''The Slow Mo Guys'' is a

science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

and

technology Technology is the application of Conceptual model, conceptual knowledge to achieve practical goals, especially in a reproducible way. The word ''technology'' can also mean the products resulting from such efforts, including both tangible too ...

entertainment Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and Interest (emotion), interest of an audience or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but it is more likely to be one of the activities or events that have deve ...

web series A web series (also known as webseries, short-form series, and web show) is a series of short scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet (i.e. World Wide Web), which first emerged in the late 1 ...

from

Thame Thame is a market town and civil parish in South Oxfordshire, England, about east of the city of Oxford and southwest of Aylesbury. It derives its name from the River Thame which flows along the north side of the town and forms part of the ...

, England, created and owned by

Gavin Free Gavin David Free (born 23 May 1988) is an English actor, director, cinematographer and internet personality. He is best known for his work at Rooster Teeth—where he formerly served as creative director—featuring in many of their projects, ...

, starring himself and Daniel Gruchy. It has been described as the biggest channel for slow motion videos on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

. The series consists of a wide variety of things filmed in extreme

slow motion Slow motion (commonly abbreviated as slow-mo or slo-mo) is an effect in film-making whereby time appears to be slowed down. It was invented by the Austrian priest August Musger in the early 20th century. This can be accomplished through the use ...

using a range of

Vision Research ''Vision Research'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal specializing in the neuroscience and psychology of the visual system The visual system is the physiological basis of visual perception (the ability to perception, detect and process ...

Phantom Phantom, phantoms, or the phantom may refer to: * Spirit (metaphysics), the vital principle or animating force within all living things ** Ghost, the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that can appear to the living Aircraft * Boeing Phanto ...

high-speed cameras, capable of shooting over 1,500,000

frames per second A frame is often a structural system that supports other components of a physical construction and/or steel frame that limits the construction's extent. Frame and FRAME may also refer to: Physical objects In building construction *Framing (co ...

. The series premiered on 15 October 2010.

Format

''The Slow Mo Guys'' is heavily influenced by

Mythbusters ''MythBusters'' is a science entertainment television series created by Peter Rees (producer), Peter Rees and produced by Beyond International in Australia. The series premiered on the Discovery Channel on January 23, 2003. It was broadcast in ...

; in a typical episode, Free and Gruchy attempt to film some sort of natural or physical phenomenon in extreme slow motion: subjects of the filming are often some type of spectacular chemical or physical reaction, stress tests of certain objects under extreme conditions, while some episodes simply aim for an aesthetically pleasing result, often by the use of rainbow-coloured paints. To emphasise the science angle, the pair wear

lab coat A white coat, also known as a laboratory coat or lab coat, is a knee-length overcoat or smock worn by professionals in the medical field or by those involved in laboratory work. The coat protects their street clothes and also serves as a simpl ...

s. Because the original lab coats Free ordered were too small for Gruchy, Gruchy's lab coat tore; the torn off right sleeve has been carried on as a tradition on newer lab coats as well. Gruchy's lab coat is the more stained of the two, with Free's coat in fairer condition. The most prominent of the few stains on Free's lab coat is a blue paint smear on the right shoulder "

autograph An autograph is a person's own handwriting or signature. The word ''autograph'' comes from Ancient Greek (, ''autós'', "self" and , ''gráphō'', "write"), and can mean more specifically: Gove, Philip B. (ed.), 1981. ''Webster's Third New Intern ...

ed" by a Blue Man. The episodes generally feature Free as the cinematographer and camera operator, and Gruchy, a former

ammunition technician An ammunition technician (AT) is a British Army soldier, formerly of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps but since 1993 of the Royal Logistic Corps, trained to inspect, repair, test, store, and modify all ammunition, guided missiles, and explosives use ...

corporal Corporal is a military rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The rank is usually the lowest ranking non-commissioned officer. In some militaries, the rank of corporal nominally corr ...

in the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

who served in Afghanistan, as the rigger and often also as the stuntman. Over the years, Gruchy suffered numerous injuries, such as a lacerated ear, a glass shard lodged in his finger, an oil burn and a fractured wrist; he jokingly noted that he has suffered more injuries during the filming of the show than during his tour in the Afghanistan war zone. Some episodes feature Gruchy explaining how some explosives work, such as grenades and detonation cord, allowing him to draw on his background in the military. Following the popularity of their most viewed video, ''Giant 6ft Water Balloon'', Free and Gruchy have regularly produced further videos involving Gruchy in or around several-foot

water balloon A water balloon or water bomb is a balloon, often made of latex rubber, filled with water. Water balloons are used in a summer pastime of cooling off through water balloon fights. Water balloons are also popular for celebrations, including celebr ...

s under the event of "Giant Balloon June". The episodes are generally filmed in Free's backyard in Austin, Texas, usually with only the two of them involved. In the case of ''The Super Slow Show'' and ''Planet Slow Mo'', as the budget of the show increased and more cast was involved, the experiments got larger and more elaborate; the availability of a designated camera crew allowed Free to participate in the stunts as well.

History

Inception

In 2006, Gavin Free joined Green Door Films, the first production house in Europe to utilise

digital high-speed cameras as a source of

, working as a data technician and camera operator. He began working on adverts, music videos, and films such as ''

Hot Fuzz ''Hot Fuzz'' is a 2007 buddy cop action comedy film directed by Edgar Wright, who co-wrote the film with Simon Pegg. Pegg stars as Nicholas Angel, an elite London police officer, whose proficiency makes the rest of his team look bad, causing hi ...

''. In 2008, he was hired to direct the seventh season of the

Rooster Teeth Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC was an American entertainment company headquartered in Austin, Texas. Founded in 2003 by Burnie Burns, Matt Hullum, Geoff Ramsey, Jason Saldaña, Gus Sorola, and Joel Heyman, Rooster Teeth was a subsidiary o ...

machinima Machinima () is the use of Real-time computing, real-time computer graphics engines to create a cinematic production. The word "Machinima" is a portmanteau of the words ''machine'' and ''Film, cinema''. According to Guinness World Records, ma ...

series ''

Red vs. Blue ''Red vs. Blue'', often abbreviated as ''RvB'', is an American web series created by Burnie Burns with his production company Rooster Teeth. The show is based on the setting of the military science fiction first-person shooter series and media fr ...

''. Afterwards, he had decided to make a move to

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

and work full-time for Rooster Teeth, for which he needed to get a

work visa A work permit or work visa is the permission to take a job within a foreign country. The foreign country where someone seeks to obtain a work permit for is also known as the "country of work", as opposed to the "country of origin" where someone h ...

; however, as he didn't go to

university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

, his only option was an application for an

O visa An O visa is a classification of non-immigrant temporary worker visa granted by the United States to an alien "who possesses extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics, or who has a demonstrated record of e ...

, a visa that requires an "extraordinary achievement" in arts or science. Being a video/film producer, he decided to utilise his access to slow motion cameras to create ''The Slow Mo Guys'' along with his friend Daniel Gruchy, who he first met while working in a

Waitrose Waitrose Limited, trading as Waitrose & Partners, is a British supermarket chain, founded in 1904 as Waite, Rose & Taylor, later shortened to Waitrose. In 1937, it was acquired by the John Lewis Partnership, the UK's largest employee-owned b ...

in their home county of

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...

. According to Free, the ''Slo Mo Guys'' name partially comes from a comment

Richard Hammond Richard Mark Hammond (born 19 December 1969) is an English journalist, television presenter, and author. He co-hosted the BBC Two motoring programme ''Top Gear (2002 TV series), Top Gear'' from 2002 until 2015 with Jeremy Clarkson and James Ma ...

made on the set of ''

Top Gear Top Gear may refer to: * "Top gear", the highest gear available in a vehicle's manual transmission Television * ''Top Gear'' (1977 TV series), a British motoring magazine programme * ''Top Gear'' (2002 TV series), a relaunched version of the ori ...

'':

Success

In April 2011, the channel was voted the winner of

's ''On The Rise'' program, which highlights up-and-coming YouTube partners on the homepage. In September 2012, their episode involving crushing watermelons was featured on ''

The Tonight Show ''The Tonight Show'' is an American late-night talk show that has been broadcast on NBC since 1954. The program has been hosted by six comedians: Steve Allen (1954–1957), Jack Paar (1957–1962), Johnny Carson (1962–1992), Jay Leno (1992–2 ...

''. On 20 February 2013, Free confirmed that the series had been picked up by Rooster Teeth for broadcast and that further episodes of the series would be released on Rooster Teeth's website, as well as the series' existing YouTube channel, with Free remaining as the sole owner of Slow Mo Guys. A best of compilation was released by Rooster Teeth Productions for home video on 10 September 2013. In January 2014, in collaboration with

GE Global Research GE Aerospace Research, formerly GE Research, is the research and development division of GE Aerospace. Before 2024, it was a division of the General Electric Company, which split three ways between 2023 and 2024 and pivoted to aviation. GE Glob ...

, the R&D division of

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...

, they released a video showcasing the company's latest innovations, including

superhydrophobic In chemistry and materials science, ultrahydrophobic (or superhydrophobic) surfaces are highly hydrophobic, i.e., extremely difficult to wet. The contact angles of a water droplet on an ultrahydrophobic material exceed 150°. This is also ref ...

surfaces and how

magnetic nanoparticles Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) are a class of nanoparticle that can be manipulated using magnetic fields. Such particles commonly consist of two components, a magnetic material, often iron, nickel and cobalt, and a chemical component that has func ...

behave like liquid magnets. Two additional videos featuring them demonstrating

MEMS MEMS (micro-electromechanical systems) is the technology of microscopic devices incorporating both electronic and moving parts. MEMS are made up of components between 1 and 100 micrometres in size (i.e., 0.001 to 0.1 mm), and MEMS devices ...

and "cold spray" 3D painting technology were also released on the official GE YouTube channel. The series has been featured as part of YouTube's "

Rewind Rewind may refer to: General uses * Rewind, the process of winding magnetic tape inside a cassette or a microfilm reel backwards to a previous point on the reel ** Rewind symbol, a media control symbol indicating tape rewind or analogous operatio ...

" year-in-review video in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017. The series was used as part of a 2014 YouTube advertising campaign. The advertisements featuring Free and Gruchy were titled ''"You Make Every Second Epic"''. A large image of Free and Gruchy was printed on a

London bus Buses have been used as a mode of public transport in London since 1829, when George Shillibeer started operating a horse-drawn ''omnibus'' service from Paddington to the City of London. In the decades since their introduction, the red London ...

as part of the campaign, alongside TV commercials, billboards and Tube station posters. The series was nominated for a

Webby Award The Webby Awards (colloquially referred to as the Webbys) are awards for excellence on the Internet presented annually by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a judging body composed of over three thousand industry experts a ...

in Best Web Personality/Host (Online Film & Video) in 2016. At the 2016

Streamy Awards The YouTube Streamy Awards, also known as the Streamy Awards or Streamys, are an awards show presented annually by Dick Clark Productions and Tubefilter to recognize excellence in online video, including directing, acting, producing, and wr ...

, the series won in the Cinematography category. On 27 March 2020, Oculus TV premiered their eight-part series collaboration with The Slow Mo Guys called ''The Slow Mo Guys VR''. In this show, people would be able to watch Free and Gruchy recreate their videos in 3D slow motion. Several videos have been made in collaboration with other entertainers. This has included filming of a

sabrage is a ceremonial technique for opening a sparkling wine bottle, typically Champagne, by striking it with a sword or similar implement. The blade is placed towards the base of the bottle and thrust along the length of the neck, where force of t ...

competition with

Rhett & Link Rhett James McLaughlin (born October 11, 1977) and Charles Lincoln "Link" Neal III (born June 1, 1978) are an American comedy duo. Self-styled as "Internetainers", they are known for creating and hosting the YouTube series ''Good Mythical Morn ...

; dropping

bowling ball A bowling ball is a hard spherical ball used to knock down bowling pins in the sport of bowling. Balls used in ten-pin bowling and American nine-pin bowling traditionally have holes for two fingers and the thumb. Balls used in five-pin bowlin ...

s with the

Blue Man Group Blue Man Group is an American performance art company formed in New York City in 1987. It is known for its stage productions that incorporate many kinds of music and art, both popular and obscure. Its performers, known as Blue Men, have their ...

; and providing

Will Smith Willard Carroll Smith II (born September 25, 1968) is an American actor, rapper, and film producer. Known for his work in both Will Smith filmography, the screen and Will Smith discography, music industries, List of awards and nominations re ...

(wearing Gruchy's lab coat) a

flamethrower A flamethrower is a ranged incendiary device designed to project a controllable jet of fire. First deployed by the Byzantine Empire in the 7th century AD, flamethrowers saw use in modern times during World War I, and more widely in World W ...

to use on cardboard cutouts of himself.

YouTube Originals

In 2018, Free and Gruchy launched their first YouTube Original, ''The Super Slow Show''. This was essentially ''The Slow Mo Guys'', but on a grander scale, featuring new equipment; larger stunts, such as crashing through walls; and special guests, including

Dylan Sprouse Dylan Thomas Sprouse (born August 4, 1992) is an American actor. He is known for his role as Zack Martin on the Disney Channel series ''The Suite Life of Zack & Cody'' and its spin-off, ''The Suite Life on Deck'', where he starred alongside ...

and

Mayim Bialik Mayim Chaya Bialik ( ; born December 12, 1975) is an American actress, author, and former game show host. From 1991 to 1995, she played the title character of the NBC sitcom ''Blossom (American TV series), Blossom''. From 2010 to 2019, she play ...

. In 2019, Free and Gruchy launched their second YouTube Original, ''Planet Slow Mo'', in which the duo would travel around the world and film special events and stunts. A trailer was released on 21 January, with the first episode airing on 23 January.

COVID-19

During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, as Gruchy lives in the United Kingdom, the international travel restrictions prevented him from travelling to Texas to take part in filming for about a year and a half. In video comments of later videos, Free would make a running joke about Gruchy digging a tunnel underneath the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

to sneak into Texas. Gruchy would then reference the joke by digging himself out from the ground in the first video he was able join in again in 2022. Dr.

Anthony Fauci Anthony Stephen Fauci ( ; born December 24, 1940) is an American physician-scientist and immunologist who served as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) from 1984 to 2022, and the chief medical ...

, then-head of the

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID, ) is one of the 27 institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health (NIH), an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. NIAID's mis ...

, appeared in an October 22, 2020 video in which he and Free advocated for "the importance of wearing masks and face coverings" to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Dr. Fauci subsequently described the video as "a perfect demonstration" of the need for people to wear face masks. On February 4, 2021, Free appeared on behalf of the Slow Mo Guys on a Gates Notes-sponsored episode of

PBS Digital Studios PBS Digital Studios is a non-profit organization through which PBS distributes original educational web video content. Based in Arlington, Virginia, it comprises both original series and partnerships with existing YouTube YouTube is ...

' ''Be Smart'' to promote

herd immunity Herd immunity (also called herd effect, community immunity, population immunity, or mass immunity) is a form of indirect protection that applies only to contagious diseases. It occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population has become i ...

and

COVID-19 vaccines A COVID19 vaccine is a vaccine intended to provide acquired immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 ( COVID19). Knowledge about the structure and func ...

Television

On 1 September 2022, Free and Gruchy's first television show, ''The Slow Mo Guys' Big Adventures'', premiered on Sky Kids in the UK. The ten-episode series features themed episodes about historical events such as the Wild West, the Viking era, and the first rocket launches.

Awards and nominations

References

External links

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Merch StoreUK Government Sole Ownership Company Information
{{DEFAULTSORT:Slow Mo Guys, The English comedy duos British Internet celebrities YouTube channels Rooster Teeth channels YouTube channels launched in 2010 English video bloggers Slow motion