If you’re already familiar with Game Grumps, then you can feel free to just skip over this part as it’s largely just explaining who they are and what they do. However for those who don’t know, or those who just feel like reading the full post, Game Grumps are an American Let’s Play channel. It was established on July 18th 2012 by co-hosts and co-founders Arin Hanson (also known as Egoraptor) and Jon Jafari (also known as JonTron).
Arin had already built up a considerable fanbase prior to Game Grumps due to his animations which were posted to Newgrounds and his personal YouTube Channel when Jon came to his attention following the release of his video DinoCity BRO!!! (which featured his first attempt to sing Firework by Katy Perry, which I eventually reviewed) they became friends and eventually decided to collaborate.
The actual concept for Game Grumps as well as the name of the show and the roles of ‘Grump’ and ‘Not So Grump’ they play on it were inspired by an incident where Jon and Arin were playing Super Smash Bros. Brawl and arguing over whether the character Wolf was a clone of Fox, because their fighting styles were too similar. A friend of theirs told them they have a tendency to get a little ‘grumpy’ with one another while playing games, and said that they should make a show where they should talk it out. Arin conceived of a podcast called Game Grumps, the idea for which eventually evolved into the show as we know it. As mentioned above Arin and Jon play specific roles on the show, with Arin playing the role of ‘Grump’ and Jon playing the role of ‘Not So Grump’. Together the pair hosted the channel, with vital behind the scenes support from their editor Barry Kramer (also known as razzadoop) until Jon left on June 25th 2013 to focus on his personal channel.
Speaking of which, if you are a fan of JonTron, you can check out a my Top 10 lists for his best Classic and New videos by clicking here and here.
Following Jon’s departure from the show he was replaced by Dan Avidan (also known as Danny Sexbang) the vocalist of the comedy musical duo, Ninja Sex Party, who took over his role as ‘Not So Grump’.
Interestingly enough, Dan joining the channel had already been in the works prior to Jon leaving, as he was set to be the co-host of another series scheduled to appear on the Game Grumps channel called Steam Train, which would feature himself alongside animator and voice actor Ross O’Donovan (also known as RubberRoss, RubberNinja or CondomRoss) where they would both play PC games (as opposed to console games, which were more common on Game Grumps at the time) many of which were available on Valve’s Steam platform (for which the show was named).
However due to the sudden nature of Jon’s withdrawal from the show, and also because Arin had apparently said previously that ‘Dan would have always been his second choice for a co-host for Game Grumps if Jon were unavailable’ he ended up taking the co-host role on both shows.
Another interesting detail regarding Dan joining the channel was that his first appearance on Game Grumps in the video(s) Ode to Jon / Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!: Around the World – PART 1 went up the same day as his first appearance on Steam Train in the video Hotline Miami: Who’s Calling? – PART 1 (which was actually recorded several months prior) with both being uploaded to the Game Grumps channel on June 25th 2013. The addition of Steam Train to the channel added an extra video, making up a total of three per day. Ross and Dan co-hosted the show together, and on July 9th 2013 Arin was introduced on the show during their playthrough of Civilization V: Brave New World to act as another co-host as Dan was increasingly busy with both his Game Grumps schedule, and working on Ninja Sex Party and Starbomb (whose first album was released on December 17th 2013).
Barry Kramer was later debuted as another co-host during the February 14th 2014 Steam Train episode, rebranded as Single Train for Valentine’s Day, as both Dan and Arin, the hosts for that episode were single at the time. On June 25th 2014, the first anniversary of Steam Train, they revamped things with a brand new intro sequence, starting with the video King’s Quest VI: The Land of the Green Isles – PART 1, the new sequence now featured Barry and Suzy Berhow (also known as Mortem3r) who herself would debut as a potential host on the episode, Mount Your Friends.
Speaking of which Suzy is also the host of her own Let’s Play channel called KittyKatGaming and I’ve done some Top 10s for her channel as well which you can check out by clicking here and here.
The expansion of Steam Train beyond just Dan and Ross created a sub-series called Steam Rolled, which launched on August 23rd 2013 and involves a combination of any four players playing a variety of co-op or versus games. Steam Train as a whole lasted from June 25th 2013 until December 30th 2016 when the last official episode was posted. The show ended (or at least went into an extended hiatus) because Ross was taking a less active role in Game Grumps in general to focus on his art and animation career and because the main Game Grumps channel had started featuring gameplay from Steam thus making Steam Train unnecessary.
Just before we move on from Steam Train I’ve done Top 10s for the show and you can check them out here and here.
On December 14th 2013 they introduced a new show called Table Flip which was produced by Polaris (a multi-channel network based on YouTube) and was hosted by Barry and Suzy, and instead of PC or Console games, focused on traditional tabletop, board and card games, and utilised costumes and set pieces to give things an old fashioned feel. Each episode of Table Flip featured various additional guests, such as other members of The Grumps i.e. Arin, Danny or Ross as well as other YouTubers such as Markiplier and Ashly Burch (speaking of which, I did a Top 10 list for Ashly’s YouTube channel Hey Ash, Whatcha Playin’? which she starred in alongside her brother Anthony Burch, and you can check that out by clicking here).
Table Flip ran until October 12th 2016 when the show was wrapped up due to Game Grumps separating from Polaris, who co-owned the show, this meant of course that they were unable to make any new episodes.
Grumpcade was another new show added to the channel, it debuted on January 14th 2015 and involved any combination of two to four of the Game Grumps extended cast hosting an episode, alongside special guests. It was the addition of these guests that meant in some ways Grumpcade was a more unofficial, relaxed version of Guest Grumps, a sub-series of the main channel where Arin and Dan (and originally Jon) would invite a guest to play alongside them. But returning to Grumpcade, they focused on playing a variety of console games, in whatever configuration worked best for the recording. Functionally in terms of set up it is similar to that of Game Grumps (particularly Guest Grumps) or Steam Train (and Steam Rolled) but deviates because of the lack of fixed hosts. Notable guests on Grumpcade include Octopimp, Matt and Woolie of Super Best Friends, Oney, Jacksepticeye, Ding Dong and Comic Book Girl 19 just to name a few. Grumpcade lasted until January 6th 2018 when the last video was posted, since then it has either officially been wrapped up alongside the middle time slot it used to be posted on, or is at the very least on an extended hiatus.
Shortly after Grumpcade first started, Game Grumps announced another project. In this case a whole new channel called ‘Grump Out’ with the first video Game Grumps Eat GROSS BEANS being released on February 20th 2015. This new channel allowed them to post a variety of content including live action comedy which did not fit on the main Game Grumps channel. The channel did not have a set schedule for posting, instead content went up only when there was content to post. The main run of the channel went right up until November 28th 2018 when the last video Dream Daddy – Teaser Trailer went up (speaking of which I’ve reviewed Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator and you can check that out here) after which the channel went into hiatus. This pause continued until October 7th 2020 when they released the video TAKE THIS Egg Emperor!, this video also marked a shift in the type of content posted on the channel, which is now focused on smaller clips and compilations designed to promote the main channel.
The live action comedy that was a vital part of the early Grump Out channel, was succeeded in spirit by a new series on the main channel called 10 Minute Power Hour. This series consists of face-cam live footage of Arin and Dan (and occasionally a guest) as they perform a variety of prompts or challenges. The first episode of the 10 Minute Power Hour, Grown Men Playing w/ Legos was released on April 3rd 2018. The channel released weekly from that point on a Monday right up until July 22nd 2019 with the video Pancakemon Art.
After which from July 29th 2019 debuting with the video Making art with Lite Brite is impossible the series was moved to a brand new channel called ‘The Grumps’ and has continued to be posted there ever since.
Speaking of which The Grumps much like Grump Out before it was a place for content which was different from the regular Game Grumps videos, this included things such as such as live action comedy, which was why once the channel started they moved 10 Minute Power Hour over to it. In addition to that series, they also have ‘Good Content’ which was for the first fifteen episodes untitled, and it featured a variety of things such as The Grumps answering fan questions.
I believe that is as thorough and comprehensive an outline of the Game Grumps, its history and the people involved as you’re likely to find and thank you, if you took the time to actually read it rather than skipping straight to the Top 10 list below. Now enjoy the fruits of your labour and check out the many videos I’ve enjoyed over the past decade of content. Oh one last thing, click here to read the companion piece to this Top 10, where we talk about our favourite extended playthroughs.
This has consistently been one of my favourites over the years and that is impressive in and of itself because the game looks terrible. It’s just the desperation and difficulty Dan had throughout that just makes it so funny.
2. The Cat in the Hat with Special Guest Dan Harmon
Okay so this very easily could have taken the top spot because it is just hysterically funny but in the end I felt like it would be weird to have a Guest Grumps episode be first on this list. So first off as much as I love The Grumps, Dan Harmon is the standout in this episode, his ranting and negativity are just superb. Also it’s an hour and 21 minutes and yet there’s not a weak moment. It’s just an amazing combination of comedic talents.
3. The Berenstain Bears On Their Own And You On Your Own
This is another one that’s just hysterically funny, and it’s also good to see more games played on the Philips CD-i that aren’t that one Legend of Zelda game. The Berenstain Bears on top of being my favourite Mandela effect make for an amazing episode, particularly the little Jingle type songs and screaming take the shot.
Is another very old episode that is just fantastic. Again, the game itself isn’t really engaging but watching them degenerate into total sass and silliness is just always entertaining to me. I’ve heard over the years people describe the Grumps as ‘comfort creators’ and I totally understand that because I go back to episodes like this when I just need something familiar and comfortable.
Sometimes they play games like this where the game itself is either underwhelming or without any real directive and as such they make their own fun with it, and that’s really the case here. It’s super funny, the drive time radio vibe when they pause was a particular highlight. And Arin’s reaction when he threw out a random name for a character only to be right. Overall it’s a nice, chill playthrough and was one of the first one-offs in New Grumps that I really enjoyed.
So I’ve always had a soft spot for Gordon Ramsey. I like his shows and despite his stern reputation I like his personality and so I was excited to check out this video. Hell’s Kitchen: The Game is just so funny, and Dan and Arin are on top form, just silliness, time travelling dinner guests and impressions of Ramsey.
So I could easily have included this just because it had the PSA from Smiling Arin Turnip telling me to eat my teeth. But it’s also just really funny, especially them ragging on the Genie who is obviously not voiced by Robin Williams.
8. Mary-Kate & Ashley: Sweet 16 – Licensed to Drive
So this is easily my favourite episode from the Jon Era of Game Grumps, and I think the reason for that is that it is just hilarious. I mean the game itself is fairly uninteresting, and yet Arin and Jon really manage to make something special from it. Some memorable highlights include Arin explaining the origins of ‘Wumbo’ from Spongebob Squarepants, and Arin and Jon’s over the top impressions of Mary-Kate and Ashley.
This was one of the first really long episodes that I remember, and it was long before the algorithm moved to preferring longer form content so it was a risk putting it up. It’s super funny, but beyond that between the scenery and the soundtrack it’s also incredibly soothing. I especially liked the ending where they performed a lip sync to Prayer by Hayley Westenra.
So I honestly don’t know why I like this episode so much, but much like ‘Busy Scissors’ it’s become something of a comfort episode for me, just something to put on in the background. That being said, it is fun, the juxtaposition of the positive nature of the game with them kind of crapping on it and giving really morbid facts. It could easily have been over the top but it worked perfectly.
Honourable Mentions go to The Bachelor, GoldenEye 007 and Spice World which I also really enjoyed but didn’t quite make the list.
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Also if you’re in the mood for Game Grumps but have no idea what to watch then use this neat little site, RandomGrump, which you can use to find a completely random episode or series from the backlog of Grumps content.
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