Fans of the video app Vine may have spotted Ross Smith goofing around, often being upstaged by his 90-year-old grandmother. A Columbus native, Smith sarcastically berates and makes fun of Granny - as she likes to be called - while she throws insults back his way or dances to hip-hop songs.
"Hey grandma, why you sweating over there?" he asks her in one video. "Why, I popped a molly, son!" she responds.
After rising to viral fame on Vine - where videos are limited to 6.5 seconds - Smith joins the swarm of creators needing to jump ship when the app shuts down for good on January 17. Along with Granny, though, Smith is seizing the opportunity to jump to bigger platforms and larger audiences.
"It's been a rough couple of weeks, finding out that Vine was giving up on me," Smith says. "It's kind of like leaving a long-term relationship."
Smith, who played professional football in Europe, got his start on the app about four years ago and now claims over 280,000 followers there. What anchors his videos, though, is the hilarious and odd relationship between him and his grandmother.
"Apparently, according to my mom, growing up she was a little more strict, but as the years have gone on, she's a clown," Smith says. "I thoroughly love it, and you never know what she's going to say."
"At this age, 90, you get silly," Granny says.
Smith will visit his grandmother in Youngstown for a few days at a time to film. Granny, they both say, is pretty much game for anything, whether that means getting pushed into a pile of leaves or joking about watching porn.
"I always felt he should have been a comedian on the stage - way, way back, I said - because he's a funny guy," Granny says. "So it's like this even when we don't even take videos."
Vine's short time limit made people dubious when it first launched. Smith said that a surprising amount of work going into creating an original and funny six-second video.
"Honestly, people think those six-second Vines, people think it would take like a minute to make," Smith says. "Oh no, those things took days."
Smith and Granny found an audience for their antics. Smith claims some 2.1 million Facebook likes, 909,000 Instagram followers and about a million more on Snapchat.
Soon, their act may reach some bigger screens. As Vine shuts down for good, Smith and Granny are headed to Los Angeles to figure out what's next for them.
"We've been approached by a couple of TV shows and production companies for unscripted TV," Smith says. "Possibly Netflix, possibly your A&E - they like the fun, loving idea of an old fart like you and a young'n like me hanging out."
