Heidi Calmus was always invested in her husband’s social media career. But she wasn’t a big part of it until he poked fun at her.
Taylor Calmus is known as Dude Dad, the Fort Collins-based social media star who has created skits much like the kind you see on “Saturday Night Live,” only with more diapers, for a decade. His accounts are legit, with eight million followers between Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. He is, too, with a background in video production and enough material to work as a stand-up comedian and do a live variety show. Heidi was happy to raise their three boys and one daughter (the oldest is now 10) and appear as a guest star in his skits.
The thing was, Taylor loved when Heidi was in his videos. Not only was it fun to see her blossom—even though she never gave herself enough credit because she was just playing herself—but more people watched them. He even had a name for the tens of thousands of views she always seemed to attract: the “Heidi bump.” Heidi, he thought, could be more than a supporting actress.
“I think people see me as an entertainer,” Taylor says. “I play these characters and these clowns. Heidi is just real.”
His hunch was affirmed when he made a video poking fun at some of the things she says and the way she acts. Heidi’s reaction surprised him: She told him she wanted to make a video, by herself, about him as payback. Yes, please, he told her.
Heidi Calmus on stage
Her video exploded, garnering more than 20 million views. It also opened a door for her to become a star in her own right. She now has nearly 200,000 followers on Instagram.
“They like making characters just for me now,” Heidi says of Taylor and his half-dozen employees.
Heidi is now a big part of the Dude Dad brand, with perhaps the best example being “Parents’ Night Out,” a live comedy show for adults only. Taylor does his stand-up, and Heidi tells jokes, sings and plays piano.
She loves it, and yet, if she’s being honest, she sometimes misses her old life.
A heart for nonprofits
Dude Dad exists because of Heidi. Taylor once considered dropping it because he was fried from juggling the account and his part-time jobs constructing theater sets (many of his videos still involve DIY mishaps) and auditioning for acting roles. Making Dude Dad videos took several hours a day, and it barely made enough money to be more than a hobby. Heidi told Taylor that he couldn’t stop, even if it meant they might struggle a bit financially.
Thoughts of Heidi’s belief in him still make him tear up, even though he’s told the story hundreds of times. Not long after they had that talk, Dude Dad started making real money.
Heidi didn’t care about social media herself. She had an Instagram account but never really looked at it. She (unlike Taylor, she says with a laugh) wasn’t looking for attention.
“I would find out what Taylor posted that morning from my friends,” she says.
Her job was about as far from Taylor’s goofy videos as you could get. She was a social worker who helped victims of human trafficking, something she’s still passionate about.
“It’s an interesting time in our country, but none of this is new to me,” she says. “The Epstein Files didn’t shock me. This was going on for a long time.”
Heidi and Taylor Calmus with their children.
She can’t do the job any longer. It’s a dangerous profession with some undercover work, and she’s too famous for that now. It’s not lost on her that supporting her family, and her personal growth in the entertainment industry, meant giving up something she truly loves.
“I would go back,” she says of nonprofit work. “We’re still trying to figure that out.”
Heidi admits she still struggles with acting, even when Taylor disagrees. The reason she is so real, as Taylor puts it, is because she’s too real.
“It feels weird to me,” she says.
But she does enjoy speaking engagements, which allow her to use her new skills while still being herself.
“The [talk] I did first was on the importance of community,” Heidi says. “I love what Taylor is doing, and as we continue to go forward, I want us to think about how we can have a bigger impact.”
Public speaking probably isn’t something she could’ve done without the confidence she gained from being in Dude Dad videos, she says. She also appreciates the opportunities it’s given her.
Social work is hard, emotional work. One of her goals is to find ways to support others in the work she once did.
“I want to bring a voice to some of those issues,” she says. “I want to walk alongside other people.”
