Beyond the Mic with Sean Dillon

Sean Dillon | Beyond the Mic
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I believe every person has value. Behind every headline, hustle, hard-earned moment, and family tales there’s a story worth sharing. That’s why I built Beyond the Mic. I talk with artists, athletes, authors, icons and people you need to know. I don’t do puff pieces. I ask questions that get to the real stuff: the doubts, wins, detours, and moments that shaped them. The stories that you normally don't get to hear. Some stories make you laugh. Some hit you in the gut. All of them remind you: people matter, you matter. I’m not here to be famous. I’m here helping others be heard. I want curiosity to run free, connect communities, and make something that sticks with you long after the mic is off. Because in a world full of noise, real stories still cut through. Remarkable stories from people you know—and people you should. That's my mission. Let's go #BeyondTheMic. New Episodes Weekly! A Dog Drool Holdings production — dogdroolholdings.com This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp

  1. 1d ago

    Justin Guarini: A singer and author on confidence, the scar that still drives him and his book Center Stage Confidence.

    "Followers come and go. Money comes and goes.", Justin Guarini Justin Guarini thanked me for reading his book. He called one of my questions beautiful. Later he gave me a scoop and told me it was the first time he had said it out loud. Just another great conversation. His book is Center Stage Confidence: How to Own Your Story and Command Any Room. Who told him to stay small? Justin took us to a school day, a new sweatshirt and a classmate. "Do you still hear them?" He pointed at a stage at six years old and said, I want to do that. When did he first say it out loud? What did it feel like the first time? He took me back to a hot Atlanta summer. Then The Lion King. He made the final round and did not book it. How did overcoming that adversity change him? We also got into the word itself. How has his perception of the word confidence changed? The Rockin' 8 starts in a CNN newsroom. Favorite thing about the CNN newsroom when you were five? He has a story about a graphic that pops up next to people's heads on the news. How many Lil’ Sweet Funkos do you own? He had a number. Then came a lifeguard stand, a steak, a lazy day, a road trip snack, the nickname only his mom uses and a talent only his friends know about. He posted about people who choose spite. Which scar still hurts today? He called his answer a scoop. From his book. "Speak from the scar, not the wound." Which story is he still telling from the wound? Powerful stuff from Justin. His dad's foreword in the book ends with words his own grandfather gave him. What's the biggest thing his dad told him other than that, and what has he passed on to his kids? How have his two sons, 13 and 15, changed him forever? Did he tell his dad about the letter saying he wasn't invited back to music school? What does his mom mean to him now? Who do you want to be when the spotlight isn’t on you? Who is the Justin we don’t know? You'll find out more when you read “Center Stage Confidence: How to Own Your Story and Command Any Room” by Justin Guarini and hear the full conversation on Beyond the Mic. Justin Guarini is a singer, songwriter, actor and author. Hear the full conversation on Beyond the Mic with Sean Dillon. This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp

    Justin Guarini: A singer and author on confidence, the scar that still drives him and his book Center Stage Confidence.

  2. 2d ago

    William Shatner’s Memoir Is Wisdom & Worries, and We Got to Both

    “When you get older, you begin to have a better view, a longer lens.”, William Shatner The author of WISDOM & WORRIES on a vine in a dead stump, five albums of lyrics and the time he has left. Khan and Denny Crane. Three words that put a smile on my face. William Shatner is 95 and his memoir is “Wisdom & Worries: Reflections on Life, Death, and Everything in Between.” I asked what worry keeps him up at night now that did not bother him 10 or even 20 years ago. Then I asked why poetry tells his story better. He brought up a dancer and a painter. The poems started as lyrics on five albums. Every one is autobiographical. I asked for the best thing he ever found on a trail ride and got a tree. A trunk cut down to three feet, with a vine growing out of it. Then he told me about a song. “I want to be a tree.” His great-grandchildren call him Bipaw. That name starts in a crib with his youngest daughter. I closed on the planet. He has looked at it from the outside and felt worry for how fragile it is. How did looking out at the universe change the way he looks at the time he has left here on Earth? Hear William Shatner go Beyond the Mic. This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp

    William Shatner’s Memoir Is Wisdom & Worries, and We Got to Both

  3. Oct 30

    John Bregar of Neagley: Actor, Photographer, Punchline Hunter

    The Prime Video actor on playing Mason, lighting a face and why he's always looking for the punchline. John Bregar plays Mason in Neagley, the Reacher spinoff on Prime Video. His first thought for the role was to join a cult. Mason starts out helpful and ends up enforcing the rules on the ranch. Off camera, John is a studio photographer and a cinematographer. His first real acting paycheck went to a camera and lenses. Nobody taught him to light a face. He learned in a club upstairs at the Hard Rock Cafe that became his first studio. He also took a short film to Lisbon. Sean Dillon asks John what it's like to shoot a big show in his hometown of Toronto, what he tells a nervous actor in the first minute of a headshot session, and why art touches his soul. The answer to that one goes back to his family. The Rockin' 8 covers fake blood, a snack he snuck off a set and how many Boston Creams he could eat in one sitting. The One Big Question asks what none of his characters has ever gotten to say. Neagley is streaming on Prime Video. Listen to John Bregar on Beyond the Mic. This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp

    John Bregar of Neagley: Actor, Photographer, Punchline Hunter

  4. Oct 25

    Author Michael Dobbs: A Computer Said Attack. One Man Said False Alarm.

    The author of THE SIX MINUTE WAR on a radar blip, a night in the Soviet Union and what a machine cannot do. Michael Dobbs is the author of THE SIX MINUTE WAR. He joins Sean Dillon on Beyond the Mic to talk about a line from Reagan’s memoirs, the decisions presidents make under stress, and the question of what a computer cannot do. Dobbs explains where the title comes from. In the Cuban Missile Crisis, Kennedy and Khrushchev had thirteen days. Shorter early warning times and better computers shrank that window to a few minutes. He talks about Stanislav Petrov, the officer on duty the night Soviet computers and satellites announced an American missile attack. He also asks whether AI systems will have something in their soul when they face a call like that. Then the Fast Five: his first Russian word, whether he would swim in the ocean again after the tsunami in Sri Lanka, a book he would love to write, a radar blip or a blank page, and who fact-checks him. He says he invented the fact-check column at the Washington Post. One last question closes the conversation. What does he consider a presidential crisis now? Hear the full conversation. This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp

    Author Michael Dobbs: A Computer Said Attack. One Man Said False Alarm.

  5. Oct 18

    Jet Jurgensmeyer: Dials, Not Switches

    Jet Jurgensmeyer, hearing his own song on the radio in a city far from home: “It’s not just them not liking my song or my voice. It’s not liking me as a person because I wrote the song. I sang the song. I produced the song. I can relate to the song.” Four people in the room. Two of them were his parents. That was an early Jet Jurgensmeyer show. He sat on the Screen Actors Guild board in Nashville at 18, the youngest board member in the country. Then came the bar rooms. I ask if he ever thought about walking away from the music. The answer is one word. “Sane to My Crazy” comes from a friend’s real marriage. Jet played it at the Bluebird with its two co-writers and the woman behind the idea in the room. What did he find in himself singing someone else’s marriage like his own life? It scares him. Which city blew his mind first? The story starts in a rental minivan with his parents. Who knew him before any of this? He reaches for family. I send him back for a friend. And what does that friend actually do when a new song comes out? The president of the Kentucky chapter texts Jet. Come play the house before the LSU game. “Before an SEC football game, shoot, I’ll be there.” He should be asking for tickets, but as modest as Jet is... “I’ll have to think about that in the future.” He has 31 guys under his responsibility. He draws a hard line between a fraternity man and a frat guy. What almost did not survive the semester? His first answer is two words. I bring up the showrunner’s line that there were no new Boyd stories left. Jet was 15 and still under contract. Nobody told him. Ten years of work. What goes through his head hearing it that plainly now? He plays golf, and his handicap isn’t that bad... Then he compares the whole entertainment business to a round. The one chorus line of his life? “That’s probably the deepest question I’ve ever been asked.” The answer is a hook from a song nobody has heard. How does he know when a song stops being David’s story and becomes his own? His answer goes through a high school homecoming dance. And when a stranger hears “Sane to My Crazy” for the first time, what does he want them to feel that his other songs did not? Find “Sane to My Crazy” wherever you stream music, and hear the full conversation here. This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp

    Jet Jurgensmeyer: Dials, Not Switches

  6. Oct 14

    Bert Kreischer on the new hour he wrote after the girls left for college

    Bert Kreischer joins Sean Dillon on this Beyond the Mic Short Cut. The comedian on the Permission to Party Tour at Buddy Holly Hall explains how he wrote a new hour after the girls left for college. He puts Free Bert at about 50-50 real and made up. In the Fast Four he picks Fargo for his favorite bus breakdown and names the one person he wishes he could call. He also shares his mom's elephant advice, a vodka lesson from his company with Tom Segura and a two word punchline. Tickets for his tour are at BertBertBert.com. This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp

    Bert Kreischer on the new hour he wrote after the girls left for college

  7. Oct 9

    James McAvoy Says He Is Harder on Himself as a Director Than as an Actor

    James McAvoy was 45 and a rookie. "I'm a rookie director. It's like being 22 as an actor." He directed his first film, "CALIFORNIA SCHEMIN'". What did it feel like to him? Anxiety. Pressure. And the energy that came with both. It could have crippled him. It didn't. Who is harder on you, the actor or the director? The director. He is sweating blood for it. As an actor, "I've made my peace with the fact that people won't like everything I do." He still does good work. In between he does some bad stuff. He's fine with that. Outstanding answer. The film is about two Scottish rappers. Their heroes are Eminem and D12. Label executives laugh at them and call them the rapping Proclaimers. Nobody weighs the talent or the work ethic. They get reduced to an accent. They get told they aren't allowed to do hip hop. Tragedy. That scene is why James wanted in. He also plays the record boss who signs them. He wants you to see a danger and a threat. Then he wants you to understand the logic, even when it comes out wrathful. Then the Rockin' 8. A pina colada snow leopard cake. James says it won him the celebrity Great British Bake Off. He made sure I knew he won. The coldest he has ever been was a night in a New Zealand ravine. Soaked. Freezing. His first London flat had a smell. The deposit never came back. The landlord said they changed too much. All they did was fix the holes in the floor. Fixed the holes. His first paycheck was 130 pounds from two shifts as a trainee confectioner. He bought Nike Air Max. His rap name would be The Director. He picks sunrise over sunset. His grandparents' best dish was steak pie. Then the One Big Question. Four months after James thanked a director for a talk at his school, that director called him to audition. What would he be doing today if that call never came? Two plans. A mid-level university. Or the Navy. "I was probably going to join the Navy." One phone call. That's the distance between James McAvoy and the Navy. James wants you to see "CALIFORNIA SCHEMIN'". Press play first. This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp

    James McAvoy Says He Is Harder on Himself as a Director Than as an Actor

  8. Oct 7

    Jimmy Brown of UB40 on the Balti Triangle, the Best Food in Birmingham

    "We've been together since we were kids. So we like each other's company." Jimmy Brown Growing up every teacher tried to make Jimmy Brown stop tapping. Even his mom tried. All of them failed. He is still doing it. I asked who tried hardest to get him to stop: "All of them." Jimmy is a founding member of UB40, the band that took its name off an unemployment form. Why they take a bus on tour instead of flying? Simple, he hates airports. America was designed for being on the road, with truck stops and wide roads. A big comfortable bus beats a terminal hands down every time. These are old friends riding the bus, together since they were kids, and they sincerely like spending these bus rides together. Who picks the movies on the bus? HE DOES! He is the film buff and the range of what they watch is immense. He did laugh when I asked him who had the worst taste in movies. "I'm the film buff and I made them watch obscure stuff, weird shit." When asked whether any film has ever gotten drumming right. His answer was definitive. What about Whiplash?? "they annoy me. All drumming movies annoy me." "...playing slower is a lot harder than playing really fast." That idea comes back in the One Big Question. Reggae asks a drummer to hold back. Jimmy lays the drums down first, along with the bass, and he says you have to give space to other people to do their thing. He calls it discipline. "if you want to play reggae, you've got to be disciplined because you're not going to do much" but what you do has to be perfect. The Rockin' 8 turned up some nuggets of gold including the best place to eat in Birmingham and the first thing he does after a tour is finding, well you'll have to listen to hear what. It's a Beyond the Mic Short Cut. It is short on purpose. A good drummer knows when to leave space. This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp

    Jimmy Brown of UB40 on the Balti Triangle, the Best Food in Birmingham
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4.8
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About

I believe every person has value. Behind every headline, hustle, hard-earned moment, and family tales there’s a story worth sharing. That’s why I built Beyond the Mic. I talk with artists, athletes, authors, icons and people you need to know. I don’t do puff pieces. I ask questions that get to the real stuff: the doubts, wins, detours, and moments that shaped them. The stories that you normally don't get to hear. Some stories make you laugh. Some hit you in the gut. All of them remind you: people matter, you matter. I’m not here to be famous. I’m here helping others be heard. I want curiosity to run free, connect communities, and make something that sticks with you long after the mic is off. Because in a world full of noise, real stories still cut through. Remarkable stories from people you know—and people you should. That's my mission. Let's go #BeyondTheMic. New Episodes Weekly! A Dog Drool Holdings production — dogdroolholdings.com This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp

Information

  • Creator
    Sean Dillon | Beyond the Mic
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2026
  • Episodes
    799
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 SM 2026 Dog Drool Holdings LLC All rights reserved
  • Show Website
    Beyond the Mic with Sean Dillon

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