Laugh Lines with Kim & Penn Holderness

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 on the podcast, we talked to Dr. Danielle Owens, a physical therapist and CAPP-Pelvic certified specialist. While pelvic health i...

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.

We are honored to have Dr. Richard Isaacson join us ...

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. 

To end the show, we discuss if we are too ...

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!

This week we go along on Penn's journey into trying stand-up...

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.

Recommendation...

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...

For some, getting older can be hard, but we believe it needs a rebrand. We're not anti-aging... we're pro-aging! This week, our producer Ann Marie Taepke joins the podcast to lead us in a March Madness-style bracket to determine the best thing about getting older. We start with a sweet 16 and whittle it down to one champion with lots of laughs along the way. Stick around to hear the Top 5 things Gen X will have in their retirement ...

Colon cancer runs in my family. Between that and having ulcerative colitis (that is now in remission) I get a colonoscopy every couple years. By 2030, colon cancer is predicted to be the top cancer death for people younger than 50. That's why it's important to get your cancer screenings when they are recommended. And this year, it is Penn's turn to get his check-up. (That's right, we're talking all about butt stuff.)

We take yo...

When we wrote our book, ADHD Is Awesome, we got to meet a lot of you on tour. Many of you felt seen for the first time and many of you had no idea you had ADHD until you read it and got diagnosed. The majority of you were women. If we had one regret in writing our book, it was that we did not include more about how different ADHD presents in girls and women. But a big reason for that, is that it doesn't exist.

There is very lit...

This week, we peek behind the curtain about some new starts and life updates... we talk about changes to our podcast (please weigh in about the name!) as well as speaking engagements, streaming shows, and writing a children's book. It was super special to reflect on our favorite children's books in our Top 5 this week as well as Lola's. Knowing that she is going off to college later this year has made us both very emotional. If you...

Our podcast is a place to laugh, but it's also a safe space to get curious and learn. The rollback of DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) initiatives have been a hot button issue in our nation. We wanted to dive into understanding DEI and the issues surrounding it, so we invited award-winning entrepreneur and inclusion expert, Donald Thompson, on today's show. Donald is a friend of ours with an extraordinary career creating and ...

We're back! We had so much fun last week answering your questions that we decided to make a Part 2. (Welcome to the sequel!) This week, we tackle communication tips, teens growing up, cryptocurrency, and we end the show with our Top 5 worst sequels of all time. Did we miss your question? Send it to us for a future episode and if you missed Part 1 check it out here.

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We love to hear from our listeners, so this week we decided to try something new... we give very unqualified advice to all your questions! We give advice about college, making friends, negative comments, and a very controversial question from "Scooter." (Are you team frontsies or backsies?)

Also, we give a life update about a recent trip to Charleston, South Carolina (and a fantasy Kim got to recently live out) as well as the T...