What Dr Disrespect Was Like Before The Fame
Just the name Dr Disrespect invokes a stirring image — dark sunglasses, a jet black mullet, a bushy mustache, and a red vest. Not only can you see the picture in your mind, but you can almost hear the angry rants, the colorful trash talk, and the infamous mantra: "Violence, speed, momentum."
But what else is known about the man beneath the mullet? Who is this mysterious gamer that dons giant headphones and dares anyone to cross his path? Is he even a real doctor? Hershel Guy Beahm IV, the man who created the character, is much more private than his alter ego. Unfortunately, that means a lot of fans are still in the dark about his pre-Twitch days.
Even after streaming off and on for over ten years, Beahm still appears to be humbled by the all the admiration he receives from his fans. One wonders how the fame may have changed him over the years. While Beahm has been exceedingly mum regarding his life before streaming, here are a few things that'll help fill you in on his past.
Beahm's passion for gaming began at a young age
According to an interview with The Verge, Beahm received his first computer as a gift from his grandfather around second or third grade. His grandfather later bought him his first console, a Nintendo Entertainment System. As an only child, video games were a safe haven for Beahm, allowing him to hone his gaming skills at an early age.
In a number of his videos, the Doc talks about his supposed victory at the Blockbuster Video Game Championship, which took place at Marine World in California. Disrespect claims to be the '93/'94 "back-to-back" champion, describing himself at the time as "five years old, 5 foot 9, 101 pounds." This might be a slight exaggeration, however, as there is no concrete evidence to support this (not to mention the math doesn't really add up).
In fact, YouTuber Joe Leonard posted his own video in 2017, showing photographic evidence of the absence of Beahm's name on the leaderboard at the 1994 Blockbuster championship. The Doc's faithful followers were quick to defend their fearless leader in the comments.
Beahm played basketball at Cal Poly
Beahm attended California State Polytechnic University, where he played NCAA Division 2 basketball. Standing at 6 foot 8, it's no wonder Beahm shined in the sport, and there's little doubt his competitive nature served him well during his time on the court, too. That lust for competition — or, perhaps more astutely, "bloodlust" — appears to carry over into the Dr Disrespect persona.
In a video posted by Justin G on YouTube, you can watch Beahm's skills in action. Beahm's jersey number is 23, and through the blurred haze of old recorded footage, you can see him making shot after shot, passing like a pro, and racing down the court while dribbling with impressive control. He even gets a few slam dunks in there, all with seeming ease. While the Doc may not actually be the NBA Jam champion, Guy Beahm, on the other hand, demonstrated he could hold his own on the real-life court.
Beahm was a job hopper
While Beahm had long dreamed of working in the gaming industry, it was a long road to get there. After graduating from Cal Poly with a BS in Business and Marketing Management, Beahm tried out a number of different jobs, including mortgage consultant, administrative assistant, and sales representative. He revealed in an interview with The Verge that these jobs quickly followed one after the other, and he didn't stay at any of them for long.
In the same interview, Beahm confessed that playing basketball, not his education, held his focus while attending university. Perhaps this fact can be attributed to his lack of direction once Beahm completed his education and made his way into the real world. Without basketball to focus on, Beahm's passion returned to gaming — specifically Halo 2 multiplayer, which he engaged in often with his roommates.
Dr Disrespect first manifested while playing Halo 2 online
Beahm has previously highlighted the huge impact Halo 2 had on him. He started off playing the first Halo game with his college basketball buddies, which fueled his love for competition. Beahm described playing the game on a four-player split screen on a small TV, and how it brought back his love for video games.
"I really love the idea of competing [live]," Beahm said in a YouTube video from way back in 2010. "Because I'm an only child, I grew up, you know, all by myself [...] with that said, you get a lot of time to yourself [...] I dedicated a lot of that time to either basketball or video games."
But it was Halo 2 online that really impressed Beahm, with its "groundbreaking graphics [and] unbelievable gameplay." What especially caught his eye was the game's new proximity chat feature. Beahm's shooting skills in the online arena garnered a lot of attention from other players, and he was not shy about rubbing his victory into his enemies' faces with his colorful trash talk. This experience would be the inspiration that gave birth to Beahm's infamous alter ego, Dr Disrespect.
Beahm based his character on an '80s movie bad guy
The villainous persona for Dr Disrespect takes a great deal of inspiration from the 1989 film Cyborg, which stars Jean Claude Van Damme. The sci-fi action movie, filled with testosterone-pumping violence and a futuristic setting, features a psychopathic antagonist by the name of Fender Tremolo. Tremolo leads a gang of degenerate killers, and lives only for bloodshed and taking pleasure in the suffering of others. Sound familiar? Tremolo also dons a pair of dark sunglasses, just like the Doc.
Beahm was drawn to the character's strength and leadership, and although at the climax of the film Tremolo gets his comeuppance via a bloody end, Dr Disrespect is the epitome of the villain who wins the day, rather than paying for his crimes. "I've always wanted a movie where the bad guy came out on top," Beahm said in his The Verge interview. Considering the Doc's soaring popularity over the years, it's safe to say Beahm's villainous alter ego has come close to doing just that.
Beahm's first YouTube video set the stage
Dr Disrespect uploaded his first video to YouTube on Jan. 11, 2010. It has over 800,000 views, though one has to wonder what the original audience thought of the video when it initially hit the internet.
As the video begins, you see a man standing at the end of a long outdoor corridor, his expression stoic, his stance powerful and commanding. The camera zooms in and freezes on an extreme close-up, and you are accosted by the image of a mullet-wearing, mustachioed man sporting sunglasses and large headset. He looks like a time traveler from the mid '80s, or maybe just a sad middle-aged dude who never got over the death of hair metal.
In the following sequence, the man speaks, lit only by a green light in an otherwise pitch black room. This scene sums up Dr Disrespect's persona as well as his philosophy on gaming: "If you wanna approach me, I will kill you immediately." The video continues to showcase the Doc's skills, not only at first-person shooting, but hilarious trash talk and all around badassery.
Beahm has industry experience as a level designer
In 2011, while still making Dr Disrespect videos for YouTube and gaining quite a following, Sledgehammer Games hired Beahm as a community manager. He later served as a multiplayer level designer for Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, and his work received a lot of praise from his colleagues.
On Beahm's Linkedin profile, principal game designer Evan Hort, who worked in a group with Beahm, gave him a glowing review. "I was always impressed by how easily new design ideas came to him and how fast he could crank out new levels," Hort wrote. "You don't want to be put on the opposite team when playing multiplayer because he is going to seriously dominate. Guy has true passion behind his ideas that gets people fired up and excited to make them a reality."
Another colleague at Sledgehammer, Rosie Katz, who was Beahm's senior, also complimented him. "Working with Guy was such a privilege," she said. "He has a drive and energy that really pulls you in and his creative vision for his maps was an inspiration. I've never worked with someone with such a genuine passion for competitive balanced multiplayer gameplay."
Beahm was on Twitch before it was cool, and before it was called Twitch
Back in 2005, Justin Kan — a physics student at Yale at the time — created Justin.tv, a live streaming platform that was meant to be something like a 24-hour internet reality show. The site didn't fully take off until Kan made it compatible with live game streaming, and from then on it was the place for gamers to watch their favorite games played live, and to upload their own streams.
Beahm was one of Justin.tv's original fans; he would log on to watch live streams of Call of Duty gameplay long before he would go on to create his own videos. Justin.tv became Twitch in 2014, and was soon bought by Amazon. Beahm saw the potential of the site, and decided to leave his job at Sledgehammer so he could start streaming as Dr Disrespect full time. The risk paid off, and over a span of about four years on Twitch, he gained nearly 4 million followers and over 20,000 viewers during his live streams.
The Doc helped his pal with a startup business
Shortly after leaving Sledgehammer Games in 2015, Beahm was approached by a man called Sumit Gupta. Gupta, a fellow game enthusiast and a science and technology grad of Missouri University, told Beahm his idea for a VR streaming tech site called Boom.tv, and he asked for Beahm's help with the company's development.
Boom.tv enhances streaming in a number of ways. Not only can you watch and stream live gameplay, but you can also interact with your viewers like never before. Viewers can make predictions, watch instant replays, and even participate in tournaments along with the streamer.
Gupta's proposal intrigued Beahm, but he had to decide quickly. At the time, he had also been offered a job in Washington, which would uproot his life and his family — or he could take a risk and assist Gupta in his endeavor. Beahm talks about this tough decision in an esports interview panel video, and according to him, it was his wife who ultimately made the choice for him, telling him to follow his dream.
Dr Disrespect has a family
For many years, Beahm has been very private about his family and his personal life. Fans know he is married, although his wife is only referred to by the name Mrs Assassin. She has been very supportive of his streaming career, even appearing in several of Dr Disrespect's videos. On Instagram, Mrs Assassin has over 80,000 followers, and posts content that mainly promotes her husband and his activities. She has even shared links for purchasing the Doc's merchandise, like hoodies and t-shirts.
The couple also has a daughter named Alana, who has made numerous appearances in Dr Disrespect's videos, from adorable cameos to her own brand of trash-talking. If the Doc's wicked heart can be melted by anyone, it's most certainly his little girl. Yet no one's family life is perfect, and Beahm's is no exception. In a video posted in 2017, Beahm broke character live on Twitch to announce that he had been unfaithful to his wife and would be taking time off to focus on his family.