Rhett & Link's legendary entertainment in talks to acquire Smosh – Variety



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Smosh, the YouTube comedy brand left behind after the parent company Defy Media has fallen on its stomach, may be on the verge of finding a new business partner.

Mythical Entertainment, the entertainment company founded by YouTube comedy duo Rhett & Link, discussed the acquisition of the Smosh brand, sources said. Variety. Many potential buyers have come forward to defeat Smosh after Defy's sudden shutdown last November, which failed to find a buyer or raise working capital. But at this point, Mythical has become Smosh's potential buyer, sources said.

This combo would be perfect – it would bring together two of YouTube's most popular and oldest comedy teams. Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal are the creators and hosts of the 15-million-weekly Good Mythical Morning television series.

Smosh, which is now run by Ian Hecox, co-founder, dates back to 2006 and has over 24 million subscribers on its main channel, which features sketches and parodies of the Internet and pop culture. The crew also runs the auxiliary channels Smosh Games (7.4 million subscribers) and Smosh Pit (6 million).

There is also an UTA connection between Rhett & Link and Smosh: McLaughlin, Neal and Hecox are each reinforced by the agency.

A spokesperson for Rhett and Link said that they would attend VidCon London this week and that they would not be available to comment. A representative of Studio71, who produces Rhett & Link's "Good Mythical Morning", did not respond to a request for comment. Hecox did not respond to a request by e-mail.

Last fall, following the closure of Defy, Hecox reassured fans that the Smosh team was "finding a new home".

"The family we worked for 13 years will not go away," wrote Hecox in an article on November 6. tweet. "You have given Smosh the best job offers in the world, and we will do everything in our power to continue to offer you the same Smoshy good that we always have." Hecox became the creator of Smosh After a longtime friend and co-founder, Anthony Padilla left the group in 2017.

Rhett and Link, friends since the first year in North Carolina, have been successful with "Good Mythical Morning", which is in its 15th season. Mythical also hosts a weekly "GMM" talk show titled "Let's talk about this", and Rhett and Link are hosting a weekly podcast titled "Ear Biscuits". The duo also premiered and starred in two seasons of the original YouTube series "Rhett & Link & # 39; s Buddy". System ", a scripted program in which they interpret characters from themselves, and wrote a book called" The Book of the Mythical: A Practical Guide to Curiosity, Creativity and Deception ". Among their brand contracts, they figured as spokesperson for the Bowl Super Ad for the Wix.com website hosting service.

The popularity of "Good Mythical Morning" has led YouTube to fund an expanded version of the show, inspired by late – night TV shows, launched in the fall of 2017 and featuring multi – part segments of the show. a duration of 22 minutes or more per day. It did not last: "GMM" returned to its original format, shorter last year, with episodes of 12 to 15 minutes each.

Most recently, Mythical this month partnered with Patreon to launch The Mythical Society (mythicalsociety.com), a subscription-based subscription program giving "Mythical Beasts" – that Rhett & Link calls their fans – access to exclusive content, products, scene images and other benefits. It is available in three levels, priced at $ 5, $ 10, and $ 20 a month.

Pictured above: Rhett McLaughlin (left) and Link Neal

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