Dude Perfect

Dude Perfect (DP) is an American sports and comedy group and YouTube channel headquartered in Frisco, Texas. The group consists of Tyler "The Beard" Toney, "The Twins" Cory and Coby Cotton, Garrett "The Purple Hoser" Hilbert, and Cody "The Tall Guy" Jones, all of whom are former college roommates at Texas A&M University. Four members of the group, Jones being an exception, were brothers of the Gamma chapter of the Beta Upsilon Chi fraternity at A&M.

Dude Perfect's content predominantly consists of videos depicting various trick shots, stereotypes, and stunts. The group also regularly uploads videos of "battles", in which the individual members of Dude Perfect compete against one another in a good-natured game or contest, often incorporating different sports and a unique set of rules. Dude Perfect also created the show ''Overtime'', a series where they host several segments, such as "Wheel Unfortunate", in which a contestant spins a wheel and gets a random penalty, "Cool Not Cool", a show-and-tell-like segment, and "Absurd Recurds", in which the Dudes attempt to break the most absurd world records they can find.

History

Early years

On April 9, 2009, a video of the group performing trick shots at Tyler Toney's house and a local public park was released on YouTube. Within a week, the video received 200,000 views and was mentioned on ''Good Morning America''.

The group's second video, filmed at a Christian summer camp, was released shortly thereafter. The video amassed over 18 million views and went viral. For every 100,000 views the video received, Dude Perfect pledged to sponsor a child from Compassion International.

In 2010, Dude Perfect introduced the Panda mascot. The Panda quickly grew into a popular symbol at Texas A&M basketball games when taunting players of the opposing team.

Collaborations

In 2016, Dude Perfect traveled to the United Kingdom to film a video with players of Manchester City, Arsenal and Chelsea. The group also got a chance to visit the US Navy's ''Nimitz''-class aircraft carrier USS ''Nimitz'' for a 3-day trip aboard and released their trip's video as an episode as part of their ''Bucket List''. Dude Perfect also visited South Africa in their second bucket list video. In 2021, Dallas Mavericks center Boban Marjanovic made a guest appearance.

Business ventures

Cory Cotton authored a book titled ''Go Big'', in which he shared the secrets the group has learned along the way building a business in a world largely influenced by social media.

In June 2015, the group was selected by the Harlem Globetrotters in their annual player draft.

In September 2015, the group was approved for a television series entitled '' The Dude Perfect Show'' on CMT, which began airing during the first half of 2016. The show's second season aired on Viacom sibling network Nickelodeon.

In 2019, Dude Perfect went on their first live tour. In 2020, the group also announced their second live tour.

Partnering with YouTube Originals in 2020, Dude Perfect released a documentary: ''Backstage Pass''. The documentary provided a behind-the-scenes look at their live tour: 'Pound It, Noggin'.

During H2 2024 Dude Perfect sold an undisclosed share of the company to investment firm Highmount Capital, this was to raise $100 million in capital for future projects and modernize the company, introducing a more traditional business structure. This was done to allow the founders to continue to make videos they enjoy while expanding the business with more channels, presenters and content. The firm hired Andrew Yaffe a former NBA social media executive, who will direct the group on building a team to specializes in developing areas important to the group and help define of the vision on how the group will develop and evolve in the future.

World records

In 2009, the group set the Guinness World Record for the longest basketball shot after shooting from the third deck of Kyle Field. In October 2010, Dude Perfect extended their record with a "cross-tower" shot from a height of 66 meters (216 feet); the basket was located 45 meters (150 feet) away from the tower's base. In March 2011, Dude Perfect unofficially broke their record again with a shot from the top of Reliant Stadium, which remained in the air for 5.3 seconds. In January 2014, the group successfully attempted a shot from the 561-foot-tall Reunion Tower, with Cody Jones and Garrett Hilbert holding the basket at the base of the tower. In their 2016 video, "World Record Edition", Dude Perfect broke multiple world records. The group broke the world records for longest basketball shot made with the head, highest basketball shot, longest blindfolded basketball shot, and longest sitting basketball shot. Subsequently, they released a sequel based on football the following year, in which they broke even more world records. They later made two more world record videos: archery in 2022 and golf in 2023.

In 2018, Dude Perfect broke the record for longest barefoot Lego walk and longest pea blow during their filming of ''Overtime''. In episode six of ''Overtime'', Dude Perfect broke the record for the farthest distance traveled rolling across exercise balls. In 2019, Dude Perfect broke the world record for most ping pong balls stuck on a person's head using shaving cream, and the most donuts stacked on each other while blindfolded. In 2020, they broke another record for the most beach ball header passes in 30 seconds.

In 2019, on Nickelodeon's '' The Dude Perfect Show'', the group set 6 world records: fastest time to wrap a person with wrapping paper (team of two), most party poppers popped in 30 seconds (team of two), most thumbtacks inserted into a corkboard in a minute, most eggs crushed with the toes in 30 seconds, most drink cans opened with one hand in a minute, farthest distance traveled on Swiss balls.

In 2023, in Las Vegas, the group once again broke the record of the world's highest basketball shot from a height of 856 feet from the Strat Tower. Dude Perfect spent three days in Las Vegas trying to pull off the feat and they were able to do it in the last hour of filming.

Dude Perfect currently holds more than 20 Guinness World Records.

Awards

50 Million 'Ruby' Creator Award

Dude Perfect, along with over 20 other creators, never received a formal award from Youtube for passing 50 million subscribers. However, an award was conceived and created by fellow YouTuber Daniel Kraft who acknowledged the work and dedication the group has done for the YouTuber community over the years.

Other channels

In addition to their main channel, Dude Perfect have launched additional channels such as ''Dude Perfect Plus'', ''Dude Perfect Gaming'', and ''Dude Perfect en Español''. The latter features voice actors that dub over each of the Dudes and graphics that can be read in Spanish. Collectively, these channels have amassed 1.8 million subscribers and garnered 116.7 million views in total, as of August 2023.

Legitimacy

Amid their success, questions arose over the legitimacy of the group's trick shots. Hosts on ''Good Morning America'' discussed the tricks and debated whether they were real, though experts contacted by the show stated they were unable to find evidence of the tricks being fake.

Regarding the doubts, group member Cody Jones said: "We love it when people claim it's fake, because it makes the shots seem even more ridiculously impossible; and we get more publicity and hits on YouTube, so we love the mystery of knowing whether it's real or fake."

Recent years

On December 18, 2022, Dude Perfect announced their intention to build a $100 million Dude Perfect World Theme Park that is designed to give fans a hands-on experience of the group's signature activities, such as attempting trick shots, setting world records, and releasing stress in a "rage room." Their goal is to create a space where fans can feel like they are part of the Dude Perfect team.

On January 15, 2024, The Dude Perfect Video App was released on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. The app lets users watch unlimited Dude Perfect videos for free, serves only family-friendly advertisements, and provides early access to unreleased videos and behind-the-scenes content. In an interview with Colin and Samir, Coby confirmed that the app had reached over 2 million downloads on all platforms as of Q3 2024.

On January 11, 2025, Dude Perfect revealed their new $3 million headquarters, Dude Perfect Headquarters 3 (DPHQ3). It includes a putting course, a pickleball court, a regulation-size NFL goalpost, a full-sized basketball court with extra moving hoops on the wall for a trickshot challenge, and a golf simulator, among many other things. They are also launching an in-person merchandise store next to main headquarters that has limited-edition hats, T-shirts, and other items.

On February 22, 2025, Dude Perfect hosted their first Trick Shot World Championship, where popular trick shot content creator teams from around the world, including How Ridiculous and Brodie Smith, compete in a series of challenges, with the final challenge being to shoot a basketball shot from the top of Globe Life Field. The contest was won by That’ll Work, a duo entry known for their disc trick shots.

Faith and values

The members of Dude Perfect have been outspoken about the influence of their Christianity on their personal value and group dynamics. In his book ''Go Big,'' co-founder Cory Cotton describes their belief in Jesus Christ as the leading force in their teamwork, long-term goals, and humility. As evident by their content, Dude Perfect is committed to producing family-friendly content. This content reflects their desire to create positive, value-based entertainment for a wide audience. This commitment is evident in their clean humor, collaborative tone, and charitable initiatives. Their belief in Jesus continues to shape their creative process and how they engage with fans both on and off camera.

References

{{Streamy Awards Winners CSS

Streamy Award-winning channels, series or shows
Texas A&M University alumni
YouTube channels launched in 2009
Multinational companies headquartered in the United States
Companies based in Frisco, Texas
Entertainment companies of the United States
YouTubers from Texas
Sports YouTubers
American YouTube groups
Sports trick shot artists
Sports-related YouTube channels