Penn Holderness

Did You Know?

• Kim Holderness was a member of the Dazzlers dance team at the University of Florida and graduated in 1998 with a degree in telecommunications.
• Penn Holderness's first on-air journalism job was in Grand Junction, Colorado.

Career

Penn Holderness began his on-air journalism career in Grand Junction, Colorado, followed by five years in Orlando. From 2003 to 2005, he hosted three seasons of Designer Finals on HGTV. He later hosted a college basketball show on CSTV with former University of North Carolina coach Matt Doherty, and worked as a video essayist for ABC and ESPN while living in New York. After returning to North Carolina, he anchored the evening news for WNCN-TV. In 2013, the Holderness Family released 'XMAS Jammies,' a parody of Will Smith's 'Miami' that went viral on YouTube and reached 18 million views in its first 10 years. Subsequent parodies included a Halloween-themed Snoop Dogg parody called 'Kin and Moose,' a Meghan Trainor parody about Thanksgiving titled 'All About That Baste,' and a parody of Dean Martin's 'Baby, It's Cold Outside' that garnered over 75 million views on Facebook. During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, they created viral parodies such as a Hamilton medley about wearing a mask and a Frozen parody called 'It's Vaccination Day.' The family has released a new 'XMAS Jammies' every holiday season and added over 300 additional parodies. Penn and Kim have appeared on broadcast programs including The Today Show, Fox & Friends, Good Morning America, CNN, HLN, CBS This Morning, and multiple times on Right This Minute. Their full-length specials include The Holderness Family on UPTV, The 12 Foods of Christmas on The Food Network, and The Greatest Holiday Video Countdown on The CW. Kim and Penn won Season 33 of the Amazing Race.

Books and podcast

Penn Holderness co-authored the book Everybody Fights: So Why Not Get Better At It, published by HarperCollins subsidiary Thomas Nelson on March 30, 2021, about improving communication in a marriage. In 2024, they published ADHD is Awesome: A Guide to (Mostly) Thriving With ADHD, followed in 2025 by the children's book All You Can Be with ADHD, described as a rhyming celebration of having a brain that works differently. In 2018, they launched the Holderness Family Podcast, later renamed Laugh Lines with Kim & Penn Holderness, which discusses personal issues and lighter topics and is also available on YouTube.

Personal life

Penn Holderness grew up in Durham, North Carolina, the son of a Presbyterian minister and a public school teacher. He attended Charles E. Jordan High School in Durham, where he played basketball and studied choral music at the residential Governor's School of North Carolina (East), and now sits on that foundation's board of directors. After earning a philosophy degree from the University of Virginia in 1996, his first on-air journalism job was in Grand Junction, Colorado, followed by five years in Orlando. He hosted three seasons of Designer Finals on HGTV from 2003 to 2005, later hosted a college basketball show on CSTV with former UNC coach Matt Doherty, and worked as a video essayist for ABC and ESPN in New York before returning to North Carolina to anchor evening news for WNCN-TV. He has a brother named Dail. Penn met Kim, a former competitive dancer and University of Florida telecommunications graduate who worked as a TV reporter and for Inside Edition, while both were in Orlando local news; they married in 2005. After journalism, they worked at Greenroom Communications, then became creative consultants at Walk West. In 2013 they founded Holderness Family Productions, where Kim is CEO and Penn is chief creative officer. Both had small roles as news reporters in the 2013 film Iron Man 3. They won the 33rd season of The Amazing Race, during which Penn shared his ADHD diagnosis and Kim spoke about her anxiety.