The Dad Who Came In From the Cold

Explicit content warning

04/24/23 • 70 min

What's it like to meet your father at twenty-eight years old? What's it like to find out you have a son at fifty-eight? For once, we have answers. Michael Frontain, biological father of your host, and beloved grandpa to your other host Julian, is here to tell the story of our meeting and the development of our relationship. It is... not... unmoving. We didn't not cry a little.

Then, an old friend-of-the-pod stops by to pick up his long overdue NATFITOIA. From now on, every NATFITOIA winner must perform a feat at least as daring and ludicrously heroic as this one.

Here's the Steve Earle TOWNES album Mike gave me the day we met on E. 86th St. (I already owned it. That's how spot on he was.)

And here is the website for Baron Vaughn, man of many extraordinary talents, from stand up comedy to acting to sketch show hosting to bringing babies into this world.

SEASON ONE FINALE next Monday! The guest? Is a big deal. Do not miss it.

Head over to podrepod.com for more information about the show and to sign up for email updates so you never miss an episode or that moment in the near future when we blast out the special patented PODRE secret instructions for how to be the perfect dad.

And follow us @podrepod on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook to stay tuned in to the frequencies.

Then, an old friend-of-the-pod stops by to pick up his long overdue NATFITOIA. From now on, every NATFITOIA winner must perform a feat at least as daring and ludicrously heroic as this one.

Here's the Steve Earle TOWNES album Mike gave me the day we met on E. 86th St. (I already owned it. That's how spot on he was.)

And here is the website for Baron Vaughn, man of many extraordinary talents, from stand up comedy to acting to sketch show hosting to bringing babies into this world.

SEASON ONE FINALE next Monday! The guest? Is a big deal. Do not miss it.

And follow us @podrepod on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook to stay tuned in to the frequencies.

Previous Episode

The Dad Who Parents. No, Really.

Dads matter, yes. But do they matter... as much? Are there fundamental differences in the roles of mothers and fathers? And if there are, is that ok? What do we really mean by "coparenting" and how much more involved is this younger generation of fathers in all of the family business? Literary critic and professor Dr. Monika Gehlawat sits down for a discussion about all this plus the value of parental differences, whether birth order is destiny, having immigrant parents, which long-dead novelists we should hang portraits of in our kitchens, and much more. Then, poet Hayan Charara comes by to pick up his latest in a long glittering line of major awards.

Get a handsome copy of Monika's book IN DEFENSE OF DIALOGUE here.

The "lovingkindness" meditation Monika describes is helpfully printed here. You need that. We need that.

Images of Henry James to print out, frame, and hang over your kitchen sink can be found here. Be sure to laser print those bad bois.

Then head over to podrepod.com for more information about the show and to sign up for email updates so you never miss an episode or that moment in the near future when we blast out the special patented PODRE secret instructions for how to be the perfect dad.

New episodes every Monday.

Next Episode

The Dad Who Is George Saunders

It's the season finale of PODRE. Congrats to us! To help us go out in style, George Saunders is here. The MacArthur Genius, the Man Booker Award winner, the National Book Award Finalist, the author of LINCOLN IN THE BARDO and TENTH OF DECEMBER and countless other surreal literary bangers. We talk about teaching Russian literature, how to see the best in people, how to write your dream novel, the all-too-human fatherly grief of Abraham Lincoln, and of course, having and being dads.

George is not only very famous and popular, he is a master teacher, storyteller, and unforgettable presence. We hope you enjoy hanging out with him for this very special finale.

And stick around for one last symposium on good dad-ness with cohosts Julian (7) & Nico (3). The next time you hear from us, they'll be older. That's the way with kids.

All of George Saunders' books can be had at a song right here. His excellent substack on writing and the writing life is available here. The awesome audio production of Lincoln in the Bardo is available here and stars an ungodly amount of major actors, from Nick Offerman to Don Cheadle to Susan Sarandon to Ben Stiller to [panting] Bill Hader to Keegan Michael-Keye to Julianne Moore to the author and his family. (Why not just get Lincoln himself?)

An insanely creative 3-D interactive New York Times VR rendition of the book is here.

This is our season one finale, but more bonus episodes are on the way, so keep up with us on Twitter, FB, and Insta, and at PodrePod.com. And of course, PODRE SEASON TWO is right around the corner.

PODRE - The Dad Who Came In From the Cold

Transcript

Chris: Dads. They've been around since the beginning, but what do we really know about them? It's time to start asking questions. I'm Chris Brunt. This is PODRE.
Julian: What does Grandpa what that means?
Mike: What does what mean?
Julian: To make our audience laughed. Oh, we weren't talking about anything. Nothing?
Mike: No, nothing. We weren't keeping any secrets from the audience. Not us.
Julian: We were just planning a surprise for you guys coming in some of the episode.