Frank Buckley Interviews

David Litt was a White House speechwriter in the Obama Administration between 2011-2016. David was 24 years old when he was hired, making him one of the youngest White House speechwriters in history. His new book "Thanks, Obama: My Hopey, Changey White House Years" is a humorous memoir about his government service. Full show notes available at http://www.ktla.com/frankbuckleyinterviews.

Dean and Ayesha Sherzai are doctors and co-directors of the Brain Health and Alzheimer's Prevention Program at Loma Linda University Medical Center. They are the authors of "The Alzheimer's Solution: A Breakthrough Program to Prevent and Reverse the Symptoms of Cognitive Decline at Every Age." The neurologists say that it's possible to reduce the risk of getting Alzheimer's disease by 90% and to slow the progression of symptoms in people who've already been diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Full show notes available at http://ktla.com/frankbuckleyinterviews.

Dr. Bennet Omalu is a neuropathologist credited with discovering and naming Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) in football players. CTE is a progressive, degenerative disease of the brain found in people who've suffered repetitive brain trauma. The movie "Concussion" starring Will Smith was inspired by Dr. Omalu's story. Dr. Omalu's discovery has had far-reaching implications for the NFL and for anyone who plays or who is the parent of someone who plays contact sports. In his new book "Truth Doesn't Have A Side: My Alarming Discovery about the Danger of Contact Sports," Dr. Omalu argues that no one under the age of 18 should play not just football but any of several contact sports. During this podcast Dr. Omalu recounts his discovery of CTE and his struggle to get the NFL to accept his research, he talks about how his faith helps to inform his work and guide his life, and about why he believes every parent should prohibit their children from playing tackle football.

Matt Ruskin is the writer and director behind "Crown Heights," a movie based on the true-life story of Colin Warner who was wrongfully convicted and incarcerated for 20 years. Colin's best friend, Carl "KC" King, devoted two decades of his life to get the conviction overturned. The movie is adapted from a "This American Life" story by Anya Bourg. The film won an Audience Award at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. Full show notes available at http://ktla.com/frankbuckleyinterviews.

Kunal Nayyar is an actor who plays Rajesh Koothrappali on the popular CBS-TV show "The Big Bang Theory." It is America's most-watched scripted television program. It was Kunal's first regular TV role. Full show notes available at http://ktla.com/frankbuckleyinterviews.

Martin Guigui is the writer-director of the film "9/11" opening on September 8th. The film is based on the play "Elevator" by Patrick Carson and is the fictional story of five people trapped in an elevator in the North Tower of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. The movie stars Charlie Sheen, Whoopi Goldberg, Luis Guzman, Gina Gershon, and Wood Harris. Full show notes available at http://ktla.com/frankbuckleyinterviews.

Jet Tila is a celebrated chef, restaurant partner, and cookbook author who is a member of the "first family" of Thai food in the United States. His parents, who arrived in Los Angeles from Thailand in 1966, opened the first Thai market and restaurants in America. The famed Bangkok Market in East LA became the center of Thai immigrant life in LA and is still open in East Hollywood. Full show notes available at http://ktla.com/frankbuckleyinterviews.

Dean Cain is an actor best known for playing Superman in the 1990s TV series "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman." But that Clark Kent/Superman role is just one of his nearly 150 acting credits. Dean is also a writer, director and producer and recently he's been guest co-hosting the Today Show on NBC. Full show notes available at http://ktla.com/frankbuckleyinterviews.

Simon Majumdar is a Food Network personality and judge, an author of three books "Eat My Globe," "Eating for Britain," and "Fed, White, and Blue," and he's a lover of food and travel who also likes to cook and eat. Simon's motto: "Go everywhere. Eat everything." Full show notes available at http://ktla.com/frankbuckleyinterviews.

Daymond John is an entrepreneur and founder of the FUBU brand of hip hop apparel. He is also a "shark" on the long-running ABC program "Shark Tank," a best-selling author ("The Power of Broke"), a branding expert and consultant, and a motivational speaker. Full show notes available at http://ktla.com/frankbuckleyinterviews.

Paula Poundstone is a comedian, author, podcaster, and a panelist on NPR's weekly news quiz game show "Wait wait...Don't tell me!" Paula's new book "The Totally Unscientific Study of the Search for Human Happiness" is a humorous memoir about her life as a working single mother of three children. Her new NPR podcast "Live from the Poundstone Institute" is Paula's "quest to gather all of the world's knowledge," according to NPR. Full show notes available at http://ktla.com/frankbuckleyinterviews.

Billy Ray is a writer-director who is now a showrunner (with Christopher Keyser) for "The Last Tycoon," a nine-episode series based on the final unfinished novel of author F. Scott Fitzgerald that is available to Amazon Prime members beginning July 28th. Amazon describes the series like this: "In a world darkened by the Depression and the growing influence of Hitler's Germany, The Last Tycoon illuminates the passions, violence and towering ambition of 1930s Hollywood." Full show notes available at http://ktla.com/frankbuckleyinterviews.

In this follow-up to last week's "Best Of" episode, producer Bobby Gonzalez shares clips from past interviews featuring an even wider array of Frank Buckley Interviews guests. For the better part of a year, Frank Buckley has had intimate in-depth conversations with various celebrities, authors, journalists, entrepreneurs, and more. This episode serves as an introduction to just some of the many notable interviews, as well as a look back at some of the interesting, enlightening, and personal stories that were shared on the podcast. Full show notes available at http://ktla.com/frankbuckleyinterviews.

We're dipping into the back catalog of the Frank Buckley Interviews podcast to bring you the first of a two-part "Best Of" series. Frank has sat down for one-on-one interviews with over 50 guests that have included actors, entrepreneurs, journalists, medical professionals and more. Presented by Spoken Dreams producer Bobby Gonzalez, this episode explores clips from past guests who have had a profound impact in the world of music, including Curt Smith of Tears for Fears, iconic music producer Jimmy Jam, and Asdru Sierra of Ozomatli. Full show notes available at http://ktla.com/frankbuckleyinterviews.

Nicholas Goldberg is the editorial page editor of the Los Angeles Times. In April, the Los Angeles Times Editorial Board published "Our Dishonest President," the first in a series of editorials arguing that President Trump "...is a man so unpredictable, so reckless, so petulant, so full of blind self-regard, so untethered to reality that it is impossible to know where his presidency will lead or how much damage he will do to our nation." Full show notes available at http://ktla.com/frankbuckleyinterviews.

Andrew Jay Cohen is the director and co-writer of "The House," a comedy starring Will Ferrell and Amy Poehler which opens nationwide on Friday, June 30th. The film is about a couple who decide to open an illegal casino in their suburban home to fund their daughter's college education. "The House" is Andrew's feature film directorial debut. Full show notes available at http://ktla.com/frankbuckleyinterviews.

Janine Sherman Barrois is an executive producer and the show runner for the new TNT show "Claws." The show stars Niecy Nash as one of five manicurists working in a South Florida nail salon while laundering money for a crime family. TNT describes it like this: "Claws is about good women caught in bad places with worse men. It's the story of hardworking women trying to get by in this economy, set against the surreal, bright, gritty landscape of Florida and the luscious, absurd, extreme excesses of the crime world." Full show notes available at http://ktla.com/frankbuckleyinterviews.

Adam Schiff, D-Burbank, is the ranking member on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. The Intelligence Committee is investigating Russia's interference in the 2016 U.S. election and allegations of collusion between Trump campaign officials and the Russians. As the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Schiff has been highly critical of President Trump and he's risen onto the national political stage. As the San Francisco Chronicle put it: "Schiff is emerging from relative obscurity to become a leading voice for Democrats in their opposition to the Trump Administration." Full show notes available at http://ktla.com/frankbuckleyinterviews.

Nick Hamm is a film, TV and stage director and producer who has directed a new film "The Journey" about two central figures in the Northern Ireland peace process who helped to forge what has been a lasting peace in Northern Ireland and the United Kingdom for the past two decades. Full show notes available at http://ktla.com/frankbuckleyinterviews.

Wing Lam is a co-founder and owner of the Wahoo's Fish Taco chain of restaurants. The restaurants started with one taco stand at 1862 Placentia Avenue in Costa Mesa, California. Restaurant #1 is still at that location but there are now some 60 Wahoo's restaurants across seven states as well as Japan. Full show notes available at http://ktla.com/frankbuckleyinterviews.