The Last Show opens with foreign correspondent Tony Five revealing an intimate and heartbreaking story of what happened to his dog Frank over the weekend. (Please reach out to Tony via email at [email protected].) Intimacy coordinator Jen Viens describes her job of assisting actors with sex scenes on screen. Perpetual cognitive neuroscientist Leanne Chukoskie explains the uncanny valley and why dolls like Chucky freak us out so much. The first openly gay professional hockey player, ⁠Brock McGillis⁠, joins David – and later Tony Five – for a candid look at what it's like to be gay in pro sports, and how to break barriers toward real inclusion. Therapist ⁠⁠⁠Laurel van der Toorn discusses the dad who supported his daughter's veganism, but who refused when she asked him to stop eating meat. Natural language processing researcher Myra Cheng shares her research showing people-pleasing chatbots may boost your ego, but weaken your judgment. Management professor Howie Xu explains that flexible schedules and other negotiated arrangements affect office teams' success. Segments: (00:00) Introduction (00:55) Tony Five (10:00) Jen Viens (20:00) Leanne Chukoskie (30:00) Brock McGillis (39:50) Brock McGillis & Tony Five (49:50) Laurel van der Toorn (59:50) Myra Cheng (1:09:50) Howie Xu (1:19:06) Sign-off Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.