Neil Strauss is an award winning journalist (New York Times, Village Voice, Rolling Stone) and best selling author (regularly making the NY Times Bestseller List) whose books include profiles of Motley Crue and Marilyn Manson.  

He wrote How to Make Love Like a Pornstar with Jenna Jameson and is probably best known for writing The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists.

The Game is a book about the most effective ways to meet and close the deal with women.  Neil wrote it after joining a secret society of pickup artists.  

His latest book which features key moments from his interviews with top celebrities and fascinating people, is called Everyone Loves You When You're Dead: Journeys Into Fame and Madness.  It's a great read with fun and fascinating moments.

It wasn't long before Neil turned the conversation around to understand the psyches of Heather, Mark and guest panelist, comedian Prashanth Venkat.

A great visit with Neil.  We hope to see him again.

We've included a link to Neil Strauss' books on Amazon:

 http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_0_8?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=neil%20strauss&sprefix=neil+str%2Caps%2C218

Laura House is delightful and funny and Michael Snyder tolerates us making fun of him as he tries to lay down the knowledge.

Heather, Mark, Michael and Laura....

Enjoy!

Bobby Slayton (the pitbull of comedy) is a fan favorite because nothing is off limits.

We talk to Bobby about as much as we can pack into an hour...Bobby talks about today's comics, this year's holiday plans and the family.

As prank artists on YouTube, Vitaly Zdorovetskiy and Dennis Roady (Dennis' videos are good deeds primarily) have pinned the meter in popularity.

They boast millions of subscribers on their YouTube channels and have been courted by major studios.

The two spend some time taking us through some of their favorite videos and what's happened to their lives including the run-ins with the law and the court system.

Actor/comedian Fred Stoller visits our show and after struggling to arrive on time, Fred was full of "irrational resentment". 

Michael Shure, political commentator for Al Jazeera America, answers our questions about whether or not the network is here in the U.S. on a secret jihad.

Our guest Hollywood veteran actor/producerNorman Lloyd shares the story of his good friend Charlie Chaplin receiving a million dollars for doing a movie and then promptly burying it.

Ben Mankiewicz from TCM and Heather Ankeny join Mark Thompson

It's a walk through Hollywood time with Norman Lloyd.

From stories of his friend Charlie Chaplin burying 1 million dollars in the backyard to the way Alfred Hitchcock treated starlets on the set Norman shares it all.

Ben Mankiewicz from TCM (whose grandfather wrote Citizen Kane) helps Heather and Mark navigate the discussion.

Steve Skrovan was a producer on Everybody Loves Raymond and he's just returned from Russia where he was creating still more episodes of the Russian version of the show.  

He compares cursing in Russian and in English and talks about the Russian version of the show.

Emmy winning comedy writer from Bill Maher, Dennis Miller, The Daily Show and more, David Feldman sits in on the conversation and creates a stir wherever possible.

The crew also talks marriage and television.

He's just back from Russia working on writing more episodes of Everybody Loves Raymond for Russian TV.

Steve Skrovan breaks down cursing there and here.

Quick clip from our talk with acclaimed documentary filmmaker Mark Monroe.  Among the award winning docs he's done are THE COVE, CHASING ICE and THE SUMMIT. We also asked him about THE TILLMAN STORY.

In August, 2008, 18 mountain climbers reached the top of K2. 48 hours later, 11 people were dead.

With breathtaking cinematography and jaw dropping reenactments based on the testimony of those who survived the climb, the documentary THE SUMMIT puts you in the heart of events as though you are there.

Director Nick Ryan joins us (he's the Irish voice on the phone) along with the heroic sherpa in the story Pemba Galjen.

Mark Monroe is our in studio guest and he wrote this documentary and his history is littered with some of the greatest documentaries of the last 10 years.  Specifically, his film THE COVE won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Film.  He also wrote THE TILLMAN STORY and CHASING ICE.

Mark Thompson asks Monroe about those films and about the riveting story that is the subject of THE SUMMIT.

J.Elvis Weinstein and Heather Ankeny join Mark!

From Woody Allen to Warren Beatty to her thoughts on marriage and reflections and an update on her sister Meg Tilly...

There was so much great reaction to the first part of our visit with Jennifer Tilly that we rushed the second part up.

You will enjoy Jennifer Tilly PART DEUX probably even more than part one!

Mark Thompson is joined by co-host Heather Ankeny and movie/pop culture critic Michael Snyder.

The first of TWO episodes with Academy Award nominee Jennifer Tilly.

Yes, Jennifer talks about the Chucky movies...but a lot more.

We hear clips and she reflects on doing The Tonight show with Johnny Carson and becoming a favorite across the talk show circuit.

Jennifer tells us about funding and producing her own Academy Award PR campaign for the Woody Allen film, Bullets Over Broadway.

This is the first of TWO episodes with someone who is other worldly charming and honest: Jennifer Tilly

Mark asks Ralph to recount one of the great moments in broadcast prankdom that turned into a VERY BIG deal.

During the run up to the Iraq war Ralph called the President of France as Jerry Lewis...What happened next made broadcast history.

Heather back and forth between love and prison,

Mark shares a laugh with Ralph and Heather about how he was humiliated on the radio morning show in L.A. with Ralph as a prominent participant.  

Mark would go on Ralph's show to promote different TV projects and specials he was hosting and it was Ralph's job to dessimate him...which he gleefully did.

We reconnect with our old pal Ralph Garman who has made movies, radio history and one of the most successful reality TV spoofs (Joe Schmo) that actually became a massively popular show in it's own right.

Mark gets Ralph to recount the story of how he called the Franch President on the air and passed himself off as Jerry Lewis with bizarre consequences and an angry Jerry Lewis in his wake.

Jimmy Dore, J. Elvis Weinstein, Heather Ankeny and Mark Thompson start the talk with BREAKING NEWS of Heather's break-up after a 72 hour whirlwind romance....this segues into talk of her romance with a federal prisoner and the practices in the federal pen.

From the pain of romance to the gritty reality of Syria to the Donald Trump University fraud and fresh off the VMAs the group talks Miley Cyrus controversy too.

Finally, the group talks about high technology and the dumping of Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer and the new Swiss "Sex Boxes".

It's all here in the Roundtable Roundup.

Elliott Gould tells us a quick story of meeting Elvis for the first time.

Eddit Pepitone is a comic's comic.

He visits The Edge and talks everything from touring internationally to promote the documentary about him that was just completed, to his views of the future and pitching TV shows in Hollywood.

The always great J.Elvis Weinstein joins (Mystery Science Theater/Cinematic Titanic) along with Heather Ankeny and Mark Thompson hosting.

We llike every tortured cell of Eddie Pepitone and we know you will too.

This is a fun hour!

For decades Elliott Gould's work has made him a Hollywood icon.

As a big screen star he was nominated for an Oscar and as a small screen star continues to make an impression in hit series like "Friends" and now the new Showtime drama, "Ray Donovan".

One gets the feeling that Elliott Gould has forgotten nothing but it's sometimes a real challenge to get it all out of him.  He touches on his psyche, his maturing and his life as an actor, as well as an America that was in the throws of big cultural changes through much of the prime of his career. 

We kind of fell in love with this guy Elliott Gould but we felt this visit, while giving us so much, still left us wanting more.  Maybe that was Elliott's plan all along.

Here's a small piece of an interview that first aired a few months ago BEFORE all the other interviews that Sam has done.  We recommend you check out the WHOLE INTERVIEW at Edge-Show.com.

Sam is one of the few who could make a story about getting a cancer diagnosis this entertaining and yet give us a flavor of what he's going through.

We are posting this clip because last week, The Hollywood Reporter featured an interview with Sam in which he spoke about giving almost all of his Simpsons royalty money to charity. "The truth is," he said, "I have more money than I'm interested in spending."

Where will the money go?  Sam is a passionate advocate for animal causes through his Sam Simon Foundation; a recent article titled "8 Ways 'Simpsons' Co-Creator Sam Simon is Helping Animals Before He Dies" gives a pretty thorough rundown of the Foundation's activities, which include a mobile veterinary clinic, service dogs for veterans and an adoption program. He is also a supporter of PETA and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, which seeks to protect ocean wildlife and habitat.

It's clear that much -- but not all -- of Sam's wealth will go to animals. He has also funded the anti-hunger Feeding Families program, a project of the SamSimon Foundation, which feeds about 200 human families a day in Los Angeles. The food distributed is, of course, vegan.

On this episode 2 interviews:  The former lead prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay who spent two days on the witness stand testifying in the espionage trial of Pvt Bradley Manning, Col. Morris Davis joins us.

Manning faces 22 charges, including violation of the Espionage Act, for which he could receive life in prison. The charges are in connection to his leaking classified documents to the whistleblower site, Wikileaks. 

Colonel Davis tells us what he was doing there and what he thinks will likely happen to Pvt. Manning.  But before he does, Mark gets him into a conversation about Guantanamo itself: Who's there and what's happening to them?  What's the likely future of the place?

Plus, he'll give us some insights into the Bradley Manning trial as it wraps up.  What is likely to happen with Bradley Manning?

But first, the director of the controversial new documentary, BLACKFISH.  The film looks at the killing of a top trainer at Seaworld by the orca named Tillikum.  How it all happened and how many of the facts were covered up by Seaworld.  The movie is riveting and has footage that is revealing and intense.

Gabriela Cowperthwaite the director of Blackfish joins for the first half of our show

One other quick note….These are telephone interviews so the fidelity suffers a bit but we're adding some new technology to make these even better in the future.

Thanks for your patience and support.

Here's a piece of our murder and mystery episode with murder cop Sal LaBarbera and NBC's Josh Mankiewicz (also Heather and Mark)

Sal LaBarbera has been chasing bad guys for 27 years…REAL bad guys.

He talks about the myths and the truths about the job (our vision shaped largely from TV and movies).

Also joining is (friend of the show) Dateline NBC’s Josh Mankiewicz who reports on many of these murders and spins many a murder yarn.

They discuss high profile cases, from the "water tank" body discovery at The Cecil Hotel to Aaron Hernandez and then some cases that 

Sal also gives us a sense of what a real crime scene looks like and how an actual investigation proceeds.

Sal LaBarbera @LAMurderCop on Twitter has been chasing bad guys for 27 years...REAL bad guys.

He talks about the myths and the truths about the job (our vision shaped largely from TV and movies).

Also joining is Dateline NBC's Josh Mankiewicz who reports on these murders and spins many a murder yarn.

ROUNDTABLE ROUNDUP SHOW....Some off beat items from the week's news discussed by our award winning panel: Jimmy Dore, J. Elvis Weinstein, Heather Ankeny and Mark Thompson.

Warning: there is discussion of sex and some of it is a bit on the bizarre side.

The show starts with a story of self asphyxiation in Thailand... then it's the sexual molestation cover-up in the Catholic church, Jimmy tells a tale of being in the literal hands of a molesting priest as a kid....Paris Jackson's suicide attempt prompts talk of "the fall of real information" and the utter irresponsibility of the media led by the celebritocracy reporters.  Jimmy goes after Harvey Levin and Mark defends Harvey.   Then Jimmy goes after Tom Brokaw (and Mark does not defend Tom)

Google glasses as an every day gadget?? 

Gloria Allred has another press conference in which she announces she's suing United Airlines because her client was exposed to a masturbating passenger for an entire cross country flight and we finish with Behind The Candelabra, the Liberace movie.

Donald Trump Slams Modern Family, Says the Show Was "Written By a Moron".  Danny Zuker talks about his feud with Mr. Trump in this clip from the show.

Talk of cover-ups in the Catholic church lead to Jimmy Dore telling a harrowing story of a molesting priest---Somehow he makes it funny.

J. Elvis Weinstein and Heather Ankeny also join Mark Thompson

We heard from a few of you...our server initially dropped the last 4 minutes of the show.  

Here is that final four minutes with a last second text message from arguably the greatest Modern Family and Danny Zuker fan who is in a federal penitentiary.

As a top producer/writer in Hollywood, Danny Zuker has had quite a ride.

He wrote and produced on shows like Arsenio, Roseanne and Just Shoot Me.

His latest project, MODERN FAMILY, is a huge winner on ABC-TV and loved by millions every week.

In addition, through Heather, we have found pockets of loyal viewership inside the FEDERAL PRISON SYSTEM.

Danny and Mark together learn a lot about the prison system and Danny learns that prisoners ask the tough questions about MODERN FAMILY.

They also reminisce about the early 90s in Hollywood, drugs, fast living and the moment at which they both laid eyes on PAMELA ANDERSON.

Mark Thompson hosts with Heather Ankeny and guest Danny Zuker.

Edge co-host Heather used to spend time (and apparently is still involved on some level with) a guy who is a prisoner in a California Federal Penitentiary where they are waaay into the TV show Modern Family.  

It sets the stage for for questions about the show that come from the Federal Pen for Modern Family Exec Producer Danny Zuker (our guest in the upcoming episode)

And, of course, later Mark Thompson and Danny can't resist trying to figure out the crime that Heather's "friend" committed.  This is just an excerpt.

This is the story behind Seinfeld and some other great shows from a monster insider.

As one of the founders of Castle Rock Entertainment, Glenn Padnick was responsible for trying to sell NBC on Seinfeld.  Ultimately, it took A LOT of things coming together beyond just Glenn, Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld to make it happen.

What he tells us on this episode of The Edge includes stuff you probably never knew.

The Seinfeld stories alone occupy much of this episode, but there's some great stuff about Married with Children and other classic TV as well.

Modern classic TV stories on this episode of The Edge...

The King of TV, Paul Goebel joins us.

Heather Ankeny and Mark Thompson host

On the next episode of The Edge we're joined by a founding member of Castle Rock and one of the men behind Seinfeld.  He shares stories of Seinfed and other classic TV...Here's a taste.

One of the founding members of Castle Rock Entertainment fills us in on things that only an uber-insider could know.

WAY inside Seinfeld, Married with Children, Who's The Boss and other classic TV when Glenn Padnick joins on the next episode of The Edge.

Also sitting in is "The King Of TV" Paul Goebel.

Hosts Mark Thompson and Heather Ankeny

Caprice Crane grew up in H'wd and here's a taste of our interview with her...

Writer Caprice Crane is funny, charmingly self-deprecating and sharp witted with a cynical edge.  She's loved by audiences across a few media...They read her books, interact with her online and follow her very funny Twitter feed.

Caprice grew up in Hollywood the daughter of famous parents and gives us a sense of her world as a kid.  It was one made up of hanging out with the children of the glitterati but it seems with all the normal teen crushes as the rest of the world that just played out in a bit of a different way.  In fact, one of those crushes led to hunting down her teen heartthrob.

Links to Caprice's books, pictures of her folks, etc. can all be found here.

We really liked Caprice's visit and hope she'll be back--Next time she'll have to bring her own coffee because clearly Mark can not be trusted to make it.

J. Elvis Weinstein from Cinematic Titanic, Freaks and Geeks and Mystery Science Theater 3000 is a friend of the show and an accomplished wrter/producer as well so we invited him to join in on the conversation.

As always Heather Ankeny (actress and producer) co-pilots with Mark Thompson

Carl Gottlieb joins us.  He wrote JAWS.

JAWS is one of those movies that has spawned entire festivals and annual meetings in which people dress up and reenact parts of the film.  In a word, the movie is a classic.

JAWS vaulted Steven Spielberg to filmmaking royalty and writer Carl Gottlieb to the top of Hollywood screenwriters. 

Hosts Mark Thompson and Heather Ankeny ask about JAWS ...among other things, how Carl arrived at writing the line "You're gonna need a bigger boat".

If it wasn't Carl, then who actually wrote the classic "Indianapolis speech" from Quint (Robert Shaw) and what movie had both Spielberg and Gottlieb seen that inspired them in a pinch to rework JAWS so the audience doesn't see the shark until well into the story?

Carl is the reason that Steven Spielberg used DEVIL'S TOWER in CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND and he tells us the story of alerting Spielberg to that location.

What about THE JERK?  How did the association with Steve Martin start and how did the two collaborate to make that movie?

Among the many legends Carl has collaborated with is Richard Pryor.  He wrote two movies and television comedy with Pryor.  Carl talks about what Pryor was like to work with and be around and how he once broke up a fist fight between Pryor and an NBC page.  

Carl also talks about meeting the legendary musician David Crosby and becoming his biographer through a life so sorted and wild that it took TWO BOOKS to chronicle it all.

Carl Gottlieb...Hollywood writer of comedy, drama, suspense and biography.

Mark Thompson and Heather Ankeny welcome Jay Ferguson from Mad Men.

You may never guess that Jay Ferguson, Stan Rizzo from the hit TV series Mad Men, is a huge trivia hound.  Mark tosses him a few trivia questions on the fly.

You also may never have guessed that Jay fell into a deep decline and considered leaving his craft of acting and show business....Mad Men arrived just as he was building it back.  

It's a useful story for anyone in a struggle to maintain or regain what they had.   Jay tells the story of the fall from success at television series work as a young actor and the way he stopped that fall.

Fans of romance will love the way Jay met his wife...And you may be surprised the way cigarette lighters enter the story as a mark of attraction in this case.

Jay tells the story of "WRONG ANSWER KENT" and WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE....Jay's father had always obsessed with being on the original Who Wants to be a Millionaire with Regis.  One day, he finally makes it.   Jay shares the tale of why at the last second he can't be his father's "phone a friend" lifeline but connects him with his buddy Kent. Jay's actually able to be there at the last second---sort of.  When his Dad calls while on "Millionaire" to get help from his trivia buff son and his friend Kent, it all doesn't go as planned.

Josh Weinstein (Freaks and Geeks and Mystery Science Theater 3000) sits in with Heather and Mark and is already a show favorite as he's irrepressibly funny and even reveals that he was the answer to a Jeopardy question.  Oh, and by the way, he's a trivia monster also.

Jay's father made it on to Who Wants To Be A Millionaire but not without some twists and turns.  

He tells Mark Thompson and Heather Ankeny the whole story of how it happened and then WHAT happened as he visits THE EDGE.

The VERY funny Josh Weinstein from Mystery Science Theater also sits in.

Here's a preview ...the entire story and whole show coming soon.

Jay takes us on a journey from amazing success at an early age to steep decline and career crisis.  Here's a taste..The entire episode upcoming soon

Our resident culture critic Michael Snyder stops through and he shares the stuff he thinks we might enjoy.

It's 30 minutes of Heather and Mark giving Michael a hard time but, make no mistake, they are jotting down his recommendations.

Mark Thompson asks Josh why things are not going more quickly in the Jodi Arias trial.  Here's a taste of Josh's answer.

Josh is whipped into submission by a top voice coach...Josh doesn't react well and shares the story.

Mark Thompson and Heather Ankeny welcome Dateline NBC's Josh Mankiewicz.

Josh is the first guest in our new outdoor studio overlooking Los Angeles and the Pacific Ocean.

While he fills us in on Jodi Arias' trial for murder (and helps Heather with her obsession about this case), he also reviews the murders of Jon Benét Ramsey who you may know from our maiden voyage show is Heather's former neighbor in Colorado.

Heather asks for advice as to whether or not she should "lawyer up" after she murders her husband.

Mark busts one of Josh's signature interview techniques and Josh explains it.

On a serious note: What do law enforcement believe are the three basic motives for murder?  Josh tells us.

He tells us of the network sending him for voice training from a famous voice coach in New York...it did not go well.

Josh is from a high profile family and has a famous goddaughter, Allison Williams (from HBO's series GIRLS).  We work him for a few details.

Then we dance!

The uber-hot Heather Ankeny sits in on all things including her obsession with the Jodi Arias trial…The full show available on iTunes!

Emmy winning Steve Martin/Martin Short writer David Feldman seems to like the vibe of the new pope.

If you haven't yet heard our interview with Simpsons' creator Sam Simon here's a quickie clip as Sam remembers that, as a kid in an upscale L.A. neighborhood, his lost dog was returned home in an unusual way.

We thought we'd book our favorite guest first so that he can visit again and again.

It's tough to think of anyone more accomplished in so many different areas than Sam Simon....creator of the most successful program in TV history, producer/show-runner on Taxi, Cheers, The George Carlin Show and having accomplished all of that by age 35 Sam turned the flame up and started burning into the world of animal rights and welfare.

Sam talks about his latest projects from Sea Shepherd to PETA and his dedication to animal welfare.

Finally, Sam takes us on a bizarre ride through his diagnosis and treatment for cancer and manages to work some laughs in.

Sam is charming, insanely intelligent, funny and sees the world with a rare clarity.

We love Sam Simon and you will too!

(The interview is longer than most of our shows will normally be but Sam's worth it).

Sam Simon joins the show this week (avail on iTunes under Mark Thompson Online and soon under The Edge Show)

The man who brought the Simpsons to TV takes us on a ride from TV comedy to animal rights activism to a visit to Starbucks on Christmas.

Download the entire show and subscribe at iTunes.

Here's a bit....

Mark and Heather Ankeny welcome Emmy award winning comedy writer David Feldman....David talks about writing for Steve Martin and Martin Short.

Heather and David talk Downton Abbey and Shameless.

The construction going on at times in the background is from Mark's 94 year old neighbor's home that was burned to the ground and the story as to who lived in the house with the 94 year old and what was going on there is the topic of some speculation.

The new pope is laying down a vibe that David likes.(so far)

It's revealed that Heather used to live near the murdered Jon Benet Ramsey in Colorado.

Inside Conan O'Brian's house.

Down and out in Las Vegas and other stories of marginal fame.