How on earth are you going to entertain them?
Encourage them throughout the different stages of their growth?
For Calmus, he turned to construction, and by doing so, he embarked on an amazing adventure.
Calmus started his “Dude Dad” platform just two weeks before his first child was born.
Intent on creating fun and exciting projects for his child, Calmus ventured into the unknown.
Here’s everything you better know about the breakout Magnolia star.
And I did that because basically I was just like you.
I was just a fan and loved what they were doing.
And I was like, “Oh, cool.
This could be an opportunity …
It would be really fun to work with them.”
So I created this elaborate video challenge.
And it was this whole thing.
This could be something.
And he was like, “Did anybody tell you yet?”
I’m like, “What’s that, Chip?”
He’s like, “I’m going to make you famous.
I’m going to put you on TV.”
And I was like, “Okay, all right.
That’s happening.”
And now two and a half years later, here we are.
It’s been a long time coming.
So what’s this more recent time been like for you?
Okay, now we’re finally going to shoot the show.
Okay, now it’s going to launch.
Oh, wait, it’s not going to launch yet.
It’s going to launch later.
Okay, one episode launched.
Okay, cool."
So there’s all these little wins.
No one really knows it exists.
It’s about building memories.
It’s about creating things that help bring dads together with their kids.
And it’s about dads talking to other dads about what it means to be a father in 2021.
Was there one that really stood out to you in that sense?
There was a couple different builds.
I think it was the first time I made a Rube Goldberg machine and it went super viral.
It was the biggest video I’d ever had at that point.
So then it was like, “Oh, I think that’s a part of my brand.”
What’s your brand?"
And early on, you don’t know.
You’re just making it up.
You’re like, “I don’t know.
I’m like Michael Cera and Joseph Gordon-Levitt mashed together.”
And then once that started to happen, it was like, “Okay, this is my path.
Okay, cool.”
Everything started to make more sense.
And you’re like, “That’s a house now.
It’s going to be a house.”
I’ve seen the floating picnic table, I’ve seen the leaf blower theme park ride.
I’d love to know about how you approach some of these kind of crazy and out-of-the-box ideas.
… has come to you with some of these ideas of like, “Let’s do this.
I want to see you make a run at build this.
I don’t want to tell my kids how to live life.
I want to show them.
That it’s not like, “Oh, it’s broke.
Let’s go to Target and get a new one.”
So anytime something breaks, he’s like, “Dad, fix it.”
And I’ll be like, “Buddy, it’s broken.
It was a $20 toy.
It’s broken.”
And he’ll press me on it and take the shell off.
And then I’m like, “Oh, that wire just came loose.
Oh, I can fix it.”
And he’ll think that …
But then it further pushes that narrative in his head that he can fix anything.
And I was like, “No, no, uh-uh.”
If you don’t mind, I’ll talk about my wife for a while.
I was going to ask.
It was pretty available.
But anyway, I was doing that.
She was working non-profit, making hardly any money.
So I lost my job, we had to move.
Heidi changed her job.
We had a 1-year-old and then we found out we were pregnant.
Yeah, it was all hitting the fan.
And that’s when I started working set construction with a friend from church to make more money.
So I was working set construction like 10 hours a day, a couple days a week.
I was trying to audition whenever I can.
I don’t have the capacity.”
And at that time, we didn’t make any money off of Dude Dads.
You’re going to keep doing that."
I’m sure she probably saw that it was something that was really meaningful to you.
Well, she saw it was meaningful to me.
At that point, we only had like 2,000 followers.
But it was just the feedback we were getting and stuff.
She had the foresight and she knew that it was important.
But if she hadn’t done that, I probably wouldn’t be talking to you today.
I’d be working construction somewhere or something.
I don’t know.
How does Taylor Calmus approach his creative constructions?
It’s not about all those mundane adult things.
It’s like, “What would be the most fun?”
The creativity is endless.
It’s like, “How do we make this the most fun?”
It’s such a freeing experience as well.
I don’t want to keep you for too long.
So we have a really small, tight crew who are all amazing people.
We got an amazing show runner, and just everyone was willing to do what it takes.
And then you deal with rain three out of five days and it’s crazy.
It’s not realistic.
It would take way too long.
And the other thing is I really make a run at keep true to it too.
So I make a run at keep that as authentic as possible.
And you’ll see it in every single episode.
I’m drenched in sweat almost the entire episode.
It’s not 50/50.
But also just showing how much fun fatherhood can be.
Basically, we’re going to make fatherhood cool again.
It’s like, “Oh wow.”
I had a video recently where I talked about that when we found out we were having a third.
My initial response was terror because I was like, “I’m so busy.
I don’t know how we’re going to manage another one.”
They would’ve been, whatever, 2 and 4, whatever.
Either way, it’s a lot.
Were they ever that small?
It’s as big as his head.
So what’s up next?
Is there going to be a Season 2?
Are you going to do more Magnolia content?
What’s next for you?
I don’t think I can say anything yet.
Magnolia web connection’s slate of original programming launched July 15 on discovery+ and inside the Magnolia app.
