The ALL NEW Big Wakeup Call with Ryan Gatenby

Send us Fan Mail Comedy Legend Tommy Davidson joins the show for appearance #4 and is only one visit away from a voluminous quantity of The Big Wakeup Call merchandise! Tommy is at the Chicago Improv on Sunday, April 12, for two shows benefitting Omega Phi Psi Fraternity. Tickets here.

Send us Fan Mail Tom Papa called in for a fun chat about his new book Your Dad Stole My Rake...and Other Family Dilemmas. We discussed why he wanted to put down his thoughts into convenient book form, writing for a specific audience, dealing with "wacky" morning radio shows, and the eternal dilemma of juggling work and family. (From 6-7-18)

Send us Fan Mail Former major league infielder, Emmy-award winning MLB Network analyst, and proud “old school” baseball guy, Bill Ripken wants you to get off of his lawn. Kidding…maybe. Today’s Major League Baseball lives and dies by its “new school” numbers. Over the last few decades, newly established statistics and on-field measurables have become so influential that they have infiltrated front offices, baseball operations departments, player development and scouting, and have significantly changed the game’s landscape. Major League Baseball measures everything now and relies less and less on baseball experience and the wisdom established over years of playing and coaching. The power dynamic has changed. Stats are now king. This shift is the root of Major League Baseball’s growing culture war and the impetus behind Ripken’s new book “STATE OF PLAY: The Old School Guide to New School Baseball” (From 4-2-20)

Send us Fan Mail In HEAD BALL COACH, Steve Spurrier, college football legend, shares his story of a life in football: from winning the Heisman Trophy to playing and coaching in the pros to leading the Florida Gators to six SEC Championships and a National Championship to elevating the South Carolina program to new heights -- all by coaching like nobody else. He’s been called cocky, arrogant, brash, pompous, egotistical, and hilarious, but, mostly, he’s known as the Head Ball Coach, a self-ordained term introduced to the lexicon of football by none other than the man himself, Steve Spurrier. (From 9-1-16).

Send us Fan Mail In addition to being a "Dancing With The Stars Champion," Donald Driver played 14 seasons with the Green Bay Packers, went to four Pro Bowls, and caught 64 touchdowns (I think 62 of them against the Bears). Donald called in to discuss his book The 3D Body Revolution. I tried talking Donald out of retirement since the Bears could use a wideout, but I failed. Still, I had to ask. (From 9-20-17)

Send us Fan Mail Baseball legend Mookie Wilson called into talk about his memoir. MOOKIE is the inside story behind the man, the franchise, and a golden age of a sport; a story that can only be told by Mookie Wilson himself. In this stunningly honest memoir, Mookie provides insight into the minds of other players both on his team and elsewhere that season; his feeling about the decisions of the franchise regarding his career and the careers of Mets veterans over the past few decades; his time in Toronto and with the Mets as a coach and Ambassador; and the current state of Major League Baseball. (From 4-2-15)

Send us Fan Mail Nick Selby is a police detective with more than 20 years of experience fighting cyber criminals. He's also the author of "The Cyber Attack Survival Manual." We discussed the dark web, the biggest mistakes people make when it comes to protecting their identities, how hacking is not just a kid in a basement anymore, and why you maybe shouldn't have a smart adult toy. (From 10-24-17)

Send us Fan Mail Brett Tutor is the newest member of the crew on "Trading Spaces," which has returned to TLC with new episodes Saturday nights at 8/7c. Brett talked about hazing the newcomer, how his career as a singer, stuntman, survival specialist, and Air Force veteran led him to the show, and handling surprise requests from Ty Pennington. (From 4-13-18)

Send us Fan Mail Sports betting expert Chad Millman called in to reminisce wistfully about the '85 Bears and share his thoughts on when the Bears might actually be competitive again, plus talked about the latest Super Bowl odds, prop bets, and the prospects of national legal sports betting in the NFL and NBA. (From 1-25-18)

Send us Fan Mail Jake Borelli called into talk about the fall finale of Gray's Anatomy, which we tried to do tactfully without revealing any spoilers if it's still awaiting you on your DVR. We discussed Levi's character development, how he portrays the perfect combination of strength and vulnerability, and his decision to come out publicly around the same time as Levi and Nico finally acted on their feelings. (From 11-16-18)

Send us Fan Mail New York Times national security correspondent David Sanger called in to talk about his new book The Perfect Weapon: War Sabotage and Fear in the Cyber Age. We discussed how security struggles to keep up with technology, how the iPhone truly changed the world, and whether or not he had to write the book longhand or on a manual typewriter to protect the manuscript. (From 6-27-18)

Send us Fan Mail Emmy and Tony Award-winning actor Hal Linden gave us a call to talk about his critically-acclaimed film "The Samuel Project." We also discussed his concert tours and how it's never too late to chase a dream. (From 10-2-18)

Send us Fan Mail Ian Doescher, author of the "William Shakespeare's Star Wars" series, called in to talk about his new series of "Pop Shakespeare" books, beginning with "Get Thee...Back to the Future!" (From 4-23-19)

Send us Fan Mail Should-be Hall-of-Famer David Cone called in to chat about his new book "Full Count: The Education of a Pitcher." I learned so much about pitching talking to David, a self-confessed "pitching nerd." I also invited David for a game of Wiffle Ball in my backyard and he accepted. Looking forward to it the next time he's in Chicago and we can compare Wiffle Ball sinkers. (From 5-23-19)

Send us Fan Mail Jeff Benedict is the co-author, along with Armen Keteyian, of the new biography "Tiger Woods." Jeff discussed the lengthy process of researching and writing the book, how a biographer needs to remain both immersed in and detached from his subject, and Tiger's performance at the 2018 Masters. (From 4-5-18)

Send us Fan Mail Harry Lloyd called in to discuss his role in "Counterpart." We discussed the challenge of playing an espionage agent in two different worlds, working with the amazing J.K. Simmons, and why British actors can sound more American than actual Americans. (From 1-18-18)

Send us Fan Mail Emma Gray is the Executive Women's Editor at HuffPost and the author of "A Girl's Guide to Joining the Resistance," which is the best and most impactful book I've read all year. A very important work from an outstanding writer. (From 3-1-18)

Send us Fan Mail Tommy Davidson is one of our all-time favorite guests who is returning to the area to play the Chicago Improv this weekend December 12-14.

Send us Fan Mail From multiple New York Times best-selling author Jeff Pearlman comes the rollicking, outrageous, you-can’t-make-this-up story of the USFL—Football for a Buck: The Crazy Rise and Crazier Demise of the USFL. (From 9-18-18) The United States Football League—known fondly to millions of sports fans as the USFL—was the last football league to challenge the NFL while causing its owners and executives to collectively shudder. It spanned three seasons, from 1983 to 1985, secured multiple television deals, drew millions of fans, and launched the careers of legends. But then it died beneath the weight of a particularly egotistical and bombastic owner—a New York businessman named Donald J. Trump. The league featured as many as eighteen teams, and included such superstars as Steve Young, Jim Kelly, Herschel Walker, Reggie White, Doug Flutie, and Mike Rozier. In Football for a Buck, dogged reporter and biographer Jeff Pearlman draws on more than four hundred interviews to unearth all the salty, untold stories of one of the craziest sports entities ever to have captivated America. From excess drug usage in the ’80s to airplane brawls and player-coach punch outs, to backroom business deals, to some of the most enthralling and revolutionary football ever seen, Pearlman transports readers back in time to this crazy, boozy, audacious, and unforgettable era of the game. He shows how fortunes were made and lost on the backs of professional athletes and how, even thirty years ago, Trump was a scoundrel and a spoiler.

Send us Fan Mail Tom Brady. Serena Williams. Michael Phelps. Shalane Flanagan. LeBron James. Carli Lloyd. Roger Federer. Everywhere you look, athletes well past so-called peak age are not just staying competitive but dominating. It’s a new era for older athletes. Through fascinating profiles and first-person experiences, journalist Jeff Bercovici illuminates the science and strategies behind the art of longevity in sports in “Play On: The New Science of Elite Performance at Any Age." (From 5-1-18)