#why is this not my life 😩

[nnicknnelsonn]

when life presents you with the image you never knew you always needed

Source: @heartstoppercentral (X)

this wasn’t the only adorable thing that day (X)

[groovygrub]

[jkvjimin]

(79/∞) the perfect nose for butterflies to land on it ♡

[gunsatthaphan]

#subscribe to their mukbang channel (or maybe don't..)

[swiftllama]

December Compliments ☀️🔍

[Compliments Masterlist]

And so we have reached the last Compliments Post of 2023! Can’t believe we’re here and everything the last 6 months have brought us - it’s been a whirlwind! I shall ramble more at the end of this post, but for right now, let’s get into it :-

December 2023

MY DEAD FRIEND (BTS & Livestream)

To kick off the month we were blessed with what I would consider my favourite sketch of the year, and of course along with that we also got…

Bloopers: My Dead Friend

Ian and Anthony were ON ONE in this, it was wild! Not that I’m complaining!

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I&A: [discussing Anthony carrying Ian in the sketch]

Anthony: “And now we’re going to learn what it’s like for me to hold you, to cradle you like a baby while I’m wearing this stuff [his costume].”

Ian: “Yeah, you seem to really want to do that…”

Anthony: “I do really want to do that. I’ve written it into every sketch and this is the first one that finally made it to camera.”

I mean… WHAT!? Anthony’s written himself carrying Ian into every script 👀 Well glad your wishes came true Anthony - hope you get to do it again!

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Anthony: [climbing up trees to remove wind chimes]

Ian: “Be careful Anthony.”

Anthony: [removes them and passes them down to Ian] “Wow, we’re domesticated.”

Yes, yes you are 🤭

-

Then came the moment of Anthony (and us) had all been waiting for - Anthony carrying Ian 🙌

So they tried a few different ways before settling on the one that was in the sketch (bridal/baby style), and Anthony was being so cute reassuring Ian that he could carry him ☺️

Anthony: [lifts Ian up over his shoulders]

Ian’s: “Ohhhh goooo-ohhhh.”

Anthony: “I got you bud.”

…

Anthony: “Jump.” [lifts Ian bridal style] “Also easy.”

Only reason Anthony works out is so he can carry Ian 😜

…

Anthony: [carrying Ian over his shoulders again and finds out Ian didn’t want matcha today] “Wait, I’m not carrying a matcha girlie right now?”

Ian: “No, there’s no matcha girlie today.”

Anthony: “You get down.” [sets Ian down on the ground]

Ian: [pouts] “But I want uppies.”

Ian perpetuating the bby girl title once again 💁‍♀️

-

Okay, now what to say about the ending of this BTS… I can’t describe it as anything other than Ian and Anthony just basically flirting for 5 minutes 🤭

I&A: [smiling at each other]

Anthony: “Don’t get near me.”

Ian: “What?”

Anthony: “I know you’re trying to…”

Erin: “He still has it doesn’t he?”

Anthony: “Yeah he has it, he’s trying to put it in my pocket.”

…

Ian: [continuing to mess about trying to put the thing into Anthony’s pocket]

Anthony: “Do you think that I don’t notice when you’re touching inside my pocket?”

…

Ian: [laughs]

Anthony: “What is so goddamn funny?”

Ian: [still laughing] “Nothing…”

Anthony: [tries to talk about the sketch] “-why do you keep looking down all weird?”

Ian: [laughing] “What…?”

Anthony: “What’s in your hand?” [tries to grab Ian’s hand] “What’s in your hand?! Drop it!”

Ian: “What?”

Anthony: “Drop it!

Ian: “What?”

Anthony: “What’s in your hand?”

Ian: “Nothing’s in my hand…. Nothing’s in my hand…” [shows empty hand] “Nothing’s in my hand.”

Anthony: “This guy has some weird shit in his hand.”

Ian: “There’s nothing in my hand!”

Anthony: “I’m watching where your hands go.”

…

Ian: [flings what he was holding into Anthony’s costume and points at it] “What’s in there? What’s that?”

Anthony: [shaking his head] “Wow I could have never seen this coming.”

Ian: “What’s there?”

Anthony: “I can’t believe it, the thing I put in your pocket is suddenly- I can’t reach it cause my arms don’t reach, don’t move that much. I literally can’t reach it because…”

Ian: “This thing?” [reaches into Anthony’s chest to pull it out] “I can’t get it, it’s gone forever.”

Anthony: “Some good exclusive members only content right there.”

Ian: “Just violently groping you.”

Anthony: “Yeah, I will not say how hard my nipple is or is not.”

Ian: “Okay…. Well thank you guys so much for watching, thank you so much for supporting this…”

I&A: [laughs]

Anthony: “Smoshtastic and Smosh Royalty members we could not do this without you.”

Ian: “We cannot do- we cannot violently grope each other without you.”

Anthony: “And I know that’s what you came here- I know that’s why you paid $5 to $10 a month.”

And maybe it is Anthony! It’s money well spent! But seriously, that last section of the BTS was a gem! ✨

MY DEAD FRIEND Watch Party

Of course also on sketch Fridays we get a livestream and so this was just a few moments from said livestream that I took as complimentary :-

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Ian: [trying to click something away on the computer] “I don’t know how to put this- get this away.”

Anthony: “Oh yeah, now Ian’s clicking- just click in the text box.” [points on screen on what to do]

Ian: “Oh yeah. Yeah, you’re smart.”

Just a cute little moment I wanted to include 😊

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[discussing Ian’s birthday but then get distracted talking about BTS content]

Anthony: “Anyways, I’m seeing lots of references aside-” [places hand on Ian’s shoulder] “Do you want to speak anything more about your birthday, birthday boy?”

Okay but Anthony stopping mid-sentence when he realised they’d got distracted and moved on from Ian talking about his birthday and checking in incase he wanted to say something else 🥹 he’s so cute!!

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[Chat question: Was it fun carrying Ian?]

Anthony: “Yeah. Did you watch the bloopers? Cause it shows in the bloopers that I tried to do all these different carrying positions…”

Ian: “Uh huh.”

Anthony: “But the baby- I wanted to cradle you like a baby, it’s funniest.”

Ian: “Yeah, it was good.”

Anthony: “It was fun. He’s good- he’s a good… he’s a good object to be carried.”

Ian: “Thank you. Oh my gosh.” [places hand over heart] “He called me an object, guys. Thank you.”

Okay know they’re kinda joking about here, but Anthony’s dug himself this hole that he enjoys carrying Ian so I couldn’t not include them referencing it again.

-

[talking about Amanda’s character in the sketch having a horrible date with Ian but still having a good time]

Anthony: “I think she’s just looking for a fun guy who’s willing to switch things up, and you, you really do, you provide that.”

Just Anthony complimenting Ian on being a fun date 👀

And that was it for this livestream! Moving on…

Is Anthony Nervous For His Funeral Roast? | Smosh Mouth

So Anthony was a guest on Smosh Mouth again, this time along with Courtney to discuss his upcoming funeral, and during the podcast they also spoke about Ian (of course) :-

Courtney: [talking about how the funeral, along with all the roasts are, is a celebration of the person in the casket]

Anthony: “Thank you. Thank you. I feel like it is, it’s not just me though. It’s a testament to both Ian and I coming together and reflecting on the beginnings of Smosh and what made it so special. And a huge part of that was Ian and I being able to just have fun together as friends, try to make each other laugh, be passionate about creating little fun projects, getting people excited about little dumb jokes and fun moments. And that’s, you know, going into working with everyone here. That’s what I really wanted to push, is for everyone to have the same kind of freedom to be passionate about creating funny, little dumb things together…”

He’s such a sweetie 🥰

-

[asking Anthony what he’s most nervous about for the roast]

Anthony: “Honestly, anytime that I’m roasted about something, even if it’s a little uncomfortable for a moment, I feel actually better about it because it’s not something that’s like not spoken about. Kinda like when Ian and I first came together on camera, and where like I’m reading my angry letter to him and stuff like that. Like, it was uncomfortable for me to see the things that I wrote 6 years earlier. I’m sure it was uncomfortable for him to hear some of that stuff, but because it was out in the open it made it feel like it wasn’t a taboo subject that couldn’t be spoken about anymore. And what’s interesting is that Ian and my friendship started deteriorating because there was so much pressure from every angle to work so much that we didn’t have any line of communication anymore. And I feel like if back then we had ways to even incorporate it into our work like it is now, then we would’ve had a closer friendship outside of work too. And it’s interesting that there are now these outlets for everyone here to kind of get stuff just out there and said. And it doesn’t feel like anything’s really too taboo to talk about within our group.”

Again, he’s so cute. But also bringing up what Ian and his friendship needed back in the day, knowing that they have that now will never not just be the nicest thought and something I’m so happy they now have ☺️

-

Shayne: “Who are you most nervous about as far as roasts? Like, is there a person you’re most afraid of?”

Anthony: “Umm… Yeah. Ian. I think he’s gonna go hardest cause he’s known me for so long.”

[Others discussing who they think will go the hardest]

Anthony: “I do think I am afraid of Ian’s most only because we have 20 plus years of history. So he can go anywhere.”

Shayne: “That’s true… Are you worried about him bringing back something up from like middle school or something?”

Anthony: “I have preemptively decided to bring up some stuff from our earliest years because I think he will do the same for me, so I have decided that is where I’m gonna go with some of these.”

[Others saying how they’re excited]

Amanda: “Okay, so Ian is the one that you’re most nervous about. And I guess Ian should be most nervous about you because damn.”

Anthony: “Honestly, yeah.” [points to the camera] “Ian, if you’re watching this, watch out. I hope your roasts are better than mine. I hope they go deeper. I hope you found something that I can’t remember. Likely not.” [taps side of head] “I got everything in here.”

Love how Anthony brings up Ian here, even with it being in the context of him being nervous for Ian’s roasts, Ian’s still on his mind. Even when the others were putting out other people who they think will go hard on him, Anthony still reiterated that Ian’s roast was the one he was most afraid of, and also how cute him bringing up twice how long they’ve known each other 😊

Reacting to Our Best Funeral Roasts

So another bit of promo they did for the Funeral was this livestream with Courtney, Shayne, and Tommy where they complied a list of some of their favourite past previous funeral roast moments that Anthony hadn’t seen for him to react to, to give him a taste of what he’d experienced at his own.

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During the live they also had a board up with different incentives that would be unlocked depending on how many tickets they sold.

One of the incentives was that a fan submitted tweet would be posted off Anthony’s account. They quickly passed this incentive and went through a lot of different options before settling on the one that was tweeted, which was…

You heard it folks, Anthony loves his Ianussy 😏

-

Another cute little moment they had was when they were down to their last two cans they opened each others and then interlocked arms to eat cause besties! ✨

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[Reacting to Ian’s funeral counter-roast and Ian saying to Courtney that “after Anthony left [she] stepped up and became the new person who shuts down every single idea [he] has.”]

Anthony: “I still don’t get that one cause I never shut down your ideas, Ian! You’re going to have to explain yourself at some point.”

Oop 🤭

Poor Anthony hates that bit so much, it isn’t the first time it’s been brought up 😅 HE WANTS EVERYONE TO KNOW HE BIGS IAN’S IDEAS UP 😤 His No1 supporter!

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[reacting to Ian’s [REDACTED] bit from Noah’s funeral]

Anthony: “That’s round of applause worthy.” [clapping] “That was really good. That was definitely my favourite bit I’ve seen so far. That was so good.”

Of course Ian’s bit would be his favourite ☺️

-

Coming to the end of the live, they were wrapping up and saying their thank yous and goodbyes, and Anthony had one last thing to say :-

Anthony: “The world knows now that I love my Ianussy.”

I mean, we been knew 😌😉

PARANORMAL EASY BAKE OVEN (Flashback)

Time for another Flashback with Smosh! This time reacting to the classic sketch Paranormal Easy Bake Oven.

-

My favourite editor was pulling it out the bag as always on this eps - bless you Kortney 🙌

[Ian eating a taco]

Anthony: “Oh, Ian’s going ham on them already. Oh.” [catches packets of sauce being flung to him]

Obessed with this!^^

Anthony: “Do you want, would you like some hot taco sauce? It’s for a hot taco.”

Ian: “I am a hot taco.”

Anthony: “Yeah.”

Ian: [reading what the packet says] “It’s hot for taco.”

Anthony: “Oh.”

Ian: “You thought it said it’s for a hot taco?”

Anthony: “Yeah.”

Poor Anthony. Your attempts at flirting were still good, babes. I’m sure Ian appreciated it 😘

You can also find a clip of this moment I posted at the time here.

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[Reacting to the scene where we find out Anthony just wants Ian to sleep in his room]

Anthony: “What was the joke we were even getting at? Like, it was kind of a throwaway joke. I have no idea if we were implying that… I want you to sleep next to me?”

Ian: “Yeah, I think you just wanted a friend.”

Anthony: “Aw, I just want a friend.”

Ian: “To sleep next to you.”

Anthony: “Yeah.”

Ian: “You had your stuffed animals, and then you wanted your best friend in the bed too.”

Anthony: “Yeah, of course.”

Aw Anthony, you just wanna sleep next to your best friend 🤗

I spent a day with SHAYNE TOPP

So Anthony had Shayne on as a guest on ISADW and, of course, Ian was brought up - Anthony cannot help himself 😅 it’s very sweet though ☺️

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[Talking about Shayne doing impressions of people]

Anthony: “Like earlier you did an impression of how you know when Ian’s nervous but he’ll never say it.”

Shayne: “So Ian whenever he’s leading a meeting, he gets like nervous burps I think, maybe.”

Anthony: [laughs]

Shayne: “But he’ll just kind of like, he’ll have the clicker for like the thing and he’ll be like ‘uh, yeah, so, um [covers mouth], we’re.. yeah, we’re doing that and um, it’s pretty good, and um yeah we’re really, we’re really excited.’”

Anthony: [laughing] “These are all the things that I noticed growing up with him.”

Anthony is so adorable, I love it! Also he loves bringing up the fact him and Ian grew up together/how long they’ve known each other, similar to what he done in the Smosh Mouth eps - what a cutie!

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Anthony: [thanking Shayne for sticking with Smosh all this time] “I really, really respect everything that you’ve done, everything that you’ve contributed. How much you’ve um, you know been there with Smosh through so many ups and downs. How you’ve had so much faith in this brand and how you’ve pushed it to continue to be what it has always been at the heart, which like you mentioned a second ago, which has really been about that friendship and that connection that you feel with the people that you’re making this stuff with. You know the way that Ian and I started it was we just loved to make each other laugh, let’s capture that genuine friendship that we have together, let’s see if this connects with anyone, let’s see if it resonates with people and it did…”

Wouldn’t be a Compliments Post without Anthony saying something sappy about their friendship and making me want to cry 😩 I also took him thanking Shayne for sticking with Smosh as him also thanking him for sticking with Ian. I’m sure it somewhat softens the blow a little bit that even when Anthony himself couldn’t be by Ian’s side, Ian still had great people around him 🥺

Anthony's Funeral

So since Anthony died in Food Battle it was finally time to have a funeral for him! This was such a highly anticipated event and it did not disappoint! Of course as the Funerals go, it was mainly about roasting Anthony, but there's still always room for compliments and nice moments in amongst it all.

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So it came to the end of the funeral and our host Pastor lan was wrapping up and after dubbing himself 'the hot one' and roasting baby Anthony, it was time to lay, in lan's words, 'Smosh's 2nd Hottest Member to rest’, but before that, as his script told him, he had to ‘insert a quick genuine comment about Anthony’ and boy did it deliver :-

lan: "But seriously though, I do feel so fortunate to have become your friend again, and honestly like I probably would have still been working at Chuck E. Cheese if it wasn't for everything that you did for Smosh. You are one of the hardest workers, you have such a great eye for content, and I'm so proud to be going down this path with you. Um... I love you.”

АААААННННННН!!!!

IT HAPPENED!!!!! IT REALLY HAPPENED!!!!!

I still cannot believe this is reality and we actually heard lan telling Anthony he loves him. I WILL SCREAM ABOUT THIS FOREVER!!!! And from the reactions of Anthony and the rest of the cast, this was HUGE. I don't lan had ever told him before 😭Also, during that whole speech Anthony was getting emotional after lan told him he loves him you see him trying to hold back from crying which just makes the whole situation even more tender 🥹

Before lan can show Anthony his 🍆 lol, Anthony rises from the dead for his counter-roast, and the first thing he mentions is about having water in his eyes whilst he wipes them away 🥺

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During his counter-roast he keeps teasing lan as if he's next, but of course he leaves his bestie till last. After roasting him about how he hides his emotions, embarrassing stories from their childhood and his flirting techniques, Anthony thanks everyone and says how appreciates everyone welcoming him back into Smosh and how he is proud of everyone who played a part in making the funeral what it was and for showing him love by roasting him.

Anthony: "I am just so grateful for you... lan said when we bought back Smosh, 'If we burn it to the ground I'm happy to do that with you' and after tonight... I think that sounds pretty good, I'm going to burn the place down. You have 5 minutes to get the fuck out and meet us at our VIP Aftershow."

Yes he ended this with a joke but all the nice stuff beforehand still stands, and to bring up what lan said about 'burning it to the ground' is so sweet 🥲

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And speaking of the Aftershow, we got some moments from that too, including another very special moment :-

Sax-Man: "Can I just say, comparing how I look and how you look is the difference between when Anthony was here and when Anthony wasn't."

Anthony: [laughs]

Sax-Man "I'm just like a virgin nerd and all of you are so sexy."

Cast: [laughs]

Sax-Man: "And that's what Anthony does."

lan: "That's what Anthony does."

Just lan agreeing that Anthony brings the sexiness 👀

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[Q: Anthony what was your favourite roast?]

Anthony: "How about the one where lan laid into my baby photo? It's not my fault I got past my ugly phase super quick."

Okay, so slight compliment with a roast, but still, he chose lan's roast as his favourite!

-

And here was the special one!!

[Q: Anthony can you say 'I love you' back to lan?]

Anthony: "Aww..."

lan: [leans forward and puts his hands under his chin]

Anthony: "Yeah, and it's not that hard cause l've said it before." [places hand on lan's knee] "I love you, lan."

lan: [touches hand to his heart] "Stop. Stop. Stop."

THEYRE SO FUCKING CUTE!!!! I cannot believe we got an ‘I love you’ from both of them to the other!!! I'll be reeling over this for A LONG TIME!

Bloopers: Bluetooth Speaker Ruins Date

BTS of this sketch and as is a given with the Bloopers videos, a gem as always!

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I&A: [talking about the Anthony shrine]

Ian: “So even though Anthony is long dead and gone, he’s still there in our hearts.”

Anthony: “I’d like to know that if I died, you would have a little, just a little shrine of me.”

Of course he would, Anthony! That’s your bestie who cannot live without you so you must live forever! 😤

-

So this next bit they were just messing about but still funny and complimentary-by-extension (in a way lol). Ian starts doing a bit called Pickleball TV and creating a character for Anthony as he’s on a streak of keeping the ball up, until, he eventually drops it and he falls to his knees pretending to be devastated and everything Ian starts saying he repeats :-

Ian: “I bet he’s never going to recover from that.”

Anthony: “I’ll never recover from that.”

Ian: “I bet he’s really rethinking his life choices.”

Anthony: “I’m rethinking all my life choices.”

Ian: “I bet he thinks Ian’s the hot one.”

Anthony: “I think…” [laughs]

Ian: “Yeah, I bet he thinks Ian’s the hot one.”

Anthony: “I think Ian’s the hot one.”

He said it so I’ll take it! Anthony thinks Ian’s the hot one 😌😜

Bluetooth Speaker Ruins Date Watch Party

Of course we got our usual sketch Friday livestream which included a few complimentary moments :-

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Ian: [mentions gross man who I will not name and his “university course” 🤮]

Anthony: “I don’t know enough about that, I don’t listen to alpha male podcasts.”

Ian: “You don’t need to go down that rabbit hole, my boy.”

Kings! Yes, do not go down that rabbit hole - you’re actually decent men and that’s why we love you! Anyways, just thought it was cute how Ian referred to him as ‘my boy’.

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Anthony: [reads chat comment] “Oh, your sweater is matching your eye colour. Was that on purpose?”

Ian: [leans forward, batting his eyelashes and acts all cutesy]

Anthony: “Was that on purpose?”

Ian: “Maybe…”

Anthony: “Cause it brings out of the colours of your eyes?”

Ian: “Maybe…”

Anthony: “That’s so cute.”

Just Anthony basically telling Ian he looks cute in his sweater 😌

-

[talking about the sketch]

Anthony: “Um, but Arasha was amazing and I had such a good time writing it and then getting to direct those scenes,” [looks at Ian] “with you, and Arasha.”

Very cute Anthony just wanting to tell him what a good time he had working with him ☺️

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Ian: [talking about the reasoning for casting Arasha as his date in the sketch and how they wanted it to be more of a short-film feel] “But Arasha is like rom-com lead material.”

Anthony: “I agree. And you’re rom-com lead material too.”

You think Ian is rom-com lead material Anthony 👀

Speaking of rom-coms, this live quickly spiralled into I don’t even know what as Ian goes off on his rom-com plot spiel. I summed it up in this post I made here.

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Anthony: [reading chat comment telling Ian good job on Pastor Ian]

Ian: “Oh yes, thank you.”

Anthony: “Ian, you fucking crushed it.”

Ian: “Aww, thanks.”

And just a full-out compliment from Anthony to finish off this live 😊

Which Friendship Will Win? (Everybody 1, 2, Switch)

Also on the same day we were blessed with this video! It finally happened! The boys played 1, 2, Switch again! And of course the compliments were flowing and the bestie-ism shining through 😁 Like the last time they played this, there were just so many moments that instead of writing them down I thought l'd put together a little compilation of some of the best moments like I done before. Hope you enjoy! :-

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An Honest Conversation with Smosh

So we got another 2hr interview with the boys! This time on The Colin and Samir Show podcast. I quite enjoyed this interview as they talked about some different things and it didn’t just feel like we were hearing about a lot of the stuff we already know this time around so it was interesting getting to learn some new stuff :-

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Ian: [talking about their work/shoot schedule]

Colin: “Is that how your mind kind of works? Like are you the producer mindset?”

Ian: “Hell no.”

Anthony: [laughs]

Colin: “No, you’re not?”

Ian: “No.”

Anthony: “But he does handle a lot more of the pre-production with approving the looks and ideas for kind of what we were thinking while writing.”

Ian: “Yeah, yeah, I try to because Anthony’s got like a whole different channel that he’s also working on so I’m trying to handle like more, generally like trying to handle more of like the shot listing.”

Anthony: “But I’ve got my hands deep in post-production because that’s, when we first started making the videos, Ian was handling a little bit more of pre-production, I was handling more post, and we kind of just fell into that naturally again because I’m obsessed with editing and I love it. I was an editor on all the Smosh videos myself for like 10 years or something and so,”

Ian: “And I hate editing.”

Anthony: [laughs] “So because I did it for so long myself I feel like I have a grasp of how to communicate ideas in that sense, so yeah, he’s more pre-production and I’m more post-production.”

What I was saying about us getting to learn some new stuff, they’ve not spoken much about how they work on the production side of things. But I like that they seem to have worked out a good balance, again goes back to all the talk of their dynamic of working together. I also love how they threw a little compliment in there to each other - Anthony chiming in to say how Ian handles more pre-production. And Ian brining up how Anthony has another channel to work on. Very sweet ☺️

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Ian: [explaining how the original ‘new cast’ weren’t introduced properly at the time and how audiences were (rightfully) not happy but how it panned out alright in the end and how some of the cast have been there 8 years now]

Anthony: “It did pan out but it needed to be a slow, gradual thing and the audience needed to slowly and gradually get accustomed to them and we found places-” [points to Ian] “You know, you found places where the new cast can shine in their own right…”

Just love Anthony stopping himself mid-sentence to highlight and give Ian the praise once again for the work he done with the new cast.

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I&A: [talking about how they didn’t stay in touch much during the ‘between years’ and thought they couldn’t be friends again because they thought they’d became totally different people and grown too far apart]

Samir: “What was the experience of watching each other’s content at that time?”

Anthony: [smiling] “I looked at Ian because I don’t think he’s ever answered this.” [laughing]

Ian: “Um, I mean like I watched it in the beginning, like when he first like split off cause I wanted to like keep eyes on like what he was doing.”

This is something they’ve mentioned before, about the fact they were keeping tabs on what the other was doing, I think it just further adds to how much they were missing each other during those years 🥺

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I&A: [talking about the resentment they felt and how they were trying to prove to people they could make it without the other]

Anthony: “…So I feel like when I kind of, when I started you know going to therapy, learning about myself, learning where these insecurities came from, learning where that like frustration was actually coming from and it was my own insecurity, my own desire to have validation and my own sense of self worth attached this thing [Smosh]. When I learned all those things I started to kind of let that stuff go.” [points to Ian] “Ian had his own personal journey as well, but we each kind of had to have our own journeys apart, accepting what had happened, accepting where we were now for you know when we finally did end up meeting up - one of Ian’s friends, you [Ian] mentioned this before you were talking to them, kind of mentioning me and they were like ‘why don’t you just meet up?’”

Ian: “Yeah.”

Samir: “Diana?”

Ian: “Yeah.”

Anthony: [laughs] “Yeah, yeah. Yeah so we ended up meeting up over lunch and because we didn’t hold on to that resentment anymore at that point we were able to just, really just genuinely connect. I felt him like listening to me in a way that like the past, like the final like 5 years of me being there kind of had disappeared. I was genuinely interested, we were just like had this genuine interest in each other - we were cracking little jokes and we were laughing just like we always had. I had learned a lot also with my own show and how to communicate better, how to listen better, how to have conversations about things that I’m genuinely interested in and every single thing, every single thing that we had done apart I feel like culminated in this moment of us together and reconnecting and realising that we really were at the core still the friends that we’d always been.”

Yes we have heard this so many times but I’ll never stop loving Anthony being sappy about their friendship 🥹

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Ian: [talking about how new entertainers and content creators coming up now grew up watching Smosh] “I think like now with like us buying Smosh back like this is such like an exciting time, an exciting generation for Smosh. It feels like a new sort of like stage.”

Samir: “I hope you feel the and get the credit for sticking it out and believing in it because belief I think is an undervalued component of these creative businesses because you have to work through times where either in the beginning when you have so much belief because like no one’s watching, like you [Anthony] were talking about launching a new format, it’s like you’ve got to believe that this thing is going to work and your creative is good and for you, like the belief through these tumultuous years that Smosh was so important and it was, it had a good storytelling DNA and it was a good comedy brand like as it’s going through this turbulence, that’s hard.”

Anthony: “Yeah, I definitely lost my belief in it.”

Samir: “It’s easier to go ‘forget about it’.”

Colin: “And people are commenting ‘what are you doing?’ and you’re like ‘I don’t know. I don’t know but I can’t tell you that’.”

Anthony: “Yeah, I felt so slighted by Defy that I completely lost hope in what Smosh was. So yeah, I mean the fact that you [Ian] stuck through it, even though I didn’t see it, a lot of people didn’t quite see it.”

Ian: “I mean I feel pretty validated now.”

And you should Ian! 👏

Always here for Ian getting the praise he deserves!

-

Samir: “How do you guys ensure that you don’t split up again?”

I&A: [laughs]

Samir: “Like how do you think about that now, obviously you’re at a different maturity level, but you know we’re also, we started the conversation talking about creative partnerships, we’re in a creative partnership, like for other people who are doing this together how do you, what have you learned from your journey and how do you take that into the future?”

Anthony: “I learned that our biggest issue was lack of communication. I was thinking all these things and getting frustrated about things but never just outright saying it. Also I think there was a period of time at the end where we just completely stopped saying ‘how are you?’, you know ‘what’s going on in your world?’ and we stopped just hanging out for the sake of hanging out, it was only, cause we were working so much and we were probably spending like 40 hours a week together but we were just working, working, working the whole time so for me it’s about just having this space where it’s not about work, where it’s about connecting, where it’s about understanding, it’s like ‘how are you? how are things going? what did you think about the way things went today?’, I think even that feels like it’s enough and also I’ve been doing a a lot of work on myself through therapy to understand where certain things and feelings start coming from so I’m not quite as often feeling like it’s external things in my life that are upsetting me and I realise that it really is something that I need to work on myself that’s upsetting me, so that’s helped.”

Ian: “And I think we just have like a healthier approach to the process when we are working together, like when it comes to writing we’re not trying to put this like insane crunch on us where like ‘we need to just get to work right now and we have to write a script by 12:00pm or else we’re going to be-’ like we try to lay a whole day out so it’s like I show up to his place and we hang out, we talk for a little bit, we don’t like get right into it if we don’t have to.”

Anthony: “It kind of feels like it’s necessary now to have those breaths.”

Ian: “It’s just for us, it’s like it’s just finding like a flow, rather than feeling the stress that we sometimes do feel if we are constrained by time - then it like stops being fun, like it’s like you know, it’s like sometimes you do need that, you do need like a little bit of a…” [makes a prodding motion]

Anthony: [laughs] “A prodding?”

Ian: “Motivation.”

Just wanted to pause here for a moment before continuing with this section of them talking about this topic. It’s something I’ve reiterated time and time again, but I love that they take that time now for each other to catch up and see how the other is doing. I know it’s something that has been touched on multiple times but I think it just shows how serious they are about making their relationship work in a healthy way so that their connection does remain strong and they do remain together as a team. It’s such lovely growth between them and just shows how far they’ve come.

[All continue chatting about how it’s important for creative partnerships to have time to connect]

Ian: “…I want to say like when uh, so we carved out an entire weekend, we were like ‘okay we’re going to treat this like a writing retreat’ for when we wrote Food Battle, but like the first, like I think half of the day we probably, we were dealing with like personal issues and we just like talked through that.”

Anthony: “And you were saying that part of you was like ‘[looks at fake watch] okay but we gotta work.” [laughs]

Ian: “Yeah, I mean yeah, but also it’s like ‘let’s get right’ and like obviously you know we had things that were going on and it was like you know, I think it’s important for us to show up as friends first.”

Food Battle Sleepover Weekend 🙌 I’ll never get tired of hearing about this! And I think it’s so special they done that together and from the sounds of it, it’s something they really needed to have a good heart-to-heart 🥰

-

Colin: [asks what they want Smosh to be known for in the future]

Anthony: “I mean for me it would be about creating a place where, I mean just creating a really, really great environment for people to work and be creative and have fun and share laughs and create comedy. I want- I would love for people to look at Smosh as a brand as something that still carries those, the root of Ian and my friendship that it was built on with it…”

Anthony being a sap for their friendship once again and making me cry, once again 😭

And with that last little sweet moment from Mr Padilla, that brought us to the end of the compliments for this interview.

The Smosh Episode - 100 Thieves Cast

The following day, we got another podcast featuring the boys. I really enjoyed this podcast also - it felt more like just a laid back chat than anything else so it was a nice change from the other podcasts they’ve done. There were a few complimentary/complimentary-by-extension/just general cute moments that I wanted to include so here we go :-

-

Peter: [introducing the podcast - the series being called Boomer Vs Zoomer]

I&A: [waving fists in the air]

Anthony: “Wooo! Let’s go - Am I the boomer or the zoomer?”

Peter: “Usually the couch is for the zoomers, I will say.”

Ian: “Really?”

Anthony: [looks at Ian] “We’re the zoomers, bro! Let’s go!”

[celebratory Ianthony high-five]

Always gotta include their little high-fives 😊

(Gif quality is horrible I know but I tried lol 🫣)

-

Ian: [talking about the women’s skinny, low-rise jeans the girls he liked in high school convinced him to buy] “But I was in cross-country so my legs were like pretty meaty…”

Anthony: [points at Ian] “He had a gyatt.”

I mean do I really need to say anything here 👀👀👀

-

Anthony: [talking about when he got into high school and learning that he could just tell people that he was attracted to them and if they didn’t like him back he could move on]

Peter: [asking him how he learned that so young when it took him years to learn that]

Anthony: “Um, I think I just got luckyyyy… I don’t know. I have no idea.”

Peter: “I mean you are extremely good looking which helps.”

Ian: “It helps.”

Ian just agreeing that Anthony is extremely good looking 😏

Continuing on this with same topic :-

Anthony: [talking about how he hasn’t faced much rejection when it comes to asking people out but that he thinks he’ll have a rude awakening very soon]

Ian: “It’s not going to happen, I’ve seen his dad. His dad’s hot.”

Anthony: “Brooo… I’m gonna let him know you said that. He’ll be very happy with that.”

Ian: “That’s fine.”

Anthony: “He’ll be pleased with that.”

Ian: “That’s fine. He’s a handsome man.”

Anthony: “You know he’s let his grey go now too. He looks really good.”

Ian: “Oh hell yeah.”

So Ian what you’re saying is that you know Anthony will still be good looking when he’s older because you think his dad is ‘hot’ and ‘handsome’ 👀 Got it. Good to know your thoughts on Anthony’s looks 👌

-

Peter: [talking about having an anxiety dream about the podcast and being nervous to meet Ian and Anthony]

Ian: “Was the handshake good though?” [when he was introducing himself]

Peter: “No, handshake was solid.” [two thumbs up]

Ian: “Yeah, handshake was solid.”

Peter: “I’d give it like a good 9, 9.5. Good, good solid contact. Good amount of time. Not too firm, not to like display your dominance on me.”

Ian: “And I have really soft hands too.”

Anthony: [points to Ian] “He does!”

The compliments on this podcast have been… something to say the least 🤭

And with that, that wraps up another section!

Annoying Orange Creator Breaks Down Controversies

Last Flashback of the year, this time with Dane Boe as a guest. Was the first non-Smosh guest they’ve had on the show so was quite a different eps. They watched some original Annoying Orange sketches and also watched the eps they featured on back in 2010, they ended up getting on to topics surrounding gender and the LGBT+ community and all in all it was a very wholesome but important chat that I definitely recommend checking out if you haven’t.

Now in terms of Ianthony compliments in this video, there weren’t really any besides this one little moment, another complimentary-by-extension moment. Where Anthony makes a pun-y joke and Ian puts his hand up and they give each other one of their little high-fives and because it is also another sub-genre of these posts, and Friendship Always Wins, how could I not include it 😉

(Again, terrible gif quality but like I said, I tried 😬)

Also another quick shoutout to Kortney - the editing did not disappoint as always 🙌

Anthony’s Nostalgia Kick

So over the holiday’s Anthony got to feeling a little nostalgic, sharing each of these to his Instagram story which I think is incredibly sweet, and complimentary when you think of him reminiscing on how far they’ve come :-

Ian also reshared the picture of their first business cards to his own story. Just a very cute thing all round! ☺️

Drawing The Smosh Cast From Memory

Anthony wasn’t the only one on a nostalgia kick - as a little holiday bonus, members got an eps of Smosh Is Bored! 🙌 The nostalgia that hit me, and I’m sure many others, when I saw that intro 🥹

So throwing it back to just like old times, they had a drawing competition between them, this time drawing some of the new cast members. We also got a few complimentary moments between them, even if they were laced with slight sarcasm because let’s be real, none of the drawings were good lol. But hey, ho - I’m including them anyways 🤭 :-

-

[drawing Arasha]

Anthony: “Our skills are elevating the further we get.”

Ian: “Yeah.”

Anthony: “I feel like I’m tapping into like a secret primitive drawing ability that I didn’t know I had.”

Ian: “I recognise your talents.”

Anthony: “I like the detail that you added to the mouth. I think that was like really above and beyond.”

Ian: [looks at him and smiles] “Thank you.”

Anthony: “Yeah, you’re welcome.”

Ian: “Thank you.”

Anthony: “You’re welcome.”

Double the ‘thank yous’ and ‘you’re welcomes’ lol, they’re so cute.

-

[drawing Chanse]

Anthony: “And I made him saying ‘Who’s Anthony?’ cause that’s his one joke.”

Ian: [smiles] “Nice.”

Just them approving of each other roasting their employees, the usual lol.

-

Ian: [draws Angela as a feral Guinea pig]

Anthony: [uncontrollably laughs and claps hands]

Ian: [explaing his drawing]

Anthony: “That’s amazing. I love those lips…. But you gave her a flesh coloured face, that’s something I missed out on. For some reason I thought she was just ghastly white. But yeah, she’s got some Guinea pig spots- I like the little tail. That is a cute little tail on her…. I also like how her hair is like, somehow, kind of a mane behind her ears.”

Ian: “Yeah. Yeah… Yeah!”

Anthony: “That is the cutest little feral rodent.”

Anthony was particularly complimentary about this drawing for some reason 😄 but cute nonetheless 🐹

And with that, that brought us to the end of the video and to the last of the compliments of 2023 🥹

-

Before I wrap this up, I just want to say a massive thank you to anyone who has read, commented on, reblogged, and liked these posts over the last 6 months 💖 I really appreciate anyone who has left kind words about them, makes it all worth it ☺️

I cannot believe everything these last 6 months has brought us and I’m so happy it’s even a reality that I’m able to make these posts. If you’d told me this time last year about everything that would happen I never would have believed you - we’re truly living in the best timeline and I cannot wait to see what the new year has in store for us 🙌

I want to wish everyone all the best for 2024 🫶 and here’s to another year filled with many more Compliments ✨

[baeshijima]

if anyone asks

tell them ive ascended to heaven

[duusheen]

we made each other happy, Jay

[dutchieliciousplans]

Just a photo shoot session with Dutchie

Im not joking when I say my favorite model is Dutch because just look how photogenic he is 😩🥵

[spiderin-space]

More crown-swap concepts….

[shouldntbearevolution]

[call-me-pup2]

Tried to sleep in my bed for the first time in over a week (been snoozing on the couch) and instantly my sleeps went back to shit, constantly waking up and stressy dreams again

Apparently I'm doomed to sleeping in the living room if I don't want to feel like a zombie

[angelsonthesideline]

I have a really stupid craving for Chick-Fil-A nuggs and lemonade, but I also want more sleep before work and they close at 9pm 🥺 Guess I’m getting up and showering so my damn tastebuds are satisfied 😩

[gunsatthaphan]

going feral as we speak.

[vulpixelates]

depression levels: wanting to play sdv or house flipper 2. bad, but not "replaying the entire mass effect trilogy" bad at least.

[telomirage]

I'm looking forward to getting my hair cut on my birthday

[mercymaker]

slept the fuck in today and had a dream i was amy santiago and it was my wedding day but everything was so fucking stressful

first, i had to go down these massive set of stairs in a full wedding dress and that was kind of instead of an aisle, so everyone's eyes were on me and I had to look all pretty. it was a nightmare.

THEN once I get there to start the ceremony, we're given the little jewelry boxes with our names and rings (idk why but our last name was a mashup of our two names, like a ship name 💀) and my ring was wrong!!! and ugly!!

so everyone started scrambling trying to find the right ring. someone pulled up with a box full of rings but they were all so ugly (some of them were literally like.. mickey mouse rings for children 💀). I wanted to weep out of despair.

idk how the ceremony unfolded, but dream skipped straight to the late reception where I found my best friend and her husband (it wasn't even her actual husband just some random dude tho???) were excluded from everyone because he had a gun for some reason?? and he was like.. full on leather holster, ready for action just sitting there trying to explain to me how he has a permit and it's all legal and my best friend was super pissed, but also.. who the fuck brings a gun to a wedding???