Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
The Neil Haley Show Featuring Kirk Fox, Bretton Tyner-Bryan, Rowan Haber, Donna Catamero, Rebecca Moran, and Dr. Gilda Carle
Neil opened the Celebrity Interviews segment from the Grotto with comedian, actor, and stand-up regular Kirk Fox on his debut novel Palmdale, a private-eye thriller he built during ten-hour days sitting in a fake jury box on the TV series Jury Duty. Kirk (Sewage Joe on Parks and Recreation, Blade on Community, Kenny Boy on Reservation Dogs) walked Neil through the premise (a PI who walked away from his eight-year-old daughter and reconnects with her fifteen years later as they end up in the same line of work), the toughest part of writing it (dialing down the comedy he defaults to in every room until he could ground a story in real stakes and real murder), his hope that it becomes a TV series or movie (he wrote it visually), and the projects he is juggling: shooting Season Two of FX and Hulu's The Lowdown with Ethan Hawke and Tommy Lee Jones from creator Sterlin Harjo, an ongoing Comedy Store residency, his YouTube special That Guy, and an appearance on Tom Segura's Bad Thoughts. Pick up Palmdale anywhere books are sold.
Neil then welcomed writer, director, and producer Bretton Tyner-Bryan to discuss her upcoming feature Rhythm or Smooth. Bretton traced her arc from a lifelong ballet dancer and photographer through her transition into acting, then into running her own dance company in New York and San Francisco, and finally into writing and directing this fully-realized ensemble picture. The film is set in present-day New York City and follows an affluent Upper East Side African American young woman who tries to buy her way into a ballroom championship, only to find the real prize is her partnership with the down-on-his-luck escort-champion she meets at a society ball. Bretton cited Baz Luhrmann's Strictly Ballroom as her lodestar and closed on ballroom dance as the most inclusive art form there is, one anybody can walk into at any age. Follow @BrettonTynerBryan on Instagram for release dates within the next three months.
Neil then welcomed filmmaker Rowan Haber for the nationwide theatrical release of the feature documentary We Are Pat, a five-year excavation of Julia Sweeney's iconic SNL character (1990-1994). Rowan (who came out as trans after childhood obsession with the sketches) traced Julia's origin story (a Groundlings impression of a coworker in a Western shirt and khakis that ran for four seasons across a Roseanne Barr-hosted debut, drew Kurt Cobain and Nirvana into the fold, and prompted Quentin Tarantino to write a draft of the feature) and Julia's decision to sit down with Rowan for the conversation despite the risk. Rowan's takeaway: for some in the queer and trans community Pat was a beloved non-binary icon, for others a cautionary tale about being asked one question forever, and Julia's willingness to talk across difference is the model the culture needs right now. In theaters now, digital release June 23 (Amazon, Apple TV, DirecTV, Canopy), streaming August. Visit WeArePat.com and RowanHaber.com.
Neil then welcomed Donna Catamero, ANP-BC (Associate Director of Myeloma Translational Research at Mount Sinai in New York City) and Rebecca Moran, PA (a hospital-based physician assistant) for the Johnson & Johnson APPs Make It Happen campaign in partnership with the Advanced Practitioner Society of Hematology and Oncology. Donna walked Neil through the transformation of multiple myeloma from a terminal disease with a three-year survival window when she started her career into a chronic disease today, thanks to targeted therapies, bispecific antibodies, and CAR T-cell therapy, and framed the advanced practice provider's job as bridging the pace of daily clinical data with what patients can actually understand and choose from. Rebecca leaned in on the education gap patients arrive with (a relative's cancer experience is almost never predictive of their own), the value of mentorship for newer APPs, and the fact that cancer today is not the death sentence it was even ten years ago. Visit APPsMakeItHappen.com.
Neil closed with the top of the Gilda Gram simulcast with Dr. Gilda Carle running through the viral story of a progressive-backed city council candidate who was elected despite a prior murder conviction (the newly seated councilwoman told local news she is trying to put her past behind her). Gilda drew the throughline to a pattern she has documented for years in her book Real Men Don't Go Woke: voters and partners repeatedly hand power to people who have already shown them exactly who they are. Visit DrGilda.com.
The Neil Haley Show Featuring Kirk Fox, Bretton Tyner-Bryan, Rowan Haber, Donna Catamero, Rebecca Moran, and Dr. Gilda Carle
Neil opened the Celebrity Interviews segment from the Grotto with comedian, actor, and stand-up regular Kirk Fox on his debut novel Palmdale, a private-eye thriller he built during ten-hour days sitting in a fake jury box on the TV series Jury Duty. Kirk (Sewage Joe on Parks and Recreation, Blade on Community, Kenny Boy on Reservation Dogs) walked Neil through the premise (a PI who walked away from his eight-year-old daughter and reconnects with her fifteen years later as they end up in the same line of work), the toughest part of writing it (dialing down the comedy he defaults to in every room until he could ground a story in real stakes and real murder), his hope that it becomes a TV series or movie (he wrote it visually), and the projects he is juggling: shooting Season Two of FX and Hulu's The Lowdown with Ethan Hawke and Tommy Lee Jones from creator Sterlin Harjo, an ongoing Comedy Store residency, his YouTube special That Guy, and an appearance on Tom Segura's Bad Thoughts. Pick up Palmdale anywhere books are sold.
Neil then welcomed writer, director, and producer Bretton Tyner-Bryan to discuss her upcoming feature Rhythm or Smooth. Bretton traced her arc from a lifelong ballet dancer and photographer through her transition into acting, then into running her own dance company in New York and San Francisco, and finally into writing and directing this fully-realized ensemble picture. The film is set in present-day New York City and follows an affluent Upper East Side African American young woman who tries to buy her way into a ballroom championship, only to find the real prize is her partnership with the down-on-his-luck escort-champion she meets at a society ball. Bretton cited Baz Luhrmann's Strictly Ballroom as her lodestar and closed on ballroom dance as the most inclusive art form there is, one anybody can walk into at any age. Follow @BrettonTynerBryan on Instagram for release dates within the next three months.
Neil then welcomed filmmaker Rowan Haber for the nationwide theatrical release of the feature documentary We Are Pat, a five-year excavation of Julia Sweeney's iconic SNL character (1990-1994). Rowan (who came out as trans after childhood obsession with the sketches) traced Julia's origin story (a Groundlings impression of a coworker in a Western shirt and khakis that ran for four seasons across a Roseanne Barr-hosted debut, drew Kurt Cobain and Nirvana into the fold, and prompted Quentin Tarantino to write a draft of the feature) and Julia's decision to sit down with Rowan for the conversation despite the risk. Rowan's takeaway: for some in the queer and trans community Pat was a beloved non-binary icon, for others a cautionary tale about being asked one question forever, and Julia's willingness to talk across difference is the model the culture needs right now. In theaters now, digital release June 23 (Amazon, Apple TV, DirecTV, Canopy), streaming August. Visit WeArePat.com and RowanHaber.com.
Neil then welcomed Donna Catamero, ANP-BC (Associate Director of Myeloma Translational Research at Mount Sinai in New York City) and Rebecca Moran, PA (a hospital-based physician assistant) for the Johnson & Johnson APPs Make It Happen campaign in partnership with the Advanced Practitioner Society of Hematology and Oncology. Donna walked Neil through the transformation of multiple myeloma from a terminal disease with a three-year survival window when she started her career into a chronic disease today, thanks to targeted therapies, bispecific antibodies, and CAR T-cell therapy, and framed the advanced practice provider's job as bridging the pace of daily clinical data with what patients can actually understand and choose from. Rebecca leaned in on the education gap patients arrive with (a relative's cancer experience is almost never predictive of their own), the value of mentorship for newer APPs, and the fact that cancer today is not the death sentence it was even ten years ago. Visit APPsMakeItHappen.com.
Neil closed with the top of the Gilda Gram simulcast with Dr. Gilda Carle running through the viral story of a progressive-backed city council candidate who was elected despite a prior murder conviction (the newly seated councilwoman told local news she is trying to put her past behind her). Gilda drew the throughline to a pattern she has documented for years in her book Real Men Don't Go Woke: voters and partners repeatedly hand power to people who have already shown them exactly who they are. Visit DrGilda.com.
