By Jack Wannan
It’s not unusual for the loud, sometimes startling noise of Michael Dimucc’s iPhone timer to ring numerous times during the day. Set up to go off at different, specific times throughout the afternoon, each ring has a purpose. He admits that sometimes they play to tell him to pick up his laundry, but most times they’re a reminder that he has content to post to his many platforms.
One Thursday at noon, an alarm went off. Then minutes later, another. “Oh, there’s the other one,” he said with a chuckle, as the alarm abruptly cut off his sentence. On that specific day, the notices were to remind him about the final part of the creation process of “If Gamers Were Honest,” a skit he published on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. Within days it would amass over 300,000 views between the platforms—a semi-viral hit by some standards. It was just one of the many clips that have kept his brand constantly growing online.
Using the name “Dimucc” online, the former Ryerson media production student has gained a following of millions, opening up a content creation career path that could potentially become a full-time gig down the line.
Dimucc is out of the program for at least a year so he can focus on his blooming online career—but he hopes his growth as an online entertainer means he won’t ever have to return. “I just know in a year’s time I’m not going to need school. I’ve kind of just been manifesting that for a while now,” he said.
Dimucc’s online success is currently spread across many platforms, but it all started on TikTok. Like many creators on the platform, he found his niche early and stuck to it. For him, it was Call of Duty—a game that he had played as a kid and was especially obsessed with at the start of the pandemic. His videos have evolved over time, going from simply showcasing the game to making comedy skits that aren’t even showing the game, but instead referring to it.
His first viral video, the reveal of a camouflage skin that was attained at a high level in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, received a lot of attention. The clip raked in millions of views and gave him a strong five-figure fan base of followers that he could continuously engage with his content.
“I was like ‘Holy shit, I can actually take this somewhere now,’” he said.
His content self-admittedly lagged in quality for a bit, while he focused on quantity over quality to help satisfy the fan base he’d just gained.
“I had that first viral video and then I was just posting ‘meh’ videos for the sake of posting because I needed to get views,” said Dimucc.
Then, he found a style that actually worked for him. Instead of making gameplay-focused Call of Duty videos, he took inspiration from film critics at Screen Rant and focused on skits.
This new form of entertainment spawned many ideas and some returning gimmicks. One of the most popular among them is “CoD Court,” where disputes from the Call of Duty game are taken into a spoof courtroom.
Dimucc said it’s been hard for him to stay enthusiastic at every moment. After all, creating content is still work. He admitted that while he frequently makes Call of Duty content, he actually hasn’t played the game in two months, hoping to branch out from the game into other genres of entertainment as time goes on.
Dimucc said the rush of having a video go viral has also worn off over time as the bar has been set higher.
“I’m kind of numb to it at this point…I used to get excited over a million views, now I’m like ‘alright, this video did good. But what can I do for the next one?’” he said.
The success of Dimucc’s social media pages made him put his academic career on pause. Realizing that he couldn’t fully manage making videos and taking media production courses, he decided to focus fully on the former this year.
It wasn’t an easy move to make, especially with two parents to convince.
“I was a little more scared to tell my Dad that because he’s kind of paying for [my tuition],” he said. “That’s the problem, when your parents are paying for everything you don’t really have the room to deny them what they want.”
He eventually struck a deal with his parents in the most formal way possible—with ink and paper. He signed a contract with them, allowing him to take a year off with the option of more time if his content can reach certain levels of success.
Growth for Dimucc certainly isn’t slowing down. He said he’s being approached by content creator managers and has seen good reception to uploading content on other platforms besides TikTok. His YouTube page, where he’s been frequently uploading videos for the past five months, has over 240,000 subscribers and over 115 million combined views.
Dimucc hasn’t signed a deal with any managers yet. He questioned how much they could do, but also highlighted that they could help him monetize his content more—which is a high priority as he hopes to gain enough income to make a full-time living off what he does.
For now, the only contract that has Dimucc’s name on it is the one he made with his parents.
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