Frank Buckley Interviews

Leslie Lehr is the author of the book “A Boob’s life: How America’s Obsession Shaped Me—and You." Lehr is also a breast cancer survivor. In this conversation, Leslie shares the joys and hazards inherent to living in a woman’s body. She blends her personal memoir with national history, and the current feminist dialogue and what it means to be a woman. Lehr explains how America’s obsession with the female form has affected her own life’s journey and the psyche of all women today.

The Los Angeles Dodgers are in the World Series! In this episode of the podcast, we revisit a conversation with former Dodgers GM Ned Colletti. He was in “The Big Chair,” as he titled his book about the experience of being the GM, from 2006 to 2014. He was one of the executives responsible for building the Dodgers team that played in the 2017 World Series when the conversation took place. Many of those same athletes are playing in the current World Series. We also hear from play-by-play man Joe Davis. He joined us on the KTLA Morning News this week to talk about it and to talk about how the Dodgers are doing.

The Los Angeles Lakers are the 2020 NBA champions! To celebrate their victory over the Miami Heat, we're looking back at conversations with some Lakers legends. First, the late great Kobe Bryant talks about his work ethic, the Mamba Mentality, and more. Byron Scott, who one 3 championships with the Lakers during the "Showtime" era, opens up about his rocky start with the team, and how he forged ahead after being let go as head coach. Finally, James Worthy, who also played with the "Showtime" Lakers, talks about his time on the team, and playing with other NBA greats like Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan.

Walton Goggins is an Emmy-nominated, Critics Choice Award-winning actor known for his roles in Justified, Vice Principals, The Righteous Gemstones, Deep State, Six, Sons of Anarchy, and The Shield. His movie work includes roles in Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln and Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained and The Hateful Eight. Goggins won as Oscar in 2001 for the short film The Accountant which he starred in and produced along with his partners at Ginny Mule Pictures. He also stars in the CBS comedy The Unicorn, the first season of which is now available on Netflix. Walton is also a partner with founder Matthew Alper in Mulholland Distilling based in Los Angeles. During this podcast (recorded at Mulholland Distilling in the Arts District of Los Angeles in September of 2019), Walton discusses his childhood in Georgia, his TV and film career, his love of LA, and his partnership in Mulholland Distilling.

Dan Price is founder and CEO of Gravity Payments, a credit card processing and technology. In 2015, Price announced that employees would begin receiving a $70,000 minimum annual salary and that he would take a massive cut to his million dollar salary to make that happen. During this podcast, Price reveals why he did it, how it worked out, and how he believes other companies can do more to provide workers with a living wage. He also discusses his new book: Worth It--How a Million-Dollar Pay Cut and a $70,000 Minimum Wage Revealed a Better Way of Doing Business.

Billy Ray is the writer and director of Showtime's "The Comey Rule." The two-part series, based on former FBI Director James Comey's memoir, examines the relationship between Comey and President Trump during the first months of the Trump presidency. Jeff Daniels portrays Director Comey in the series. Brendan Gleesen plays Donald Trump. Billy Ray is drawn to real-life stories. He was nominated for an Oscar for his screenplay for Captain Phillips. He wrote and directed Breach, about the the traitorous FBI agent Robert Hansen, and he wrote and directed Shattered Glass about the rise and fall of the troubled New Republic writer Stephen Glass, who had fabricated stories for the magazine. More recently, he wrote Richard Jewell for director Clint Eastwood. Billy has also written plenty of other pure-fiction movies as well, including The Hunger Games, Terminator: Dark Fate, Gemini Man, Overlord, Flight Plan, and State of Play.

Akbar Gbajabiamila is a host of NBC’s “American Ninja Warrior” which premiered its 12th season this week. Akbar is also the author of a new book “Everyone Can Be A Ninja: Find Your Inner Warrior and Achieve Your Dreams.” He is a former NFL player and sports broadcaster. In this conversation from April last year, Akbar discusses growing up as one of seven children of Nigerian immigrants in the Crenshaw community of Los Angeles. He talks about how he cried the first time he practiced as a football player and tried to quit, and he recounts a disastrous first episode and difficult first season as co-host of “American Ninja Warrior.”

Jon Meacham is a presidential historian, former editor of Newsweek, and the Putlizer Prize winning author of the new book "His Truth Is Marching On: John Lewis and the Power of Hope." He is the author of several books including 2018's "The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels." Meacham was recently a featured speaker at the Democratic National Convention. This audio podcast was originally a conversation for LiveTalks LA. Meacham discusses the life of the late John Lewis, Meacham's decision to speak at the Democratic National Convention, and his views on the state of journalism.

Father Gregory Boyle is a Jesuit priest and the founder and executive director of Homeboy Industries, a world famous gang intervention, rehabilitation and re-entry program in Los Angeles. The program provides training and employment to former gang members along with services like tattoo removal, substance abuse support, and mental health therapy. Homebody Industries was recently awarded the 2020 Humanitarian Prize from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, which recognizes one non-profit organization per year for its extraordinary contributions toward alleviating human suffering and comes with $2.5 million dollars in unrestricted funding. During this podcast, Father Greg discusses what he’s learned about why people join gangs and commit violence, he reveals how he and others help former gang members to heal, grow and transform into productive and healthy individuals, and he talks about a new documentary “Healing Trauma: Beyond Gangs and Prison” from Brave New Films and director Robert

Jeffrey Toobin is CNN's chief legal analyst, a staff writer for the New Yorker, and the author of a new book "True Crimes and Misdemeanors: The Investigation of Donald Trump." His previous books include the New York Times Bestsellers "The Run of his Life: The People v. O.J. Simpson," and "The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court." During this podcast, Jeffrey takes us inside the Robert Mueller investigation and details the crimes he says President Trump committed and the mistakes he believes Mueller committed during the course of the investigation. Jeffrey also discusses the recent arrest of former Trump campaign advisor Steve Bannon, and he reveals his views on how CNN has changed its approach to covering the White House during the Trump presidency.

Kevin Kwan is the author of Crazy Rich Asians, the international best-selling novel that became a ground-breaking and box office-shattering movie of the same title directed by Jon M. Chu. The movie grossed more than $238 million and became Hollywood's highest grossing romantic comedy in 10 years. It was also the first major studio movie to feature a majority Asian cast in 25 years. Kevin Kwan's books have been translated into 30 languages. The Crazy Rich Asians trilogy also included China Rich Girlfriend and Rich People Problems. At one point in 2018, the three books held the top three spots on the New York Times Bestsellers List. His new book is Sex and Vanity. During this podcast, Kevin discusses Sex and Vanity, the success of Crazy Rich Asians, his writing process, and racism directed against Asian Americans in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The school year is getting underway with distance learning once again. How can students, parents, and educators make the best of what’s clearly not the ideal way for learning to happen? When will it be safe to return to the classroom? On this episode of Frank Buckley Interviews, the experts weigh in to answer these questions and more. Our guests are Stanford University's Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, Professor and Chief of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Stanford Medical School and the Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital. Also joining us is Bibb Hubbard, the founder and CEO of Learning Heroes, a non-profit that helps parents to support their children in the learning process, and pediatrician Dr. Tanya Altman, a nationally recognized child health expert.

Ambassador Susan Rice served as national security adviser and as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations during the Obama Administration. She is also on the shortlist to be Joe Biden's vice-presidential running mate. We revisit a conversation with Ambassador Rice from November 2019, during which she discussed the possibility that she might seek elected office. She also acknowledged that for some people, her name has become synonymous with Benghazi, Libya and the attack on the American diplomatic facilities that resulted in the deaths of four Americans. During this podcast, Ambassador Rice discusses her explanation of the Benghazi attack, and reveals the personal toll the criticism had on her family including her young daughter. Ambassador Rice also talks about what she feels were the successes and failures of the Obama Administration. And she explains why she decided to write her book "Tough Love: My Story of the Things Worth Fighting For."

Gabriel "Fluffy" Iglesias is one of the world’s most successful comedians. He has performed sold-out stadium shows around the world and now stars in his own Netflix series "Mr. Iglesias," which is currently in its second season. In this episode of Frank Buckley Interviews, Gabriel opens up about his career in comedy, including some of the health & emotional issues that led him to abruptly end a national tour in 2017. He reveals how he came out on the other side of those issues, and the joy of working on "Mr. Iglesias" and other creative projects.

51 years ago on July 20th, 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first man on the moon. He was the first of only 12 human beings to ever step on the surface of the moon. Among those 12 men is Charles Duke. Duke was an astronaut on Apollo 16, and the youngest person to ever walk on the lunar surface at the age of 36. During the first mission to the moon, Apollo 11, Charlie Duke was the voice of Houston's Mission Control, serving as CAPCOM. His was the first voice from earth to reach the moon after the Eagle had landed at Tranquility Base. Charlie shares the tense moments leading up to that first moon landing, and also recalls his own experiences on the lunar surface for Apollo 16.

July is a month designated as National Culinary Arts Month. It's a month set aside to recognize the creativity and hard work of cooks and chefs. There is perhaps no one who appreciated them more than the late Jonathan Gold of the Los Angeles Times, the Pulitzer Prize-winning restaurant critic who helped put L.A. on the culinary map. Gold died in July of 2018. This week on the podcast, we remember Jonathan Gold by revisiting a conversation from 2016. Gold celebrated food and the people who made and served it with humanity.

Alan Zweibel is one of the original writers of Saturday Night Live, the co-creator and producer of It's Garry Shandling's Show, and a consulting producer on Curb Your Enthusiasm among many other credits. Alan is also a playwright whose theatrical works include his collaboration with Billy Crystal on the Tony Award-winning 700 Sundays and Bunny, Bunny: Gilda Radner, A Sort of Love Story. He is the author of numerous books including Lunatics (co-authored with Dave Barry), and The Other Shulman (for which he won the Thurber Prize for American Humor). His new book Laugh Lines: My Life Helping Funny People Be Funnier is available as an audio book later this month. Alan's next film project is a screenplay he co-authored with Billy Crystal, Here Today, which Crystal is directing and will star Tiffany Haddish. During this podcast, Alan discusses his career as a writer and reveals what it was like to work on SNL in the show's first years including with Gilda Radner with whom he was in love. He talks about why he and G

This week, we revisit a conversation with the Bernie Taupin. Taupin is Elton John's longtime songwriting partner and wrote the lyrics to most of the songs you've heard Elton John sing. The friendship and professional relationship between Bernie taipan and Elton John is chronicled in the film "Rocketman." Last summer, Bernie was in town to open an art exhibition in Beverly Hills at Gallery Michael. Bernie's artwork features the American flag. Bernie Taupin, despite his British upbringing, says he is a patriotic American. He was influenced by American music and culture growing up. He wants to make sure Americans don't forget American music legends like Woody Guthrie, Jimmy Martin, and Muddy Waters. In this conversation, Bernie talks about his deep love for America, and about his decades long friendship and professional relationship with Elton John.

On this episode of the podcast, we revisit a 2017 conversation with Jorge Reyes Salinas, who at the time was a Cal State Northridge grad student serving on the California State University Board of Trustees. Jorge is also an immigrant from Peru who was brought to the U.S. as a child by his parents who never returned home when their tourist visas expired. Jorge and his parents became undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. without legal status, fearing that one day they might be deported back to Peru. Jorge is one of more than 700,000 young people in the U.S. who were brought to this country as children and raised as Americans. In 2012, President Obama ordered that these young people receive protection from deportation under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program or DACA. In September 2017, President Trump announced that he was rescinding DACA but he gave Congress six months in which to come up with a plan to protect dreamers like Jorge. However, in June 2020, the Supreme Court of the United Stat

This week, we're revisiting a conversation with a man, whose work we featured on the podcast a year ago and is still just as relevant today. Justin Brooks is the director of the California Innocence Project (CIP) based at the California Western School of Law in San Diego. Justin and his team of pro bono lawyers and law students work to free prisoners who have been wrongfully convicted. To date, their work has resulted in 30 people being freed including high profile cases like Brian Banks, the USC-bound high school football star who was wrongfully convicted of rape and served five years in prison before being exonerated when the alleged victim confessed to fabricating the story. During this podcast, Justin explains how he determines if a person has been wrongfully convicted, he reveals how the California Innocence Project works to free those prisoners, and he takes us inside some of the high profile cases including the story of Brian Banks.