We have regular visitors in our home in the form of Tyler, Cody, Garrett, Cory and Coby. In other words, Dude Perfect.

If you don’t know Dude Perfect, either you live under a rock or you don’t have a boy between the ages of 8 and 12. This quintet of Texas good ol’ boys were catapulted to fame by a trick-shot video made in their backyard. They are now YouTube stars, holding down the dream job of every preadolescent child, shooting hoops and endorsing products for Nerf and Bass Pro Shop.

They may seem low key, but with more than 45 million subscribers, they’re the No. 2 sports channel on YouTube and No. 9 channel overall. When a new video gets released, it averages 10 million to 20 million views within just a few days.  

They’ve grown their empire to include silly stereotype videos, contests and lighthearted battles, a massive complex outside Dallas, a show on Nickelodeon and a live tour. They hold several Guinness World Records.

Having watched nearly all 47 battles, 11 overtimes and 17 stereotype videos over the shoulder of my youngest son, I’ve wondered: What is it that Dude Perfect has tapped into? What keeps kids coming back?

The Dude Perfect cast arrives at the Kids’ Choice Sports Awards at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion on Thursday, July 13, 2017, in Los Angeles. | Richard Shotwell, Invision via Associated Press

For one, they know their audience. Everything they create is age-appropriate. It’s like Mr. Rogers for the YouTube generation, where the button-down cardigan has been replaced by a baseball cap and the Neighborhood of Make-Believe has been swapped for the best of reality TV.

These are your guy’s guy: they fish, golf, shoot off rockets, catch sharks by night and compete against one another in paintball escapades. They’re not going to explain science to kids or delve into Nordic history. At Dude Perfect headquarters, every day is summer camp.

Second, they’re funny and approachable. If they showed up at your house with a plate of burgers, you would probably invite Tall Guy, Beard, Twins and Purple Hozier into your backyard. You would want them on your team in a basketball pickup game.

Three, they’re clear about their message. While they don’t proselyte on their channel, they make clear on their website at dudeperfect.com that their mission is to “glorify Jesus Christ in everything we do.” Their “about” video on their homepage is about their path to God. At the end, they urge viewers to find Jesus in their lives.

But even with all that, there’s something more. It’s the trick shots that catapulted them to fame, and it’s the trick shots that keep kids riveted. There is something absolutely satisfying about watching every putt become a hole-in-one, every basket a swish.

If imitation is the purest form of flattery, I can say this: We have sacrificed many water bottles to the attempted bottle flip and dented at least one wooden floor in the process.

My son Asher has filmed video after video for his someday-YouTube channel, Awesome Shots. What he’s learned in the process is that for every sunk shot, there’s are 50 failed attempts, tweaks and retweaks to get just the right angle, the right drive toward the basket. Victory comes from trying 101 times.

Dude Perfect performs during the 2015 Kids’ Choice Sports Awards show at Pauley Pavilion on Thursday, July 16, 2015, in Los Angeles. | Paul A. Hebert, Invision via Associated Press

The other day Asher was working on his latest Awesome Shot technique, the old “throw the sock into the open backpack” trick. He filmed again and again. Finally, the sock landed in the backpack. He switched the video off, only to realize he forgot to the most important part: the celebration.

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See, the best part of Dude Perfect isn’t the insanely impossible trick shots they attempt. It comes after, when success is met with a roar of approval, a victory lap around the court, the fist bumps and chest thumps.     

That, I think, is the No. 1 secret to their success. In a world that seems increasingly on fire, here’s a place where kids can go to watch laughter, rejoicing and slam-dunk success every time.

In a “Perfect” world, we’d all have a group of friends cheering us on, take after take, knowing that eventually we’ll get it just right.

Tiffany Gee Lewis is a freelance journalist and children’s book author. Based in the Pacific Northwest, she and her family are on a yearlong sabbatical in Oxford, England.

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