Mike fires up Your Dark Companion with a literal lightning strike, then welcomes Dallas lifers Ward Richmond and John Pedigo to talk about Ward’s new album, Big Addict Energy—a brutally honest, oddly hilarious chronicle of high-functioning drinking, rehab math, and rebuilding a life that actually fits. We bounce from Lakewood and Deep Ellum war stories to the therapist who called her shot (“alcoholic”), the Truck Yard-as-office era, and why Ward now tours with… a pedal that plays his whole band (karaoke, but make it auteur). Pedigo breaks down the “producer as translator” approach—less sprinkle, more spine—while the guys trade memories, cuss less (sometimes), and make a pretty airtight case for talking about addiction without the shame fog. Stick around for the closer: Ward’s earworm “Non-Alcoholic Beer Drinking Man.” It slaps, even if your drink is Topo.

Mike Rhyner sits down with Rick and Ryan Holden — a father-son polygraph team whose client list ranges from federal agencies to murder suspects to people just trying to clear their names — to pull the curtain back on the world most of us hope we never have to visit.

They walk Mike through how a real polygraph actually works (and why “lie detector” is the wrong term), why the machine itself isn’t magic but the examiner better be, and why anxiety doesn’t automatically make you look guilty. Rick talks about 50+ years in the chair, from Texas death row to child abuse cases to capital murders, and Ryan breaks down how this work shows up in counterintelligence, national security, and courtrooms.

They also get into ethics: when you’re allowed to tell, when you’re not, and what it feels like to know the truth in cases that are dark, heartbreaking, and legally delicate. It’s intense, it’s honest, and it’s not reality TV.

Chapters:

Follow Your Dark Companion on Patreon for every episode: 

IG: https://www.instagram.com/yourdarkcompanion/

The Old Grey Wolf: 

To reach out email us at: [email protected]

Mike Rhyner and gang unveil a new wing of the the Sunset Lounge: The Sunset Soccer Club with Tyler Kern—a show built to make the world’s game make sense before the 2026 World Cup steamrolls America like a well-timed counterattack. Rob Ervin tags in to talk fandom, promotion/relegation, and why Bundesliga is the most fun word to say out loud.

From Dallas hosting more Cup action than anyone, to how MLS grew up without face-planting, to why the U.S. men might finally be good on paper (our favorite American surface), this one’s a crash course wrapped in a hangout. Rhyner plays curious convert, Tyler speaks fluent footy, and Rob swings the supporter’s hammer. Come for the Rush detour and transfer-fee nerdery; stay for the plan to turn soccer snobs into soccer sherpas.

Chapters

00:00 – Rhyner Kicks Off: “Podcasts live forever—kind of like my Rush regret.”

IG: https://www.instagram.com/yourdarkcompanion/

The Old Grey Wolf: 

To reach out email us at: [email protected]

Texas Rangers manager Skip Schumaker joins Mike Rhyner and Woodsey (Ben & Woods Show, San Diego) for a lively, honest, and at times hilarious look into baseball, leadership, and life in the big leagues.

Skip talks about his path from player to manager, lessons learned under Tony La Russa, and what it takes to build a real clubhouse culture. The guys dig into the Rangers’ rollercoaster season, the difference between coaching and managing, and what Skip’s bringing to Arlington.

It’s part baseball masterclass, part barroom storytelling—classic Your Dark Companion energy.

⏱️ Chapters

00:00:00 – Intro: Mike Rhyner welcomes Skip Schumaker & Woodsey

Watch the full conversation now and don’t forget to like 👍, subscribe 🔔, and share with your fellow baseball fans.

📺 Your Dark Companion

Follow Your Dark Companion on Patreon for every episode: 

IG: https://www.instagram.com/yourdarkcompanion/

The Old Grey Wolf: 

To reach out email us at: [email protected]

On Your Dark Companion, Mike Rhyner and Grubes sit down with Dallas Morning News veteran Evan Grant (29 seasons on the Rangers beat) to unpack a maddening 2025 campaign: elite starting pitching, an offense that never synced, and a clubhouse that couldn’t find its rhythm. Evan explains why this felt like the most underperforming Rangers team in memory, what changed going from Donnie Ecker to Brett Boone on hitting, and how a late-season infusion of “Little Rascals” energy briefly jolted the club.

⏱️ Chapters

00:00:00 - Open & Introductions

Mike Rhyner, Grubes, and DLLS’s own Kevin Gray power-wash the offseason angst off Mavericks fans and get you ready for tip-off. Yes, the Luka-to-LA asteroid actually hit. Yes, everyone doom-scrolled. And yes, there’s still basketball to play — with Cooper Flagg flying around like a caffeinated free safety, Anthony Davis trying to carry while the eyeball heals and the scale side-eyes him, and a defense-first identity that might just make Dallas obnoxious to score on again.

Kevin dishes on where fans’ heads are post-catastrophe, what “movement and spacing” looks like without Luka-ball, why the frontcourt depth is quietly nasty, and which Western heavies (OKC, Denver, Houston) are about to make your sleep schedule worse. Plus: CBD slushies, cap-circumventing conspiracies, and the annual reminder that the Cowboys will test your faith more than any religion.

It’s fast, funny, and Mavs-nerdy in all the right ways.

00:00 - Lightning Strikes & Roll Call at the Mothership

IG: https://www.instagram.com/yourdarkcompanion/

The Old Grey Wolf: 

To reach out email us at: [email protected]

Mike Rhyner pulls up a barstool with Matt Lyle (playwright/agent of chaos) and Max Hartman (actor/true believer) to unpack The Trade—a sharp, satirical stage play where Luka “gets shipped” to the Lakers… strictly in parody land. It’s a Greek tragedy with punchlines, puppets (yes, a giant one), and the kind of Dallas sports heartbreak that only theater can make weirdly healing.

In between a studio lightning strike (because of course), a Rangers victory lap, and Shoopy’s drive-by quips, the gang digs into how you spin sports calamity into catharsis, why comedy is the only way to survive a news cycle like that, and what it’s like rewiring a script on the fly while your opening night anxiety does suicides in the lobby.

Come for the Mavs angst. Stay for the craft: character builds, last-minute rewrites, staging a sports scandal with style—and the reminder that, sometimes, parody tells the truth better than a press conference.

⏱️ Chapters

00:02 — “Thunder, Meet Rangers”

03:13 — “Luka to the… Lakers? Relax, It’s Theater”

05:08 — “Friendship, Grief, and a Giant Puppet”

08:17 — “When Sports News Feels Like a Prank”

11:32 — “Greek Tragedy in a Jersey”

17:20 — “The Trade: A Comedy Built on a Collapse”

24:24 — “CBD Time-Out”

26:48 — “Rewrite, Rehearse, Repeat”

29:30 — “Parody vs. Press Release”

34:44 — “Stage Fright & Film Fights”

40:29 — “Tell a Friend, Bring a Frenemy”

IG: https://www.instagram.com/yourdarkcompanion/

The Old Grey Wolf: 

To reach out email us at: [email protected]

Mike sits down with the guy who helped steer the ship when The Ticket went from scrappy longshot to Dallas sports juggernaut: former program director Bruce Gilbert.

In true Your Dark Companion style, this isn’t a dry industry interview—it’s two radio lifers swapping war stories about wild ownership changes, home-brewed sports talk, and the kind of chemistry you can’t script. They laugh about bad ideas, celebrate good ones, and unpack why The Ticket still matters in a world where every phone is a radio.

This is part origin story, part master class, and part therapy session for anyone who ever loved—or worked in—live radio.

Indie films, preacher’s kids, Elvis motels, and Troy Aikman commercials — this episode has it all. Mike Rhyner sits down with Dallas filmmaker Josh David Jordan, the mind behind This World Won’t Break and the upcoming El Tonto Porcristo.

Josh talks about growing up as the son of an evangelical preacher and how those fire-and-brimstone Sundays shaped the stories he tells today. From scribbling notes in moleskins to chasing the perfect song for a scene, his process is messy, passionate, and a little bit like “building the airplane on the way down.”

Along the way, we get Dallas love letters, border-crossing mishaps, and what happens when your indie film somehow collides with Troy Aikman’s commercial world. It’s raw, funny, and exactly why you tune in to Your Dark Companion.

Chapters

00:00 – Mike Rhyner and Josh David Jordan: film, life, and why Dallas always sneaks into the frame

Follow Your Dark Companion on Patreon for every episode: 

IG: https://www.instagram.com/yourdarkcompanion/

The Old Grey Wolf: 

To reach out email us at: [email protected]

Spooky season pulls up in a purple hearse as Mike Reiner welcomes Julie Fisk and Rebecca Black—the hilarious radio vets behind the hit pod Haunted AF. We talk real-world hauntings, fake ghost vids (we see that fishing wire), Dallas-Fort Worth’s creepiest spots, and why renovations are basically a Ouija board for the dead. Somewhere in there we accidentally name the spirit in Mike’s house Fred and immediately start provoking him. Sorry, Mike.

You’ll get tips for finding legit scares around DFW (from Hangman’s House of Horrors to the Kalita Humphreys Theater), a crash course in “talking to your ghosts politely,” and a monster tale from a Canadian farmhouse that will make you rethink nocturnal wildlife. PLUS: Haunted AF’s live show at Texas Live (Oct 1), a promo code for Hangman’s, and Rebecca’s new pod, Unsolicited. It’s cozy, creepy, and totally unserious—like chicken nuggets shaped like ghosts. Boo appetit.

Resources mentioned

Haunted AF podcast

Texas Live — Haunted AF live podcast, Oct 1 (free tickets)

Hangman’s House of Horrors (promo mentioned in-episode)

Kalita Humphreys Theater (Frank Lloyd Wright’s haunted beauty)

“Your Dark Companion” with Mike Reiner

Chapters

00:00:00 - Cold open chaos: false start, lightning, and sports-radio brain