The Dad Edge Podcast

Jamie Kozub and Chris Carter are the yin and yang behind Shit My Dad Taught Me, a podcast that's exploded to over 2.5 million views every month in barely 18 months. Together they also co-founded Burlington Dads, a community of 7,200 fathers that has raised over $1 million for local families and charities. But what makes these two men worth an hour of your time isn't the numbers. It's the two completely different roads that brought them here.
Jamie has never met his biological father and grew up 40 minutes outside Thunder Bay in a house with no working toilet and a potbelly stove for heat. With his dad working construction hundreds of miles away Monday through Saturday, Jamie was cooking dinner and raising his little brother at 12. He moved out at 15, worked the Sony store from two till ten every day through high school, and was making $130K a year by 18. Then at 19, after blowing $60,000 at the casino, he walked back in, handed over his driver's license, and banned himself from every casino in Ontario.
Chris had the opposite upbringing: a ten-out-of-ten dad who fed every kid who walked through the door and modeled what it means to raise daughters. Now a girl dad of two, Chris shares his number one piece of advice, just take them with you, and the story of the letter that confronted him at 340 pounds. A year later, he's lost nearly 100 pounds and is preparing for his first bodybuilding show at 42.
We also go to some deep waters in this one: their friend Matt's story of losing his father and grandfather to suicide, and my own 33 days of insomnia in 2017 and the counselor's words that changed my perception forever. This is a conversation about fatherhood, brotherhood, and building the communities that keep men alive and thriving. Don't miss it.
 
Timeline Summary
[1:02] Larry welcomes Jamie Kozub and Chris Carter, the yin and yang behind Shit My Dad Taught Me
[1:56] Jamie on never meeting his biological father and why he feels no void to fill
[2:58] Growing up outside Thunder Bay with no working toilet, a potbelly stove, and a dad gone Monday to Saturday
[10:33] Chris's number one girl dad advice: just take them with you, from boardrooms to private jets
[17:56] Moving out at 15, couch surfing, and working the Sony store from two till ten every day
[19:39] Making $130K at 18 and turning down a University of Miami scholarship
[20:28] Walking into the casino at 19 to ban himself from every casino in Ontario for five years
[26:35] Chris's dad and the barbecue pizza rule: everyone who walks through the door gets fed
[33:02] How Shit My Dad Taught Me reached 2.5 million monthly views through radical authenticity
[37:16] The Lexie J letter story that confronted Chris at 340 pounds and sparked his transformation
[42:18] Their friend Matt's story of loss and his commitment to breaking a generational cycle
[45:18] Larry opens up about 33 days of insomnia and the counselor's words that changed everything
[48:14] Pits and peaks: Chris's daily traditions for getting his girls to open up
[51:46] A warrior on a farm: why the biggest guy in the room works hardest at being gentle
[54:30] Jamie on raising boys who respect women, learn from losing, and greet every guest at the door
[56:47] Inside Burlington Dads: 14 events, a $75K golf tournament, and a $77K Christmas toy drive
 
Five Key Takeaways
You don't need a void filled to move forward; Jamie chose to honor the dad who raised him while letting go of the one who didn't, and turned a hard childhood into fuel instead of an excuse.

The simplest girl dad advice is also the best: take your kids with you everywhere so they never believe a glass ceiling exists.

Make your home the place where every kid is fed, welcomed, and safe, because you'd rather your kids make their choices under your roof than somewhere else.

Find the thing that confronts you before your family has to write you the letter; Chris lost nearly 100 pounds because he refused to put his daughters in that position.

Whatever pain you're carrying, you don't have to carry it alone; real communities of men exist, and guys like Jamie and Chris will always pick up the phone.

 
Links & Resources
Shit My Dad Taught Me — available on all platforms, including Spotify and YouTube
Follow Chris on Instagram — @chriscarterbd
Follow Jamie on Instagram — @jamiekozub
Burlington Dads on Facebook
Episode resources — https://thedadedge.com/1491
Join the Dad Edge Alliance — https://thedadedge.com/join
Questions for the Car free download — https://thedadedge.com/kidquestions
Closing
There's a moment in this episode where a 19-year-old kid making six figures walks into a casino, hands over his driver's license, and bans himself for five years because he knew the life he wanted required a different man. That's what taking responsibility actually looks like, and it's the thread running through this entire conversation, from Chris's 100-pound transformation to two men building a community of 7,200 dads who refuse to do life alone. If this one hit home, send it to the brother in your life who needs to hear that good men come together. Go out and live legendary.

Jess Hilarious has built a career on telling the truth in a way that makes people laugh and feel seen, from the Baltimore open mic scene to Wild 'N Out, starring on Rel, her hit podcast Carefully Reckless, and now co-hosting The Breakfast Club. But in this conversation, we go somewhere most people have never heard her go: what it really took to become the mother and co-parent she is today.
Jess got pregnant at 19, raised in a strict church household, terrified to tell her parents she even had a boyfriend. She opens up about the first six months after her son Ashton was born, when she didn't want to be a mom at all, and the breakdown on her knees in her mother's house that ended with her baby smirking up at her from the crib. That was the moment everything changed.
We also walk through the hard road with her son's father, Jerome. The cheating, the other girl at Ashton's first birthday party, and the public comment that revealed he had a second child on the way. Instead of staying at war, Jess chose to understand the trauma behind his behavior, and the two of them took actual co-parenting vows: for better or for worse, till death do we parent.
As a father of four boys, I know how many men in our community are navigating co-parenting right now, and this episode is packed with hard-won wisdom on boundaries, accountability, and putting your kids first. Jess's new book, Til Death Do We Parent, brings her trademark humor and honesty to all of it, and this conversation is the perfect introduction.
 
Timeline Summary
[1:01] Larry welcomes comedian, actress, and Breakfast Club co-host Jess Hilarious to the show
[1:48] Jess opens up about not wanting to be a mom for the first six months after her son was born
[3:15] Telling Jerome she was pregnant at 19 and his unexpectedly joyful reaction
[4:25] A charge on her record, no job offers, and moving back in with her mom after Ashton arrived
[4:52] The breakdown in her mom's house: "why would you pick me to be your mother?"
[7:17] Telling her parents at 8 PM: her dad's ten-second breathing technique and her mom's prayer
[15:02] The funeral story at age eight that proved Jess was born funny
[17:43] Martin Lawrence's brother calls and Jess fakes ten years of stand-up experience
[18:41] Opening for Martin Lawrence in front of 13,000 people in Baltimore after five open mics
[25:05] Rome brings another girl to Ashton's first birthday party
[26:57] Leaving a good man for one more chance, then learning about Rome's second child from a public comment
[31:14] Understanding Rome's trauma: losing his mother at ten and finding her himself
[33:32] The co-parenting vows: "I take you, Jerome James, to be my lawfully wedded co-parent"
[35:22] Dating selfishly and taking accountability for the men she brought around Ashton
[38:15] The 1 AM phone call that made her husband draw the line on boundaries
[42:58] Larry shares meeting his biological father by chance in a St. Louis Starbucks at age 30
 
Five Key Takeaways
Treat co-parenting like a vow you can't walk away from, because your child is watching how you show up for better or for worse.
Your kids absorb every ounce of tension between you and your ex, and defiance at school is often a reflection of the energy they're consuming at home.
Understanding the trauma behind your ex's behavior won't excuse it, but it can free you from resentment and make a real friendship possible.
When you have kids, you date as a package, so anyone who isn't building a bond with your child isn't actually good for you either.
Boundaries protect every relationship you have, and putting "friendship hours" around your co-parent isn't disrespect, it's what keeps your marriage and your co-parenting healthy.
 
Links & Resources
Til Death Do We Parent by Jess Hilarious: https://www.amazon.com/Til-Death-Do-We-Parent/dp/1668059355
Jess's website — https://jesshilariousofficial.com
Follow Jess on Instagram — @jesshilarious_official
Follow Jess on Twitter and Snapchat — @jess_hilarious
Jess Hilarious Official on Facebook
Episode resources — https://thedadedge.com/1490
Questions for the Car free download — https://thedadedge.com/questions
The Dad Edge Alliance — http://thedadedge.com/join
 
Closing
There's a moment in this episode where Jess describes falling to her knees, asking her infant son why he chose her as his mother, and looking up to see him smirking at her from the crib as if to say "I'm here, so put on your big girl panties." That's the kind of raw honesty that changes how you see your own parenting story. If you're navigating co-parenting, boundaries, or just the weight of feeling unready, share this one with a brother who needs it. Go out and live legendary.

Gentlemen, we're two weeks out from Father's Day and this Q&A hit me right in the chest. We've got Joe the Legend joining me today, a father of five who brings that earned wisdom — the kind that only comes from years of being in the trenches, making mistakes, and choosing to grow through them. This conversation is real, raw, and exactly what this community is built on.
We tackle two questions from the Alliance today. The first one is about a 12-year-old daughter who's been lying and stealing from family members — and how to guide her toward accountability while keeping the relationship open and safe. The second one is something almost every dad I know battles: losing patience by the end of the day when the tank is completely empty.
Joe drops some of the most honest perspective you'll hear anywhere on why kids lie and steal, what birth order has to do with it, and how a scarcity mindset can drive behaviors you'd never expect. And then he shares something that personally rocked me — that impatience isn't a discipline problem. It's a selfishness problem. That one landed hard, and I'll explain why.
This is the kind of show that reminds you why we're here. Not to be perfect dads. But to be intentional ones who keep showing up, keep learning, and keep choosing our kids — even when we've got nothing left in the tank.
 
Timeline Summary
[1:01] Larry introduces the show and a special four-part June offer for new Dad Edge Alliance members
[1:38] What's included: signed copy of The Pursuit of Legendary Fatherhood, two courses, and a brand new PDF resource
[3:39] Today's two topics: how to handle a child who is lying and stealing, and losing patience by end of day
[4:00] Morgan (The Engineer) asks his question: his 12-year-old daughter is stealing from family members, often tied to jealousy
[5:36] Joe shares that lying is almost always a defense mechanism and stealing is tied to either scarcity mindset or attention-seeking
[6:55] Joe reflects on growing up without enough — and how that scarcity mindset made stealing feel necessary as a kid
[8:10] Joe raises the birth order question: second borns can feel like second best, and attention imbalance can drive behavior
[9:38] Joe's reframe: are you unintentionally reinforcing scarcity in your home, or creating uneven attention among your kids?
[12:08] Larry tells the story of his son Mason getting caught shoplifting at age 11 — caught on video at a local store
[15:28] Larry calls the store, finds out the owner is a retired cop, and decides not to protect Mason from the consequences
[17:49] Larry takes Mason to face the store owner directly and tells his son: whatever this man asks you to do, you're going to do it
[20:34] The 30-day consequence plan: daily chores, journaling gratitude and reflections, and a final trip to the police station
[22:15] The Sonic parking lot conversation — where Mason finally broke down and told the truth about why he did it
[23:37] Mason's real confession: he was afraid of losing another friend if he didn't go along with the theft
[25:51] Calvin asks his question: how do you stay patient at the end of the day when you're completely drained?
[27:40] Larry's answer: surrender before you walk in the room — pray and admit you can't do it alone
[29:50] Joe's reframe on patience: it's listed as a fruit of the spirit in Galatians, and a lack of it is rooted in selfishness
[31:18] Joe's inner monologue when he feels impatience rising — asking himself whether it's about him or about the person in front of him
[34:29] Joe reflects on the relationship he has with his oldest son today, and why patience made it possible
 
Five Key Takeaways
Lying is almost always a defense mechanism — when your child lies, look first at what they're afraid of, not just what they did wrong.
Stealing in kids is usually tied to either a scarcity mindset or an attention grab — ask yourself if you're unintentionally reinforcing either one in your home.
When your kid does something wrong, connection has to come before correction — Mason's breakthrough happened in a Sonic parking lot, not in a punishment.
Impatience isn't a willpower problem, it's a selfishness problem — if you're losing patience, something is encroaching on your agenda, and recognizing that shifts everything.
You cannot white-knuckle sustainable patience on your own — whether through faith, community, or both, the fathers who show up consistently are the ones who know they need help.
 
Links & Resources
The Dad Edge Alliance: https://www.thedadedge.com/join
Questions for the Car (free PDF): https://www.thedadedge.com/kidquestions
Episode Show Notes: http://thedadedge.com/1489
 
Closing
This episode is a reminder that the best fathering doesn't happen when we have it all together. It happens in Sonic parking lots, in honest conversations after long days, and in the moments when we finally stop trying to do it alone. Joe's story about his oldest son hit me differently today — knowing how far they've come, knowing there's no reason they should be close, and hearing him say that patience is what made the difference. That's the work, gentlemen. That's exactly the work. If today's conversation meant something to you, pass it to a dad who needs it, leave us a five-star review, and keep showing up for your family every single day. Go out and live legendary.

Thomas Pfanner is a husband, father of three, combat athlete with nearly 20 years of jiu jitsu training, and a former strength coach at the University of Oregon who was part of a Pac-12 championship team and a Rose Bowl season. After seven years as a public educator watching young men arrive unprepared for the real world, he channeled that frustration into a mission: equipping fathers to become the trusted, respected leaders their kids are actually hungry for. His Amazon bestselling book Dads Who Lead launched September 26th, 2025, and it's already resonating deeply with fathers who want to lead with strength and integrity.
This conversation starts where most parenting conversations are afraid to go. Thomas shares the raw story of his son Charles calling him at 14 to say he was done, the long road of rebuilding that relationship, and the specific leadership shifts that changed everything. From there, we get into the five attributes he outlines in Dads Who Lead — faith, ownership, respect, groundbreaking adventure, and expectation — and how they stack together to help dads go from being a manager to being a mentor their kids actually choose to lean into.
If you've ever felt like you're losing your son or daughter and don't know what to do next, Thomas has lived that story and walked out the other side. And if your relationship with your teenager is already solid, this episode will sharpen the tools you're using and show you where the gaps might be.
Whether you're trying to rebuild a relationship or strengthen one that's already good, this episode is for the dad who refuses to go to his grave wondering what went wrong.
 
Timeline Summary
[1:02] Thomas welcomes the audience and Larry teases the June offer for Dad Edge Alliance members
[3:15] Thomas shares how Charles at 14 called to say he was moving to his mom's across state — and what led up to that moment
[5:23] The day Thomas couldn't find his son after wrestling practice and the call that changed everything
[6:36] What it felt like to lose 14 years of relationship work in a single phone call — and the journey that followed
[8:23] Thomas and his wife leave their home, jobs, and stability to move across state to pursue Charles before his freshman year
[9:54] Larry previews the show's core topic: how to rebuild and build trust with teenagers, especially when the relationship has been fractured
[13:10] The first step in rebuilding trust wasn't with Charles — it was rebuilding Thomas's belief in himself as a father
[15:40] How Thomas used the concept of "highlight reels" to keep faith in Charles even when the evidence was going the wrong direction
[21:34] The five attributes of leadership from Dads Who Lead: faith, ownership, respect, groundbreaking adventure, and expectation
[24:25] Chip Kelly's single line on expectation that Thomas has never forgotten — and what it means for every parent who lets things slide
[28:11] How Thomas shifted his "brand" from manager to mentor — and why your son has an emotional reaction the moment your name pops up on his phone
[32:30] The two primary engines of respect: action respect and connection respect — and why one matters more to men and one matters more to women
[38:46] Charles's response to the book being out in the world, and where he is now — working full-time and calling his dad 4 or 5 times a week
[41:14] Why the 2027 father-son retreat is going to Normandy, France — and what Thomas wants dads and sons to take home from that week
[43:24] How the retreat program works — who it's for, age requirements, and what physical experiences make it different from other men's events
 
Five Key Takeaways
Before you can rebuild trust with your teenager, you have to rebuild trust in yourself. Thomas had to stop listening to the comforting voices telling him he'd done enough, anchor into his faith that he was called to be Charles's father for a reason, and believe Charles could become something great before Charles believed it himself.

The brand you've built as a dad is the emotion your kid feels when your name hits their phone screen. You control that brand completely. If they've known you mainly as the person telling them what to do, switching to a mentor who's genuinely curious about their story is what shifts the brand — and softens the resistance when you do need to hold a standard.

There are two ways kids earn respect: through action and through connection. Action respect comes from who you are and how you carry yourself. Connection respect comes from being the person who actually knows their story. The dad who does both is nearly impossible to replace — online or otherwise.

Chip Kelly's line from Dads Who Lead is worth writing on a wall: if you accept it, expect it. Every time you let something slide without a conversation, you're voting for that behavior to continue. Setting expectations your teenager can buy into means they have to understand the why — and that only happens when the relationship is strong enough for them to care.

Rites of passage aren't a tradition for tradition's sake — young men are starving for a moment where someone tells them who they are and gives them permission to step into it. If dads don't create that moment intentionally, the culture, social media, or a peer group will create it for them.

 
Links & Resources
Dads Who Lead by Thomas Pfanner — 
Free leadership style quiz for dads — https://dadswholead.com
Father-son retreat experiences (domestic and Normandy 2027) — https://dadswholead.com/experience
Questions for the Car (free PDF) — https://thedadedge.com/kidquestions
Dad Edge Alliance Mastermind — https://thedadedge.com/join
Podcast shownotes: http://thedadedge.com/1488
 
Closing
Thomas's story with Charles is one of those episodes that reminds you why we do this work. He didn't coast when it got hard. He made the call, packed up his life, and went after his son — no guarantees, no safety net, just faith that his kid was worth it. If you know a dad who's in that painful season of feeling like he's losing his relationship with his teenager, share this episode with him today. It could be the turning point he didn't know he needed. And if this show has meant something to you, head over and leave a five-star review. It helps more dads find this message.
Go out and live legendary.

Justin Goodbread is a serial entrepreneur, business coach, and host of the DecaMillionaire Decoded podcast who has built and sold multiple companies while raising three kids alongside his wife Emily in Tennessee. His father Alan, a Georgia Port Authority worker who homeschooled three children with Juilliard graduates and university professors on a lower-middle-class income, laid the foundation for everything Justin has become as a man, a husband, and a dad.
This episode is a raw, honest look at how faith, family, and legacy intersect when life gets hard. Justin shares the stories behind losing his father suddenly at 61, nearly losing Emily during an 8-hour surgery with a 12% survival rate, and how both moments stripped away his obsession with building empires and replaced it with something that actually matters. If you're a dad who wants to leave your kids with more than money, this conversation will stay with you.
 
Timeline Summary
[1:02] Host opens with a special June Alliance offer including a signed book, two courses, and 50 intimate conversation starters for couples
[2:38] Guest Justin Goodbread is introduced and the two celebrate a recent episode swap on Justin's podcast
[3:46] Justin describes his father Alan and the radical decision his parents made to break a cycle of dysfunction by raising their kids in faith and homeschooling them decades before it was common
[7:39] Dad gives 15-year-old Justin an ultimatum: have a job by Friday or don't come home, with three strict rules that made it nearly impossible in their small Georgia town
[9:53] Justin finds a stranger's overgrown yard, earns $40, and comes home to a father who reveals the lesson he'd orchestrated all along: at 15, you just outearned me
[11:37] Two years after starting "Lawn Care by the Boys," Justin and his brother were earning more individually than their parents combined
[12:33] After a final day hunting and a Taco Bell conversation about responsibility and legacy, Justin returns home to a call that his father had a massive heart attack that night
[13:22] Justin describes a five-year crisis of faith following his father's sudden death at 61, and how grief forced him to rebuild everything from the ground up
[24:01] Justin shares the family motto "No one outworks a Goodbread" and how his dad led with short, hard-to-forget phrases that became the family's operating system
[29:18] Seven years of tribulation including multiple deaths, suicides among friends, and the stripping away of money and relationships down to just Justin, Emily, and a handful of close friends
[31:39] Emily's surgery runs more than 8 hours when doctors said anything past 6 would mean trouble, and Justin sits alone in the hospital waiting room
[33:06] Emily's first words coming out of anesthesia: "Justin, what's another million dollars going to do for us?" and how that question changed the direction of his entire life
[39:44] The post-surgery shift: intentionality replaces ambition, marriage gets prioritized above all, and Justin and Emily travel to Costa Rica and Saint Lucia to invest in their relationship like never before
[43:51] Justin uses the story of Jochebed and Moses to explain his parenting philosophy: mothers nurture in the early years, then fathers step in to disciple their kids into warriors
[46:14] His 21-year-old daughter calls, ready to quit a hard nursing class. Justin says nothing. She already knows exactly what he'll say because she's been discipled.
[53:43] Justin closes with Ephesians 6:13: "having done all, stand" — do your dead-level best, trust grace for the rest, and enter heaven exhausted
 
Five Key Takeaways
Your kids are watching you model your marriage more than they are watching you parent them. Justin and Emily made it a point to date each other first, keep their marriage above everything else, and trust that their kids would follow what they saw. When Emily nearly died, their daughter was already grounded enough to say "don't worry, dad, we got this."
A crisis of faith is not the end of faith. After his father died, Justin spent five years questioning everything he had been raised to believe. What came out on the other side was not a shallower faith but a more surrendered one — a willingness to stop fighting the path and trust the process even when it costs him.
The goal is to enter heaven exhausted, not retired. Justin draws a direct line from his father's work ethic to his own rejection of the Western retirement model. Life built around impact, not income, is the shift that Emily's surgery forced him to make, and it became the most clarifying decision of his adult life.
Discipleship is about covering your kids in dust. Justin references the Hebrew tradition of students being covered in the dust of their teacher as they walked behind them. The goal is not just to tell your kids what to believe but to walk faithfully enough in front of them that when it counts, they already know what to do.
God gets no glory in quitting. Justin's father said it when the family was tempted to pull the kids from homeschooling. Justin's daughter said it back to him at 21, unprompted, when she was ready to drop a nursing class. The phrase became a family doctrine because it was lived out, not just spoken.
 
Links & Resources
DecaMillionaire Decoded Podcast — http://justingoodbread.com/podcast
Connect with Justin on Instagram — http://instagram.com/justingoodbread
Join the Dad Edge Alliance — http://thedadedge.com/join
50 Intimate Kid Conversation Starters — http://thedadedge.com/kidquestions
Show notes and full resources — http://thedadedge.com/1487
 
Closing
Justin's story is not a highlight reel. It is a funeral, an 8-hour surgery, a crisis of faith, and a daughter who already knew what her dad was going to say before he said a word. If something in this episode hit you, send it to a man in your life who needs it. Rate and review the show so more dads can find it, and go out and live legendary.