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This edition of The Neil Haley Show opens with a Total Celebrity conversation with WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley about his book Saint Mick: My Journey from Hardcore Legend to Santa's Jolly Elf. Neil, a former pro wrestler himself, thanked Foley for once steering him toward promoter Bert Prentice and the independent circuit early in his own career. Foley reflected on a run that exceeded even his own expectations, from grinding out a 58-minute match in front of just 25 people in Jonesboro, Arkansas, to stardom in WCW and the WWF, and shared the lesson that it is not the size of the crowd but the impact you have on the people in the room. That same conviction, he said, drives his six years portraying Santa Claus, and he told a moving story about a Christmas Eve visit to a young cancer patient on Long Island, whose transformation he ranked among the finest moments of his career. Foley explained that he wrote the book himself, partly for his children, and credited Stephanie McMahon with convincing him the offbeat, touching Christmas tale could reach beyond wrestling fans. He previewed his 20 Years of Hell tour, built around bringing that infamous match back to life. Find him at realmickfoley.com.
Neil then turned to a J Len Sciuto Show simulcast, where the retired Coast Guard officer and thriller author offered his own geopolitical analysis, opening, as he noted, with a disclaimer that it is opinion and discussion drawn from public reporting rather than settled fact. He walked through his reading of tensions around Iran's nuclear program and a fortified mountain site near the Natanz facility, the risk of the Houthis widening the conflict, and the military scenarios he fears could follow, while also touching the Abraham Accords, the long U.S. history of regime-change operations, and rising oil prices. Drawing on 36 years in the Coast Guard, he tied the themes to his bestselling submarine thriller Hades Crypt and a coming sequel, Desperate Countermeasures, noting that a large share of his book royalties supports junior enlisted service members. Reach him at jlenscuto.com.
Neil then welcomed the legendary Suzanne Somers, author of Two's Company: A 50-Year Romance with Lessons Learned in Love, Life, and Business. Somers shared the story of meeting her husband, Canadian television star Alan Hamel, on a San Francisco game-show set, and of a partnership so close the two have not spent a night apart in decades while also running a business together. She recounted her rise on Three's Company, being fired after seeking pay equal to the men on the number-one show, and the smear campaign that followed, then how she and Hamel refused to dwell on what she had lost and instead branded Suzanne Somers, from the ThighMaster to headlining Las Vegas. Her throughline was simple: problems do not define you, how you respond to them does, and the goal is to turn setbacks into opportunities. Find her at SuzanneSomers.com.
The hour closes with actor and director Mario Van Peebles on Syfy's Superstition, in which he writes, directs, produces, and stars alongside his daughter Morgana. Van Peebles described growing up in the Van Peebles independent-film family as an apprenticeship in every job on a set, from cables and lighting to directing, so that wearing many hats now feels natural. He pitched Superstition as the story of a loving Southern family in the funeral business, running the Hastings Funeral Home, who battle demons rising as humanity does more damage to the planet, each episode built around a different piece of Gothic Americana. He shared bits of his father Melvin's wisdom, that luck is preparation meeting opportunity, and that it is not what you face but how you face it that reveals you. Find Mick Foley's Saint Mick and Suzanne Somers' Two's Company in bookstores, Jay Len Sciuto at jlenscuto.com, and Mario Van Peebles on Superstition.