Laugh Lines with Kim & Penn Holderness

Remember when we got terrible perms, passed notes in class, and had to survive our awkward teenage years without beauty filters? (I swear kids these days don't have awkward phases and it shows.) This week on the podcast, Penn and I talk about why our kids are craving our culture and we kick off a series we are calling "Gen X Check In" with someone who defined our childhoods. Our firs...

After 11 days across the country powered by gummy bears, Penn and I are back from our "Get It Done & Have Fun" book tour. (Don't worry Nashville, we will see you soon!) We had every intention of recording a normal podcast, but after so many days on the road we thought we'd take to the bed and bring you along for the shenanigans. We have so many stories to share, including Pen...

Friends, this podcast has been months in the making. For years, Penn has come home from entire weekends with his guy friends with zero new information about their lives. His buddy's wife could be expecting a baby and Penn had no idea. ("Bryce's wife is pregnant?!") I have been concerned, but after our conversation with Richard Reeves, I’m realizing maybe I’ve been looking at male...

Yay! Our new children’s book Get It Done & Have Fun! ADHD Hacks for Awesome Kids is out TODAY! This week to celebrate, Penn and I are sharing our favorite ways to trick ADHD brains into doing things they absolutely do not want to do. (And share your hilarious tips!) Telling people with ADHD to “just try harder” doesn’t work. Sometimes you need to create fake urgency, turn your to-do list into...

Have you ever loved doing something and then forgot why you loved it in the first place? Same. This week, we’re talking with the incredibly thoughtful (and incredibly delightful) John Green about why we all need creativity in our lives and how to find our way back to the things that bring us joy. John is a #1 New York Times bestselling author who is returning to fiction for the first time in nine...

Friends, the Clay Aiken came to our attic! This week on Laugh Lines, Penn and I had SO much fun sitting down with multi-platinum singer, Clay Aiken, to talk about behind-the-scenes American Idol stories, what it means to show up as your true self, and what's next! We discuss auditioning with 80s theme songs, ADHD, Southern accents, flip phones, and what Clay is like when no one is watching. We als...

Technology is such a huge part of our kids’ lives, especially at school, that we don’t always stop to ask: Is all of it actually helping them learn? This week, neuroscientist and educator Jared Cooney Horvath gave us a lot to think about. (And considering I haven’t been able to help with our kids’ math homework since elementary school, I definitely had some questions.) Jared joins us to explain wh...

My mom passed away last week after a very long battle with Alzheimer’s and dementia. If you’ve ever loved someone through this disease, you probably understand how complicated that grief can be. There is sadness and loss, but there can also be relief (and guilt for feeling that relief.) I’ve been around Alzheimer’s for almost 40 years, and I’m still learning that all of those feelings can exist at...

Even when everything is going right, parenting a neurodivergent kid can be emotional. (And yes, I cry this episode... twice.) This week, Penn and I are joined by our friend, child psychologist, and author Dr. Emily King, to help teach us what our neurodivergent kids need to learn and be successful. We talk about why “just try harder” doesn’t work, how to know when to push your kid, why girls can f...

Recently, Penn and I asked you to tell us about your weirdest summer jobs. From working in customer service for the WOW Chips debacle to a stripping gorilla, you really showed up for this episode! Your calls and messages had us laughing, cringing, and repeatedly asking one very important question: Where were the child labor laws?! (I guess it was the 90s…) Every weird job teaches you a lesson alon...

Recently, a dear friend asked me: "Do you and your husband actually get along all the time? Tell me the truth." So this week on Laugh Lines, we are pulling back the curtain on what it’s actually like to be married, raise kids, AND work together every single day. We talk about the things we’ll probably never agree on, why I have decision fatigue, and how sometimes it’s okay to go to bed angry. We a...

Have you ever replayed a conversation in your head for three days because someone might have been upset with you? Friend... same. This week on Laugh Lines, Penn and I sit down with psychiatrist and ADHD expert Dr. Sasha Hamdani to talk about something that completely changed the way we understand ourselves: Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria (RSD). If you've ever been called "too sensitive," taken crit...

Penn and I have joked about gentle parenting on this podcast more than once. As Gen X parents, it always sounded a little... soft. So when parenting coach Jon Fogel joined us, we figured we'd have a lively debate. Instead, about halfway through the conversation, we looked at each other and thought, "Wait... have we been gentle parenting this whole time?" Also, what is gentle parenting? (Apologies...

This week on Laugh Lines, Penn and I not only strip down due to our A/C being out... AGAIN! We also tackle two things I never expected to happen in the same podcast: Becoming an (almost) empty nester and hunting down an estrogen patch like it was contraband due to a recent shortage. We discuss my hormones going on strike, and a voicemail from a mom preparing to send her child to college inspired u...

What do Blockbuster cards, Duke basketball, and a lifelong dream of writing a novel have in common? Somehow they all end up in this episode! This week, Penn and I are joined by #1 New York Times bestselling author Emily Giffin, whose books have defined the modern "beach read" for millions of readers. (And I love a beach read, y'all.) Her latest book, Love You More , just came out this month. Emily...

Last year, I was the mom crying in the Target parking lot while buying dorm room supplies. This year? Our daughter Lola is back home after her freshman year of college, and apparently... she knows things. So we handed her the microphone. In this episode of Laugh Lines, Lola shares everything she wishes she'd known before moving into her dorm - from making friends in those first overwhelming weeks...

This week on Laugh Lines, Penn and I cover a lot of ground... from career advice for creative dreamers to one of the greatest unsolved mysteries of our childhood: Whatever happened to the prize inside of box of Cracker Jacks? We discuss the World Cup reactions, answer your questions about public speaking and irrational fears, and explain why I identify as an iPhone with a very questionable battery...

This week on Laugh Lines, I learned two things about myself: I'm deeply triggered by people yelling at graduation ceremonies and I'm officially old enough to be attacked by Love Island. I also learned that I seriously dislike the phrase "that's the way it is" and feel it needs to be banned immediately. Penn and I cover a lot of important topics from our couch this week, including: Our week without...

This week on Laugh Lines, we're making a strong case that the Running Man may be more powerful than we ever realized. After reading a fascinating study on dancing and brain health, I convinced Penn to join me for one of my dance classes to see if shaking it off could help keep cognitive decline at bay. What followed was a reminder that Gen X may have one competitive advantage over younger generati...

Ever found yourself stuck in the paralysis of too many choices? This week, we're joined by Shawn Johnson East and Andrew East to talk about their new book, Courage to Commit. Yes, Shawn is an Olympic gold medalist. Yes, Andrew played in the NFL. And while they are both super talented and successful, their lives have taken commitment and work. We live in a world that constantly tells us to keep our...

When a visit to a memory care facility turns into a brainstorming session for the ultimate Gen X Retirement Home "in the year of our lord Dolly Parton 2026"... This week on Laugh Lines, Penn and I reflect on a visit with his mom and find ourselves imagining a future filled with Oregon Trail reenactments, Running Man lessons, prank calls, and Pantera during music hour. We talk about the surprising...

This week, Penn and I are back from vacation and sharing our biggest realizations… including why people who travel with carry-on luggage only might actually be in a cult (but after losing our luggage twice in one trip, we are joining it!) We take official carry-on vows, talk about why you should never have a massage if you think you might crap your pants, and we time travel with music from scrubbi...

This week on Laugh Lines, we invited two of the funniest dads on the internet to join us. We interview Dave Ogleton ( @fitdadceo ) - the viral King of Dad Jokes and author of So Dad It’s Good . And we also talk to Chip Leighton (@ the_leighton_show ) - the viral creator behind those hilariously confusing teen text exchanges and author of Dad, Can You Not? Dave and Chip help us answer life’s bigges...

If your family calendar currently looks like a game of Tetris designed by a sleep-deprived raccoon… welcome to Maycember. It's called Maycember because it's busy like December without any of the fun twinkle lights. But here’s a little secret: Penn and I are almost out of Maycember… and it’s kind of amazing. We talk about what it’s like to finally reach the other side of the chaos and why, for thos...

If you’ve been following along, you know Penn recently found out he has two copies of the APOE4 gene - basically the “high risk” genetic lottery for Alzheimer’s. And while we thought we were prepared for that news… we weren’t. It hit hard. For both of us. But this episode is not about fear. It’s about hope. This week we are sitting down (again!) with Dr. Richard Isaacson (the brain behind Penn’s p...