Advertise on podcast: The Sport of Life: Chats w/ Comedians, Filmmakers, Sports Figures, Musicians, & Intellectuals

Andrew McCarthy is a New York Times bestselling author, travel writer, and filmmaker. He chats with Trey Elling about his newest book, WHO NEEDS FRIENDS: AN UNSCIENTIFIC EXAMINATION OF MALE FRIENDSHIP ACROSS AMERICA. Topics include: The genesis of the book (0:00)Small town America (3:40)Vulnerability (7:33)Have men always struggled to share feelings? (13:54)Lessons learned in Texas (17:23)Men's groups (22:26)Making friends in adulthood (26:40)

The iconic Yakov Smirnoff chats with Trey Elling at Cap City Comedy Club, during the 2026 Moontower Comedy Festival! Topics include: What he's learned from getting back out on the road (0:00)Remaining optimistic with comedy (11:25)Losing his career with the fall of communism (19:03)Living with Sam Kinison & Andrew Dice Clay (26:44)Yakov isn't actually Russian (33:56)Questioning the 'legend' label (35:54)The psychology of laughter in relationships (40:14)Fathering a baby at 75 (44:26)What he hopes to soon learn about standup (46:31)An ode to Mitzi Shore (52:48)An ode to standup (54:42)What he loves about this country (55:56) For more on Yakov, including upcoming tour dates: https://yakov.com/ The Sport of Life aims for entertaining & informative long-form conversations with comedians, filmmakers, musicians, intellectuals, authors, and sports figures!The website: https://withtreyelling.com/The Sport of Life on ESPN Austin, weekdays from 6-7pm CT: https://www.1027espn.com/show/the-sport-of-life-trey-elling/On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/withtreyelling/On Twitter: https://x.com/withtreyellingOn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/withtreyelling

Comedian Josh Wolf chats with Trey Elling, prior to his latest stop at Cap City Comedy Club in Austin. Topics include: Smedium t-shirt guys (0:00)In-shape grandpa (4:21)Competing against your kids (11:15)Moving someplace completely foreign (21:27)Living in Seattle in the 1990s (32:49)An ode to fatherhood (40:13)An ode to standup (46:04)

Josh Scherer of Mythical Kitchen chats with Trey Elling, prior to his live taping of Mythical Kitchen at SXSW! Topics include: The art of the interview (0:00)Crushing content creation (9:02)Trey's last meal...Malort (13:37)Football...fantasy and real (16:53)Throwing hammer at UCLA (21:38)Music preferences (28:26)Good books (30:59)Cooking humanely harvested human (32:49)

Brothers Danny & Zach Guarino of the Bread Basket podcast chat w/ Trey Elling! Topics include: Brothers in LA (0:00)Most Valuable... (5:39)Least Valuable... (11:29)Hawaii (17:47)Mock-drafting bread (21:21)

Legendary actor and storyteller Barry Corbin chats with Trey Elling, prior to performing his live show, "An Evening with Barry Corbin", to kick off the Lone Star Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Bastrop on February 18th. Topics include: Shakespeare (0:00)Being Texan (9:31)No Country For Old Men (12:39)Tommy Lee Jones (20:07)Urban Cowboy (22:03)Stir Crazy (30:36)Actors as directors (36:25)Working with Scorsese (40:01)An ode to storytelling (45:25)

Legendary musician Kenny G chats with Trey Elling, just days after performing the National Anthem with Charlie Puth at Super Bowl LX. Topics include: How the Super Bowl op happened (0:00)Pre-show nerves (1:27)First to arrive and last to leave (4:41)Failure (13:11)Obsession with perfection (15:13)Double win at the Super Bowl (20:51)Golf (23:51)His Tiger Woods story (28:23)Favorite romantic song? (31:10)An ode to making music (32:39)

Comedian and Impractical Jokers alum Sal Vulcano chats with Trey Elling, prior to his show at ACL Live at the Moody Theater on Sunday, February 1st. The guys discuss Sal's many years as a comic, his revered special, Terrified, fatherhood, vulnerability on stage, a shared disdain for the wind and traffic, and what Sal loves about standup!

Comedian and actor Jay Pharoah chats with Trey Elling about their shared past as fat kids, allowing himself to be vulnerable as a comic, lessons learned from six years at SNL, and what he loves about standup!

Comedian & actor Rhys Darby (Flight of the Conchords, Our Flag Means Death, Yes Man, the Jumanji reboot) chats with Trey Elling about his standup philosophies and some highlights from his film career. Topics include: Refamiliarizing with standup (0:00)Going after AI (2:20)Sound effects (4:31)Jim Carrey (7:28)Flight of the Conchords (10:58)Fake vomit (13:43)Unrealized entertainment dreams (16:21)

Comedian & actor Sean Patton chats with Trey Elling. Sean is an immensely talented comedic storyteller and one of the most interesting people when it comes to discussing the philosophy of standup. Topics include: Making Standup Special Again (0:00)Crowd work is mostly lazy (7:13)Sean's hobo joke (13:53)Finding his standup voice (21:40)An ode to THE ENGLISH TEACHER (29:44)

Damon Wayans Jr chats with Trey Elling, months before filming his first-ever standup special. But he's been doing it a lot longer than you may realize. Topics include: Deep standup roots (0:00) Open mics (8:26)The easily offended (11:50)THE OTHER GUYS film (15:00)An ode to standup (20:20)

Heralded volleyballer Madisen Skinner chats with Trey Elling and his daughter Vivian, prior to the start of the second season of LOVB! Madisen and her LOVB Austin teammates captured the league's first ever championship last year! Topics include: Modern rule changes (0:00)LOVB (2:41)Impacting her teams (5:17)Her sister, Avery (7:23)Coach Erik Sullivan (10:12)Those insane hops (12:52)HEB (14:04)Failing (16:46)Future experiences (19:49)Getting into volleyball late (21:27)Jerritt Elliott (23:11)Embracing being a role model (24:04)An ode to volleyball (26:16)

Filmmaker Barry Sonnenfeld joins Trey Elling for the second- of a two-part chat on his book, ⁠BEST POSSIBLE PLACE, WORST POSSIBLE TIME: TRUE STORIES FROM A CAREER IN HOLLYWOOD⁠. Topics include: An ode to Patrick Warburton (0:00)The Hollywood machine (3:25)Feedback from Gene Hackman (8:08)Barry's role in FORREST GUMP (9:56)Tommy Lee Jones & toy guns (17:08)Alternate casting for WILD WILD WEST (20:21)Barry's encounter with Bill Murray (26:16)Working with Michael Jackson (34:24)Dealing with liars (39:35)Making his first book into a movie (45:31)

Filmmaker Barry Sonnenfeld joins Trey Elling for the first- of a two-part chat on his book, BEST POSSIBLE PLACE, WORST POSSIBLE TIME: TRUE STORIES FROM A CAREER IN HOLLYWOOD. Topics include: Writing a second memoir (0:00)Shooting BLOOD SIMPLE in Austin (2:45)The unique look of RAISING ARIZONA (10:25)De Nero instead of Hanks in BIG? (14:07)Making Tommy Lee Jones funny in MEN IN BLACK (17:25)Making Gene Hackman funny in GET SHORTY (20:06)The greatness of Dennis Farina (27:35)