Podcast appearances and mentions of David Gregory

What would you do if you achieved your greatest creative goal, only to struggle to experience that level of success again? If you've ever wondered how to handle sudden success, but keep your faith when you don't see that success sustained, this is the episode you need to hear. Best-selling author David Gregory saw his book, "Dinner with a Perfect Stranger" reach the New York Times bestseller list, selling over a half a million copies and being adapted into a movie. By every definition, he was achieving every writer's dream. But what happened next will show you that trusting God with your creative calling isn't as simple as it seems. Listen to discover how handling success the right way, redefining success, and keeping your priorities in line can help you enjoy the best of your creator lifestyle, even if you never reach the heights that society tells you to reach for. Learn more about David Gregory and his resources here: freewithgod.comTap to send us a text! Support the showJoin our Creative Community In our 360 Membership, you get focused encouragement, guidance, and training on how to thrive as a faith-focused creative. Joining gives you access to our exclusive app, workshops and community conversations, as we change from being creatively confused to creatively confident! GodandGigs.com/membership PODCAST MERCHGet God and Gigs themed gear, clothing and accessories HERE! GOT VALUE FROM THIS PODCAST? If so, please share your: TIME: Send this episode to someone who you know would enjoy it TALENT: Email your art or music to add to our community to allen@godandgigs.com TREASURE: Tap HERE to help support God and Gigs with a donation!

This week on Skip the Queue, we're stepping into the turret and turning up the tension, as we explore one of the UK's most talked-about immersive experiences.Our guest is Neil Connolly, Creative Director at The Everywhere Group, who have brought The Traitors Live Experience to life. With over 10 million viewers watching every betrayal, backstab and banishment on the BBC show, expectations for the live version were nothing short of murderous.So, how do you even begin to transform a TV juggernaut into a thrilling, guest-led experience? Let's find out who's playing the game… and who's about to be banished…Skip the Queue is brought to you by Rubber Cheese, a digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for attractions that helps them increase their visitor numbers. Your host is Paul Marden.If you like what you hear, you can subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, and all the usual channels by searching Skip the Queue or visit our website SkiptheQueue.fm.If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five star review, it really helps others find us. And remember to follow us on LinkedIn. Show references: The Traitors Live website: https://www.thetraitorslive.co.uk/Neil's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neil-connolly-499054110/Neil Connolly is a creative leader of design and production teams focused on development, production and installation of live theatre, entertainment, multi-media and attractions for the themed entertainment industry worldwide.Neil began his career as a performer, writer, producer & artist in Londons alternative theatre/art scene. It was during this time Neil developed a love and passion for story telling through the platform of interactive playable immersive theatre.Having been at the vanguard of playable & immersive theatre since 2007, Neil had a career defining opportunity in 2019 when he devised, wrote & directed an immersive experience as part of Sainsbury's 150th Birthday Celebrations. Making him the only immersive theatre & game maker in the world to have HRH Elizabeth Regina attend one of their experiences.In a distinguished career spanning 20 years, Neil has brought that passion to every facet of themed entertainment in the creative direction and production of attractions such as; Handels Messiah, Snowman & The Snowdog, Peppa Pig Surprise Party, Traitors Live, The Crystal Maze Live Experience, Tomb Raider Live Experience & Chaos Karts, an AR go-kart real life battle. Other clients and activations include: Harrods, Sainsbury's, Camelot/The National Lottery, Samsung, Blenheim Palace, Land Rover and Warner Brothers.Neil has worked across 4 continents for many years with private individuals; designing, producing and delivering live entertainment on land, sea & air. A world without boundaries requires freethinking.Neil is currently working with Immersive Everywhere on creative development of show and attraction content for projects across U.K, Europe, North America & Asia. Transcriptions:  Paul Marden: This week on Skip the Queue, we're stepping into the turret and turning up the tension as we explore one of the UK's most talked about immersive experiences.Paul Marden: Our guest is Neil Connolly, Creative Director at The Everywhere Group, who've brought The Traitor's live experience to life. With over 10 million viewers watching every betrayal, backstab and banishment on the BBC show, expectations for the live version were nothing short of murderous. So how do you even begin to transform a TV juggernaut into a thrilling guest-led experience? Let's find out who's playing the game and who's about to be banished.Paul Marden: So, we're underground. Lots of groups running currently, aren't they? How did you make that happenNeil Connolly: Yeah, so now we're two floors under us. There's a lower basement and some other basement. So the building that we are in, there's a family in the 1890s who owned all of the land around Covent Garden and specifically the Adelphi Theatre.Paul Marden: Right.Neil Connolly: And they wanted their theatre to be the first theatre in the UK to have its lights powered by electricity. So they built their own private power station in this building. Like, literally like, all this, this is a power station. But unfortunately for these the Savoy had taken to that moniker, so they quickly built their important institution. The family had this building until the 1980s when the establishment was assumed through the important UK network.Neil Connolly: And then it was sat there empty, doing nothing for 40 years. And so the landlord that is now started redeveloping the building 10 years ago, added two floors onto the top of the building. So now what we're in is an eight-storey structure and we've basically got the bottom four floors. Two of which are ground and mezzanine, which is our hospitality area. And the lower two floors, which are all in the basement, are our experience floors. What we're looking at right now is, if you look off down this way to the right, not you people on audio, but me here.Neil Connolly: Off this side is five of the round table rooms. There's another one behind me and there's two more upstairs. And then I've got some Tretters Towers off to the left and I've got my show control system down there.Neil Connolly: On the floor above me, we've got the lounges. So each lounge is connected to one of the round table rooms. Because when you get murdered or banished, one of the biggest challenges that I faced was what happens to people when they get murdered or banished? Because you get kicked out of the game. It's not a lot of fun, is it? Therefore, for me, you also get kicked out of the round table room. So this is a huge challenge I face. But I built these lounge concepts where you go— it's the lounge of the dead— and you can see and hear the round table room that you've just left. We'll go walk into the room in a while. There's lots of interactivity. But yeah, super fun. Neil Connolly: But unfortunately for these the Savoy had taken to that moniker, so they quickly built their important institution. The family had this establishment until the 1980s when the establishment was considered through the important UK network.Paul Marden: Yeah. So we've got 10 million people tuning in to Traitors per episode. So this must be a lot of pressure for you to get it right. Tell us about the experience and what challenges you faced along the way, from, you know, that initial text message through to the final creation that we're stood in now.Neil Connolly: So many challenges, but to quote Scroobius Pip on this, do you know Scroobius Pip? Paul Marden: No. Neil Connolly: Great, he's amazing. UK rapper from Essex.Neil Connolly: Some people see a mousetrap and think death. I see free cheese and a challenge.Neil Connolly: There's never any problems in my logic, in my thinking. There's always just challenges to overcome. So one of the biggest challenges was what happens to people when they get murdered or banished. The truth of the matter is I had to design a whole other show, which happens after this show. It is one big show. But you go to the Lounge of the Dead, there's more interactivity. And navigating that with the former controller, which is O3 Media and IDTV, who created the original format in the Netherlands, and basically designing a game that is in the world and follows the rules of their game with some reasonable adjustments, because TV and live are not the same thing.Neil Connolly: It takes 14 days to film 12 episodes of The Traitors. Paul Marden: Really? Okay. Neil Connolly: So I was like, how do I truncate 14 days of somebody's life down into a two-hour experience and still deliver that same impact, that same power, that same punch?Paul Marden: Yep.Neil Connolly: But I knew from the beginning of this that it wasn't about time. There is a magic triangle when it comes to the traitors, which is time, space, atmosphere. And time was the thing that I always struggled with. I don't have a Scottish cattle show, and I don't have two weeks. No. So I'm like, 'Cool, I've got to do it in two hours.' So our format follows exactly the same format. We do a breakfast scene, then a mission, then a roundtable banishment, then there's a conclave where the traitors meet and they murder somebody. And I do that in a seven-day structure, a seven-day cycle. But it all happens within two hours around this round table.Neil Connolly: I'm the creative director for Immersive Everywhere. We're a vertically integrated structure in the sense that we take on our own venues. So we're now standing in Shorts Gardens in the middle of Covent Garden. So we've leased this building. We've got a lease that is for a number of years and we have built the show into it. But we also identify the IP, go after that ourselves, we capitalise the projects ourselves. We seek strategic partners, promoters, other people to kind of come involved in that journey. But because we're also the team that are licensing the product, we are also the producers and I'm the creative director for that company. So I developed the creative in line with while also getting the deal done. This is incredibly unusual because other producers will be like, 'Hey, I've identified this IP and I've got it.' Now I'm going to approach a creative agency and I'm going to get them to develop the product. And now I've done all of that, I'm going to find someone else to operationally put it on, or I'm going to find a venue to put it on in, and then I'm going to find my ticketing partner.  But we don't do that. We have our own ticketing platform, and we have our own database, so we mark our own shoulders.Neil Connolly: As well as other experiences too. Back, we have our own creative industry, we are the producers, we are the female workers. So we cast it, we hire all the front of house team, we run the food and beverage, we run the bars. The operations team is our operations team because they run the venue as well as the show at the same time. So that's what I mean. We're a vertically integrated structure, which means we do it, which makes us a very unusual proposition within... certainly within the UK market, possibly the world. It makes us incredibly agile as a company and makes us to be able to be adaptive and proactive and reactive to the product, to the show, to the market that we're operating in, because it's all under one roof.Neil Connolly: This show started January 24th, 2023. Right. It's very specific because I was sitting on my sofa drinking a lovely glass of Merlot and I had just watched... UK Traitors, Season One. Yep. Because it came out that Christmas. Immediately I was like, 'Oh my God, this is insane.' And then I got a text message that particular night from our head of licensing, a guy named Tom Rowe, lovely man. And he was like, Neil, I'm at a licensing event with some friends of mine and everyone's talking about this thing called Traitors. I've not watched it. Have you watched it? Sounds like it might be a good thing. And so I sat back and drank my Merlot. And about five minutes later, I text him back and I was like, Tom, get us that license.Neil Connolly: And then I sent him a bunch of other details of how the show in my head would work, both from a commercial standpoint, but also from a creative standpoint, because I'm a commercially minded creative. Right. So I instantly took out my notebook and I started writing down exactly how I thought the show was going to do, the challenges that we would face and being able to translate this into a live thing. But I literally started writing it that night. And then he watched the first episode on the train on the way home. And then he texted me the next morning and he was like, 'I love it.' What do we need to do? And I was like, 'Get us in the room.' Two days later, we were in the room with all three media who own the format globally.Paul Marden: Okay.Neil Connolly: So we sat down and then they came to see one of our other shows and they were like, 'Okay, we get it now.' And then that was like two and a half years of just building the show, getting the deal done and facing the myriad of challenges. But yeah, sometimes it just starts with the text message.Paul Marden: So they get to experience all the key parts of the TV.Neil Connolly: All the key beats. Like right now, I'm holding one of the slates. They're not chalkboard slates. Again, this is... Oh, actually, this is a good challenge. So in the TV show, they've got a piece of slate and they write on it with a chalkboard pen. This seems so innocuous and I can't believe I'm talking about this on a podcast.Neil Connolly: Slategate was like six months of my life. Not in its entirety, but it was a six month long conversation about how we do the slates correctly. Because we do... 48 shows a day, six days a week. And those slates will crack. They will bash. And they're kind of a bit health and safety standards. I was like, can't have them. Also, they write on them with chalk pens, white ink chalk pens. But in the TV show, you only do it once a night. Yeah.Paul Marden: And then you have a producer and a runner.Neil Connolly: They just clean them very, very leisurely and set them back for the next day. And I was like, no, I've got to do a whole bunch of roundtable banishments in two hours. So we talked a lot about material, about style, literal viewership, because if you take a seat at the table. Yeah. If you're sitting at the table here, you'll notice that we've got a raised bit in the middle. If I turn mine around, the other person on the other side can't see it. So I was like, 'Okay, cool.' So we had to do a whole bunch of choreography. But also, the room's quite dark. Yes. At times, atmospheric. Yeah. In that magic triangle time-space atmosphere. So anything that was darker, or even that black slate, you just couldn't read it. And then there was, and then I had to— this is the level of detail that we have to go into when we're designing this kind of stuff. I was like, 'Yeah, but I can't clean off these slates with the white ink because everyone will have to have like a wet cloth chamois. Then I've just got loads of chamois around my venue that I just don't need.' And so then we're like, 'Oh, let's use real slates with real chalk.' And I was like, 'No, because dust will get everywhere.' I'll get chalk just all over my table. It'll just ruin everything. It'll ruin the technology that's inside the table because there's lots of hidden tricks inside of it. Paul Marden: Is there really? Yeah, yeah, yeah.  Neil Connolly: There's loads of hidden tricks inside the table. So after a while, going through many different permutations, I sat down with Christian Elenis, who's my set designer and my art director. And we were, the two of us were nearly in tears because we were like, 'We need,' and this only happened like.Neil Connolly: I would say two, three weeks before we opened. We still hadn't solved how to do the slate, which is a big thing in the show. Anybody who's seen the show and loves the show knows that they want to come in, they want to write somebody's name on the slate, and they want to spell the name incorrectly.Neil Connolly: Everyone does it on purpose. But I wanted to give people that opportunity. So then eventually we sat down and we were like, Christian, Neil. And the two of us in conversation went, why don't we just get a clear piece of Perspex, back it with a light coloured vinyl. And then Christian was like, 'Ooh,' and I'll make it nice and soft and put some felt on the back of it, which is what I'm holding. And then why don't we get a black pen? And we were like, 'Yeah,' like a whiteboard marker. And then we can just write on it. And then A, I can see it from the other side of the table. Thing one achieved. Two. Every marker pen's got an eraser on the top of it. I don't know why everyone thinks this is important, but it is. That you can just rub out like that, and I'm like, 'There's no dirt, there's no mess, and I can reuse this multiple times, like dozens of times in the same show.' And I know that sounds really weird, but that's the level of design I'm going to need.Paul Marden: I was just about to say, and that is just for the chalkboard. Yeah. Now you need to multiply that. How many decisions?Neil Connolly: How many decisions in each game. But also remember that there are eight round tables in this building. Each round table seats 14 people. And we do six sessions a day. So first ones at 10 a. m. Then we do 12, 2, 4, 6, and 8 p. m. So we do 48 shows a day, six days a week.Paul Marden: I love the concept that these are shows. This is not this is not visitor attraction. This is theater repeated multiple times a day for multi audience is concurrently.Neil Connolly: And I've just spent five minutes describing a slate to you. Yeah. But like, I haven't even got— it's like the sheer amount of technology that is in the show. And again, theatrical, like, look above our heads. Yeah. You've got this ring light above every seat. It's got a pin light. There's also microphones which are picking up all the audio in the room, which again is translating to the lounge of the dead. Every single one of the round table rooms has four CCTV cameras. Can you see that one in the corner? Each one of them is 4K resolution. It's quite high spec, which is aimed at the opposite side of the table to give you the resolution in the TV. In the other room. Then you've got these video contents. This is constantly displaying secret information through the course of the show to the traitors when they're in Conclave because everyone's in blindfolds and they took them off. They get secret instructions from that. There's also a live actor in the room. A live actor who is Claudia? They're not Claudia. They're not pastiches of Claudia. They are characters that we have created and they are the host of The Traitor's Game. Right. They only exist inside this building. We never have them portrayed outside of this building in any way whatsoever.Neil Connolly: They are characters, but they live, they breathe— the game of Traitors, the world of Traitors, and the building that we have designed and constructed here. And they facilitate the game for the people. And they facilitate the game for the people. One actor to 14 people. There are no plants, even though everyone tries to tell me. Members of the public will be convinced that they are the only person that's in that show and that everyone else is a plant. And I'm like, no, because that would be insane.Neil Connolly: The only actor in the room is the host.Paul Marden: 14 people that can sit around this table. How many of them are in the same group? Are you with your friends or is it put together where there are other people that you won't know in the room? If you book together, you play together.Neil Connolly: Yes. Okay, so if you don't book 14 people... Ah, we also capped the number of tickets that you can purchase to eight. Right. So you can only purchase a maximum of eight tickets unless you do want a full table of 14, at which point you have to then purchase a VIP package because you are booking out a whole table for yourselves. The game doesn't work if there's less than 10 people at the table. So there has to be 10, 11, 12, 13 or 14 people sat at a round table for the show to actually happen, for it to work. By capping the number of tickets that you book for eight, then that guarantees that strangers will be playing together. And that is the basis of strangers. Yeah, yeah. Like, you need to be sat around a table with people you know, you don't know, that you trust and you don't trust. Yeah. Fact of the matter. And do you see people turning on the others in their own group? Every single time. People think genuinely, and I love this from the public, you would think that if you're turning up as a group of eight and a group of four and a group of two, that the bigger group would just pick everybody off to make sure that someone in their group gets through to the end game.Neil Connolly: I'm sure they think that and they probably plot and plan that before they arrive on site. As soon as this game starts, gloves are off and everyone just starts going for each other. We've been open nearly two months now. I have seen, like, children murdered of their mothers.Neil Connolly: Husbands murder their wives, wives murder their husbands. I've seen, like, three generations—like, we get, because it's so intergenerational, like our lowest, the lowest age that you can play this is 12. Right. And then it's upwards. I've seen three generations of family come in and I've seen grandkids murder their own nan.Neil Connolly: Absolutely convinced that they're a traitor. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 100%. Or they banish them. Like, it's just mental. I've also seen nans, who are traitors, murder their grandkids.Neil Connolly: Like, and this is in a room full of strangers. They're just like, 'No, I'm not going to go for Barbara, who I met two hours ago in the bar. I'm going to go for my own grandson. It's mental.'Neil Connolly: The very, very first thing that I always think about whenever I'm creating an experience or whenever I'm designing a show is I put myself in the position of 'I'm a member of the public.' I have bought a ticketNeil Connolly: What's the coolest thing that I am going to do for my money? What is my perceived value of my ticket over actually what is the value of that ticket? I wanted to give people the experience of knowing what it was like to be sitting in one of these chairs at this table and feeling their heart. The pounding in their chest and I mean, the pounding in their chest, that rush of adrenaline from doing nothing— from sitting in a chair and all you were doing was sitting in a room talking to people and your heart is going.Neil Connolly: Because you're either being accused of being a liar. And trying to defend against it. And trying to defend against it. Or you actually are lying and you're trying to whittle your way out of it. And that feeling is the most alive that you will ever feel. Not ever. Like, I'm sure they're... No, no, no. But, like, give people that opportunity and that experience, as well as, like, access to the world of traitors and the law and everything else. But also, it's like any other theme park ride. People go on roller coasters because the imminent fear of death is always there. Yeah. And you feel alive. You're like, you've got such a buzz of adrenaline. Whereas, arguably, we do exactly the same thing as roller coasters, but in a much more longer-drawn format and multiple times. Yeah. And people do feel alive. When people walk out of the show, you see them go upstairs to the bar, and they are... Yeah.Paul Marden: You've said to me already that you don't use the word 'immersive,' but you know, I'm, I'm, I'm sat. The company is called 'immersive' everywhere. I'm sat behind the scenes. Okay. I'm sat in the room and the room is hugely convincing. It's like the highest fidelity escape room type experience that I've ever sat in. It feels like I'm on set, yeah, yeah. Um, I can totally believe that, in those two hours, you can slip. I sat on a game. It was only a two-minute game at iApple, but I was being filmed by one of the team. But within 30 seconds, I'd forgotten that they were there because I was completely immersed in the game. I can believe that, sitting in here right now, you could forget where you were and what you were doing, that you were completely submerged in the reality of the land that you're in.Neil Connolly: Yeah, 100%. Like, the world does not exist beyond these worlds. And for some people, like, I have my own definition. Everyone's got a different definition of what immersive is. I've got my own definition. But... I can tell you right now, as soon as people enter this building, they're in the bar, they're kind of slowly immersed in that world because the bar is a themed bar. It's done to the same, like we designed and built that bar as well. But as soon as they start descending that spiral staircase and coming into the gameplay floors, into the show floors, they just forget the rest of the world exists. And especially when they sit down at this table, it doesn't matter. I'm sat next to you here, but you could be sat at this table with your loved one, strangers, whatever. The gloves come off and just nothing exists apart from the game that you're about to go through.Paul Marden: You've been open now for a couple of months. More success than you were anticipating, I think. So pre-sales went through the roof? Yes. So you're very happy with the results?Neil Connolly: Yeah, yeah, we were. Yeah, well, we still are.Neil Connolly: We were very confident before we'd even started building the show, like the literal structural build, because we did very well. But then that set expectations quite high because I had a lot of people that had bought tickets and I was like, 'OK, I need to put on a good show for these people. And I need to make sure that they get satisfaction relative to the tickets that they bought.' But I don't feel pressure. I do feel anxiety quite a lot. Creatively? Yeah. I mean, I meditate every day.Paul Marden: But you've created this amazing world and you're inviting people into it. And as a creative, you're opening yourself up, aren't you? People are walking into the world that you've created.Neil Connolly: Yeah, this was said to me. This is not something that I came up with myself, and I do say this really humbly, but it was something that was said to me. It was on opening day, and a bunch of my friends came to playtest the show. And they were like, 'Oh, this is your brain in a building.'Neil Connolly: And I was like, 'Yeah, I hadn't thought about that.' But yeah, it is my brain in a building. But also that's terrifying, I think, for everybody else, because I know what happens inside my brain and it's really quite chaotic.Neil Connolly: But, you know, this I am. I'm so proud of this show. Like you could not believe how proud I am of this show. But also a huge part of my job is to find people that are smarter than me at the relative thing that they do, such as the rest of my creative team. They're all so much smarter than me. My job is vision and to be able to communicate that vision clearly and effectively so that they go, 'I understand.' The amount of times that people on the creative team turn around to me and go, 'Neil, that's a completely mental idea.' If people are saying to me, 'No one's ever done that before' or 'that's not the way things are done.'Neil Connolly: Or we can do that, but we're going to have to probably invent a whole new thing. If people are saying those things to me, I know I'm doing my job correctly. And I'm not doing that to challenge myself, but everything that I approach in terms of how I build shows is not about format. It's not about blueprints. It's not like, 'Hey, I've done this before, so I'm just going to do this again because I know that's a really neat trick.' I go back to, 'I made the show because I wanted people's heart to pound in their chest while they're sitting in a chair and make them feel alive.'Paul Marden: Is that the vision that you had in your head? So you're articulating that really, really clearly. Is that the vision that you sold to everybody on, not maybe day one, but within a couple of days of talking about this? No, it was day one.Neil Connolly: It was day one. Everyone went, that's a completely mental idea. But, you know, it's my job to try and communicate that as effectively and clearly as I can. But again, I am just one man. My job is vision. And, you know, there's lighting design, sound design, art direction, there's game logic. We haven't even gotten to the technology of how this show works yet, or how this room works.Neil Connolly: Actually, I'll wander down the corner. Yeah, let's do that. But, like, there's other, like, lots of hidden tricks. Like, this is one of the games, one of the missions. In the world and the lore of the show, the round table is sacrosanct.Paul Marden: Yes.Neil Connolly: Traitors is the game. The game is in other people. I can do so many missions and there's loads of missions and they're really fun in this show. But the game is in other people. It's in the people sat on the other side of the room. But also I wanted to do a thing where people could interact directly with the set. And so I designed one of the missions to be in the round table itself.Neil Connolly: So there's a course of these moon dials, which you basically have to align through the course of it. And there are sensors built into the table so that they know when they're in the correct position. How you find out the correct position is by solving a very, very simple puzzle and then communicating effectively to a bunch of strangers that you just met.Neil Connolly: And the sensors basically read it all. And when that all gets into position, the lights react, the sound reacts, the video content reacts, the whole room reacts to you. So I wanted to give people something tangible that they can touch and they make the room react to them. Yes, it's. I mean, I've designed, I've got background in escape rooms as well, right? Um, so I've done a lot of that kind of stuff as well. So I wanted people to feel in touch, same, but like, there's more tangible props over here. Um, yeah, that is a model box of the room that we are stood in, yeah. Also, there's an exact replica of it on the other side of it. There are very subtle differences between it, and that informs one of the missions. So that is two model boxes in this roundtable room. There's one of these in every single roundtable room. So there's 16 model boxes of the show that you're stood in on the set. And again, theatre. It's a show. But it's one of the missions, because I wanted people to kind of go, 'Oh, there's a live actor in front of me.' I'm having fun. Oh, look at all these lights and all the sound. Oh, there's a model box over here. That's in theatre land and blah, blah, blah. But that is also a really expensive joke. It's a really expensive joke. And there's other, like, lots of hidden tricks.Neil Connolly: Let's go look at backstage. Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely.Neil Connolly: I say backstage, like how we refer to it or how I always go. I use 'I' and 'we' very interchangeably. Like right now you're on the set. Like you're on the stage. Yes. We're just wandering around a long corridor. There are round table rooms off to either side. But like, you know, there's a green room upstairs where the actors get changed, where the front of house team are, where the bar team all are. But as soon as they go out onto the show floor, they're on stage—yes, completely. We'll very quickly have a look at the gallery—yes, show control. Hi, Robbo. Do you mind if I stand in your room for the purposes of the audio? I'm talking to the technical manager, Thomas Robson. We're recording a podcast.Paul Marden: Robbo, oh yeah, okay. My mind is absolutely blown. So you've got every single room up on screen.Neil Connolly: Yeah, so that's great. There's 164 cameras—something like that. But every roundtable room has four cameras in it. Each camera is 4K resolution. So we've got cameras on all of them. We've got audio into those rooms. That's two-way, so that if show control needs to talk directly to them, they just press a button here and they can talk directly to the room itself. Mainly just like, stop misbehaving, we're watching you.Neil Connolly: We've then got cameras into all of the lounges, all of the show spaces, all the front of house, all of the bar areas, the mezzanine and back of house. And then you've got QLab running across all of the different shows. We've got backups on all of these screens. So if one... of the computers goes down, we can very quickly swap it in for a backup that's already running. We've got show control, which is, there's a company called Clockwork Dog, who, they're an amazing company. What COGS, their show control system, is doing is pulling in all of the QLab from sound, all of the QLab from lighting, and also we built our own app. to be able to run the show. So there's a whole logic and decision tree based on the decisions that the public do through the course of the game. So yes, there is a beginning, a middle, and an end in terms of our narrative beats and the narrative story of the show that we're telling people. But also that narrative can go in. Hundreds of different directions depending on the actions and the gameplay that the people do during the course of the show. So, you haven't just learned one show— you have to learn like You have to learn a world, and you have to learn a whole game.Neil Connolly: Like, there's the server, stacks, which we had to build. You had to network and cable the entire building. So we have built an entire new attraction, which didn't exist before. And also we're pulling in information from the front of house system which is also going into the show itself because again, you put your name into the iPad when you arrive on site and then you tick a box very crucially to say, 'Do you want to be selected as a trader? Yes or No.' Because in the game, it's a fundamental rule. If you say no, you cannot be selected as a traitor by the host during traitor selection. That doesn't mean you can't be recruited.Paul Marden: By the traitors later on in the game. So you could come and do this multiple times and not experience the same story because there were so many different pathways that you could go down.Neil Connolly: But also, the game is in other people. Yes. The show is sat on the opposite side of the table to you because, like, Bob and Sandra don't know each other. They'll never see each other ever again. But Bob comes again and he's now playing against Laura. Who's Laura? She's an unknown quantity. That's a whole new game. That's a whole new show. There's a whole new dynamic. That's a whole new storyline that you have to develop. And so the actors are doing an incredible job of managing all of that.Paul Marden: Thanks, Robbo. Thank you. So you've worked with some really, really impressive leading IP, Traders, Peppa Pig, Doctor Who, Great Gatsby. What challenges do you face taking things from screen to the live experience?Paul Marden: Challenges do I face? We're wandering here.Neil Connolly: So we are in... Oh, we're in the tower.Neil Connolly: Excellent. Yep, so we're now in Traitor's Tower. Good time for you to ask me the question, what challenges do I face? Things like this. We're now stood in Traitor's Tower. Paul, let me ask you the question. Without the show lights being on, so we're just stood on a set under workers, what's your opinion of the room that we're stood in?Paul Marden: Oh, it's hugely impressive. It feels like, apart from the fact you've punched the fourth wall out of the telly, it does feel like you're on set.Neil Connolly: It's a really faithful reproduction of the set. So that's kind of one of the challenges is managing the public's expectations of what they see, do and feel on site. So that I don't change the show so that people come and play the game that they're expecting to play. But making reasonable adjustments within that, because TV and live are two very, very different things. So first and foremost was making sure that we get the format right. So the game that people play, which informs the narrative of the show and the narrative structure of the show. Breakfast, mission, round table, conclave. Breakfast, mission, round table, conclave. I've designed a whole bunch of new missions that are in this, taken some inspiration from missions that people know and love from the TV shows, whether that's the UK territory or other territories around the world. And also just other stuff is just clear out of my head. So there's original content in there. paying homage and respect to the world that they've built and allowing ourselves to also play and develop and build out that world at the same time. Other challenges.Neil Connolly: This is not a cheap project. No, no. I mean, the production quality of this is beautiful. Yeah, yeah, thank you. It is stunning. When people walk in here, they're like, 'Oh my God, this is... High end.' I am in a luxury event at a very affordable price.Paul Marden: Thank you. And then we're going back upstairs again. Yes. And in the stairwell, we've got the crossed out photos of all of those that have fallen before us.Neil Connolly: No, not quite. All of the people that are in this corridor, there's about 100 photos. These are all the people who built the show.Neil Connolly: So this is David Gregory. He's the sound designer. This is Kitty, who is Immersive Everywhere's office manager. She also works in ticketing. That is Tallulah and Alba, who work in the art department. Elliot, who's our lighting designer. So all of these people are the people who brought the show to life.Paul Marden: Amazing.Neil Connolly: And we wanted to pay homage to them because some of them gave years of their lives to building the show from literally the inception that I had in 2023. Through to now and others are the people who literally spent months of their life underground in these basements building hand-building this set and so we wanted to pay homage to them so we got all of their photos we did the iconic red cross through it yeah and we stuck them all up in the corridor just because we thought it'd be a nice thing to do.Paul Marden: You're in the business of trading and experiences and that ranges from art exhibitions to touring shows. There's always going to be a challenge of balancing innovation and profitability. What is the formula? What is the magic formula?Neil Connolly: I believe, first and foremost, going back to what I was telling you earlier about us being a collaborative organisation. We are not a creative crack that has been used for the show. We are also the producers of the show. And to make my point again, I'm a commercially minded creative. So I actually sit down with the producers and go, 'Okay, cool.' There are 112 seats in the show.Paul Marden: Yep.Neil Connolly: Therefore, how many shows do we need to do per day? How many shows do we need to do per week? How many shows do we need to do per year? Therefore, let's build out a P &L. And we build a whole business plan based around that.Paul Marden: By having everybody— that you need in the team— makes it much easier to talk about that sort of stuff. It makes it much easier for you to design things with the end result in mind. You don't have a creative in a creative agency going off— feeding their creative wants without really thinking about the practicalities of delivering on it.Neil Connolly: Exactly. So you've got to think like, literally, from the very, very beginning: you've got to think about guest flow. You've got to think about throughput. You've got to think about your capacities. Then you've got to basically build out a budget that you think— how much, hey, how much really is this going to cost? Yeah. Then you build out an entire business plan and then you go and start raising the money to try and put that on. And then you find a venue. I mean, like the other magic triangle, like the traitor's magic triangle is, you know, time, space, atmosphere. That's how you do a show. Like with my producer's hat on, the other magic triangle is show, money, venue.Neil Connolly: The truth of the matter, like I make no bones about it, I can design shows till the cows come home, but I'm always going to need money to put them on and a venue to put them in. Also, I want to stress this really important. I use the words 'I' and 'we' very interchangeably.Paul Marden: It's a team effort.Neil Connolly: You can see that in that corridor. I am not a one-man band. I am the creative director of a company. I am a cog that is in that machine, and everybody is doing... We are, as a team... I cannot stress this enough. Some of the best in the business are doing what we do. And everyone is so wildly talented. And that's just us on the producing side. That's immersive everywhere, limited. Then I've got a whole other creative team. Then we've got operations. Then we've got... It's just mad. It's just mad, isn't it? This is a job. Who would have thought, when you were at school, this was an opportunity? Not my principal or my maths teacher.Neil Connolly: So, sorry, just to balance the kind of economies of scale. That was the question, wasn't it?Paul Marden: Well, we were talking about what is the formula for making that an investment, but you know, the authority here is the effort you've put in to do this feels high, but at the same time, you have to find this thing. There is a lot of investment that goes into the front.Neil Connolly: But that comes back to creatives. Caring and I'm not saying the creatives don't, but I care. I care about building businesses. Yeah, not necessarily like building my own CV, like there's so many projects that across our desks. I'll be like, 'Yeah, that'd be really fun to work on.' But do I think that I can make that a touring product? Can it be a long-running location-based entertainment sit-down product? Can it be an art shop? Like you've kind of got a balance with what do you think is just creatively cool versus what can we do as a company that is a commercially viable and financially stable product? And so all that comes through in terms of the creative, but also in terms of the activities of how we run the building, how this model realizes. Because if you think about it, let's make Phantom of the Opera run in the West End. Yes. The show is very obvious, with many casts on a room, away, fruit team away, terrace, it's a big activity. If they haven't sold half that away, they have to use the whole show and play all those people.Neil Connolly: But if they haven't sold half that away from one of my shows... I only have to activate four of my rooms, not eight of them. Therefore, I don't have to call in four actors. I don't have to call in a bunch of the other front of house team and I can scale in the operations on the back. It's an entirely scalable process. Flexible, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, 100%. But also, like, we've got eight rooms here. If we decide to take this to another territory, and that territory demands a much higher throughput, then instead of eight rooms, I can do 20 rooms, 30 rooms. As long as we know that the market is there to be able to kind of get people through it.Neil Connolly: I love this show and I'm so proud of it. The main reason why I'm proud of it is when the show finishes, let's go into one of the lounges. Have you been into one of the lounges?Paul Marden: I've had a nose around a lounge.Neil Connolly: There are different shapes and sizes. We won't go into that one. We'll go into this one down here. That one, that one. It's always such a buzz when you're stood in the bar and the shows kick out, and you see tables and tables of 14 people going up into the bar.Neil Connolly: Area and before they've even gotten a drink, they will run straight over to their friends, families, strangers, whoever they were playing with in that table of 14, and instantly be like, 'Right, I need to know everything that was going on inside your head, your heart, and your soul over the last two hours of my life because this was my experience.'Neil Connolly: And they'll just go, and they'll be like, 'And this is what I was thinking.' And then I thought it was you because you did this and you touched your nose in a weird way. And then I thought you were sending secret signals. And then everyone's like, 'No, that's not what I was doing.' I was just trying to be a normal person. And they were like, 'Well, why did you say that thing?' It sounded super weird. And they're like, 'That's just what I do.' And it's just totally mental. And then they all get a drink from the bar. And we call it the bar tab chat.Neil Connolly: It's another revenue stream.Neil Connolly: I do talk about this like it's a show. And it is a show. You've walked around, do you think it's a show? Completely. I talk to established houses all the time. Like, you know, the big theatres of the land. Organisations that are national portfolio organisations who receive a lot of Arts Council funding. The thing that they want to talk to us about all the time is new audiences. They're like, 'How do I get new audiences through my door?' What can I do? And I'm like, 'Well, firstly, make a show that people want to go and see.'Neil Connolly: Again, they're like, 'But I've got this amazing writer and he's a really big name and everyone's going to come because it's that name.' And I'm like, 'Yeah, that's wicked. That's cool.' And they can all go pay reverence to that person. That's really wonderful. Whereas when you look at the attractions landscape or the immersive theatre landscape or like anything like... Squid Game, or The Elvis, Evolution, or War of the Worlds, which has also laid reality, or any of that kind of stuff, across the landscape, it is nothing but new audiences. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It is nothing but actual ticket-buying audiences.Neil Connolly: And they come from all different walks of life. And what I love is that they do come in to this experience and we hit them with this like secret theatre.Neil Connolly: And they're like, 'Oh my God.' And often it's a gateway to them being like, 'Oh, I didn't realise that.' Maybe I'll go see a Western show or maybe I will go to the National Theatre and see something. Because that's the level of archery. Because those organisations, I love them and I've worked in a few of them, but those buildings can be quite austere, even though they're open and porous, but it's still very difficult to walk through that threshold and feel a part of it.Paul Marden: Whereas coming in here, coming into an event like this, can feel like a thing that they do.Neil Connolly: Because it's the same demographic as theme park junkies. People who love going to theme parks love going to stuff like this because it's an experience, it's an otherness, it's an other nature kind of thing. Because modern audiences want to play and do, not sit and watch. But we all exist in the kind of same ecosystem. I'm not taking on the National Theatre.Paul Marden: Gosh, no. I always talk about that. I think the reason why so many attractions work together in the collaborative way that they do is they recognise that they're not competing with each other. They're competing with sitting on your backside and watching Netflix.Paul Marden: Yeah, yeah.Paul Marden: Our job for all of us is to drag people away from their screens and drag people off of their sofas to do something. And then that's the biggest challenge that we all face.Neil Connolly: I think then that kind of answers the question that you asked me earlier, which I didn't answer. And I'm very sorry.Neil Connolly: is about identifying different pieces of IP. Like, yes, we largely exist in the world of licensing IP. And how do we identify that kind of IP to be able to translate? Not just how do we do it, but like, actually, how do we identify the right thing that's going to... How do you spot the winner? Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And that is one of the biggest challenges to your point of we're talking directly to people who consume arts, culture and media and technology in a slightly more passive way, whether that's just at home and watching Netflix and then bringing that to life. In a very, very different way. If you have a very clear marketing campaign that tells people what it is that they're buying and what they're expected to see or do on their particular night out, because that's what modern people really care about, what they do with their money. Yeah. And they want to have a good night out. And I'm in the business of giving people a good night out. We also happen to be murdering a lot of people in the course of the show.Neil Connolly: Still a good night out. Still a good night out. But I'm in a place where the dead sit. Yeah, exactly. Lounge of the dead. And like, you know, this is a really cool space. Oh, it's just beautiful. You know, we've got the telephone really works. There's lots of information that comes through that. The radio works, that does different things. The TV screen on the wall, that has the actual live feed into the round table room that you've just left. And there's other little puzzles and hints and tricks in this room, which means that after you've been murdered or banished and you come to the Lounge of the Dead, you're still engaged with the game to a degree. You just don't directly influence the outcome of the game. But you're still involved in it. You're still involved in it. It's super fun. Oh, and you can have a drink in here.Paul Marden: I don't let people drink in the round table. Even more important. What's this?Neil Connolly: The dolls, the creepy dolls. What this is, this is the void. Creatively speaking, this is where all the gold goes when people win or lose it. And the creepy dolls are from the TV show. Ydyn nhw'r un gwirioneddol o'r sioe? Felly, gafodd studio Lambert, sy'n gwneud y sioe tebyg, llawer o brops o'r sioe tebyg i ni eu rhoi ar y ddispleiddio yma. Felly, mae gennych chi'r Dolls Creepy o'r lles 3 yno. Rydyn ni'n mynd i fyny. Yn ôl yma, mae'r peintiwch Deathmatch.Paul Marden: Which is from season three.Neil Connolly: And they get the quill and they write the names and got the quill upstairs. We've also got over here, the cards that they used to play the death match with. Excellent.Paul Marden: So you began your career in theatre. How did that evolve into the world of immersive live experiences?Neil Connolly: Life story. I am the son of a postman and a cook. And if you haven't noticed already, I'm from Ireland. There was no theatre in our lives, my life, when I was growing up. And I stumbled into a youth theatre. It's called Kildare Youth Theatre. And the reason why I joined that is because there was a girl that I really fancied.Neil Connolly: She had just joined this youth theatre and I was like, 'Oh, I'm gonna join that as well' and that kind of opened the world of theatre for me. At the same time, I then got spotted by this guy, his name's Vijay Baton, his real name's Om, but he converted to Hare Krishnanism in the 90s. And he set up a street theatre company in Ireland. He just taught me street theatre. So he taught me stilt walk, he taught me juggling, he taught me how to build puppets. And so I spent years building puppets with him and going around Ireland doing lots of different street theatre while I was a teenager. And doing street theatre and doing my youth theatre and then kind of all of that kind of came to a head when I had to decide what I was going to do with my life. I applied to go to drama school. And I applied to two drama schools. One was Radha. Didn't get in. Didn't even get an audition. And the other one was Rose Bruford. And they took me. And the reason why they took me— I probably wasn't even that good. But on the day that I was auditioning to get into Rose Bruford was the same day as my maths exam for my final exams at school. You call them your A-levels, we call them the leaving certificate.Neil Connolly: And while all of my friends were back in Ireland doing their maths exam, I was in an audition room pretending to be a tree or the colour black.Neil Connolly: Who knows? And they kind of went, 'Well, if I fail my maths exam, I don't get into university in Ireland.' Like, it's just a blanket thing. And so I was like, 'I literally sat across the panel' and I was like, 'eggs, basket.' And they were like, 'cool.' So they let me in based off of that. So I got a classical training. Then what happened is I came out of university. I was living with two of my friends, Natalie and Joe. And we had our own little production company called The Lab Collective. And we just started making shows. In weird ways, we joined a company called Theatre Delicatessen. Let's get away from this. Yeah, yeah, yeah.Neil Connolly: So Theatre Deli was a company set up to take over disused spaces in London and convert them into art spaces.Neil Connolly: Basically legalised squatting. It's the same as like a guardianship. But we weren't living in the buildings. We were just putting on shows and we put on art shows, we put on theatre shows. We did Shakespeare for a while. We wrote our own work and we just did lots of really, really cool stuff. And I worked in music festivals, classically trained actor. So I was trying to do shows. I did a lot of devising. I also joined an improvisation group. And kind of through all that mix, like those years at Delhi, which was making these weird shows in these weird buildings, were very, very formative years for us. The Arts Council wouldn't support the kind of work that we were making. We were like, 'Cool, how do we get space?Neil Connolly: How do we get or make money to support ourselves? And what are the shows? There's the magic triangle all over again. Space, show, money. And that's your apprenticeship, I guess, that brings you to here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And like, again, I make no bones about it. 10 years ago, I was selling programs on the door of the Royal Festival Hall while doing all of that stuff. So in one of the Theatre Daily buildings, we did a show called Heist, which is you break into a building and steal stuff. That's what the public do.Neil Connolly: And a bunch of us did that. I mean, it's so much fun— kind of doing it. And off the back of that, somebody else basically tried to chase down the crystal maze. And then they went away, and then they called me up and they were like, 'Hey, I've got the rights. Do you want to make the crystal maze?' And I was like, 'Yeah, sounds like fun.' So I got involved with that, did that for a while. And then, from there, this is the end of a very long story. I'm so apologised. Yeah, from there, all of those different things that I've done through the course of my life in terms of operations, designing experiences, being a creative, understanding business.Neil Connolly: Building a P&L, building a budget, talking to investors, trying to convince them to give you money. All of that stuff kind of basically came together. And over the last few years, like the wildest ride is that pre-2020.Neil Connolly: We were just a bunch of people doing a bunch of weird things, making weird shows and weird attractions in kind of different ways. And then that year happened. And I don't know what happened, but literally every single major studio, film, TV production, game designer, licensor in the world, suddenly just went— brand extensions, world extensions, and they all just started calling us. And they were like, 'Hi, I've got this thing.' Can you develop it into a thing? Because I need to extend my brand or I want to build a world and extend that for the public. And we were like, 'Yeah, okay, cool.' And we were just lucky, serendipitously, to be in the right place at the right time. To be those people that people can approach. And we're always, we're very approachable.Neil Connolly: As you can tell, I talk a lot. And, you know, so the last five years, it's just been a mad ride.Paul Marden: So look, Neil, it's been amazing. I have had the most fun. Last question for you. What's next? Are you putting your feet up now because you finished this? Or on to the next? Neil Connolly: Very much on to the next thing. So we're already in production with our new show, which is called Peppa Pig Surprise Party. And that is opening at the Metro Centre in Gateshead next year. Oh, how exciting is that? It's very exciting.Paul Marden: So quite a different demographic.Neil Connolly: The demographic for Peppa Pig is two to five year olds. It's been a really fun show to design and create. To go back to a question that you asked me very early on, there is no blueprint, there is no format. I have embraced the chaos tattooed on my arm. And always when I approach things, any new show or any new creative, I am thinking of it from a ticket buying perspective: 'I have paid my money.' What is the coolest thing that I can possibly do with that money? And so therefore, I'm now looking at families and, like, what's the coolest thing that they can do for that ticket price in the world of Peppa Pig?Paul Marden: Let's come back in the new year, once you've opened Peppa Pig, let's go to Gateshead and see that. That sounds pretty awesome to me. I reckon there's a whole new episode of Designing Worlds for two to five-year-olds that we could fill an hour on.Neil Connolly: Oh yeah, 100%. It's a totally different beast. And super fun to design.Paul Marden: Oh mate. Neil, it has been so wonderful having a wander around the inside of your crazy mind.Paul Marden: If you've enjoyed today's episode, please like it and leave a comment in your podcast app. It really does make it so much easier for other people to find us. This episode was written by Emily Burrows from Plaster, edited by Steve Folland, and produced by Sami Entwistle from Plaster and Wenalyn Dionaldo. Thanks very much. See you next week.  The 2025 Visitor Attraction Website Survey is now LIVE! Dive into groundbreaking benchmarks for the industryGain a better understanding of how to achieve the highest conversion ratesExplore the "why" behind visitor attraction site performanceLearn the impact of website optimisation and visitor engagement on conversion ratesUncover key steps to enhance user experience for greater conversionsTake the Rubber Cheese Visitor Attraction Website Survey Report

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Today on the show, we're breaking down the NCAA sanctions against Michigan. Throughout the entire broadcast we were joined in studio by David Gregory who is a Lawyer and NFLPA Certified Sports Agent for Bullrush Sports. During that time, David and Huge went through the entire report, discussed the timeline, talked about all of the sanctions that Michigan was hit with and why, talked about what the appeal process will be like, talked about what Harbaugh's and Stalion's Lawyers had to say, talked about NIL and the salary cap, and so much more. We were also joined by Anthony Broome from theWolverine.com in our first hour so we could get a Michigan Football update. He talked about 5-star Running Back Savion Hiter committing to Michigan, what he'll bring to the team, and more. In our second hour, Clayton Sayfie from theWolverine.com joined us. He filled us in on Savion Hiter committing to Michigan, talked about the type of player he is and what he can bring to the Wolverines, and more. We wrapped up the show talking with Bill Hobson from Michigan Golf Live. He had something interesting happen following an interview with Pat Perez about the LIV Championship happening in Michigan this weekend, so he filled us in on that.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

McFadden and Friends Band was formed in 2018 and brings together five seasoned musicians with more than 150 years of combined experience. With deep roots in Jazz and Blues, the group calls the Roanoke and New River Valley home and has become a familiar presence in the region's live music scene.Over the years, the band has performed at a variety of popular venues and events, including Fatback Soul Shack, Old Salem Brewery, Parkway Brewery, Big Lick Brewery, Twisted Track Brewpub, Mac and Bob's Restaurant, Joe's Deli, Homeplace Vineyard Music Festival, Brady's Distillery, Eastern Divide Brewery, Jazz in July at Longwood Park, and Radford Coffee Company. They are also regularly invited to play private events, showcasing their versatility and broad appeal.The lineup features Roscoe McFadden on keyboards, vocals, and harmonica; Davel Burch on saxophone; Jimmy Dickason on bass; David Gregory on drums; and Glen Holmes on keyboards.

Today on the show, we're breaking down the NCAA sanctions against Michigan. Throughout the entire broadcast we were joined in studio by David Gregory who is a Lawyer and NFLPA Certified Sports Agent for Bullrush Sports. During that time, David and Huge went through the entire report, discussed the timeline, talked about all of the sanctions that Michigan was hit with and why, talked about what the appeal process will be like, talked about what Harbaugh's and Stalion's Lawyers had to say, talked about NIL and the salary cap, and so much more. We were also joined by Anthony Broome from theWolverine.com in our first hour so we could get a Michigan Football update. He talked about 5-star Running Back Savion Hiter committing to Michigan, what he'll bring to the team, and more.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today on the show, we're breaking down the NCAA sanctions against Michigan. Throughout the entire broadcast we were joined in studio by David Gregory who is a Lawyer and NFLPA Certified Sports Agent for Bullrush Sports. During that time, David and Huge went through the entire report, discussed the timeline, talked about all of the sanctions that Michigan was hit with and why, talked about what the appeal process will be like, talked about what Harbaugh's and Stalion's Lawyers had to say, talked about NIL and the salary cap, and so much more. In our second hour, Clayton Sayfie from theWolverine.com joined us. He filled us in on Savion Hiter committing to Michigan, talked about the type of player he is and what he can bring to the Wolverines, and more. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today on the show, we're breaking down the NCAA sanctions against Michigan. Throughout the entire broadcast we were joined in studio by David Gregory who is a Lawyer and NFLPA Certified Sports Agent for Bullrush Sports. During that time, David and Huge went through the entire report, discussed the timeline, talked about all of the sanctions that Michigan was hit with and why, talked about what the appeal process will be like, talked about what Harbaugh's and Stalion's Lawyers had to say, talked about NIL and the salary cap, and so much more. We wrapped up the show talking with Bill Hobson from Michigan Golf Live. He had something interesting happen following an interview with Pat Perez about the LIV Championship happening in Michigan this weekend, so he filled us in on that.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In our final hour, we were joined by Doug Bell who is the GM at American Dunes. He told us about some of the things they've got going on, filled us in on the Folds of Honor Collegiate happening in September, talked about Patriot Golf Days, and more. We were then joined by David Gregory who is a Lawyer and NFLPA Certified Sports Agent for Bullrush Sports. He and Huge talked about what's happened in regards to the NCAA sanctions against Michigan, talked about Harbaugh's and Stalions Lawyers firing back at the NCAA, and much more. We were then joined by John Maakaron from Sports Illustrated and the Detroit Sports Podcast. He gave us his thought's on how the Lions looked against the Dolphins, gave his thought's on Hendon Hooker and Kyle Allen, looked ahead to this weekend's game against the Texans, and more. We wrapped up the show talking with Bruce Hungerford, who is the Head Coach of the East Grand Rapids Girls Volleyball program. They're having an outdoor Volleyball match on the EGR Football field this Wednesday August 20th. Bruce filled us in on why they're doing this, everything they'll have to offer, and more.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We were joined by David Gregory who is a Lawyer and NFLPA Certified Sports Agent for Bullrush Sports. He and Huge talked about what's happened in regards to the NCAA sanctions against Michigan, talked about Harbaugh's and Stalions Lawyers firing back at the NCAA, and much more. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today we're broadcasting from American Dunes as the Grand Rapids Griffins Youth Foundation is hosting their Annual Golf Outing to raise funds for kids. Throughout the show, we were joined by some of our great guests to talk about the Detroit Tigers, Detroit Lions, Michigan and Michigan State Athletics, and more as we were joined by some of our great guests. We kicked off the show talking about the Tigers as we were joined by former Major Leaguer John Vander Wal. He and Huge talked about how the series went against the Twins, previewed the series against the Astros, gave their thought's on the pitching and hitting, talked about expectations moving forward, and more. We were then joined by Tim Staudt from Staudt on Sports in Lansing. He gave us his opinion on the NCAA/Michigan situation, gave his thought's on what happens moving forward, and more. We talked about the Detroit Lions in our second hour as Jeff Risdon from Lions Wire joined us. He and Huge talked about how the Lions looked in that preseason game against the Dolphins, talked about the backup QB situation and how Kyle Allen seems to be the guy, talked about other players that made an impression in that game, and much more. We were then joined by Chris Balas from theWolverine.com to get an update on Michigan and the NCAA. He told us everything he's heard over the weekend and also updated us on an injury on the Michigan Football team, and more. In our final hour, we were joined by Doug Bell who is the GM at American Dunes. He told us about some of the things they've got going on, filled us in on the Folds of Honor Collegiate happening in September, talked about Patriot Golf Days, and more. We were then joined by David Gregory who is a Lawyer and NFLPA Certified Sports Agent for Bullrush Sports. He and Huge talked about what's happened in regards to the NCAA sanctions against Michigan, talked about Harbaugh's and Stalions Lawyers firing back at the NCAA, and much more. We were then joined by John Maakaron from Sports Illustrated and the Detroit Sports Podcast. He gave us his thought's on how the Lions looked against the Dolphins, gave his thought's on Hendon Hooker and Kyle Allen, looked ahead to this weekend's game against the Texans, and more. We wrapped up the show talking with Bruce Hungerford, who is the Head Coach of the East Grand Rapids Girls Volleyball program. They're having an outdoor Volleyball match on the EGR Football field this Wednesday August 20th. Bruce filled us in on why they're doing this, everything they'll have to offer, and more.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

David Gregory joined us again to tell us what the appeal process will be like for Michigan. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today we're broadcasting from the Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort in Mt. Pleasant. Throughout the show, we're talking all about the NCAA "bringing the hammer down" on the Michigan Football program as we were joined by some of our great guests. We kicked off the show talking with David Gregory who is a Lawyer and NFLPA Certified Sports Agent for Bullrush Sports. He and Huge broke down everything that Michigan was hit with, talked about how things work out legally between the NCAA and Michigan, and much more. Anthony Broome from theWolverine.com then joined us. He gave us his thought's on what's happened, if it will affect the current team, and more. Doug Skene from theWolverine.com then joined us to continue the conversation. He gave us his thought's on the situation, talked about getting back to real Football, and more. In our second hour, we were joined by Clayton Sayfie from theWolverine.com to get his thought's on the Michigan situation. News also broke during the interview that Michigan plans to appeal their sentence, so he and Huge gave their thought's on that. David Gregory then joined us again to tell us what the appeal process will be like for Michigan. Chris Balas from theWolverine.com then joined us to tell us everything he's heard, gave his thought's on the appeal, and more. John Borton from theWolverine.com joined us in our final hour. He gave us his opinion on everything that went down today with Michigan, talked about them appealing and how that should go, and more. We were then joined by Tanya Bardy from Soaring Eagle. She talked with Huge about the Soaring Eagle Golf Open happening this weekend, talked about the Tribal Youth Council and the money they are raising, and more. We were then joined by Drew Campanelli and the Godfather from Impact Powersports so they could talk about the Golf Scooter that he put up to give away, talked about where the funds raised are going, and more. We wrapped up the show talking with former Piston Lindsey Hunter. He talked about his Basketball camp, donated some money to the Tribal Youth Council, and more. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today we're broadcasting from the Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort in Mt. Pleasant. Throughout the show, we're talking all about the NCAA "bringing the hammer down" on the Michigan Football program as we were joined by some of our great guests. We kicked off the show talking with David Gregory who is a Lawyer and NFLPA Certified Sports Agent for Bullrush Sports. He and Huge broke down everything that Michigan was hit with, talked about how things work out legally between the NCAA and Michigan, and much more. Anthony Broome from theWolverine.com then joined us. He gave us his thought's on what's happened, if it will affect the current team, and more. Doug Skene from theWolverine.com then joined us to continue the conversation. He gave us his thought's on the situation, talked about getting back to real Football, and more. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In our second hour, we were joined by Clayton Sayfie from theWolverine.com to get his thought's on the Michigan situation. News also broke during the interview that Michigan plans to appeal their sentence, so he and Huge gave their thought's on that. David Gregory then joined us again to tell us what the appeal process will be like for Michigan. Chris Balas from theWolverine.com then joined us to tell us everything he's heard, gave his thought's on the appeal, and more. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We were joined by David Gregory who is a Lawyer and NFLPA Certified Sports Agent for Bullrush Sports. He and Huge broke down everything that Michigan was hit with, talked about how things work out legally between the NCAA and Michigan, and much more. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Join Dr. Watkins as she interviews David Gregory, New York Times' bestselling author of Dinner with a Perfect Stranger, which sold half a million copies. In this interview they discuss his Christian Novel "One of Us" which places the story of Jesus from the four New Testament gospels in the setting of present-day America. To find out more about David you can reach him at: https://freewithgod.com/  

What if every contractor had access to world-class leadership training, accountability, and a community that actually gets it? That's exactly what Chad Peterman and David Gregory are building with The Arena. In this episode of Can't Stop the Growth, Chad and David pull back the curtain on a game-changing platform for HVAC, plumbing, and electrical leaders who are ready to grow—faster and smarter. From breaking leadership ceilings to solving real business challenges alongside like-minded pros, this episode is a call to action for anyone serious about leading their team and business to the next level. Whether you're at $3M or $30M, The Arena was built for YOU. Join the movement.

What if Jesus walked into your city—right now, in 2025? In this bold and unfiltered episode, New York Times bestselling author David Gregory sits down with Shemaiah Reed to unpack his groundbreaking new novel One of Us, which imagines the Gospels unfolding in modern-day America. Known for his breakout hit Dinner with a Perfect Stranger and a fearless approach to Christian fiction, David takes us behind the scenes of his latest work—a book he says might be the most consequential story he's ever written. Together, they dive deep into:Why fiction hits the heart in ways sermons can'tHow today's church might miss Jesus completely if He showed upThe hidden struggles of faith, failure, and performance-based ChristianityWhat the gospel really means to a generation tired of religion but hungry for truthAnd why it's time to rethink how we talk about God, grace, and identityThis isn't your typical church chat. This is raw. Real. And deeply necessary. Whether you're a believer, a skeptic, or somewhere in between—this conversation will challenge what you think you know about Jesus and inspire you to see Him in a whole new light.https://www.freewithgod.com/https://davidgregorybooks.com/Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/i-am-refocused-radio--2671113/support.

Today on the show, we're talking about the Detroit Lions, Detroit Tigers, the British Open, and more as we were joined by some of our great guests. We kicked off the show talking about the Lions as Scott Bischoff from the Detroit Lions Podcast joined us. He and Huge talked about the Lions and Tate Ratledge finalizing a deal, talked about all of the injuries on the team before Training Camp even starts, and more. We then played Bill's interview with David Gregory in regards to the House vs. NCAA settlement. We were then joined by one of our Tigers insiders Greg Heeres so he and Huge could preview the series against the Rangers. He and Huge also talked about what they expect from the pitching staff moving forward, and more. We wrapped up the hour with a "Moving Ferris Forward" interview as Huge spoke with Sam Stark, who is Ferris State's Head and Man's Women's Golf Coach. He and Huge talked about the balance between Academic and Athletic success, talked about the Women's team reaching the DII Championship for the first time in 16 years, and much more.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today on the show, we're talking about the Detroit Lions, Detroit Tigers, the British Open, and more as we were joined by some of our great guests. We kicked off the show talking about the Lions as Scott Bischoff from the Detroit Lions Podcast joined us. He and Huge talked about the Lions and Tate Ratledge finalizing a deal, talked about all of the injuries on the team before Training Camp even starts, and more. We then played Bill's interview with David Gregory in regards to the House vs. NCAA settlement. We were then joined by one of our Tigers insiders Greg Heeres so he and Huge could preview the series against the Rangers. He and Huge also talked about what they expect from the pitching staff moving forward, and more. We wrapped up the hour with a "Moving Ferris Forward" interview as Huge spoke with Sam Stark, who is Ferris State's Head and Man's Women's Golf Coach. He and Huge talked about the balance between Academic and Athletic success, talked about the Women's team reaching the DII Championship for the first time in 16 years, and much more. We talked about the British Open in our second hour as we were joined by PGA Rules Official Mark Wilson. He and Huge talked about the Leaderboard and who they think could win it all on Sunday, and more. We were then joined by Bill Hobson from Michigan Golf Live so we could continue the conversation. He gave us his thought's on who is most likely to win it on Sunday, and more. We were then joined by Josh Garvey from Doeren Mayhew. He told us about their partnership with the Lindsey Hunter Foundation, talked about the Detroit Tigers, looked ahead to the Lions season, and more. We were then joined by Steve Goff from the Lansing Sports Network. He and Huge went through the Spartan Football schedule and played the win/loss game, and more. In our final hour we were joined by Jeremy Reisman from Pride of Detroit so he and Huge could talk about the Lions. They discussed Ratledge finally signing his deal, gave their thought's on all of the injuries on the team in the off-season, and more. We then played Bill's earlier conversation with Scott Bischoff in regards to the Lions. We were then joined by Nate Wangler who is one of the voices of the West Michigan Whitecaps. He updated us on how Clark and McGonigle have looked in AA Erie, gave his thought's on what the Tigers need to do to bounce back, and more. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In our final hour, we were joined by David Gregory who is a Lawyer and NFLPA Certified Sports Agent for Bullrush Sports. He and Huge talked talked about the NFL draft and the second rounders that have been holding out for guaranteed money, we got an update on the House vs. NCAA settlement, pay for play and NIL, and so much more. We were then joined by PGA Rules Official Mark Wilson so he and Huge could talk about day one of the British Open. They talked about what the leaderboard looks like, talked about Rickie Fowler, and more.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We were joined by David Gregory who is a Lawyer and NFLPA Certified Sports Agent for Bullrush Sports. He and Huge talked talked about the NFL draft and the second rounders that have been holding out for guaranteed money, we got an update on the House vs. NCAA settlement, pay for play and NIL, and so much more. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today on the show, we're talking about Michigan State and Michigan Athletics, the Detroit Tigers, Detroit Lions, and more as we were joined by some of our great guests. Throughout our first hour, we were joined in studio by Mitch Lyons from Mitch Lyons Wealth. During that time, he and Huge gave their thought's on the current state of the WNBA and Caitlyn Clark, talked about what Jonathan Smith and need to do get turn the football team around this season, talked about the Detroit Tigers and what they need to do to bounce back, gave their thought's on what the Tigers should do at the trade deadline, discussed the Lions, and Mitch told us how he can help you with your retirement, and more. Huge opened up the second hour talking about what happened with Ethan Carter from Hudsonville as he was in Alabama last weekend. We were then joined by Anthony Broome from theWolverine.com so he could update us on Michigan Athletics. He filled s in on what Dusty May has been doing in the off-season, talked about the guys he's brought in and what impact they'll make, he updated us on what Sherrone Moore has doing and all of the great recruits he's gotten, talked about strengths and weaknesses of the team heading into Fall camp, and much more. In our final hour, we were joined by David Gregory who is a Lawyer and NFLPA Certified Sports Agent for Bullrush Sports. He and Huge talked talked about the NFL draft and the second rounders that have been holding out for guaranteed money, we got an update on the House vs. NCAA settlement, pay for play and NIL, and so much more. We were then joined by PGA Rules Official Mark Wilson so he and Huge could talk about day one of the British Open. They talked about what the leaderboard looks like, talked about Rickie Fowler, and more.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Send us a textDavid Gregory is the New York Times' bestselling author of Dinner with a Perfect Stranger, which sold half a million copies, The Last Christian, a Christy Award finalist for best Christian fiction, and ten other books. Three of his books have been made into feature films. A Dallas Seminary graduate, international conference speaker, and former radio broadcaster, David is a leading voice seeking to bring the message of Christ to a new generation in unconventional ways and usher the worldwide church into a deeper experience of Christ in them.In the last part of our conversation, you will hear David answer the question where we left off the last time and that is how we can make Jesus relevant to a new generation. He also shared what he thinks the church is missing in the life of Jesus and why is it so critical?To connect with our guest or buy his books, you can do so buy going to: https://freewithgod.com and you can watch the books that he wrote that was turn into a movie either in Tubi or in Prime.Connect with us through our Social Media Links:Email us at cometojesuswithannette.mahal@gmail.com Twitter and Instagram: @AnnetteMahal FB: Come to Jesus You can also send us a voice message if you are listening in Spotify or by sending your questions or comments to (571)601-0067. You can help support our podcast ministry and partner with us reach further to build God's Kingdom by either giving a onetime donation to our coffee podcast ministry or be a part of our monthly supporters. By partnering with us, you will get an invitation to join and be a part of our livestream events as it happens, unlock exclusive post and get a full access to all our bonus/special episodes, shout out to our new members, get a one-time gift for joining, be a part of our special community for our members only, receive a newsletter once a month, and most importantly partner with us as we share God's message to the world and that is by going to:www.buymeacoffee.com/cometojesus Thank you again for listening and always remember to Come to Jesus Daily!

Send us a textDavid Gregory is the New York Times' bestselling author of Dinner with a Perfect Stranger, which sold half a million copies, The Last Christian, a Christy Award finalist for best Christian fiction, and ten other books. Three of his books have been made into feature films. A Dallas Seminary graduate, international conference speaker, and former radio broadcaster, David is a leading voice seeking to bring the message of Christ to a new generation in unconventional ways and usher the worldwide church into a deeper experience of Christ in them.In the 1st part of our conversation, you will hear David share when and why he made a decision to accept Christ as his personal savior. You will also hear him share when he decided to be an author, how he was able to choose what topic to write and the journey that he has to go through as an author and also how the books he wrote was turn into a movie.Make sure to stay tuned so you don't miss his answer to the question where we left of and to hear the last part of our conversation.To connect with our guest or buy his books, you can do so buy going to: https://freewithgod.comYou can buy the books that he wrote in his website or in Amazon, or you can watch the books that he wrote that was turn into a movie either in Tubi or in Prime.We would love to hear from you so feel free to share with us your feedback on our episode and if you have any questions feel free to message us in any of our social media links.Connect with us through our Social Media Links:Email us at cometojesuswithannette.mahal@gmail.com Twitter and Instagram: @AnnetteMahal FB: Come to Jesus You can also send us a voice message if you are listening in Spotify or by sending your questions or comments to (571)601-0067. You can help support our podcast ministry and partner with us reach further to build God's Kingdom by either giving a onetime donation to our coffee podcast ministry or be a part of our monthly supporters. By partnering with us, you will get an invitation to join and be a part of our livestream events as it happens, unlock exclusive post and get a full access to all our bonus/special episodes, shout out to our new members, get a one-time gift for joining, be a part of our special community for our members only, receive a newsletter once a month, and most importantly partner with us as we share God's message to the world and that is by going to:www.buymeacoffee.com/cometojesus Thank you again for listening and always remember to Come to Jesus Daily!

Today, on Karl and Crew, we continued our weekly theme, "Debunking Myths, and we discussed the statement, "I need to change my life". We cannot change ourselves. Only when you celebrate your utter weakness before God can there be freedom. This awareness can lead to real change. It's found in Humility before God (I Peter 5:6), Proximity to Jesus (John 15), and the Liberty of the Holy Spirit (John 14 & 16, and Romans 8). Our special guest was David Gregory, who is an author, speaker, and blogger. He's the author of the NY Times bestseller "Dinner with a Perfect Stranger" and "One of Us". Also joining us was Shane Barnard. He is a recording artist, songwriter, producer, and founding member of the worship group Shane and Shane (along with friend Shane Everett). They have dedicated their efforts to equipping and empowering worship leaders worldwide called The Worship Initiative. You can hear the highlights of today's program on the Karl and Crew Showcast. Donate to Moody Radio: http://moodyradio.org/donateto/morningshowSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today, on Karl and Crew, we continued our weekly theme, "Debunking Myths, and we discussed the statement, "I need to change my life". We cannot change ourselves. Only when you celebrate your utter weakness before God can there be freedom. This awareness can lead to real change. It's found in Humility before God (I Peter 5:6), Proximity to Jesus (John 15), and the Liberty of the Holy Spirit (John 14 & 16, and Romans 8). Our special guest was David Gregory, who is an author, speaker, and blogger. He's the author of the NY Times bestseller "Dinner with a Perfect Stranger" and "One of Us". Also joining us was Shane Barnard. He is a recording artist, songwriter, producer, and founding member of the worship group Shane and Shane (along with friend Shane Everett). They have dedicated their efforts to equipping and empowering worship leaders worldwide called The Worship Initiative. You can hear the highlights of today's program on the Karl and Crew Showcast. Donate to Moody Radio: http://moodyradio.org/donateto/morningshowSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today, on Karl and Crew, we continued our weekly theme, "Debunking Myths, and we discussed the statement, "I need to change my life". We cannot change ourselves. Only when you celebrate your utter weakness before God can there be freedom. This awareness can lead to real change. It's found in Humility before God (I Peter 5:6), Proximity to Jesus (John 15), and the Liberty of the Holy Spirit (John 14 & 16, and Romans 8). Our special guest was David Gregory, who is an author, speaker, and blogger. He's the author of the NY Times bestseller "Dinner with a Perfect Stranger" and "One of Us". Also joining us was Shane Barnard. He is a recording artist, songwriter, producer, and founding member of the worship group Shane and Shane (along with friend Shane Everett). They have dedicated their efforts to equipping and empowering worship leaders worldwide called The Worship Initiative. You can hear the highlights of today's program on the Karl and Crew Showcast. Donate to Moody Radio: http://moodyradio.org/donateto/morningshowSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today, on Karl and Crew, we continued our weekly theme, "Debunking Myths, and we discussed the statement, "I need to change my life". We cannot change ourselves. Only when you celebrate your utter weakness before God can there be freedom. This awareness can lead to real change. It's found in Humility before God (I Peter 5:6), Proximity to Jesus (John 15), and the Liberty of the Holy Spirit (John 14 & 16, and Romans 8). Our special guest was David Gregory, who is an author, speaker, and blogger. He's the author of the NY Times bestseller "Dinner with a Perfect Stranger" and "One of Us". Also joining us was Shane Barnard. He is a recording artist, songwriter, producer, and founding member of the worship group Shane and Shane (along with friend Shane Everett). They have dedicated their efforts to equipping and empowering worship leaders worldwide called The Worship Initiative. You can hear the highlights of today's program on the Karl and Crew Showcast. Donate to Moody Radio: http://moodyradio.org/donateto/morningshowSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today, on Karl and Crew, we continued our weekly theme, "Debunking Myths, and we discussed the statement, "I need to change my life". We cannot change ourselves. Only when you celebrate your utter weakness before God can there be freedom. This awareness can lead to real change. It's found in Humility before God (I Peter 5:6), Proximity to Jesus (John 15), and the Liberty of the Holy Spirit (John 14 & 16, and Romans 8). Our special guest was David Gregory, who is an author, speaker, and blogger. He's the author of the NY Times bestseller "Dinner with a Perfect Stranger" and "One of Us". Also joining us was Shane Barnard. He is a recording artist, songwriter, producer, and founding member of the worship group Shane and Shane (along with friend Shane Everett). They have dedicated their efforts to equipping and empowering worship leaders worldwide called The Worship Initiative. You can hear the highlights of today's program on the Karl and Crew Showcast. Donate to Moody Radio: http://moodyradio.org/donateto/morningshowSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today, on Karl and Crew, we continued our weekly theme, "Debunking Myths, and we discussed the statement, "I need to change my life". We cannot change ourselves. Only when you celebrate your utter weakness before God can there be freedom. This awareness can lead to real change. It's found in Humility before God (I Peter 5:6), Proximity to Jesus (John 15), and the Liberty of the Holy Spirit (John 14 & 16, and Romans 8). Our special guest was David Gregory, who is an author, speaker, and blogger. He's the author of the NY Times bestseller "Dinner with a Perfect Stranger" and "One of Us". Also joining us was Shane Barnard. He is a recording artist, songwriter, producer, and founding member of the worship group Shane and Shane (along with friend Shane Everett). They have dedicated their efforts to equipping and empowering worship leaders worldwide called The Worship Initiative. You can hear the highlights of today's program on the Karl and Crew Showcast. Donate to Moody Radio: http://moodyradio.org/donateto/morningshowSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Throughout our first two hours, we were joined by David Gregory who is a Lawyer and NFLPA Certified Sports Agent for Bullrush Sports. He and Huge talked about the House vs. NCAA settlement that passed recently, talked about how this will effect the landscape of College Athletics, talked about the money that Colleges will be able to spend in regards to NIL, talked about Schools will pay for revenue sharing, talked about what could happen to non-revenue sports, and much more. In our final hour, we were joined by Chris Balas and Doug Skene from theWolverine.com so we could look ahead to the Fall Football season for the Wolverines, Spartans, the Big Ten, and the Detroit Lions.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Throughout our first two hours, we were joined by David Gregory who is a Lawyer and NFLPA Certified Sports Agent for Bullrush Sports. He and Huge talked about the House vs. NCAA settlement that passed recently, talked about how this will effect the landscape of College Athletics, talked about the money that Colleges will be able to spend in regards to NIL, talked about Schools will pay for revenue sharing, talked about what could happen to non-revenue sports, and much more.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Throughout our first two hours, we were joined by David Gregory who is a Lawyer and NFLPA Certified Sports Agent for Bullrush Sports. He and Huge talked about the House vs. NCAA settlement that passed recently, talked about how this will effect the landscape of College Athletics, talked about the money that Colleges will be able to spend in regards to NIL, talked about Schools will pay for revenue sharing, talked about what could happen to non-revenue sports, and much more.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Director Mick Jackson, writer Kier-La Janisse and Severin Films' David Gregory

Throughout our first two hours, we were joined by David Gregory who is a Lawyer and NFLPA Certified Sports Agent for Bullrush Sports. He and Huge talked about the House vs. NCAA settlement that passed recently, talked about how this will effect the landscape of College Athletics, talked about the money that Colleges will be able to spend in regards to NIL, talked about Schools will pay for revenue sharing, talked about what could happen to non-revenue sports, and much more. In our final hour, we talked about the Detroit Tigers as Jordan Hall from the "Eat 'Em Up: Detroit Tigers Podcast" joined us. He and Huge talked about the Tigers earlier win against the Pirates today, previewed the second game later on today, Jordan told us what he really likes about this team, what this team still needs, and more. We were then joined by Nate Wangler who is one of the voices of the West Michigan Whitecaps. He and Huge talked about how well the Whitecaps have been playing as they're in the Playoffs, talked about players he thinks will be called up to the Tigers, and more. We wrapped up the show talking about the NBA Finals and the Pistons as Keith Langlois from DetroitPistons.com joined us. He and Huge gave their thought's on if the Finals will end tonight, who they think could win it all, discussed the Pistons in the off-season, and more.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Throughout our first two hours, we were joined by David Gregory who is a Lawyer and NFLPA Certified Sports Agent for Bullrush Sports. He and Huge talked about the House vs. NCAA settlement that passed recently, talked about how this will effect the landscape of College Athletics, talked about the money that Colleges will be able to spend in regards to NIL, talked about Schools will pay for revenue sharing, talked about what could happen to non-revenue sports, and much more. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Throughout our first two hours, we were joined by David Gregory who is a Lawyer and NFLPA Certified Sports Agent for Bullrush Sports. He and Huge talked about the House vs. NCAA settlement that passed recently, talked about how this will effect the landscape of College Athletics, talked about the money that Colleges will be able to spend in regards to NIL, talked about Schools will pay for revenue sharing, talked about what could happen to non-revenue sports, and much more. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today the show is being hosted by our good friend Ben Bosscher from our affiliate 100.9 the Mitt in the Great Lakes Bay Region. Throughout the show, we were joined by some of our great guests to talk about the House vs. NCAA settlement, the Detroit Tigers, Michigan Athletics, and more. In our first hour we were joined by David Gregory who is a Lawyer and NFLPA Certified Sports Agent for Bullrush Sports. He updated us on the House vs. NCAA settlement that happened over the weekend, talked about how this will effect the landscape of College Athletics, talked about the money that Colleges will be able to spend in regards to NIL, and much more.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We were joined by David Gregory who is a Lawyer and NFLPA Certified Sports Agent for Bullrush Sports. He updated us on the House vs. NCAA settlement that happened over the weekend, talked about how this will effect the landscape of College Athletics, talked about the money that Colleges will be able to spend in regards to NIL, and much more. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today the show is being hosted by our good friend Ben Bosscher from our affiliate 100.9 the Mitt in the Great Lakes Bay Region. Throughout the show, we were joined by some of our great guests to talk about the House vs. NCAA settlement, the Detroit Tigers, Michigan Athletics, and more. In our first hour we were joined by David Gregory who is a Lawyer and NFLPA Certified Sports Agent for Bullrush Sports. He updated us on the House vs. NCAA settlement that happened over the weekend, talked about how this will effect the landscape of College Athletics, talked about the money that Colleges will be able to spend in regards to NIL, and much more. In our second hour, we talked about our Detroit Tigers as Alex Urban from the "Eat 'Em Up: Detroit Tigers Podcast" joined us. He and Ben talked about the Tigers winning that series against the Cubs over the weekend, gave their thought's on which players are bringing the most to this team, talked about how Baez has played lately, previewed the series against the Orioles, and more. In our final hour, we were joined by Clayton Sayfie from theWolverine.com to get an update on Michigan's meeting with the Committee of Infractions over the weekend. Ben and Clayton gave their thought's on if the NCAA will tack on more games to Sherrone Moore's 2 game self imposed penalty, they talked about the House vs. NCAA settlement and how Michigan will handle it, and much more.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today on the show, we're talking about MSU Athletics as they've hired J Batt as their new Athletic Director, talked about the Detroit Tigers, and more as we were joined by some of our great guests. Throughout our first hour, we were joined in studio by David Gregory who is a Lawyer and NFLPA Certified Sports Agent for Bullrush Sports. During that time, he and Huge talked about J Batt as the new AD at MSU, they discussed the hurdles they think J will have to overcome, talked about the everchanging landscape of College Athletics in regards to NIL, David updated us on where the NCAA vs. the House case is currently at. In our second hour, we were joined by Tim Staudt from Staudt on Sports in Lansing. He was at J Batt's press conference earlier today, so he filled us in on what he heard, gave his thought's on what he thinks J can bring to MSU Athletics, and much more. We were then joined by Mitch Lyons from Mitch Lyons Wealth. Being an MSU Alum, Mitch gave us his thought's on the new AD, talked about what he thinks needs to be improved at MSU, told us how he can help with your retirement, and more. We wrapped up the hour with Chris Castellani from the "Chris & Company" podcast. He and Huge talked about the Tigers and that loss to the Sox last night, talked about what he likes about this team and what worries him, and more. In our final hour, we played part of J Batt's opening press conference - thanks to the Spartan Media Network. We got to hear about where J was before coming to Michigan State, talked about what he plans to bring to Michigan State, and more. We were then joined by Evan Woodbery from MLive so he and Huge could talk about the Tigers. We got Evan's thought's on last night's loss to the Sox, talked about this still being the best team in Baseball, and more. We were then joined by Alex Urban from the "Eat 'Em Up: Detroit Tigers Podcast." He gave his thought's on that loss to the Sox, talked about expectations moving forward, and more.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today on the show, we're talking about MSU Athletics as they've hired J Batt as their new Athletic Director, talked about the Detroit Tigers, and more as we were joined by some of our great guests. Throughout our first hour, we were joined in studio by David Gregory who is a Lawyer and NFLPA Certified Sports Agent for Bullrush Sports. During that time, he and Huge talked about J Batt as the new AD at MSU, they discussed the hurdles they think J will have to overcome, talked about the everchanging landscape of College Athletics in regards to NIL, David updated us on where the NCAA vs. the House case is currently at.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In our second hour, we were joined by Bobby Scales who calls games for the Tigers on the radio. He and Huge talked about the resiliency of this team, discussed how good they are with not letting losses stack up, he and Huge gave their thought's on why the Tigers are the best team in baseball, and more. We were then joined by Tim Staudt from Staudt on Sports in Lansing. He filled us in on who MSU just hired as their new AD, talked about an addition to the Football staff, and much more. We wrapped up the hour talking with David Gregory who is a Lawyer and NFLPA Certified Sports Agent for Bullrush Sports. He updated us on where the NCAA vs. the House case is currently at.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We were joined by David Gregory who is a Lawyer and NFLPA Certified Sports Agent for Bullrush Sports. He updated us on where the NCAA vs. the House case is currently at.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today on the show, we're talking about Frank Ragnow retiring, a new Athletic Director at Michigan State, the Detroit Tigers and more as we were joined by some of our great guests. We kicked off the show talking about Frank Ragnow retiring as Jeff Risdon from Lions Wire and Draft Wire joined us. He told us everything he knows in regards to Frank, talked about the injuries finally catching up with Frank, talked about who the best replacement would be, and more. We were then joined by Dan Hasty who i the voice of the West Michigan Whitecaps. He talked with Huge about how well this team has been playing as they're the best team in Baseball, talked about how well the farm system has been playing, and more. We talked more Tigers as Alex Urban from the "Eat 'Em Up: Detroit Tigers Podcast" joined us. He talked about what he likes from this Tigers team, what concerns him, and more. In our second hour, we were joined by Bobby Scales who calls games for the Tigers on the radio. He and Huge talked about the resiliency of this team, discussed how good they are with not letting losses stack up, he and Huge gave their thought's on why the Tigers are the best team in baseball, and more. We were then joined by Tim Staudt from Staudt on Sports in Lansing. He filled us in on who MSU just hired as their new AD, talked about an addition to the Football staff, and much more. We wrapped up the hour talking with David Gregory who is a Lawyer and NFLPA Certified Sports Agent for Bullrush Sports. He updated us on where the NCAA vs. the House case is currently at. We kicked off the final talking about Frank Ragnow retiring as Jeff Risdon from Lions Wire and Draft Wire joined us. He told us everything he knows in regards to Frank, talked about the injuries finally catching up with Frank, talked about who the best replacement would be, and more. We were then joined by former Major Leaguer John Vander Wal. He and Huge talked about the Tigers being the best team in Baseball, talked about how analytics have been affecting the game, and more. We talked more Tigers as Alex Urban from the "Eat 'Em Up: Detroit Tigers Podcast" joined us. He talked about what he likes from this Tigers team, what concerns him, and more.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In our second hour we were joined by we were joined David Gregory who is a Lawyer and NFLPA Certified Sports Agent for Bullrush Sports. During that time, he and Huge talked about where the NCAA vs. the House case is currently at, talked about it possibly being passed tonight, NIL/pay for play, talked about how things will legally be enforced, and more. We were then joined by Tim Staudt from Staudt on Sports in Lansing. He gave us his thought's on the House vs. NCAA case, talked about how he thinks MSU will handle it, discussed the changing landscape of College Sports, and more. We were then joined by Chris MacInnes who is one of the owners at Crystal Mountain. She talked with us about the development and planning at Crystal Mountain, talked about the great team and teamwork they have there, and more.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Is she woman…or animal? This week, Peaches and Michael are faced with a taboo-breaking femme fatale in celebration of 1968's VIXEN!  In addition to discussing how this transgressive slice of cinema fits into Russ Meyer's overall oeuvre, our hosts delve into its pointed commentary of Vietnam War-era politics. Joining the conversation is Severin Films' David Gregory, who talks about the journey of bringing Meyer's catalog back from the ether and delivering it unto the people. Then, Vixen herself – screen icon Erica Gavin stops by to share her memories of making this scintillating and scandalous classic! From fish dances to surprise communism, this episode has it all! Go! 

SEASON 3 EPISODE 116: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: I want polling on a special, emergency, extra-constitutional Presidential Recall Vote. I know there isn't going to BE a Presidential Recall Vote. I know we're not going extra-constitutional, we're not REPUBLICANS dammit. But they are always making up laws (inside the Supreme Court and outside of it) on the premise that the people really want it, so after this week of unprecedented insane unnecessary failure on the part of Trump and his Team of Imbecilic Rivals, I want to know where we stand. Because the moment we get 10 Republicans in the House and 14 in the Senate to believe that if Trump stays in office, their careers are over, he's gone. Half of them think he's nuts already and a quarter have had doubts. They need to be pushed and I don't want to wait until the mid-terms for them to get the damned message I want SOME pollster - independent, news-related, hired by the Democrats, SOMEBODY - to ask these questions: 1) if the election were re-run today would you vote for Trump or a Democrat. Or another Republican. Or a fairly intelligent farm animal. 2) would you support a special recall vote to potentially reverse the outcome of the 2024 presidential election. 3) would you describe the current financial panic and the upcoming tsunami of inflation and unemployment as a national emergency. 4) do you think Donald Trump has lost his mind. 5) do you think Donald Trump is mentally fit to run the country. 6) do you think Donald Trump is acting to destroy the United States on behalf of a foreign country. 7) do you think it is necessary to act outside the constitution if necessary to save the United States of America FROM Donald Trump. 8) if the midterm elections for the Senate and the House were tomorrow would you vote Republican or Democratic? WHATEVER the percentages are they could easily scare the crap out of 10 House Republicans and 14 Senate Republicans and the day they do, Trump vanishes. You doubt me? Ask Richard Nixon. Ask Abraham Lincoln, whom they were ready to get rid of seven months before Lee surrendered at Appomattox because they thought he wasn't going to be re-elected. Also is it possible the Democrats are listening to me? Obama emerges to spout sense, as I've asked. The DNC Chair founds "The People's Cabinet." All we need now is POLLING ON A PRESIDENTIAL RECALL VOTE. B-Block (31:28) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The Pittsburgh Pirates rip a Roberto Clemente memorial off their outfield wall to make room for an ad for seltzer, a Republican influencer insists there are no tariffs on Russia because we don't import anything from Russia (we import $2.5 Billion a year from Russia), and the Secretary of the Treasury wants YOU to buy American while he buys British. (41:28) SPORTSBALLCENTER: Alexander Ovechkin DOES have more goals than Wayne Gretzky now, but no, that's still not the big league hockey record (and Gretzky managed to throw himself out another window during the celebrations) and the date of the first American, maybe the first human, to be photographed giving the finger to the cameraman has to be pushed back from 1886 to 1882 after a discovery this weekend about baseball Hall of Famer Old Hoss Radbourn. C-Block (55:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I have been asked by a listener to expand on last week's news that Chuck Todd not only does not realize that his news career is over but he thinks investors are going to give him $2,000,000,000 to go buy a news organization now. The answer to the question "Chuck Todd: Why?"See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.