Dr Disrespect is back at the tippity-top a year after his Twitch ban

Dr Disrespect is back on the “tippity-top of the mountain” again ⁠— and only halfway up, remember ⁠— a year after his shock ban from Twitch ran him into the streaming doldrums in a big way in early 2021, and what a welcome return it is for the two-time, back-to-back Blockbuster champion.

Let’s face it; the internet is just better when the Doc is on his game.

In terms of pure entertainment, gaming highlights, and of course incredible streaming production, few do it better than Guy Beahm’s well-crafted character, Dr Disrespect. Tune into any broadcast from the two-time and you’re sure to have a good time, whether he’s roasting Warzone and Apex Legends, or simply “dominating the competition.”

Even this Dexerto writer, whose job it is to watch the flamboyant Doc and his gratuitous and crowd-pleasing streams on a regular basis, still finds himself cracking a smile whenever Dr Disrespect gets on a roll mid-stream.

That Dr Disrespect, the one who won hearts the world over with his cocksure, over-the-top personality, had been missing for the last twelve months.

Beahm was logging on to stream on YouTube, sure, once he finally decided where he’d be shifting post-Twitch ban, but something was off. You can’t blame the man either. He’d just had his Twitch empire ripped out from underneath him (allegedly without a reason why even hinted at either) and the door locked behind him.

He was on-stream, but the two-time was clocking numbers.

That is until YouTube landed a surprise sucker punch right on Twitch’s jaw last month. The exclusivity war in streaming, seemingly all but over after Mixer’s collapse, flared back up in a big way as first Benjamin “DrLupo” Lupo, then days later Tim “TimTheTatman” Betar, traded purple for red.

Now, this is great news for any YouTuber ⁠— more big names mean more eyes on the platform, and that means Google has more reason to grow the streaming side of their multi-billion dollar video website.

For Dr Disrespect, the defections meant so much more.

When he had been banned from Twitch (who he is now suing), his empire took a hit, yes. But like we said, the Champions Club star also had the door locked behind him; Twitch has a policy of banning any stars who co-stream with suspended personalities, and that meant the Doc was left out in the cold.

For Dr Disrespect, it wasn’t the end of the world. Far from it ⁠— since moving to YouTube, the streamer has climbed to 3.6m subscribers on the site, and is right on the verge of hitting 250 million views across his back catalog.

His signature energy, however (dubbed “violence, speed, momentum” by the Doc himself, but really just an exceptional wit) had been robbed.

It was evident, right from the beginning of his YouTube career, that the two-time had been very dependent on his co-stars. Playing with other streamers like Shroud, TimTheTatman, NICKMERCS, and Ninja hadn’t given him extra fame, but they’d given him something else; a partner in his escapades.

When Dr Disrespect is at his best, he’s joking with (and often at the expense of) his co-streamers, throwing barbs and laughing at them with the Champions Club.

It’s not malicious, and his frequent teammates all know that.

Instead, it’s the loud, red-and-black character Beahm has wrapped his streaming comedy in ⁠— “The Doc,” willing to say anything and everything on his mind, and eliciting plenty of laughs from his loyal fanbase in the process.

These past two weeks have confirmed this theory too.

The Doc was already on the road back to his iconic Twitch best playing alongside Zack “ZLaner” Lane, a Facebook streamer who had become Dr Disrespect’s partner in crime these past few months. But YouTube’s latest signings fired him back to life.

Having Tim, CouRage, DrLupo, and a growing cast of other stars dip in and out of his broadcast seems to have truly re-ignited Beahm’s streaming spark.

In the past few weeks, the Doc seems to have come alive. He’s tweeting more, throwing out more opinions on Apex Legends, Warzone, and Battlefield 2042 on-stream. He’s roasting his friends ⁠— poor “Timmy Tenders” mostly ⁠— and even when he’s playing alone, he’s at his witty best again.

Dr Disrespect’s stats have shown the same thing too. 

The banned Twitch star has been growing his YouTube community over the past 12 months, but in September his new follower count exploded; he’s raked in more subs this month than he did the three months before.

On paper and in-stream the two-time is re-invigorated. Eight hours flies by watching his broadcasts, whether it be Warzone, Apex, or chatting to his fans.

Once upon a time (or every stream intro, rather), Dr Disrespect claimed he was “at the tippity-top of the mountain, but really he’s only halfway up”. That, more than ever, seems to ring true in the star’s YouTube era as he looks to grow again.

With TimTheTatman, CouRage, DrLupo, ZLaner, and plenty more flying as his wingmen now, Dr Disrespect is finally back on track to “dominate” gaming. He has his own title coming out soon, Vanguard, and a new Warzone map are all on the horizon, and we know he’s going to entertain throughout it all.

Who knew the key to the Doc was, in the end, his friends?