Smosh’s Shayne Topp Explains Why YouTube Remains on Top as New Game of ‘Werewolf’ Drops

Halloween may be over, but it’s still spooky season over at Smosh as the YouTube channel debuts its biggest game of Mega Werewolf yet on Friday, hosted by series regular Shayne Topp.“We’ve played Werewolf over the years constantly. I think we haven’t gone a year without playing it in the past eight years, but we always played around a couch, as anyone does when they play. We’ve talked for years about what if we did this in a bigger context, like ‘The Traitors,’ like a reality show,” he told TheWrap. “We talked about just doing it in our studio, kind of building it out so that we could have private conversations — it adds to the intensity, to the the mystery, the the sabotage — and we ended up going even bigger than that because we filmed this all in a spooky old house in Downtown L.A. and we got all decked out in Victorian garb.” “It felt so immersive in the moments, and I think fans are going to see that, too. It was epic and it only upped the ante as far as the gameplay went. The moments that were big just felt so much bigger. There were so many moments where my jaw was on the floor and I was trying to keep it together as the host,” Topp continued. “But truly, all the episodes that we filmed were just on another level. You’re not just getting gameplay of us all in one room. We’re divvying up, we’re having private conversations where some of the most entertaining stuff happens. The presentation is just next level.” This new game of Mega Werewolf stars Courtney Miller, Amanda Lehan-Canto, Tommy Bowe, Chanse McCrary, Angela Giarratana, Guchi, Courtney Theophin and Eli Gonzalez, offering a lovely mix of fan-favorite Smosh Games characters. “We’re lucky that we have such a great ensemble cast with tons of people, and all of them knock it out of the park every time with whatever we do,” Topp praised. “We trust in our producers. Spencer [Agnew] and Anders [Norberg] were the ones who were behind this one. They could have picked anybody at random, but the choices they made ended up being so perfect because we had a good combination of people who are a little more sly in their gameplay and then others who really shoot from the hip a little bit as far as accusations and their volume at the table goes. It really ended up being a perfect collection of players here, so I was happy to be the host and not have to play and just get to observe.” In addition to serving as this game’s host, Topp is also the face/voice of the “Smosh Mouth” podcast alongside Lehan-Canto after first joining the sketch comedy group in 2015. “What’s funny about ‘Smosh Mouth’ is that we had a podcast years ago, back in like 2019. We started it and it just never really took off in the same way. Then we decided to bring it back in 2023 and for some reason it’s just worked. I think maybe it’s a bit of the type of content we’re doing across the board at Smosh fits in with it a little bit more; maybe we’ve all as performers gotten a little bit more into the groove of it and our connection with each other is more vibrant. It’s a joy … it’s probably one of my favorite parts of our work week.” “If you had asked me 10 years ago when I joined Smosh if I would place a bet that Smosh would be bigger in 2026 than it was in 2016, I would have said absolutely not. YouTube channels, their lifespan are rarely that long and usually it’s a decline. It’s very hard to reinvent,” Topp further noted. “Plenty have done it, but to be here and not just have it be going as steady as it was once before, but really for it to be at such a high — I’m kind of in disbelief about it, but it’s so cool and it’s so fun for us to be making so much cool stuff and get to express ourselves in a million different ways. Just to be making content that I think is so positive, us having fun, and people love it. It’s exciting because other people rely on rage bait and the drama, so it’s nice for us to just get to have fun and for that to be the business.” However, Topp also has experience with classic Hollywood offerings, with recurring roles in sitcoms like “So Random!” and “The Goldbergs.” He’s even noticed a crossroads of sorts for the industry as established celebrities make their way over to social media, highlighting Amy Poehler and Conan O’Brien as successful examples. “Having done traditional and doing this, performing is performing, entertainment is entertainment, and it comes in different mediums. It’s no different than if you walk around an art museum; this one’s done with crayon, that one’s done with paint. Ultimately, it’s the same thing,” he shared. “I think it’s the natural state of things, and obviously the entertainment industry has gone through this before. When they introduced sound, when they introduced color, when TV gets brought about, it’s just the new wave of it. We’re seeing it kind of blend together a little bit.” “What I love about YouTube is that it’s always going to stay present. People love knowing that they’re connecting with a real person, and there’s some beauty to knowing when something is really genuine. Like, I’m watching a bunch of friends just genuinely hang out and have fun. It’s not some big, massive production, there’s not a studio behind it,” Topp concluded. “This is just real people having fun and I think that’s an eternal thing that people are always going to want. In that way, the social side, the YouTube side, will continue to persist.” New episodes of “Mega Werewolf” air Fridays on Smosh Games.