Laugh Lines with Kim & Penn Holderness

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...

If there were ever a masterclass in being a good human… this is it. In this episode, Penn and I sit down with Jen Hamilton and y’all… She is exactly who you hope she is. Warm, hilarious, wildly honest, and the kind of person who makes you want to be better just by being in the same room. We talk about her new book Birth Vibes and cover what really happens in a delivery room. Jen has a gift of maki...

I have a confession: I spent most of the 90s singing along to songs without having any idea what they were actually about. So this week on Laugh Lines, we go down a full nostalgia rabbit hole: CD booklets, radio station shoutouts, and the absolute shock of realizing some of our favorite 90s “bops” were not exactly PG. (How did we miss that?!) We take some calls from the Laugh Line. I share more ab...

This episode of Laugh Lines stayed with me in the best way. This week, Penn and I sit down with Tanner Smith from Love on the Spectrum , and what starts as an interview quickly turns into something so much more meaningful. Tanner shares what it’s like to live on the autism spectrum in a way that’s honest, empowering, and incredibly hopeful. He reminds us that autism looks different for everyone. I...

This week, Penn and I share some real-life updates from our house. I was recently diagnosed with ADHD at 50, which turns out… there were signs. I’m learning what that actually means for my brain, my emotions, and honestly, my entire life up to this point. (Something called “doom piles” should have honestly exposed my ADHD years ago.) Penn also shares an update on his journey to protect his brain h...

There are some conversations that feel like a warm hug. They make you laugh, feel safe, and a little like you want to cry. Today's show is all of the above. This week on Laugh Lines , we sit down with New York Times bestselling author, podcast host, and Duke University professor, Kate Bowler. (And I’m just going to say it... I would like to formally submit my application to be her best friend.) Ka...

My favorite human is turning 50! If you know my wife, Kim, you know she is very self-deprecating and adorable about getting older. Kim thought 50 might feel like a big, Oprah-level moment. (Like angels singing... all-knowing wisdom... maybe a sudden ability to fold a fitted sheet.) Instead, it’s been a mix of gratitude, a little existential panic, and a lot of honest questions like: Is this what 5...

If you’re celebrating the rare night when you don’t have to get up to go to the bathroom… welcome. You are among friends. Sleep is one of my favorite topics. Penn and I often joke that I don't have FOMO (Fear of missing out) I have FOMS (Fear of missing sleep). As much as I love sleep, I also struggle with it. So this week, we invited Dr. Christopher J. Allen (also known as "Sleep Dr. Chris") to h...

Last week I shared that I was diagnosed with ADHD at 49. It was a big moment for me, and judging from your messages (thank you for those!) it resonated with a lot of you too. So this week, Penn and I continuing the conversation with someone we absolutely adore, ADHD expert Dr. Tamara Rosier. In this episode we dig into something that doesn’t get talked about nearly enough... the emotional side of...

For years, I’ve stood on stages and said, “Hi, I’m Kim. I don’t have ADHD, but I love and support people who do.” Penn and I wrote books, made videos, and chatted on podcasts about it. I’ve given advice about how I partner with my ADHD husband and parent my ADHD son. And then (at almost 50 years old) after an extensive evaluation process and a lot of hard conversations, it turns out... I have ADHD...

This week on Laugh Lines, Penn and I sit down with former North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper to talk about bridging divides in a world that feels angrier by the minute. And yes, we know - politics can feel exhausting. But this conversation felt different. It felt human. It felt hopeful. It made us smile. Governor Cooper shares why he believes we are not as divided as social media makes us think, w...

If you’ve ever thought, “I'm showing love to my partner, so why don’t they feel it?” This episode is for you. This week on Laugh Lines, we’re talking to the actual human who gave us the phrase “love language.” Yes. The one, the only... Dr. Gary Chapman. Dr. Chapman is the man behind the famous book, The Five Love Languages . He joins us to talk about what happens when you and your person are speak...

This week on Laugh Lines , Penn and I talk about something that sneaks up on a lot of us in midlife: friendship, purpose, and the quiet fear of wondering if we still matter the way we used to. We’re joined by New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Wallace (straight from Oprah to Laugh Lines!) who explores why feeling seen, needed, and valued isn’t just nice... it’s essential to our well-being....

The world feels heavy and instead of trying to joke our way around that, this episode is about sitting with it. This week, Penn and I talk about how a post we made about hope turned into a political statement, the process behind the scenes, and how we're feeling. We are very lucky to have a fun job, but it doesn't mean it's not challenging in times like these. Sometimes it's hard to make comedy wh...

This week calls for a hug and cookie cake that says “Happy Birthday” (even though it’s nobody’s birthday... more on this in the show.) If you’re feeling worn down, overwhelmed, or just need a break from everything feeling so heavy, this episode is for you. We’re talking about the little things that make us laugh when the world feels like too much. Snow day chaos. January being the longest Monday o...

What do collagen powders, weighted vests, parasite cleanses, and protein bars all have in common? (According to our favorite no-nonsense doctor, probably a lot less science than TikTok would like you to believe.) This week on Laugh Lines, we’re welcoming back the wonderfully persnickety Dr. Eric Topol to help us debunk the health trends that keep popping up in our feeds (and in our shopping carts....