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Dustin Poynter reveals the secret to the hilarious jokes that made him a YouTube sensation

Dustin Poynter reveals the secret to the hilarious jokes that made him a YouTube sensation

Dustin Poynter is skyrocketing to YouTube fame thanks to his humorous reactions and hilarious one-liners. As part of Dexerto’s Rising Star series, a collection of articles about the YouTube megastars of tomorrow, we spoke to Poynter about his success after 11 years of trying to make it as a content creator.

Dustin Poynter is quickly approaching a million subscribers on YouTube, and it’s been a long time coming. He’s been creating content for over a decade, but it wasn’t until recently that his channel really took off.

Poynter attributes this increase in views to his reaction-style videos, in which he reads stories from subreddits like Am I the A-Hole or watches viral TikToks. Between paragraphs or clips from a video, Poynter races across a meadow waving a giant red or green flag while blurting out heartbreaking comments.

Dustin utters lines like “I’m more nervous than a bunch of earthworms in a morgue” or “I’m angrier than a bull in a field of fire trucks” in almost every video – and it’s these hilarious jokes that have earned him hundreds of thousands of loyal followers Subscribers.

Surprisingly, Poynter says many of these jokes aren’t his. He got it from his grandmother, a classic Southern girl with a great sense of humor and sharp wit.

“These jokes are inspired by my grandma, who had so many lines where I asked, ‘What are you saying?'” he told us. “Also, so many phrases that you can’t even google them. She’s just crazy.”

In fact, Poytner keeps a list of their sayings on his phone, carefully compiled over the last decade, which he uses as inspiration for his own rants.

“My whole family and I have been fascinated by them my whole life,” he continued. “It’s a very Southern thing. It’s very Southern to have these really crazy, complicated jokes and one-liners like that. I thought it was really special and somewhat unique, and it was a way for me to say hello to my grandma. …I’m really fascinated by these jokes. They think I’m funny and it worked.”

Dustin Poynter

Dustin Poynter credits his grandma for the hilarious one-liners that helped him gain online fame.

Although he responds to the stories and experiences of others, Poynter certainly puts an original twist on the content. Racing across a field with heel clicks, his physical comedy only complements his grandmother’s hilarious jokes – but it’s not easy.

“People don’t realize how tiring it is,” he admitted. “I live in south Arkansas. It’s very, very hot. Every time I film it’s 100 degrees. My camera keeps turning off because of the heat because it just doesn’t like the blazing sun. It keeps turning off.

“I run for one to two hours at a time. And I do short, quick bursts of running…but I also hold a 10-pound flag over my head while doing it. That’s why I’m always tired. It’s very tiring, but a lot of fun. It’s a weird thing I stumbled upon, but it’s super fun.”

However, given the prevalence of terms like “red flag” and “green flag” on social media, the giant flags are a necessity. They really get to the point and are clearly well received by viewers.

“The terms ‘green flag’ and ‘red flag’ have really become very popular on social media over the last few years,” he explained. “And I’m a big fan of prop comedy, costumes and stuff. I was born on Halloween. I just really like costumes, props and things like that.

“There are so many ways to turn it into something funny without even saying anything half the time. I love being creative this way. And I know this was a big deal on the internet, and besides, I love props. So one day I just combined those two and it worked.”

Before starting his social media journey, Poynter dreamed of becoming a sports journalist, but ended up landing a job at a marketing agency after launching the now-defunct app Vine. He quickly realized that the 9-5 grind wasn’t for him, so he started his own agency – which eventually led to his career as a content creator.

“It was very stressful, tiring and scary to do this completely on my own,” he said of his agency. “I did this for several years, but it taught me so much about marketing myself and my brand and how social media works in general.

“I just kept making videos, but I wasn’t having any consistent success and was burnt out and completely depressed. Then the pandemic hit and I lost so much money and was in a really bad mental state. I just had this tipping point where I thought, ‘You’ve wanted to make videos since day one.’ Either we go all out now, or because we’re almost 30, we have to stop.”

Dustin-Poynter-Rising-Stars-Interview-Dexerto-2Instagram: dustinpoynter

Dustin Poynter and his partner pose with his iconic green flag.

Dustin has been creating content full-time for three years. It’s not a traditional job, and although his family found it difficult to understand him at first, they support him now that the money is flowing.

“Everyone in my family supports me, but you know, it’s not a traditional way of doing things. It is encouraged in a company. It’s weird, and making videos and just creating content is a whole new profession.

“Certain members of your family will not know how to process or absorb this. For example: “You do what?” You make videos? Are you all right? Do you make money?’ There will always be some degree of it. But I’ve been doing it for so long now, to the point where over time they slowly started saying, “That’s Dustin, that’s what he does.”

In the future, Dustin hopes to make music and start a podcast. He has a lot of interests to pursue – and given his groundbreaking success on YouTube, it looks like this is just the beginning of his ambitious endeavors.