Laugh Lines with Kim & Penn Holderness

This week on Laugh Lines, we let a very special guest take the mic. Our 15-year-old son, PC Holderness! (And y’all… he did not disappoint.) PC came ready to host games and answer questions from parents on the Laugh Line, all with his signature optimism and cowboy hat… obviously. From prank calls and dial-up internet to egg babies and snap streaks, we put our generations head-to-head to find out who had it harder, “Gen X or Gen Z?”

I love aging and also… I get botox. I love my laugh lines (obviously, we named our podcast after them) but I also want to age gracefully. I want to feel like the best version of myself as I get older and sometimes… that means I get a little help from someone with a laser and a medical degree. In this episode of Laugh Lines, we’re pulling back the curtain on cosmetic procedures with my very own dermatologist (and not a paid spokespe...

Need a good laugh? We got you. This week, we’re talking about the delightfully weird and wonderful things that are making us laugh right now—including squirrels, fart walks, and not caring anymore. (Shout out to Melani Sanders, the internet legend behind the We Do Not Care Club.) We chat with the hilarious Mairlyn Smith, who’s gone viral for pioneering the “fart walk” - a post-dinner stroll that’s good for your gut, your marriage, ...

We got an email recently looking for advice on how to navigate being married to someone with ADHD when you’re experiencing perimenopause. (It was actually hilariously titled “Perimenopause and ADHD Walk Into A Bar…” so stay tuned for a future video on that.) This week on Laugh Lines, we’re diving into the chaotic Venn diagram that is living with ADHD and perimenopause — including a full game show with our producer, Sam Allen. Spoil...

If your kid is about to launch into the real world and you are holding it together with to-do lists and spreadsheets, this episode is for you. This week on Laugh Lines, Penn and I are joined by the always brilliant, always soothing, New York Times Bestselling author, Dr. Lisa Damour. She breaks down what it means to be ready to leave the nest, including must-have life skills, how parents can shift from a do-er to cheer-er (that’s a...

You know those random, slightly unhinged opinions you have that make zero sense to other people, but you will defend them no matter what? This week on Laugh Lines, Penn and I planting our flags on the silliest and most passionately defended opinions — also known as “the hill you’ll die on.” Mine? People who back into parking spaces in busy lots are selfish. (Yes, I said what I said.) We also hit the Laugh Line to hear all your

There’s this phrase Penn and I say a lot when we’re overwhelmed making goofy internet videos—“It’s okay, we’re not saving lives.” But this week, we talk to a man who actually is saving lives and he needs us to help spread the word. Dr. David Fajgenbaum is the founder of Every Cure, a nonprofit that’s on a mission to do something that sounds impossible—use already-approved drugs to treat diseases they weren’t originally made for. Di...

Penn and I have a daughter who is graduating high school and going to college in the fall. And I am doing totally fine, except the… chest pains… eye twitches… hair loss… (this is totally normal, right?) I process my emotions through preparation. I plot everything on the calendar and make all the Google Docs. Penn needs to process his emotions through, well… actually feeling them. He knows there’s a shift in our family dynamic comin...

This week on Laugh Lines, Penn and I take a trip down memory lane with the most unhinged things Gen X did in the 90s. (Seriously… how are we even alive?) If you’ve ever gotten a late fee at Blockbuster or ridden in the back of a pickup truck without a seatbelt, this episode is for you. Welcome home. We heard from so many listeners who shared amazing stories: homecoming games with a live tiger from the zoo, going on cross-state road...

If you’ve been here a while, you know your friend Kim walks with anxiety on a daily basis. I often have thought “if I could sleep through the night, eat enough protein, and manage my anxiety and emotions, I’d be unstoppable.” And that’s because anxiety has often stopped me — from resting, from focusing, from showing up the way I want to. My brand of anxiety can be debilitating at times. So how can you begin to manage anxiety and em...

I have always endorsed my experience with pelvic floor therapy after having kids. It was life-changing, and insurance covered it. (Score.) But what if I told you that pelvic floor therapy wasn’t just for women who have had babies? What if I told you pelvic floor therapy could be for men too?

This week, Kim and I have a vulnerable discussion about my risk of Alzheimer’s Disease. Three of my four grandparents, my late father, and my mother have all struggled with Alzheimer’s and dementia. As I have grown older, the fear of developing it has always been in the back of my mind. But I have something all of my family didn’t - new information on how to TRY to prevent it.

As we age, items have shifted during flight. We're gaining weight in weird places, and Penn is convinced he has bread back. (More on that in the podcast.) But what if everything you thought you knew about metabolism was actually wrong? We sat down with Dr. Herman Pontzer, Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology and Global Health at Duke University, to ask the age-old question: Can you actually boost your metabolism? The answer may s...

Welcome to Laugh Lines! We are so excited to launch this new chapter of our podcast and have you along for the ride. This week, Penn and I break down our best advice for staying married for 20 years (we’re too young to be celebrating such a milestone, right?) We also take our first calls from the Laugh Line to hear your input, including some very interesting advice from Kim’s Mom. 

For the last 7 years, The Holderness Family Podcast has been our most favorite thing we do. We love getting to talk to experts, having meaningful conversations between the two of us, and being a place where you can laugh. A lot has changed since we started the show, and we feel lucky that our audience is growing older with us. So in the spirit of that, we are re-launching our podcast. We are so excited to introduce you to Laug...

A year ago, our friend Charlie Berens asked Penn if he would open for him on his national stand-up tour. It was for a show in Durham, and Penn couldn't at the time. (I could tell he was almost relieved!) But when Charlie came back to NC this year and asked again, Penn said yes. To be clear, Penn has never tried stand-up comedy. And to my surprise, he was very nervous!

I am so glad we're getting to a place where we don’t need to whisper the word "menopause" anymore. As you know, Penn and I have talked openly about my perimenopause journey. This week we have journalist and author (and our friend) Tamsen Fadal on the podcast to talk about her instant New York Times Bestselling book, How To Menopause. Tamsen talks about her story as well as advice from experts on how to reclaim your life during the ...

I’m at the point in my life when there is probably more behind me than in front of me. While my default setting seems to put me in a place of depression or anxiety - I’m bizarrely excited about whatever life I have ahead of me. So on this last year before I stand on the doorstep of my 50th birthday - I have a plan. I want to show up to 50 stronger, kinder, and with more joy. Listen on to hear about my 5 big goals.

I've always been fascinated by how birth order shapes family dynamics, especially as we navigate this season of parenting. Penn and I are very aware that we don’t have many more years “on the record” with our kids. Have we done enough to help them become their best selves? This week, we’re chatting with Susan Dominus, an award-winning writer for The New York Times and a journalism professor at Yale. Her new book, The Family Dynamic...