Beyond the Mic with Sean Dillon

Bert Kreischer joins Sean Dillon on this Beyond the Mic Short Cut. The comedian on the Permission to Party Tour at Buddy Holly Hall explains how he wrote a new hour after the girls left for college. He puts Free Bert at about 50-50 real and made up. In the Fast Four he picks Fargo for his favorite bus breakdown and names the one person he wishes he could call. He also shares his mom's elephant adv...

James McAvoy was 45 and a rookie. "I'm a rookie director. It's like being 22 as an actor." He directed his first film, "CALIFORNIA SCHEMIN'". What did it feel like to him? Anxiety. Pressure. And the energy that came with both. It could have crippled him. It didn't. Who is harder on you, the actor or the director? The director. He is sweating blood for it. As an actor, "I've made my peace with the...

"We've been together since we were kids. So we like each other's company." Jimmy Brown Growing up every teacher tried to make Jimmy Brown stop tapping. Even his mom tried. All of them failed. He is still doing it. I asked who tried hardest to get him to stop: "All of them." Jimmy is a founding member of UB40, the band that took its name off an unemployment form. Why they take a bus on tour instead...

Twenty years ago, Michael Epstein made a film about a Marine Reserve unit out of Columbus, Ohio. That film put him inside the Haditha case, and he never left it. The staff sergeant charged with 18 counts of murder, told his lawyers for years he couldn't remember what happened, which is a bad defense friends. Epstein took him back into House 2, the room where the government said he killed a family....

Scariest environment you haven't written about yet... "The halls of Congress." - Jack Stewart Jack Stewart spent 23 years landing fighter jets on aircraft carriers at night. He says landing on a carrier never really gets easy, and it never gets enjoyable either. That's the same discipline he brought into taking over Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan Jr. series. Instead of writing another cockpit story, Stewa...

"I have no need for a bell-bottom, double-breasted yellow suit at this point." - Ali Siddiq Welcome Ali Siddiq We’re joined on the Starline by a comedian who turned down Netflix, bet on himself, and just won the first NAACP Image Award ever given to an independently released special. His special My Father is streaming now. We welcome Ali Siddiq. Ali, let’s go Beyond the Mic You've put out more tha...

"The cool thing about this story is they both teach each other something throughout the film... That's one of my favorite elements of the film, book smart versus street smart." - James Paxton Welcome James Paxton: We're joined on the Starline by an actor and musician who's built his own lane in Hollywood. He's trading gunslinger banter with Malcolm McDowell in “Last Train to Fortune”. We welcome J...

"Solomon, I always envisioned him as the African version of Luca Brasi from The Godfather." , Eriq La Salle Welcome Eriq La Salle: We're joined on the Starline by the actor and director who spent nine seasons on ER, directing your favorite shows and just published his most personal thriller yet, “Laws of Solomon”. We welcome Eriq La Salle. Eriq, let's go Beyond the Mic. As an author, it's your job...

"...(Ortiz) never went back to Centron", Katie Sanders Welcome Nick Reynolds and Katie Sanders We’re joined on the Starline by a journalist, who chased a 1949 recording to the Marine who saved her grandfather in Nazi-occupied France, and a historian, who kept that Marine's photo on his CIA desk for years. o-authors of “Ortiz's War: The Allies' Secret Weapon Against the Nazis in France”. We welcome...

"I made a decision very early on to just let the Flyers tell the story." Welcome Joe Amodei We're joined on the Starline by a guy who's spent forty years deciding which movies get made and how they get sold and never once his own. That changes now. "Cold War in Philly: Flyers vs. Russia 1976" is his first film in the director's chair, and it's out now. We welcome Joe Amodei. Joe, let’s go Beyond t...

"What's ironic, Sean, is it's not video, it's audio." Welcome Andy Billman We're joined on the Starline by the director who spent four years turning one baseball injustice into a five-part series, “My Father, Dick Allen”. Two Emmys, a Peabody, and a lifelong Cleveland kid at heart. We welcome Andy Billman. Andy, let's go Beyond the Mic. This started as a one-hour film and became a five-part series...

"You're going to die and nobody's going to remember you 50 years after that." — Tom Provost Welcome Tom Provost: We’re joined on the Starline by a true Hollywood polymath. Writer, director, actor, teacher, and part time charity CEO. Hollywood’s go to script is in the spotlight now with his film “Young Washington”. We welcome Tom Provost. Tom, let’s go Beyond the Mic. Every version of Washington we...

"...how different my career would have been had Alan Jackson cut Long Black Train." Welcome Josh Turner: We’re joined on the Starline by a man who stood in a Nashville pressing plant and watched the first copy of his own twenty-year-old record come off the line. "Your Man" turns twenty. We welcome Josh Turner. Josh, let's go Beyond the Mic. You were standing right there at United Record Pressing w...

"Nobody cares about your story, whether you're a writer of books or screenwriting.", Robin Christian Welcome Robin Christian: We're joined on the Starline by a filmmaker who refuses to pick a lane: horror, holiday, musical, true story. The horror-thriller "Below," brings bull sharks to landlocked Illinois. We welcome Robin Christian. Robin, let’s go Beyond the Mic. You've made a bull-shark thrille...

"If you're a skilled writer, then you can become a 19th century Texan." Daniel Silva Welcome Daniel Silva: We're joined on the Starline by a #1 New York Times bestselling author whose spy hero just went up against Russian drones in “Ransom” We welcome Daniel Silva. Daniel, let’s go Beyond the Mic. Ransom is part kidnap drama, part global thriller, and you've said it's built around one of the most...

"Find your identity in something that lasts." Welcome Scott Spiezio: We're joined on the Starline by a two time World Series champion who spent his road trips teaching himself guitar in hotel rooms. His memoir “The Hardest Comeback” is out now. We welcome Scott Spiezio. Scott, Let’s go Beyond the Mic. You tell your story from a stage any chance you get. For free, to whoever shows up. What's in the...

"I want my daughter to have that kind of compassion when someone's being mean or rude." Welcome Ryan Weiss: We're joined on the Starline by a father, partner, teacher, podcaster and former Broadway star. His latest project is a daily podcast, “Waking Up with Ryan”. We welcome Ryan Weiss. Ryan, let's go Beyond the Mic. You've said, "It was never about becoming someone new. It was about letting go o...

"I will be so happy to rewatch, watch this every day to talk to every single director, every single writer, every single cast member." Welcome Thea Glassman: We’re joined on the Starline by an entertainment journalist and author who traced classic TV culture in “Freaks, Gleeks, and Dawson's Creek”. Now, she's turning her lens to Loft 4D with her new book, “Who's That Girl: The Definitive History o...

"The lines don't matter. The life does." — James Landry Hébert (On the difference between working with Sam Levinson and Taylor Sheridan.) Welcome James Landry Hébert: We’re joined on the Starline by a character actor born in Lafayette went from Brad Pitt's stand-in, to have Sam Levinson write a role specifically for him. Season 3 of “Euphoria” is streaming now on HBO Max. We welcome James Landry H...

"I'm not worthless, like my father said I was." - Billy West Welcome Billy West: We’re joined on the Starline by a voice-over actor who did his best stuff in the 31st Century. His latest project is his book “Voice-A-Versa: Finding My Voice(s) Behind the Mic”. We welcome Billy West. Billy, let’s go Beyond the Mic. You wrote this book about your own life, and then you had to read it out loud for the...

"I'm getting death threat and you're getting marriage proposals." — Leanne Morgan Welcome Leanne Morgan We're joined on the Starline by a comedian who spent twenty years working Tennessee living rooms before Hollywood caught on. Now her sitcom is headed into season two and her tour keeps adding shows. “The Time of Our Lives Tour” is on the road now. We welcome Leanne Morgan. Leanne, let’s go Beyon...

What do the writers' room of Succession , ABBA's recording studio, and Michelin-starred kitchens have in common? According to social psychologist Ron Friedman, they all run on the same playbook—and it’s completely counterintuitive. Friedman analyzed over 100,000 data points for his new book, Superteams , and discovered that elite teams aren’t the ones that collaborate the most or put in the longes...

"Things don't come easy. It doesn't matter, you know, that who I'm related to, you know, I'm out here in a van driving around." Welcome John PayCheck: We're joined on the Starline by a man who grew up riding buses with one of country music's biggest outlaws. He walked away from music for two decades, fighting fires, flying for the Army, raising a family, and building a completely different life. N...

"Nobody pushed me to become the musician I am. I did it because I loved it." — Kenny Wayne Shepherd Kenny Wayne Shepherd recorded his debut album at seventeen, drove to Memphis on weekends to track it, and went platinum before he could legally drink. Thirty years later, he went back in with the same guitars, the same amps, and a band that's spent three decades living inside these songs. Ledbetter...

"It's funny, I'm not saying I did it, but to me, it's we did it like all versions of myself, you know, the girl who thought it'd be easy, the girl who thought she should give up, the girl who, wasn't sure if this was going to pan out...Like all the versions of myself. We did it." — Zoie Tannous Welcome Zoie Tannous: We’re joined on the Starline by an actress who grew up in the valley and went from...