How Dude Dad’s Dreams Came True

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Photo via Dude Dad - Facebook

Taylor Calumus AKA Dude Dad

Taylor Calumus AKA Dude Dad

Taylor Calmus didn’t think his dream of making a living in entertainment was going to be fulfilled. And then Dude Dad happened. 

That alliterative name is the one by which he is known to over four million Facebook followers as he comedically chronicles his life as a parent, husband and source of amusement as one among the current breed of internet-based personalities who have been able to parlay online followings to full-time incomes. For Dude Dad, that includes going back to one of his showbiz roots as a stand-up comic. 

Calmus brings the Dude Dad Live experience to Turner Hall Ballroom on Thursday Feb. 1 for an 8 p.m. show.  

“I have always been interested in entertainment,” Calmus shares as a preface to the backstory that led to his current notoriety. “I got a degree in theater from the University of Sioux Falls, and then moved out to Los Angeles to pursue acting. While there, I booked a number of commercials and TV shows, including ‘The Middle’ and ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live.’ 

“Then when my wife, Heidi, got pregnant, I started to feel the walls closing in on that dream. Even though I had had some success, I knew it ultimately wasn’t stable enough to support a family,” he recalls. But Calmus adapted to his new phase of life. “I decided to start the Dude Dad channel as a way to stay artistically engaged during fatherhood. So, even if we had to leave Hollywood, I would always have an outlet to create. It was just a hobby.” What was once a pastime, however, now provides for not only the Calmuses and their kids, but a couple of close family friends who frequently appear in Dude Dad videos, DJ and Berk.  

Family Antics

And though Calmus’ presence on multiple social media accounts may be branded by his backwards baseball cap and mugging at the cameras recording his and his family’s antics, Dude Dad isn’t really a put-on. “Honestly, I’ve never thought of Dude Dad as a character,” Calmus confides. “That's just me. Sometimes the situations are fabricated, but, for the most part, that’s just me. Most of what I write is based off of true events. Which is sometimes strange but mostly it's therapeutic for Heidi and I. It forces us to be really open. There’s no secrets.” That candor extends as far as the toilet, as the Calmuses have an exchange while Taylor uses the commode in the introductory skit adorning Dude Dad’s YouTube home page.  

Calmus will, however, be upright for his Turner Hall Ballroom appearance. “The show is mostly stand-up, with a lot of visual references, and a few games that we play with the audience. It’s definitely not all full-on traditional stand-up. I love good stand-up, but I also love theatre, and spectacle.” He shares an appreciation for the theatrical and taking a humorous persona to multi-media vistas with one of Wisconsin’s favorite funny guys and friend to the Calmuses, Charlie Berens. 

“Charlie and I kind of came up at the same time in the video world,” Calmus recollects of the pal for whom he has been an opening act. “We were both just starting to have success. and our mutual friend. Myles the You Betcha Guy, introduced us. We both were living in L.A. at the time and just met up for breakfast and started making content. It’s been fantastic to have Charlie as a friend because there’s just not a lot of people that do what we do, so it’s awesome to have someone to navigate it with."

Whereas much of the humor that built Berens’ reputation is based on life in the Badger State, Calmus draws some inspiration from his current home in Colorado. “We’ve had a lot of fun poking fun at the Colorado lifestyle and all things Subaru,” Calmus says of his adopted environs. In person, however, “The live show is more parent and marital humor. I love Colorado, but I’m originally from the Midwest, and you can take the boy out of the Midwest, but you can’t take the Midwest out of the boy. I’m still fueled by tater tot hot dish.”

And if Dude Dad's success seems to be almost overwhelming, Calmus remains grateful and grounded in wanting to help others with his shtick.

“It’s all happened so fast and we have been blessed with so many amazing opportunities. These live shows, our TV show, ‘Super Dad,’ on Discovery+. I not sure what’s next. We just want to keep doing our thing with the intention of making the world a better place. And I know that sounds cliché, but I mean it. Comedy is something that heals, and brings people together, and that's what we’re about.”

Here Dude Dad and Heidi have fun with, and at the expense of, the condition whereby they found their following: pregnancy...