Spirit Talk Show - Bedtime Stories for Grown Ups

He was in the pub with Rowan Atkinson when John Cleese called. He watched Rick Mayal and Adrian Edmondson do their very first television appearance. He stood at the back of an empty auditorium the night Stefan Grappelli made a seasoned guitarist stop mid-conversation just to watch. He was there for so much of it — the golden age of British comedy, the writers' rooms, the charity stages, the moment...

Every season begins with a spark. For the Season 7 premiere of Spirit Talk Show: Bedtime Stories for Grown-Ups, Doyle welcomes a guest who feels perfectly at home in the world of imagination, storytelling, and the power of the human voice. Scott Miller, host of the acclaimed Lost Sci-Fi Podcast, joins the show for a lively and unforgettable conversation about vintage science fiction, the golden ag...

After we aired our Season 6 tribute to Evelyn Dorothy Parker, something stayed with me. Not just her story, but the voices of the people she made. This bonus companion episode is something I have never done before on this show. What you are about to hear is the memorial gathering held for Evelyn by the people who loved her — her sons, her colleagues from the Krasnow Lab at Stanford, the young rese...

As Season 6 of Spirit Talk Show: Bedtime Stories for Grown-Ups comes to a close, we pause—not with noise, but with reflection. In this special tribute episode, Doyle sits down with his friend Russ to honor the life of Russ’s mother, Evelyn Dorothy Parker—a remarkable woman whose story quietly spans immigration, science, motherhood, and a lifetime of perseverance. Born in 1937 to a family who fled...

What if the greatest threat to humanity isn’t scarcity — but excess? In this powerful episode of Spirit Talk Show: Bedtime Stories for Grown-Ups, Doyle welcomes speculative fiction author Diana Colleen for a fascinating conversation about wealth, power, climate change, and the human psychology behind extreme accumulation. Diana shares the deeply personal journey that led her to write her bold new...

What does it look like when a man stands in a thunderstorm, dares lightning to strike him, and discovers his entire purpose instead? Steve Gamlin -- keynote speaker, stand-up comedian, vision board coach, and self-described "beach bum philanthropist" -- has built a life out of beautiful wreckage. A ten-year radio career that imploded. A divorce. Tens of thousands of dollars in debt at 35. And then...

What happens to the families left behind after the headlines fade? In this powerful episode of Spirit Talk Show: Bedtime Stories for Grown-Ups, Doyle sits down with novelist and therapist Debbie Show, author of Paper Roses, and audiobook narrator Laurieann Hart for an intimate conversation about sibling abuse, narcissistic family systems, generational trauma, and the long shadow of public scandal....

There are people you meet in life who remind you that you are more than the story you have been telling about yourself. Wil Fisher is one of those people. This week on Spirit Talk Show, Doyle gets deeply personal. He opens by sharing something that happened to him at a retreat he nearly did not attend, a weekend where he cried not once but three times, not from sadness, but from something rarer an...

This is a special episode of Spirit Talk Show. In one of the most personal and emotionally revealing conversations of the season, Doyle sits down with Eldra DeBarge Jr. for a powerful conversation about family legacy, music, fatherhood, pain, purpose, and the courage it takes to become yourself when the world thinks it already knows who you are. As the son of a legendary musical bloodline, Eldra h...

In this powerful episode of Spirit Talk Show, Doyle sits down with Josh Tomeoni for an honest, deeply personal conversation about masculinity, divorce, identity collapse, addiction, failure, and the long road back to yourself. Josh opens up about the moment his life cracked open—when shame, loss, and the collapse of the life he thought he had forced him to confront who he really was underneath the...

What happens when the person behind the camera becomes part of the story? In this episode of Spirit Talk Show, Doyle sits down with novelist and crisis communications expert John David, author of the award-winning thriller The Bystander. Inspired by a real-life active shooter intervention, the novel follows TV reporter Pete LeMaster, who captures the moment a bystander stops a shooter. The footage...

There is a quiet memory many of us carry — even if we don’t have language for it. A sense that life was once gentler. That cooperation came before competition. That learning once meant becoming more human, not more efficient. In this reflective episode of Spirit Talk Show: Bedtime Stories for Grown-Ups, Doyle sits down with psychotherapist, yoga philosophy teacher, and author Catya Batalha to expl...

  What happens when someone decides to stop waiting for life and start sailing directly into it? In this adventurous and reflective episode of Spirit Talk Show: Bedtime Stories for Grown-Ups, Doyle welcomes sailor, author, and podcaster Paul Trammell, a man who quite literally followed the wind to a new life. Paul lives aboard his sailboat in the Caribbean waters of Panama, writing novels, recordi...

What if happiness isn’t something we force or choose on command, but something that slowly emerges as we come to understand ourselves more deeply? In this thoughtful episode of Spirit Talk Show: Bedtime Stories for Grown-Ups, Doyle sits down with Australian author and philosopher Adam Brownlie to explore happiness through the lenses of neuroscience, philosophy, and lived experience. Drawing from h...

Some stories take a lifetime to find their voice. In this engaging and heartfelt episode of Spirit Talk Show: Bedtime Stories for Grown-Ups, Doyle sits down with author Jean Burgess for a conversation that spans decades of storytelling—from childhood performances in the living room to a late-in-life journey into fiction writing. With over 40 years in theater as a performer, director, and educator,...

What if confidence isn’t something you earn—but something you remember? In this inspiring, funny, and deeply affirming episode of Spirit Talk Show: Bedtime Stories for Grown-Ups, Doyle and producer Howie welcome Simone Knego—international speaker, two-time TEDx presenter, bestselling author, podcast host, and the voice behind The Extraordinary Unordinary You and the upcoming book Real Confidence....

History tells us who mattered. Stories tell us who lived. In this sweeping and deeply illuminating episode of Spirit Talk Show: Bedtime Stories for Grown-Ups, Doyle and producer Howie welcome Cinda Gault, an acclaimed novelist whose work resurrects the lives of women history barely paused to record—women who crossed oceans, paddled into wilderness, defied expectation, and claimed meaning on their...

Some people search for miracles. Others trip over them daily—and laugh while doing it. In this joyful, funny, and deeply thoughtful episode of Spirit Talk Show: Bedtime Stories for Grown-Ups, Doyle and producer Howie sit down with Kirsten Rudberg—author, screenwriter, podcaster, spiritual explorer, and self-described panentheist who believes the divine is not somewhere else, but everywhere, all at...

Some people don’t speak loudly. They speak deeply. In this reflective and quietly powerful episode of Spirit Talk Show: Bedtime Stories for Grown-Ups, Doyle and producer Howie welcome Joseph Bolton—a former Army officer, folklorist, and creator of the richly imagined Old Grandmother’s Tree series, a body of work rooted in ancestry, myth, and the enduring wisdom of story. Joseph spent 25 years in t...

What if dyslexia isn’t a learning disability — but a differently wired brain that’s been taught the wrong way? In this powerful and thought-provoking episode of Spirit Talk Show: Bedtime Stories for Grown-Ups, Doyle sits down with Russell Van Brocklin — known as “The Dyslexic Professor” — whose journey from a first-grade reading level to law school sparked a mission to transform how we teach readi...

Why do so many books disappear—while a few quietly change lives? In this candid and thought-provoking episode of Spirit Talk Show: Bedtime Stories for Grown-Ups, Doyle and producer Howie sit down with Doug Crowe, founder of Author Your Brand and a strategist who has helped hundreds of leaders become bestselling authors—often without writing a single word themselves. Doug isn’t interested in vanity...

What if success as a writer isn’t measured in bestseller lists—but in persistence, purpose, and showing up anyway? In this deeply grounding episode of Spirit Talk Show: Bedtime Stories for Grown-Ups, Doyle is joined by Terry Whalin—editor, author, acquisitions professional, and publishing mentor whose decades-long career has helped thousands of writers navigate the often confusing, myth-filled wor...

What does it mean to leave something behind that truly lasts? In this deeply uplifting episode of Spirit Talk Show: Bedtime Stories for Grown-Ups, Doyle and producer Howie welcome author, speaker, and podcaster Dom Brightmon, a self-described Positive Thought Catalyst whose life’s work centers on one powerful idea: advance others so they can advance themselves. From becoming the youngest Area Dire...

Some stories entertain. Others quietly keep us alive. In this powerful and deeply human episode of Spirit Talk Show: Bedtime Stories for Grown-Ups, Doyle is joined by Richard Spiegel, a prolific fantasy and dark speculative fiction author whose work lives at the intersection of imagination, trauma, love, and resilience. Richard is the author of five published novels—with many more already written—...

What happens when you stop chasing spectacle—and start chasing truth? In this richly layered episode of Spirit Talk Show: Bedtime Stories for Grown-Ups, Doyle sits down with Sacramento filmmaker, actor, musician, and creative instigator Sean Kilcoyne for an evening that drifts effortlessly between laughter, philosophy, memory, and imagination. Sean is the kind of storyteller who builds entire worl...