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

Environmental & social justice advocate, journalist, and bestselling author Michael Shellenberger chats with Trey Elling about SAN FRANSICKO: WHY PROGRESSIVES RUIN CITIES. Questions include: What caused San Francisco's problem with homelessness to worsen over the past decade? (00:47) Why did then-mayor Gavin Newsom's  10-year plan to combat homelessness fail so miserably? (03:00) How do people misinterpret Portugal as a utopia for drug decriminalization/legalization? (05:09) What did he learn from two trips to the Netherlands in 2019 about productively assisting the homeless? (07:19) How big an issue is people profiteering off of a 'homeless industrial complex'? (11:54) What is contingency management intervention, and why is it effective at helping drug addicts? (16:01) Why does labeling drug addicts and the mentally ill as 'homeless' manipulate our thinking? (19:40) How did an attempt at a Tent City utopia in Seattle in the summer of 2020 ultimately turn out? (22:06) What is a lesser-known aspect of the Harvey Milk's story that's helpful when considering solutions for homelessness? (28:02)

Standup comedian, director, actor, and bestselling author Bob Saget chats with Trey Elling for episode #4 of our NO BOOKS REQUIRED series, ahead of his show at Austin's Paramount Theatre on Friday night. Questions include: How did it feel when Mitzi Shore passed him at the Comedy Store in the late 1970s? What are his memories of the late Bill Hicks? Why did he end up in one of the most memorable scenes in HALF BAKED? Did the studio as that they tone down the film DIRTY WORK to avoid an 'R' rating? Was Dave Coulier the mystery man in Alanis Morissette's "You Oughta Know"? Is there a story from his friendship with the late, great Norm Macdonald that accurately reflects the sort of person Norm was?

Oscar-winning filmmaker Oliver Stone chats with Trey Elling about JFK REVISITED: THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS. The documentary organizes revelations from the most recent batch of declassified documents of Kennedy's assassination, combined with prior evidence, to debunk the Warren Commission's final report on the killing. while also showing who did it and why. JFK REVISITED premieres on Showtime on the 58th anniversary of John F. Kennedy's murder in Dallas.

Paul A. Offit, MD, an attending physician in the Division of Infectious Diseases & the director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, a professor of vaccinology and pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania, and member of the FDA's vaccine advisory committee chats with Trey Elling about YOU BET YOUR LIFE: FROM BLOOD TRANSFUSIONS TO MASS VACCINATION, THE LONG AND RISKY HISTORY OF MEDICAL INNOVATION. Questions include: Did any ethical issues arrive with human-to-human heart transplants before brain death was internationally defined in 1968? (03:12) Why were blood transfusions disappear after several were performed in the mid-1600s? (05:58) How did the rise of HIV/AIDS in the 1980s impact blood transfusions? (08:08) How was nationalism a hindrance to anesthesia in its early days? (10:14) Regarding antibiotics, what was the Elixir Sulfanilamide disaster of 1937? (14:35) When examining the history of vaccines, why did he focus on the creation and administration of the polio vaccine? (17:25) What are x-rays? (28:55) What does mustard gas have to do with the advent of chemotherapy? (31:05) Does the general public need a COVID vaccine booster six months after receiving their initial shots? (39:07) How should those with immunity acquired from previous infection be looked at? (41:55)

Renowned film critic and historian Leonard Maltin chats with Trey Elling about STARSTRUCK: MY UNLIKELY ROAD TO HOLLYWOOD. Topics include: What was the first film that made him fall in love with movies? (02:47) How did he start expressing his passion for tv and cinema through the media? (07:15) How did he land the Entertainment Tonight gig in the 1980s? (14:06) Why did Burt Reynolds threaten to punch him out at the Golden Boot Awards? (16:30) What is the film class he has taught at USC for more than two decades, and why does he love it? (21:53) What is Mel Brooks like to be around? (26:26)

Renowned psychiatrist and medical director of Stanford Addiction Medicine Dr. Anna Lembke chats with Trey Elling about DOPAMINE NATION: FINDING BALANCE IN THE AGE OF INDULGENCE. Questions include: What is dopamine, and what does popular culture get wrong about it? (01:27) How does the dopamine economy play into the compulsive abuse of substances and activities? (03:59) How has helicopter parenting contributed to the rise of compulsive behaviors? (05:42) Is mental illness that requires medication being overdiagnosed? (07:08) How do pleasure and pain work like a balance in our brains? (07:49) What effect does gambling have on dopamine release, and how might that help explain social media addiction? (10:53) How does learning increase dopamine firing? (14:48) What is dopamine fasting? (16:55) How does pain become pleasurable? (23:06) Why do people respond so positively to 'radical honesty'? (26:08) What is prosocial shame, and how can parents implement it with their children? (28:16) What is the proper point of moderation? (32:11)

Tony-winning actor of stage and screen, singer, activist, and writer Alan Cumming chats with Trey Elling about BAGGAGE: TALES FROM A FULLY PACKED LIFE. Questions include: Why was he in such a bad headspace at the age of 29, and what led him to changing his course? (04:46) Around this time, he and his brother confronted their dad about the abuse he subjected them to. How'd that go? (07:03) How big was it to land the role of Sandy Frink in ROMY AND MICHELLE'S HIGH SCHOOL REUNION? (09:55) What was his first impression of Stanley Kubrick on the set of EYES WIDE SHUT, and how'd that experience positively impact him? (15:10) Is there a profound aspect of starring in CABARET on Broadway that he doesn't get to speak about enough? (19:14) How'd it go when Alan and his castmates, clad in their superhero outfits, confronted Bryan Singer on the set of X2: X-MEN UNITED? (23:20) What does his husband Grant mean to him? (26:23) What did he learn about himself from researching the book? (27:26)

Cartoonist, illustrator, writer, and former circus clown Joe Lee chats with Trey Elling about the graphic novel he wrote and illustrated, titled FORGIVENESS: THE STORY OF EVA KOR, SURVIVOR OF THE AUSCHWITZ TWIN EXPERIMENTS. Joe shares the details of Eva's life, which proves inspirational as a result of unfathomable trauma and tragedy at the hands of the Nazis during World War II.

Zoologist and bestselling author Bill Schutt chats with Trey Elling about PUMP: A NATURAL HISTORY OF THE HEART. Their discussion starts the importance of the hearts and circulatory systems of blue whales, horseshoe crabs, squids and octopuses, giraffes, crocodiles, and bats. Plus the ins and outs of the human heart, including the evolution of our understanding of this crucial muscular organ.

Cannabis journalist Josiah Hesse chats with Trey Elling about RUNNERS HIGH: HOW A MOVEMENT OF CANNABIS-FUELED ATHLETES IS CHANGING THE SCIENCE OF SPORTS. The guys discuss the physiology behind "the runner's high", the comprehensive nature of our internal cannabinoid system, the demonization of cannabis in the early 1900s after it had been used as a plant medicine for thousands of years, research over the past 70 years that is correcting the 'lazy stoner' trope, the convoluted logic behind World Anti-Doping Agency labelling cannabis as a performance-enhancing drug, and more.