spicy. But we're honestly just going to have to see. And thankfully, because it's all of us doing it, it's not like there can't be a conversation about it. You know, I feel like if we do get to the point of like, hey, I'm flipping tired and this is every week, then we'll do something about it. Like.

[Damien Haas]

Yeah, I think, I think people's. People's mental state is. Is the number one priority. We don't want to put anyone on live. That's. That's like, oh, dude, I can't. But also, also I think, you know, especially on the. On the shoot weeks, we'll have. We'll have other cast as well. I think people are going to be seeing other cast mates in the streams as well. So that's. That. That can then relieve some other people of. Of their. Of their streaming, you know, totally responsibilities on. So I mean, I think, yeah, obviously that that's. That was our number one concern. We started Twitch was like, can we even do this? Like, we're already shooting so many other things and Twitch is a large undertaking. So. So can we do this without burning out? And I think we, I think we, we got to a place where, where we think we. We can and we want to. Like I said, this isn't something that we. That we're doing on a whim real quick. Like, we want to do this for the long term so we, in order to go for the long term, we can't kill everyone.

[Ian Hecox]

And yeah, more investing into that too, because it is something that we're work in progress on because it's like we have a whole new team, we have new faces that are helping us build this Twitch infrastructure. And then meanwhile, we have people in front of the camera. And I think this year, if anything, taught us how to find each of our voices and really communicate with each other when we're getting to a point of burnout and everything like that. I think it's totally. It's unfortunately a thin line between like, you know, working really hard and then getting burned out. It's a thin line.

[Sarah Whittle]

And that's quick too.

[Ian Hecox]

Yeah. And that's when it's really important to check in with yourself and really figure out, okay, am I. Should I push through this or is this something that I really need to, like, step back and relax?

[Sarah Whittle]

It meant a lot also that you guys were open to listening about that because my initial worry, I'm a worrier was, you know, if I get really burnt out, there is only one thing that's in my Control to change on my own. And that's my own streams and I did not want those to fall by the wayside. Still don't like, I will not let be like, I. Sorry guys. Canceling again. Just sleepy. Don't want to do that. So the fact that I was able to come to you and know that like, hey, I. I'm getting tired. Is there something on our end together that I can chill out on and that people were receptive to that, that was awesome.

[Damien Haas]

I think, like, the most important thing is that, that we all have each other's backs in this and.

[Sarah Whittle]

Give it back. Give me back my back.

[Damien Haas]

Sorry. No, I got your back. You know, that's, that's important to, to be able to trust that your team can, can lift you up in places where, where you know you're having trouble.

[Ian Hecox]

Yeah, that's the luxury of having a team is that you are. Aren't doing it all on your own and you can't. And you can't thing because it's just that that's not the most efficient way to work in a team. And so the great thing is, is if you're like, hey, I'm overwhelmed or I have anxiety or I'm worried about this or I'm unclear about this, there's a bunch of people on camera and off camera that can like take the load. For someone that's like having an off week or just needs the time or what? You don't even need an excuse. And so that's the luxury of having a team mentality. Like the premiere live stream is a perfect example. We were grinding hard. Just got off. You guys just got off of a week of shooting all of the sketches. And then we were diving into a week of smoshpit and Smosh games programming along with the six hour Twitch premiere. And Lane and I, the producer, we were kind of going over what each minute of that six hour stream was gonna be. And in the beginning, if people watched, you notice, like, I was doing a lot of, kind of the like vanilla hosting type of things. And that's because I wanted you guys all to be able to just be present and live in the moment. I'll do all the homework and in that moment, take on that workload so that everyone can feel a little more relaxed and excited in the moment. And so those things happen. And then maybe next week I need a little more help. And then the week after, Courtney needs a little bit of help. And that's like the fun, the great part. And that's what I love about Teamwork.

[Sarah Whittle]

Speaking of balancing things, Sarah, I. I wanted to ask you this when we were in last question and I totally forgot you. You come up with a lot of ideas for. For Pit for games and things like that. And now we have Twitch. So, you know, Twitch is very different in that, like, you know, there are. There are, you know, cut downs sometimes, but in. In the most part, it lives in a live setting and that's about it. So when you have an idea, are you ever, like, sort of precious with it like that? You're like, oh, I need to save this for a games video, or are you like, oh, this is only going to work on Twitch? Like, how do you. How do you balance that?

[Ian Hecox]

Well, to be honest, like, we're figuring it out. Like, Like I said, we have a whole new team on Twitch. We have a team for Smosh games and Smosh Pit. We have people who, like Kevin the Shredder, for example. He helps a lot with. With Pitt, and he's been helping with Sketch lately. Like, everyone's wearing a lot of hats during this time especially, but just in general, everyone wears a ton of hats. I wear a ton of hats. You. I'm. My main job is director of Unscripted. It is not anything to do with being on camera, and so that's not under my job duties at all. So. So it is a balancing act and we have a very talented team. So luckily we have Lane and he has a ton of ideas. Matt and I are always just spitballing ideas and shutting each other down and hyping each other up with different ideas. And I think if you ever want to be either in a creative space or not a creative space, being able to let your ideas change is really important and you really gotta shove your pride aside. And it's like, there's been instances where I'm like, oh, I fucking love this idea, but it's not good for like a video. And then like, what is it? And it's like, you have to be able to be flexible with your ideas because no one's coming in to, like, shit on your idea. No one wants to come and be like, your idea sucks. And Damon and you and I have had, like, discussions like this where you pitch me an idea and I'm like, okay, that's a great start. But this is where we need to, like, nip and tuck and make it a little more optimized or whatever. And of course it's subjective because it's a creative environment, but that's when you use your analytical brain and all the analytics you have and your creative brain and trying to put those together and find that sweet mix, sometimes it hits and sometimes it doesn't. But at the end of the day, like, unfortunately, you got to check your pride at the door and accept that it might be rejected and everything like that.

[Damien Haas]

I think, you know, when you talk about you and you and Matt, you and Matt, Rob, like, working together and shutting each other down, hyping each other up, like, each of you are coming in with a different expertise.

[Ian Hecox]

Exactly.

[Damien Haas]

Like you. You each, like, have a certain thing that you know. And I. And I think that's totally right. You just got to. You got to check your ego at the door and just accept that, you know, maybe you don't know everything and be. Be open to other ideas. And I think that's. That's incredibly important.

[Ian Hecox]

Yeah. And, like, you know, maybe independent creators have the luxury of just, like, you know, coming up with their ideas, doing their ideas, and putting it on the Internet, but our infrastructure doesn't. Doesn't work that way. But I can tell you I asked for ideas from everyone and anyone that wants to give them with the notion of, like, this might change. So that's just a part of the process, because we do, at the end of the day, need to think, how can we make this the best it can be for what we're going for? And so, yeah, and for a while, I was running out of ideas. It happens many times where I have kind of creative blocks and I can't think of anything. And that's why the team's important.

[Damien Haas]

Yeah, I think some people have, like, this, like, warped sense of, like, oh, when you're. When you run out of ideas, it's over. People have been telling me that Smosh ran out of ideas in 2007.

[Ian Hecox]

Like, you know, it's like, well, it's a metamorphosis. Like, a lot of people can't. You can't. What works worked a year ago. What worked 10 years ago probably won't work right now. That's why Dancing with the Stars has a new cast every season.

[Sarah Whittle]

That's why Dancing with the Stars is complete ass. I'm going to say it right now, but, like, that's the thing, Ian. Sometimes I'm the newest to the Internet in this group, I think. But, like, you can't win necessarily, because imagine if you were making the exact, exact same kind of content that you did from 2007, where people are like, I want the old smosh. Except 13 years later, all the comments would then be, look, at this grown ass man acting like a kid. He's still doing this. He's still acting like that. You wouldn't win. It's, it's so. It just.

[Ian Hecox]

Well, it's, it's growth, you know, and some people, and sometimes you, you hit, you know, second puberty and you're growing in a way that's not ideal, but at least you're learning to adapt and you have to metamorphosize as the time goes. What worked on Smoshpit a year ago doesn't work now.

[Sarah Whittle]

So what is it?

[Ian Hecox]

That's a creative challenge that we need to like, figure out.

[Sarah Whittle]

My question is, creatively, how do we get your three cats to enter the room several more times?

[Ian Hecox]

It's a lose, lose. If I shut the door, they're just going to be screaming.

[Sarah Whittle]

I know.

[Ian Hecox]

Leave the door open. This is what we're going to get.

[Sarah Whittle]

I know.

[Damien Haas]

So we have one more question here. This one comes from three Tyler K3. They asked, Is it more nerve wracking being live than just recording? It probably is because there's no cutting and it's real time. Lol. Love you. Oh, thank you. Love you too. Actually, I don't, I don't. Well, I don't know you, so I can't say that I love you, but thank you. You know what, thank you for the love. We appreciate it. I hope you're being safe out there for me.

[Sarah Whittle]

I know that, like, it's probably different for everybody, but. Not at all. I prefer live to scripted a thousand times over. I would always do like live improv as a teenager and young adults. Like, that was my job when I was like a young adult. I'm way more. Even when I did my Disney audition back in the day, they were like, prepare three characters. I was like, I'll figure it out when I'm there. Like, that's, I'm serious. Like, that's crazy. But I'm way more comfortable with that than I am with like a whole page of like, this is what the character says. But it's just, it's what I like. And so, yeah, a thousand times over, I would do live.

[Damien Haas]

I think, I think for me, my, my perception of Twitch has changed a lot over this year of talking about Twitch. I think to go back further, you know, somebody, somebody I know somebody had pointed out they're like, wait, didn't Ian say that like Smosh wouldn't really work on Twitch because of like, this, this and that. And I think that is something that I, that I believed, you know, Three, two, three years ago, whenever I said that. But my perception has changed. I had a very.

[Ian Hecox]

Whoa, that's crazy. You're.

[Damien Haas]

I know. You change.

[Sarah Whittle]

Metamorphosis.

[Damien Haas]

I know.

[Ian Hecox]

With more information.

[Damien Haas]

Because I, Because I had this, this. I had this very narrow view of what Twitch was. I saw gamers playing by themselves and talking to chat and just playing a game and just sitting there playing a game. Which. There's nothing wrong with that. Yeah, but that's not good.

[Sarah Whittle]

That's wrong with that, Ian.

[Damien Haas]

Except for Damien Haas. But that's. That's not something that, that, that I'm interested in doing for Smosh. And I thought at that time that that was really the only thing that people really watched on Twitch. I was like, well, then we can't do it. But as I learned more about Twitch and saw the other creative people on Twitch doing things that weren't just gaming. Not that there's anything wrong with gaming solo on Twitch. I was like, oh, this is. There's like a whole entire world here.

[Ian Hecox]

Exactly.

[Sarah Whittle]

Yeah. People are. There are artists, there's musicians.

[Ian Hecox]

I see people doing tarot card readings. I want to do tarot card readings.

[Damien Haas]

I saw these girls. I saw these, like, I think they're twins. I forget their names, but they were, they were Vanessa and Veronica Something Martell. They were like, they were freakishly painted. Like spongebob and Patrick.

[Ian Hecox]

Oh, yeah.

[Damien Haas]

They like sang a song about like a love song between spongebob and Patrick.

[Ian Hecox]

So good.

[Damien Haas]

And it was, it was just frightening, but also really funny. But there, there's.

[Sarah Whittle]

That's what you saw. And you were like, maybe this is a place for smoking.

[Damien Haas]

No, that was, that was literally last week. But I, But I think, like, I had this very warped sense of like what Twitch was and it sounded very nerve wracking, like going live and like, you have to be on all the time. And that's a very, like, YouTuber mindset of like, once the camera's on you, you cannot waste a single second. You have to be like, hey, you know, the, the six hour live stream. I was, I was a little bit. I was maybe a little bit on edge. But now that we're just. Now that we're just live streaming, like, I, like when we, when we shot the most recent time, I was like, oh, I can just let myself go.

[Sarah Whittle]

100.

[Damien Haas]

Maybe I shouldn't have made the, the joke about if, if you vote for Courtney, a small child dies. But, you know, hey, we're doing it live.

[Sarah Whittle]

We're all going to have our individual challenges. On how we adapt.

[Ian Hecox]

Yeah, you have to adapt and what jokes you're going to make. I, I mean, I've had experience in live theater, both improv and scripted, of course, in like local theater in Wyoming, but still, experience. I've worked for live television as well, as well as prerecorded television. And so I wasn't, I was nervous, but not in the way like I always get the little like nervousness right before like a live performance that I don't usually get when we're recording YouTube videos. It's just a little like bit of adrenaline as far as live goes. Like for me, with that six hour stream, I really was like, I just want to know what I need to know so that I can like go on. And I saw it as like a challenge again. I was like, okay, these are the things I need to know. These are things I'm kind of running. You know, that's the thing that Matt's running, that's the thing that Ian's running. Like if everyone gets their, their thing in check, then like we can forces combine and like do great and make.

[Sarah Whittle]

The Megazord and then save Angel City from the Avengers.

[Damien Haas]

And also it's like I, I think it's our stream. Like, I can be, I can just be myself. That's like, I can, I just have fun with it. And, and I know that, and I know that my team is, you know, you guys are gonna be there to support me on camera unless I make a really terrible joke and you guys all rag on me.

[Sarah Whittle]

Yeah, we do. To distance ourselves as you get cancer. Yeah, exactly.

[Damien Haas]

But, but you know, I get these like crazy nerves when I'm, if I go on somebody else's podcast, especially really like a live.

[Sarah Whittle]

Yeah. Because you don't have to.

[Damien Haas]

Because I'm like, oh man. Like I gotta like, I gotta, you know, present this like certain self and, and really like watch what I say. And I don't know what this audience is like, I don't know what they think of me. I don't know what sort of like prejudices they have against me. But on, it's our twitch, it's our audience. I'm just going to give them myself and, and I don't need, I don't need to work hard to, to be myself.

[Sarah Whittle]

Yeah, exactly.

[Damien Haas]

So what I'm saying is I'm not, I'm just not gonna put any effort.

[Sarah Whittle]

Yeah.

[Damien Haas]

At all.

[Sarah Whittle]

But that's, but you kind of, you kind of hit it on the head there. I think when you're coming from A performance background that is scripted or produced or what have you. Even if you have all the creative control there, there's still a mindset of, like, how do I make this thing good? Whereas with Twitch, being yourself is the key and also can be the hardest thing if you're not used to that because people are there to hang out with you in a live setting. And to me, that's really fun. And if you're being like the, hey, what's up, gamers today? We have a good show for you people. Click right off because you're not being real. I have only a little bit of that when I first start my Twitch stream because I feel this amp of excitement. So, like, even if I'm like, what's up, everybody? Like, I'm actually that excited. And that's fun. That's fun for both parties. It's again, like, you're saying changing the mindset. Like, it will not work for a live setting if you're trying to make it like, it's also.

[Ian Hecox]

I mean, it just goes down to, like, just be yourself and kind of like, you know, put yourself in the best mindset and present yourself the best way. But be yourself, and anyone that likes it will like it. And anyone that doesn't like it, like, that's okay. It's not for you.

[Sarah Whittle]

That is okay.

[Ian Hecox]

Like, I'm not for you. I like cats and glitter and, like, bright colors. If that's not for you, that's okay. You cannot, like, I have literally said that.

[Sarah Whittle]

I have literally said that on stream because I. If anyone's ever, like, trolling the chat, I try my best to, like, get them actually on board. Because I'm like, you're trolling because you're, like, bored, probably. If you're doing it because you're bored, like, I mean, we're all bored. There's a bunch of us here that are bored and that's why we're doing this. So. But I've had situations where people are like, you should do it like this, or, why do you do it like that? And I've literally turned to the person in chat and just been like, look, man. Like, I really like doing it like this. It's fun for me. And I think it's the way these people like it too.

[Damien Haas]

That's not Twitch.

[Sarah Whittle]

That's a thousand percent okay. Like, and I'm not trying to be passive aggressive here. That is okay. I'll do other things on different days. Check out those other days. But if it's not your thing, like, thanks for Popping in and saying, hey, and I wish you well.

[Ian Hecox]

Exactly. It's the same as, like, if I'm. If I'm just scrolling through YouTube and like, oh, I want to try. Let's find a new creator to watch. And eventually I figure, oh, this is not really vibing with me. Or maybe I don't agree with what they say. I just click it off. I don't think there's any, you know, value in. In kind of shitting on what people like to do. My lights just, like, flickered on, but it's just like. It's like, clearly, you know, Damien, you're having fun on your stream. You're. You wouldn't do it if you didn't like it because it's your own thing.

[Sarah Whittle]

Because it's a lot of.

[Ian Hecox]

I came in and started shitting. Why are you doing it this way? Like, why do we have to dim other people's lights in that kind of sense? It's like, if I really enjoy cats and glitter and whatever, why you got to come shit on my party if you don't just go away.

[Damien Haas]

Don't. Yuck. Somebody's yum.

[Sarah Whittle]

Damn straight. Have you seen that? There was, like, a TikTok going around a while back where, like, it was just a girl talking to herself, but it's two different characters and they're just like, I don't like your videos.

[Ian Hecox]

Oh, yeah, yeah, I did.

[Sarah Whittle]

That's okay, man.

[Ian Hecox]

That's fine.

[Sarah Whittle]

I don't like it. It's like, okay, well, you should watch someone else. And they're just like, yeah, yeah. It was the perfect representation.

[Damien Haas]

And it's like, was that a. Was that a woman personality?

[Sarah Whittle]

Yes.

[Damien Haas]

Oh, yeah.

[Ian Hecox]

She's like a cosplayer or, like, cool makeup artist or something.

[Sarah Whittle]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Damien Haas]

It's much worse for women, especially in that regard. Oh, 10, where it's just like, why are you so angry? Why are you so angry at the content?

[Ian Hecox]

I just, like, don't. I think. I mean, Chrissy Teigen, I like to quote her, she was just like. I think she tweeted the other day, you guys are like thieves of joy. Like, I'm just enjoying this thing and you're just coming to shit on it. And I'm not hurting anyone. I'm just being like, hey, I like this brush. I like it. And then it's like, well, but, you know, there's other brushes. And you're like, okay, bro.

[Sarah Whittle]

Yeah, yeah.

[Ian Hecox]

Like, that's not this. I just like this brush.

[Sarah Whittle]

It's like this brush.

[Damien Haas]

Yeah, I. I have a I have a friend that, that also has a, has a YouTube channel and they're a woman and, and they posted something on Twitter. And this guy just goes on this like whole rant about like, you know, you should post the link with this and this because it gets you more engagement on YouTube. And she's like, yes, I have been doing YouTube for many years. I understand how to use the platform.

[Ian Hecox]

Yeah. And that's how I view my personal social. Like I, I obviously know how to optimize things. I obviously know how to make things like, do better online and. But for me, I am still able to enjoy social media as social media. And for me, I feel like I'm sharing a piece of, of my life. You see my cats in my apartment. That's very private. If you're coming to on me, I'm blocking you. I'm sharing something personal that I enjoy and you're taking an opportunity to be a thief of joy. I don't want that. So I don't have a problem like blocking you because I. This is my thing. I'm enjoying this.

[Sarah Whittle]

Are you familiar with the ignore button, by the way? Because it'll change your life. It's a mute, but it ignore especially for like messages on Instagram. If you get something that you're not a fan of or it's inappropriate or whatever, you can hit ignore. So they don't even know they're blocked. But you'll never see anything ever again. So literally they will, I'm assuming, shout into the void their anger for years and it'll never reach you.

[Ian Hecox]

It's incredible putting out there, like, it's not the energy that I've always believed. I'm a big believer in what you put in the universe. You get back and if you're putting that crappy attitude out there, like, you're not. And I'm not saying don't fight for the things you really believe in, like, if that's something there. But like coming into my DMs and either being creepy, talking about my family, talking about things that I just genuinely enjoy in a shitty way. I don't have time for that. Not, not even, not now, not never, not in 2020. Like, get the fuck out with that attitude.

[Damien Haas]

Yeah. I think Hank Green had a really good tweet recently about the difference between getting hate and getting harassment. It's. Yes, it's not just relegated to women, but pretty much. Pretty much any woman on, on online that has any, any small amount of following has gotten harassment. Like full blown harassment. I hope it changes one day. I really. I really hope so. I'm not gonna put all my eggs into the basket of it will change. But I. I hope that. I guess. I guess, you know, I want to put it out there that if you're harassing women online, we don't want you.

[Ian Hecox]

And if you're even questioning it, if you're even just being like, is this harassment or is this a little weird, or is this taking it too far? Don't do it. Like, don't do it. And it's like, obviously there are extreme cases. And as. As soon as I became on, like, we're showing up in more smosh videos, like, it is kind of crazy. The, like, unfortunate things that are happening and really, like, having to protect my mental health and create boundaries for myself. And it really sucks that some of the things out there are out there. Example, like fake nudes and stuff like that. It sucks that. That that is a thing. And whatever age, men and women or whatever think that that's okay to do, it's not okay to do, and it's just not challenge yourself to be a better person. Because at the end of the day, like, some of these people are doing it for attention, and that's kind of the difference between harassment and hate comments. Yeah.

[Damien Haas]

You kind of see it if you go to their profiles. It's like, you see they're targeting multiple people, and it's like, so you're just not. Like, what is this energy you're putting out there?

[Ian Hecox]

Yeah, use your energy, like, for valuable things. And, like, life. Life is Sure. I put this on my Instagram story. Like, life is really short. If you're putting your energy into hateful, harassing, negative things, you're literally wasting everyone's time.

[Sarah Whittle]

You can understand a mindset without condoning it. Right. Which I think is an important distinction. Why? Like, you can look at someone's profile and be like, they really need some attention. They're not getting anything. Like, I got a really nasty comment the other day in a dm, and I was like, just for fun, let's look at this person. And it was one of the rare cases where it was actually, like, a person and they actually used their own photo or whatever, but all of their photos. We were. Was like, he was trying to, like, look toward the camera and be like. Like, trying to be, like, suave and all that stuff. And I'm like, nobody's seeing this, but you're really wanting someone to tell you something nice, and they're not doing it. So you see me and so you sort of have to bring me down a peg or two. Like it's not okay that you're doing that, but I do understand why you got there. So work on it, you know.

[Damien Haas]

Yeah, there's a lot of unwell people. It is social media and it's. It, it's too bad that, you know, it's. Social media kind of encourages that. That behavior.

[Ian Hecox]

Yeah, it's a new thing of like validation. Kind of like out outside. Validation is now more than ever, especially when it comes to influencers and everything like that. When we were growing up, there was no access to be validated on anything. Like you were kind of validated by your inner circle school, you know, bullies, teachers, your family. Like that's, that's where you kind of like seeked validation. And now you can seek it through, through the world. And you feel like everyone else is getting validation. Why can't I get validation? And I think that's really important to rewire your brain. That validation doesn't come from the outside. It comes from the inside as cheesy boom. That sounds boom.

[Sarah Whittle]

No, it's true.

[Damien Haas]

Yes.

[Ian Hecox]

You gotta find your worth in the world. What is your worth in the world? Only you can find it. No one can tell you any different.

[Damien Haas]

Yeah, straight Sarah Whittle, Sing it from the rooftop. Sarah Queen. But we're not, by the way, we're not giving you validation. Right, right now.

[Ian Hecox]

I'm just saying it's not going to my head at all. Cuz the whole time I was like, I can't wait to hold my cats after this.

[Sarah Whittle]

Oh, I was thinking very much that I can't wait to go to the bathroom.

[Damien Haas]

So. Well then let's. Let's move it on to the end. So we're gonna move on to the shoot dude. We got a double shoot. Oh, sorry, had a burp between my. We.

[Sarah Whittle]

Now is. Now is not the time to apologize for that.

[Damien Haas]

We gotta. We got a back to back. Got a back to back. Shoot dude. Baby, Shoot dude.

[Ian Hecox]

Shoot dude. Shoot dude.

[Sarah Whittle]

Shoot dude. Shoot dude.

[Ian Hecox]

Ian, can you explain what a shoot dude is?

[Damien Haas]

Oh, sure, yeah, I can explain. My shoot dude is like when somebody does something and it's like real cringe or it's like, oh no, I felt really bad for you. Or it's just something where you're like, damn, you did that. That is a shoot dude. So this one, this first one comes from Matthew. A few years ago, I was working at Target as a cashier and what seemed to be a mom and a child came through my register, the mom told me it was her child's birthday and she was turning 12 years old. Trying to be friendly, I excitedly said, nice. Almost a teen. The way it sounded, though, was nice. Almost 18. I was apologizing profusely as the mother gave me such a death stare.

[Sarah Whittle]

Oh, shoot, dude. Shoot, dude, that hurts me. 18.

[Damien Haas]

Oh, my God.

[Ian Hecox]

Almost 18. Oh, no.

[Damien Haas]

That reminds me of.

[Ian Hecox]

Dude, that happens to me so often, though. Not the 18 thing. We're coming up.

[Sarah Whittle]

What part of this happens to you?

[Ian Hecox]

But no, sometimes I say things because I'm a very blunt person. You guys know it's my. It's my Korean mother in me, right? And just being very blunt. And sometimes I say things and it sounds so mean and like. And I'm like, I didn't mean it that way. I was just, like, it was my blunt communication happening.

[Sarah Whittle]

I'm coming to terms recently with, like, sometimes I have the same kind of issue where, like, I will accept something and move it and move on very quickly. And so I'll be like, great, next topic. But because that happens so fast and I'm not bringing someone along for the ride, it seems like I'll say something in, like, rebuttal. Well, where, like, I have an example of, like, when I was a teenager, my parents were like, hey, times are a little tough right now. We can't keep giving you allowance. And in my mind, it was like, oh, that's totally fine. But then I was like, oh, times are tough. Family's going through some issues. They talked about mom getting a second job. I kind of want to know what's up. Let's. Let's talk about that. So I was immediately like, okay, where's that second job happening for mom? And so it sounded like. It sounded like, you can't give me allowance. Mom should get a second job. And I was like, no. Like, it's so. God, we've all had those moments.

[Ian Hecox]

Yeah, dude. 18.

[Damien Haas]

You should ask your mom for back is so funny.

[Ian Hecox]

18.

[Damien Haas]

18.

[Sarah Whittle]

Almost 18.

[Damien Haas]

I could, you know, I got to. I'm going to keep that in my brain because I feel like just in case I act, I feel like that's something I could almost accidentally say, almost a teen. I don't know why I would ever say that.

[Ian Hecox]

So funny.

[Damien Haas]

Because that's still creepy. It's still kind of creepy.

[Ian Hecox]

I would say that. I would say, oh, my God, you're almost a teen. Sounds like eighteen. Yeah.

[Damien Haas]

Especially if you're like, I don't know, like, English. Almost 18. Oh, spot nice. Almost like, that's Australian Australia. Nice. Almost 18.

[Sarah Whittle]

In Australia, we call that 81 because we were upside down.

[Damien Haas]

Oh, nice. Nice.

[Sarah Whittle]

I'm sorry. No, actually, 18. Upside down is still 18.

[Damien Haas]

Oh, okay, here. Here's the next one. Comes from somebody. That almost sounds like the city. A city in Australia, like Adelaide. This person's name is Adeline. My grandma was in charge of sending out thank you cards from my great grandpa's funeral. She's in her late 60s and she's a little crazy now. I'm in the Mormon culture, so funerals are a huge deal, especially where I am at in Utah. So of course we need some bougie invitations. Oh, she wanted to send out a cute invitation that she designed, so she decided to put LOL on the front of the cards. Back in her day, LOL meant lots of love, so she had no clue that now it mostly meant laugh out loud. She ended up sending all 175ish invitations before being told by my dad that she accidentally ended her funeral invitation with a big LOL at the end. Let's just say that my family has had a laugh about that for the past few years. Wow. Can you imagine me like.

[Ian Hecox]

Crap, Shoot, shoot, dude, shoot. Holy crap. That's so sweet.

[Sarah Whittle]

That's.

[Damien Haas]

Oh, my God.

[Sarah Whittle]

Hilarious.

[Ian Hecox]

So, Grandma, I don't know.

[Sarah Whittle]

I don't know Adeline's grandpa, but I feel like Adeline's grandpa would have had a little left about that.

[Ian Hecox]

Yeah, Yeah. I think that seems, like, very appropriate for my family. Like, we would all like. That's.

[Damien Haas]

I also imagine. I also imagine that, like, LOL was written all, like, intricately.

[Ian Hecox]

Yeah, I was imagining, like, gold, like the. It's, like, raised off the paper. It's like. Oh, but it sounds like she just signed it.

[Damien Haas]

It has, like, little curlies on it.

[Sarah Whittle]

What if she's just a huge League of Legends fan?

[Damien Haas]

Oh, yeah. Yep. She's definitely a. She's definitely a Teemo Main, for sure.

[Sarah Whittle]

Sincerely, League of Legends.

[Ian Hecox]

Grandmas are the best. They're precious. Oh, man. Call your grandma. I don't have a grandma.

[Sarah Whittle]

I don't have grandma.

[Ian Hecox]

I don't have a grandma.

[Damien Haas]

You made this really sad.

[Ian Hecox]

Call your grandma. Call if she's around.

[Sarah Whittle]

Call her.

[Damien Haas]

What?

[Sarah Whittle]

Call her.

[Ian Hecox]

What grammar.

[Sarah Whittle]

What do I call her?

[Ian Hecox]

Call her.

[Sarah Whittle]

Are we about. Or can we hold a Beyonce so we can.

[Ian Hecox]

Yeah.

[Sarah Whittle]

Contact on Beyonce on Behance.

[Damien Haas]

All right, guys, well, that. That does it for this smoshcast. If you're not yet subscribed to this mosh cast, Please do so on any of your favorite podcast apps or if you're watching this on YouTube. Thank you so much. You see our faces. Hello. If you're listening to us on the podcast, you see you listen to us uncensored. Please rate us five stars on the app. Also, we talked about our Smosh games. Twitch. Check us out. Check us out.

[Ian Hecox]

Monday, Wednesday, Friday.

[Damien Haas]

Monday, Wednesday, Friday. It's a good time, Damien. Oh, the. The Twitch channel, obviously, is Smosh Games. Twitch tv. Smosh Games.

[Ian Hecox]

Nailed it.

[Damien Haas]

Nailed it. Send us your shoot dudes to. What's up? What's up?

[Sarah Whittle]

You. You were. You said Damien, and then you transitioned into something else.

[Ian Hecox]

Damien wasn't prepared for this question.

[Sarah Whittle]

No, you. You literally went, hey, so, Damien. And then he was like, what's the channel name? And you said, oh. And then said the channel name.

[Damien Haas]

And then, oh, I have nothing to say to you, Damien.

[Ian Hecox]

He just wanted to say your name.

[Damien Haas]

So, Damien, send us your shoot dudes to shoot [e-mail]. that's S H o o t D O O D Mosh dot com. So, Damien. All right. Thank you, Sarah, for coming on.

[Ian Hecox]

You did do that, Ian, and it good. This is very good.

[Damien Haas]

I have no idea what I was going to say to you.

[Ian Hecox]

Yeah, you were like.

[Sarah Whittle]

So, Damian, you were like, check out our Twitch channel. Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Damian. Oh, the channel name. Okay.

[Ian Hecox]

We're doing it live.

[Damien Haas]

I don't think so. I think you imagine. I think you're imagining that because you're losing blood out of your thumb.

[Sarah Whittle]

That's also true, but also, we're recording this, so roll the tape. Roll the tape.

[Damien Haas]

So, Damien, I love you, buddy. I'm gonna hang out. I hope your thumb gets better.

[Sarah Whittle]

Thank you. It won't. I'm.

[Damien Haas]

We're all praying for you.

[Sarah Whittle]

Thank you.

[Ian Hecox]

You should put fish skin on it. That helps burn victims. It's really cool.

[Sarah Whittle]

Why would you bring this up as we're signing off, this should have been an hour and a half of.

[Ian Hecox]

I thought I would assume that Kevin's going to cut it a little earlier.

[Sarah Whittle]

No, too late. I want to know about. We're in it now. Adding. Add another 90 minutes to this podcast. Tell me about fish skin. Actually, I got to go to the bathroom. Goodbye, everybody.

[Damien Haas]

That's fine. All right, Damien, Sarah, thank you so much. Check us out on Twitch. Love you so much. Smosh dot com. Get the newest merch. Love you so much. And bye.