Brody Wellmaker
Self-described as the “CEO of duets,” we couldn’t agree more about Brody Welmmaker. You’ve almost certainly seen one of Wellmaker’s infamous duets on your for you page, regardless of what “side” of TikTok you may be on. Known best for his duets in which he “completes” it physically (ie: posing as someone’s upper body when they post a video of their legs while tap dancing), Wellmaker has been posting on the app since late March. Since his first video, one that simply says “Like for more weird TikToks,” his fans have followed through. Wellmaker currently boasts 1.6 million followers, a blue check mark, and over 46.2 million likes. Wellmaker is also an aspiring actor, and shows off his chops in acting duets, another staple of his account. When he’s not duetting, you can watch him goofing off and having fun for the world to see. We recently spoke with Brody Wellmaker about what he considers to be his biggest career catalyst, how he spends his free time, and more!
Tell us a little but about yourself.
I'm a 29-year-old waiter/bartender at Texas Roadhouse. I feel like it's a common misunderstanding that TikToker's with large followings make a substantial sum of money - which isn't the case. So I'm just an average young(ish) adult working for a living and making videos on TikTok. I enjoy gaming, exercise and spending time with my fiancé and all of our fur babies. I come from a big family and enjoy spending time with all my brothers, sister, mom and dad! I've got a background in acting - I studied theatre in college at UNG & Brenau University. I had an agent a couple years ago in Atlanta and booked a role on Vampire Diaries, Containment, House of Cards and some shows on Investigate Discovery (those cringey crime reenactment shows). I've been out of the acting game for some time now since my agent sold his agency, but I'm definitely looking to get back into that and see if I can eventually achieve my ultimate goal of being an A-list actor.
Did you have any specific ideas or plans when joining TikTok?
Not really. I joined because I was bored in the house and in the house bored. Georgia went on lockdown in March and the restaurant I work for closed down their dining room for 2 months. Normally I would game with all the extra time, but I didn't have "the bug" with any games at the time. So I was looking for ways to help the time go by and also exercise my creative muscles. At the start (and this is still the case) I just really really enjoyed lip syncing to some of my favorite comedies and reenacting scenes from movies.
What was the first duet you made?
Oh geez. I think the first time I started doing duets was with a creator named Malikbaker77 - I just enjoyed his vibe and saw he was doing scenes from Step Brothers and I had to jump in on it!
What has been your biggest career catalyst?
Definitely the grocery store clerk duet. It was shortly after TikTok introduced the LAYOUT option on certain regions & devices. I had posted 10-5 of my usual lip sync videos and I had to leave to pick up my father-in-law from the airport. I came across this grocery store clerk who was just filming herself scanning groceries, and the idea just came to me to adjust the duet so I'd put my head on top of hers. It turned out to be a massive hit around the world so I figured I'd keep doing these "shared body" duets.
What TikToks do you enjoy making the most?
It's between lip syncs and putting a different character in movie scenes. Recently I started to put a different character in Harry Potter scenes and I started with a "series" called Notes from Draco. Basically I take a couple of shots of Draco from the Prisoner of Azkaban and pretend to be in class with him. He sends a note over my way (this is all footage from the original movie) and the notes always say something different. I'm hoping to become a variety TikTok creator, and not just have one single niche. Because it does start to get old, not just for you, but for the people who follow from maybe a lip sync video, or a face zoom video, who aren't particular fans of the shared bodied duets. So I feel like it's important to change things up.
What TikToker would you most want to collab with?
There's an 80's themed creator named toborowitz (Tobi) who makes the funniest videos. I could watch his humor all day, and I would totally be down to collab w/ him at some point.
What do you like to do in your free time?
Working. I wish I could monetize my content better on TikTok, but they don't really make that easy. You get gifted cash when you go live, but TikTok takes a MASSIVE cut from donations, that it almost dissuades me from wanting to go live. It feels like I'm part of some scam with TikTok when people send that stuff over live streams. With that said, I'm an adult with a mortgage to pay, bills, food, gas, etc. So while I dish a lot of time to try and grow my following, a huge chunk of it is just me constantly working.
Coolest experience with a TikToker?
When I was around 300,000 followers, HotPeppers duetted one of my Spongebob scenes. That was a really cool moment because I constantly looked up to him and the content he makes. Other than that, there haven't really been any experiences I've had with other TikTokers.
What's next for your career?
Just continuing to do my thing on TikTok until it sort of fades away which I think is inevitable. I'm hoping to just reach out to more people and make them laugh, create some friendships and connections, and see if I can tap my way back into the television and film industry.
