Episode Details

Corbin Bernsen and Chaute A. Johnson On the Total Celebrity segment, Neil welcomes back actor Corbin Bernsen to talk about the film When We Last Spoke, a warm family story based on the novel and co-starring Melissa Gilbert, whom Bernsen has known since they were both young. He describes it as a touching tale of rekindled family, forgiveness, and the human spirit, and reflects on how the past stretch of life has pushed everyone toward what matters most. Bernsen plays Walt, a man ready to settle into his own quiet life who is suddenly entrusted with raising two granddaughters after his son is killed in the war, a role he says mirrors his own experience as a father of four sons. He explains that he is drawn to simple, heartfelt scripts that strike a chord in the better part of the human spirit, and he speaks candidly about the toll of a strange season on his industry and on families kept apart, finding steadiness in his faith. His message is that through every trial, family and love ultimately conquer all. When We Last Spoke is available Friday.Neil’s author guest is Chaute A. Johnson, who discusses her debut novel On the Front Line in the Cosmic Conflict, the first in a planned series. Chaute, who is blind, shares how writing became the one creative pursuit she could do entirely on her own, using adaptive technology that reads her words back to her, and she encourages other visually impaired and disabled writers that the sky is the limit if the determination is there. She walks through her process of capturing a scene or dialogue first, then building the context and chaining chapters together, and makes the case that hearing a manuscript read aloud reveals emotion, tone, and flow a silent read can miss. Her novel pulls back the veil on the long war between God and Satan as it plays out in human lives, following Steve Roberts, a man facing eviction who turns to the bottle and becomes entangled with its demon, and Matthew Day, an intern pastor wrestling with his calling who is prepared to fight for Steve’s soul. Rooted in an encounter years ago with a homeless man in Brooklyn, the book challenges readers, especially Christians, to rethink what it truly means to minister to others. Neil, a former special education teacher and advocate, praised her for carrying a torch for writers with disabilities.The hour closes with the recurring AI Office Hours simulcast, where co-host Pat Riley walks Neil through a week of hands-on experiments across the fast-moving world of AI agents and assistants. Pat shares wins building out his web app and autonomous agents, his testing of several competing tools and voice setups, and the practical headaches and trade-offs of relying on voice-first workflows, offering listeners a candid, real-world look at where the tools shine and where they still frustrate. As always, the two trade a bit of good-natured sports talk before wrapping up.

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