The Sport of Life: Chats w/ Comedians, Filmmakers, Sports Figures, Musicians, & Intellectuals

Actor Jesse L. Martin chats with Trey Elling about RE: UNITING, ahead of the film's world premiere at the Austin Film Festival on October 28th. Topics include: What drew Jesse to this project (0:58) The film's striking the right emotional cords (2:27) Why Jesse doesn't live with regret (4:25) Movies that make Jesse cry (7:12)

Actor Ed Begley Jr chats with Trey Elling about DON'T TELL LARRY. The dark comedy thriller's world premiere is at the Austin Film Festival on October 27th. Topics include: What initially drew Ed to the film (0:34) Ed as a man of the people (2:57) Taking both comedic and dramatic roles (3:31) Kiel Kennedy as 'Larry' (4:41) Where Ed's sense of humor comes from (6:01) Ed's favorite comedic actor (7:27)

3x Grammy-winning musician Bruce Hornsby chats with Trey Elling. Topics include: The 25th anniversary of Spirit Trail (0:42) Changing how he played piano for the record (3:47) Taking several new things at once (6:24) The key to telling a story through music (10:43) Appearing in World's Greatest Dad (12:15) Playing with the Grateful Dead (14:45) How Jerry Garcia influenced him (18:06) Bruce's favorite song by The Dead (19:42) Tupac sampling "The Way It Is" (20:40) Fondest memories of playing in Austin (26:18) Finishing with some bars from "Low" by Cracker (28:57)

Musician Ben Folds chats with Trey Elling, ahead of a stop in Austin on his US theatre tour in support of his new album, What Matters Most. Topics include: How the tour is going (0:42) What he loves about the new album (2:05) Learning to care less about criticism (3:54) Ben's uncompromising artistic integrity (6:42) Evolving on exploring & experimenting (9:15) Producing William Shatner's 2004 album (15:02) If he wants to write a musical (18:33) What Ben loves about Austin (20:54)

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu expert & advocate Rener Gracie chats with Trey Elling about THE 32 PRINCIPLES: HARNESSING THE POWER OF JIU-JITSU TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS. Topics include: A 32 principles overview (1:16) BJJ as a blueprint for life (6:59) The Connection Principle (10:11) Detachment as a learned skill (14:25) The Velocity Principle & slowing down (19:25) Rener’s invention and the River Principle (21:19) The Kizushi Principle & the value of “I don’t know” (27:44) The Fork Principle as the highest level of BJJ (34:00) Rener’s favorite quote about Jiu-Jitsu (39:00)

Comedian Brad Williams chats with Trey Elling, ahead of his headlining shows at Cap City Comedy Club from October 5th thru 7th. Topics include: Performing in Austin (1:09) Cap City Comedy Club & man spas (3:09) Taylor Swift & the NFL (5:26) Russell Wilson and the Denver Broncos (7:02) The Dolphins beating the Broncos by 50 (8:38) The Josh McDaniels era in Denver (10:41) Hitler ruining certain waves and mustaches (12:01) Brad's fondest Broncos memory (14:10) USC Trojans football (16:34) Brad's thoughts on fatherhood (22:32) Unwritten rules of comedy club etiquette (24:12)

Legendary BBQ pitmaster Aaron Franklin chats with Trey Elling about FRANKLIN SMOKE: WOOD. FIRE. FOOD. Topics include: Why he decided to complete a "trilogy" with this book (2:20) Turning what you love into a career (3:22) Aaron's willingness to share his "secrets" (4:00) How he has evolved with cooking brisket (7:05) What got him interested in the science of cooking BBQ (9:59) Recalling his restaurant's fire in 2017 (11:45) Why he loves about his for-home Franklin Pits (14:33) Aaron Franklin respects wood, specifically post oak (16:42) Tannins and firewood (19:05) Cutting wood (20:30) Cooking with fire (23:15) Aaron's smoke sensitivities (27:23) Spending less time cutting meat for lunches (29:27) Uptown Sports Club (30:28) Is his next restaurant going to be a taco place? (33:41) The whole Branzino recipe in FRANKLIN SMOKE (38:35) "Hot n' Fast" brisket (39:55) Reverse searing (41:04) Favorite places to grab meat to cook at home (46:14) Austin's current food scene (48:08) How Aaron would cook humanely harvested human (51:20)

Comedian and author Sam Tallent chats with Trey Elling about standup and his debut novel, RUNNING THE LIGHT. Topics include: Typical radio interviews (1:05) Joe Rogan's Comedy Mothership (3:08) Gary Clark Jr (4:49) Austin's comedy scene (7:22) Doug Stanhope (9:18) Daily life in Bisbee, AZ (10:58) Inspirations for RUNNING THE LIGHT (12:10) Sam's love for writing (15:47) Authors who influence Sam (18:39) Having comics read different chapters for the audio book (19:54) A favorite memory from Sam's recent trip to France (23:11) Making Ecuadorians laugh with limited Spanish (28:05) Unwritten rules of watching standup comedy in person (28:42)

Eleven-time Emmy winner James Burrows chats with Trey Elling about DIRECTED BY JAMES BURROWS: FIVE DECADES OF STORIES FROM THE LEGENDARY DIRECTOR OF TAXI, CHEERS, FRASIER, FRIENDS, WILL & GRACE, AND MORE. Topics include: The best lesson he learned from his dad, Abe (1:15) Entering TV during a transformative time (2:34) Dying with your boots on (5:54) The difficulty of Taxi (10:04) Andy Kaufman (12:27) Louie De Palma (16:11) Having Sam & Diane to hook up in Cheers (17:11) The inspiration for Cheers (19:30) The challenges of setting a show in a bar (22:06) Replacing Coach with Woody Harrelson (24:07) Cheers never jumping the shark (27:44) The Cheers finale (28:39) Why he worked so well with Glen & Les Charles (30:15) Kelsey Grammar's brilliance (31:25) Will & Grace (35:22) The importance of 'butterflies' (40:05) Directing the Friends pilot (40:54) NewsRadio (46:15) Jason Bateman (50:01) Drawing the best out of an actor (51:54) Why he thinks of himself as lucky (53:38)

Actor & comedian David Koechner chats with Trey Elling, ahead of his headlining shows at Cap City Comedy Club. Topics include: Evolving beliefs in parental influence (0:57) Performing in Austin, TX (10:10) The perils of cell phones (12:45) Some of David's less-discussed roles (23:35) Making Larry David laugh on Curb (30:28) A favorite serious role (33:18) Covid & tech crushing our kids (34:25) Artificial Intelligence (37:40) The key to happiness (44:28) Daily triumphs (47:22)