Everything You Want to Know About the Dude Perfect Bros
Movieguide® Contributor
The Dude Perfect guys have become household names, captivating millions with their trick shots and antics, but behind the viral videos is a story of friendship and bonds that has kept them grounded for over 15 years.
“I’m Cody Jones,” Jones introduced himself on a video for ESPN. “I’m known as the tall guy, extrovert, life of the party, kind of loose cannon…I’m the goofiest one in the group. My dad and mom, love them to death, but they’re just very cerebral and so I always try to add the juice.”
Garret Hilbert is “The most responsible,” Tyler Toney said. “Tends to lean pessimistic but definitely balances out the group. I feel like I’m kind of the dad to them a little bit. People will come to me for advice. I don’t give the best advice I don’t know why they keep coming to me,” he joked.
Cory, or “Twin Number Two’s,” full name is William Cory Cotton. He’s a minute younger than big brother Coby, or “Twin Number One.”
“Obviously, Coby’s my best friend,” Cory said. “We’re twins and we’re the close twins, building houses across from each other.”
“They love twins,” Hilbert said. “Like they eat the twin thing up. They don’t dress the same on purpose, but it’s crazy, like they’ll wear like green shorts and a big shirt and a white hat, and they’re wearing the same thing.”
“Tyler Nathan Toney, he is just your typical friend that is good at everything,” Coby said. “It’s so annoying.”
Hilbert agreed, adding that Toney is even talented in “weird stuff” like flexing rodeo whips.
“I grew up playing every sport imaginable,” Toney said. “My dad was a business guy so he traveled all the time, but I also never remember him missing a game ever. I loved every piece of playing sports.”
“Garrett and I went to high school together actually, here in Texas,” Toney said.
“I knew Tyler because it was a small school,” Hilbert said. “We all played Sports together; he was a year below me and eventually, he went to A&M.”
“Cory and I absolutely loved Texas A&M,” Coby said. “That’s where we met all the other guys. Cory and I obviously known each other a long time. We show up at A&M, and I remember Cory and I met Garrett. Cody was our straggler that we basically just barely led into the team,” he joked.
Toney’s father bought a house in College Station, and all the boys except for Hilbert moved in.
“I’m Sean Towsend, and I’m the sixth member of Dude Perfect,” Townsend chimed in. “The house we lived in was always a mess. Nobody ever cooked but somehow the kitchen was always a disaster.”
“We just absolutely destroyed that house,” Toney said
“You know, I was their landlord, and you know Ty would call me and say, ‘Hey, Dad do you know somebody who can repair chimneys? Do you have somebody that fixes sheetrock? Hey Dad, the fence is down,’ and I’m like what is going on?” Toney’s dad, Jeff, recalled.
After 15 years of successul YouTube videos for kids and families, the Dude Perfect guys are sharing how they’ve kept their channel family-friendly through their faith, identity and honesty…
READ MORE: HOW DUDE PERFECT MAINTAINS FAMILY VALUES AND HONESTY AFTER 15 YEARS
Cody thought the six of them had “something special” from the beginning of their relationship. They just wanted to enjoy life and have fun.
One day “We were getting ready to go to lunch and I said, ‘Hey, if I make this hook shot from the corner of the yard, you’re buying my sandwich,’” Toney said to Hilbert.
“He turned sideways and kind of hooked it over his head,” Hilbert recalled. “He switched it first try, and I was like, man, I got to buy you lunch you know. That kind of stinks.”
They started to perform more trick shots together and recorded them. Townsend accidentally came up with their channel name when they made their first intro video. When the camera aligned perfectly he said, “Dude, perfect.”
“Cory was like, ‘Man, I have an account on this thing called YouTube,’” Hilbert recalled. “’…I love editing. I’m just going to put it together throw it up there show our parents.’ We’re just like, ‘A thing called YouTube? What is YouTube?’ It was like 4 years old back then.”
“The very next morning, hours after the video goes up, I wake up to a phone call from GOOD MORNING AMERICA,” Cory said. “’What’s up guys? We saw your video. We’d love to play it on our show this morning, is that okay?’”
The exposure on GMA rocket-launched their success, and it’s been a fast-paced ride for the Dude Perfect members ever since. Per Social Blade, Dude Perfect is the 46th most-subscribed channel on YouTube.
Toney said in an I Am Second video last year, “It’s really cool to see [that] this platform is given to us for more than just our own successes. The amount of control we have over things, over Dude Perfect, over the world, over our circumstances is very low, but whatever God blesses us with and whatever successes that we do have, we’re going to continue to point back to Him and give Him the glory for it, and that’s the way we’re going to look at it for as long as Dude Perfect is a thing.”
