Father Greg Boyle, author of such bestselling books as TATTOOS ON THE HEART and CHERISHED BELONGING, explains how Homeboy Industries, which he founded in downtown Los Angeles in 1998, has become the world’s largest gang intervention, re-entry and recovery program. Greg has been finding, as he says, “the thorn underneath” gang violence since 1988. His work has helped thousands of formerly incarcerated people around the world. But in LA Greg is an icon and a symbol of Angelino pride.

Choreographer Jacob Jonas, whose memoir CEMENTED BEAUTY is the intimate documentation of his 2-year battle with stage 4 cancer, told in stark, intimate, black-and-white photos and brutally honest and vulnerable journal entries, dictated to Jacob’s partner, Jill Wilson, who also provides an Afterword. Ana Marie Cox is a political columnist and culture critic. Her writing has appeared in Time Magazine, G.Q., The Guardian, Sports Illustrated, The Washington Post, The Daily Beast and Esquire. She’s currently a contributing editor at The New Republic. She’s also a prolific podcast host. In her weekly podcast, Past Due, she and co-host Open Mike Eagle, chronicle the struggles of creatives in today’s collapsing media landscape.

George Saunders, often hailed as America’s greatest living short story writer, who's collections include THE TENTH OF DECEMBER and LIBERATION DAY. George discusses his new novel, VIGIL, as well as being raised Catholic in Chicago, growing away from the church and, joining his wife Paula to become a meditator, then an Episcopalian and, currently, practitioners of Buddhism.

Lee Hawkins is a journalist, musician, and author of I Am Nobody's Slave: How Uncovering My Family's History Set Me Free - which has been nominated for the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work in the nonfiction category.  A few weeks after sending his book to his publisher, Lee was contacted by the FBI. His DNA indicated that he was a distant cousin to a murdered unidentified woman. Discovering the story of that Jane Doe is the subject of his recent Wall Street Journal Article: What I Owe My Murdered, Nameless Cousin.

Comedian and host of the podcast “You Made it Weird” Pete Holmes. Pete starred in the Judd Apatow-produced, HBO dramedy CRASHING, which ran from 2017 to 2019. We discuss his memoir COMEDY SEX GOD, his search for spiritual meaning, and what his religious upbringing means to him now

Tim Gunn, who after many years as a fashion educator at Parsons School for Design was introduced to American televisions as the stern but encouraging mentor to designers on the reality competition show Project Runway. In 2020, he and Runway host Heidi Klum created a new fashion competition show for Amazon called MAKING THE CUT which ran for 3 seasons. Project Runway has since returned screens sans Tim but he continues to appear on TV cameoing on CBS’s Elsbeth, advocating for the Charities he holds dear such as the American Cancer Society, The LGBTQ+ Victory Fund or sometimes just giving his trademark savvy yet gracious opinion on a different kind of art: cooking as guest judge for shows on The Food Network.

Hospitality entrepreneur, author, speaker, and host of the Midlife Chrysalis Podcast, Chip Conley. He discusses his time mentoring the founders of Air BnB, why he believes midlife is a great time to develop new skills, and how his Modern Elder Academy teaches people to find purpose, especially in a world of rapid technological change.

A quick look ahead at some of the guest coming up at the beginning of 2026, including Tim Gunn, Chip Conley, Ana Marie Cox, and Larry Wilmore.

David Melville, Managing Director and lead actor of Los Angeles’ Independent Shakespeare Company, is celebrating 20 years of portraying Charles Dickens reading A CHRISTMAS CAROL Stephen Turner reads an original, true, and heartfelt story about a chance encounter that led to an unlikely - and life-changing - friendship in his story, “You Blessed Me, I’ll Bless You.” A perfect holiday offering.

Scott talks with actor, activist, 4-time Grammy-winning rapper, and half of hip-hop supergroup, Run The Jewels, Killer Mike. In the episode, Mike talks about his admiration for - and friendship with - Civil Rights icon and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Andrew Young, growing up in the all-Black neighborhood of Atlanta’s Collier Heights, and his musical evolution.