Paternal closes out the year with a collection of the best conversations from 2023, curating five of the best segments from the past year into one collection. On this episode, Paternal guests discuss a variety of topics including the challenges of raising mixed-race kids, how father-son relationships impacted some of the biggest rock acts of the 1990s, how burnout at work can affect your parenting, dealing with grief after the loss of a partner, and how we can hold all the good and bad of life together in the same hands.

Guests on this episode of Paternal include comedian and filmmaker W. Kamau Bell, rock critic and podcast host Rob Harvilla, author and professor Jonathan Malesic, author and professor Matthew Salesses, and New York Times bestselling author and poet Clint Smith. Stay tuned for all new episodes of Paternal in 2024.

Episode Timestamps:

00:00 - 02:01 - Introduction

02:01 - 05:29 - W. Kamau Bell on discussions with his wife about racism and feminism

05:29 - 10:28 - W. Kamau Bell on raising mixed-race kids

11:31 - 19:47 - Rob Harvilla on father/son themes in 90s rock songs

19:47 - 22:34 - Rob Harvilla on discussing hard subjects with his kids

23:29 - 25:33 - Jonathan Malesic on his experience with burnout

25:33 - 34:16 - Jonathan Malesic on the three criteria for burnout and how men deal with burnout differently that women

35:23 - 40:02 - Matthew Salesses on the death of his wife and the connection to K Dramas

40:02 - 44:51 - Matthew Salesses on coping with grief with his kids

46:12 - 52:22 - Clint Smith on becoming a father and the double-sided nature of parenting

52:22 - 57:17 - Clint Smith on what he’s good at what and he struggles with as a father

Read The Transcript For This Episode

Learn more about Paternal and sign up for our newsletter at www.paternalpodcast.com. You can also email host Nick Firchau at [email protected] with any comments or suggestions for men he should profile on the show. Make sure you subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts or wherever you’re listening, then keep an eye on your feed for new episodes.