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

Comedian and actor Faizon Love chats with Trey Elling, ahead of his headlining shows at Cap City Comedy Club . Topics include: Snoop Dogg forcing Faizon to retire from weed (0:00) Where he draws his standup material from (4:00) Having his first kid at 50 (4:33) The difficult art of standup comedy (7:23) Starting his standup career at the Comedy Store in the mid-1980s (10:11) Faizon's first enc...

Comedian & podcaster Sam Tripoli chats with Trey Elling, ahead of his Tin Foil Hat Comedy show at the Vulcan Gas Company on November 17th. Topics include: Armenians unite! (0:00) His show with Eddie Bravo at Vulcan (2:17) The LA comedy scene is down (4:25) Would Sam move out of California (7:32) Austin vs Cali homelessness (10:00) American politics (12:51) Sports conspiracies (26:39)

Actor & environmentalist Ed Begley Jr chats with Trey Elling about his new memoir, TO THE TEMPLE OF TRANQUILITY...AND STEP ON IT! Topics include: Carrie Fisher's influence on this book (0:00) What Ed Begley Sr was like as a dad (1:37) Smoking a joint with Charles Manson (2:44) Doing standup with Michael Richards at the Comedy Store in its first week (4:36) How a cop routine got him into tr...

Alonzo Bodden chats with Trey Elling, before his headlining shows at the Comedy Mothership in Austin, TX. Topics include: His initial impressions of the Mothership (0:00) Austin's comedy crowds (3:40) Performing for the military (7:33) Dealing with a heckling klansman (9:41) Performing outside the US (13:54) Expectations for this year's LA Clippers (17:12) Electric and driverless vehicles...

Mark Burg & Oren Koules chat with Trey Elling about SAW X , shortly after the film's premiere at Fantastic Fest 2023 . Burg and Koules have produced all ten projects for the franchise, beginning with the original in 2004. Topics include: Making this one for the casual viewer (0:00) The components of making these films (1:04) Contributing ideas on the traps (1:49) Making SAW films for two d...

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 f...

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&#39...

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&#3...

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 Pr...

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 cer...

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...

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 inf...

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 Kaufma...

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 ki...

Amy Ray and Emily Saliers of Indigo Girls chat with Trey Elling, ahead of the South By Southwest premiere of IT'S ONLY LIFE AFTER ALL , a documentary on the band's musical and social impact over more than 35 years. Topics include: Why now felt like a good time for a documentary (1:22) Something that surprised them about their own story (2:54) The 'Indigo Girls' name (6:03)

Inside Texas writer, scholar, and humorist Paul Wadlington chats with Trey Elling about THINKING TEXAS FOOTBALL , his annual preview of th e Texas Longhorns football season . Topics include: Why Paul is buying the preseason optimism (2:15) Quinn Ewers (4:59) The UT running backs (9:42) An talented WR corps (13:27) The Texas offensive line (15:45) The second most important TE (20:02) Impressive dep...

Austin native & actor Ben McKenzie chats with Trey Elling about EASY MONEY: CRYPTOCURRENCY, CASINO CAPITALISM, AND THE GOLDEN AGE OF FRAUD . Topics include: Finally releasing a book that was nearly two years in the making (1:00) How "The Emperor's New Clothes" & cannabis inspired the book (1:43) What clued him in on crypto as a scam (3:32) Being a skeptic in a sea of crypto h...

Comedian, podcaster and actor Bryan Callen chats with Trey Elling , ahead of his headlining shows at Cap City Comedy Club , August 3-5 . Topics include: Authors and their books (2:03) The return of BEST OF, WITH BRYAN CALLEN (4:24) The magnificence of the Redwoods (5:31) Awe (9:25) Sharing the stage with Alex Jones at Minds Fest (12:32) Cap City Comedy Club (13:47) Jon Stewart (15:22) Race (16:42)...

High school creative writing teacher and first-time author BT Hayes chats with Trey Elling about EXPECTATIONS . Topics include: The feeling of being published for the first time (0:35) The basis of Expectations (1:32) A timeline for the book (2:10) Enjoying the research (3:28) Picking up teenage dialogue thru his day job (5:33) His fears for his own daughter manifesting in the book (7:25) Have his...

Legendary former casting director Joel Thurm chats with Trey Elling about SEX, DRUGS, & PILOT SEASON: CONFESSIONS OF A CASTING DIRECTOR . Topics include: Joaquin Phoenix’s influence on the book (0:00:57) Growing up on a dairy farm in Brooklyn, NY (0:02:58) David Merrick’s influence on Joel’s career (0:08:16) How Pearl Bailey got Joel to Hollywood (0:13:03) LSD, a puffy shirt, & Jesus Chris...

Standup comedian Ali Siddiq chats with Trey Elling, ahead of his headlining shows at Joe Rogan's Comedy Mothership on July 28th & 29th . Ali's new standup special, DOMINO EFFECT II: LOSS , is out now. Topics include: His impressions of the Comedy Mothership (0:54) Focusing on 'loss' in his new special (1:56) Letting your kids lament their trivial problems (4:54) Why he operates...

Actor Jake Johnson chats with Trey Elling about MINX , ahead of the season 2 premiere at the ATX TV Festival . The new season premieres on STARZ on July 21st . Topics include: Austin, TX (0:42) Acting in a 1970s period piece (1:27) The story being told in MINX (2:35) Where season 2 picks up (3:34) Jake's first job (4:10) Not putting success over relationships (5:15) A hilariously weird scene f...

Daniel Wu, Ben Wang, and Gene Luen Yang chat with Trey Elling on the red carpet, ahead of the premiere of Disney's AMERICAN BORN CHINESE at South By Southwest 2023. Luen Yang wrote the original graphic novel that the series is based on, Wang stars as "Jin Wang", and Wu plays "The Monkey King". Gene Luen Yang (1:04) Ben Wang (3:46) Daniel Wu (8:41)

Austin-based standup comedian Brian Simpson chats with Trey Elling. Brian regularly performs at Joe Rogan's Comedy Mothership, including hosting "Bottom of the Barrel" on Tuesday nights. And he's taping his new special there August 25th thru 27th. Topics include: Austin's thriving standup scene (1:37) Serving in the Marines (5:40) Taping his special at the Mothership at the e...