Laughs after Loss

Jonathan Mark — celebrity psychic medium and consultant on major missing persons and cold cases, including the Gabby Petito case and the Long Island serial killer investigation — sits down with Robin and Emma for a reading none of them expected: he connects with Mark within seconds of sitting down, before even knowing his name. From there, the conversation covers how Jonathan discovered his gift as a four-year-old, the ethics of working with grieving families, and why he tells people not to see mediums the moment tragedy strikes.

Plus: the story of the toupee reading that went hilariously wrong, the man who kept his late partner's teeth in his pocket during a reading, why more skeptical men (especially first responders and veterans) are seeking him out post-COVID, and Robin's closing Word of Wisdom on keeping an open mind.

→ Follow Jonathan Mark @JonathanMarkMedium

This week we sit down with Jodie Sweetin — best known as Stephanie Tanner from Full House and Fuller House, memoirist, and standup comedian — for a conversation that goes well beyond the sitcom. Jodie opens up about the grief she didn't recognize for decades: losing the show (and the only life she knew) at 13, years of addiction and self-destruction, and surviving an abusive relationship and stalking in the years after her memoir came out.

Plus: revisiting her 2009 memoir 15 years later, the "funeral file" tradition she keeps with her Full House castmates, what she learned from Bob Saget and Dave Coulier about using dark humor to survive real loss, and why cemetery picnics are actually the most respectful thing you can do.

Malcolm Kenyatta — Pennsylvania State Representative and Vice Chair of the Democratic National Committee — sits down with his longtime friend Robin (and Emma) to talk about losing both of his parents by age 26, running for state office weeks after burying his mother, and what it actually feels like to lose two statewide elections in a row. Malcolm is candid about the depression, weight gain, and diabetes diagnosis that followed his 2022 U.S. Senate loss — and the blunt-talking doctor who finally got through to him.

Plus: the promise he made to himself never to hide who he is, the "junior block captain" origin story of his political career, the phone call he made to Robin the night she lost her own election, and Robin's closing Word of Wisdom on why the little things matter more than we think.

→ Follow Malcolm Kenyatta at @malcolmkenyatta

This week we sit down with Emilie Leyes — certified hypnotist, founder of the hypnosis app Doddle, and the author of the upcoming book Hypnotize Yourself: Harness the Power of Modern Hypnosis to Build the Life You Want (out in January 2027). Emilie walks us through the mystery illness that took over her life, the hypnosis practice that helped her heal when doctors couldn't, and — for the first time publicly — the story of her secret marriage to a man from Vienna with a family of professional clowns. This episode has it all! → Pre-order Emilie's book at the link below and try the Doddle hypnosis app free for 7 days!

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/798997/hypnotize-yourself-by-emilie-leyes/

www.doddlehypnosis.com

Money and Haley Black (@beefingwiththeblacks) — the viral couples duo from North Carolina — sit down with Robin and Emma to talk pregnancy loss, the medical malpractice they didn't find out about until a year and a half later, and the baby they finally got to bring home.

Plus, how Robin and Haley actually met, Money's bedtime-routine superiority complex, and Robin's closing wisdom on the one thing that pulls her out of her worst moments.

Robin and Emma sit down with Erin Tatum— creator, dark-comedy oracle, recent Dead Moms Club inductee, and the woman responsible for getting your favorite celebrities to crawl on the floor on a leash to raise money for ALS. Erin's mother Patti was her primary caregiver from birth and died of ALS this past year. We talk about searching for caregivers on TikTok (and the men who offered to do it for free in exchange for sex — please, no), the sad trombone that became their hospice alarm clock, and what it means to become famous because your mom is dying. Plus matchmaking attempts, the case for being obsessed with yourself, and Robin's deeply practical advice on self-care.

Robin and Emma sit down with Tommy Vietor who got his start on Barack Obama's 2004 Senate campaign and went on to serve as White House spokesman and later as spokesman for the National Security Council, before co-founding Crooked Media and co-hosting Pod Save America and Pod Save the World. He lost his father, Tom Vietor, to bladder cancer in October 2010 after a brutal nine-month decline. A decade later, he and his wife Hannah lost their daughter, Margot, stillborn at 24 weeks after years of miscarriages and fertility treatment. Tommy and Hannah are now parents to a three-year-old daughter and a two-year-old son, and Tommy has become an outspoken voice for men talking openly about pregnancy loss.

We talk about friends who show up with whiskey and shake weights, a Shiva that turned into an accidental COVID super-spreader event, and why he and his wife Hannah didn't always grieve in sync.

→ Follow Tommy Vietor at Pod Save America / Pod Save the World and follow Robin and Emma @itstherosenthals

Shay Martin (@tannerandshay) sits down with Robin and Emma to talk about losing her husband, Tanner, to cancer last summer, the video he pre-recorded announcing his own death, and the hand written letter he left to their daughter to read on her future wedding day.

Plus, Robin and Shay talk about being young hot widows and the differences dating as a young widow and a "semi-young" widow.

Follow @tannerandshay and stay up to date with @LaughsAfterLoss on Instagram

Robin and Emma talk to Jake and Andrea Kind, the mother/son duo behind @GoobiGubbi —the viral social media account that turned three generations of one Jewish family into an internet famous trio along with the late, fabulous, Mimmy.

The conversation between the four of them is exactly what you'd hope for - a chaotic Jewish family with tons of jokes and even more stories.

This episode covers how Jake started filming his grandmother during the pandemic and accidentally launched a content empire; how the family is navigating the first year without Mimmy; a headstone scam that Andrea took to the news; and an actual mid-episode attempt to contact Mimmy through a Ouija board.

Pull up a chair for the ultimate crossover

→ Follow, share, and join the conversation at @LaughsAfterLoss on Instagram

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro (@GovernorShapiro) sits down with Robin and Emma for our first-ever episode — on how he shows up for grieving Pennsylvania families, the arson attack on the Governor's Residence after Passover last year, and what he learned from getting cut from his college basketball team.

Plus the love letter to his now-wife Lori that backfired catastrophically, and a Father's Day tradition that's just "do absolutely nothing."

→ Follow along with Robin and Emma at @LaughsAfterLoss and @itstherosenthals