Pete Hegseth, Frank Lutz, and Dr. Gilda Carle

In an as-aired Total Celebrity segment of the show’s “Just Two Choices” feature, co-hosted with Rico Rokowski, the guest is Dan “Rudy” Ruettiger, the Notre Dame walk-on whose story inspired the classic film Rudy. One of fourteen children from a working-class family in Joliet, Illinois, Ruettiger recounts how he grew up being told he was too small and not smart enough to play college football, and how the death of a close friend became the turning point that pushed him to chase the dream anyway. He describes grinding through Holy Cross College to earn the grades to transfer to Notre Dame, walking on to the practice squad, and finally dressing for the last home game of his senior season, where his teammates carried him off the field after a late sack. Ruettiger frames the lesson as the power of persistence, heart, and refusing to let other people define your limits, and he talks about carrying that message forward through the Walk-On Association, which he founded to encourage others to pursue their own goals with the same grit. Find him and the Walk-On Association at walkonassociation.com.Neil closes the hour with a policy conversation with Gregg Roman, executive director of the Middle East Forum, a Philadelphia-based think tank founded in 1994 that studies American interests in the Middle East and related national-security questions. Roman discusses the Forum’s mission of educating the public and policymakers, and shares his own assessment of the threats he sees to Western societies from extremist and non-state actors, touching on figures and groups tied to past terrorism and on legislation such as the National Defense Authorization Act. These are his own views and the Forum’s perspective on contested geopolitical and policy questions, offered as analysis rather than settled fact, and reasonable observers disagree on both the diagnosis and the proposed responses. He encourages listeners who want to learn more about the organization’s research and positions to visit its website. Find the Middle East Forum at meforum.org.

On the celebrity segment, Neil welcomes actor and musician Jacob Latimore of Showtime’s The Chi. Latimore, who plays the young shoe-selling playboy Emmett navigating sudden fatherhood, explains that the Lena Waithe series deliberately shows the humanity and heart of Chicago rather than the gang-and-violence picture people expect, portraying good people in tough circumstances who slip up, grow, and try to do better. A Milwaukee native, he reflects on how he and his castmates come from communities like the ones on screen, points to Chicago artists like Kanye, Chance the Rapper, and Common who rose from hard beginnings, and shares his own belief that inner-city kids are no different from any others and shouldn’t be written off. He celebrates the show’s season-two renewal and previews his animated film Bilal, in which he voices the young title character, a story of courage and freedom inspired by a real historical figure. Find him on Instagram and Twitter at @jacoblatimore.Neil’s author guest is Kendall Ware, a keynote speaker and franchise growth coach, who discusses his book Built for Franchising: The Advantage Is Franship. Ware explains that franchises appeal to people who want a proven model with built-in support rather than the blank slate of a startup, and that success comes from buying into and following the brand’s standards and systems rather than improvising, which is why a highly independent entrepreneur isn’t always the best fit. He traces his own 20 years in franchising, from bussing tables to becoming a restaurant manager at 18, helping a fast-growing brand open locations nationwide, and eventually becoming a franchisee himself to understand the hurdles firsthand. He offers this as his own professional perspective and general education, not individualized financial advice. Find him at kendallware.com, and the book at builtforfranchising.com.In a simulcast of the NSRT podcast that Neil co-hosts, the guest is Sergeant Eric McCants, a law enforcement veteran and founder of McCants Leadership LLC. McCants shares candidly how he “fell into” policing as a young man and, by his own account, had to grow up fast, learning only over time the full weight of the badge and the responsibility of holding people’s lives in his hands. He credits a chief who pushed him to mature and talks about turning those hard-won lessons into his work coaching leadership, drawing on the kind of resilience and self-care message at the heart of NSRT’s focus on first responders. His story is shared as his own experience. Learn more at nsrt.ai.

On the celebrity interviews live from the Grotto, the recurring segment normally with co-host Greg Hanna, Neil welcomes actress and influencer Lorraine Ziff, known as the Goddess of Slots. Lorraine traces her lifelong love of acting from playing Dorothy in a childhood production of The Wizard of Oz through years of auditions in New York and California and a run of horror films, including Mansion of Blood with Gary Busey, as well as producing the supernatural Western Six-Gun Savior. She explains how a viral casino jackpot during the lockdown era grew into the Goddess of Slots brand, a way to keep her acting instincts alive, and how it led to a role in the gambling comedy series Unsuited. She and Neil trade sharp insight on social media, agreeing that genuine engagement with the right niche audience matters far more than raw follower counts, and her hard-won lesson is to trust your gut and outwork everyone. Catch her Goddess of Slots night at the Tampa Hard Rock.Next on the Grotto simulcast is actor Kevin Ryan, who joins the cast in season two of The Rainmaker, the USA Network series based on the John Grisham novel. A fan of the book, Ryan talks about stepping into the project and shares a tender reflection on recently losing his father, saying the experience reaffirmed for him that in the end you carry nothing with you but the love of family and close friends. The Rainmaker airs on USA Network and streams through its app, with episodes also available on Apple TV.Neil’s next guest is Kim Miller, founder and president of Americas Women, who discusses the civic-engagement organization she started in 2020 with a small group of women and has grown to a following of tens of thousands. Speaking as her own perspective, Kim makes the case that the most immediate impact comes at the local level, paying attention to school boards and local government, and encourages women to get informed and vote their values all the way down the ballot rather than being driven by fear or anger in national media. She points to nonpartisan voter guides her group curates and partners with, and frames the organization as welcoming to people across the political spectrum. These are contested civic and political topics, offered as the guest’s own views. Find her organization and its You Plus Two voting campaign at americaswomen.org.The hour closes with the recurring AI Office Hours simulcast, where co-host Pat Riley and Neil trade notes on the latest AI tools and models, with Neil mentioning he is now reviewing new software for listeners and Pat sharing what he is testing this week.

On the Total Celebrity segment, Neil welcomes actor Cas Anvar of Syfy’s The Expanse as the series heads into season three. Anvar, who plays pilot Alex Kamal, describes a cast and crew who genuinely love the work and a season he believes tops the last. He explains the advantage of adapting a beloved book series, James S.A. Corey’s novels, written by Ty Franck and Daniel Abraham, who sit in the writing room and treat the show as a second chance to get their story exactly right, with seven or eight seasons of material already mapped out. Anvar previews a season in which the whole system edges toward war and the neutral, mixed crew of the Rocinante gets pulled into the middle, and he reflects on how his once-shy character grows into his purpose as the best pilot in the system. He notes the season is already climbing the iTunes pre-order charts and invites fans to watch along with the cast live-tweeting under the hashtag TheExpanse. Find him as @CasAnvar.Neil’s next guest is Kim Miller, founder and president of Americas Women, who revisits the civic-engagement group she started in 2020 and its focus on getting women informed and involved at the local level, school boards and local government, where she argues change happens fastest. Speaking as her own perspective, she encourages people to vote their values down the ballot rather than be swayed by fear or anger in national media, and points to the nonpartisan voter guides her group curates, describing the organization as open across the political spectrum. These are contested civic topics, offered as the guest’s own views. Find her and the You Plus Two campaign at americaswomen.org.In a simulcast of the NSRT podcast that Neil co-hosts, the guest is Chief Larry Berg of the Belton, Texas Police Department, a California native and former Army military police officer with more than three decades in public safety. Chief Berg shares his path from garrison duty in Germany to becoming a D.A.R.E. and crime-prevention officer at Fort Hood, where big community events drew him toward a full law-enforcement career. He speaks about leadership, setting goals, and his role with the Texas Police Chiefs Association, and about his own experience with NuCalm and the NSRT nervous-system wellness approach, crediting deeper sleep and lower stress for how good he feels, offered as his own experience and the program’s wellness perspective rather than medical advice. Learn more at nsrt.ai.The hour closes with a simulcast of the Reignstorm Radio Show, hosted by Michael Aguas, featuring guest Tomer Dicturel, founder of Crossfield Strategic Partners and a specialist in premium financing. Tomer explains premium financing as a planning tool long used by the wealthy and family offices, comparing it to using a bank’s money for a mortgage: pairing a client’s contribution with borrowed funds inside a tax-advantaged life-insurance vehicle to build retirement or estate wealth that can later be accessed tax-free. He walks through how leverage can multiply returns and why, for those who qualify, it can meaningfully boost retirement outcomes. This is shared as the guest’s own general explanation of a complex strategy, not individualized financial advice.

On the Caregiver Dave celebrity segment with co-host Dave Nissani, Neil welcomes New York Times bestselling author, speaker, and coach Rachel Hollis. Rachel describes pivoting her Austin-based media company, built largely on massive live events, when the pandemic made them impossible, leaning on lessons from surviving the 2008 recession and reinventing fast with virtual events and products. She shares that writing has been her passion since she was eleven, long before it became what she is known for, and that her latest book is a departure aimed squarely at people going through a hard season, a crisis, a lost job, a struggling business, with the message to keep showing up and stay in the game. Caregiver Dave, who has cared for his wife since her stroke and now travels the country supporting caregivers, asks how caregiving has touched her life; Rachel, a foster and adoptive mom of four, reflects that you cannot pour from an empty cup and urges caregivers to make daily self-care non-negotiable. Learn about Dave at caregiverdave.com.Next, in a simulcast of the Unspoken Costs of Cancer podcast, host Brett Wilson, founder of the Walking Miracles Family Foundation and a childhood cancer survivor herself, shares the foundation’s mission and an upcoming trip to Los Angeles to raise awareness and funds. She explains that the biggest barrier to care for many families is travel, with some driving hours each way several times a week, and walks through the foundation’s Package of Hope: travel-assistance cards for gas, food, and lodging, a tablet to track appointments and medical records, and a zippered port shirt designed to make chemotherapy a little easier. Her work is shared as the foundation’s own mission and her personal experience. Find her at walkingmiracles.org.The hour closes with a simulcast of the Storehouse Media Group podcast, hosted by Sherrie, welcoming Tommy Ross, an award-winning executive producer, entrepreneur, and author with more than four decades across politics, corporate leadership, strategic communications, and filmmaking. Tommy discusses his book Sactown Chronicles, which began as one of his film scripts and grew into a semi-autobiographical story of family and values, following a young man who rises above a hard upbringing and the pull of gangs and drugs. He talks about his move from the political and corporate worlds into filmmaking, his love of making provocative short films meant to get people to think for themselves and see all sides before they act, and the real-life experiences that shaped his storytelling, shared as his own perspective. He credits a friend for first bringing him onto a film set.

On Author’s Corner, Neil welcomes Fox News contributor and author Pete Hegseth to discuss his book In the Arena, built around Theodore Roosevelt’s famous 1910 “Man in the Arena” passage and his Citizenship in a Republic speech. Hegseth explains that the book is less about Roosevelt or himself than about what he sees as the building blocks of the American experiment, and his belief that a great republic depends on good, engaged citizens who act within their own spheres of influence, from local school boards to churches and civic organizations. He argues for reviving civic education and patriotic observance, and for citizens having the courage of their convictions. These are his own views on contested civic and political questions, shared as the case he makes in the book. Find him at petehegseth.com.Neil’s next guest is author Frank Lutz, who shares a deeply personal story of his late wife, poet and performance artist Linda J. Albertano, his partner of 55 years and the subject of a six-book series that begins with On the Life of Linda J. Albertano. Frank recounts their first meeting in a 1968 rainstorm on Sunset Boulevard, when Linda pulled over and offered him a ride, a conversation over cherry soup, and a bond that led them to marry twice, the second time in her hospital room a week before she passed in 2022. He speaks tenderly about grief and about what he describes as his continued connection with her through afterlife communication, a belief he has since studied and written about, including in his book Two Souls Desperate to Connect. These experiences and views are shared as his own account and belief. The story is one of enduring love carried forward after loss.The hour closes with several segments of the recurring GildaGram podcast with host Dr. Gilda Carle, who offers her own commentary on a handful of news headlines of the day. She weighs in on a story about a politician’s campaign spending and what it says about authenticity, a UC Berkeley professor’s decision to stop grading homework because he can no longer tell AI-generated work from students’ own, and a study pointing to declining intimacy among young adults and the role social media and dating apps may play, urging listeners to measure themselves against no one but themselves. These segments are Dr. Gilda’s personal opinions on contested and cultural topics. Find her at DrGilda.com.

On the Total Celebrity Show, Neil welcomes actor Billy Baldwin, who talks about guest-starring as a billionaire named Everett on VH1’s sizzling basketball drama Hit the Floor. Baldwin praises the show’s scripted take on the catty, behind-the-scenes world of pro-sports dance teams and raves about the young cast’s athleticism and the jaw-dropping choreography. With a laugh, he says playing a “master of the universe” billionaire came easily living in Montecito, where he jokes you can spot a few billionaires sipping tea at the local Starbucks, and that he needed no pointers from brother Alec for this one. He also previews a busy slate: producing and starring in his third Hallmark Channel film, awaiting word on a fourth season of Hit the Floor, and a film called Chronology shot in Europe with Michael Madsen. Find him via his IMDb page.Neil’s next guest is author and retired NYPD officer Mike Codella, who discusses his new book The Evil That Walked New York. Codella shares his background growing up in Brooklyn, joining the force in 1983 and spending two decades mostly in narcotics, including undercover work with the DEA, experiences that also fueled his first book, Alphaville 1988: Welcome to Heroin City, which was optioned for film and TV. He reflects on how he came to write by realizing his own stories were worth telling, and offers his candid, firsthand perspective on what he sees as a crisis in today’s New York City, from crime and public safety to homelessness and policing. These views are his own. Find him at mikecodella.com, or on Amazon.In a faith segment, Neil welcomes Penny Kassay-Asencio, who shares the testimony featured in Daniel Fazzina’s book and will appear at the Power of Testimony event in Syosset, New York. Penny recounts a difficult and turbulent young life, including time on her own as a teenager, and a period practicing occultism before what she describes as a supernatural encounter that drew her to Christian faith and set her on a new path. She shares it as her own personal testimony and spiritual experience. Learn more at artofheaven.com and divineinterventionradio.com.The hour closes with the launch of a new podcast Neil is co-producing, The Unspoken Cost of Cancer, hosted by Brett Wilson, CEO of the show and founder of the Walking Miracles Family Foundation. Brett, a childhood cancer survivor, explains that she and Neil connected over the mission and built the podcast to educate families about what no one talks about once treatment ends, the long-term side effects and the logistical and financial weight families carry on their own. Marking Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, she stresses that true awareness means helping the public understand everything a family goes through during and long after treatment, and defines a “walking miracle” as the whole family, not just the patient. She shares this as her own experience and her foundation’s mission. Find her at walkingmiracles.org.

On the celebrity segment, Neil welcomes Thomas McClary, legendary founding guitarist of The Commodores, to talk about his memoir Rock & Soul. McClary recounts the band’s origin at Tuskegee University, where, standing in a freshman registration line, he struck up a conversation with a shy student whistling a jazz tune, Lionel Richie, and set out to form a band for a talent show. That group, first the Mystics, merged with another campus band to become the Commodores, a name landed on by flipping open a dictionary. McClary reflects on how songs like Three Times a Lady, Brick House, Easy, and Zoom have touched people’s lives around the world, from weddings to moments of comfort in illness, and shares that the book covers both the early struggles on the road to stardom and his current efforts to reunite the original members. He is planning a book tour. Find him at thomasmcclary.com, or on Amazon and at Barnes & Noble.In a simulcast of the Storehouse Media Group podcast, Criminally Good with Sherrie and Jen, the guest is author and award-winning filmmaker David Luck, founder of Best of Luck Comedies, out of Lafayette, Louisiana. A self-described Air Force brat born in Roswell, New Mexico, David traces a lifelong love of comedy back to a childhood dream of being a regular on Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, and describes his signature blend of dark comedy, mystery, and gloriously unhinged families. He talks about his festival-award-winning work, including Death by King Cake, a dark comedy-mystery that opens with a chef hiding plastic babies in a king cake, along with titles like A Stand for Damaged Fame and Brunch Before Baptism, and makes the case that in today’s world you have to keep your sense of humor. Find him at bestofluckcomedies.com.Find Thomas McClary’s Rock & Soul at thomasmcclary.com, Amazon, or Barnes & Noble, and David Luck’s films at bestofluckcomedies.

On the Total Celebrity segment, Neil welcomes Kevin “Mr. Wonderful” O’Leary of Shark Tank and CNBC’s Money Court. O’Leary traces his entrepreneurial drive to a teenage moment of being fired from an ice cream shop, deciding then he would never work for anyone again. He shares a surprising creative streak: a lifelong love of guitars, cameras, and film editing that led him to launch his first company producing content for original-six hockey markets, including the format Don Cherry’s Grapevine, before selling it and going on to his investing career. O’Leary explains how the yin and yang of art and business discipline helps him solve problems and tell a brand’s story, says he still edits footage every weekend to keep his chops sharp, and praises working with top producers like Mark Burnett. Catch Money Court on CNBC and Shark Tank on ABC.Next, in a simulcast of the NSRT podcast that Neil co-hosts, the guest is Chief Tricia Thein of the Decorah, Iowa Police Department, who shares her path into law enforcement. A single mother of four, she came to policing as a second career through a college police-science program, driven by a desire to be a positive change and to make sure others did not have negative experiences she had witnessed growing up. She reflects on how a non-traditional path gave her valuable life experience, and on encouraging more women and young people into the field. As with other NSRT guests, she speaks to the program’s focus on nervous-system wellness for first responders, shared as her own experience rather than medical advice. Learn more at nsrt.ai.Neil closes with a serious and timely conversation with Detective Tony Godwin of the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, featured in the investigative series Predator Hunters. Godwin discusses the mission of protecting children online and how fast-moving new technology, including AI, is creating challenges that the law and case precedent are still catching up to. He and the show make the case for stronger safeguards and oversight on emerging tools, and the discussion is aimed squarely at awareness, helping parents understand the risks their children can face online and the importance of staying alert and involved. Godwin’s message is that this work exists to protect real kids and to hold offenders accountable.Catch Kevin O’Leary on Shark Tank and Money Court, Chief Tricia Thein via the Decorah Police Department and the NSRT podcast at nsrt.ai, and Detective Tony Godwin in the series Predator Hunters.

On the Caregiver Dave celebrity segment with co-host Dave Nisani, Neil welcomes real estate star Ryan Serhant of Bravo’s Million Dollar Listing New York, named the American Cancer Society’s National Ambassador for the Real Men Wear Pink program. Serhant explains what drew him in: a statistic that a large share of Americans delayed medical care during the pandemic, a friend newly diagnosed with breast cancer who had skipped a mammogram, and looking at his young daughter and wife alongside the sobering reality that one in eight women will face breast cancer in her lifetime. He stresses that men can get breast cancer too and often look away, and that as a man with a large following he wants to turn that platform toward something selfless, raising awareness and research funds. His call to action is simple: join the cause and give what you can. Find him through serhantwearspink.com.Neil’s author guest is Edward L. Alban, a retired economics professor who turned to writing, poetry, short stories, and novels, after leaving academia in 2000, calling it the thing that keeps him alive. He discusses his philosophical novel Stealing Forbidden Dreams, which explores the hidden world between sleep and reality. Alban shares the arresting idea that launched the story, through a mathematician character who calculates that sleeping a third of each day adds up to roughly twenty years of a sixty-year life, and the questions that realization raises about dreams, consciousness, and what we do with our time. It is a thoughtful conversation about the mysteries of the human mind. Find him at edwardalban.com.Neil closes with returning guest and author Chuck Chick, ahead of the launch of his new book, The Witness Remains: Reckoning With the Murder Within Us All, with pre-orders opening the next day. Drawing on his background in law enforcement, Chuck explains the book’s central, provocative question: the idea of an inner “witness,” the conscience that knows right from wrong, and how, in everyday choices, we quiet or suppress it. He and Neil discuss the tension between darkness and light in ordinary life, the role of anger and even our private thoughts, and references to the Sermon on the Mount and the Ten Commandments, all meant to spur self-reflection rather than judgment. Chuck shares it as his own perspective and study. Neil plans multiple interviews with him around the book.Find Ryan Serhant’s Real Men Wear Pink campaign at serhantwearspink.com, Edward L. Alban’s Stealing Forbidden Dreams at edwardalban.com, and Chuck Chick’s The Witness Remains wherever books are sold.