Doing Things Media
Corporate brand
UnclaimedAmerican digital media company that builds humor, pop-culture, entertainment, and consumer brands for social-media audiences.
Last updated October 14, 2026
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Overview
Doing Things Media is an American digital media company focused on internet humor, pop culture, short-form video, and the development of social-media-native entertainment brands. It was founded in 2017 by Reid Hailey and Derek Lucas, who had each built substantial audiences through meme accounts on Instagram. Hailey began operating the @Shitheadsteve account in 2014 while attending college; the account reportedly reached one million followers in less than a year. Lucas developed the @DrunkPeopleDoingThings account in 2015. The two later connected through the online meme-account community and founded Doing Things Media after leaving college. The company’s basic model is to operate a portfolio of highly recognizable social accounts and then extend those audiences into advertising, commerce, subscriptions, television, publishing, licensing, and other products. Its portfolio has included Middle Class Fancy, Animals Doing Things, Shitheadsteve, Recess Therapy, Bob Does Sports, Overheard, and other meme and entertainment properties. By 2023, the company said or was reported to have more than 35 social-media accounts with a combined audience exceeding 75 million followers across Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, and Snapchat. The breadth of the portfolio allows the company to cross-promote new programs and use different communities to test entertainment concepts, merchandise, and commercial partnerships. Doing Things Media has described its editorial approach as a form of broadly accessible, nostalgic, and often wholesome humor. Its content is designed to be easily shared and adapted to the formats of major social platforms. In addition to publishing organic posts, the company creates sponsored material intended to resemble the visual language and tone of internet memes. Reported revenue sources have included advertising, e-commerce, subscription content, television production, and branded entertainment. In 2020, e-commerce was reported to account for approximately 30 percent of revenue, although later financial information is not established in the available sources. The company has repeatedly sought to turn social accounts into larger media and consumer franchises. Animals Doing Things was adapted into a Nat Geo Wild television program narrated, executive-produced, and directed by Howie Mandel. The Doggos Doing Things account was extended into the book Doggos Doing Things. Middle Class Fancy, acquired by Doing Things Media in 2018, was expanded through merchandise and a 2021 food collaboration with Guy Fieri’s Flavortown Kitchen. In 2021, the company partnered with Robby Berger to create Bob Does Sports, a golf-focused online series; the associated team later launched the Breezy Golf apparel and accessories brand. Recess Therapy became one of the company’s most prominent video properties after Doing Things Media hired Julian Shapiro-Barnum and relaunched his child-interview concept under the Recess Therapy name. A 2022 video featuring the so-called Corn Kid became a major TikTok trend and helped demonstrate the company’s ability to turn an informal social format into a widely recognized entertainment franchise. Doing Things Media also acquired Overheard in January 2023, adding a social brand built around overheard conversations in cities including Los Angeles and New York. The company raised a reported $21.5 million Series A round in February 2022 and was named Most Innovative Publisher at the 2022 Digiday Awards. Its relationship with creator Andrew Callaghan over All Gas No Brakes became contentious, with Callaghan alleging contractual and business disputes before later reaching an agreement with Doing Things Media in 2025 to acquire the brand as an affiliate of his Channel 5 network. Doing Things Media has also attracted criticism over sponsored political content distributed through multiple meme pages. Overall, it represents a platform-era media company whose principal asset is the ability to develop, package, monetize, and cross-promote internet-native communities.
History
Doing Things Media emerged from the first large-scale commercial wave of Instagram meme publishing. Its founders, Reid Hailey and Derek Lucas, initially built audiences independently through accounts devoted to internet jokes and user-generated humor. Hailey launched Shitheadsteve in 2014 while taking college classes and subsequently developed additional pages, while Lucas created DrunkPeopleDoingThings in 2015. Their involvement in a wider online network of meme-page operators helped them identify the scale and commercial potential of communities organized around recurring humor formats rather than traditional editorial publications. Hailey and Lucas founded Doing Things Media in 2017. The company’s early strategy was to assemble and operate multiple social accounts, allowing it to aggregate large audiences while maintaining distinct editorial identities. Rather than relying on a single publication, DTM treated its pages as a portfolio of distribution channels. This portfolio could support organic posts, sponsored advertisements, merchandise, subscriptions, video series, and licensing projects. The company later described its output as a continuous stream of accessible entertainment and characterized its business as a “24/7 dopamine drip machine,” a formulation reflecting the high-frequency publishing habits of social platforms. Doing Things Media acquired Middle Class Fancy in 2018, broadening its portfolio with a brand built around observations and jokes about middle-class American life. It also developed or supported projects connected to Animals Doing Things and Doggos Doing Things. Animals Doing Things became the basis for a Nat Geo Wild television program, while Doggos Doing Things was extended into a book. These projects illustrated DTM’s effort to move from social distribution into conventional media and physical products. The company expanded into creator-led video during the late 2010s and early 2020s. Andrew Callaghan became a full-time creator associated with Doing Things Media in 2019 after Reid Hailey encountered his videos. Callaghan’s All Gas No Brakes gained substantial attention on YouTube in late 2019 and 2020, and DTM entered into a development arrangement with Abso Lutely Productions in 2020 for a television adaptation. The relationship later deteriorated. Callaghan cited contractual and exploitative-business concerns in explaining his departure, while the parties ultimately reached an agreement in 2025 concerning the transfer of the All Gas No Brakes brand to Callaghan’s Channel 5 network as an affiliate project. Another important expansion came through Recess Therapy. Julian Shapiro-Barnum began interviewing children in a project originally called Kids Doing Things. Doing Things Media hired him, relaunched the account as Recess Therapy, and helped develop the format into a prominent short-form interview series. The program’s informal conversations with children resonated widely during the pandemic era. Its Corn Kid video became a major TikTok trend in 2022, and Shapiro-Barnum later received a Family Entertainment Safe Streaming Hero Award from Variety. In 2021, DTM partnered with Robby Berger to create Bob Does Sports, an online golf series featuring Berger with Fat Perez and Joe Demare. The partnership extended beyond programming when the team launched Breezy Golf in 2022, selling golf apparel and accessories. In the same period, Middle Class Fancy collaborated with Guy Fieri’s Flavortown Kitchen on a limited-edition burger. These initiatives showed how DTM connected audience communities to food, apparel, and lifestyle products. Doing Things Media raised a reported $21.5 million Series A round in February 2022. Later that year, it partnered with Paramount+ to promote the third-season premiere of Star Trek: Lower Decks and received the Most Innovative Publisher award at the Digiday Awards. In January 2023, it acquired Overheard, adding a city-oriented social-media property based on overheard conversations. The company has faced scrutiny over its advertising practices, particularly a 2020 sponsored campaign for Mike Bloomberg distributed through twelve meme pages. It has also experienced public criticism connected with the All Gas No Brakes relationship. Despite these disputes, the company’s central model remains the creation and monetization of social-first entertainment brands across advertising, commerce, video, publishing, and licensing.
- 2025
Agreement concerning All Gas No Brakes
[1]Andrew Callaghan and Doing Things Media reportedly reached an agreement for Callaghan to acquire All Gas No Brakes for use as an affiliate of Channel 5.
- 2023
Overheard is acquired
[1]DTM acquired Overheard, a social brand focused on eavesdropped conversations in urban locations.
- 2022
Series A financing and major platform partnerships
[1]DTM raised a reported $21.5 million Series A round, partnered with Paramount+ around Star Trek: Lower Decks, and received the Digiday Award for Most Innovative Publisher.
- 2022
Breezy Golf launches
[1]The Bob Does Sports team and DTM launched Breezy Golf, an apparel and accessories brand.
- 2021
Bob Does Sports is launched
[1]DTM partnered with Robby Berger to create Bob Does Sports, a digital golf-entertainment series.
- 2020
All Gas No Brakes development deal
[1]Doing Things Media signed a development deal with Abso Lutely Productions for a television project based on All Gas No Brakes.
- 2019
All Gas No Brakes joins the DTM creator portfolio
[1]Andrew Callaghan became a full-time creator associated with Doing Things Media, and the company also hired his longtime collaborators Nic Mosher and Evan Gilbert-Katz.
- 2018
Middle Class Fancy is acquired
[1]DTM acquired the Middle Class Fancy brand and incorporated it into its portfolio of social and consumer properties.
- 2017
Doing Things Media is founded
[1]Reid Hailey and Derek Lucas co-founded Doing Things Media as a digital media company built around social-media entertainment and meme communities.
- 2015
DrunkPeopleDoingThings is created
[1]Derek Lucas created the DrunkPeopleDoingThings meme account, which contributed to the audience-building experience preceding the formation of DTM.
Products and positioning
A social-first entertainment and brand incubator that combines meme publishing, short-form video, influencer-led programming, advertising, and consumer products. Its editorial positioning emphasizes highly shareable, accessible, nostalgic, and generally benign humor.
Short-form interview and family entertainment series · 2020
Recess Therapy
Recess Therapy is a social-video series hosted by Julian Shapiro-Barnum, who interviews children about everyday life, culture, and current topics. The project began as Kids Doing Things before DTM hired Shapiro-Barnum and relaunched it under its current name. Its conversational format and child-centered perspective produced highly shareable clips, including the 2022 Corn Kid video, which became a prominent TikTok trend.
Golf entertainment media · 2021
Bob Does Sports
Bob Does Sports is an online golf-entertainment series created through DTM’s partnership with Robby Berger. Berger appears as Bobby Fairways alongside Fat Perez and Joey Cold Cuts. The property combines golf challenges, personalities, travel, and comedy, and serves as the audience platform associated with the Breezy Golf consumer brand.
Golf apparel and accessories · 2022
Breezy Golf
Breezy Golf is a golf apparel and accessories brand launched by Doing Things Media and the Bob Does Sports team. It is co-led by Robby Berger, Nick Stubbe, and Joseph Demare, and extends the Bob Does Sports audience into lifestyle and merchandise products.
Humor and lifestyle media brand
Middle Class Fancy
Middle Class Fancy is a humor brand centered on observations about middle-class habits, aspirations, and consumer culture. DTM acquired the property in 2018 and used it for social publishing, merchandise, and collaborations, including a limited-edition burger partnership with Guy Fieri’s Flavortown Kitchen in 2021.
Animal-humor media brand and television format
Animals Doing Things
Animals Doing Things is a social-media property built around humorous animal content. It was adapted into a Nat Geo Wild television program narrated, executive-produced, and directed by Howie Mandel, demonstrating DTM’s strategy of converting social accounts into television formats.
Social-media humor brand
Overheard
Overheard is a social-media brand that publishes humorous overheard conversations associated with locations including Los Angeles and New York. Doing Things Media acquired the brand in January 2023 as part of its continuing expansion through social-media properties.
Street-interview and documentary comedy series · 2019
All Gas No Brakes
All Gas No Brakes was an Andrew Callaghan-led street-interview and documentary-comedy project that gained traction on YouTube in 2019 and 2020. Doing Things Media supported the project and pursued television development with Abso Lutely Productions. The parties later separated amid disputes, followed by a reported 2025 agreement concerning the brand’s transfer to Callaghan’s Channel 5 network.
Book and social-media property
Doggos Doing Things
Doggos Doing Things is a consumer extension of DTM’s dog-themed social content. The company developed a book under the brand as part of its broader effort to turn social audiences into physical publishing and merchandise products.
Controversies
2020
Sponsored Bloomberg content across meme pages
Doing Things Media faced criticism after sponsored posts for Mike Bloomberg’s presidential campaign appeared on twelve company pages. The episode raised questions about the boundary between ordinary meme content, paid advertising, and political endorsement.
Marketing campaigns
- 2022Star Trek: Lower Decks season-three premiere partnership
United States
Doing Things Media partnered with Paramount+ to promote the season-three premiere of Star Trek: Lower Decks through its social-media publishing network.
- 2021Middle Class Fancy and Guy Fieri’s Flavortown Kitchen collaboration
United States
Middle Class Fancy partnered with Guy Fieri’s Flavortown Kitchen to release a limited-edition burger, connecting a humor brand with a delivery-oriented restaurant concept.
- 2020Mike Bloomberg meme-page campaign
United States
Doing Things Media distributed sponsored political content for Mike Bloomberg’s presidential campaign across twelve of its social-media pages. The creative used meme-account formats rather than conventional political advertising.
Outcome. The campaign generated criticism concerning transparency and the use of meme communities for political promotion. Reid Hailey characterized it as a creative advertising decision rather than an endorsement.
Brand decisions
2025
Reach agreement concerning All Gas No BrakesM&ABackground
The relationship between DTM and creator Andrew Callaghan had deteriorated amid disagreements over contracts and business practices.
Action taken
The parties reportedly reached an agreement for Callaghan to acquire All Gas No Brakes as an affiliate program of his Channel 5 independent news network.
Aftermath
The reported agreement ended DTM’s ownership or control of the property, subject to the terms of the transaction.
2023
Acquire OverheardM&ABackground
DTM continued to expand its portfolio of city- and culture-oriented social properties.
Action taken
The company acquired Overheard in January 2023.
2022
Raise Series A financingStrategyBackground
DTM was expanding its portfolio of social accounts, creator programs, commercial partnerships, and consumer products.
Action taken
The company secured a reported $21.5 million Series A financing round.
Aftermath
The financing supported the company’s growth strategy, although the available reference material does not establish a detailed allocation of proceeds.
Series A financing. $21.5 million raised (February 2022)
2022
Launch Breezy GolfProduct launchBackground
The Bob Does Sports audience created an opportunity to extend golf entertainment into consumer products.
Action taken
DTM and the Bob Does Sports team launched Breezy Golf, a golf apparel and accessories brand.
2021
Launch Bob Does SportsProduct launchBackground
DTM sought to develop creator-led entertainment formats with audiences that could support adjacent products.
Action taken
The company partnered with Robby Berger to create the Bob Does Sports online golf series.
Aftermath
The property later became the foundation for the Breezy Golf apparel and accessories brand.
2020
Expand social properties into television and productsStrategyBackground
DTM’s business model treated social accounts as potential sources for entertainment formats, commerce, subscriptions, books, and branded content.
Action taken
The company developed television, publishing, advertising, and merchandise extensions for properties including Animals Doing Things, Doggos Doing Things, and All Gas No Brakes.
Aftermath
The strategy broadened the company beyond meme publishing but also created more complex relationships with creators and production partners.
2018
Acquire Middle Class FancyM&ABackground
DTM was building a portfolio of social-media brands rather than relying on a single editorial account.
Action taken
The company acquired Middle Class Fancy and incorporated it into its humor and consumer-brand portfolio.
Aftermath
The brand subsequently supported merchandise and a food collaboration with Guy Fieri’s Flavortown Kitchen.
Recent events
Sources4 sources
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