Delco dad is the king of bad jokes

TikTok star Dave “FitDad” Ogleton makes fellow fathers laugh, while kids shake their heads in (slight) embarrassment.

The Delco native who thrives off of clever puns and rapid-fire quips has always been funny but decided to start sharing his jokes with the world in 2020. It was the start of the pandemic, and five of his now-six children had switched from in-person to virtual classrooms. And uncertainty loomed over his nutritional product business.

Ogleton, now 39, took to social media to break the monotony of quarantine. He started uploading skits and gags and soon found an audience of dad joke-loving viewers.

“It was something for us as a family to do. It was fun and other people started finding it funny,” he said. “Deep down, I always wanted to do something in entertainment, so when things started to pop off I thought, ‘I can turn this into a business.’ ”

Four years on, he’s amassed nearly 3 million followers on TikTok and Instagram, and forged partnerships with the likes of Disney+, Pepsi, Netflix, and Procter & Gamble.

His role as a full-time content creator has allowed him to relish in his ultimate passion — being a father to his children, who range in age from 3 to 15 years old. We talked to the self-proclaimed “King of Dad Jokes” about his penchant for puns, his kids’ reaction to his social media fame, and the best (and worst) dad jokes, just in time for Father’s Day.

The interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Do you consider yourself an expert ‘dadfluencer’ by now?

I’m definitely not. So many people are like, “You’re the expert,” but the truth is I didn’t grow up around kids or anything like that. I know it’s kind of cliché, but everything was new to me [as a father]. We had our first daughter, and I think I asked my fiancé, “When will she start talking? In a year or something like that?” And she was like, “What?”

How do you come up with these jokes?

Dad jokes have been around forever. A lot of these jokes that I use now aren’t new. I just put my own spin on it, and I think that’s the best part about it. I come up with new ones every once in a while. If I say something funny to one of the kids I’m like, “OK, let me write that down real quick.”

How is viral celebrity-dom treating you?

It’s actually weird. We were on vacation three years ago, and all we heard was whispering. The lady comes up to the table and said, “I’m sorry, but I recognize your voice. I know you’re FitDadCEO.” There are certain spots and demographics where I get spotted more. Like every time we go to Disney World, it’s like nonstop — every five seconds. It’s still a little bit of an adjustment.

How do your kids like your social media fame?

They don’t really have a problem with it. The high school and middle school-aged ones, they’re like, “Alright, that’s enough dad.” You know how kids are when they get to that age, they will find any reason to make fun of somebody. I’m more aware of what I post, especially when it comes to something that’s a more sensitive topic.

What are our favorite family-friendly spots in Philly?

For me, it’s Philly’s sports venues ... places like Citizens Bank Park. When the kids were younger, we would go to South Street and Columbus Boulevard all the time. The kids also love going to the Eagles and Phillies games. The Sixers, too. A lot of the area in South Philly is where we love to go to.

Any Father’s Day plans?

Father’s Day is usually a pretty chill day for us. We usually do a typical barbecue or a Wiffle ball game. We have a pool, so we usually hang out. Or I might get a nice nap in.

Tell us your best/worst dad jokes.

How do you find Will Smith in the snow? Just follow the fresh prints.

Why does no one ever laugh at Peter Pan’s jokes? Because they Neverland.

Did you know Ryan Reynolds and Snoop Dogg are collabing? Yeah, I can’t wait to hear Reynolds Wrap.

Did you hear about the guy who swallowed a lamp? Just wanted a light snack.

Darth Vader always knew what Luke got him for Father’s Day. He could sense his presents.

– The Philadelphia Inquirer

Philly couple who went viral for living in a storage unit wants to prove ‘homelessness is a flex’

Like many Gen Zers, Lansdale couple Leland Brown Jr. and Breanna Hubbard gave TikTok viewers a tour of their new home, hours after they moved in.

The space was just large enough to fit a twin-size mattress, a small couch, a dresser, and a wall of storage boxes. But no windows, bathroom, or kitchen. It also happened to be located inside a storage unit in North Wales.

The container was an upgrade from their previous digs, a tent in the woods of Montgomery County. Brown and Hubbard, who spent most of their days creating videos, live a “minimal lifestyle” to avoid what they call the stresses of employment and costly housing.

According to a 2022 survey conducted by Freddie Mac, a government-sponsored finance company, adults between the ages of 18 and 25 have mostly positive thoughts about homeownership. But over one-third of them say it’s outside of financial reach.

“We think it’s more beneficial for us in the long run,” Hubbard said of living outdoors. “We’re not looking at how much we make now, we’re looking to build up our businesses and to work for ourselves. We want to make our own money by sharing our life, which we’re having success with.”

A mutual friend introduced the pair in March 2022, and they have shaped their online presence and living situation in tandem ever since.

It wasn’t always meant to be so “minimal.”

Brown and Hubbard were among the 31% of Gen Z who were living at home due to high housing costs. After continued disagreements with his father, who wanted the 28-year-old TikToker to pursue a more sustainable career, Brown was kicked out of his parents’ home in Montgomery County in May 2022.

“He told me I was grown and have a son, so I needed to figure it out,” said Brown, whose 7-year-old son lives with his mother.

Brown then moved in with Hubbard, 22, who was living with her family in Hatfield. That didn’t work out, so they packed up their bags and moved to the woods in September 2022.

Brown, who had never been camping before, was excited to adopt the new lifestyle. But he quickly learned how difficult it was living outdoors. “It was a lot once we got everything settled,” Brown said. “It was crazy dealing with the animals and the cold.”

After six months, Brown and Hubbard adapted to the new living situation and decided to chronicle their journey.

In December of 2023 he posted videos that showed him taking leftover food from his job at a nearby hotel to the tent. Brown lost his job soon after — but the videos generated millions of views on TikTok and YouTube.

Around the same time, Hubbard’s mom encouraged the couple to visit a nearby U-Haul store for an occasional break from the cold, and for a place where they could edit their videos and do other “office work.” The couple saw the storage units there as an opportunity to have a low-cost home of their own, at least while they saved money for a more permanent space.

They started by taking naps inside the U-Haul store, then moved their belongings into one unit. Over time, they organized furniture and made it into a small housing quarter. They posted the three-part series on TikTok, which generated over 22 million views and made national news, with outlets like CBS News, Complex, and Yahoo News reporting on their move into the climate-controlled space.

Within days, U-Haul management asked the couple to leave.

“Residing in a self-storage unit is a violation of state and federal housing laws,” Jeff Lockridge, a spokesperson for U-Haul International wrote in an email to The Inquirer.

“I was always prepared to get kicked out because of the video,” Brown said. “I didn’t expect it to become as viral as it was, but when it did, I knew I couldn’t delete it. I was making money off of it, so we had to run with it.”

The couple stayed in a U-Haul truck for a night before moving their stuff back to the Lansdale woods.

Brown and Hubbard currently live inside a large camping tent, filled with bundled blankets, an air mattress, and a power bank to charge their electronics.

Brown, who prefers the term “house-lessness,” said tent life is less than ideal. But the independence that comes with the low-cost lifestyle, he feels, is a sacrifice worth enduring.

“I’m very educated and intelligent, and so is [Hubbard], but people tell us how to live because their perspective in life is different,” Brown said.

While Brown had asked to move back in with his parents in the past, he said he and his father have now come to an understanding. “My dad is saying [I] have to stay in the woods and make it work,” he said. “He’s trying to teach me to be strong and survive.”

His father, Leland Brown Sr., a principal engineer and director of a military and aerospace communications company, said he had his concerns, especially when Brown and Hubbard moved into the storage container. Still, “I believe Leland has been very clear this is a choice he has made and he stands on his choice,” Brown wrote in an email. “If no harm is caused to anyone, content development is a good method to share his approaches on how he wants to live his life, while allowing others to follow his journey.”

While Hubbard’s parents have invited her back home, she’s continued to say no. “I had to leave to be the best version of myself,” she said.

Since last year, the couple has monetized videos of their daily exploits. They clean up in hotel bathrooms, use rented vehicles to run DoorDash deliveries, make food in a portable grill placed in the trunk of an electric car. All the while defending their house-free lifestyle against the naysayers who comment under their posts.

The couple is enrolled in the YouTube Partner Program and TikTok’s Creator Fund, which allow certain users to monetize their videos based on views, engagements, and other metrics. Brown said they pull in roughly $750 a week from their videos.

In a February video, titled “When You’re Homeless & Not Getting a Job #genz,” Brown talked about his desire to be an entrepreneur rather than working for someone else. “I’m not getting no job,” he said in the TikTok video. “I’ve had jobs in the past, and I’ve got fired at 90% of those jobs. It’s not for me. I’m an entrepreneur, self-made, and so is [Hubbard].”

In response to the video, one TikTok user commented “if you can’t handle a 9-5, you most definitely cannot handle entrepreneurship.”

Brown and Hubbard admit negative comments often get under their skin, especially when people suggest they are faking their lifestyle or meaninglessly avoiding employment.

“I’ve been saying homelessness is a flex, and I believe that with my heart and soul because of the challenges homeless people endure,” Brown said. “People don’t understand that.”

Still, Brown says he recognizes his and Hubbard’s living situation is a lot different from many unhoused people. They are located in a relatively quiet suburb and can earn a steady flow of income from their videos. “We got very lucky,” he said. “I grew up here half of my life, so that’s a privilege.”

Tyler Greene, who has known Brown since they were in elementary school, is happy his friend is garnering attention online, but “I want him to get out of that tent,” he said.

The couple will continue living in the woods for now, but Hubbard said they intend to save money and eventually buy a tiny home before starting a family together. They currently want to purchase an RV and document van life. (A recent social media trend focuses on #vanlife, where people live out of modified vans. It’s often promoted as a bohemian way to travel and save money, but critics say it’s really “glorified homelessness.”)

Their only hurdle is a lack of payment and credit history.

In the 2022 Freddie Mac survey on homeownership, insufficient credit history and unstable employment were two of the top five obstacles preventing young adults from purchasing a home.

“We have to be more patient, live out in the woods for three or six more months, and just be more financially intelligent,” Brown said. “We’re just waiting for the right time while we live in the wilderness.”

As they continue to chase their entrepreneurial dreams, which include starting a clothing and pottery business, Hubbard said they want to change the negative perception of unhoused people through their content.

“It’s not the end of the world to be homeless or live minimally,” she said. “It’s an opportunity we have to work on ourselves.”

No fade on prices: Why Philly barbers are charging $100 and up for haircuts

Kenneth Carruth IV, the North Philly native known as The4thKen on social media, has made waves (literally) with his haircut tutorials and videos. The 20-year-old barber has amassed more than 1.8 million likes on TikTok, with his biggest video reaching over 2 million views. But it’s not always his clean lines and tight fades that are attracting attention.

In one video, Carruth showed off a mid-fade and noted, “My client paid me $80 for this haircut.” Other videos list prices well above $100. While some viewers were in favor of the price tag, others called the haircut a “scam” and wrote how their barber could do the same job for $15.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Carruth also charged $15 per head. But with more demand, and the rising cost of running a business, he had to raise his rates.

“I feel like pre-pandemic, barbers were undervalued,” Carruth said. “Now, barbers are starting to realize their worth and see that it’s not just about the cut. You’re providing an experience.”

And he isn’t alone.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, haircut prices rose 6.8% in November 2022 from the same time a year before, which is the largest annual increase since the fact-finding agency started tracking the category. Men — who are used to paying with a single bill for their cuts — are noticing.

In the past, local barbers engaged in price wars with neighboring shops to have an edge on clientele. If one shop offered cuts for $20, another would offer them for $15. But the pandemic crippled small-business owners, said Damon Dorsey, 61, president of the American Barber Association. Barbers and other service workers were among the hardest hit.

To stay afloat, many chose to raise their rates.

Southwest Philly barber Nicky Prosseda, 40, said the seismic blow of the pandemic also inspired barbers to sharpen their business practices.

From the mid-20th century to recent years, Prosseda said, barbers enjoyed the benefits of cash-in-hand transactions and tax-free loopholes. But as the industry evolved, the slow rise in haircut prices didn’t match the hikes in beauty product prices, booth rentals, and Venmo and CashApp fees. And for many, it made barbering unlivable as a primary income source.

Prosseda, who charges $75 a cut, is the director of Philly’s Modern Male Barber Academy. “I truly believe that there’s this kind of pain for the sins of our forefather barbers and the past owners,” he said. “They didn’t teach us the best things in the industry, so you pass it down.”

Based on data collected in May 2021, the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated that most barber salaries range between $22,430 and $53,260. Prosseda said that may be barbers’ reported income, but a lot have been making $50,000 to $100,000 for years. And with even more resources at their disposal, he estimates they will start to rack in upward of $150,000 per year going forward.

Along with better business practices, Dorsey said, barbers are now able to leverage their social media presence to draw in more clients willing to pay top dollar. Apps like Booksy and StyleSeat help barbers manage customer information and schedule haircuts. Barbers like Carruth have used them to expand their brands beyond their corner or neighborhood.

By building his social media brand, Carruth was able to open his own barber studio in Kensington. After turning his social media followers into loyal clients, he saved enough money to get a business license and land the small commercial space in August 2021.

“I know a lot of barbers that are great at cutting hair, but they suck at running a business,” Carruth said. “And with that, you can’t charge what you want because you’re just going purely off skill.”

While most of his clients understand his raised prices, West Philly barber Jalen Thompson, 23, said he’s had customers leave to look for lower rates. Thompson, who charges $45 to $75 for haircuts and more than $120 for house calls, is comfortable with that risk.

“We stopped being hustlers and turned into CEOs,” he said. “I became a barber because I love cutting hair, but I also knew how much money there was to be made in this industry. ... There’s an opportunity to retire early and really enjoy life and take on other business ventures.” Prosseda agrees that it’s allowed him and others to live a better, more balanced life.

“A barber’s career is not one of mental easiness or physical, so you have to raise the prices for the barber to have a work-life balance where you can put your kid on the bus, and go be the coach to your son’s football team, or whatever it is. You have to raise the prices in order for that to happen.”

The fruits of the industry, Carruth said, are enjoyed by barbers who learn how to adapt. Along with cutting different hair textures and embracing products like semi-permanent dye, man weaves, and other enhancements, it’s important to provide other services like hair washes, snacks, TV, and WiFi.

“There’s a lot of older barbers that are stuck in their ways that refuse to change, and unfortunately, they’re more than likely gonna get left behind,” he said.

Overbrook resident Ian Watson, who’s been a client of Carruth’s for nearly a year, said customers are willing to pay for the right experience.

“Depending on the quality of the cuts and the level of professionalism, people will pay to avoid the stereotypical barber,” Watson said. “I say it’s worth it.”

– The Philadelphia Inquirer