Kenn McCloud has been in radio for 40 years. But it wasn’t until he started telling dad jokes every afternoon on Buck Owens Broadcasting KUZZ Bakersfield, CA (550 AM/107.9 FM) that strangers started stopping him on the street to ask him to tell them one.
When they do, he’s got one ready. Why does a duck have tail feathers? To cover his butt quack.
“It always makes the kids laugh,” McCloud tells Country Insider, “and that’s the most important thing.”
Over the years, McCloud has turned his daily dad jokes into a hefty database. He has now compiled and illustrated that database into “365 Dad Jokes,” a self-published book he has released ahead of Father’s Day. Priced at $18, proceeds benefit the Kern County Cancer Foundation’s Pediatric Mobile Angel Unit.
The segment has been a fixture of McCloud’s afternoon show for the past eight years. Every day just after 3pm, his teenage son Caden introduces the bit — “Here’s my dad with a dad joke” — followed by the joke itself and, depending on the reaction, either a rimshot or a groan. When Caden started doing the intros, he was 10. His voice is now deeper than his father’s.
“It’s not as cute,” McCloud says, “but I still have him introduce every single one of them.”
The book collects 365 jokes — one for each day of the year — drawn from McCloud’s years of daily segments and supplemented with material he has updated over time. He also sketched roughly a dozen cartoons to illustrate jokes that lent themselves to a visual.
Not all dad jokes are created equal, and McCloud has developed something of a taxonomy after years of working the format. There are the jokes that make you spit out your coffee. There are the ones that draw a groan precisely because they’re so stupid. There are the ones built on genuinely clever wordplay. And then, he adds, there are the ones his wife says go over people’s heads because he’s overthinking it.
The book is organized mostly at random, with dedicated sections for Thanksgiving, Halloween and Christmas jokes at the back.
McCloud published through Barnes & Noble Press, which prints copies on demand — a model he researched carefully before committing. The arrangement eliminates the upfront cost of a print run and keeps inventory risk near zero. If he wanted a box of books to sell out of the station, he’d have to front the cash himself; this way, orders flow directly through the retailer and copies are printed as needed. He settled on Barnes & Noble Press over other self-publishing platforms after comparing royalty structures. Not incidentally, it also lets him tell people the book is available from Barnes & Noble.
“Being able to say that gives it some credibility,” he says.
The charity component is personal. McCloud lost his father to cancer when he was 26 — his dad was only 48. He’s been involved with cancer-related causes throughout his career, including Relay for Life and the Kern County Cancer Foundation. Last year, he lost his mother-in-law to the disease as well. Kern County has no pediatric cancer treatment facility, which means families must travel to UCLA, Valley Children’s Hospital in Madera or elsewhere, sometimes more than 100 miles each way. The foundation’s Pediatric Mobile Angel Unit provides gas cards and free shuttle rides for those families.
“Our job is to make it as easy as possible so that patients can concentrate on getting better and not worry about the financial burden,” McCloud says.
He’s already thinking about volume two. Starting in January, he plans to begin compiling enough material for a follow-up for next Father’s Day.
“Dad jokes are universal,” he says. “All dads tell jokes. They’re always clean, always fun and great for anybody in the family.” — Brian Mansfield