The Moments That Make You Miss Him Most
There's a specific kind of grief that doesn't show up at the funeral. It shows up when you're holding your newborn and realize there's no one to call. It shows up on your wedding day when you scan the room. It hits you in a hardware store on a Saturday morning, or when your kid asks a question you'd normally have relayed straight to your own dad.
Hosts Roger Nairn and Scott Cunningham built Dead Dads because, as Roger put it plainly: "We started it because we couldn't find the conversation we were looking for." Both men have lost their fathers. Both know that the grief doesn't pause for major life events — if anything, it intensifies at every milestone that was supposed to include him.
What This Podcast Actually Covers
Dead Dads is built around the conversations people usually skip. That includes:
- Practical aftermath — the paperwork marathons, the password-protected iPads, the garages full of "useful" junk
- Fatherhood without a blueprint — raising kids when you can't call your own dad for advice, a theme explored in depth in posts like "Raising Kids Without Your Dad: The Brutal Gap Between Expectation and Reality" and "He Never Met Them. Here's How I Made Sure They Know Him Anyway."
- Milestone grief — the weddings, Father's Days, and promotions that crack you open unexpectedly, as covered in "Father's Day Without Your Dad: Redefining a Holiday That Now Hurts" and "How to handle massive life milestones when you can't call your dad"
- Identity and inheritance — becoming the man your dad was (for better or worse), explored in pieces like "You Are Becoming Your Dead Dad: Navigating the Inheritance of Habits and Flaws" and "The Unspoken Inheritance: What Your Dad Taught You Without Saying a Word"
Why It Hits Different
This isn't a clinical grief resource. There's no five-stage framework. What you get instead is two men who've been through it — talking honestly, occasionally laughing darkly, and making space for the full mess of what losing a dad actually means when life keeps demanding you show up anyway.
What You Get When You Listen to Dead Dads
Every episode is built around the stuff no one else is talking about — the emotional, the logistical, and the quietly devastating.
Real Conversations, No Polish Required
Roger and Scott don't script away the awkward parts. Episodes cover the grief that hits mid-aisle at a hardware store just as honestly as they cover the big, obvious moments. No forced optimism. No prescriptive advice.
Guest Stories From Men Who've Been There
Episodes like "He Got the Call… and Had to Tell His Family His Dad Was Dead" (featuring John Abreu) and "If You're a Guy Who Lost His Dad… Listen to This" (featuring Greg Kettner) bring in men with real stories — not polished PR bios.
Fatherhood Conversations You Can't Have Anywhere Else
What does it mean to raise kids when you can't ask your own dad how he did it? Dead Dads goes there — directly, honestly, and without wrapping it up neatly.
The Milestone Episodes That Find You at the Right Time
Grief resurfaces at anniversaries, Father's Days, and first birthdays without him. The show addresses "Why Your Dad's Death Still Hits Hard Years Later" — and what to actually do with that feeling.
A Community That Gets It
Leave a voice message about your dad. Suggest a guest. Read listener reviews from men who found the show at exactly the right moment. This isn't just a podcast — it's a place to belong.
Available Everywhere You Listen
Find Dead Dads on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio, PocketCasts, Castbox, PlayerFM, and Podchaser. No excuses. It's wherever you already listen.
What Listeners Are Saying
These are real words from real men who found the show when they needed it most.
"Great podcast. Touches on things that we as guys either don't discuss or are afraid to discuss about the deaths of our dads. My father passed before Christmas 2025 and was buried a couple days after Christmas. And it's been…"
"What a great and much-needed topic to talk about. I lost my dad a few years back and have not talked about it much. It's the type of pain that I bottle up and keep to myself. I felt some pain relief…"
The Inheritance Nobody Talks About
Your dad shaped who you are — his habits, his silences, his flaws, and his strengths. Now that he's gone, you're left navigating fatherhood carrying all of that, with no one to call for a gut-check.
The blog and episodes at Dead Dads dig into exactly this territory. "My Dad Was a Flawed Man. That's Exactly Why His Legacy Matters." and "The Day I Realized My Dad Was Just a Man and What That Changes" are the kinds of pieces that help you make sense of who you're becoming in his absence. "Why Getting Your Affairs in Order Is the Last Great Act of Fatherhood" reframes legacy as something you can actively build — not just inherit.
This is peer-to-peer support for men. Not therapy. Not a support group in a fluorescent-lit room. Just honest conversation about the hardest version of growing up: doing it without your dad watching.
Common Questions
If you're new here, you probably have a few of these.
Is this podcast only about the death itself?
Not at all. Dead Dads covers the full aftermath — the paperwork, the estate logistics, the grief triggers years later, and the big life moments (kids, milestones, Father's Day) where his absence hits hardest. The death is the starting point, not the whole show.
I lost my dad years ago. Is this still for me?
Yes. As the post "Why Your Dad's Death Still Hits Hard Years Later and What to Do With It" explores — grief doesn't have an expiration date. Many listeners find the show long after the loss and find it just as relevant.
Is it too dark? I'm not sure I'm ready for humor about this.
The tone is honest first, funny where it's earned. Roger and Scott aren't making light of loss — they're using humor the way most people actually process grief: as a release valve, not a dismissal. If you've ever laughed at a funeral, you'll understand.
How do I listen or get involved?
You can find Dead Dads on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and all major platforms. You can also leave a message about your dad, suggest a guest, or leave a review directly on deaddadspodcast.com.
Can I share my own story or suggest someone for the show?
Absolutely — the show has a Suggest a Guest feature on the website. They're looking for real people with real stories. As they put it: "No PR pitches. No polished bios. Just real people with real stories." You can also leave a voice message about your own dad directly on the site.