Kelly sits down with playwright and author Jeffrey Sweet to discuss the new edition of his legendary book “Something Wonderful Right Away,” an oral history of The Second City.

Kelly reconnects with Second City alum Mike Lukas to talk about his new book, “Finding Your Funny Muscle: How to Create Laughs Like a Pro.”

“A good laugh can feel better than sex on drugs in a rock and roll hot tub.”

“Bottom line, humor isn’t some obscure concept that only the chosen few can master.” 

“Shared pain makes us laugh together so we don’t have to cry and scare the children.” 

Kelly speaks to journalist Jason Del Rey to discuss his new book, “Winner Sells All: Amazon, Walmart and the Battle For Our Wallets.”

“You can either choose to disrupt yourself or be caught flatfooted when disruption chooses you.” 

“This might not have been move fast and break things, but it was at times, move fast and fake things.” 

“A world where one winner sells all is a world where everyone loses.” 

Kelly speaks with Christian Madsbjerg, co-founder of the consulting firm ReD Associates and professor of applied humanities at the New School in New York City. He has a new book called “Look: How to Pay Attention in a Distracted World.”

“Creativity is never radical, insights are.” 

“Stop talking and try listening. What will you hear in the silence?” 

“The observer’s role is to move beyond what’s said or done to truly understand why people behave the way they do.” 

Kelly steps out of “Yes, And” mode to talk to University of Houston professor Vanessa Patrick about her new book  “The Power of Saying No: The New Science of How to Say No That Puts You in Charge of Your life.”

“There is little upside to saying yes when we want to say no.” 

“The way we think about things – our mindset – matters.” 

“Face-to-face is thirty-four times more effective in getting you to say yes.”  

Kelly speaks with legendary Washington Post sportswriter Sally Jenkins about her new book, “The Right Call: What Sports Teach us About the Art of Decision Making.”

“No one succeeds alone, not even a LeBron James.” 

“The brain robs your body of the energy to think.” 

“Good practice is transformative.” 

Kelly connects across the pond with Neil Mullarkey, who began his comedy career in a duo with Mike Myers, improvised with London’s legendary Comedy Store Players, and applied his knowledge of improvisation to the world of business management training. He has a new book, “In the Moment: Build Your Confidence, Communication and Creativity at Work.” 

You can find Neil on Twitter, Instagram and Threads @neilmullarkey. Visit his website and neilmullarkey.com and LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/in/neilmullarkey/

“Improv at its heart is about making others look good.” 

“Story is the original human software.” 

“Almost every conversation you have relies upon improv to some extent.” 

Kelly has a fascinating conversation with scholars Morten Christiansen and Nick Chater to talk about their new book, “The Language Game: How Improvisation Created Language and Changed the World.” 

“Actual language is always a matter of improvisation, of finding an effective way to meet the communicative demands of the moment.” 

“Language is continually invented in the moment and reinvented each time we play again.” 

“What matters for language learning is practice, practice, and more practice.” 

Kelly talks to Babson College professor Rob Cross and returning guest Karen Dillon of the Harvard Business Review to discuss their new book: “The Microstress Effect: How Little Things Pile Up and Create Big Problems – and What to Do About It.”

“You can’t always control what you’re asked to do, but you can control how you respond.” 

“Our brains are hardwired for emotional contagion.” 

“Few people find happiness in isolation.” 

Kelly sits down with Zeynep Ton, Professor of the Practice in the Operations Management group at MIT Sloan School of Management, to discuss her new book  “The Case for Good Jobs: How Great Companies Bring Dignity, Pay, and Meaning to Everyone’s Work.” 

“A jockey on an injured horse isn’t going to win just because you doubled his pay.” 

“Bad jobs go a long way to creating bad workers.” 

“Having multiple jobs makes life stressful.”