The Colin McEnroe Show

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A study shows that AI chatbots often engage in sycophantic behavior. Just like some humans. This hour, we take a look at sycophants in literature and in politics. And we talk about sycophancy and artificial intelligence.

GUESTS:

Mark Parker: Professor Emeritus of English at James Madison University and co-author of Sucking Up: A Brief Consideration of Sycophancy
Virginia Heffernan: Writes a regular column for The New Republic and the Substack “Magic + Loss.” She is co-host of the podcast “Omnishambles”
Malihe Alikhani: Assistant Professor at Northeastern University’s Khoury College of Computer Sciences, and a resident Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institution with a focus on AI policy

Music featured (in order):

Overture to Rigoletto – Giuseppi Verdi, Herbert von Karajan, Berlin Philharmoniker
I Believe in You – Peggy Lee
Don’t Cry – Seal
You Fascinate Me So – Mabel Mercer
What You Want To Hear – Sub-Radio
Flattery – Rosemary Clooney, Jose Ferrer

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on April 8, 2026.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing — calls about grammar, gardening, long-distance dialing, autotune. Anything. Everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we’re doing another one.

In other words: Give us a call during the 1 p.m. EDT hour about whatever you want to talk about. 888-720-9677.‌

Music featured (in order):

Light the Way – Leon Bridges
47th Street – Lalah Hathaway, J. Ivy
Twiggy – Remi Wolf
Sweet Surrender – Halie Loren
Inspira – Lauren Henderson, Sullivan Fortner
Back in Love – Suki Waterhouse
Reminder – Margaret Glaspy

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Furious is a Hulu Original crime drama-thriller series created by Elizabeth Meriwether, who also created New Girl and The Dropout and other things. It is inspired by the 1987 thriller Black Widow, which is also about a female serial killer and the female cop (a DOJ data analyst in 1987 and a new FBI agent here) who’s trying to catch her. Furious stars Emmy Rossum, Lola Petticrew, Quincy Tyler Bernstine, and more.

And then: Last weekend was the highest-grossing weekend in the history of the domestic box office. That weekend was led by Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which had the biggest domestic opening ever, and by The Odyssey, which is a three-hour adaptation of Homer that gets closer to $1 billion every day. Also this year, two small horror movies, Obsession and Backrooms, have made more than $390 million each. And the new Toy Story and the new Mario movie and the Michael Jackson biopic have all made $1 billion each. Which is to say: People are going back to the movies! Which is great! Mostly. Right?

GUESTS:

Irene Papoulis: Taught writing for a long time at Trinity College
Lindsay Lee Wallace: A writer and journalist whose latest work includes the cover stories for the four most recent issues of Bat Conservation International’s Bats magazine
Bill Yousman: Professor of media studies at Sacred Heart University

Music featured (in order):

Wonderful Illusions – Eartha Kitt
Have You Seen Her – The Chi-Lites
That's Why God Made the Movies – Paul Simon
Dinner and a Movie – Phish
See You On The Radio – Grayson Hugh

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What can you say about the sun? It sits at the center of our solar system and has, over time, been at the center of religions, scriptures, songs, art, and countless other aspects of our culture.

We’ve relied on its light, heat, and gravity for as long as we’ve been around, and we continue to find ways to harness its energy for our daily needs.

This hour, we look at the place our sun holds kind of literally at the center of all of human history and ask what the future holds for our nearest star.

GUESTS:

Christina Agapakis: Creative director at Ginko Bioworks
Sarbani Basu: William K. Lanman Jr. Professor of Astronomy at Yale University
John Grim: Senior lecturer and research scholar teaching in the joint MA program in religion and ecology at Yale University School of the Environment and Yale Divinity School
John Perlin: Physicist at UCLA Santa Barbara and the author of Let It Shine: The 6,000-Year Story of Solar Energy

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Greg Hill, Betsy Kaplan, Jonathan McNicol, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired August 11, 2016.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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What does it mean for a work to be incomplete? This hour, we look at a wide span of unfinished projects, from posthumous novels to highways to nowhere.

Guests:

Alex Belth is the editor of Esquire Classic and author of the substack “Dig This with Alex Belth”
Jacob Proctor is the Gilbert and Ann Kinney New York Collector at the Smithsonian Institution’s Archives of American Art and the curator of “Best Laid Plans: Unrealized Projects from the Archives of American Art”
Ian Cossis the host of “The Big Dig” podcast from GBH News

Music featured (in order):

Our Prayer – The Beach Boys
Unfinished House – Cautious Clay
I Want You (She’s So Heavy) – The Beatles
Wichita Lineman – Glen Campbell
The End Has No End – The Strokes
Tea for Two – Tea for Two (1950) OST

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Dr. Anthony Fauci recently invoked the Fifth Amendment in a Senate Hearing. This hour: we take a look at our Constitution's Fifth Amendment to learn why it exists and what it means for all of us.

GUESTS:

Akhil Reed Amar: Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale University. His latest book is: Born Equal: Remaking America’s Constitution, 1840–1920, which was a winner of the annual Abraham Lincoln Institute Book Prize
James Duane: Teaches at Regent Law School. He is the author of You Have the Right to Remain Innocent: What Police Officers Tell Their Children about the Fifth Amendment. His YouTube video “Don't Talk to the Police” has over 21 million views
Clay Risen: Reporter and editor at The New York Times, and the author of Red Scare: Blacklists, McCarthyism, and the Making of Modern America

Music featured (in order):

A Fifth of Beethoven – Walter Murphy & The Big Apple Band
Take the Fifth – Spoon
When You Say Nothing At All – Alison Krauss
Take the Fifth Amendment – Joe Tex
Lawyers, Guns and Money – Warren Zevon
Exhuming McCarthy – R.E.M.

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We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to Todd Blanche, Open AI’s Hugging Face hack, the Iran war, hopium, Connecticut’s highways at night, POSSLQs … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

Music featured (in order):

ÉPiPHANiE – DOMi & JD BECK
Do You Want This – Cosmo’s Midnight, Vancouver Sleep Clinic
Anything Could Happen – Laila!
I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me) – Meshell Ngegeocello, Cynthia Erivo
Fire on the Water – Bonobo, Arooj Aftab
I’m Just An Old Chunk of Coal – Paul Carrack

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Robyn Doyon-Aitken, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Spider-Man: Brand New Day is the 38th movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It is the 15th movie in the Multiverse Saga and the second movie in the MCU’s Phase Six. I didn’t really follow most of that, but this next bit will be a little clearer, I think: Brand New Day is the 11th theatrically-released feature-length Spider-Man movie, and it’s the eighth movie to feature Tom Holland as Peter Parker/Spider-Man. In any case, between this and The Odyssey, people are going back to the movies. So that’s good.

And: A new study has found that people were speaking about 28% fewer words per day in 2019 than they were in 2005. And that was before COVID! So what are we losing if we aren’t using our speaking voices as much anymore?

GUESTS:

Sam Hadelman: Director of public relations at Dark Matter Media
Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Fantasy Filmball podcast
Carolyn Paine: An actress and comedian; she’s the founder and director of CONNetic Dance and the creative producer and choreographer for The Bushnell’s Digital Institute
Bill Yousman: Professor of media studies at Sacred Heart University

Music featured (in order):

oh yeah? – Steve Lacy
Wolf Like Me – TV on the Radio
Your Most Valuable Possession / Regrets – Ben Folds Five
Talk It Over – Grayson Hugh
See You On The Radio – Grayson Hugh

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Typos and misprints are as old as writing and printing. This hour, we take a look at them from the "Wicked Bible" to National Park signs and your email inbox. And: the changing status of human typos in the age of AI.

GUESTS:

Rachel Churner: Art critic, editor, and professor. She is a co-curator with Geoff Kaplan of the exhibit “Beauties of My Style: Errata and the Printed Mistake” at Yale’s Sterling Memorial Library. She is the co-founder of no place press and currently serves as the director of the Carolee Schneemann Foundation
Jeff Deck: Writer, writing coach and co-author with Benjamin D. Herson of The Great Typo Hunt: Two Friends Changing the World, One Correction at a Time
Katie Notopoulos: Senior correspondent at Business Insider who writes about technology, business, and culture

Music featured (in order):

The Typewriter – Leroy Anderson and “His” Orchestra
Typos – The Incredible Casuals
Oops!... I Did It Again – Britney Spears
Apostrophe – The Doubleclicks
S-E-X-X-Y – They Might Be Giants
To Make a Mistake Is Human – Ella Fitzgerald

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Homer’s Odyssey, a 12,000-line, nearly 3,000-year-old epic poem, is one of the foundational texts of Western literature. (It’s also one of the oldest surviving sequels!)

It has inspired a list of movies as varied as Stanley Kubrick‘s 2001: A Space Odyssey, the Coen brothers’ O Brother, Where Art Thou?, and The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie.

But there haven’t been very many straight screen adaptations of its full story.

Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is just the second full-length feature film adaptation of Homer’s Odyssey ever made. It is 173 minutes long. It reportedly cost $250 million to make. And it is currently the No. 1 movie in the world, having grossed $666.7 million in just 12 days in theaters.

This hour, rock star classicist and translator Emily Wilson joins us to talk Homer, Nolan, and everything in between.

Plus: We impanel a full Nose to parse and dissect the movie as only the Nose can.

GUESTS:

James Hanley: Co-founder of Cinestudio at Trinity College
Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Fantasy Filmball podcast
Irene Papoulis: Taught writing for a long time at Trinity College
Emily Wilson: A classicist who has published verse translations of Homer, Seneca, Sophocles, and Euripides; her new book, Crossing the Wine-Dark Sea: Journeys Through Ancient Literature, is out in September, 2026, in the United States
Bill Yousman: Professor of media studies at Sacred Heart University

Music featured (in order):

Disco Ulysses – Vulfpeck
Tales of Brave Ulysses – Cream
Take the Long Way Home – Supertramp
Zeus’s Law – Ludwig Göransson
Ithaca – Ludwig Göransson
When I’m Home – James Blake, Travis Scott, Ludwig Göransson

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How do you make a 100-meter telescope that folds down to three meters so you can tuck it inside a space vehicle? How do you make a heart stent that folds out inside the human body? In each case, researchers have turned to masters of origami, the thousand-year-old art of paper folding.

This hour, a look at how paper folding went from a quaint, simple hobby to an extensive form of art that can achieve hundreds of intricate folds. Plus: the ways origami is used beyond the art world, in mathematics, science, and technology.

GUESTS:

Erik Demaine: Professor of computer science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Robert J. Lang: The author of co-author of more than 20 books on origami art and design

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Betsy Kaplan, and Jonathan McNicol contributed to this show, which originally aired March 13, 2014.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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What would it mean if nothing matters? This hour, a look at the philosophy of nihilism, and how it shows up online and in children's books.

GUESTS:

Nolen Gertz: Associate Professor of Applied Philosophy at the University of Twentein the Netherlands. He is author of books including Nihilism and Nihilism and Technology
Charlie Warzel: Staff writer at The Atlantic and the host of its technology podcast, "Galaxy Brain"
Jon Klassen: Author and illustrator of books including I Want My Hat Back, This Is Not My Hat, The Rock From The Sky, and The Skull

Music featured (in order):

Caring is Creepy – The Shins
I Got Plenty O’ Nuttin’ – Shirley Horn
Nothing from Nothing – Billy Preston
Battle of Who Could Care Less – Ben Folds Five
Hurt – Johnny Cash
Nothing – A Chorus Line Broadway cast

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on March 26, 2026.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Backrooms is the feature directing debut of Kane Parsons. It is written by Will Soodik and based on Parsons’ YouTube series of the same name, which was inspired by the The Backrooms creepypasta. Backrooms is A24’s highest-grossing movie to date. It is the fifth-highest-grossing independent movie ever made and the second-highest-grossing horror movie of 2026 so far.

And: Obsession is the second feature film written, directed, and edited by Curry Barker. It was made for a reported $750,000, and it has grossed $443 million at the worldwide box office. It is Focus Features’ highest-grossing movie to date. It is the highest-grossing movie with a budget under $1 million ever made and the highest-grossing horror movie of 2026 so far.

GUESTS:

RS Benedict: A writer and bureaucrat whose fiction and non-fiction has been published in the New Haven Review, Fangoria, Current Affairs, and a bunch of other places
Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Fantasy Filmball podcast
Carolyn Paine: An actress and comedian; she’s the founder and director of CONNetic Dance and the creative producer and choreographer for The Bushnell’s Digital Institute
Mercy Quaye: Founder and president of The Narrative Project

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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Bob Dylan turned 85 years old in May. His first album, 1962’s Bob Dylan, is in its 65th year on record store shelves.

We’re at a point where, for most of us, there has simply never been a popular culture in which Dylan wasn’t a towering figure whose influence seems to touch, well, everything.

This hour, a look at Bob Dylan at 85.

GUESTS:

Noah Baerman: A pianist, composer, and educator
Fred Bals: Hosted the Dreamtime podcast, covering Theme Time Radio Hour with Your Host, Bob Dylan
Sean Latham: Director of the Institute for Bob Dylan Studies, editor of The World of Bob Dylan, and the writer and narrator of It Ain’t Me You’re Looking For: Bob Dylan at 80
Gayle Wald: Professor of American studies at George Washington University; her most recent book is It’s Been Beautiful: Soul! and Black Power Television

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired May 20, 2021.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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This hour, we explore the history and economy of fruits, from the strange to the inedible. Plus, we interrogate what it means for fruits to be seasonal, and why the berries in the supermarket your supermarket aisle might be tasteless!

Additionally: why do we think of the Forbidden Fruit as an apple?

GUESTS:

Lee Reich: Author of several gardening books, including “Fruit: From the USDA Pomological Watercolor Collection” and “Uncommon Fruits for Every Garden”
Evan Lentz: Commercial Fruit Production Specialist and Educator at the University of Connecticut Extension.
Azzan Yadin-Israel: Professor of Jewish Studies at Rutgers University and the author of “Temptation Transformed: The Story of How the Forbidden Fruit Became an Apple”.

Music featured (in order):

No Frills Cumbia (Sensory Fruit) – Kevin MacLeod
Apples, Peaches, Pumpkin Pie – Jay at the Techniques
Strawberry Fields – The Beatles
Coconut – Harry Nilsson
Underneath the Apple Tree – Carmen McRae
Adam Lay Ybounden – The Cambridge Singers as conducted by John Ritter
Garden of Eden – Celtic Woman

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We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to the war with Iran, President Trump’s July 16 primetime speech, President Trump and FIFA and the World Cup Final, Hampshire College, Lucky on Apple TV, usage of words like “proxy,” the Thucydides Trap … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

Music featured (in order):

Soarin’ – Ginger Root
The Game of Love – Michelle Branch, New Radicals
let’s go out and play – ganavya (this is very cool)
Horns of a Bill – Fiona Apple
I Belong to the Sky (Bright Side Mix) – Peter Gabriel
Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos) – Margo Price, Joan Baez, Memphis Mariachi

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, Robyn Doyon-Aitken, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Cmd + Z! What kinds of things can we undo and when should we?

This hour, we discuss stories of undoing: domestic and global politics in the Trump-era, a project that transformed a river’s ecology, and whether Pluto really deserved that demotion.

GUESTS:

Bill Curry: Lawyer and politician who has been a two-time Democratic nominee for Governor of Connecticut and a White House advisor in the administration of Bill Clinton
John Magee: The Programs Supervisor for New Hampshire’s Fish and Game Department and former Fish Habitat Biologist of 19 years
Alan Stern: Planetary scientist and commercial astronaut, best known as the principal investigator of the New Horizons mission to explore Pluto and the Kuiper Belt. His career in exploration spans the solar system

Music featured (in order):

Mistakes – Lake Street Dive
I Wanna Be Around – Sammy Davis Jr.
Erase/Rewind – The Cardigans
Mercy Mercy Me – Marvin Gaye
Into the River – Starling Arrow, Chloe Smith, Rising Appalachian
Corner of the Sky – Ben Platt

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

This show was produced by Amanda Adams.

Colin McEnroe, Robyn Doyon-Aitken and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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The Invite is the third movie directed by Olivia Wilde, her followup to Don’t Worry Darling. It’s a relationship comedy set almost entirely in a single apartment, and it stars Penélope Cruz, Edward Norton, Seth Rogen, and Wilde. It is the fifth international remake of the 2020 Spanish movie The People Upstairs (Sentimental) (and a sixth remake is expected in 2027). For the two weekends of The Invite’s limited release, it was the highest-grossing movie in the U.S. on a per-screen basis.

And: The Featherweight is a 2024 movie that tells the story of boxer Willie Pep in the period before his 1964 comeback. It is set mostly in Hartford, and it was shot in Hartford in 2021. (Disclosure: The production used Connecticut Public’s Hartford building as its headquarters, and The Featherweight is presented in association with Connecticut Public Television.)

GUESTS:

Sam Hadelman: Director of public relations at Dark Matter Media
Irene Papoulis: Taught writing for a long time at Trinity College
Gene Seymour: A “writer, professional spectator, pop-culture maven, and jazz geek,” and he writes the That Gene Seymour Substack
Lindsay Lee Wallace: A writer and journalist whose latest work includes the cover stories for the four most recent issues of Bat Conservation International’s Batsmagazine

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Irving Berlin. Cole Porter. Rodgers and Hart. Rodgers and Hammerstein. George and Ira Gershwin. We love all those songs. There’s a reason they’ve become standards. And a fresh, exciting, new version of, for instance, “Blue Skies” can be fresh and exciting.

But what about fresh, exciting, new standards from fresh, exciting, new songwriters?

This hour, the great jazz singer-songwriter Nicole Zuraitis joins us in studio to talk a little about her brand new album, The Devil I Knew, and a lot about the idea of a modern songbook — a new, contemporary canon of standards to supplement the Great American Songbook we all know and love.

GUESTS:

Kat Reinhert: A singer, songwriter, and professor of songwriting at Berklee College of Music
Nicole Zuraitis: A Grammy-winning jazz singer-songwriter, pianist, producer, and arranger; she is the founder, director, and curator of the Modern Songbook Society

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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We all love an underdog story. But why? This hour, we take a look at underdogs from David and Goliath to Rocky to The World Cup.

GUESTS:

A.J. Jacobs: Author of The Year of Living Constitutionally: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Constitution’s Original Meaning. His previous books include Drop Dead Healthy and The Year of Living Biblically. He is also host of the “Hello, Puzzlers!” podcast. His Substack is “Experimental Living”
Louisa Thomas: Staff writer for The New Yorker. She is the author of Louisa: The Extraordinary Life of Mrs. Adams, among other books
Maria Tatar: Professor Emerita of Folklore and Mythology at Harvard University. She is author of books including The Heroine with 1001 Faces and Arachnomania: Spiders and the Cultural Work They Do for Us
Iceman John Scully: Former World Ranked Light Heavyweight Contender and a Current Boxing Trainer

Music featured (in order):

Gonna Fly Now – Maynard Ferguson
Underdog – Spoon
Born Under A Bad Sign – Albert King
Pick Yourself Up – Ella Fitzgerald
David and Goliath – Take 6
Gonna Fly Now – Rocky Orchestra
Punching Above My Weight – Snakecharmer

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Biblical scholar James Tabor says that Mary–the mother of Jesus–is “the best known, least known woman in history.” This hour, we’ll get to know Mary a little better and talk about why some people are obsessed with preserving her purity at the expense of her humanity. And, we talk with (The Reverend) Amey Victoria Adkins-Jones from Emory University about Mary mythology, The Black Madonna, and the myriad ways Mary is depicted in art and culture.

GUESTS:

James D. Taboris a biblical scholar, and a retired professor of religious studies at the University Of North Carolina at Charlotte. He’s the author of The Lost Mary: Rediscovering the Mother of Jesus.
(The Rev.) Amey Victoria Adkins-Jonesis Assistant Professor of Theology and Africana Studies at Emory University. She’s a constructive theologian and scholar of Black religion specializing in Mariology, Black feminist and womanist thought, and theological anthropology. She’s the author of Immaculate Misconceptions: A Black Mariology.

MUSIC FEATURED (in order):

Mary On A Cross – Ghost
Along Comes Mary – The Association
The Wind Cries Mary – Jimi Hendrix
Mary Rock the Baby – Jarell Smalls
Like a Prayer – Madonna
Lady Madonna (Theme from Grace Under Fire) – Aretha Franklin
Mary, Did You Know? – The Braxtons

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Dylan Reyes, and Isaac Moss contributed to this episode, which originally aired on February 18, 2026.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to ticks, the electoral college, nursing, bird doulas, and ambidextrous presidencies … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

Music featured (in order):

Tomorrow, Again – FATHERS (Nate Smith, Kiefer, CARRTOONS, & Kenny Beats)
Yes – Lucy Woodward
Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea – Bria Skonberg
Candle Box – The Mountain Goats
Past the Veil – Shannon Lay
Just for a Moment – Sophia Galate, Dende

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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In 2025, Stevie Wonder turned 75, and our friend the jazz pianist Noah Baerman put out an album of covers of Wonder’s “message music.”

This hour, a look at Stevie Wonder as musical icon, as important civil rights figure, as utterly timeless songsmith.

Plus: some in-studio performances of Stevie Wonder classics.

GUESTS:

Noah Baerman: A pianist, composer, and educator; his newest album is Right Now Volume 4: Visions of Steveland
Kevin Gaines: The Julian Bond Professor of Civil Rights and Social Justice at the University of Virginia
Erica Tracy: A vocalist, songwriter, and arts curator

MUSIC FEATURED (in order):

You Haven’t Done Nothing – Stevie Wonder
Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I’m Yours) – Stevie Wonder
Superwoman (Where Were You When I Needed You) – Stevie Wonder
Higher Ground – Noah Baerman
Happy Birthday – Stevie Wonder
Big Brother – Stevie Wonder
Black Man – Stevie Wonder
Can We Fix Our Nation’s Broken Heart – Stevie Wonder

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired December 12, 2025.

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How often are you bored nowadays? This hour we take a look at the psychology of boredom to learn what's happening in our minds when we're bored, and if there's any benefit to it. Plus, a look at boredom through history and literature. And, what makes a movie boring?

GUESTS:

James Danckert: A Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Waterloo. He is co-author of Out of My Skull: The Psychology of Boredom
Peter Toohey: A Professor of Classics at the University of Calgary, and author of books including Boredom: A Lively History
Mary Mann: The College Archivist at The Cooper Union, and the author of Yawn: Adventures in Boredom
David Edelstein: America’s Greatest Living Film Critic

Music featured (in order):

No Rain – Blind Melon
Bored – Billie Eilish
One More Day – Todd Rundgren
Still I Dream Of It – The Beach Boys
Grand Ennui – Mike Nesmith
I’m Bored – Iggy Pop

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Is it possible to live forever? And if so, should we even want to? This hour, we discuss the search for immortality, from ancient philosophers to the elixir of life. Plus, a look at immortalizing public figures through obituaries.

Guests:

Tushar Irani is a Professor of Philosophy at Wesleyan University studying Ancient Greek and Roman Philosophy.
Philip Ball is a freelance science writer and the author of “Alchemy: An Illustrated History of Elixirs, Experiments, and the Birth of Modern Science”
William McDonald recently retired as the obituaries editor for the New York Times, a position that he held for the past 20 years.

Music featured (in order):

Galahad – Aoife O’Donovan
You Only Live Twice – Nancy Sinatra
If We Were Vampires – Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit
Alchemy – Cam
Everybody Wants To Go To Heaven (But Nobody Wants to Die) – Ellen McIlwaine
CUT FOR TIME I Don’t Want to Die (In the Hospital) – Connor Oberst
Fame – Irene Cara

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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The term "classical music" includes a wide variety of music and artists. This hour we take a look at what that category really means. We celebrate the form and help you figure out how to start listening to the genre.

Plus, how video game music is bringing new listeners to classical music and live orchestras.

GUESTS:

Matthew Aucoin: American composer, conductor, writer, pianist, and a 2018 MacArthur Fellow. He is author of “The Impossible Art: Adventures in Opera” and is co-founder of the American Modern Opera Company. His opera “Euridyce” was produced by the Metropolitan Opera in 2021, making him the youngest composer in nearly a century to have an opera produced by The Met
Arianna Warsaw-Fan Rauch: Author of “Declassified: A Low-Key Guide to the High-Strung World of Classical Music”. She is also a violinist who has performed in venues around the world
Carolyn Kuan: Music Director of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra. In 2025, she led the acclaimed world premiere of Huang Ruo’s "The Monkey King" at San Francisco Opera. Her recording of Huang Ruo’s "An American Soldier" with the American Composers Orchestra received a 2026 Grammy nomination
J. Aaron Hardwick: An internationally active professional conductor, professor of music at Wake Forest University, and Director of the Wake Forest University Symphony Orchestra, recognized for his work in classical and contemporary repertoire and innovative orchestral programming, including video game music

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe contributed to this show, which originally aired February 5, 2026.

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We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to humanoid foodstuffs, The World Cup, climate change, cheese … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, Jonathan McNicol, and Isaac Moss contributed to this show.

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As we were preparing for this show, we started to realize that there maybe just isn’t that much good pop culture stuff about the American Revolution.

There’s Hamilton, of course. The John Adams HBO miniseries. Maybe the musical and movie 1776?

And that’s maybe it?

There’s fun junk like The Patriot or National Treasure.

But what else?

Think about all the great movies and TV series and plays and whatever else there are about World War II. Or Vietnam. Or the American Civil War.

I mean, there’s a newish movie (based on a play) about THE WEATHER leading up to D-Day … and it’s pretty good!

So what is it about the story of the American Revolution that makes it especially hard to tell well on the stage or screen?

The Nose has thoughts.

GUESTS:

RS Benedict: A writer and bureaucrat whose fiction and non-fiction has been published in the New Haven Review, Fangoria, Current Affairs, and a bunch of other places
Jim Chapdelaine: An Emmy-winning musician and a patient advocate for people with rare cancers
Joanne Freeman: The Alan J. Boles Jr. Professor of History and American Studies at Yale and the host of two podcasts, History Matters (…& so does coffee) and A Few Thoughts for Those Who Can’t Sleep
Rich Hollant: Founder and principal of CO:LAB, a hall of fame designer, and a co-partner at CENTER
Carolyn Paine: An actress and comedian, she’s the founder and director of CONNetic Dance and the creative producer and choreographer for The Bushnell’s Digital Institute
Gene Seymour: A “writer, professional spectator, pop-culture maven, and jazz geek,” and he writes the That Gene Seymour Substack
Lindsay Lee Wallace: A writer and journalist covering culture, health, technology, bats, and anything else people will answer her questions about
Bill Yousman: Professor of media studies at Sacred Heart University

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Eugene Amatruda contributed to this show.

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Today, revolution is a catch-all term used by people across the political spectrum. There's a sense that revolutions are transformational, and even improving. But people haven't always thought that way. This hour, we trace the history of the idea from ancient Rome to the present, and look at what it can tell us about the revolutions of the past.

GUESTS:

Dan Edelstein: Professor of French, History and Political Science at Stanford University. His most recent book is The Revolution to Come: A History of an Idea from Thucydides to Lenin
Alan Williams: Writer, musician, singer, and professor emeritus of Music at UMass Lowell

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Colin McEnroe, Katie Servas, and Eugene Amatruda contributed to this show.

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When you "pull a Benedict Arnold," you sell out your side to join the stronger side of a situation out of fear, not honor. Needless to say, that's not a compliment.

More than 230 years after America secured independence from Britain, this skilled warrior and confidante of George Washington is remembered as a traitor and coward for defecting to the British side.

But it's not that easy.

The Revolution was a chaotic time. Some say America was in its first Civil War, when dangers greater than the British threatened our fledgling government. Congress was in constant battle with the military and feelings ran high over whether power should reside in the states or the federal government.

And it took a toll on the men who fought this bloody and protracted war. Leadership was often ineffective, greed was rampant, and militias fought without pay, few provisions, and little training. Family farms were looted and destroyed, the economy collapsed, and the Native Americans usually fought for the British.

Benedict Arnold was a traitor to his country, fighting against friends and former comrades. He was impetuous and quick to anger. He also fought valiantly for the Revolution, often turning the tide toward America in decisive battles. Yet, he got little respect, less pay, and was a target of a politicized Congress.

Is it time to take another look at Benedict Arnold and the Revolution that birthed America?

GUESTS:

Nathaniel Philbrick: Author of many books including In the Heart of the Sea; Mayflower; and Valiant Ambition: George Washington, Benedict Arnold, and the Fate of the American Revolution
Eric Lehman: Director of Publications and an Associate Professor of English at University of Bridgeport; author of Homegrown Terror: Benedict Arnold and the Burning of New London
Brad Meltzer: Author of many books including The Inner Circle; The Book of Fate; and The House of Secrets

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Colin McEnroe, Chion Wolf, and Greg Hill contributed to this show, which originally aired on June 16, 2016.

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We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to baby Muppets, the far side of the moon, frogs, reusable bags, primary elections, new words … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

MUSIC FEATURED (in order):

Garden of Hopes and Dreams - Deltarune OST
Hand It Over – Keb’ Mo’, feat. Soweto Gospel Choir
Lost Boys – Phoebe Bridgers
Ego – Lauren Jauregui
My Body Isn’t Ready – Sombr
Just As Bad As You – Molly Johnson

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Robyn Doyon-Aitken contributed to this show.

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Apple TV’s new limited series version of Cape Fear is the third screen adaptation of the John D. MacDonald novel The Executioners. It is the second remake of the 1962 movie directed by J. Lee Thompson and written by James R. Webb. And it’s the first remake of the 1991 movie directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Wesley Strick. It’s executive produced by Scorsese and Steven Spielberg and stars Amy Adams, Javier Bardem, and Patrick Wilson.

And: I Love Boosters is writer-director Boots Riley’s followup to his sci-fi comedy Sorry To Bother You. It is a sci-fi heist comedy and an adaptation of the song “I Love Boosters!” by Riley’s group The Coup. It stars Keke Palmer, Taylour Paige, Naomi Ackie, LaKeith Stanfield, Don Cheadle, and Demi Moore.

GUESTS:

Rebecca Castellani: The co-founder of Quiet Corner Communications and the director of marketing at Washington Montessori School
Illeana Douglas: The Official Movie Star of The Colin McEnroe Show and the author of three books, including the forthcoming Jungle Red! The Making of MGM’s The Women
Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Fantasy Filmball podcast
Lindsay Lee Wallace: A writer and journalist covering culture, health, technology, bats, and anything else people will answer her questions about

Music featured (in order):

The End – Elmer Bernstein
Linger (2026 Stephen Street Stereo Mix) – The Cranberries
Hi Ho – Tune-Yards
Text Message Unsent – Keke Palmer
And When I Die – Blood, Sweat & Tears

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Stephen Sondheim was the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer and lyricist who wrote Into the Woods, West Side Story, Sunday in the Park with George, Company, Assassins, and more. This hour, a look at the life and music of Sondheim.

And, on the occasion of the new Hartford Stage/TheaterWorks Hartford co-production, we dig into the story and music of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

GUESTS:

Daniel Okrent: Author of Stephen Sondheim: Art Isn’t Easy
Wiley DeWeese: Music director, arranger, orchestrator, and conductor. He is currently Music Director for The Hartford Stage and TheaterWorks Hartford’s co-production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Music featured (in order):

Prologue: Into the Woods – 2022 OBC and Disney Theatrical Instrumental
Anyone Can Whistle – Bernadette Peters
Our Time – 2023 Merrily We Roll Along New OBC
I Know Things Now – Danielle Ferland, Into the Woods OBC
Someone in a Tree – Pacific Overtures OBC
CUT FOR TIME Attend the Tale of Sweeney Todd – Sweeney Todd OBC
Pretty Women – Sweeney Todd OBC
Prelude: Attend the Tale of Sweeney Todd – Sweeney Todd OBC
Concerto Macabro (Excerpt) – Bernard Herrmann
Johanna (Mea Culpa) – Sweeney Todd OBC
Corn Puddin’ – Schmigadoon!
The Worst Pies in London – Sweeney Todd OBC
A Little Priest – Sweeney Todd OBC

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What's it like being a nun today? Sister Monica Clare joins us to explain her path to the Community of St. John Baptist and why she is sharing her story on TikTok and in a new memoir.

Plus, scholars Ana Garriga and Carmen Urbita explore the lessons about friendship, money, work, and more that we can learn from Sixteenth-century nuns in their podcast and their new book. They join us to explain that "anything you are going through right now has probably already happened to a nun living several hundred years ago.”

GUESTS:

Sister Monica Clare: Sister superior at the Community of St. John Baptist, an Episcopal convent based in New Jersey. She is also a spiritual counselor specializing in religious trauma, mental illness, and addiction. She is the author of A Change of Habit: Leaving Behind My Husband, Career, and Everything I Owned to Become a Nun
Ana Garriga: Co-host of the 'Las Hijas de Felipe' podcast, and co-author of Convent Wisdom: How Sixteenth-Century Nuns Could Save Your Twenty-First Century Life. Ana received her PhD from Brown University
Carmen Urbita: Co-host of the 'Las Hijas de Felipe' podcast, and co-author of Convent Wisdom: How Sixteenth-Century Nuns Could Save Your Twenty-First Century Life. Carmen received her PhD from Brown University

MUSIC FEATURED (in order):

Organ Symphony No 5 in F Minor Op. 42, No. 1 (V. Toccata) – Joseph Nolan, Charles-Marie Widor
Dominique – Soeur Sourire (The Singing Nun)
Calling All Angels – k.d. lang (ft. Jane Siberry)
Maria – Sound of Music
Let the Mystery Be – Iris DeMent
Song of Bernadette – Jennifer Warnes

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on November 19, 2025.

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Painter Frederic E. Church was born in 1926 on Temple Street, Hartford. In the 200 years since then, his paintings have travelled the world and helped define American art. This hour, we'll speak with Victoria Johnson, author of a new biography all about Church.

Plus, we’ll be joined by Betsy Kornhauser, former curator at the Wadsworth Atheneum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, to explore Church’s current legacy.

Guests:

Victoria Johnson is a professor of urban policy and planning at Hunter College and the author of “Glorious Country: How the Artist Frederic Church Brought the World to America and America to the World”.
Elizabeth Kornhauser is Senior Curator and Chair of the Frederic Church Bicentennial Committee at The Olana Partnership. She is Curator Emerita at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and former Chief Curator at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art.

Music featured (in order):

String Quartet No. 12, “American”: IV. Finale – Antonin Dvorak, as performed by the Cleveland Quartet
Color and Light – Sunday in the Park with George OBC
Everytime I See River – Van Morrison
When I Paint My Masterpiece – Emmylou Harris
Both Sides Now – Joni Mitchell
Painter Song – Norah Jones

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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Are we as a population getting dumber? How would we know if we were? This hour: stupidity. We’ll look at the history and philosophy of stupidity, and explore how it shows up in our daily lives and politics.

GUESTS:

Lane Brown: Features writer for New York Magazine, who recently wrote "A Theory of Dumb"
Stuart Jeffries: Journalist and author. His new book is A Short History of Stupidity
Shannon Mancus: Teaching Professor and Associate Department Head in the Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences Department at the Colorado School of Mines. You can follow Dr. Shan on Instagram and Substack at “Pop Smart Media”

MUSIC FEATURED (in order):

Able Sisters – Animal Crossing New Leaf OST
Manchild – Sabrina Carpenter
Dumb All Over – Frank Zappa
Get Stupid – Aston Merrygold
How Sweet to Be an Idiot – Neil Innes
Baka Mitai - Yakuza OST
Idiot Wind – Bob Dylan

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Dylan Reyes, and Isaac Moss contributed to this show, which originally aired on January 15, 2026.

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We have done a version of this show every single year since 2013. And we did it in 2011. We probably even did one in 2010. (We just can’t prove it.)

So it’s a bit of a tradition. It’s a tradition that … makes some people angry, we realize.

And that has a lot to do with how we define the term “song of the summer.” We use the Amanda Dobbins definition:

Let’s be clear about how this works: There is no such thing as a “personal” song of summer. We do not anoint multiple songs of summer. There can only be one; the Song of Summer, by its very definition, is a consensus choice. It is the song that wrecks wedding dance floors. It is the song that you and your mother begrudgingly agree on (even though your mom has no idea what rhymes with “hug me” and won’t stop yelling it in public). It does not necessarily have to hit No. 1 on the charts, but it should probably be on the charts because it must be widely played. It must bring people together. It must be a shared enthusiasm.

So it’s our job here to figure out what song from 2024 will get added to the long list of song of the summer classics like “Party Rock Anthem,” “Call Me Maybe,” “Despacito,” and “Blurred Lines.”

And if we’re wrong, well, it really just won’t matter at all.

GUESTS:

Xandra Ellin: Produces The Global Story for the BBC
Sam Hadelman: Director of public relations at Dark Matter Media
Dylan Reyes: Technical producer of The Colin McEnroe Show
Brendan Jay Sullivan: A writer, producer, and DJ best known for his work with Lady Gaga

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Eugene Amatruda contributed to this show.

Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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Millions of Americans speak English, so why do we all sound so different? And what might accents of the future sound like? This hour, we explore the past, present, and future of regional accents–from Carter to Colin.

Plus, we discuss why hearing different regional accents might make us feel a certain way, and hear how international actors learn how to speak like Americans.

GUESTS:

Margaret Renwick is an associate Research Professor at Johns Hopkins University studying accents and how they change.
Rebecca Gausnellis a dialect coach based in France, specializing in American accents. She has worked on shows including “The Boys”, “Industry”, and the upcoming “Anxious People”.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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COVID has caused more than 7 million confirmed deaths (and estimates of the actual total go well past 20 million).

Here’s the even worse news: It wasn’t the truly devastating pandemic epidemiologists have feared for decades.

But here’s the good news: We learned every possible lesson from COVID, and now we’re utterly prepared for the next big pandemic that’s inevitably barreling towards us.

No. Wait. Maybe I’ve gotten that last bit wrong.

This hour, Michael Osterholm, founding director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, joins us to talk about the dreaded potential “big one” and what we need to do to be ready.

GUEST:

Michael T. Osterholm: Founding director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota and the co-author of The Big One: How We Must Prepare for Future Deadly Pandemics

MUSIC FEATURED (in order):

Rock and Roll Doctor - Little Feat
Don’t Let Us Get Sick - Warren Zevon
Soul Vaccination - Tower of Power
I Need A Doctor - The Nields
A Good Life - Jill Sobule

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today by visiting ctpublic.org/donate.

Colin McEnroe contributed to this show, which originally aired October 9, 2025.

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We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation — helmed this time by our old pal Chion Wolf! — winds around to the Connecticut Theatre Exchange, Chion’s mom, talking to strangers, America250, Theo of Golden by Allen Levi … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

Music featured (in order):

The Windmills Of Your Mind - Oscar Peterson Trio
Starting Line – Cory Wong, Emily Browning
Like A Rembrandt – Julianna Riolino
CUT FOR TIME Hail Mary – Dan Croll
In A Good Way – Faye Webster
CUT FOR TIME Phone a Friend – Ginger Root
Don’t Want It to Be Over – Joey Dosik, Coco O.

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Disclosure Day is the 35th commercially released feature film directed by Steven Spielberg. It’s his 10th sci-fi movie and his fifth specifically about alien encounters. It is written by David Koepp from a story by Spielberg, and it stars Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor, Colman Domingo, and Colin Firth.

And then: We did a whole show about Steven Spielberg when he turned 70. With his 80th birthday coming later this year, The Nose looks at Spielberg more generally through the lens of Wesley Morris’ recent profile.

GUESTS:

James Hanley: Co-founder of Cinestudio at Trinity College
Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Fantasy Filmball podcast
Lindsay Lee Wallace: A writer and journalist covering culture, health, technology, bats, and anything else people will answer her questions about

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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Revenge is as old as humanity itself. And new research shows that revenge functions in our brains like a type of addiction. This hour a look at revenge in politics, literature, and everyday life — and what it would mean if we treated revenge differently.

GUESTS:

James Kimmel Jr.: Lawyer, author, Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine, and the Founder and Co-Director of the Yale Collaborative for Motive Control Studies. His new book is The Science of Revenge: Understanding the World's Deadliest Addiction--and How to Overcome It
Emily King: Visiting Assistant Professor of Writing and English at Washington and Lee University. She is author of Civil Vengeance: Literature, Culture, and Early Modern Revenge

MUSIC FEATURED (in order):

Il Trovatore: Anvil Chorus – Giuseppe Verdi, Budapest Festival Orchestra & Chorus
The Payback – James Brown
The Mariner’s Revenge Song – The Decemberists
These Boots Are Made for Walkin’ – Nancy Sinatra
Smile – Lily Allen
no body, no crime - Taylor Swift

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on November 5, 2025.

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One of the most mysterious texts in the world lives here in Connecticut. The Medieval Voynich Manuscript is at the Beinecke Library at Yale University. Scholars have been trying for over a century to decipher it. This hour, we look at the Voynich and at other examples of mysterious manuscripts from around the world.

GUESTS:

Lisa Fagin Davis: Professor of Practice in Manuscript Studies at the Simmons University School of Library and Information Science and Executive Director of the Medieval Academy of America
Garry J. Shaw: Author and journalist covering archaeology, history, and world heritage. His newest book is Cryptic: From Voynich to the Angel Diaries, the Story of the World's Mysterious Manuscripts
David Weinberg: Podcast producer and writer. He is lead instructor for the Transom Traveling Workshops. He formerly worked at Marketplace and KCRW. He produced an episode about "Louie Louie" for the podcast Lost Notes

MUSIC FEATURED (in order):

Lost in Translation – The Neighbourhood
Columba aspexit, BN 54 – Christopher Page, Emma Kirkby, Gothic Voices
Secret Messages – Juliana Hatfield
The Book of Love – Mike Doughty
The Philosopher’s Stone – Van Morrison
Louie, Louie – The Kingsmen
Louie, Louie – The Sandpipers

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Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on October 29, 2025.

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Sophocles' play Antigone was originally performed around 441 B.C.E., but the themes in the play still resonate today. This hour, we revisit the story of Antigone, and ask what it can teach us about compromise, wisdom, extremism, grief, and more.

Plus, a look at how modern productions are exploring new ways for audiences to engage with the ancient Greek tragedy.

GUESTS:

Elizabeth Bobrick: A Visiting Scholar in Wesleyan’s Department of Classical Studies. She also teaches for Wesleyan’s Center for Prison Education. Her Substack is “This Won’t End Well: On Loving Greek Tragedy,” and her writing has also appeared in The New York Times and Salon
Bryan Doerries: A writer, director, and translator who currently serves as Artistic Director of Theater of War Productions. He is author of The Theater of War: What Ancient Greek Tragedies Can Teach Us Today, among other books
Anna Conser: Assistant Professor of Classics at the University of Cincinnati

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Eugene Amatruda contributed to this show, which originally aired on September 25, 2025.

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We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to The 79th Tony Awards, central casting, The Knicks, “Strike Force Five”, wildflowers, vampires, “60 Minutes”, unidentified aerial phenomenon … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

Music featured (in order):

String Quartet No. 10 in E-flat major, Op. 51, "Slavonic": IV. Finale, Allegro assai – Antonín Dvořák, as performed by the Stamitz Quartet
Probably Up – Lawrence
Don’t Leave Me Behind (Acoustic) – Beta Radio
Things We Like To Do – NRBQ
Don’t Remind Me – Amber Mark, Anderson .Paak
Canned Heat – Ginger Root
In These Shoes? – Kirsty MacColl

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The soap opera began on the radio in the 1930s, and since then it's evolved quite a bit. This hour, we take a look at soaps and soapiness, from daytime dramas to reality TV.

GUESTS:

Charlotte Druckman: Journalist and the co-author of Love in the Afternoon, and Evening: Essays and Conversations on Soap Operas
Mayukh Sen: Co-author of Love in the Afternoon, and Evening: Essays and Conversations on Soap Operas. He is also a professor at NYU and author of Love, Queenie: Merle Oberon, Hollywood’s First South Asian Star
Justis Bolding: Actress, singer, voice artist, and narrator, who played Sarah Roberts in ABC’s One Life to Live

Music featured (in order):

Faces of the Heart – Dave Koz
No More Drama – Mary J. Blige
Erica Kane – Aaliyah
A Little Bit of Soap – The Jarmels
General Hospi-tale – The Afternoon Delights
Soap Opera – Brandy Clark

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It's been over one hundred years since J. M. Barrie first told the story of Peter Pan, Wendy, and Neverland. Since then, Peter Pan has been adapted countless times, and become a constant reference point in popular culture. This hour, a look at the lasting cultural and psychological impact of Peter Pan.

GUESTS:

Maria Tatar: Professor emerita of folklore and mythology at Harvard University; her latest book is The Heroine with 1001 Faces; she is also the editor of The Annotated Peter Pan: The Centennial Edition
Jonathan Russell Clark: The author of Skateboard and An Oasis of Horror in a Desert of Boredom; his writing has appeared in The New York Times, L.A. Times, The Boston Globe, and Esquire
Ann Yeoman: A Jungian analyst and the author of Now or Neverland: Peter Pan and the Myth of Eternal Youth and the co-author of C.G. Jung's Collected Works: The Basics

MUSIC FEATURED (in order):

I Don't Wanna Grow Up – Tom Waits
Never Never Land – James Taylor
I’ve Gotta Crow – Mary Martin, Kathy Nolan
Darling Children – Alison Fraser
I'm Flying – Mary Martin
Captain Hook’s Waltz – Cyril Ritchard, Peter Pan Ensemble
I Won’t Grow Up – The Fools

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on September 17, 2025.

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If you listen to The Colin McEnroe Show regularly, you likely know that Colin has been influenced by two media theorists: Marshall McLuhan and Neil Postman.

Postman wrote Amusing Ourselves to Death, among other books, and McLuhan is probably most famous for the phrase "The medium is the message," in addition to other influential ideas.

This hour, we look at the ideas of McLuhan and Postman, and discuss why they still resonate so much today.

GUESTS:

Bill Yousman: Professor of Media Studies at Sacred Heart University
Megan Garber: Staff Writer at The Atlantic who writes about the intersection of politics and culture. She is the author of On Misdirection: Magic, Mayhem, American Politics. She previously worked for Neiman Journalism Lab and the Columbia Journalism Review
Andrew McLuhan: Founder and director of The McLuhan Institute, which was founded to conserve and continue media studies in the McLuhan tradition. He is the son of Eric McLuhan and the grandson of Marshall McLuhan

MUSIC FEATURED (in order):

Passacaglia by Johan Halvorsen (performed by Grégoire Blanc)
Please Mr. Postman by The Marvelettes
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised by Gil Scott-Heron
Medium is the Massage by Akira the Don, Marshall McLuhan
Fish n’ Chip Paper by Elvis Costello
Amusing Ourselves to Death by Winston Apple

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on September 5, 2025.

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This hour, we take a critical look at the role of art critics in our world. What is the status of criticism, and is it under threat?

GUESTS:

Naveen Kumar: Theatre critic and journalist. He is associate director of the National Critics Institute, the leading arts-writing workshop for professional journalists. He has twice served on the jury for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama
Kathryn VanArendonk: Critic at Vultureand New York Magazine
Matt Singer: Editor and Critic at ScreenCrush and a member of the New York Film Critics Circle. He is the author of numerous books, including Opposable Thumbs: How Siskel & Ebert Changed Movies Forever
Aleksandra Mir: Artist, whose work has been included in 370 exhibits worldwide. She is co-editor of the book Bad Reviews: An Artists' Book by 150 Artists

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Dylan Reyes, and Isaac Moss contributed to this show, which originally aired August 21, 2025.

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These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we’re doing another one.
In other words: Give us a call during the 1 p.m. EDT hour about whatever you want to talk about. 888-720-9677.‌

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The Sheep Detectives is a live-action talking animals cozy murder mystery comedy directed by Kyla Balda, whose previous movie credits are pretty much exclusively about animation. It’s based on a German-language novel, Three Bags Full, by Leonie Swann. As a PG-rated murder mystery, it’s maybe doing surprisingly well at the box office.

And: Marty, Life Is Short is a Netflix celebrity documentary about the life and work of Martin Short. It’s directed by Lawrence Kasdan (who wrote The Empire Strikes Back and Raiders of the Lost Ark and wrote and directed Body Heat, The Big Chill, The Accidental Tourist, and more). It includes new interviews with Short, Eugene Levy, Steve Martin, John Mulaney, Catherine O’Hara, Steven Spielberg, and more.

GUESTS:

Carolyn Paine: An actress and comedian, she’s the founder and director of CONNetic Dance and the creative producer and choreographer for The Bushnell’s Digital Institute
Irene Papoulis: Taught writing for a long time at Trinity College
Bill Yousman: Professor of media studies at Sacred Heart University

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Stephen Colbert’s nearly-11-year run on The Late Show comes to an end tonight. And The Late Show’s nearly-33-year run on CBS comes to an end tonight, too.

This hour, as the late-night TV landscape rejiggers itself, a look at the state and future of late-night comedy.

Plus: A look at the FCC’s crusade against ABC (and, seemingly, Jimmy Kimmel). And: the banal horror of Jimmy Fallon.

GUESTS:

Eric Deggans: Critic-at-large at NPR, and he writes the Switching Codes Substack
Jon Greenaway: A writer and podcaster and the author of Capitalism: A Horror Story — Gothic Marxism and the Dark Side of the Radical Imagination
Jason Zinoman: Critic at large for the culture section of The New York Times, where he writes the On Comedy column

Music featured (in order):

Lost in a Wonderland – SNL Band
The Party’s Over – Nat King Cole
Colbert – Pivot Gang
ABC – Jackson 5
The FCC Song (from “Family Guy”) – Cast – Family Guy
Only A Fool Would Say That – Steely Dan

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Do we really need politicians? What would our politics look like without them? These are some of the ideas that Yale political scientist Hélène Landemore explores in her work, including in the Connecticut Citizens’ Assembly, taking place this summer. Landemore joins us for the hour.

GUEST:

Hélène Landemore: Professor of Political Science at Yale University. Her new book is Politics Without Politicians: The Case for Citizen Rule

Music featured (in order):

Hands Across The Sea – John Philip Sousa as performed by “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band
Can We Fix Our Nation’s Broken Heart – Stevie Wonder
People Have the Power – Patti Smith
Democracy – Leonard Cohen
Love Is Sweeping the Country – Chris Connor
Of Thee I Sing – Ella Fitzgerald

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The word "like" has been around for centuries, but it reached a new cultural prominence in the 1980s, partially thanks to Frank Zappa's song "Valley Girl." Since then, "like" has taken on a life of its own, inspiring strong emotions. This hour, we look at the meaning and evolution of "like." Plus, how movies like the now 30-year-old Clueless have impacted our language.

GUESTS:

Megan C. Reynolds: Former editor at Dwell and author of Like: A History of the English Language’s Most Hated (and Misunderstood) Word
Kory Stamper: Lexicographer and author of Word By Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries
Veronica Litt: English Professor and author of Ugh! As If!: Clueless

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Dylan Reyes, Robyn Doyon-Aitken, and Isaac Moss contributed to this show, which originally aired August 20, 2025.

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We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing — This hour, the conversation winds around to spousal knowledge, tree sperm, progressive candidates, tree sperm, hitpeople, tree sperm, sleepy bees … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

Music featured (in order):

thank u i guess – forrest nolan
Museum of Idiots – They Might Be Giants
Love Is Salvation – Jesca Hoop
I Don’t Know Anything – Alan Hsiao
Something’s Coming – Laura Anglade
Mary Singletary – Deer Tick
With New Eyes – Simon Lynge

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Billy Joel has reportedly sold more than 160 million albums. He’s been nominated for 24 Grammy Awards (and won six of them), an Emmy, and a Tony Award (which he won). In the U.S., he’s had 33 top 40 singles and 11 top 10 albums. He’s simply one of the most popular recording artists in the history of music.

But. Critics have never been terribly kind to him, and a lot of the general public hasn’t either.

This hour, we look at the two-part, nearly five-hour HBO documentary Billy Joel: And So It Goes. And we look at Billy Joel more generally and at the love/hate relationship we all seem to have had with him and his music for more than 50 years now.

GUESTS:

Jen Allen: A pianist, composer, arranger, and educator; her new album is Possibilities
Rebecca Castellani: Co-founder of Quiet Corner Communications and the director of marketing at Washington Montessori School
Jack Hamilton: Slate’s pop critic and the author of Just Around Midnight: Rock and Roll and the Racial Imagination
Gene Seymour: A “writer, professional spectator, pop-culture maven, and jazz geek,” and he now writes the That Gene Seymour Substack

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Isaac Moss contributed to this show, which originally aired August 8, 2025.

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The Hartford circus fire in 1944 was the deadliest disaster in the history of Connecticut.

Our friend Jacques Lamarre (if you listen to The Nose most Fridays, you know Jacques) has written a big-deal new play about the fire and its aftermath that TheaterWorks Hartford is currently world premiering.

This hour, a conversation recorded in front of a live audience at TheaterWorks about the play Circus Fire and the actual Hartford circus fire.

Note: This podcast version of the show is more than 12 minutes longer than the episode as it’s airing on the radio, and it includes our full interview with circus fire survivor Charles Ericson.

GUESTS:

Charles Ericson: A survivor of the Hartford circus fire
Jacques Lamarre: A playwright and a frequent guest on The Nose; he wrote and co-conceived Circus Fire
Rob Ruggiero: Artistic director at TheaterWorks Hartford and a co-conceiver of Circus Fire

TheaterWorks Hartford is a current underwriter of Connecticut Public.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Thanks to Kate Cudworth, Dennis Dowding, Ethan Pervere, and Katherine Plutnicki at TheaterWorks Hartford.

Colin McEnroe, Robyn Doyon-Aitken, Dylan Reyes, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show.

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What does it mean to have 'good taste'? And what would it take to develop it? This hour, we talk about taste and discernment. Plus, a look at flavor and why some things taste good.

GUESTS:

Henry Oliver: Writes the literary Substack “The Common Reader,” and is the author of Second Act: What Late Bloomers Can Tell You About Reinventing Your Life. He is part of the Emerging Scholars Programme at the Mercatus Centre
Becca Rothfeld: Staff Writer at The New Yorker, an editor at The Point, and a contributing editor at The Boston Review. She is the author of All Things Are Too Small: Essays in Praise of Excess
Nik Sharma: A molecular biologist turned two-time James Beard finalist, best-selling cookbook author, photographer, columnist, and editor at America’s Test Kitchen. His cookbooks include The Flavor Equation: The Science of Great Cooking Explained in More Than 100 Essential Recipes, among others

Join the conversation on Facebook.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Colin McEnroe, Dylan Reyes, Isaac Moss, Coco Cooley, and Eugene Amatruda contributed to this show, which originally aired on August 6, 2025.

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We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to vertical hold, campus protests, the Catholic church, Bob’s Burgers, Luke Bronin, the fears of men … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

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Michael M. Grynbaum's book Empire of the Elite: Inside Condé Nast, the Media Dynasty That Reshaped America, traces the rise of Condé Nast's magazines. This hour Grynbaum joins us to explain how Condé Nast magazines and their editors achieved their status as cultural tastemakers, and where these magazines, and that industry, stand today. Plus, we hear from an editor at The Week about how that magazine is approaching this moment.

GUESTS:

Michael M. Grynbaum: A media correspondent for The New York Timesand author of the new book Empire of the Elite: Inside Condé Nast, the Media Dynasty That Reshaped America
Mark Gimein: Former managing Editor at the print edition of The Week

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Dylan Reyes, and Eugene Amatruda contributed to this show, which originally aired on August 15, 2025.

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Lord of the Flies is a BBC and Netflix limited series and the first ever television adaptation of the 1954 novel by William Golding. It is written and created by Jack Thorne, who also wrote and co-created Adolescence, among a bunch of other stuff. The series features an ensemble cast of more than 30 boys, many of them making their professional acting debuts.

And: The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins is a sports mockumentary sitcom created by Robert Carlock and Sam Means. Carlock was a showrunner on 30 Rock and co-created Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt with Tina Fey, who is an executive producer on Reggie Dinkins. The cast includes Tracy Morgan as the title character, Bobby Moynihan, Erika Alexander, Danielle Radcliffe, and more.

GUESTS:

Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Fantasy Filmball podcast
Irene Papoulis: Taught writing for a long time at Trinity College
Bill Yousman: Professor of media studies at Sacred Heart University

Music featured (in order):

Peter Grimes, Act II: Interlude III (also known as Sunday Morning from “Four Sea Interludes”) – Benjamin Britten, as performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Leonard Bernstein
Hooray for Captain Spaulding – Groucho Marx (feat. The Ken Lane Singers)
You Gotta Be a Football Hero – Ben Bernie and His Roosevelt Orchestra
Jet Song – West Side Story Original Soundtrack Recording
See You On The Radio – Grayson Hugh

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What do you know about silversmith Paul Revere besides that he borrowed a horse to warn American colonists that the British troops were coming? If Revere had help, why is he the only rider taught in history classes throughout America? We talk with Kostya Kennedy about his book, ‘The Ride,’ and learn the story behind a man—and an act on horseback—that was, “deeper and richer than previously assumed.” Plus, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow scholar Christoph Irmscher joins with an appreciation of Longfellow’s famous poem, ‘Paul Revere’s Ride.' And we learn what it's like to retrace Revere's route from journalist, Jenna Russell.

GUESTS:

Kostya Kennedy: Author of ‘The Ride: Paul Revere and the Night that Saved America’
Christoph Irmscher: Distinguished Professor of English at Indiana University. He is a 2026 Guggenheim Fellow and the author of The Poetics of Natural History and Longfellow Redux
Jenna Russell: New England bureau chief for The New York Times. Jenna documented her drive of Paul Revere's route, which took twice as long in Boston traffic.

Music featured (in order):

William Tell Overture (Finale) – Gioachino Rossini, as conducted by Myung-whun Chung and the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra
Paul Revere – Johnny Cash
Ride Your Pony – Paul Revere and the Raiders
One If By Land – Paul Burch
The British Are Coming – Weezer
Paul Revere – Louis Prima, Keely Smith

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today by visiting ctpublic.org/donate.

Colin McEnroe, Lily Tyson and Dylan Reyes contributed to this episode.

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George Orwell's novels 1984 and Animal Farm feel especially prescient in this moment, as surveillance technologies continue to expand, and history and language are weaponized. We take a look at the life and literature of George Orwell. And ask: what does the term "Orwellian" really mean?

GUESTS:

Laura Beers: Professor of History at American University, and the author of Orwell’s Ghosts: Wisdom and Warnings for the Twenty-First Century
D. J. Taylor: Writer, critic, and author of many books, including Orwell: The New Life and Who is Big Brother? A Reader's Guide to George Orwell
Sandra Newman: Author of Julia: A Novel, among other books

Music featured (in order):

Welles Raises Kane (I. Overture) – Bernard Herrmann, as conducted by himself, leading the London Philharmonic Orchestra
Sexcrime (Nineteen Eighty-Four) – Eurythmics
One Brick – Aesop Rock
Keep the Aspidistra Flying – Ivan Waters and the Citadel
Piggies – The Beatles
1984 – Anais Mitchell

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Monsters are our subconscious perversions, our twisted fears realized, but what causes their creation, and how are they made? This hour, we look at fantastical creatures, terrifying beasts, and the scariest monsters of all: humans.

GUESTS:

Natalie Lawrence: Historian of science and the author of Enchanted Creatures: Our Monsters and Their Meanings
Surekha Davies: Historian of science, speaker, and monster consultant for radio, tv, and film. She writes a newsletter called “Strange and Wondrous: Notes from a Science Historian,” and is the author of books including Humans: A Monstrous History
Margery Cuyler: Author of 62 children’s books including Monster Mess, Bonaparte Falls Apart, Skeleton Hiccups, and the forthcoming Stompie the Zombie

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Lily Tyson, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show. This show originally aired on July 31, 2025.

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We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to spiders, seashells and 86ing, a possible $70 million Rothko, Cinco de Mayo, Texas (and Hawaii) as its own country … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

Music featured (in order):

Sunflower Waltz – Duved Dunayevsky, Susanne Ortner, Molly Reeves, Zach Valentine
Side Slider – Isaia Huron
Bando – Angelique Kidjo, Pharrell Williams, Quavo
White Roses – Fetty Wap (feat. Divinity & Ymanie)
This Can’t Be Love – Jaimee Paul
Meat Machines – The Claypool Lennon Delirium
Che sarà terra e sarà mare – Tosca

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Rupert Holmes won two Tony Awards for his musical The Mystery of Edwin Drood. His single “Escape (The Piña Colada Song)” went to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. His dramedy Remember WENN was AMC’s first original scripted series. And his newest novel, Murder Your Employer, was a New York Times bestseller.

This hour: Rupert Holmes.

GUEST:

Rupert Holmes: Playwright, composer, singer-songwriter, and author

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired April 20, 2024, in a different form.

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Shakespeare’s tragedy about two star-crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet, has appealed to audiences for centuries. It’s been adapted countless times for stage and screen.

This hour, we talk with experts exploring the play and its legacy, from The Hartford Stage on the set of their recent adaptation.

GUESTS:

David Sterling Brown: Associate professor of English at Trinity College; he is the author of Shakespeare’s White Othersand a development associate and scholar in residence for the American Globe Center, and he is on the curatorial team for Claudia Rankine’s The Racial Imaginary Institute
Melia Bensussen: Hartford Stage’s artistic director
Carman Lacivita: Actor who played Friar Laurence in Hartford Stage’s production of Romeo and Juliet; he is a recipient of the Bayfield Award — given to the best performance of Shakespeare in the New York Metropolitan Area

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode.

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Colin McEnroe, Robyn Doyon-Aitken, Megan Fitzgerald, Jonathan McNicol, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on May 6, 2025. Thank you to the staff and volunteers at the Hartford Stage, including Lucas Clopton, Wesley McCabe-Schroeder, Lindsay Abrams, Zoe Golub-Sass, Jennifer Levine, Todd Brandt, and the volunteer ushers.

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Occam’s razor states that “entities should not be multiplied beyond necessity.”

This hour: Occam’s razor — where the principle came from, how it impacts science, its role in medicine, and how it shapes our daily lives.

GUESTS:

Kurt Andersen: Co-founder of Spy magazine, the host and co-creator of Studio 360, and the author of Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire — A 500-Year History
Johnjoe McFadden: Author of Life Is Simple: How Occam’s Razor Set Science Free and Shapes the Universe
Lisa Sanders: Clinician educator in the Primary Care Internal Medicine Residency Program at the Yale School of Medicine; she writes the Diagnosis column for The New York Times Magazine

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired November 17, 2021, in a different form.

Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today.

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To celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, historian Beverly Gage took a road trip around the country to visit over three hundred historic sites. Those travels are documented in her new book, This Land is Your Land: A Road Trip through U.S. History. Gage joins us this hour to reflect on what she learned about the country, and what's ahead on this anniversary year.

GUEST:

Beverly Gage: The John Lewis Gaddis Professor of History at Yale University. She is the author of the Pulitzer Prize winning book G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century. Her new book is This Land is Your Land: A Road Trip through U.S. History

Music featured (in order):

Road Song – Wes Montgomery
This Land Is Your Land – Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings
Birmingham – Randy Newman
Song About America – Olive Klug
America – Simon and Garfunkel
I See America – Joy Oladokun

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We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to crushes on Colin and colonoscopies, leaf blowers, Colchester and the Roman Empire, This Is a Gardening Show with Zach Galifianakis, it books and the book It, home ownership … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

Music featured (in order):

Valeu a Pena – Gileno Santana
Waiting – Beth Orton
Hang It On the Shelf – Jalen Ngonda
Nothing Is Real – Destin Conrad, Terrace Martin
I Like Pie, I Like Cake (Live) – Catherine Russell Live at Lincoln Center
Six O’Clock News – Brennan Wedl, Waxahatchee
No Springtime – Allison Russell

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Or join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Robyn Doyon-Aitken, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today.

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Bill Murray, Eddie Murphy, Chevy Chase, Steve Martin, John Belushi, John Candy, Rick Moranis.

Animal House, The Blues Brothers, Beverly Hills Cop, Caddyshack, The Jerk, Ghost Busters, ¡Three Amigos!, Funny Farm, Spaceballs, Stripes.

We maybe didn’t properly appreciate it at the time, but the 1980s were one of the most fertile periods ever for screen comedies and screen comedians.

This hour, a look at the mavericks who shaped a whole comedy aesthetic and at some of the most popular movie comedies ever made.

GUESTS:

Nick de Semlyen: Editor of Empire magazine and the author of Wild and Crazy Guys: How the Comedy Mavericks of the ’80s Changed Hollywood Forever
Daniel Kalwhite: A standup comedian based in New Haven
Carolyn Paine: An actress, comedian, and dancer; she is founder, director, and choreographer of CONNetic Dance

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe contributed to this show, which originally aired July 11, 2019, in a different form.

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Gregg Phillips, the current head of the largest division at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, has said that he has teleported multiple times — including at least once to a Waffle House.

We checked, and it’s still true that we don’t have the technology for human teleportation.

At the same time, quantum teleportation is totally a thing!

This hour, a look at teleportation in science, philosophy, pop culture … and politics.

GUESTS:

Eden Gordon: A writer and editor; she writes the Ink Roads Substack
Tal M. Klein: A writer and musician and the chief marketing officer at Lakeside Software; he is the author of the novel The Punch Escrow
Nikki McCann Ramírez: A politics reporter at Rolling Stone
Eric Schwitzgebel: Distinguished professor of philosophy at the University of California, Riverside; he writes a Substack called The Splintered Mind

Music featured (in order):

Theme from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – Dennis McCarthy as performed by Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra
Once in a Lifetime – Talking Heads
Waffle House – Jonas Brothers
Beam Me Up – Pink
Uncle Walter – Ben Folds Five
Teleport – Baely

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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Rope has been foundational to so much of human civilization. It's made sailing, hunting, building, and so much more, possible. This hour, we look at the history and utility and future of rope.

GUESTS:

Tim Queeney: Author of Rope: How a Bundle of Twisted Fibers Became the Backbone of Civilization, among other books
Manuel Medrano: A PhD candidate in Harvard’s History Department, who studies quipus
Tahira Reid Smith: Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Design and the Director of the REID Lab at Penn State. She is also the patented inventor of the Automatic Double Dutch Machine, and the founder of Jump Dreams, Inc.

MUSIC FEATURED (in order):

Flamingo – Kero Kero Bonito
The Last Shanty – Derina Harvey Band
Rope – Foo Fighters
Tightrope – Janelle Monae
Rope A Dope – Victor Oladipo, 2 Chainz
Double Dutch – Charity

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Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today by visiting ctpublic.org/donate.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on October 15, 2025.

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What happens when the people reshaping our world don't believe in introspection? This hour, a look at looking inward. And, we explore the spectrum of mental imagery.

GUESTS:

Elizabeth Lopatto: Senior reporter for The Verge
Maja Spener: Associate Professor in Philosophy at the University of Birmingham. She is the author of Introspection: First-Person Access in Science and Agency
Reshanne Reeder: Lecturer in Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience at the University of Liverpool

Music featured (in order):

Who Knows – Daniel Caesar
What Kind of Fool Am I – Sammy Davis Jr.
Man in the Mirror – Michael Jackson
There’s No Telling – Duncan Sheik
I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry – Cassandra Wilson
Pretty Little Picture – Zero Mostel (Original Broadway Cast)

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We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls, calls about anything, everything. These shows are fun for us and they seem to be fun for you. So we’re doing another one. In other words: Give us a call during the 1 p.m. EDT hour. 888-720-9677.

Music featured (in order):

Any Old Fool – Thee Sacred Souls
What You Get – They Might Be Giants
TSOD – Blu & Exile
Dumbest Girl in the World – LØLØ
Blue Money – Van Morrison
CUT FOR TIME I Am Here – Tracy Wong, London Voices
Playground – flipturn
Till Your Mind is Shining (Bright-Side Mix) – Peter Gabriel

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There's a new movie starring Zendaya and Robert Pattinson called 'The Drama' that is sparking a lot of discourse around spoilers, movie marketing, and what should be revealed in advance. This hour, we offer a few spoilers about the movie in order to talk about all of that. Plus, a look at plot twists.

GUESTS:

Olivia Montminy: A student at College of the Holy Cross
Aisha Harris: Critic and host of Pop Culture Happy Hour at NPR. She is author of Wannabe: Reckonings with the Pop Culture that Shapes Me
James Hanley: Co-founder of Cinestudio at Trinity College.
Vera Tobin: Associate professor of Cognitive Science at Case Western Reserve University. She is author of Elements of Surprise: Our Mental Limits and the Satisfactions of Plot

Music featured (in order):

Don Giovanni, K. 527: Overture – W.A. Mozart as performed by Claudio Abbado and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe
Unexpected – Jonah Platt
Everybody Knows – Leonard Cohen
Brilliant Disguise – Melissa Black
Always the Last to Know – Del Amitri
If I Knew Then – Johnny Mercer and the Pied Pipers

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Headache symptoms can strike sufferers without warning, disabling them for even days at a time.

There have been nearly 4,000 years of documented headache disorders — and virtually everyone has had headaches — yet their underlying neurological cause is still unknown.

This hour, a look at the long history of headaches and the current science around and treatments for headaches. Plus: headaches in our literature and popular culture.

GUESTS:

Kathleen O’Shea: The editor of So Much More Than a Headache: Understanding Migraine Through Literature
Tom Zeller Jr.: The author of The Headache: The Science of a Most Confounding Condition and the co-founder and editor-in-chief of Undark

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired July 30, 2025.

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On September 26, 2025, last year’s Best Picture Oscar winner, One Battle After Another, a loose adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s novel Vineland, hit wide release in theaters. And then 11 days later, on October 7, Pynchon published what might be his final novel, Shadow Ticket.

Not a bad year for an 88-year-old writer.

This hour, a look at the (maybe) reclusive Pynchon and the novels and stories he’s published, from Gravity’s Rainbow to Mason & Dixon and more.

Plus: a look at the two Paul Thomas Anderson movies that Pynchon’s work has inspired, Inherent Vice and One Battle After Another.

GUESTS:

David Cowart: Distinguished professor emeritus of English language and literature at the University of South Carolina and the author of a number of books, including Thomas Pynchon: The Art of Allusion and Thomas Pynchon and the Dark Passages of History
Ana Gavrilovska: A writer; you can find her work in Current Affairs, Uncut Magazine, Maggot Brain, and her Substack, Sick Sad Motherslug
Leonardo Goi: A journalist and film critic
Brian Slattery: A writer and musician

Music featured (in order):

Don Giovanni, K. 527: Overture – W.A. Mozart as performed by Claudio Abbado and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe
The most referenced piece of music in Pynchon’s catalogue.
Gravity’s Angel – Laurie Anderson
The Royal Scam – Steely Dan
Mentioned in Bleeding Edge.
Run Straight Down – Warren Zevon
Zevon attributed this song to overdosing on Pynchon — the opening words are just carcinogenic chemicals.
Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down) – Bonzo Dog Band
Pynchon put out his own playlist for Inherent Vice. This was on it.
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised – Gil Scott-Heron

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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What is the relationship between consciousness and the divine? How are poetry and faith connected? Why write poetry? We present an hour with Colin and poet Christian Wiman live from Yale Divinity School, where they discuss poetry, consciousness, faith, awe, and whatever else is on their minds.

GUEST:

Christian Wiman: Author, editor, and translator of many books including, most recently, Glimmerings: Letters on Faith Between a Poet and a Theologian. He is Clement-Muehl Professor of Communication Arts at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music and Yale Divinity School

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Maegn Boone, Jonathan McNicol, Robyn Doyon-Aitken, Katrice Kemble, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show. Special thanks to Yale Divinity School and Dean Gregory Sterling, Tom Krattenmaker, Sachin Ramabhadran, Kit Heeley, and Campbell Harmon.

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We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to meditation and the sounds of flowing water, people who listen to NPR but don’t donate, the rough weekend the president and vice president both had altering old movies, the gender fluidity (or not) of the Statue of Liberty, the Trump-as-Jesus image the Stop & Shop voice robots (and the return of Marty), unhoused veterans, the CT Lottery voice robots … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

Music featured (in order):

I’m Not Sorry – Joe Jackson
Summer – Tasha
Bed Stuy – Destin Conrad
St. Vincent’s Hospital (Room 813) – Gabriel Kahane, Roomful of Teeth, Steven Bradshaw
Vines Will Thrive – Bucko
I Must Have That Man – Abbey Lincoln (Remastered 2026 / Mono)

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, Meg Fitzgerald, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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We did our usual all-calls show earlier this week. Except that our phones didn’t work. And our computers were messed up. And there probably wasn’t any running water.

But the point is, we couldn’t actually take your calls during our all-calls call-in show this week.

So we decided to try again.

This hour, the conversation winds around to Trump signs around the neighborhood, cheeses, grilled cheeses, Viktor Orbán’s re-election hopes, Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat on Prime Video, Tucker Carlson … anything. Seemingly everything.‌

Music featured (in order):

Father Time – John Martyn
Traffic Lights – Flea, Thom Yorke
Steady – Victory
Laugh You Out of the House – Everything But the Girl (2012 remaster)
The Old Law – Father John Misty
Alchemy – Cam

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, Robyn-Doyon Aitken, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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A new study shows that AI chatbots often engage in sycophantic behavior. Just like some humans. This hour, we take a look at sycophants in literature and in politics. And we talk about sycophancy and artificial intelligence.

GUESTS:

Mark Parker: Professor Emeritus of English at James Madison University and co-author of Sucking Up: A Brief Consideration of Sycophancy
Virginia Heffernan: Writes a regular column for The New Republic and the Substack “Magic + Loss.” She is co-host of the podcast “Omnishambles”
Malihe Alikhani: Assistant Professor at Northeastern University’s Khoury College of Computer Sciences, and a resident Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institution with a focus on AI policy

Music featured (in order):

Overture to Rigoletto – Giuseppi Verdi, Herbert von Karajan, Berlin Philharmoniker
I Believe in You – Peggy Lee
Don’t Cry – Seal
You Fascinate Me So – Mabel Mercer
What You Want To Hear – Sub-Radio
Flattery – Rosemary Clooney, Jose Ferrer

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We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing. These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one. Except the phones didn't work. Topics included dogs, Neanderthals, candy, and more.

Music featured (in order):

That Moon Song – Gregory Alan Isakov
In the Sea – Alyssa Allgood
Doctrine of Love – Jalen Ngonda
Mutual – PJ Morton
Happier Times Ahead. – RAYE
Flying Things – Tyler Ramsey, Carl Broemel (ft. the Secret Sisters)
When the Flowers Started – Caity Gyorgy

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Rust is all around us. It’s in our cars, our homes, our infrastructure. It’s also the subject of Jonathan Waldman’s book Rust: The Longest War, which introduces us to the people who fight it.

This hour, Waldman joins us. Plus: a visual artist who has found a way to incorporate rust into her work.

GUESTS:

Esther Solondz: A Rhode Island-based visual artist
Jonathan Waldman: Author of Rust

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Greg Hill, Jonathan McNicol, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired March 25, 2015.

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Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie is the fourth feature film written and directed by Matt Johnson. It is cowritten and scored by Jay McCarrol, and it is an adaptation of and spiritual sequel to the 2017 television series Nirvanna the Band the Show, which is an adaptation of and spiritual sequel to the 2007 web series Nirvana the Band the Show. Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie stars Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol as Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol. Here is Neon’s synopsis: “When their plan to book a show at the Rivoli goes horribly wrong, Matt and Jay accidentally travel back to the year 2008. Blah blah blah blah blah.”

And: Louis Theroux: Inside the Manosphere is a Netflix documentary produced and presented by Theroux. It explores how social media figures like HSTikkyTokky, Myron Gaines, Sneako, Justin Waller, and Ed Matthews “are helping to reshape young men’s ideas about masculinity and fueling a resurgent global men’s rights movement.”

GUESTS:

Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Fantasy Filmballpodcast
Carolyn Paine: An actress and comedian; she’s the founder and director of CONNetic Dance and the creative producer and choreographer for The Bushnell’s Digital Institute
Lindsay Lee Wallace: A writer and journalist covering culture, health, technology, bats, and anything else people will answer her questions about

Music featured (in order):

The Waters of March – Susannah McCorkle
Back in Time – Huey Lewis and The News
It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World – Seal
Macho Man – The Village People
See You On The Radio – Grayson Hugh

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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Henry David Thoreau is a bit of a polarizing figure. He has been both celebrated and criticized for his writing. He’s considered an inspirational figure for retreating to the woods, but mocked for his reliance on his mother during that same period.

This hour, in celebration of the new PBS documentary about the writer, we look at the life and legacy of Henry David Thoreau, and ask what his example can teach us about who is remembered and celebrated.

GUESTS:

Laura Dassow Walls: Professor emeritus of English at the University of Notre Dame and the author of Henry David Thoreau: A Life
Alex Beam: Author, journalist, and contributor to The Boston Globe
Tracy Fullerton: Director of the Game Innovation Lab at the University of Southern California and the designer and director of Walden, A Game

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired on April 27, 2022.

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On the morning of May 24, 2019, Jennifer Dulos dropped her kids off at New Canaan Country School. And then minutes later, she vanished.

Her presumed murder quickly became a national story.

This hour, Wall Street Journal columnist Rich Cohen joins us to talk about his book, Murder in the Dollhouse: The Jennifer Dulos Story.

Plus: a look at our ongoing obsession with these true crime stories.

GUESTS:

Rich Cohen: Writer at large at Air Mail and a columnist at The Wall Street Journal; his new book is Murder in the Dollhouse
Bethany Usher: A journalist and academic and the author of Journalism and Crime

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on July 17, 2025.

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Thousands of Americans gathered over the weekend for "No Kings" protests. So this hour, we take a look at kings around the world, from history to the present moment. Plus, why are we so interested in royalty? And, what is the role of the king in chess?

GUESTS:

Mauro Guillén: Vice Dean of Wharton’s MBA Program for Executives. He is the author of books including The Perennials: The Megatrends Creating a Postgenerational Society. He has been named a Commander of the Royal Order of Civil Merit by King Felipe VI of Spain
Arianne Chernock: Professor in the Department of History and Associate Dean of the Faculty for the Social Sciences at Boston University. She is the author of books including The Right to Rule and the Rights of Women: Queen Victoria and the Women’s Movement
Jenny Adams: Professor and Department Chair of English at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is the author of books including Power Play: The Literature and Politics of Chess in the Late Middle Ages

Music featured (in order):

It’s Good To Be King – Tom Petty
Brilliant Mistake (King of America) – Elvis Costello
Royals – Lorde
King of Nothing – Seals and Crofts
Her Majesty – The Beatles
Only a Pawn in their Game – Bob Dylan

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This hour, the conversation winds around to old radio shows, "No Kings" protests, the phrase "Let's go", The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest, culverts, Garrison Keillor … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

Music featured (in order):

I Don’t Understand – MT Jones
Train of Thought – Olive Klug
Light by the Window – Elmiene, Raphael Saddiq
Ancient Light – I’m With Her
Shaky Eyes – Hiss Golden Messenger
Tell Me A Tale – Michael Kiwanuka (also live)
I Hate the Way I Look Today. – RAYE

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Project Hail Mary is the fifth movie directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. It’s written by Drew Goddard and based on the Andy Weir novel. It’s the second movie adapted from a Weir novel, and the second adapted by Goddard, after The Martian. It stars Ryan Gosling as a high school science teacher who’s tasked with … going to space basically alone and saving the world. Project Hail Mary is the No. 1 movie in the world. Its opening last weekend was the biggest of the year so far, and its domestic opening was the second-biggest of Gosling’s career (after Barbie) and the second-biggest ever for a non-franchise movie (after Oppenheimer).

And: Saturday Night Live UK is an official international adaptation of regular, old SNL stateside. It, too, premiered last weekend with an episode hosted by (noted non-Brit) Tina Fey. New episodes will appear Sunday nights on Peacock in the U.S. Eight episodes have been ordered, so far.

GUESTS:

Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Fantasy Filmball podcast
Irene Papoulis: Taught writing for a long time at Trinity College
Bill Yousman: Professor of media studies at Sacred Heart University

Music featured (in order):

Sign of the Times – Harry Styles
Stargazer – Neil Diamond
Catch These Fists (Live on SNL UK) – Wet Leg
See You On The Radio – Grayson Hugh

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What would it mean if nothing matters? This hour, a look at the philosophy of nihilism, and how it shows up online and in children's books.

GUESTS:

Nolen Gertz: Associate Professor of Applied Philosophy at the University of Twentein the Netherlands. He is author of books including Nihilism and Nihilism and Technology
Charlie Warzel: Staff writer at The Atlantic and the host of its technology podcast, "Galaxy Brain"
Jon Klassen: Author and illustrator of books including I Want My Hat Back, This Is Not My Hat, The Rock From The Sky, and The Skull

Music featured (in order):

Caring is Creepy – The Shins
I Got Plenty O’ Nuttin’ – Shirley Horn
Nothing from Nothing – Billy Preston
Battle of Who Could Care Less – Ben Folds Five
Hurt – Johnny Cash
Nothing – A Chorus Line Broadway cast

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This hour, we look at the spread of measles in the United States. And we talk to health and science communicators who are working to tell the story of that disease in new ways.

GUESTS:

Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo: Director of the Pandemic Center at the Brown School of Public Health, and a Professor of Epidemiology
Brinda Adhikari: Award-winning executive producer, showrunner and journalist, who is Co-Host of the "Why Should I Trust You?" podcast
Teri Mills: Retired nurse educator, grandmother, and Board member and Vice President of Media for Grandparents for Vaccines

Music featured (in order):

Sickness – runo plum
Contagious – Ani DiFranco
Cat’s Got the Measles – The New Lost City Ramblers
Catch My Disease – Ben Lee
Soul Vaccination – Tower of Power
Grandma’s Hands – Bill Withers

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Ringo Starr. Charlie Watts. John Bonham. Hal Blaine. Moe Tucker. Dave Grohl. Lars Ulrich. Meg White. Tony Thompson. Questlove. Karen Carpenter. Sam Lay.

The list goes on.

This hour, a look at the backbone (and the backbeat) of rock and roll: the drummer.

GUESTS:

Jim Chapdelaine: An Emmy-winning musician and a patient advocate for people with rare cancers
John Lingan: The author, most recently, of Backbeats: A History of Rock and Roll in Fifteen Drummers
Molly Sayles: A percussionist and music educator and the Official Drummer of The Colin McEnroe Show

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Maegn Boone, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to the Iran war, what to do with the old stuff of deceased parents, Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Gov. Lowell Weicker, our Mary show, whether or not you can tell time by a cat’s eye … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

Music featured (in order):

Can I Believe You – Fleet Foxes
Joy Spring – Karrin Allyson
I’m In Trouble – Alessia Cara, Norah Jones
A Brother (Just Like You) – Nnenna Freelon
Both Can Be True – Trousdale
Anyone in Love – Jalen Ngonda
June It’s Gonna Happen – Rumer

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, Robyn Doyon-Aitken, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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Josephine Riesman, author of Ringmaster: Vince McMahon and the Unmaking of America, argues that understanding WWE can help us understand President Donald Trump and his politics. This hour, we learn about WWE and its impact on Trump, and discuss the experience and appeal of watching wrestling.

GUESTS:

Josephine Riesman: Author of Ringmaster: Vince McMahon and the Unmaking of America
Tim Kail: Creator of “The Work of Wrestling” website and podcast. He is also the host and producer of “The Sarah Lawrence College Podcast”

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Meg Dalton, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on March 7, 2025.

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How do we begin to understand the full economic, human, and environmental impacts of war? This hour we talk with someone who is doing that math.

Plus, a look at the opportunity costs of spending on war. And, the costs of The American Revolution.

GUESTS:

Neta Crawford: Professor of International Relations at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland and Co-Founder and Strategic Advisor at The Costs of War Project. She is also author of books including The Pentagon, Climate Change, and War: Charting the Rise and Fall of U.S. Military Emissions
Joseph Ellis: Author of fourteen books, including the Pulitzer Prize winning Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation, and National Book Award winning American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson. His newest book is The Great Contradiction: The Tragic Side of the American Founding

Music featured (in order):

The World Is A Ghetto – War
Loose Ends – Sergio Mendes, Justin Timberlake, Pharoahe Monch
The Groom’s Still Waiting at the Altar – Bob Dylan
When the War Came – The Decemberists
Hiway 9 – Eliza Gilkyson
Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down) – Hamilton Original Broadway Cast

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March Madness is here!

And so the only logical thing is to get improv comedian Julia Pistell and the actual Bill Curry together to talk basketball for an hour on the radio. For the 16th* time.

That may not be the only logical thing to do. It may be that that’s not a logical thing to do at all.

But we’re doing it anyway.

It’s our 16th one of these, unless it isn’t. Our story is that we’ve done this every year since 2010 except for 2020 — which is to say, every year our show has been on that there actually was a March Madness tourney. And we’re pretty sure our story is true. One of those years, the show was actually about birds. But so what?*

GUESTS:

Bill Curry: Playing the part of Bill Curry
Mike Pesca: Hosts the independent daily podcast The Gist
Julia Pistell: A founding member of Sea Tea Improv, among a number of other things
Elizabeth Davis: The 12th president of Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina

Music featured (in order):

D-Code – Dust Devil
This Happy Madness – Frank Sinatra (ft. Antônio Carlos Jobim)
I Wish I Could Go Back To College – Avenue Q
The Paladins Song – Furman University Fight Song
Ballad of Paladin – Johnny Western
I Wish (Radio Edit) – Skee-Lo
Basketball – Kurtis Blow

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing. So we did another one.

This hour, the conversation winds around to America 250, Oasis, bird songs, the SAVE Act, Trump, natural lawns … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

Music Featured (in order):

bite my tongue – wilt
won’t make it out alive – Nicole Zuraitis, Larry Goldings
Just Say You Want Me – Lo Steele
Teach Me Tonight – Ledisi
I Do, I Do – Dua Saleh
Penny In The Lake – Ratboys
We Made It – Sammy Rae and the Friends ft. CELISSE

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The 98th Academy Awards were Sunday night. KPop Demon Hunters swept its two nominations. Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein cleaned up in the craft categories and won three awards.

But the big question going into the night was what would win the big awards. Would it be Sinners, with its record-setting 16 nominations, or the seemingly inevitable One Battle After Another?

Inevitability won out. One Battle After Another won six Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay for Paul Thomas Anderson.

This hour, The Nose reacts to the Oscars — the awards themselves, the ceremony as television, the fashion, the memes, Conan O’Brien’s turn as host — the whole thing.

GUESTS:

Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Nobody Asked Shawn podcast
Vivian Nabeta: Director of digital marketing for Connecticut State Community College
Gene Seymour: A “writer, professional spectator, pop-culture maven, and jazz geek

Music featured (in order):

There’s No Business Like Show Business – The Original Movie Orchestra
Peg – Steely Dan
Everything’s Come Up Roses – The Replacements
I Lied to You (Live at the Oscars) – Miles Canton, Shaboozey, Brittany Howard, Eric Gales, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram
Golden (Live at the Oscars) – EJAE, Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami
The Way We Were – Barbra Streisand (but the original proper version)

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Mike Pesca is one of our very favorite guests — on any number of topics.

His book, Upon Further Review: The Greatest What-Ifs in Sports History, is a whole series of earth-shattering, hypothetical, what-if questions (and posited answers to said earth-shattering, hypothetical, what-if questions):

What if a blimp full of money had exploded over world track headquarters in 1952? What if Nixon had been good at football? What if Bobby Fischer had received proper psychiatric help? What if the Dodgers hadn’t left Brooklyn? What if basketball rims were smaller than basketballs? What if the 1999 U.S. women’s national soccer team had lost the Women’s World Cup? And yes: What if the Olympics had never dropped tug of war?

It goes on and on.

Pesca joins us for the hour.

GUESTS:

Will Leitch: Contributing editor at New York magazine, founder of Deadspin, and a whole bunch of other things
Mike Pesca: Host of The Gist and the author of Upon Further Review
Louisa Thomas: Staff writer at The New Yorker and the author of Louisa: The Extraordinary Life of Mrs. Adams

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Carlos Mejia, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired June 7, 2018.

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The Trump administration’s messaging around the war with Iran feels reminiscent of stuff like … cowboy movies. And video games. And the manosphere. This hour, a look at the rhetoric around the war and where it’s all coming from.

GUESTS:

Casey Ryan Kelly: Professor of Rhetoric and Public Culture in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He is also Editor of the Quarterly Journal of Speech, and author of books including Manifesting Violence: White Terrorism, Digital Culture, and the Rhetoric of Replacement
Jonathan Guyer: Program Director at the Institute for Global Affairs at Eurasia Group, and a reporter and editor focused on foreign policy, national security, and the Middle East. He is host of the podcast “None of the Above”
Roger Stahl: Author and Professor of Communication Studies at the University of Georgia. He is director of the documentary Theaters of War

Music featured (in order):

“Hoe-Down” from Rodeo – Aaron Copland, NYO-USA, Michael Tilson Thomas
You Should Have Seen the Other Guy – Nathaniel Rateliff
Under My Thumb – Rolling Stones
Son of Your Father – Elton John
Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly Fond of Each Other – Orville Peck and Willie Nelson
I Am a Rock – Simon and Garfunkel

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From the Golden Globes, to global conflicts, to elections, prediction markets have moved into the mainstream. What happens when we can bet on anything? What are the cultural impacts of that? This hour, we take stock of the status of prediction markets, and look at what they might do to politics and polling. Plus, a look at the "Wisdom of Crowds".

GUESTS:

Kate Knibbs: Senior Writer at WIRED
Danny Funt: Reporter and author of Everybody Loses: The Tumultuous Rise of American Sports Gambling
Sarah Hughes-Berheim: Postdoctoral researcher in the Special Education Department at Vanderbilt University
James Surowiecki: Journalist and author of The Wisdom of Crowds

Music featured (in order):

Future Lover – Thee Sacred Souls
Everybody Knows – Leonard Cohen
Something’s Gotta Give – Sammy Davis Jr.
We Can’t Predict the Future – The Flaming Lips
What Comes Next? – Jonathan Groff, Hamilton
A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall – Bob Dylan

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We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to Anthropic, cataract surgery, the burrito vs. bowl debate, Saturday Night Live, the general unhappiness in the U.S., plastics … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

Music featured (in order):

Destination Heaven – Euphoria Again & Dogwood Tales
Farther Along – Ron Carter, Ricky Dillard
Coming Up Roses – Harry Styles (orch. Jules Buckley)
Love, Love, Love – Stephen Sanchez
Sirius – Katherine Priddy
Blind – Yonder Mountain String Band
With a Little Luck – Paul McCartney, Wings

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Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman premiered in 1949. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play. It’s been said that it’s “probably the most successful modern play ever published.”

This hour, with a new Broadway revival in previews, and with Peter Jacobson playing the title role in a new production at Hartford Stage, a look at Arthur Miller’s masterpiece of American drama, Death of a Salesman.

GUESTS:

Melia Bensussen: Artistic director at Hartford Stage and the director of their current production of Death of a Salesman
Peter Jacobson: An actor; he’s playing Willy Loman in Hartford Stage’s current production of Death of a Salesman
Stephen Marino: Founding editor of The Arthur Miller Journal and the author, most recently, of Arthur Miller’s New York: Visions of the City

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, and Robyn Doyon-Aitken contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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How does reality television shape our politics and our opinions? This hour two reality TV scholars join us to discuss how reality TV helps us understand (or sometimes misunderstand) actual reality.

GUESTS:

Danielle Lindemann: Professor of Sociology at Lehigh University and a Visiting Professor in Gender and Sexuality Studies at Princeton University. She is also the author of the book True Story: What Reality TV Says About Us.
Eunji Kim: Assistant Professor of Political Science at Columbia University and Faculty Affiliate at the Data Science Institute. Her new book is The American Mirage: How Reality TV Upholds the Myth of Meritocracy.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on July 24, 2025.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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Do you know your neighbors? This hour, we take a look at the role of our neighbors in our lives. We explore the psychological and social benefits of neighbors, hear listener stories, and discuss the role of neighbors in times of crisis. Plus, a look at "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" and how he thought about neighbors and community building.

GUESTS:

Julie Beck: Staff writer at The Atlantic and the creator of “The Friendship Files.”
Tricia Wachtendorf: Director of the Disaster Research Center and a Professor of Sociology at the University of Delaware. She is also co-author of American Dunkirk: The Waterborne Evacuation of Manhattan on 9/11
Daniel Cueto-Villalobos: Sociologist and doctoral candidate at the University of Minnesota
Maxwell King: Author of The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers. His forthcoming book is Fire in the Night Sky: The Steel Mill Paintings of Aaron Gorson

Music featured (in order):

Then Your Heart is Full of Love – Johnny Costa
Neighbors – Lucius
The People Next Door – Ray Parker Jr.
Rescue Me – Fontella Bass
No One Is Alone – Into the Woods 2022 Broadway Cast
Won’t You Be My Neighbor?– Fred Rogers, Johnny Costa
from ep. 1765 “Mister Rogers Celebrates the Arts”
Won’t You Be My Neighbor? – Benny Benack III

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This hour we convene a roundtable of faith leaders to ask: what is their role right now? How is it changing?

GUESTS:

A.J. Johnson: Pastor at the Urban Hope Refuge Church in Hartford. He is also Director for Neighborhood Organizing at the Center for Leadership and Justice, and Deputy Chaplain to the Connecticut House of Representatives
Sierra Fox: Cantor for Congregation Mishkan Israel in Hamden
Sister Mary Ellen Burns: Executive Director and Attorney at Apostle Immigrant Services
Hierald Osorto: Senior Pastor at Saint Paul Lutheran Church/Iglesia Lutheran San Pablo in Minnesota

Music Featured (in order):

Montgomery Variations (I. Decision) – Margaret Bonds
Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around – The Holy Lights
Woke Up This Morning With My Mind on Freedom – Sweet Honey in the Rock
CUT FOR TIME Prayer for Peace (Ose Shalom) – The New York Cantors
Anima Christi – Mary Lou Williams
Calling All Angels – Jane Siberry w/ k.d. lang
Song of a Bernadette – Jennifer Warnes

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We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to Iran, the second Iraq war, Vietnam, would you rather be a cowboy or a pirate?, The Boston Dad, Little Bosses Everywhere: How the Pyramid Scheme Shaped America by Bridget Read, David Greenberg … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

Music Featured (in order):

Only So Much Oil In The Ground – Tower of Power
Masters of War – Joan Osborne
My Muse – Leon Thomas
Something Serious – Bruno Mars
I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart – Alice Babs (1% Swedish Content)
Hey Mister – Ray Charles
(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding – Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox, Sarah Potenza

You can now watch our calls shows on Connecticut Public’s YouTube. Subscribe and get notified when we go live. Or join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Robyn Doyon-Aitken, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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The Secret Agent (O agento secreto) is a neo-noir political thriller written and directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho. It’s set in Brazil in 1977, and it’s currently nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best International Feature Film, and Best Actor in a Leading Role for its star, Wagner Moura.

And: Network is a satirical comedy-drama written by Paddy Chayefsky and directed by Sidney Lumet. It was nominated for 10 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and it won four, including Best Actor in a Leading Role for Peter Finch, Best Actress in a Leading Role for Faye Dunaway, Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Beatrice Straight, and Best Original Screenplay for Chayefsky. It is one of just three movies that have ever won three of the four acting Oscars. Network celebrates its 50th anniversary later this year.

GUESTS:

Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Fantasy Filmball podcast
Lindsay Lee Wallace: A writer and journalist covering culture, health, technology, bats, and anything else people will answer her questions about
Bill Yousman: Professor of media studies at Sacred Heart University

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This year’s Academy Awards will include the first-ever Oscar for Achievement in Casting. It’s the first new category in 25 years, since Best Animated Feature was added in 2001 (which inaugural award was won by Shrek).

Casting, though, is seen as kind of an illusive, inscrutable art form. We feel like we can separate out the writing and the editing and the costuming and the directing from a thing. But the cast kind of IS the thing a lot of the time, right? It’s kind of inextricable from the thing, it feels like.

This hour: a look at the art of casting.

GUESTS:

Mellini Kantayya: An actor and writer and the author of Actor. Writer. Whatever. (essays on my rise to the top of the bottom of the entertainment industry)
John Frank Levey: A four-time Emmy Award-winning casting director and the author of Right for the Role: Breakdowns, Breakups and Breakthroughs from 35 Years of Casting Iconic TV Shows
Connor Ratliff: An actor, writer, and comedian and the creator and host of Dead Eyes
Michael Schulman: A staff writer at The New Yorker and the author of Oscar Wars: A History of Hollywood in Gold, Sweat, and Tears

MUSIC FEATURED (in order):

Overture – The Producers
Climbing Uphill – Anna Kendrick
Everybody Plays the Fool – the Main Ingredient
Audition – Jethro Tull
Broadway Baby – Ethel Shutta
Everything’s Coming Up Roses – Bernadette Peters

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We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to sneezing, the state of the union address, losers and losing, consciousness, Michael Pollan, local radio, possible conflict with Iran, the A.I. Brad Pitt fighting Tom Cruise video … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

MUSIC FEATURED (in order):

Don’t Let The World Pass You By – Jean-Luc Ponty
S’posin’ – Champian Fulton, Bria Skonberg
Easy to Love – Jordan Rakei, Tom McFarland
Beat Yourself Up – Charlie Puth
Hard to Say – Chris Morrissey, Norah Jones
Oh Qué Será? – Willie Colon
We’re Still Here – Alan Doyle

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This hour, we look at what rights individuals and protesters have. And we ask: are our rights changing? And what can we do about that?

Plus, we take a look at what rights we have online, and what we should know about digital surveillance and privacy.

GUESTS:

Dan Barrett: American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut's legal director
Dahlia Lithwick: Writes about the courts and the law for Slate and hosts the podcast "Amicus". She is the author of Lady Justice: Women, the Law, and the Battle to Save America
Cindy Cohn: Executive Director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Her forthcoming book is Privacy's Defender: My Thirty-Year Fight Against Digital Surveillance

MUSIC FEATURED (in order):

Cálice – Chico Buarque & Milton Nascimento
Student Demonstration Time – The Beach Boys
Is It Because I’m Black – Syl Johnson
What’s Goin’ On – Marvin Gaye
The People Have the Power – Patti Smith
The Veil – Peter Gabriel

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This hour, author and film critic Alissa Wilkinson joins us to talk about Joan Didion, Hollywood, and how we make sense of our politics.

GUEST:

Alissa Wilkinson: Movie critic at The New York Times. Her latest book is We Tell Ourselves Stories: Joan Didion and the American Dream Machine

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on July 10, 2025.

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Is Wuthering Heights “the greatest love story of all time?” Or is it a tale of hate, violence, and vengeance? Or maybe a gothic satire?

This hour we look at Emily Brontë’s novel and how it was received when it was published in 1847.

Plus, a look at the highest-grossing movie of the year so far — Emerald Fennell’s loosely adapted “Wuthering Heights” — and how it stacks up against other retellings.

GUESTS:

Richard Brody: The movies editor for Goings On About Town at The New Yorker
Claire O’Callaghan: Editor-in-chief of Brontë Studies and the author of Emily Brontë Reappraised
Irene Papoulis: Taught writing for a long time at Trinity College

MUSIC FEATURED (in order):

Wuthering Heights – Cecile McLorin Salvant
Wuthering Heights – Kate Bush
I Am Stretched on Your Grave – Eithne Ni Uallachain
Out of Myself – Charli xcx
Chains of Love – Charli xcx
As Time Goes By – Julie London

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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What would it mean if we treated rivers as alive? That's the question that nature writer Robert Macfarlane wrestles with in his latest book. What would happen if we took that aliveness seriously? How would we know what a river would want? Who would speak for it? These are questions that communities around the world are dealing with as they work to figure out how to protect rivers and the ecosystems that rely on them. This hour, Macfarlane joins us to talk about his book, Is a River Alive?, and the stories we tell about the natural world.

GUEST:

Robert Macfarlane: Writer whose books include Underland: A Deep Time Journey, The Lost Words: A Spell Book, and The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot. His new book is Is a River Alive?

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Dylan Reyes, and Eugene Amatruda contributed to this show, which originally aired on June 11, 2025.

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Biblical scholar James Tabor says that Mary – the mother of Jesus – is “the best known, least known woman in history.” This hour, we’ll get to know Mary a little better and talk about why some people are obsessed with preserving her purity at the expense of her humanity. And, we talk with (The Reverend) Amey Victoria Adkins-Jones from Emory University about Mary mythology, Black Madonnas and the myriad ways Mary is depicted in art and culture.

GUESTS:

James D. Taboris a biblical scholar, and a retired professor of religious studies at the University Of North Carolina at Charlotte. He’s the author of The Lost Mary: Rediscovering the Mother of Jesus.
(The Rev.) Amey Victoria Adkins-Jonesis Assistant Professor of Theology and Africana Studies at Emory University. She’s a constructive theologian and scholar of Black religion specializing in Mariology, Black feminist and womanist thought, and theological anthropology. She’s the author of Immaculate Misconceptions: A Black Mariology.

MUSIC FEATURED (in order):

Mary On A Cross – Ghost
Along Comes Mary – The Association
The Wind Cries Mary – Jimi Hendrix
Mary Rock the Baby – Jarell Smalls
Like a Prayer – Madonna
Lady Madonna (Theme from Grace Under Fire) – Aretha Franklin
Mary, Did You Know? – The Braxtons

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The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Robyn Doyoon-Aitken and Dylan Reyes contributed to this episode.

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We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls, calls about anything, everything. These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

This hour, the conversation winds around to musicians, politics, jobs, journalism, planning for the future … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

MUSIC FEATURED (in order):

The World Is A Ghetto – George Benson
Desire – Kurt Elling, WDR Big Band
Sambadouro – Ivan Lins
Kindness Isn’t Common Sense – Katie Pruitt
In the Still of the Night – Lauren Henderson, Sullivan Fortner
Bags (Live at Electric Lady Studios) – Clairo
CUT FOR TIME Blues Be Gone – Hayes Carll
Next Spring – Lucy Yeghiazaryan

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A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is the third series in the A Song of Ice and Fire television franchise. It is set about 90 years before Game of Thrones and almost 80 years after House of the Dragon. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is created by Ira Parker and George R. R. Martin and based on the Tales of Dunk and Egg series of novellas by Martin.

And: Hamnet is the fifth feature film written and directed by Chloé Zhao. The screenplay is by Zhao and Maggie O’Farrell and based on O’Farrell’s 2020 novel. It stars Jessie Buckley as Agnes and Paul Mescal as her husband, Will Shakespeare. Hamnet is nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

GUESTS:

Rebecca Castellani: Co-founder of Quiet Corner Communications and the director of marketing at Washington Montessori School
Taneisha Duggan: Director of arts, culture, and entertainment for the city of Hartford
Tracy Wu Fastenberg: Associate vice president for development at Connecticut Children’s

MUSIC FEATURED (in order):

Bonny Sweet Boy – Les Witches
What Do the Simple Folk Do? – Camelot
Main Title (from the HBO Series Game of Thrones) – Ramin Djawadi
Ophelia – The Lumineers
On the Nature of Daylight – Max Richter
See You On The Radio – Grayson Hugh

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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Whistles have become a protest symbol, from the streets of Minnesota to the Grammys red carpet. This hour, we look at how whistles are being used by organizers across the country to alert communities about ICE presence. Plus, we discuss ancient whistles and talk about whistleblowers, why they step forward, and the costs of doing so.

GUESTS:

Trevor Mitchell: Senior Metro Reporter for "MinnPost"
Sean Hollister: Senior editor at "The Verge"
Jessica MacLellan: Anthropological archaeologist interested in ritual, household archaeology, ceramics, and the development of complex societies in Mesoamerica. She is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Wake Forest University
Carl Elliott: Professor of Philosophy at the University of Minnesota. His most recent book is The Occasional Human Sacrifice: Medical Experimentation and the Price of Saying No

MUSIC FEATURED (in order):

The Foggy Dew – Dicky Deegan
Right By Your Side – Eurythmics
Lonesome Whistle – Little Feat
Crossing Over Into the Spirit World – Xavier Quijas Yxayaotl
The Whistle Song – Frankie Knuckles
Whistleblower – maryjo

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Nobody likes termites. They get into the wood in our homes and can lead to infuriating and expensive repairs. What’s to like?

It turns out, there’s a lot to like about termites. Scientists study how they build their mounds for clues to solving some of the world’s most pressing problems, like mitigating the effects of drought, building colonies on Mars, and creating biofuels.

Plus, their ability to adapt to the harshest conditions over millions of years says a lot about them. Almost 90% of the microbes found in their guts are unique to the termite. Those same gut microbes are what make them so productive and, on the flip side, so destructive.

Lastly, some believe termites work with joy and have a soul. You be the judge.

GUESTS:

Jennifer Dacey: An entomologist and a wildlife biologist and integrated pest management technician in the UConn Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture
Lisa Margonelli: Author of Underbug: An Obsessive Tale of Termites and Technology
Mick Pearce: An architect

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Lydia Brown, and Jonathan McNicol contributed to this show, which originally aired August 29, 2018.

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On February 1, President Trump announced that The Kennedy Center would close for two years for “Construction, Revitalization, and Complete Rebuilding” (capitalization sic). Washington Post art and architecture critic Philip Kennicott sees this as an existential threat to the Center.

And: New York Times fashion critic Vanessa Friedman thinks everyone has been misunderstanding the Melania documentary from the get go. It’s less an actual movie, she says, and more the launch of the Melania luxury brand.

And finally: Don Glickman was a design professor. He had retired in the late 1990s, and he died last year at 94. And then some people started getting postcards from him — charming, amusing, perfectly Glickmanian postcards.

GUESTS:

Vanessa Friedman: Fashion director and chief fashion critic of The New York Times
Philip Kennicott: Senior art and architecture critic at The Washington Post
Sydney Page: Staff reporter at The Washington Post, where she writes for The Optimist

MUSIC FEATURED (in order):

Take Care of This House – Cynthia Erivo, Leonard Bernstein
ALT Take Care of This House – Frederica von Stade, Leonard Bernstein
Regrets – Ben Folds Five
Two Hearts on a Post Card – Vance Dolan
I Really Like You – Carly Rae Jepsen
I Got My Brand on You – Muddy Waters, Otis Spann

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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This hour, the conversation winds around to the rule of law, the Epstein files, the economy, the Green Bay Packers, Gilmore Girls … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

MUSIC FEATURED (in order):

CAFé CON RON – Bad Bunny, Los Pleneros de la Cresta
The Obvious Child (Nashville) – I’m With Her
No More Lies – Thundercat, Tame Impala
Somethin’ Stupid – Norah Jones, Josh Homme
Patchwork – Charlotte Day Wilson
Cherry Tree – Lera Lynn
Whiiiplash – Brik.Liam CUT FOR TIME
Out Here – Gareth Donkin

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Whatever your politics, the last month or so has been … a lot.

This hour, The Nose looks at how we’re all using pop culture (or not) to deal with all the news — to cope, to escape, to process.

Plus, a look at how well (or not) our pop culture has been meeting the moment lately.

GUESTS:

RS Benedict: A writer and bureaucrat whose fiction and non-fiction has been published in the New Haven Review, Fangoria, Current Affairs, and a bunch of other places
Sam Hadelman: Director of public relations at Dark Matter Media
Rich Hollant: The founder and principal of CO:LAB, a hall of fame designer, and a co-partner at CENTER
Mercy Quaye: Founder and president of The Narrative Project
Lindsay Lee Wallace: A writer and journalist covering culture, health, technology, bats, and anything else people will answer her questions about
Bill Yousman: Professor of media studies at Sacred Heart University

MUSIC FEATURED (in order):

Don't Let The Bastards Get You Down – Margo Price
How Much Did You Get for Your Soul – Lucinda Williams
Winter in America – Gil Scott-Heron
Let the Mystery Be – Iris Dement
The Olympics – Jesse Welles
See You On The Radio – Grayson Hugh

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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Plus, how video game music is bringing new listeners to classical music and live orchestras.

GUESTS:

Matthew Aucoin: American composer, conductor, writer, pianist, and a 2018 MacArthur Fellow. He is author of “The Impossible Art: Adventures in Opera” and is co-founder of the American Modern Opera Company. His opera “Euridyce” was produced by the Metropolitan Opera in 2021, making him the youngest composer in nearly a century to have an opera produced by The Met
Arianna Warsaw-Fan Rauch: Author of “Declassified: A Low-Key Guide to the High-Strung World of Classical Music”. She is also a violinist who has performed in venues around the world
Carolyn Kuan: Music Director of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra. In 2025, she led the acclaimed world premiere of Huang Ruo’s "The Monkey King" at San Francisco Opera. Her recording of Huang Ruo’s "An American Soldier" with the American Composers Orchestra received a 2026 Grammy nomination
J. Aaron Hardwick: An internationally active professional conductor, professor of music at Wake Forest University, and Director of the Wake Forest University Symphony Orchestra, recognized for his work in classical and contemporary repertoire and innovative orchestral programming, including video game music

MUSIC FEATURED (in order):

Symphony No. 5 I. Trauermarsch – Gustav Mahler, Claudio Abbado, Berlin Philharmonic
21 Hungarian Dances No. 5 – Johannes Brahms, Claudio Abbado, Berlin Philharmonic
Revolucion Diamantina Act IV: Speaking the unspeakable – Gabriela Ortiz, Gustavo Dudamel, LA Phil
Don’t Look Down I. Hammerspace – Christopher Cerrone, Sandbox Percussion
Symphony No. 41 “Jupiter” IV. Molto Allegro – W.A. Mozart, Seiji Ozawa, Mito Chamber Orchestra
String Quartet No. 8 II. Allegro molto – Dmitri Shostakovich, Dover Quartet
6 Bagatelles for Wind Quintet III. Allegro grazioso – Gyorgy Ligeti, Claudio Abbado, Chamber Orchestra of Europe
Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Felix Mendelssohn, Seiji Ozawa, Boston Symphony Orchestra
An American Soldier Act II Scene 1: Hey Danny – Huang Ruo, Carolyn Kuan, American Composers' Orchestra
Hi – Caroline Shaw CUT FOR TIME
The Monkey King Act II Scene 3 – Huang Ruo, Carolyn Kuan, San Francisco Opera
Tears of the Kingdom Main Theme – Manaka Kataoka
Temple of Time Theme Montage – The Legend of Zelda
- NES (1986) Style – Loeder Music
- Ocarina of Time (1998) – Koji Kondo
- Breath of the Wild (2017) – Yasuaki Iwata
- Planetrise – Inon Zur (Starfield)
- Lumiere – Lorien Testard (Clair Obscur: Expedition 33) CUT FOR TIME
- Atsu’s Theme – Toma Otowa (Ghost of Yōtei) CUT FOR TIME
- The Perfect Wave – Austin Wintory

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This hour, the conversation winds around to Vice President JD Vance, making “gift” a verb, space launches, homeschooling, making friends across political lines, social media … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

MUSIC FEATURED (in order):

Ready to Let You Down — JOSEPH
Heart of America – Willie Nelson
La Lune S’en Va – Inara George
Moonshadow – Nils Landgren, Swedish Radio Orchestra
Beautiful People – Jill Scott
Who Knows – Daniel Caesar
City of Heroes – Billy Bragg

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Lately the ancient philosophy of Stoicism is having a bit of a resurgence. This hour we learn about the philosophy, why people are drawn to it, and how to live like a Stoic. Plus, we look at how Stoicism appears in music.

GUESTS:

Massimo Pigliucci: The K.D. IraniProfessor of Philosophy at the City College of New York. He is the author of books including Beyond Stoicism: A Guide to the Good Life with Stoics, Skeptics, Epicureans, and Other Ancient Philosophers, How to Be a Stoic: Using Ancient Philosophy to Live a Modern Life, and Nonsense on Stilts: How to Tell Science from Bunk. He also writes the Substack “Figs in Winter: Stoicism and Beyond.”
Melinda Latour: Associate Professor of Musicology at Tufts University. She is author of The Voice of Virtue: Moral Song and the Practice of French Stoicism, 1574-1652. She is also editor of The Relentless Pursuit of Tone: Timbre in Popular Music.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Dylan Reyes, and Coco Cooley contributed to this show, which originally aired on July 9, 2025.

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The Night Manager is a British spy thriller TV series based on the novel by John le Carré and adapted by David Farr. The first season aired in 2016. And the second season, which premiered nearly 10 years later in early 2026, is expected to conclude this weekend. The Night Manager stars Tom Hiddleston, Hugh Laurie, and Olivia Colman.

And: Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man! is a two-part HBO docuseries directed by Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio. It’s the third two-part HBO docuseries directed by Apator and Bonfiglio, after The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling and George Carlin’s American Dream. According to HBO, Mel Brooks “explores the life and nearly century-long career of one of Hollywood’s most daring satirists.” It includes the final onscreen interviews with Rob Reiner and David Lynch.

GUESTS:

Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Fantasy Filmball podcast
Carolyn Paine: An actress and comedian; she’s the founder and director of CONNetic Dance and the creative producer and choreographer for The Bushnell’s Digital Institute
Irene Papoulis: Taught writing for a long time at Trinity College
Bill Yousman: Professor of media studies at Sacred Heart University

MUSIC FEATURED (in order):

Spies Like Us – Paul McCartney
The Night Manager Main Titles – Victor Reyes
Springtime for Hitler – Mel Brooks, John Morris
SpaceBalls – John Morris, The Spinners
See You On The Radio – Grayson Hugh

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Earlier this month, Yale historian Joanne Freeman began a nightly video series called "A Few Thoughts for Those Who Can't Sleep." Most nights she goes live on YouTube and talks about the news of the day, historical context for it, and the value of building community, as the comments swell in around her. This hour, Freeman joins us to share a few thoughts about the latest news, empathy, history, and America 250.

GUEST:

Joanne Freeman: Alan Boles, Class of 1929 Professor of History at Yale University. Her most recent book is “The Field of Blood: Violence in Congress and the Road to Civil War”

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Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today by visiting ctpublic.org/donate.

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Protest music is taking over TikTok. This hour we look at what's going on, and we hear from an artist about why she writes and performs protest songs. Plus, a discussion about what counts as a protest song and a brief look through the history of the genre, from "Strange Fruit" and "This Land is Your Land" to today.

GUESTS:

Renee Koma: A musician who goes by Renee Christine. Her latest album is “Appalachia"
Isabella Gomez Sarmiento: A reporter with NPR Music
Dorian Lynskey: Journalist and author of multiple books, including "33 Revolutions Per Minute: A History of Protest Songs, from Billie Holiday to Green Day". His most recent is “Everything Must Go: The Stories We Tell About the End of the World”. He is also co-host of the "Origin Story" podcast

MUSIC FEATURED (in order):

Tudo O Que Você Podia Se – Milton Nascimento
Lehigh Valley – Renee Christine
The Bomb – Renee Christine
Turtle Island – Renee Christine
No Kings – Earth to Eve
Heavy Foot – Mon Rovia
War isn’t Murder – Jesse Welles
Tonada Por Ella – Rawayana
Kalaallit Nunaat, Kalaallit Pigaat – Kalaallit
Strange Fruit – Nina Simone
Ohio – Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young
This Land Is Your Land – Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings
Say Her Name (Hell You Talmbout) – Janelle Monae

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We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to Minneapolis, Greenland, the late Bob Weir, cool names among public radio’s on-air talent, AI overview on Google and elsewhere … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

MUSIC FEATURED (in order):

I Work in a Warehouse – Blake Porter
Self Deprecating Blues – Tyler Miller
Pure Magic – Akira the Don, Alan Watts
Jeans (fall on my knees) – Katie Tupper
Vivid Light – Blood Orange
America’s Daughter – May Erlewine
Field Song – Mon Rovia

You can now watch our calls shows on Connecticut Public’s YouTube. Subscribe and get notified when we go live. Or join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Robyn Doyon-Aitken, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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It's cold, snowy winters like this that make us question why we choose to live in a place where snow, sleet, and wind define one-third of the year. It's a great excuse to complain, but does it also make us stronger and better people?

This hour, we explore the idea of "northmanship." We talk about what it means to be from the north and to be inspired by the north. Is there a connection that we make to truth and beauty? Are we obsessed with it because it's slowly disappearing?

GUESTS:

Michael Robinson: Author, Department of Humanities Chair and Professor of History at University of Hartford
Luanne Rice: Author of more than 30 novels
Mary Ehrlander: Late Professor Emeritus of History at University of Alaska, Fairbanks
Halla Oskarsdottir: Icelandic journalist, columnist and book critic

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Julia Pistell and Chion Wolf contributed to this program, which originally aired March 5, 2015.

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Song Sung Blue is a musical biopic written and directed by Craig Brewer and based on a documentary of the same name. It tells the true story of a Neil Diamond tribute act, Lightning & Thunder. Hugh Jackman plays Lightning, and Kate Hudson was just nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her turn as Thunder.

And: Merrily We Roll Along is a filmed version of the 2023 Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s 1981 problem musical. It stars Daniel Radcliffe, Jonathan Groff, and Lindsay Mendez, and the Broadway production won four Tony Awards, including Best Revival of a Musical.

GUESTS:

Jim Chapdelaine: An Emmy-winning musician and a patient advocate for people with rare cancers
Jacques Lamarre: A playwright, and chief communications officer at Buzz Engine
Carolyn Paine: An actress and comedian; she’s the founder and director of CONNetic Dance and the creative producer and choreographer for The Bushnell’s Digital Institute
Bill Yousman: Professor of media studies at Sacred Heart University

MUSIC FEATURED (in order):

Soolaimón / Brother Love’s Traveling Salvation Show – Hugh Jackman
Cherry Cherry – Hugh Jackman ft. Kate Hudson
Merrily We Roll Along – From the Movie (2023 version linked, very similar)
Old Friends – From the Movie (2023 version linked, very similar)
See You On The Radio – Grayson Hugh

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Greenland is the largest island in the world. Its landmass accounts for 95% of the Kingdom of Denmark, but it’s 80% covered in ice sheet.

Greenland takes up roughly the same area as Alaska and California combined, while its population is roughly the same size as the population of … West Haven, Connecticut.

Oh, and you may have noticed that Greenland has been in the news a bit lately.

This hour: an exploration of Greenland.

GUESTS:

Elizabeth Buchanan: The author, most recently, of So You Want To Own Greenland? Lessons from the Vikings to Trump
Simon Lynge: A Greenlandic-Danish singer-songwriter

MUSIC FEATURED (in order):

Asaneqarneq – Julie Berthelsen
We Are the Arctic – Small Time Giants
Tider (edit) – Nuuk Posse
Kalaallit Nunaat, Kalaallit Pigaat – Kalaallit
The Future (performed live for the show) – Simon Lynge
Age of Distraction – Simon Lynge

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe contributed to this show.

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This hour, the conversation winds around to politics, Greenland, President Trump, hope, fear … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

MUSIC FEATURED (in order):

United States of Whatever – Liam Lynch
Eyeball – They Might Be Giants
RIP Romeo – Mariachi el Bronx
My Very Own Ride – Kurt Elling, WDR Big Band
Pass Me Not – Ron Carter, Ricky Diller
Michael – Alison Brown, Steve Martin (ft. Aofie O’Donovan, Sarah Jarosz)
Lift Every Voice And Sing – Kirk Franklin

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For many of us, handbags are an essential part of our lives. They allow us to leave the house with everything we need, and they also can be another place to show off our status or style. This hour, we look at the evolution of the handbag. We'll talk about famous "It Bags", how handbags contributed to human development, and the impact of the Walmart "Birkin."

GUESTS:

Nancy MacDonell: Fashion journalist and fashion historian. She writes the Wall Street Journal column "Fashion with a Past.” Her new book is Empresses of Seventh Avenue: World War II, New York City, and the Birth of American Fashion
Hannah Carlson: Senior Lecturer in the Apparel Department at the Rhode Island School of Design. She’s also the author of Pockets: An Intimate History of How We Keep Things Close
Audrey Wollen: Book critic and writer whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper's, The New York Review of Books and other outlets. Her article “A Unified Theory of the Handbag” recently appeared in The Yale Review
Aarushi Bhandari: An Assistant Professor of Sociology at Davidson College. Her new book isAttention and Alienation

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on June 4, 2025.

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Marty Supreme is the first movie written and directed by Josh Safdie without his former filmmaking partner, his brother Benny Safdie. It is a sports comedy-drama-thriller about a professional ping pong player played by Timothée Chalamet, who just won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy.

And: Good Night, and Good Luck.: Live on Broadway is the recorded version of the live television broadcast of the stage version of the 2005 film mostly about the production of a live television show. Like the movie, it is written by George Clooney and Grant Heslov, with Clooney this time starring as Edward R. Murrow. The play was nominated for five Tony Awards, including Best Actor in a Play for Clooney.

GUESTS:

Xandra Ellin: Produces The Global Story for the BBC
Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Fantasy Filmball podcast
Irene Papoulis: Taught writing for a long time at Trinity College

MUSIC FEATURED (in order):

I Have the Touch – Peter Gabriel
Change – Tears for Fears
When I Fall In Love - Georgia Heers
How High The Moon - Georgia Heers
See You On The Radio – Grayson Hugh

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GUESTS:

Lane Brown: Features writer for New York Magazine, who recently wrote "A Theory of Dumb"
Stuart Jeffries: Journalist and author. His new book is A Short History of Stupidity
Shannon Mancus: Teaching Professor and Associate Department Head in the Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences Department at the Colorado School of Mines. You can follow Dr. Shan on Instagram and Substack at “Pop Smart Media”

MUSIC FEATURED (in order):

Able Sisters – Animal Crossing New Leaf OST
Manchild – Sabrina Carpenter
Dumb All Over – Frank Zappa
Get Stupid – Aston Merrygold
How Sweet to Be an Idiot – Neil Innes
Idiot Wind – Bob Dylan

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Touch, grip, read, dance, gesture — what can’t they do? Our fingers are so vital to our everyday life, sometimes it seems they have minds of their own.

This hour, a look at the hidden language of finger gestures, the future of Braille, and the joys and challenges of animating fingers for the movies.

GUESTS:

Kensy Cooperrider: Cognitive scientist, writer, and host of the Many Minds podcast
Jonathan McNicol: Producer of The Colin McEnroe Show
Sile O’Modhrain: Professor at the University of Michigan studying sound and touch and the ways in which they interact
Carlos Fernandez Puertolas: Animator with DreamWorks

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Cat Pastor, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show, which originally aired May 31, 2022.

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Touch, grip, read, dance, gesture — what can’t they do? Our fingers are so vital to our everyday life, sometimes it seems they have minds of their own.

This hour, a look at the hidden language of finger gestures, the future of Braille, and the joys and challenges of animating fingers for the movies.

GUESTS:

Kensy Cooperrider: Cognitive scientist, writer, and host of the Many Minds podcast
Jonathan McNicol: Producer of The Colin McEnroe Show
Sile O’Modhrain: Professor at the University of Michigan studying sound and touch and the ways in which they interact
Carlos Fernandez Puertolas: Animator with DreamWorks

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Cat Pastor, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show, which originally aired May 31, 2022.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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What is the status of expertise in our world? This hour we look at the so called "death of expertise." We talk about the role of experts throughout society. Plus, we learn how to master a skill, and the joy of trying.

GUESTS:

Tom Nichols: Staff writer at The Atlantic. He is the author of The Death of Expertise: The Campaign Against Established Knowledge and Why It Matters. He is also a professor emeritus of national-security affairs at the U.S. Naval War College, and a five-time undefeated Jeopardy champion
Alan Dove: Science journalist and co-host of the podcast This Week in Virology
Adam Gopnik: Staff writer for The New Yorker. He is the author of The Real Work: On The Mystery of Mastery,among other books

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on May 22, 2025.

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This hour, America’s Greatest Living Film Critic, David Edelstein, joins us to look back at the year in movies that was 2025.

Plus, The Nose tries to catch up on some of the awards-season movies it’s missed — movies like After the Hunt, Cover-Up, It Was Just an Accident, Jay Kelly, Sentimental Value, Train Dreams, and more.

GUESTS:

David Edelstein: America’s Greatest Living Film Critic
Sam Hadelman: Director of public relations at Dark Matter Media
Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Fantasy Filmball podcast
Carolyn Paine: An actress and comedian; she’s the founder and director of CONNetic Dance and the creative producer and choreographer for The Bushnell’s Digital Institute
Irene Papoulis: Taught writing for a long time at Trinity College
Bill Yousman: Professor of media studies at Sacred Heart University

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There are thought to be about 17 million living flies for every human alive on Earth.

They’re predators and parasites and pests, but they’re pollinators too. They help us solve crimes, heal wounds, and understand genetics and evolution. And they literally help at least one artist paint his paintings.

Also this hour: A look at David Cronenberg’s 1986 remake of, you guessed it: The Fly.

GUESTS:

Jonathan Balcombe: Author of Super Fly: The Unexpected Lives of the World’s Most Successful Insects
John Knuth: An artist
Gale Ridge: Associate scientist at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station
Jacob Trussell: Author of The Binge Watcher’s Guide to The Twilight Zone; he published the piece “Only Jeff Goldblum Could Make Us Fall in Love with ‘The Fly’” at Film School Rejects

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired August 19, 2021.

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This hour, the conversation winds around to CDs, records, and consuming music, Buddhist monks, our show, young listeners … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Dylan Reyes, and Eugene Amatruda contributed to this show.

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Wikipedia has lately been under attack, accused of bias and spreading propaganda. And for years students have been told not to trust the source. But are any of those claims fair? This hour, we take a look at the free online encyclopedia, how it functions, and its role in the modern world. We'll ask: can we trust the information we find there? And we'll celebrate the joys of falling down a Wikipedia rabbit hole.

GUESTS:

Stephen Harrison: Writer and tech lawyer. His new novel, The Editors, is inspired by Wikipedia
Amy Bruckman: Regents' Professor in the School of Interactive Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and author of Should You Believe Wikipedia?: Online Communities and the Construction of Knowledge
Annie Rauwerda: Writer, comedian, and Wikipedia influencer, who created “Depths of Wikipedia.” She was named “Wikimedian of the year” in the media category for 2022, and is currently working on a book about Wikipedia

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on May 14, 2025.

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Historian Timothy Snyder is the author of the books On Freedom and On Tyranny. This hour we listen back to the conversation we had in March about the latest in our country, and what we can learn from history.

GUEST:

Timothy Snyder: Holds the inaugural Chair in Modern European History, supported by the Temerty Endowment for Ukrainian Studies, at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. He is the author of books including On Freedom, On Tyranny, Our Malady, and more

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on March 26, 2025.

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As we have every year for at least the last 12 years, to round out the year, we round up the best jazz of the year.

GUESTS:

Jen Allen: A pianist, composer, arranger, and educator; her new album is Possibilities
Noah Baerman: A pianist, composer, and educator; in 2025, he has released a four-volume series of albums called Right Now
Gene Seymour: A film, television, and music critic

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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Lists feel especially suited to the digital age, but humans have been creating lists for a long time.

So why are we drawn to lists?

This hour, the art and the utility of the list.

GUESTS:

Matthew Dicks: A West Hartford elementary school teacher and the author of Twenty-One Truths About Love
Dan Kois: Editor and writer at Slate, where he recently wrote the list “The 50 Greatest Fictional Deaths of All Time”
Ann Powers: NPR Music’s critic and correspondent
Liam Young: Author of List Cultures: Knowledge and Poetics from Mesopotamia to BuzzFeed

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired October 4, 2022.

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On the night of December 4, we went to Watkinson School in Hartford, put 11 performers together on the stage there, and let them rock their way through 27 holiday- and holiday-adjacent classics.

We’re turning that two-hour performance into two radio shows over the two holiday weeks. Part onepremiered on Christmas Eve.

And this hour, live from the Foisie Family Amphitheater at Watkinson, it’s part two of our annual holiday spectacular!

GUESTS:

Jim Chapdelaine: Guitar and vocals, The Shinolas
Atla DeChamplain: Vocals, Atla & Matt
Matt DeChamplain: Piano, Atla & Matt
Lorne Entress: Drums and vocals, The Shinolas
Latanya Farrell: Vocals
Jim Henry: Guitar and vocals, The Shinolas
Paul Kochanski: Bass and vocals, The Shinolas
Steve Metcalf: Piano
Molly Sayles: Drums, Atla & Matt
Tyler Sherman: Bass, Atla & Matt

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Maegn Boone, Robyn Doyon-Aitken, Megan Fitzgerald, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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On the night of December 4, we went to Watkinson School in Hartford, put 11 performers together on the stage there, and let them rock their way through 27 holiday- and holiday-adjacent classics.

Our plan is to turn that two-hour performance into two radio shows over the two holiday weeks.

This hour, live from the Foisie Family Amphitheater at Watkinson, it’s part one of our annual holiday spectacular!

GUESTS:

Jim Chapdelaine: Guitar and vocals, The Shinolas
Atla DeChamplain: Vocals, Atla & Matt
Matt DeChamplain: Piano, Atla & Matt
Lorne Entress: Drums and vocals, The Shinolas
Latanya Farrell: Vocals
Jim Henry: Guitar and vocals, The Shinolas
Paul Kochanski: Bass and vocals, The Shinolas
Steve Metcalf: Piano
Molly Sayles: Drums, Atla & Matt
Tyler Sherman: Bass, Atla & Matt
Cynthia Wolcott: Vocals

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Maegn Boone, Robyn Doyon-Aitken, Megan Fitzgerald, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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This hour is about self-checkout technology and its impacts. We'll debate its pros and cons, look at the history of self-service at grocery stores, and talk about the future of technology in stores.

Plus, we'll learn about the psychology of "weak ties," and the value of talking to strangers in places like the checkout aisle.

GUESTS:

Christopher Andrews: Associate Professor and Chair of Sociology at Drew University, and author of The Overworked Consumer: Self-Checkouts, Supermarkets, and the Do-It-Yourself Economy
Stew Leonard Jr.: President and CEO of Stew Leonard’s, a regional supermarket chain headquartered in Connecticut
Gillian Sandstrom: Senior Lecturer in the Psychology of Kindness at the University of Sussex

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired on December 20, 2023.

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We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to vultures and sky burials, President Trump’s post about Rob Reiner’s death, our show with Paul Winter, Colin as chicken salad, the multiverse … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

MUSIC FEATURED (in order):

Hayloft – Mother Mother
Hypotheticals – Lake Street Dive
Vivid Light – Blood Orange
Christmas Eve Can Kill You – Andy Shauf, Madi Diz
Possibilities – Jen Allen
Anywhere – Ratboys
The Telephone Call – Kraftwerk

You can now watch our calls shows on Connecticut Public’s YouTube. Subscribe and get notified when we go live. Or join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, Robyn Doyon-Aitken, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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Josh O’Connor is having a bit of a moment. He’s been in four movies this year. On December 12, two of them became available to watch at home, including the biggest movie of his career so far, the new Knives Out mystery, Wake Up Dead Man. On December 13, O’Connor hosted Saturday Night Live. On December 16, the first trailer dropped for the soon-to-be biggest movie of his career so far, Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day.

Not too bad.

So The Nose is looking at the other new Josh O’Connor movie from last week: The Mastermind, written, directed, and edited by Kelly Reichardt. It’s a slow-cinema kind of heist movie set in 1970 and also starring Alana Haim, Hope Davis, John Magaro, Gaby Hoffman, and Bill Camp.

And: Sorry, Baby is a black comedy-drama written by, directed by, and starring Eva Victor. According to A24’s logline, “Something bad happened to Agnes. But life goes on … for everyone around her, at least.” Eva Victor, who plays Agnes, is nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Motion Picture — Drama.

GUESTS:

Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Fantasy Filmballpodcast
Carolyn Paine: An actress and comedian; she’s the founder and director of CONNetic Dance and the creative producer and choreographer for The Bushnell’s Digital Institute
Irene Papoulis: Taught writing for a long time at Trinity College
Lindsay Lee Wallace: A writer and journalist covering culture, health, technology, bats, and anything else people will answer her questions about

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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This hour we talk about the history of the Second Red Scare, a period also known as McCarthyism.

We learn about why the Scare took off in the United States, its impact, and how it eventually fizzled out. Plus, we look at the parallels and throughlines between that time period and our current moment.

And, a look at how the Second Red Scare impacted Hollywood, and how it, in turn, was reflected back through the movies.

GUESTS:

Clay Risen: Reporter and editor at The New York Times and the author of Red Scare: Blacklists, McCarthyism, and the Making of Modern America
Ann Hornaday: The Washington Post’s senior film critic; she is the author of Talking Pictures: How to Watch Movies

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on April 15, 2025.

Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today by visiting ctpublic.org/donate.

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You may know the Schuyler sisters, Angelica and Elizabeth (and Peggy!), from Hamilton. But the musical just scratches the surface of their fascinating lives. This hour, Amanda Vaill joins us to talk about her new book, Pride and Pleasure: The Schuyler Sisters in an Age of Revolution.

GUEST:

Amanda Vaill: Author, journalist and screenwriter. Her newest book is Pride and Pleasure: The Schuyler Sisters in an Age of Revolution

MUSIC FEATURED (in order):

Symphonie en ré (Presto) – André-Modeste Grétry
The Schuyler Sisters – Hamilton
Burn – Hamilton
Helpless – Hamilton
Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story – Hamilton

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This year marks 100 years since F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby was first published. And it turns out that it took a while for the novel to catch on in the United States, where it is now considered a classic.

This hour, we revisit the novel and its cultural impact.

GUESTS:

Rob Kyff: Teacher and author of Gatsby’s Secrets. He also writes a nationally syndicated column on language
Maureen Corrigan: Book critic for NPR's Fresh Air, and a Distinguished Professor of the Practice in Literary Criticism at Georgetown University. She is the author of So We Read On: How The Great Gatsby Came To Be and Why It Endures
Sara Chase: Actress who created the role of Myrtle Wilson in the Broadway production of The Great Gatsby

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on April 17, 2025.

Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today by visiting ctpublic.org/donate.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to domesticated cats, interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, real Christmas trees vs. artificial Christmas trees, the primary system in Connecticut and elsewhere, Rob Reiner’s death, the Bondi Beach shooting, the fairness doctrine … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

MUSIC FEATURED (in order):

Anywhere – Ratboys
When I Lose Control – Emi Meyer, Keb Mo’
Snowqueen of Texas – Weyes Blood
My Favorite Things – Nicole Zuraitis, Sean Harkness
No Kings – Jesse Wells, Joan Baez
Catching Bodies – Sekou (Cut for Time)
Take It With Me – Jubilant Sykes

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Stevie Wonder turned 75 this year. Also this year, our friend the jazz pianist Noah Baerman put out an album of covers of Wonder’s “message music.”

This hour, a look at Stevie Wonder as musical icon, as important civil rights figure, as utterly timeless songsmith.

Plus: some in-studio performances of Stevie Wonder classics.

GUESTS:

Noah Baerman: A pianist, composer, and educator; his newest album is Right Now Volume 4: Visions of Steveland
Kevin Gaines: The Julian Bond Professor of Civil Rights and Social Justice at the University of Virginia
Erica Tracy: A vocalist, songwriter, and arts curator

MUSIC FEATURED (in order):

You Haven’t Done Nothing – Stevie Wonder
Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I’m Yours) – Stevie Wonder
Superwoman (Where Were You When I Needed You) – Stevie Wonder
Higher Ground – Noah Baerman
Happy Birthday – Stevie Wonder
Big Brother – Stevie Wonder
Black Man – Stevie Wonder
Can We Fix Our Nation’s Broken Heart – Stevie Wonder
As – Noah Baerman

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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What counts as a robot? This hour, a look at what robots are and the latest in robot technology.

Plus, how robots were used and thought about in medieval times and Ancient Greece and the role of robots in science fiction.

GUESTS:

Chris Atkeson: Professor at the Robotics Institute and the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University
Adrienne Mayor: Author of Gods and Robots: Myths, Machines and Ancient Dreams of Technology, among other books
Elly Truitt: Author of Medieval Robots: Mechanism, Magic, Nature, and Art
Daniel H. Wilson: Author of Robopocalypse and How To Survive a Robot Uprising: Tips on Defending Yourself Against the Coming Rebellion, among other books

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired July 12, 2022.

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This hour, we look at the political erasure of history, and its impacts. Plus, we talk about why artists destroy their own work or the works of others. And, the history and evolution of erasers.

GUESTS:

Jason Stanley: Bissell-Heyd-Associates Chair in American Studies at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy at the University of Toronto. His latest book is Erasing History: How Fascists Rewrite the Past to Control the Future
Preminda Jacob: Associate Dean of the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, where she is also an Associate Professor of Art History and Museum Studies
Caroline Weaver: Former shopkeeper at CW Pencil Enterprise, a pencil shop in New York City. She is founder of The Locavore Guide and author of The Pencil Perfect: The Untold Story of a Cultural Icon

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on April 23, 2025.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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President Donald Trump has found inspiration for tariffs and more in the 25th President of the United States: William McKinley. This hour, we look at the life and legacy of McKinley, and why Trump is drawn to him. Plus, we'll learn about the Gilded Age and its parallels to today.

GUESTS:

Kevin Kern: Associate Professor of History at The University of Akron. He is co-author of Ohio: A History of the Buckeye State
Beverly Gage: Professor of 20th-century U.S. history at Yale University. Her newest book, G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century, received the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Biography.
Joan Antonson: Executive Director of the Alaska Historical Society

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on March 18, 2025.

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These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we’re doing another one.

In other words: Give us a call during the 1 p.m. EST hour about whatever you want to talk about. 888-720-9677.‌

And! Now you can watch our calls shows on Connecticut Public’s YouTube. Subscribe to get notified when we go live, and come say (nice) things to us in the comments!

MUSIC FEATURED (in order):

Super Mario Praise Break – 8 Bit Big Band (orig. Mario)
Automatic – Nate Smith, Lalah Hathaway (orig. Poynter)
What Was I Made for – Dara Starr Tucker (orig. Billie Eilish)
The Things We Do For Love – The Bird and the Bee (orig. 10cc)
Celebrate Me Home – Lizzy McAlpine (orig. Kenny Loggins)
Right Down the Line – Joshua Lee Turner (orig. Gerry Rafferty)
Jet – Sammy Rae & The Friends (orig. Paul McCartney, Wings)

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This week’s Nose — guest hosted by writer and journalist Lindsay Lee Wallace — looks at:

PLUR1BUS is a new post-apocalyptic sci-fi thriller series created by Vince Gilligan. Apple TV describes its premise like this: “The most miserable person on Earth must save the world from happiness.” Rhea Seehorn stars as Carol, one of the few people on the planet who weren’t part of the “Joining,” an event that turned most of humanity into a — very polite — hive mind.

And: Orwell: 2 + 2 = 5 is the new documentary from Raoul Peck. Peck’s 2017 film about James Baldwin, I Am Not Your Negro, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

GUESTS:

Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Fantasy Filmballpodcast
Mercy Quaye: Founder and president of The Narrative Project
Bill Yousman: Professor of media studies at Sacred Heart University

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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From fueling some of mankind's most violent events to inspiring your daughter's latest pop star obsession, mania has become an indispensable force in shaping our collective story. This hour we explore a centuries-long flower frenzy and modern-day fanaticism to uncover why we are so drawn to being "totally obsessed."

GUESTS:

Daniel Durbin: Professor of Communication and Director of the Institute of Sports, Media and Society at the University of Southern California Annenberg School
Sarah Bilston: Professor of English at Trinity College and author of the book, The Lost Orchid: A Story of Victorian Plunder & Obsession
Paul Barnes: Pianist and Professor of Music at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Glenn Korff School of Music

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode.

This episode is produced by Angelica Gajewski. Colin McEnroe, Robyn Doyon-Aitken, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on April 1, 2025.

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This hour, Daniel G. Lugo, the new president of Trinity College in Hartford, joins us to talk about the value of higher education, his background, the challenges of leading a college at this time, and more.

GUEST:

Daniel G. Lugo: Trinity College’s 23rd President

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This hour, the conversation winds around to whether less is more or better, birds, the Governor's residence, Sweden, tariffs, minimalism … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

MUSIC FEATURED (in order):

How Can It Be? – Skinshape
Juligen – Just D
Billie Jean – Vanessa Fernandez
Brand New Me – St. Etienne, Confidence Man
Smells Like Teen Spirit – Paul Anka
Cocaine Jobs – Cayden Wemple
Waters of March – Nicole Henry

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In 2014, Colin McEnroe and the playwright and screenwriter Tom Stoppard recorded a live conversation at The Study in New Haven. Stoppard, whom Colin considers “quite possibly the most dizzyingly proficient writer of the English tongue (who) did not grow up speaking English,” has died at the age of 88.

In appreciation of Stoppard and his work, we’re republishing their conversation with a note from Colin.

GUEST:

Tom Stoppard is a Czech-born playwright. His most famous works include "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead" and "Every Good Boy Deserves Favor." He co-wrote the screenplay for the 1998 Academy Award winning film, "Shakespeare in Love." Over the course of his career he has written for radio, television, film and stage. He' received one Academy Award and four Tony Awards for his work.

Betsy Kaplan and Chion Wolf produced the hour.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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What if you just don’t really enjoy food very much? What if you’re totally fine eating the same thing every single day? What if you think food is an inefficient way to get what you need to survive?

What if, rather than eating “food,” you just mixed a white powder (that is definitely not made of peoplebecause it’s made of soy protein isolate instead) with water and drank that in food’s place?

This hour: a look at what you might call the non-foodie movement and the “powdered food” meal replacement product that is Soylent.

GUESTS:

Carmen Baskauf: Former producer for Where We Live on Connecticut Public Radio
Chris Prosperi: Co-owner and chef of Metro Bis in Simsbury, Connecticut
Maryam Siddiqi: Lifestyle editor at The Globe and Mail
Christina Troitino: A Forbes contributor who covers the business and future of food and agriculture

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Carlos Mejia, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired June 5, 2019.

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This hour: recipes.

We talk with someone who makes recipes found on gravestones, and we consider what makes an effective recipe, the history of the modern recipe, and the art of the recipe introduction.

Plus, a look at the phenomenon of pop culture cookbooks.

GUESTS:

Dinah Bucholz: Author of The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook and The Unofficial Narnia Cookbook
Rosie Grant: Posts gravestone recipes and cemetery stories on her TikTok and Instagram
Francis Lam: Host of The Splendid Table and Editor-in-chief at Clarkson Potter
Chandra Ram: Cookbook author and food writer
Helen Zoe Veit: Associate Professor of History at Michigan State University

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, and Jonathan McNicol contributed to this show, which originally aired November 22, 2022.

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Snacking on snacks, savory or sweet, has become a way of life.

This hour, we sink our teeth into our snack-food obsessions.

GUESTS:

Andrea Hernández: Founder of Snaxshot
Julia Pistell: Freelance writer and co-founder of SeaTea Improv
Chris Prosperi: Chef and owner of Metro Bis
Mark Schatzker: Author of The Dorito Effect

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, Cat Pastor, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show, which originally aired July 25, 2022.

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This hour, we’re joined in studio by seven-time Grammy Award-winning local musician Paul Winter. His new album, Horn of Plenty, is out today.

Winter is known for his annual solstice concerts and his “earth music," which features music from around the world, as well as the sounds of animals like wolves, whales, or wood thrushes.

You can find details about his Winter Solstice Celebrations around New England here.

GUEST:

Paul Winter: Saxophonist, composer, and bandleader of the Paul Winter Consort

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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Should people use the Oxford comma? Is there a correct number of exclamation points per email? If someone ends a casual text with a period, does that mean they’re mad at you?

This hour: punctuation and how we use it. We talk about the history of punctuation marks, timeless punctuation debates, and how writing for texts and emails has changed the way we use punctuation.

GUESTS:

RS Benedict: A writer and bureaucrat whose fiction and non-fiction has been published in the New Haven Review, Fangoria, Current Affairs, and a bunch of other places
Claire Cock-Starkey: Author of Hyphens and Hashtags: The Stories Behind the Symbols on Our Keyboard
Julia Pistell: Founding member of Sea Tea Improv and one of the hosts of the Literary Disco podcast

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired November 3, 2021.

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What's it like being a nun in 2025? Sister Monica Clare joins us to explain her path to the Community of St. John Baptist and why she is sharing her story on TikTok and in a new memoir.

GUESTS:

Sister Monica Clare: Sister superior at the Community of St. John Baptist, an Episcopal convent based in New Jersey. She is also a spiritual counselor specializing in religious trauma, mental illness, and addiction. She is the author of A Change of Habit: Leaving Behind My Husband, Career, and Everything I Owned to Become a Nun
Ana Garriga: Co-host of the 'Las Hijas de Felipe' podcast, and co-author of Convent Wisdom: How Sixteenth-Century Nuns Could Save Your Twenty-First Century Life. Ana received her PhD from Brown University in 2024
Carmen Urbita: Co-host of the 'Las Hijas de Felipe' podcast, and co-author of Convent Wisdom: How Sixteenth-Century Nuns Could Save Your Twenty-First Century Life. Carmen will be receiving her PhD from Brown University later this year

MUSIC FEATURED (in order):

Organ Symphony No 5 in F Minor Op. 42, No. 1 (V. Toccata) – Joseph Nolan, Charles-Marie Widor
Dominique – Soeur Sourire (The Singing Nun)
Calling All Angels – k.d. lang (ft. Jane Siberry)
Maria – Sound of Music
Let the Mystery Be – Iris DeMent
Song of Bernadette – Jennifer Warnes

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It's been over 30 years since Bob Ross's The Joy of Painting went off the air, but the painter is still a household name.

This hour: a look at the undying force for permed hair and puffy little clouds and happy little trees that is Bob Ross.

Plus: Could we do a show about Bob Ross without also talking Thomas Kinkade? No we could not. And so no we do not.

GUESTS:

Nathan Badley: Cohost of the Nothing But a Bob Thang podcast
Alexis Boylan: Professor of Art History at UConn and the editor of Thomas Kinkade, The Artist in the Mall
Justin Croft: Cohost of the Nothing But a Bob Thang podcast
Emily Rhyne: Cinematographer at The New York Times

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Colin McEnroe and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired September 26, 2019.

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This hour, the conversation winds around to a local landmark, stomping, poetry, firewood, music, sprickets, bibliographies. … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

MUSIC FEATURED (in order):

Appalachian Morning – Paul Winter
Perfect Fit – Van Morrison
Salt Then Sour Then Sweet – Sara Bareilles, Brandi Carlile
Conservative Christian Right Wing Republican Straight White American Males – Todd Snider
Window To The World – Shawn Colvin
CUT FOR TIME I’d Miss the Birds – Joy Oladokun, Sheryl Crow
Keeper – Courtney Marie Andrews
Certified Senior Citizen – Mose Allison

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This week’s Nose looks at the way Saturday Night Live is using its cold opens to deal with the never-ending firehose of news each week — and the way James Austin Johnson’s recurring impression of President Trump is central to that strategy.

Plus: Pope Leo XIV announced his four favorite movies this week ahead of a “World of Cinema” event at the Vatican this weekend.

And: Death by Lightning is a four-part Netflix limited series about the James A. Garfield presidency and assassination. Its ensemble cast includes Michael Shannon as Garfield, Nick Offerman as Vice President Chester A. Arthur, and Matthew Macfadyen as assassin Charles Guiteau.

GUESTS:

David Edelstein: America’s Greatest Living Film Critic
Tracy Wu Fastenberg: Associate vice president for development at Connecticut Children’s
Bill Yousman: Professor of media studies at Sacred Heart University

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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This hour, it’s our show on the relationship and chemistry between Burt Bacharach and Dionne Warwick (and the lyricist Hal David) recorded live onstage at Watkinson School in Hartford.

It’s an hour of music, conversation, and demonstrations of how GPS can help you find the way to San Jose.

GUESTS:

Lou Bocciarelli: Bass
Atla DeChamplain: Vocals, Atla & Matt
Matt DeChamplain: Piano, Atla & Matt
Latanya Farrell: Vocals
Steve Metcalf: Piano
Molly Sayles: Drums

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Maegn Boone, Meg Dalton, Robyn Doyon-Aitken, Megan Fitzgerald, Dylan Reyes, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show, which originally aired April 24, 2025.

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In late October, thieves broke into the Louvre and stole priceless jewels. It’s a story that feels familiar in large part because of countless heist movies. This hour we look at heists, from real museums to our screens, and we discuss why they capture our attention.

GUESTS:

Leila Amineddoleh: Teaches Art Crime at New York University and Cultural Heritage Law at Fordham Law School. She is the chair of the Art Law Group at Tarter, Krinsky, and Drogin
John DeVore: A culture writer and author of Theater Kids: A True Tale of Off-Off Broadway
Glen Weldon: A host of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast. He reviews books, movies, comics and more for the NPR Arts Desk
Peter Kuitenbrouwer: Journalist and Registered Professional Forester. He is author of Maple Syrup: A Short History of Canada’s Sweetest Obsession

MUSIC FEATURED (in order):

Theme from Lupin III (Paris) – Yuji Ohno
It Takes a Thief – Coolio and Leshuan
Cat Burglar – Mexican Gunfight
Ocean’s 11 – Seeed
Drive It Like You Stole It – Sing Street
Pancake – Tori Amos

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This hour, the conversation winds around to spiders, healthcare, conspiracy theories, walking, election results, and more spiders. … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

MUSIC FEATURED (in order):

Life During Wartime (Live) – Talking Heads
Rainy Days and Mondays (from The Chair Company) – Aimee Mann
Song for a Bygone Era – Jesca Hoop
God’s a Different Sword – Folk Bitch Trio
Boars - Haley Heynderickx, Max Garcia Conover
Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald – Gordon Lightfoot
I’ve Enjoyed as Much of This as I Can Stand – Porter Wagoner

You can now watch our calls shows on Connecticut Public’s YouTube. Subscribe and get notified when we go live. Or join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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Blue Moon is the ninth movie directed by Richard Linklater and starring Ethan Hawke. It is written by Robert Kaplow and “inspired by” the letters of Lorenz Hart and Elizabeth Weiland. Hawke plays Hart on the night that the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Oklahoma! opens on Broadway.

And: Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere is written and directed by Scott Cooper based on the book Deliver Me from Nowhere by Warren Zanes. It stars Jeremy Allen White in the title role, and it mostly tells the story of Springsteen writing and recording his 1982 album, Nebraska, and some of the material that appeared on his 1984 followup, Born in the U.S.A.

GUESTS:

Rebecca Castellani: Co-founder of Quiet Corner Communications and director of marketing at Washington Montessori School
Jim Chapdelaine: An Emmy-winning musician and a patient advocate for people with rare cancers
Rich Hollant: Founder and principal of CO:LAB, a hall of fame designer, and a co-partner at CENTER
Steve Metcalf: Founder and director of the Garmany concert series at the University of Hartford’s Hartt School
Irene Papoulis: Taught writing for a long time at Trinity College

MUSIC FEATURED (in order):

Everything I’ve Got – Blossom Dearie
Mountain Greenery – Shirley Horn
Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered – Ella Fitzgerald
Nebraska – Jeremy Allen White
I’m on Fire – Jeremy Allen White
I’ll See You on the Radio – Grayson Hugh

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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Why do we dance? The answer is more complicated than you might think. Dancing has served a multitude of functions for various cultures throughout history, and there is even evidence to suggest that we, as a species, are biologically hard-wired to dance.

Whether it’s for social, spiritual, or even psychological reasons (yes, dance therapy is a thing), humans have been dancing since the very beginning.

This hour, a look at all things dance — from ancient history to modern, Hollywood dance movies.

GUESTS:

Henry Alford: Author of And Then We Danced: A Voyage Into the Groove
Christina Devereaux: Board-certified dance/movement therapist
David Edelstein: America’s Greatest Living Film Critic
Jonathan McNicol: Producer of The Colin McEnroe Show

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Xandra Ellin, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired July 5, 2018.

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GUESTS:

James Kimmel Jr.: Lawyer, author, Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine, and the Founder and Co-Director of the Yale Collaborative for Motive Control Studies. His new book is The Science of Revenge: Understanding the World's Deadliest Addiction--and How to Overcome It
Emily King: Visiting Assistant Professor of Writing and English at Washington and Lee University. She is author of Civil Vengeance: Literature, Culture, and Early Modern Revenge

MUSIC FEATURED (in order):

Il Trovatore: Anvil Chorus – Giuseppe Verdi, Budapest Festival Orchestra & Chorus
The Payback – James Brown
The Mariner’s Revenge Song – The Decemberists
These Boots Are Made for Walkin’ – Nancy Sinatra
Smile – Lily Allen
no body, no crime - Taylor Swift

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Food is an important part of the campaign trail, from tamales to McDonald's. This hour is all about how food is used in politics, including in the White House. Plus, the delicious return of the election cake.

GUESTS:

Alex Prud'homme: Journalist and author of several books, includingDinner with the President: Food, Politics, and a History of Breaking Bread at the White House. He also co-wrote My Life In France with Julia Child
Linda Civitello: Food historian and author of books including Baking Powder Wars and Cuisine and Culture

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Colin McEnroe, Robyn Doyon-Aitken, Frankie Devevo, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on October 29, 2024.

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We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to daylight saving time ending, Weapons and horror movies in general, the first Millennial saint, A House of Dynamite, our towels episode … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

MUSIC FEATURED (in order):

I Could Write a Book – The Supremes
I Didn’t Know What Time It Was – Sarah Vaughan
There’s a Small Hotel – Dana Lauren
I Wish I Were in Love Again – Joni Mitchell
With a Song in My Heart – John Pizzarelli
Sing for Your Supper – Mel Torme
This Can’t Be Love – Dinah Washington

You can now watch our calls shows on Connecticut Public’s YouTube. Subscribe and get notified when we go live. Or join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, Robyn Doyon-Aitken, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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A House of Dynamite is an apocalyptic political thriller directed by Kathryn Bigelow. It is Bigelow’s first movie in eight years, since Detroit in 2017. It stars an ensemble cast led by Idris Elba, Rebecca Ferguson, Gabriel Basso, Jared Harris, Tracy Letts, Anthony Ramos, and many more.

And: Task is a seven-part HBO limited series created by Brad Ingelsby. It is the second TV series created by Ingelsby, after Mare of Easttown. It stars Mark Ruffalo, Tom Pelphrey, Martha Plimpton, and more.

GUESTS:

Jim Chapdelaine: An Emmy-winning musician and a patient advocate for people with rare cancers
Irene Papoulis: Wrote a short textbook called The Essays Only You Can Write
Brian Slattery: A journalist and musician
Bill Yousman: Professor of media studies at Sacred Heart University

MUSIC FEATURED (in order):

Detachable Penis – King Missile
Atom Bomb Baby – The Five Stars
The Wake-Up Bomb – R.E.M.
On the Radio – Robert Homes, James Homes
Chloe Dancer/Crown of Thrones – Mother Love Bone
See You On The Radio – Grayson Hugh

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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There are few monsters more iconic or enduring than Frankenstein’s.

From Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel to the 1931 Universal monster movie to Guillermo del Toro’s current adaptation to next year’s Bride of Frankenstein remake, Frankenstein continues to resonate with fans around the world.

This hour, a look at what exactly it is that makes Frankenstein such a lasting, terrifying work of fiction.

Plus: a look at the so-called “re-animator of Bridgeport.”

GUESTS:

Michael Bielawa: A historian and poet and the author of several books, including Wicked New Haven and Wicked Bridgeport
Sidney Perkowitz: Co-editor of Frankenstein: How a Monster Became an Icon — The Science and Enduring Allure of Mary Shelley’s Creation
Eddy Von Mueller: Co-editor of Frankenstein: How a Monster Became an Icon — The Science and Enduring Allure of Mary Shelley’s Creation

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Greg Hill, Jonathan McNicol, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired October 31, 2017.

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GUESTS:

Lisa Fagin Davis: Professor of Practice in Manuscript Studies at the Simmons University School of Library and Information Science and Executive Director of the Medieval Academy of America
Garry J. Shaw: Author and journalist covering archaeology, history, and world heritage. His newest book is Cryptic: From Voynich to the Angel Diaries, the Story of the World's Mysterious Manuscripts
David Weinberg: Podcast producer and writer. He is lead instructor for the Transom Traveling Workshops. He formerly worked at Marketplace and KCRW. He produced an episode about "Louie Louie" for the podcast Lost Notes

MUSIC FEATURED (in order):

Lost in Translation – The Neighbourhood
Columba aspexit, BN 54 – Christopher Page, Emma Kirkby, Gothic Voices
Secret Messages – Juliana Hatfield
The Book of Love – Mike Doughty
The Philosopher’s Stone – Van Morrison
Louie, Louie – The Kingsmen
Louie, Louie – The Sandpipers

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This hour, a look at the path to sainthood and how it’s changed over time.

Plus: the local example of the Rev. Michael McGivney.

GUESTS:

Teresa Berger: Professor of Liturgical Studies and Catholic Theology at Yale Divinity School
Joseph Laycock: Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Texas State University and author of The Seer of Bayside: Veronica Lueken and the Struggle to Define Catholicism
Rachel McCleary: Lecturer in the Economics Department at Harvard University and a nonresident Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute
James Sullivan: Rector of the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Waterbury

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Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Colin McEnroe, Sara Gasparotto, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired March 31, 2022.

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In other words: Give us a call during the 1 p.m. EDT hour about whatever you want to talk about. 888-720-9677.

Plus, now you can watch our calls shows YouTube! Come say (nice) things to us in the comments! Just search for Connecticut Public.

MUSIC FEATURED (in order):

Lester Leaps In – Live from Emmet’s Place (Finale)
Depressed – Ann-Marie, Lauren Spencer Swift
Um Brinde – Djavan
When The Lights Go Out – Sarah Jarosz
Crutch – Yazmin Lacey
On Your Side (Starman) – Lindsay Lou
American Tune – Shawn Colvin

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Guest host comedian Shawn Murray returns! This week’s Nose looks at:

Mr. Scorsese is a five-part, more-than-four-hour documentary series about the life and work of the director of Goodfellas and Taxi Driver and The Departed (and many more). It’s directed by Rebecca Miller and streaming on Apple TV.

And: No Other Land won this year’s Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. It covers the destruction of a Palestinian community in the West Bank, and it’s directed by a collective of four Palestinian-Israeli activists. No Other Land premiered at the 2024 Berlin International Film Festival, more than 20 months ago, and it has just become widely available to see in this part of the world basically for the first time this week.

GUESTS:

James Hanley: Co-founder of Cinestudio at Trinity College
Lindsay Lee Wallace: A writer and journalist covering culture, health, technology, bats, and anything else people will answer her questions about
Bill Yousman: Professor of media studies at Sacred Heart University

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Eugene Amatruda contributed to this show.

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B. F. Skinner thought pigeons were so smart they could be used to guide missiles during World War II. He proposed a system in which pigeons would essentially pilot a missile. Skinner said pigeons could be trained to peck at a screen to adjust the trajectory of the missile toward its target. Project Pigeon was funded but never used.

In 2013, New York conceptual artist Duke Reilly trained half his flock of pigeons to carry contraband cigars from Cuba to Florida and the other half to carry tiny video cameras documenting the smuggling flight of their comrades.

Another group of researchers trained pigeons to reliably distinguish between the paintings of Picasso and Monet, even if they had never seen a particular painting before.

This hour, everything you ever wanted to know about pigeons but were afraid to ask.

GUESTS:

Yoni Applebaum: A social and cultural historian
Andrew Blechman: Author of Pigeons: The Fascinating Saga of the World’s Most Revered and Reviled Bird
Wanda Corn: The Robert and Ruth Halperin Professor Emerita in the department of art and art history at Stanford University
Patrick Skahill: Connecticut Public’s assistant director of news and talk shows

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Tess Aaronson, Jonathan McNicol, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired November 12, 2013.

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Greek writer Herodotus "invented" history by turning away from myth to a new kind of writing. And although he wrote his Histories nearly 2,500 years ago, local author and classicist Emily Katz Anhalt argues that his example and prose are more relevant than ever. This hour, we look at what we can learn from Herodotus and the ancient Greek myths.

GUEST:

Emily Katz Anhalt: Professor of Classics at Sarah Lawrence College. She is the author of Enraged: Why Violent Times Need Ancient Greek Myths and Embattled: How Ancient Greek Myths Empower Us to Resist Tyranny. Her new book is Ancient Wisdom for Polarized Times: Why Humanity Needs Herodotus, the Man Who Invented History

MUSIC FEATURED (in order):

Thracian Gaia – Daemonia Nymphe
Road to Hell (live) – Original Cast of Hadestown
Dance of the Satyrs – Daemonia Nymphe
Greek to Me – Dugger Band
Hymn to Bacchus – Daemonia Nymphe
History Has Its Eyes On You – Hamilton

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The microphone makes everything we do on the radio possible. This hour we celebrate the invention and look at the role of microphones in music. Plus hot mics, mic drops, and more.

GUESTS:

Susan Rogers: Multi-platinum record producer, cognitive neuroscientist, professor at Berklee College of Music and co-author of the book This is What It Sounds Like: What the Music You Love Says About You
Azi Paybarah: Politics Reporter for The Washington Post
Forrest Wickman: Slate's culture editor

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Colin McEnroe, Angelica Gajewski, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on March 25, 2025.

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We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to the “No Kings” protests, Star Wars merchandise, the labor market, Gilmore Girls, yacht rock … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

MUSIC FEATURED (in order):

Dazzling - Casiopea
And Love Goes On - Earth, Wind, & Fire
REAL THING - DRUGDEALER ft. WEYES BLOOD
Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise - The Javier Nero Jazz Orchestra with Veronica Swift
Going Out Of My Head - Sergio Mendes & Brasil ‘66
Living - Dominique Adams
Concerto in E Minor, Op. 11 (Chopin) - Tianyao Lyu, final round of Chopin Competition

You can now watch our calls shows on Connecticut Public’s YouTube. Subscribe and get notified when we go live. Or join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Robyn Doyon-Aitken, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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Rope is an interesting movie in Alfred Hitchcock’s œuvre. It’s his first color picture. It’s one of 13 movies he made based on plays, and it’s one of four movies he made that are set basically entirely in single locations (along with Lifeboat, Dial M for Murder, and Rear Window).

But of the four single-location pictures, Rope is the only one that Hitchcock made to really seem like a filmed play. It unfolds in real-time, in one room, in long, continuous shots that are edited together in ways that are meant to hide most of the cuts.

As Hartford Stage’s new adaptation of the play Rope is based on opens, we present a conversation taped on their stage, in front of an audience, about Alfred Hitchcock, his movies in general, and Rope, the movie and the play, in particular.

Note: This podcast version of the show is more than eight minutes longer than the episode as it’s airing on the radio.

GUESTS:

Illeana Douglas: The Official Movie Star of The Colin McEnroe Show and the author of Connecticut in the Movies: From Dream Houses to Dark Suburbia
Sidney Gottlieb: Professor of communication and media studies at Sacred Heart University and the editor of The Hitchcock Annual
Jeffrey Hatcher: A playwright and screenwriter; he wrote the adaptation of Patrick Hamilton’s Rope that’s currently in production at Hartford Stage

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Thanks to Lucas Clopton and Jennifer Levine at Hartford Stage.

Colin McEnroe, Robyn Doyon-Aitken, Dylan Reyes, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show.

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Women scientists and inventors have been making ground-breaking discoveries since Agnodice pretended to be a man in order to become the first female anatomist in ancient Greece.

Yet, women's scientific contributions have historically been hidden in the footnotes of the work men claimed as their own.

Women scientists are banding together to call out bias and give credit where it’s due— one Wikipedia page at a time. This hour, we talk to four of them.

GUESTS:

Ainissa Ramirez: Author, scientist, and science communicator. She gave a TED talk on the importance of STEM education and was a mechanical engineering professor at Yale for ten years. She is the author of The Alchemy of Us: How Humans and Matter Transformed One Another
Kathryn Clancy: Professor of Anthropology at the University of Illinois
Emily Temple-Wood - Family medicine resident and founder of WikiProject Women Scientists
Jessica Wade: Royal Society University Research Fellow and Lecturer in Functional Materials at Imperial College London

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today by visiting ctpublic.org/donate.

Colin McEnroe and Chion Wolf contributed to the show, which originally aired April 9, 2019.

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Rope has been foundational to so much of human civilization. It's made sailing, hunting, building, and so much more, possible. This hour, we look at the history and utility and future of rope.

GUESTS:

Tim Queeney: Author of Rope: How a Bundle of Twisted Fibers Became the Backbone of Civilization, among other books
Manuel Medrano: A PhD candidate in Harvard’s History Department, who studies quipus
Tahira Reid Smith: Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Design and the Director of the REID Lab at Penn State. She is also the patented inventor of the Automatic Double Dutch Machine, and the founder of Jump Dreams, Inc.

MUSIC FEATURED (in order):

Flamingo – Kero Kero Bonito
The Last Shanty – Derina Harvey Band
Rope – Foo Fighters
Tightrope – Janelle Monae
Rope A Dope – Victor Oladipo, 2 Chainz
Double Dutch – Charity

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This hour is all about notebooks. We'll talk about the history and evolution of notebooks, favorite examples, and celebrate the joy of writing things down. Plus, a look at the Notes App.

GUESTS:

Roland Allen: Book publisher and author of The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper
Charley Locke: Journalist, and contributing writer to The New York Times Magazine, who wrote “Keep Your Notes App Under Lock and Key” for The Atlantic

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today by visiting ctpublic.org/donate.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on October 10, 2024.

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We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation — with our old friend Chion Wolf at the helm this time! — winds around to family shorthand, tech bros, bunkers, bodies, adventures… Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

MUSIC FEATURED (in order):

La Puerta - Roy Hargrove Big Band
You Only Get What You Give - New Radicals
Go Gina - SZA
Don’t Break Down On Me - Sarah Jarosz
Bless the Telephone - Labi Siffre
The Telephone Call - Kraftwerk

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This year is the 50th anniversary of A Chorus Line and Chicago and the 10th anniversary of Hamilton. Meanwhile, new Broadway shows are struggling to make their money back. This hour, we take stock of stage musicals today, learn how they’re developed, and ask about their status in our culture.

GUESTS:

Alexander Gemignani: Actor, music director, orchestrator, conductor, composer/lyricist, educator, and artistic director of The National Music Theater Conference at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center
Elysa Gardner: Theater critic for The New York Sun and a contributor to The New York Times. She is also author of Magic To Do: Pippin's Fantastic, Fraught Journey to Broadway and Beyond
Paul Hodge: Award-winning writer-composer from Brisbane, Australia. His work has been produced Off-Broadway, in London, Edinburgh and Australia, including at the Sydney Opera House. His new musical, The Great Emu War, is currently at the Goodspeed

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COVID has caused more than 7 million confirmed deaths (and estimates of the actual total go well past 20 million).

Here’s the even worse news: It wasn’t the truly devastating pandemic epidemiologists have feared for decades.

But here’s the good news: We learned every possible lesson from COVID, and now we’re utterly prepared for the next big pandemic that’s inevitably barreling towards us.

No. Wait. Maybe I’ve gotten that last bit wrong.

GUEST:

Michael T. Osterholm: Founding director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota and the co-author of The Big One: How We Must Prepare for Future Deadly Pandemics

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe contributed to this show.

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This hour, a look at words and usage and grammar and language and all that fun stuff.

Have you noticed how we Americans have become “so bloody keen on Britishisms?” Ben Yagoda joins us to talk about his book, Gobsmacked! The British Invasion of American English.

Plus, there’s been an update to The Chicago Manual of Style. We take a look at the CMOS, in particular, and bang on (there it is again!) about dreaded style guides, in general.

GUESTS:

Scott Huler: The author of seven non-fiction books; his most recent is A Delicious Country: Rediscovering the Carolinas along the Route of John Lawson’s 1700 Expedition
Ben Yagoda: The author, coauthor, or editor of 14 books and the host of the podcast The Lives They’re Living

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today by visiting ctpublic.org/donate.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on October 8, 2024.

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We once did a show about beer jingles, which is a great example of how a product becomes a culture. Cereal as a culture, is off the charts. There’s the box, there’s the prize, there’s the character, there’s the jingles, there’s the commercials. Most of us can probably sing some jingles and discuss favorite cereal personae from our childhoods, which makes it kind of weird when marketing experts tell us that cereal consumption is in decline.

Who are we without cereal. It has been a staple of the American breakfast since Dr. John Kellogg first tried to purify the traditional American breakfast of veal, oysters, and wild pigeon with his first flakes.

This hour, we talk about cereal, we eat cereal, and we try to rekindle our love of cereal.

GUESTS:

Eddy Chavey: Founder and president of MrBreakfast.com
Topher Ellis: Cereal historian, co-author of The Great American Cereal Book: How Cereal Got Its Crunch, and editor of Boxtops
Linda Giuca: Freelance writer and former food columnist for The Hartford Courantand co-owner of Alforno restaurant in Old Saybrook, Connecticut
Deena Shanker: Former food and consumer goods reporter for Quartz
Michael Smulders: The late owner of Bakery on Main in East Hartford, Connecticut

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Lydia Brown, Tucker Ives, Betsy Kaplan, Jonathan McNicol, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired January 28, 2016.

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This hour, the conversation winds around to Bad Bunny, the Supreme Court, recycling, midges, nominative determinism, speed cameras, the government shutdown … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

MUSIC FEATURED (in order):

Notion – The Rare Occasions
Mr. Eclectic – Laufey
Itsumo – Mei Semones
Anything But Now – Cecile McLorin Salvant
J'ai Rencontré L'homme De Ma Vie – Emilie-Claire Barlow
Little Claws – Genevieve Ardati, Real Bad Man
Leaves That Are Green – Pete Philly

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One Battle After Another is the 11th feature film directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. It is written and produced by Anderson and inspired by the novel Vineland by Thomas Pynchon. It stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Benicio Del Toro, Regina Hall, Teyana Taylor, Chase Infiniti, and more. It is the widest release, the widest opening, and the highest-grossing opening of Anderson’s career. One Battle After Another is currently the No. 1 movie in the world.

And: The Lowdown is the second television series created by Sterlin Harjo. It is set in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in the same fictional universe as the first Harjo-created TV series, Reservation Dogs. It stars Ethan Hawke and Keith David.

GUESTS:

James Hanley: Co-founder of Cinestudio at Trinity College
Rich Hollant: Founder and principal of CO:LAB, a hall of fame designer, and a co-partner at CENTER
Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Fantasy Filmball podcast
Irene Papoulis: Wrote a short textbook called The Essays Only You Can Write

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Numbers are so fundamental to our understanding of the world around us that we maybe tend to think of them as an intrinsic part of the world around us. But they aren’t. Humans invented numbers just as much as we invented all of language.

This hour, we look at the anthropological, psychological, and linguistical ramifications of the concept of numbers.

And we look at one philosophical question too: Are numbers even real in the first place?

GUESTS:

Brian Clegg: Author of Are Numbers Real? The Uncanny Relationship of Mathematics and the Physical World
Caleb Everett: Author of Numbers and the Making of Us: Counting and the Course of Human Cultures

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired October 12, 2017.

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The 2025 winner of The Nobel Peace Prize will be announced in a few weeks. President Donald Trump has made it clear that he wants it.

This hour we look at the history of the Nobel Peace Prize and its status in our world. We learn about past winners, how winners are selected, and ask about its relevance.

GUESTS:

Jay Nordlinger: A political journalist and music critic. He is a Senior Resident Fellow at the Renew Democracy Initiative, the music critic of The New Criterion, and his Substack is called Onward and Upward. He is the author of Peace, They Say: A History of the Nobel Peace Prize, the Most Famous and Controversial Prize in the World, among other books
Julie Mennella: Faculty member at the Monell Center. She is a winner of the 2025 Ig Nobel Prize in Pediatrics

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Most of the Western world is organized by alphabetical order, which is so much more than the 26 letters that make up the alphabet.

Alphabetical order is an organizing principle that allows us to save, order, and access thousands of years of humankind’s most precious documents and ideas. Without it, we’d never know what came before us or how to pass on what’s with us. It’s ubiquitous, yet invisible in daily life.

This hour, a conversation about how we order our world and why we do it.

GUESTS:

Nicholson Baker: A novelist and essayist; his most recent book is Finding a Likeness: How I Got Somewhat Better at Art
Judith Flanders: Author of A Place for Everything: The Curious History of Alphabetical Order
Peter Sokolowski: Editor-at-large at Merriam-Webster

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired January 21, 2021.

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We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to Bridgeport’s socialist former mayor, Sneaky Pete and our show on psychics, the possible link between double jointedness and neurodivergence, the state of streaming, Ta-Nehisi Coates’ appearance on The Ezra Klein Show … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

MUSIC FEATURED (in order):

Harry’s Theme (Lite Pullman) – Vulfmon, Harry Whitford
Bedlam – Elvis Costello
Take Me Dancing – Doja Cat, SZA
Three Little Words – Samara Joy
Township Medley – Themba Mkhize, SWR Big Band
香港之夜 – Teresa Teng
Chilly Winds Don’t Blow (Bolden. Remix) – Nina Simone, Bolden.

You can now watch our calls shows on Connecticut Public’s YouTube. Subscribe and get notified when we go live. Or join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Robyn Doyon-Aitken, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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The singer and songwriter Nick Drake died in 1974. He was just 26, and he remains a bit of a mystery. He recorded three albums but played very few shows. There is no known film or video footage of him.

But his music is maybe more popular now than it’s ever been. It shows up on movie soundtracks, in TV shows, in commercials.

And then there’s Nick Drake’s mother, Molly Drake. It turns out she was an accomplished (and possibly ultimately important?) singer and songwriter, too. But she never released any music or performed publicly in her lifetime, as far as we know.

This hour, a look at the music (and mystery) of Nick (and Molly) Drake.

GUESTS:

Jim Chapdelaine: An Emmy-winning musician and a patient advocate for people with rare cancers
Howard Fishman: A musician and composer and the author of To Anyone Who Ever Asks: The Life, Music, and Mystery of Connie Converse
Will Hermes: Writes about music “and life’s other mysteries,” and he’s a longtime contributor to All Things Considered; he’s the author, most recently, of Lou Reed: The King of New York
Angie Martoccio: A senior music writer at Rolling Stone

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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Plus, a look at how modern productions are exploring new ways for audiences to engage with the ancient Greek tragedy.

GUESTS:

Elizabeth Bobrick: A Visiting Scholar in Wesleyan’s Department of Classical Studies. She also teaches for Wesleyan’s Center for Prison Education. Her Substack is “This Won’t End Well: On Loving Greek Tragedy,” and her writing has also appeared in The New York Times and Salon
Bryan Doerries: A writer, director, and translator who currently serves as Artistic Director of Theater of War Productions. He is author of The Theater of War: What Ancient Greek Tragedies Can Teach Us Today, among other books
Anna Conser: Assistant Professor of Classics at the University of Cincinnati

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The myth of the great white, exacerbated by the 1975 megahit Jaws, is false. Great whites are not the aggressive creatures still portrayed in popular media. We’re more likely to survive a shark bite simply because sharks don’t like the way we taste. They spit us out if they accidentally mistake us for a seal.

We have a higher risk of getting hit by lightning than killed by a great white shark.

The convergence of globally warming waters off our east coast and the repopulation of seals and great whites after a previous panic nearly wiped them out, means we’ll have to learn to share the ocean.

Instead of pursuing shark repellents like sonar buoys, electric shark shields, and seal contraception, should we consider how we can co-exist with the creatures of the sea? Besides, whose ocean is it anyway? The fish were there first.

We have a higher risk of getting hit by lightning than killed by a great white shark. Instead of pursuing shark repellents like sonar buoys, electric shark shields, and seal vasectomies, should we consider how we can co-exist with the creatures of the sea? This hour, a look at our relationship with sharks.

GUESTS:

George Burgess: Director emeritus of the Florida Program for Shark Research and curator emeritus of the International Shark Attack File
Greg Johnson: Lifeguard at Nauset Beach in Orleans, Massachusetts
Sy Montgomery: A naturalist and the author of many books, including The Great White Shark Scientist

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Carolyn McCusker, Jonathan McNicol, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired July 3, 2019.

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How do you feel about your neck? Maybe you only think about it when you’re sore from sleeping wrong or from sitting at a desk all day. But for centuries, humans have worried about their necks, decorated them with jewelry and clothes and ties, and exploited their weaknesses with knives and garrotes and guillotines. This hour, a look at necks — human and animal. Plus, the history and symbolism of the classic turtleneck.

GUESTS:

Kent Dunlap: Professor of Biology at Trinity College, Hartford, and author of The Neck: A Natural and Cultural History
Nancy MacDonell: Fashion journalist and fashion historian. She writes The Wall Street Journal column "Fashion with a Past.” Her new book is Empresses of Seventh Avenue: World War II, New York City, and the Birth of American Fashion

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Colin McEnroe, Robyn Doyon-Aitken, Angelica Gajewski, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on March 12, 2025.

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In other words: Give us a call during the 1 p.m. EDT hour about whatever you want to talk about. 888-720-9677.

Plus, now you can watch our calls shows YouTube! Come say hi to us in the comments! Just search for Connecticut Public.

MUSIC FEATURED (in order):

Just How It Should Go – Nightshifts
WHERE IS MY HUSBAND! – Raye
Children of the Baked Potato – Thundercat, Remi Wolf
September Grass – James Taylor
Tu Sais Le Printemps – Dar Williams
Robin’s Egg – Iron & Wine, I’m With Her
I Could Be in Love with Someone Like You – Jason Robert Brown

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In July, after CBS canceled The Late Show, President Trump posted that “Jimmy Kimmel is next.” And now his administration seems nearly to have made that happen.

And: The Paper is a sequel to and spinoff from the American version of The Office set at a newspaper in Toledo, Ohio. It stars Domhnall Gleeson, Sabrina Impacciatore, Chelsea Frei, and Oscar Nunez reprising his role as Oscar Martinez from The Office.

And finally: The Naked Gun to and a reboot of the Naked Gun film series and the Police Squad! franchise. It’s the fourth movie in the series, and it stars Liam Neeson, Pamela Anderson, Paul Walter Hauser, and more.

GUEST:

Xandra Ellin: A producer for the BBC’s The Global Story, and she writes the How Can I Make This About Me Substack
Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Fantasy Filmballpodcast
Carolyn Paine: An actress and comedian: she’s the founder and director of CONNetic Dance and the creative producer and choreographer for The Bushnell’s Digital Institute

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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There is perhaps no figure more emblematic of the paranormal than the psychic. Able to predict the future, see into the past, and even communicate with the dead, the psychic’s (supposed) awesome gifts are matched only by his or her ability to withstand skepticism and ridicule.

But are our misgivings towards these intuitives justified? Is it merely smoke and mirrors which they’ve learned to master, or are they, in fact, possessed of powers beyond our comprehension?

This hour, we speak with believers, skeptics, and self-proclaimed psychics to find out.

GUESTS:

Daryl Bem: Emeritus professor of psychology at Cornell University and the author of Feeling the Future: Experimental Evidence for Anomalous Retroactive Influences on Cognition and Affect
Allison Dubois: A psychic medium and profiler and the author of several books, including Into the Dark: How the Dead Help Us Heal
Benjamin Radford: Deputy editor for Skeptical Inquirer and co-host of Squaring the Strange
Emily Stroia: An ituitive medium, the founder of the Intuitive Soul Academy, and the author of several books, including Psychic Development for Beginners
Jenniffer Weigel: An Emmy Award-winning broadcast journalist and the author of Psychics, Healers and Mediums: A Journalist, a Road Trip, and Voices from the Other Side

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired June 28, 2017.

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GUESTS:

Maria Tatar: Professor of Folklore and Mythology at Harvard University. Her latest book is The Heroine with 1001 Faces. She is also the editor of The Annotated Peter Pan: The Centennial Edition
Jonathan Russell Clark: The author of Skateboard and An Oasis of Horror in a Desert of Boredom. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, L.A. Times, The Boston Globe, and Esquire
Ann Yeoman: A Jungian Analyst and the author of Now or Neverland: Peter Pan and the Myth of Eternal Youth and the co-author of C.G. Jung's Collected Works: The Basics

MUSIC FEATURED (in order):

I Don't Wanna Grow Up – Tom Waits
Never Never Land – James Taylor
I’ve Gotta Crow – Mary Martin, Kathy Nolan
Darling Children – Alison Fraser
I'm Flying – Mary Martin
Captain Hook’s Waltz – Cyril Ritchard, Peter Pan Ensemble
I Won’t Grow Up – The Fools

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President Donald Trump has been using the phrase “common sense” a lot. But it turns out that this is nothing new for politicians.

This hour, we look at how common sense is used in politics. Plus, is there really such a thing as common sense? We dig into what it means and if it’s possible to teach it to artificial intelligence.

GUESTS:

Sophia Rosenfeld: Walter H. Annenberg Professor of History and Chair of the Department of History at the University of Pennsylvania; she is the author of multiple books, including Common Sense: A Political History and her new book, The Age of Choice: A History of Freedom in Modern Life
Mark Whiting: Research fellow at the Computational Social Science lab at the University of Pennsylvania and chief technology officer of the startup Pareto.AI; you can find the common sense survey here
Mayank Kejriwal: Research professor and principal scientist at the University of Southern California

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Angelica Gajewski, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on March 6, 2025.

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We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation — with our old friend Chion Wolf at the helm this time! — winds around to tilting at (actual) windmills, which way you should put the silverware in your drying rack, reactions to the murder of Charlie Kirk, float tanks, water cremation, online dating … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

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Laura Nyro’s most famous compositions — “Stoned Soul Picnic,” “Stoney End,” “When I Die,” “Wedding Bell Blues,” “Eli’s Coming” — are jewels of mainstream music, and her covers of songs like “Jimmy Mack” and “Gonna Take a Miracle” are legendary.

But she was uncomfortable under the spotlight and withdrew from it to become the Belle of Danbury, Connecticut.

This hour: a night of singing, reflecting, and celebrating recorded in front of a live audience at Watkinson School in Hartford.

GUESTS:

Jim Chapdelaine: Guitar and vocals
Latanya Farrell: Vocals and tambourine
Steve Metcalf: Piano and vocals

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe contributed to this show, which originally aired February 21, 2020.

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It has been 24 years since the sunny late summer Tuesday morning that changed basically everything.

This hour, a look back at September 11, 2001, and its long shadow, still darkening our days a bit now.

We talk to a historian about the generation that has lived its life in a post-9/11 world and a critic about the influence of 9/11 on and in our popular culture.

GUESTS:

Lindsay Ellis: An author, video essayist, and film critic; her new novel is Apostles of Mercy
Matthew Warshauer: Professor of history at Central Connecticut State University and the author of Creating and Failing the 9/11 Generation: The Real Story of September 11

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired September 11, 2024.

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The history of sugar is a complicated one. Once available to only the rich and powerful, sugar now shows up in everything from cereals and soups, to cigarettes and body scrubs. It is known to both have medicinal qualities and to contribute to a variety of health problems.

This hour we trace the history of sugar and discuss how the sugar industry may be driving a global addiction to the sweet substance.

GUESTS:

Marc Aronson: Associate Professor at Rutgers University and co-author of Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science
Gary Taubes: Investigative science and health journalist and author of The Case Against Sugar: Why We Get Fat and What to Do About It
Kathleen DesMaisons: Expert in chemical dependency treatment and author several books including Potatoes Not Prozac: Solutions for Sugar Sensitivity

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired on January 9, 2018.

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The U.S. Postal Service was one of our earliest experiments in democracy. The vast transportation networks that led to more than 30,000 post offices remain at the heart of many communities and still reach into the most remote parts of our country.

Today, a look at the past and the future of the post office.

GUESTS:

Winifred Gallagher: Author of several books including How the Post Office Created America: A History
Evan Kalish: Self-proclaimed postal tourist and creator of Postlandia. He manages the world’s largest curated collection of post office building photographs and has now visited over 11,000 post offices
Amanda Martinez: Former Market Research Analyst at United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General Risk Analysis Research Center

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired December 14, 2017.

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This hour, the conversation winds around to Robert Frost, bucket lists, the Supreme Court, spotted lantern flies, New England autonomy, and dating. … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

MUSIC FEATURED (in order):

Sweet Love by Jen Allen
The Second Time Around (The Dutch Heritage Series) by Fay Claassen & the Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw
Raised on Robbery by Kate Staples, Jesca Hoop, & Lail Arad
Do (The City Winery Sessions) by Lawrence & Lake Street Dive
Don't Let The Bastards Get You Down by Margo Price
Jessie (The Sweater Sessions II) by Couch
Ninho de Vespa by Dori Caymmi, MPB4, & Paulo Cesar Pinheiro

You can now watch our calls shows on Connecticut Public’s YouTube. Subscribe and get notified when we go live. Or join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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If you listen to The Colin McEnroe Show regularly, you likely know that Colin has been influenced by two media theorists: Marshall McLuhan and Neil Postman.

Postman wrote Amusing Ourselves to Death, among other books, and McLuhan is probably most famous for the phrase "The medium is the message," in addition to other influential ideas.

This hour, we look at the ideas of McLuhan and Postman, and discuss why they still resonate so much today.

GUESTS:

Bill Yousman: Professor of Media Studies at Sacred Heart University
Megan Garber: Staff Writer at The Atlantic who writes about the intersection of politics and culture. She is the author of On Misdirection: Magic, Mayhem, American Politics. She previously worked for Neiman Journalism Lab and the Columbia Journalism Review
Andrew McLuhan: Founder and director of The McLuhan Institute, which was founded to conserve and continue media studies in the McLuhan tradition. He is the son of Eric McLuhan and the grandson of Marshall McLuhan

MUSIC FEATURED (in order):

Passacaglia by Johan Halvorsen (performed by Grégoire Blanc)
Please Mr. Postman by The Marvelettes
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised by Gil Scott-Heron
Medium is the Massage by Akira the Don, Marshall McLuhan
Fish n’ Chip Paper by Elvis Costello
Amusing Ourselves to Death by Winston Apple

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You have probably encountered Robert Frost through his poems “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” or “The Road Not Taken.” But how much do you know about the man behind the poetry and the rest of his work?

This hour, we learn about the life and poetry of Robert Frost and discover how he’s helped to inspire other poets.

GUESTS:

Sydney Lea: Former poet laureate of Vermont and the author of 16 poetry collections, seven collections of personal essays, and two novels
Adam Plunkett: Literary critic and the author of Love and Need: The Life of Robert Frost’s Poetry

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, Dylan Reyes, and Kathy Wang contributed to this show, which originally aired February 24, 2025.

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What can you say about the sun? It sits at the center of our solar system and has, over time, been at the center of religions, scriptures, songs, art, and countless other aspects of our culture.

We’ve relied on its light, heat, and gravity for as long as we’ve been around, and we continue to find ways to harness its energy for our daily needs.

This hour, we look at the place our sun holds kind of literally at the center of all of human history and ask what the future holds for our nearest star.

GUESTS:

Christina Agapakis: Creative director at Ginko Bioworks
Sarbani Basu: William K. Lanman Jr. Professor of Astronomy at Yale University
John Grim: Senior lecturer and research scholar teaching in the joint MA program in religion and ecology at Yale University School of the Environment and Yale Divinity School
John Perlin: Physicist at UCLA Santa Barbara and the author of Let It Shine: The 6,000-Year Story of Solar Energy

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Greg Hill, Betsy Kaplan, Jonathan McNicol, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired August 11, 2016.

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We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to Ryan Reynolds, Taylor Swift’s upcoming nuptials and the state of her relationship with Blake Lively, motives for murder, the grooming of flies, rum raisin ice cream, inside jokes and nicknames and things, quieting the monkey mind … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

MUSIC FEATURED (in order):

Strategy by TWICE
Call Me by Sachal Vasandani featuring Dayna Stephens
I Guess I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times by Martina DaSilva, Alex Goodman, et al.
The Glow Worm by Kurt Elling, et al.
Do I Move You by Nicole Zuraitis, Tom Scott, et al. (from the live album)
Candy by Joshua Lee Turner, Martina DaSilva
Right Down the Line by Joshua Lee Turner

You can now watch our calls shows on Connecticut Public’s YouTube. Subscribe and get notified when we go live. Or join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, Robyn Doyon-Aitken, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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You hear a lot about the ongoing American crisis among men, among boys, around masculinity, right? You see lots of headlines about how we got here, what caused all this, where the crisis came from.

Well, the cultural critic Jessa Crispin thinks we can all learn a lot about all of this by looking at … Michael Douglas movies.

And I mean, that sounds like a show we’d do, doesn’t it? And so here we are.

Crispin joins us for the hour.

GUEST:

Jessa Crispin: The author of What Is Wrong with Men: Patriarchy, the Crisis of Masculinity, and How (of Course) Michael Douglas Films Explain Everything

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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As the you sit contemplating the end of long summer days, you might wonder what might have been. What might have been if there was a song of the summer!

The consensus is that there was no song of the summer for 2025.

To help fill that void in your life, Colin sits down with technical producer Dylan Reyes to form the public radio supergroup CG/WLM (cranky guys who like music) and talk about what they’re listening to and what song they think should have won the season.

GUEST:

Dylan Reyes: Technical producer, assistant director of radio operations at Connecticut Public

MUSIC FEATURED (in order):

Stare at Me by JANE HANDCOCK, Anderson .Paak
Golden by HUNTR/X, EJAE, Audrey Nuna, REI AMI
The Subway by Chappell Roan
To Keep by Dominique Adams
Little Less Over You by Couch
Flor de Lis (Upside Down) by Samara Joy
DON'T SPEAK by LOADED HONEY
Good To Be Alone by Stacey Ryan, Cory Henry
Suzanne by Mark Ronson, RAYE

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe contributed to this show.

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The political newsletter Tangle approaches things differently than most news organizations. Each day they do a deep-dive on one topic where they lay out the facts, then give a glimpse of "What the left is saying," "What the right is saying," and then "My take," where an editor explains their opinions on an issue.

The newsletter is the brainchild of politics reporter Isaac Saul, who joins us for an hour to talk through the latest news, his approach to reporting, and how we move forward in these divided times.

GUEST:

Isaac Saul: Executive Editor and Founder of the non-partisan, independent newsletter Tangle, which summarizes the best arguments from the right and left on the big political news of the day

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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We tend not to think much about that pat of butter we put on our morning toast, including how the store-bought sweet cream butter we're eating likely pales in comparison to the rich, nutty flavor of the cultured butter not found in many stores.

Nor, do we think about butter sculpture, butter bogs, pleasure dairies, or the dairymaids, those once respected and well-paid artisans and economic powerhouses of our nations earliest days.

We definitely don't think about the nationwide 'war' between butter-loving dairy farmers and the margarine industry. It led to smear campaigns, state laws against margarine, and a ruling by the Supreme Court that led to pink margarine.

You may not even know it's okay to eat butter again after decades of being told to stay away from the death-inducing fats found in butter. So, go ahead and eat that toast with butter.

Today, a show about butter.

GUESTS:

Elaine Khosrova: Author of Butter: A Rich History, a former pastry student at Culinary Institute of America and a former test kitchen editor at Country Living magazine
Doug Moe: Wisconsin-based author and journalist who has written for newspapers and magazines for almost 40 years
Adeline Druart: Former president of Vermont Creamery. Adeline brought her knowledge of butter-making to Vermont from her home country of France

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired December 19, 2017.

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For the first half of today's show, Colin will take your calls about whatever you want to talk about.

Then, it’s been a minute since Senator Chris Murphy joined Colin for a check-in on state matters and a chat about the weather in Washington. And we don’t think the senator has ever pulled up a chair to The World’s Most Important Table (™).

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It’s been a minute since Senator Chris Murphy joined Colin for a check-in on state matters and a chat about the weather in Washington. And we don’t think the senator has ever pulled up a chair to The World’s Most Important Table (™). Around 1:30, Senator Murphy joins us in studio.

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This week’s Nose, guest hosted by comedian Shawn Murray, looks at:

Highest 2 Lowest is the fifth collaboration between director Spike Lee and actor Denzel Washington and their first in 19 years, since Inside Man in 2006. It is an adaptation of Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 police procedural, High and Low, which is, itself, an adaptation of the Ed McBain novel King’s Ransom. It also stars Jeffrey Wright, Ilfenesh Hadera, A$AP Rocky, Ice Spice, Dean Winters, John Douglas Thompson, Wendell Pierce, and more. Highest 2 Lowest is in a strangely limited release — it’s in just three theaters in Connecticut — and it hits Apple TV+ on September 5.

And: Alien: Earth is the first TV series — after nine movies — in the Alien franchise. It is a prequel set two years before the events of the original movie, and it’s created be Noah Hawley, who also created the Fargo TV series, among other things. Alien: Earth is set, somewhat logically, on Earth.

GUESTS:

Taneisha Duggan: Director of arts, culture, and entertainment for the city of Hartford
Sam Hadelman: Director of public relations at Dark Matter Media
Lindsay Lee Wallace: A writer and journalist covering culture, health, technology, bats, and anything else people will answer her questions about
Bill Yousman: Professor of media studies at Sacred Heart University and the author of The Spike Lee Enigma: Challenge and Incorporation in Media Culture

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Eugene Amatruda contributed to this show.

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This hour, we take a critical look at the role of art critics in our world. What is the status of criticism, and is it under threat?

GUESTS:

Naveen Kumar: Theater critic for The Washington Post. He is associate director of the National Critics Institute, the leading arts-writing workshop for professional journalists. He has twice served on the jury for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama
Kathryn VanArendonk: Critic at Vultureand New York Magazine
Matt Singer: Editor and Critic at ScreenCrush and a member of the New York Film Critics Circle. He is the author of numerous books, including Opposable Thumbs: How Siskel & Ebert Changed Movies Forever
Aleksandra Mir: Artist, whose work has been included in 370 exhibits worldwide. She is co-editor of the book Bad Reviews: An Artists' Book by 150 Artists

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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GUESTS:

Megan C. Reynolds: An editor at Dwell and author of Like: A History of the English Language’s Most Hated (and Misunderstood) Word
Kory Stamper: Lexicographer and author of Word By Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries
Veronica Litt: English Professor and author of Ugh! As If!: Clueless

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GUESTS:

Erik Demaine: Professor of computer science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Robert J. Lang: The author of co-author of more than 20 books on origami art and design

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Betsy Kaplan, and Jonathan McNicol contributed to this show, which originally aired March 13, 2014.

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We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to the bilateral meeting in Alaska between Presidents Trump and Putin, the bilateral and multilateral meetings in Washington DC with Presidents Trump and Zelenskyy, our Mark Twain show, President Trump possibly one day getting the Nobel Peace Prize, ABBA possibly one day getting the Nobel Peace Prize, comparisons between Neville Chamberlain and Trump … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

You can now watch our calls shows on Connecticut Public’s YouTube. Subscribe and get notified when we go live. Or join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Robyn Doyon-Aitken, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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Michael M. Grynbaum's new book Empire of the Elite: Inside Condé Nast, the Media Dynasty That Reshaped America, traces the rise of Condé Nast's magazines. This hour Grynbaum joins us to explain how Condé Nast magazines and their editors achieved their status as cultural tastemakers, and where these magazines, and that industry, stand today. Plus, we hear from an editor at The Week about how that magazine is approaching this moment.

GUESTS:

Michael M. Grynbaum: A media correspondent for The New York Timesand author of the new book Empire of the Elite: Inside Condé Nast, the Media Dynasty That Reshaped America
Mark Gimein: Managing Editor at the print edition of The Week

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Chances are, you know Richard Thomas as John-Boy on The Waltons. Or maybe you saw him more recently in his many-episode arcs on shows like The Americans and Ozark. You might’ve even seen him on Broadway in Our Town or as Atticus Finch in the tour of To Kill a Mockingbird. He’s in town doing the very first authorized production of Mark Twain Tonight! since Hal Holbrook died.

And John Jeremiah Sullivan has won the Pushcart Prize, two National Magazine Awards, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. His essay “Twain Dreams: The Enigma of Samuel Clemens” ran in the 175th anniversary issue of Harpers.

This hour, Thomas and Sullivan join us to talk Twain.

GUESTS:

John Jeremiah Sullivan: A writer, musician, and editor
Richard Thomas: An Emmy Award-winning and Tony Award-nominated actor

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Robyn Doyon-Aitken, Betsy Kaplan, Cat Pastor, Dylan Reyes, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, parts of which originally aired February 4, 2015; September 14, 2023; and June 5, 2024, in a different form.

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According to mytho-historical accounts, the ancient Amazons wore pants while riding into battle. But the trend this tribe of warrior women set was short lived. For nearly two millennia after their demise, the notion of women wearing pants was steeped in controversy.

And while this controversy has diminished, it is by no means over. From the fuss over politician's pant suits to the unofficial dress codes which still pervade corporate America, there are indications that we've yet to move past old expectations of women's fashion. This hour we speak with historians and fashion experts about the history of women and pants.

GUESTS:

Gayle Fischer: Professor of History at Salem State University and author of Pantaloons and Power: A Nineteenth-Century Dress Reform in the United States
Kathleen Cooper: Writer whose work has appeared in The Toast, The Airship, The Washington Post, and elsewhere
Hannah Kimberley: Teacher at the Academy at Penguin Hall in Wenham, Massachusetts, and author of A Woman's Place Is at the Top: A Biography of Annie Smith Peck, Queen of the Climbers

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired on September 7, 2017.

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Smiling is a universal way to show happiness. But not all smiles are happy. In reality, we smile less for happiness than for social reasons that have nothing to do with happiness.

That said, few things are more ingratiating and calming as another person's genuinely warm smile. But, maybe it's because a genuine smile is such a great thing that we're always looking for the false one.

But we shouldn't assume that a smile that reflects something other than unadulterated joy is always a bad thing. Smiling has an evolutionary function, helping to ensure our survival after birth. Babies first smile while still in the womb and deliberately smile at us shortly thereafter less because they're thrilled to have us as parents and more to keep us happy with them. There's a reason for this. Smiling has high social benefits: those who smile are considered more social, more accessible, more helpful, and more attractive.

But, what happens when you can't smile? The absence of a smile is life-changing, yet until we lose it, we take it for granted. There are many illnesses that make it difficult to smile including Parkinson's Disease, Bell's Palsy, and Moebius Syndrome, a particularly devastating illness that afflicts babies. Today, we talk to Jonathan Kalb, a professor of Theatre at Hunter College who spent three years recovering his smile after developing what he thought was a temporary bout of Bell's Palsy. He wrote this thoughtful essay on his experience for The New Yorker.

Beyond the inability to smile, what happens you just don't want to smile? The social customs for smiling vary between countries, with many countries feeling we Americans simply smile too much. Partly, it depends on whether you're a woman. As a result, women may smile more, even when they don't want to.

GUESTS:

Jonathan Kalb: Professor of Theatre at Hunter College CUNY and the author of multiple books on theatre
Marianne LaFrance: Professor of Psychology and Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies at Yale University and the author of Why Smile: The Science Behind Facial Expressions
Margaret Livingstone: Professor of Neurobiology at Harvard University, and author of Vision and Art: The Biology of Seeing

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired on March 31, 2015.

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We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

This weeks’ topics include the Statue of Liberty, comedy in New Haven and New York, what's going on in DC, state pension funds, NPR federal funding cuts, and more.

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But. Critics have never been terribly kind to him, and a lot of the general public hasn’t either.

This hour, we look at the new two-part, nearly five-hour HBO documentary Billy Joel: And So It Goes. And we look at Billy Joel more generally and at the love/hate relationship we all seem to have had with him and his music for more than 50 years now.

GUESTS:

Jen Allen: A pianist, composer, arranger, and educator; her new album, Possibilities, comes out August 22
Rebecca Castellani: Co-founder of Quiet Corner Communications and the director of marketing at Washington Montessori School
Jack Hamilton: Slate’s pop critic and the author of Just Around Midnight: Rock and Roll and the Racial Imagination
Gene Seymour: A “writer, professional spectator, pop-culture maven, and jazz geek,” and he now writes Gene’s Substack

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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This episode is really going to be the cat’s pajamas. Or is it pyjamas? Do cats even wear pajamas? Why would they? Why do we? Should any of us wear pajamas at all?

And if we do don a pair, are they only for bed? Or should pajamas have their day in the sun? If our PJs are making a fashion statement just what exactly are they saying?

We’re talking today about what we wear to bed, but who knows? Does not wearing pajamas to bed have health and other benefits once we settle in under the covers?

GUESTS:

Henry Alford: American humorist and journalist, author of books including I Dream of Joni: A Portrait of Joni Mitchell in 53 Snapshots
Clare Sauro: Director of The Robert and Penny Fox Historic Costume Collection and Assistant Professor of Design & Art History at Drexel University
W. Chris Winter: Sleep specialist, neurologist and author of The Sleep Solution: Why Your Sleep Is Broken and How to Fix It

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Produced by Debora Timms. Colin McEnroe, Betsy Kaplan, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired on April 8, 2019.

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What does it mean to have 'good taste'? And what would it take to develop it? This hour, we talk about taste and discernment. Plus, a look at flavor and why some things taste good.

GUESTS:

Henry Oliver: Writes the literary Substack “The Common Reader,” and is the author of Second Act: What Late Bloomers Can Tell You About Reinventing Your Life. He is part of the Emerging Scholars Programme at the Mercatus Centre
Becca Rothfeld: The Nonfiction Book Critic at The Washington Post, an editor at The Point, and a contributing editor at The Boston Review. She is the author of All Things Are Too Small: Essays in Praise of Excess
Nik Sharma: A molecular biologist turned two-time James Beard finalist, best-selling cookbook author, photographer, columnist, and editor at America’s Test Kitchen. His cookbooks include The Flavor Equation: The Science of Great Cooking Explained in More Than 100 Essential Recipes, among others

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Rust is all around us. It’s in our cars, our homes, our infrastructure. It’s also the subject of Jonathan Waldman’s book Rust: The Longest War, which introduces us to the people who fight it.

This hour, Waldman joins us. Plus: a visual artist who has found a way to incorporate rust into her work.

GUESTS:

Esther Solondz: A Rhode Island-based visual artist
Jonathan Waldman: Author of Rust

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Greg Hill, Jonathan McNicol, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired March 25, 2015.

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We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to counterfactuals in baseball, majoring in art history, adult softball, The Terror on AMC and The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley, the Connecticut Sun leaving for Boston, Northern Ireland and the Troubles … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

You can now watch our calls shows on Connecticut Public’s YouTube. Subscribe and get notified when we go live. Or join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Robyn Doyon-Aitken, Isaac Moss, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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Eddington is the fourth feature film written and directed by Ari Aster. It’s a neo-Western comedy set in the fictional and titular New Mexico town during May, 2020. Eddington was nominated for the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, and it’s one of three Pedro Pascal movies that are currently in the top 20 at the domestic box office.

And: Sunday Best is a new Netflix documentary directed by, and in memory of, the late journalist, musician, and filmmaker Sacha Jenkins. It’s about the cultural importance of The Ed Sullivan Show and Sullivan’s “legacy of equality.”

GUESTS:

RS Benedict: A writer and bureaucrat whose fiction and non-fiction has been published in the New Haven Review, Fangoria, Current Affairs, and a bunch of other places
Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Fantasy Filmballpodcast
Bill Yousman: Professor of media studies at Sacred Heart University

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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GUESTS:

Natalie Lawrence: Historian of science and the author of Enchanted Creatures: Our Monsters and Their Meanings
Surekha Davies: Historian of science, speaker, and monster consultant for radio, tv, and film. She writes a newsletter called “Strange and Wondrous: Notes from a Science Historian,” and is the author of books including Humans: A Monstrous History
Margery Cuyler: Author of 62 children’s books including Monster Mess, Bonaparte Falls Apart, Skeleton Hiccups, and the forthcoming Stompie the Zombie

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Headache symptoms can strike sufferers without warning, disabling them for even days at a time.

There have been nearly 4,000 years of documented headache disorders — and virtually everyone has had headaches — yet their underlying neurological cause is still unknown.

This hour, a look at the long history of headaches and the current science around and treatments for headaches. Plus: headaches in our literature and popular culture.

GUESTS:

Kathleen O’Shea: The editor of So Much More Than a Headache: Understanding Migraine Through Literature
Tom Zeller Jr.: The author of The Headache: The Science of a Most Confounding Condition and the co-founder and editor-in-chief of Undark

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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They're in the books we read, the shows we watch, and the art we hang on our walls. They conjure notions of might, magic, romance, and more. Castles, perhaps as much as any other architectural structure in history, define the landscape of our fantasy and imagination.

But is our imagination an accurate lens through which to view these fortresses of ol'? And why, after hundreds of years, does our culture's fascination with these structures seem to be on the rise? This hour, we speak with experts and enthusiasts about the reality and mystique of castles.

GUESTS:

Marc Morris: Medieval historian and author of books including Castles: Their History and Evolution in Medieval Britain
Victor Lodato: Playwright, poet, and novelist whose books include Edgar and Lucy
Edward Town: Assistant Curator of Paintings and Sculpture at the Yale Center for British Art
Brent Bruns II: - Star of the hit National Geographic reality TV show "Doomsday Castle"

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired on May 18, 2017.

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We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we're doing another one.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Mike Pesca is one of our very favorite guests — on any number of topics.

It goes on and on.

Pesca joins us for the hour.

GUESTS:

Will Leitch: Contributing editor at New York magazine, founder of Deadspin, and a whole bunch of other things
Mike Pesca: Host of The Gist and the author of Upon Further Review
Louisa Thomas: Staff writer at The New Yorker and the author of Louisa: The Extraordinary Life of Mrs. Adams

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired June 7, 2018.

Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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How does reality television shape our politics and our opinions? This hour two reality TV scholars join us to discuss how reality TV helps us understand (or sometimes misunderstand) actual reality.

GUESTS:

Danielle Lindemann: Professor of Sociology at Lehigh University and a Visiting Professor in Gender and Sexuality Studies at Princeton University. She is also the author of the book True Story: What Reality TV Says About Us.
Eunji Kim: Assistant Professor of Political Science at Columbia University and Faculty Affiliate at the Data Science Institute. Her new book is The American Mirage: How Reality TV Upholds the Myth of Meritocracy.

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Dating back to Homer and Hesiod, artists have been calling on muses for inspiration. This hour, we look at the mythology of the muses, real-life muses, and what they can all teach us about creativity.

GUESTS:

Alison Habens: Novelist, essayist, playwright, poet, and lecturer and Programme Lead at the University of Portsmouth
Francine Prose: Author of many books, including The Lives of the Muses: Nine Women and the Artists They Inspired. She is also Distinguished Writer in Residence at Bard College
Brendan O'Connell: American painter

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Nobody likes termites. They get into the wood in our homes and can lead to infuriating and expensive repairs. What’s to like?

Lastly, some believe termites work with joy and have a soul. You be the judge.

GUESTS:

Jennifer Dacey: An entomologist and a wildlife biologist and integrated pest management technician in the UConn Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture
Lisa Margonelli: Author of Underbug: An Obsessive Tale of Termites and Technology
Mick Pearce: An architect

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Jonathan McNicol contributed to this show, which originally aired August 29, 2018.

Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to thunderstorms and lightning, squirrels, the band (and word) Enigma, trains … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

You can now watch our calls shows on Connecticut Public’s YouTube. Subscribe and get notified when we go live. Or join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Coco Cooley, Robyn Doyon-Aitken, Megan Fitzgerald, Isaac Moss, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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Thursday night, CBS announced that it is cancelling its flagship late night show, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, after next season, in May, 2026. CBS says this is “purely a financial decision.” At the same time, The Late Show has the largest audience in American late night TV by a pretty wide margin. In any case, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert will end after its 11th season, the 34th overall for the larger Late Show franchise.

And: James Gunn’s Superman is the first movie produced by DC Studios, the first movie in the new DC Universe (the DCU, which replaces the DCEU — same universe, less extended!), and the first movie in its first chapter, Chapter One: Gods and Monsters. It’s the third reboot of the Superman film series, the 10th original live-action Superman feature film, and the fourth comic book superhero movie directed by James Gunn — his first as the co-founder, co-chairman, and co-CEO of DC Studios.

GUESTS:

Sam Hadelman: Director of public relations at Dark Matter Media
Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and host of the Fantasy Filmballpodcast
Lindsay Lee Wallace: A writer and journalist covering culture, health, technology, bats, and anything else people will answer her questions about

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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On the morning of May 24, 2019, Jennifer Dulos dropped her kids off at New Canaan Country School. And then minutes later, she vanished.

Her presumed murder quickly became a national story.

This hour, Wall Street Journal columnist Rich Cohen joins us to talk about his new book, Murder in the Dollhouse: The Jennifer Dulos Story.

Plus: a look at our ongoing obsession with these true crime stories.

GUESTS:

Rich Cohen: Writer at large at Air Mail and a columnist at The Wall Street Journal; his new book is Murder in the Dollhouse
Bethany Usher: A journalist and academic and the author of Journalism and Crime

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Do you ever wish you could have a conversation with your pet, or the bird outside your window? This hour, we learn about how animals communicate with one another, how we communicate with them, and what this can teach us about human language.

Plus, some pet owners are turning to soundboards to communicate with their pets. We'll talk with a researcher who's exploring how effective that is, and what that can teach us about the future of animal and human communications.

GUESTS:

Arik Kershenbaum: Professor of Zoology at University of Cambridge, and author of Why Animals Talk: The New Science of Animal Communication
Federico Rossano: Associate Professor of Cognitive Science at the University of California San Diego

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on February 13, 2025.

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Earlier this year, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved the Doomsday Clock closer to midnight. The end of the world has been something humans have been preoccupied with for a very long time. This hour, we talk about how we imagine the world ending, and what it says about us.

GUESTS:

Dorian Lynskey: Journalist and author of multiple books, most recently Everything Must Go: The Stories We Tell About the End of the World. He is also co-host of the Origin Story podcast.
Brian Slattery: Freelance writer and editor. He is the author of four novels. His latest short story is “Clouds” which appears in the anthology Shadow Lab

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on February 4, 2025.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to Squid Game, the routinization of protests, the elusive Jeffrey Epstein report, 9/11 and the movies Fight Club and Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Harvey, Keurig coffee makers, too much plastic everywhere … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

You can now watch our calls shows on Connecticut Public’s YouTube. Subscribe and get notified when we go live. Or join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Robyn Doyon-Aitken, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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We think of dinosaurs as figures from science, from history, from the fossil record.

But if I say “Tyrannosaurus rex,” do you picture bones arranged in a museum — or do you picture that one scene in Jurassic Park?

The more you think about it, the more you realize that your whole real concept of dinosaurs comes from movies and TV and kids’ books and comic books.

So this hour, with the latest Jurassic World at No. 1 at the box office, a look at dinosaurs in our popular culture.

GUESTS:

Paul Brinkman: An associate professor in the Department of History at North Carolina State University and the author of multiple books, including The Second Jurassic Dinosaur Rush: Museums and Paleontology in America at the Turn of the Twentieth Century
Hannah McGregor: An academic and podcaster and the author of Clever Girl: Jurassic Park
Megan Schuster: A senior editor at The Ringer, where she hosts The Ringer F1 Show
Tom Whyman: An academic philosopher, a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Liverpool, and the author of Infinitely Full of Hope: Fatherhood and the Future in an Age of Crisis and Disaster

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This hour, author and film critic Alissa Wilkinson joins us to talk about Joan Didion, Hollywood, and how we make sense of our politics.

GUEST:

Alissa Wilkinson: Movie critic at The New York Times. Her latest book is We Tell Ourselves Stories: Joan Didion and the American Dream Machine

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GUESTS:

Massimo Pigliucci: The K.D. IraniProfessor of Philosophy at the City College of New York. He is the author of books including Beyond Stoicism: A Guide to the Good Life with Stoics, Skeptics, Epicureans, and Other Ancient Philosophers, How to Be a Stoic: Using Ancient Philosophy to Live a Modern Life, and Nonsense on Stilts: How to Tell Science from Bunk. He also writes the Substack “Figs in Winter: Stoicism and Beyond.”
Melinda Latour: Associate Professor of Musicology at Tufts University. She is author of The Voice of Virtue: Moral Song and the Practice of French Stoicism, 1574-1652. She is also editor of The Relentless Pursuit of Tone: Timbre in Popular Music.

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I’ve had some well-documented trouble with our neighborhood squirrels over the last few winters. It could be that most homeowners in the Northeast and beyond feel like they’ve had some sort of conflict with the local squirrels.

But we maybe misunderstand squirrels. Their seemingly scattershot behaviors actually suggest a fascinating intelligence and intentionality. And while we see squirrels as a nemesis of birds and bird feeders, squirrels actually plant a lot of the trees birds live and nest in.

At the same time, for some people, squirrels are nightmare fuel.

And if you happen to suffer from that so-called sciurophobia, don’t read this next thing: It would seem that the normally essentially vegetarian California ground squirrel has recently developed carnivorous hunting skills at the expense of the local vole population.

GUESTS:

Nick Buckley: A freelance journalist and photographer
Nancy Lawson: The author, most recently, of Wildscape: Trilling Chipmunks, Beckoning Blooms, Salty Butterflies, and other Sensory Wonders of Nature and the founder of The Humane Gardner
Jennifer Smith: A behavioral ecologist and an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin—Eau Claire, where she leads the Behavioral Ecology of Social Mammals Lab

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe contributed to this show, which originally aired February 12, 2025.

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We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to aggressive grills on cars, wrong-way drivers on Connecticut highways, the composer Lili Boulanger, voting rights for permanent residents, the herbicide diquat in Connecticut, volunteering … Anything. Seemingly everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

You can now watch our calls shows on Connecticut Public’s YouTube. Subscribe and get notified when we go live. Or join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Coco Cooley, Robyn Doyon-Aitken, Isaac Moss, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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Ironheart is a new miniseries from Marvel Television. It is the 28th (not a typo) TV series in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and it concludes Phase Five of the MCU after six movies and eight series. Ironheart is set about six months after the events of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which came out in 2022, but which is set in the spring of 2025 — which sets this show in our future, around the fall of 2025. It is the first Marvel product that The Nose has covered since Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, more than two years ago.

And: The New York Times has published its list of “The 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century” as selected by more than 500 influential figures in and around the film industry. And on July 2, the Times published a follow-up list of the top 500 movies of the century* as submitted by its readers. The Nose participated, and it has thoughts about the whole thing.

I feel like I have to mention here that the Times is calling these lists the best of the “21st century” and that movies were eligible if they were released in the U.S. on or after January 1, 2000. The 21st century started on January 1, 2001. I’m sorry to bring it up. I don’t make the rules or, ya know, decide how counting works.*

GUESTS:

Taneisha Duggan: Director of arts, culture, and entertainment for the city of Hartford
Xandra Ellin: A podcast producer and she writes the How Can I Make This About Me Substack
Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian and writer and host of the Fantasy Filmball podcast
Bill Yousman: Professor of media studies at Sacred Heart University

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This hour we take a look at the history and evolution of chapters, and discuss how they impact our reading experiences.

GUESTS:

Nicholas Dames: Professor in the Department of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, where he studies the history and theory of the novel. His new book is The Chapter: A Segmented History from Antiquity to the Twenty-First Century. He is also co-editor in chief of Public Books
Rebecca Makkai: Author of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award Finalist The Great Believers, among other books. Her latest book is I Have Some Questions For You. She is artistic director of StoryStudio Chicago

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on January 16, 2025.

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We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

This week's topics include Trump's Policy Bill, video game soundtracks, mortality, the WNBA, and whether new cars look angry.

You can now watch our calls shows on Connecticut Public’s YouTube. Subscribe and get notified when we go live. Or join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

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This hour, philosopher Agnes Callard joins us to talk about her latest book, Open Socrates: The Case for a Philosophical Life.

GUEST:

Agnes Callard: Associate Professor of Philosophy at The University of Chicago and author of Open Socrates: The Case for a Philosophical Life

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on January 22, 2025.

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Randy Newman has been nominated for 22 Academy Awards (he’s won twice), for 23 Grammy Awards (seven wins), and for three Primetime Emmy Awards (and he won all three).

Bruce Springsteen has called him “our great master of American song and storytelling.” Jackson Browne says Randy Newman is “the foremost satirist of our times.” And the composer John Williams has called him “a kind of musical Will Rogers or Mark Twain.”

Critic Robert Hilburn has published what may well be the definitive biography of Newman, A Few Words in Defense of Our Country.

This hour, Hilburn joins us to talk Randy Newman.

GUEST:

Robert Hilburn: Author of A Few Words in Defense of Our Country: The Biography of Randy Newman

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired January 24, 2025.

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When you think of the Vikings, you probably picture a bearded man wearing a horned hat, pillaging on a Viking ship. But that's far from the whole story.

This hour is all about the everyday lives of the Vikings with historian Eleanor Barraclough, from their homes and hair to their myths and music.

GUEST:

Eleanor Barraclough: Historian, writer, and broadcaster based at Bath Spa University; her new book is Embers of the Hands: Hidden Histories of The Viking Age

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Isaac Moss, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on January 7, 2025.

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This hour is all about the importance of rest, and how to rest well. Plus, we'll talk about the role of rest in religion, and look at the history of "the rest cure" in medicine.

GUESTS:

Alex Soojung-Kim Pang: Author of Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less, and Shorter: Work Better, Smarter, and Less—Here's How among other books
Kristen Lucken: Program chair of religious studies, and lecturer in religion, sociology, and global studies at Brandeis University
Alicia Puglionesi: Writer, historian, lecturer at Johns Hopkins, and author of In Whose Ruins: Power, Possession, and the Landscapes of American Empire, among other books

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Colin McEnroe, Cat Pastor, Isaac Moss, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on December 26, 2024.

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This hour: the art of the epigraph.

We talk with writers about how they pick the quotes that open their books, what epigraphs can do well, how the business of epigraphs works, and what epigraphs mean for readers.

Plus, a look at how some movies use epigraphs.

GUESTS:

David Edelstein: America’s Greatest Living Film Critic
Tajja Isen: A contributing writer for The Walrus and the author of Some of My Best Friends
Courtney Maum: The author of five books including Before and After the Book Deal and the memoir The Year of the Horses; she also writes the Before and After the Book Deal Substack

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired December 17, 2024.

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We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to the U.S. bombing Iran and Iran’s retaliation in Qatar, the Democratic primary in New York City, the possible decline of “you’re welcome,” a possible July 17 protest, the “great question” tic in interviews … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

You can now watch our calls shows on Connecticut Public’s YouTube. Subscribe and get notified when we go live. Or join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, Megan Fitzgerald, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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Brian Wilson was a singer, songwriter, record producer, and a founding member of The Beach Boys. He’s thought of as one of the great geniuses of pop music, and he’s been called the poet laureate of summer. Wilson died June 11 at 82.

On February 1, 2017, we went to Watkinson School in Hartford and put on a show, on stage in front of a live audience, on Brian Wilson’s music and legacy. We’ve never reaired that show.

This hour, to celebrate and remember Wilson and his work, a brand new edit — from the original, full-length, 75-minute live show — of our hour on Brian Wilson.

GUEST:

Steve Metcalf: Founder and director of the Garmany concert series at the University of Hartford’s Hartt School
Jordan Quisno: A singer and actor
Matt Sargent: A composer, guitarist, recording engineer, and assistant professor of music at Bard College
Teri Schrader: Head of school at Watkinson School in Hartford, Connecticut

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe contributed to this show, parts of which originally aired February 17, 2017, in a different form.

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Humans have always been interested in the sky, and astrology has been used as a tool for people in power for a long time.

During times of stress, interest in astrology increases.

But why are we so interested in something that is not considered a science?

This hour, a look at the history of astrology, its relationship with astronomy, and the reasons why people love it so much.

GUESTS:

Julie Beck: Senior editor at The Atlantic, where she wrote “The New Age of Astrology”
Darin Hayton: Associate professor of the history of science at Haverford College and the author of The Crown and the Cosmos: Astrology and the Politics of Maximilian I
Emily Levesque: Professor in the University of Washington’s Astronomy Department and the author of The Last Stargazers: The Enduring Story of Astronomy’s Vanishing Explorers

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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This episode was produced by Sara Gasparatto.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, Cat Pastor, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired April 21, 2022.

Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today.

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Okay, this show comes with a trigger warning.

We talk about things people eat, and some of those things are not for the squeamish.

This hour, a look at disgust — and, specifically, how our reflexive disgust response may get in the way of things we probably need to think about doing.

During the next century, the human race probably needs to eat more insects. And we’ll almost definitely need to convert sewage water into drinking water. A lot of people are not going to want to do that. Around the world, there are people eating things like eggs cooked in the urine of virginal boys. One of our guests made cheese from bacteria taken from human toes, noses, and armpits.

That may sicken you, but it won’t make you sick.

GUESTS:

Christina Agapakis: Microbiologist, writer, artist, founding editor of Method Quarterly, and creative director at Ginkgo Bioworks
Bun Lai: James Beard Award-nominated chef
Paul Rozin: Professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, Chion Wolf, and Alan Yu contributed to this show, which originally aired January 7, 2016.

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Perfectionism is on the rise among young people.

This hour, we look at the impact of perfectionism on mental health and how to deal with perfectionist tendencies.

Plus: what the self-help industry can tell us about our interest in perfection.

GUESTS:

Thomas Curran: Assistant professor of psychological and behavioral science at the London School of Economics and Political Science and author of The Perfection Trap: Embracing the Power of Good Enough
Tamar Gendler: Professor of philosophy, psychology, and cognitive science and Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciencesat Yale University
Kristen Meinzer: Co-host of the How to Be Fine and By the Book podcasts, among others, and author of How to Be Fine: What We Learned from Living by the Rules of 50 Self-Help Books

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired April 13, 2022.

Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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The pop music genius Brian Wilson, a founding member of The Beach Boys, died on June 11. The Nose says goodbye.

And: Wes Anderson has written and directed 12 feature films. The Nose has covered at least four of them plus his set of Roald Dahl shorts. So this hour, a look at Wes Anderson’s latest, The Phoenician Scheme, in all its twee, symmetrical, pastel, typewriter- and hatbox*-filled glory.

I’d just like to point out that I wrote this sentence before I’d seen The Phoenician Scheme, in which a hatbox features prominently. And there’s evidence to support that claim. That said, there doesn’t appear to be a typewriter anywhere in the movie, which is kind of shocking.*

GUESTS:

David Edelstein: America’s Greatest Living Film Critic
Ray Hardman: A WNPR legend
Steve Metcalf: Founder and director of the Garmany concert series at the University of Hartford’s Hartt School
Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Fantasy Filmballpodcast
Matt Sargent: A composer, guitarist, recording engineer, and assistant professor of music at Bard College
Teri Schrader: Head of school at Watkinson School in Hartford, Connecticut
Lindsay Lee Wallace: A writer and journalist covering culture, health, technology, bats, and anything else people will answer her questions about

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe contributed to this show.

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Listen live Thursday at 1 p.m.

We’ve done a version of this show every single year since 2013. And we did it in 2011. We probably even did one in 2010. (We just can’t prove it.)

So it’s a bit of a tradition. It’s a tradition that … makes some people angry, we realize.

And that has a lot to do with how we define the term “song of the summer.” We use the Amanda Dobbins definition:

And if we’re wrong, well, it really just won’t matter at all.

GUESTS:

Xandra Ellin: A producer at Pineapple Street Studios
Frankie Graziano: Hosts The Wheelhouse on Connecticut Public
Sam Hadelman: Director of public relations at Dark Matter Media
Brendan Jay Sullivan: A writer, producer, and DJ best known for his work with Lady Gaga

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What would it mean if we treated rivers as alive? That's the question that nature writer Robert Macfarlane wrestles with in his new book. What would happen if we took that aliveness seriously? How would we know what a river would want? Who would speak for it? These are questions that communities around the world are dealing with as they work to figure out how to protect rivers and the ecosystems that rely on them. This hour, Macfarlane joins us to talk about his new book, Is a River Alive?, and the stories we tell about the natural world.

GUEST:

Robert Macfarlane: Writer whose books include Underland: A Deep Time Journey, The Lost Words: A Spell Book, and The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot. His new book is Is a River Alive?

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This hour, we take stock of what it's like to read as an adult, and discuss why some Americans, including college students, are reading fewer books. We'll talk about how technology has impacted how we read. And we'll celebrate the practice of reading.

GUESTS:

Rose Horowitch: Assistant editor at The Atlantic
Maryanne Wolf: Permanent member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, and the Director of the Center for Dyslexia, Diverse Learners, and Social Justice at the University of California, Los Angeles. She is the author of books including Reader, Come Home: The Reading Brain in a Digital World
Ben Winters: Novelist, television writer and producer, comic book writer, and creator of original audio content. His most recent novel is Big Time

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Colin McEnroe and Eugene Amatruda contributed to this show, which originally aired on December 5, 2024.

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We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around the "dumbing down" of the arts, the way people pronounce "to," reading in the bathroom, the evolution of language, the Declaration of Independence, and more. Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

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Dept. Q is a new Scottish detective mystery series on Netflix and created by Scott Frank and Chandi Lakhani based on the book series by Jussi Adler-Olsen. It stars Matthew Goode as DCI Carl Morck, a wounded and unpleasant, but fairly brilliant, detective. The supporting cast includes Chloe Pirrie, Jamie Sives, Mark Bonnar, and Kelly Macdonald.

And: Pee-wee as Himself is a two-part HBO Original documentary directed by Matt Wolf. It is driven by more than 40 hours of interviews with Paul Reubens, the man behind Pee-wee, himself.

GUESTS:

David Edelstein: America’s Greatest Living Film Critic
Rich Hollant: The founder and principal of CO:LAB, a Hall-of-Fame designer, and a co-partner at CENTER
Jacques Lamarre: A playwright and chief communications officer at Buzz Engine
Carolyn Paine: An actress and comedian, founder and director of CONNetic Dance, and the creative producer and choreographer for The Bushnell’s Digital Institute
Irene Papoulis: Wrote a short textbook called The Essays Only You Can Write
Bill Yousman: Professor of media studies at Sacred Heart University

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Have you ever broken your phone or computer by dropping it in water or spilling a drink on it? This hour, we discuss the relationship between the ever-present technologies in our lives and the liquids that surround us. We'll learn about how waterproofing works, and what all of this can tell us about consumer responsibility and the role of technology in our world. Plus, a look at raincoats and weather-proof paper.

GUESTS:

Rachel Plotnick: Associate Professor of Cinema and Media Studies in The Media School at Indiana University Bloomington. Her new book is License to Spill: Where Dry Devices Meet Liquid Lives
Zoe Vanderweide: Senior Staff Writer covering style, apparel and accessories at Wirecutter, and co-author of the piece “The Best Men’s and Women’s Rain Jackets and Rain Coats"
Sean Leacy: Network and System Administrator for Rite in the Rain

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GUESTS:

Nancy MacDonell: Fashion journalist and fashion historian. She writes the Wall Street Journal column "Fashion with a Past.” Her new book is Empresses of Seventh Avenue: World War II, New York City, and the Birth of American Fashion
Hannah Carlson: Senior Lecturer in the Apparel Department at the Rhode Island School of Design. She’s also the author of Pockets: An Intimate History of How We Keep Things Close
Audrey Wollen: Book critic and writer whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper's, The New York Review of Books and other outlets. Her article “A Unified Theory of the Handbag” recently appeared in The Yale Review
Aarushi Bhandari: An Assistant Professor of Sociology at Davidson College. Her forthcoming book isAttention and Alienation

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Touch, grip, read, dance, gesture — what can’t they do? Our fingers are so vital to our everyday life, sometimes it seems they have minds of their own.

This hour, a look at the hidden language of finger gestures, the future of Braille, and the joys and challenges of animating fingers for the movies.

GUESTS:

Kensy Cooperrider: Cognitive scientist, writer, and host of the Many Minds podcast
Jonathan McNicol: Producer of The Colin McEnroe Show
Sile O’Modhrain: Professor at the University of Michigan studying sound and touch and the ways in which they interact
Carlos Fernandez Puertolas: Animator with DreamWorks

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Cat Pastor, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show, which originally aired May 31, 2022.

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We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to our tribute to Jill Sobule, spotted lanternflies, The Monkees, the provision in the tax bill that would weaken the courts, cardboard boxes, sea chanteys … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

You can now watch our calls shows on Connecticut Public’s YouTube. Subscribe and get notified when we go live. Or join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Robyn Doyon-Aitken, Megan Fitzgerald, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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Note: This episode contains strong language.

Griffin Dunne is Jack Goodman in John Landis’ classic horror-comedy An American Werewolf in Londonand Paul Hackett in Martin Scorsese’s After Hours and Loudon Trout in the Madonna-starring screwball comedy Who’s That Girl. He’s Uncle Nicky on This Is Us and Professor Dudenoff on Only Murders in the Building and Dr. Alon Parfit on Succession and Sylvére on I Love Dick.

He produced After Hours and Running on Empty and Once Around. He directed Practical Magic and Addicted to Love and the documentary Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold.

His father was the journalist and novelist and movie producer Dominick Dunne. His aunt and uncle were the journalists and novelists and screenwriters Joan Didion and John Gregory Dunne. His sister was the actress Dominique Dunne. His grandfather was a famous heart surgeon from West Hartford, Connecticut.

In November, 2024, we recorded a conversation with Griffin Dunne on stage at The Mark Twain House & Museum in Hartford. It’s a lot about that complicated, sometimes tragic, often hilarious family. And it’s about movies and TV and writing. And Hartford.

This hour: Griffin Dunne.

GUEST:

Griffin Dunne: An actor, producer, and director and the author of The Friday Afternoon Club: A Family Memoir

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired November 15, 2024.

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There are thought to be about 17 million living flies for every human alive on Earth.

Also this hour: A look at David Cronenberg’s 1986 remake of, you guessed it: The Fly.

GUESTS:

Jonathan Balcombe: Author of Super Fly: The Unexpected Lives of the World’s Most Successful Insects
John Knuth: An artist
Gale Ridge: Associate scientist at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station
Jacob Trussell: Author of The Binge Watcher’s Guide to The Twilight Zone; he published the piece “Only Jeff Goldblum Could Make Us Fall in Love with ‘The Fly’” at Film School Rejects

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired August 19, 2021.

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What counts as a robot? This hour, a look at what robots are and the latest in robot technology.

Plus, how robots were used and thought about in medieval times and Ancient Greece and the role of robots in science fiction.

GUESTS:

Chris Atkeson: Professor at the Robotics Institute and the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University
Adrienne Mayor: Author of Gods and Robots: Myths, Machines and Ancient Dreams of Technology, among other books
Elly Truitt: Author of Medieval Robots: Mechanism, Magic, Nature, and Art
Daniel H. Wilson: Author of Robopocalypse and How To Survive a Robot Uprising: Tips on Defending Yourself Against the Coming Rebellion, among other books

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired July 12, 2022.

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Over 500 years ago, Sir Thomas More wrote about utopia. Since then, countless communities around the world have worked to create their own versions of a perfect world. This hour, we look at examples of utopian communities from around the world.

GUESTS:

Avery Trufelman: Host of the podcast Nice Try!
Akash Kapur: Author of Better to Have Gone: Love, Death, and the Quest for Utopia in Auroville
Samir Patel: Former editor-in-chief of Atlas Obscura

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired August 18, 2021.

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Better to Have Gone: Love, Death, and the Quest for Utopia in Auroville

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President Trump has instructed his administration to work toward rebuilding and reopening the notorious maximum security prison on Alcatraz Island.

But why? One theory has it that it’s because the Clint Eastwood movie Escape from Alcatraz aired on South Florida’s PBS station, Mar-a-Lago’s PBS station, on the day the president announced the plan.

As ridiculous as that is or would be, it kind of illustrates a larger point: When Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary closed in March, 1963, there were already more than a dozen movies about the prison. In the more than 60 years since it closed, Hollywood has made more than a dozen more.

Alcatraz, for pretty much its entire history, has held an outsized place in the American imagination and culture.

This hour: the past, present, and future (?) of Alcatraz.

GUESTS:

Shawna Chen: A reporter with Axios San Francisco
Jeff Himmelman: Author of Yours in Truth: A Personal Portrait of Ben Bradlee, Legendary Editor of The Washington Post; he is currently working on a book about Alcatraz

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GUESTS:

Tom Nichols: Staff writer at The Atlantic. He is the author of The Death of Expertise: The Campaign Against Established Knowledge and Why It Matters. He is also a professor emeritus of national-security affairs at the U.S. Naval War College, and a five-time undefeated Jeopardy champion
Alan Dove: Science journalist and co-host of the podcast This Week in Virology
Adam Gopnik: Staff writer for The New Yorker. He is the author of The Real Work: On The Mystery of Mastery,among other books

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We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to Tolkien’s potential Lord of the Rings sequel, planned Flag Day protests, parasocial relationships, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, former Vice President Kamala Devi Harris, Annie Lennox* … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

*Annie Lennox, who doesn't have a middle name, which screws up my series there, is an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE), but she's not a Dame Grand Cross or Dame Commander, so she can't use the title Dame. Which also screws up my series there. And I admit that I had to look up Kamala Harris's middle name.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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There’s something almost romantic about airships. The image of a giant, floating aircraft feels both nostalgic and futuristic.

In the early 20th century, airships were on the leading edge of aviation; today, they mostly live on in the domain of steampunk art and speculative fiction.

But a number of companies are betting they can bring airships out of the history books and into modern real-world applications like cargo transport and military uses.

This hour, the past and future of airships, both real and imagined.

GUESTS:

Nick Allman: Chief operating officer of Hybrid Air Vehicles
Jeanne Marie Laskas: A journalist and the author of eight books; in 2016 she published “Helium Dreams” in The New Yorker
Ken Liu: A futurist and author of speculative fiction, including The Dandelion Dynasty, an epic fantasy series featuring airships

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired November 1, 2021.

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You may have heard that tick borne diseases are on the rise. But don’t worry — we’ve got you covered. This hour, we’re taking you through three ways to defeat ticks. From tick-immune blood, to a tick-destroying robot and tried-and-true tweezers, this show is not for arachnids who are faint of heart.

GUESTS:

Rick Ostfeld: Distinguished senior scientist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies
Holly Gaff: Professor of Biological Sciences at Old Dominion University
Jen Wegner: Associate curator of the Egyptian section at the Penn Museum
Birnur Aral: Executive Director of the Beauty, Health and Sustainability Lab at the Good Housekeeping Institute

Join the conversation onFacebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Eugene Amatruda contributed to this show, which originally aired on August 31, 2023.

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Writer and critic Spencer Kornhaber just published a similarly-titled piece in The Atlantic: “Is This the Worst-Ever Era of American Pop Culture?”

According to Betteridge’s law of headlines, the answer to both versions of that question is just, plain, “No.” And maybe it is. Maybe even probably it is.

But maybe it’s more complicated than that, too.

This hour, we wonder just how bad things actually have gotten with our popular culture.

GUESTS:

Taneisha Duggan: Director of arts, culture, and entertainment for the city of Hartford
Xandra Ellin: A producer at Pineapple Street Studios
Spencer Kornhaber: A staff writer at The Atlantic and the author of On Divas: Persona, Pleasure, Power
Bill Yousman: Professor of media studies at Sacred Heart University

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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Here are some songs from your life, "Backstreet Girl" by the Rolling Stones, "Joey" by Bob Dylan, "Road to Nowhere" by the Talking Heads, "Boy In The Bubble" by Paul Simon, "July Fourth, Asbury Park", better known as "Sandy" by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, "Wouldn't It Be Nice" by the Beach Boys. They all rely heavily on the accordion.

"Wouldn't It Be Nice" is the biggest shock. Even if you know that song, it might never have occurred to you that Brian Wilson uses I'm pretty sure two accordions to make the primary propulsive musical fabric of that song.

The last two decades of indie music ought to have normalized the accordion - Tom Waits, REM, Arcade Fire, The Decemberists... I could go on. It has also endured years of ridicule here in the United States, even while it remained beloved and esteemed in Argentina, Paris, and almost everywhere else in the world. Now, it's enjoying a renaissance here in the States. This hour, we celebrate that with accordion rock stars of all styles.

You'll meet a man who is reclaiming the accordion, outfitting his latest version with MIDI controls, so it can mimic voice and other instruments, a woman who specializes in klezmer, and a man who plays his accordion in a trio alongside a guitar and tuba. You also meet other accordion rock stars, including James Fearnley from The Pogues. Just try to tell him that the squeezebox isn’t cool.

GUESTS:

Cory Pesaturo: Multiple award-winning accordion player from Rhode Island
Christina Crowder: Accordion player who specializes in klezmer and other Eastern European styles, and is a member of the Accordion/Violin/Viola trio, Bivolita
Will Holshouser: Accordion player and founder of the accordion/guitar/tuba trio, Musette Explosion
James Fearnley: Accordion player for The Pogues and the author of the memoir, Here Comes Everybody, The Story of The Pogues. He’s also a composer, and a founding member of The Low And Sweet Orchestra

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode.

Colin McEnroe and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired on August 7, 2014.

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GUESTS:

Stephen Harrison: Writer and tech lawyer. His new novel, The Editors, is inspired by Wikipedia
Amy Bruckman: Regents' Professor in the School of Interactive Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and author of Should You Believe Wikipedia?: Online Communities and the Construction of Knowledge
Annie Rauwerda: Writer, comedian, and Wikipedia influencer, who created “Depths of Wikipedia.” She was named “Wikimedian of the year” in the media category for 2022, and is currently working on a book about Wikipedia

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to Colin’s constant laughter (or not) and his nearly life-threatening reaction to Weekend Update on last week’s SNL, The Kennedy Center Honors, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s proposed autism database, Elissa Slotkin on The New Yorker Radio Hour, the 60 Minutes piece on fraud, Cicero’s Catalinarian orations … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

You can now watch our calls shows on Connecticut Public’s YouTube. Subscribe and get notified when we go live. Or join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Megan Fitzgerald, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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Our friend, the singer, songwriter, and performer Jill Sobule, died May 1 in a house fire in Woodbury, Minnesota, near Minneapolis. She was 66.

Jill appeared on our show at least seven times between 2012 and 2022, including the Season Two premiere of Pardon Me and the time she wrote an original song for our dumb towels episode. But it was her four full-show, in-studio appearances that really made her such an important force in the history of our show.

This hour, cobbled together from bits of those appearances, a best-of compilation of Jill Sobule on The Colin McEnroe Show. It’s our tribute to Jill and our insufficient thank you for the many hours that we got to spend with her on the radio.

GUEST:

Jill Sobule: Singer/songwriter

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, Betsy Kaplan, Cat Pastor, Dylan Reyes, Patrick Skahill, Lily Tyson, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, parts of which originally aired June 14, 2012; May 16, 2018; December 6, 2018; December 12, 2018; and September 15, 2022, in a different form.

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The New York Times’ Chief Fashion Critic, Vanessa Friedman, joins us for the hour to discuss fashion in President Donald Trump's second administration, what we can learn from how politicians dress, the impacts of tariffs on the clothes we wear, and more.

GUEST:

Vanessa Friedman: Fashion Director and Chief Fashion Critic of The New York Times

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Are you the same person, today, that you were when you were a little kid? Are you the same person, right now, that you will be in the last years of your life?

When Scotty beams folks up, are the people arriving back on the Enterprise really the same people who were down on the surface of whatever alien planet? In a movie like Mickey 17, is the 16th cloned Mickey really the same person as the original, first Mickey?

This hour, a look at the age-old philosophical concept of continuity of self.

GUESTS:

Edward Ashton: The author of six novels, including Mickey7, which has been adapted as the movie Mickey 17
David Finkelstein: Associate professor of philosophy at the University of Chicago
Hal Hershfield: Professor of marketing and behavioral decision making at UCLA and one of the authors of MIT’s Future You project

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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Shakespeare’s tragedy about two star-crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet, has appealed to audiences for centuries. It’s been adapted countless times for stage and screen. And it’s in Hartford for the next few weeks.

From the set of Romeo and Juliet at Hartford Stage, and in front of a live audience, we talk with experts exploring the play and its legacy.

GUESTS:

David Sterling Brown: Associate professor of English at Trinity College; he is the author of Shakespeare’s White Othersand a development associate and scholar in residence for the American Globe Center, and he is on the curatorial team for Claudia Rankine’s The Racial Imaginary Institute
Melia Bensussen: Hartford Stage’s artistic director
Carman Lacivita: Actor who is currently playing Friar Laurence in Hartford Stage’s production of Romeo and Juliet; he is a recipient of the Bayfield Award — given to the best performance of Shakespeare in the New York Metropolitan Area

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

Hartford Stage is a current sponsor of Connecticut Public.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Robyn Doyon-Aitken, Megan Fitzgerald, Jonathan McNicol, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show. Thank you to the staff and volunteers at the Hartford Stage, including Lucas Clopton, Wesley McCabe-Schroeder, Lindsay Abrams, Zoe Golub-Sass, Jennifer Levine, Todd Brandt, and the volunteer ushers.

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This hour we take your calls about anything you want to talk about.

You can now watch our calls shows on Connecticut Public’s YouTube. Subscribe and get notified when we go live. Or join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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Sinners is the fifth feature film written and directed by Ryan Coogler and starring Michael B. Jordan. (Coogler has never made a feature without Jordan.) After years of sequels and Marvel movies, it’s Coogler’s first wholly original movie based on no other source material whatsoever. Sinners is a sexy Southern musical horror gangster thriller set in 1932 in the Mississippi Delta. With vampires. And it’s the No. 1 movie in the country.

Plus: We read Jill Lepore’s New Yorker piece about reading a Penguin Classic on each of the first 100 days of President Trump’s second term. And then a Vox piece about giving up Spotify. And we started thinking about the ways that we’re all consuming culture — avoiding or giving up some things, immersing ourselves in other things, etc. — in these, let’s say, anxious times.

GUESTS:

Raquel Benedict: The most dangerous woman in speculative fiction; she’s the host of the Rite Gud podcast
Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Nobody Asked Shawn podcast
Brian Slattery: A journalist and musician

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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This hour we talk with Christine Rosen about her book, The Extinction of Experience: Being Human in a Disembodied World. We talk about how technology has impacted face-to-face interactions, boredom, loneliness, handwriting, and more.

GUEST:

Christine Rosen: Author of The Extinction of Experience: Being Human in a Disembodied World. She is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a columnist for Commentary magazine, senior editor at The New Atlantis and fellow at the University of Virginia’s Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on October 3, 2024.

Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today by visiting ctpublic.org/donate.

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Should people use the Oxford comma? Is there a correct number of exclamation points per email? If someone ends a casual text with a period, does that mean they’re mad at you?

This hour: punctuation and how we use it. We talk about the history of punctuation marks, timeless punctuation debates, and how writing for texts and emails has changed the way we use punctuation.

GUESTS:

Raquel Benedict: The most dangerous woman in speculative fiction; she’s the host of the Rite Gud podcast
Claire Cock-Starkey: Author of Hyphens and Hashtags: The Stories Behind the Symbols on Our Keyboard
Julia Pistell: Founding member of Sea Tea Improv and one of the hosts of the Literary Disco podcast

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired November 3, 2021.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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This hour, a look at the myth of Sisyphus, and how we invoke it today. Plus, we'll hear from a musician who has found inspiration in the story, and we'll discuss when it's time to give up.

GUESTS:

Joel Christensen: Professor of Classical Studies and Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs at Brandeis University. His newest book is The Many-Minded Man: The Odyssey, Psychology, and the Therapy of Epic
Noah Baerman: Pianist, composer, and educator. He is director of the Wesleyan University Jazz Ensemble and artistic director of the nonprofit Resonance Motion. His most recent album is Live at the Side Door
Joshua Rothman: The New Yorker’s Ideas Editor, who writes the weekly column “Open Questions”

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on November 21, 2024.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to temporary tattoos as an “I’m Spartacus” type of protest, Americans emigrating elsewhere, MobLand and Pierce Brosnan and Helen Mirren’s accents, why people are intimidated by classical music … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

You can now watch our calls shows on Connecticut Public’s YouTube. Subscribe and get notified when we go live. Or join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Megan Fitzgerald, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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Note: This episode contains strong language.

Easily the hardest part of turning something like our live event celebrating the chemistry between Burt Bacharach and Dionne Warwick (and lyricist Hal David) into a radio show is figuring out what NOT to include. Onstage at Watkinson School in Hartford, we went nearly 80 minutes. The finished radio version runs just 50 minutes.

So we thought we’d present to you here separately some of that excised half hour.

This podcast extra includes four full song performances that didn’t make it into the radio show plus some odds and ends from rehearsals at soundcheck that we particularly enjoyed.

GUESTS:

Lou Bocciarelli: Bass
Atla DeChamplain: Vocals, Atla & Matt
Matt DeChamplain: Piano, Atla & Matt
Latanya Farrell: Vocals
Steve Metcalf: Piano
Molly Sayles: Drums

This show was produced, mixed, and edited by Dylan Reyes.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Jonathan McNicol contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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With rare exceptions, The Nose doesn’t usually cover movies from the previous Oscar season once the actual Oscars have happened. But major world events are the sort of things for which one might break with tradition, and with the death of Pope Francis on April 21, we thought we might make an exception.

Conclave is a 2024 political thriller melodrama based on the 2016 Robert Harris novel. It’s set at the Vatican and tells the story of the death of one pope and the election of the next. Conclave was nominated for eight Academy Awards this year, including Best Picture, Best Actor for Ralph Fiennes, and Best Supporting Actress for Isabella Rossellini. It won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay.

And: MobLand is a British crime drama television series. It was originally developed for Showtime as a spinoff origin story for Ray Donovan. But it eventually morphed into the standalone gangster story that has become the most-watched series launch ever for Paramount+. It stars Tom Hardy, Pierce Brosnan, Paddy Considine, and Helen Mirren.

GUESTS:

Taneisha Duggan: Director of arts, culture, and entertainment for the city of Hartford
Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Nobody Asked Shawn podcast
Lindsay Lee Wallace: Writes about culture, health care and health equity, and other stuff, too
Bill Yousman: Professor of media studies at Sacred Heart University

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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This hour, it’s our show on the relationship and chemistry between Burt Bacharach and Dionne Warwick (and the lyricist Hal David) recorded live onstage at Watkinson School in Hartford.

It’s an hour of music, conversation, and demonstrations of how GPS can help you find the way to San Jose.

GUESTS:

Lou Bocciarelli: Bass
Atla DeChamplain: Vocals, Atla & Matt
Matt DeChamplain: Piano, Atla & Matt
Latanya Farrell: Vocals
Steve Metcalf: Piano
Molly Sayles: Drums

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Maegn Boone, Meg Dalton, Robyn Doyon-Aitken, Megan Fitzgerald, Dylan Reyes, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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This hour, we look at the political erasure of history, and its impacts. Plus, we talk about why artists destroy their own work or the works of others. And, the history and evolution of erasers.

GUESTS:

Jason Stanley: Professor of Philosophy at Yale University. His latest book is Erasing History: How Fascists Rewrite the Past to Control the Future
Preminda Jacob: Associate Dean of the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, where she is also an Associate Professor of Art History and Museum Studies
Caroline Weaver: Former shopkeeper at CW Pencil Enterprise, a pencil shop in New York City. She is founder of The Locavore Guide and author of The Pencil Perfect: The Untold Story of a Cultural Icon

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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Since we just spent a number of years thinking about viruses, here’s a question: Should we be pretty worried about funguses, too?

This hour, a look at the real-life fungal infection of ants that inspired the video game and HBO series The Last of Us, which is now back for its second season. Plus, we talk with a local mushroom farmer and an author who writes fungal fiction and looks at the role of fungi in our world.

GUESTS:

William Beckerson: Post-doctoral research Fellow with the National Science Foundation
Patricia Kaishian: Mycologist and visiting assistant professor of biology at Bard College
Chris Pacheco: Owner of Seacoast Mushrooms in Mystic, Connecticut
Jeff VanderMeer: Author of a number of books, including the Southern Reach Trilogy, which includes Annihilation; he co-founded The Sunshine State Biodiversity Group

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired February 6, 2023.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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This hour we took your calls about anything you wanted to talk about.

You can now watch our calls shows on Connecticut Public’s YouTube. Subscribe and get notified when we go live. Or join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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The movie musical died a long, slow death a long time ago. Right?

Well, except that there’s Wicked. And Spielberg’s West Side Story. And Hamilton and In the Heights and Tick, Tick… Boom! And Encanto and Moana 2 and Mufasa. Oh, and Elvis and A Complete Unknown.

And those are just from the last five years. And I could keep going.

This hour, a long look at the long-dead movie musical. Long live the movie musical.

GUESTS:

Jeanine Basinger: Founder of the Department of Film Studies at Wesleyan University and the author of many books on film; her latest is Hollywood: The Oral History
Steve Metcalf: Founder and director of the Garmany concert series at the University of Hartford’s Hartt School

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired March 5, 2020.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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This hour, we revisit the novel and its cultural impact.

GUESTS:

Rob Kyff: Teacher and author of Gatsby’s Secrets. He also writes a nationally syndicated column on language
Maureen Corrigan: Book critic for NPR's Fresh Air, and a Distinguished Professor of the Practice in Literary Criticism at Georgetown University. She is the author of So We Read On: How The Great Gatsby Came To Be and Why It Endures
Sara Chase: Actress who created the role of Myrtle Wilson in the Broadway production of The Great Gatsby

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof wrote a column proclaiming that "America Is Not Made for People Who Pee." It hit a nerve. People responded with stories that all seemed to agree with him.

So, why don't we complain about locked doors, long lines (for women), or the lack of a public toilet where one should be? Lezlie Lowe might say that we don't like to talk about bodily functions that are perceived as kind of, well, gross.

This hour, we talk about public toilets, including one that people like.

GUESTS:

Lezlie Lowe: Teaches journalism at the University of King's College and is the author of No Place To Go: How Public Toilets Fail Our Private Needs
Evan Madden: Sales manager for The Portland Loo

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode.

Colin McEnroe, Cat Pastor, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show, which originally aired on April 15, 2021.

Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today by visiting ctpublic.org/donate.The Colin McEnroe Show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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This hour we talk about the history of the Second Red Scare, a period also known as McCarthyism.

We learn about why the Scare took off in the United States, its impact, and how it eventually fizzled out. Plus, we’ll look at the parallels and throughlines between that time period and our current moment.

And, a look at how the Second Red Scare impacted Hollywood, and how it, in turn, was reflected back through the movies.

GUESTS:

Clay Risen: Reporter and editor at The New York Times, and the author of Red Scare: Blacklists, McCarthyism, and the Making of Modern America
Ann Hornaday: The Washington Post's Senior Film Critic. She is the author of Talking Pictures: How to Watch Movies

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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This hour we took your calls about anything you wanted to talk about.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Bill Murray, Eddie Murphy, Chevy Chase, Steve Martin, John Belushi, John Candy, Rick Moranis.

Animal House, The Blues Brothers, Beverly Hills Cop, Caddyshack, The Jerk, Ghost Busters, ¡Three Amigos!, Funny Farm, Spaceballs, Stripes.

We maybe didn’t properly appreciate it at the time, but the 1980s were one of the most fertile periods ever for screen comedies and screen comedians.

This hour, a look at the mavericks who shaped a whole comedy aesthetic and at some of the most popular movie comedies ever made.

GUESTS:

Nick de Semlyen: Editor of Empire magazine and the author of Wild and Crazy Guys: How the Comedy Mavericks of the ’80s Changed Hollywood Forever
Daniel Kalwhite: A standup comedian based in New Haven
Carolyn Paine: An actress, comedian, and dancer; she is founder, director, and choreographer of CONNetic Dance

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe contributed to this show, which originally aired July 11, 2019, in a different form.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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You know Michael Schur from the shows he’s created, like The Good Place, Parks and Recreation and Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

This hour we talk with Schur about his book, How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question.

Through the conversation we discuss moral philosophy, and big moral questions like “should you return your shopping cart to the cart corral?”

GUEST:

Michael Schur: TV writer and producer and the author of How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired February 3, 2022.

Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today by visiting ctpublic.org/donate.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Jane Austen completed six full-length novels. And today, 250 years after her birth, those novels are all still present in our culture.

This hour, a look at Austen’s life and work, the world of Janeites, and the many film and television adaptations of her work.

GUESTS:

Devoney Looser: Author of The Making of Jane Austen and Sister Novelists: The Trailblazing Porter Sisters, Who Paved the Way for Austen and the Brontës
Deborah Yaffe: Author of Among the Janeites: A Journey Through the World of Jane Austen Fandom

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Anya Grondalski, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired July 28, 2022.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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Finally, baseball is back!

This hour, a look at all the fun, weird, interesting storylines in this new season — including, yes, the so-called torpedo bats.

Plus: Is Aaron Judge the best right-handed hitter … ever? Is Shohei Ohtani the best baseball player … ever? How the A’s lost their Oakland. How the Rays lost their ballpark. The future of umpires and umpiring … And more.

GUESTS:

Adam Elder: A writer covering sports and culture; he is the author of New Kids in the World Cup: The Totally Late ’80s and Early ’90s Tale of the Team That Changed American Soccer Forever
Linda Holmes: A pop culture correspondent for NPR and the host of Pop Culture Happy Hour; her new novel is Back After This
Sam Miller: Writes the Pebble Hunting Substack; he is the co-author of The Only Rule Is It Has To Work: Our Wild Experiment Building a New Kind of Baseball Team

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Dylan Reyes, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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This hour we took your calls about anything you wanted to talk about.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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There’s something kind of special about the experience of a really great, really bad movie.

Think Red Dawn or Under Siege. Snakes on a Plane or Batman & Robin.

Independence Day is nearly perfect and so rewatchable — and also terrible.

This hour, a Nose-ish look at the joy of bad movies.

GUESTS:

Theresa Cramer: A freelance writer and editor and the co-founder of Quiet Corner Communications
Alicia di Leo: A para-educator in the integrated preschool program in the Manchester school system
David Edelstein: America’s Greatest Living Film Critic
Severn Sandt: Associate director of strategic partnerships and outreach at Trinity College in Hartford
Howard Sherman: A theater administrator, writer, and advocate; he is the U.S. columnist for The Stage newspaper of London and the author of Another Day’s Begun: Thornton Wilder’s Our Town in the 21st Century

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Eugene Amatruda contributed to this show, which originally aired August 2, 2024.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Whether it’s for social, spiritual, or even psychological reasons (yes, dance therapy is a thing), humans have been dancing since the very beginning.

This hour, a look at all things dance — from ancient history to modern, Hollywood dance movies.

GUESTS:

Henry Alford: Author of And Then We Danced: A Voyage Into the Groove
Christina Devereaux: Board-certified dance/movement therapist
David Edelstein: America’s Greatest Living Film Critic
Jonathan McNicol: Producer of The Colin McEnroe Show

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired July 5, 2018.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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This hour, a look at why, more than half a century after they first came walking down the street, we’re still bananas for The Monkees.

GUESTS:

Mark Rozzo: Contributing editor at Vanity Fair, where he published “The Most Influential Pop-Rock Band Ever? The Monkees!”
Andrew Sandoval: Manager of The Monkees from 2011 to 2021 and host of the podcast Come to the Sunshine
Rosanne Welch: Author of Why The Monkees Matter: Teenagers, Television and American Pop Culture
Brian Williams: Former anchor of the NBC Nightly News

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, Cat Pastor, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show, which originally aired February 9, 2022.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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GUESTS:

Daniel Durbin: Professor of Communication and Director of the Institute of Sports, Media and Society at the University of Southern California Annenberg School
Sarah Bilston: Professor of English at Trinity College and author of the forthcoming book, The Lost Orchid: A Story of Victorian Plunder & Obsession
Paul Barnes: Pianist and Professor of Music at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Glenn Korff School of Music

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to Sen. Chris Murphy’s New Yorker interview, Stephen Graham and Adolescence and A Thousand Blows, whether John Donne and William Shakespeare knew each other, whether you should root for blowouts, the novel Darkmotherland by Samrat Upadhyay … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

You can now watch our calls shows on Connecticut Public’s YouTube. Subscribe and get notified when we go live. Or join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Megan Fitzgerald, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Adolescence is a four-part Netflix limited series crime drama. It is written and created by Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham, who also stars. Adolescence “tells the story of how a family’s world is turned upside down when 13-year-old Jamie Miller is arrested for the murder of a teenage girl who goes to his school.” Each hour-long (ish) episode is told in real time in one shot over one take.

And: Long Bright River is an eight-part Peacock limited series crime drama. It is created by Nikki Toscano and Liz Moore and based on Moore’s book. It stars Amanda Seyfried as a Philadelphia police officer who realizes that her own family history might be related to a series of murders.

GUESTS:

Irene Papoulis: Teaches writing at Trinity College, and she’s the author of The Essays Only You Can Write
Tracy Wu Fastenberg: Associate vice president for development at Connecticut Children’s
Bill Yousman: Professor of media studies at Sacred Heart University

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Another group of researchers trained pigeons to reliably distinguish between the paintings of Picasso and Monet, even if they had never seen a particular painting before.

This hour, everything you ever wanted to know about pigeons but were afraid to ask.

GUESTS:

Yoni Applebaum: A social and cultural historian
Andrew Blechman: Author of Pigeons: The Fascinating Saga of the World’s Most Revered and Reviled Bird
Wanda Corn: The Robert and Ruth Halperin Professor Emerita in the department of art and art history at Stanford University
Patrick Skahill: Connecticut Public’s digital editor

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Tess Aaronson, Jonathan McNicol, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired November 12, 2013.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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Historian Timothy Snyder is the author of the books On Freedom and On Tyranny. He joins us this hour to talk about the latest in our country, and what we can learn from history.

GUEST:

Timothy Snyder: Richard C. Levin Professor of History and Global Affairs at Yale University and a permanent fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna. He is the author of books including On Freedom, On Tyranny, Our Malady, and more

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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The microphone makes everything we do on the radio possible. This hour we celebrate the invention and look at the role of microphones in music. Plus hot mics, mic drops, and more.

GUESTS:

Susan Rogers: Multi-platinum record producer, cognitive neuroscientist, professor at Berklee College of Music and co-author of the book This is What It Sounds Like: What the Music You Love Says About You
Azi Paybarah: Politics Reporter for The Washington Post
Forrest Wickman: Slate's culture editor

Colin McEnroe, Angelica Gajewski, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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This hour, the conversation winds around to the zipper merge, Don McLean’s “American Pie,” our 15th anniversary party, model trains (again), music streaming services, advice for caregivers in times of grief … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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This week, we’re celebrating the show’s 15th anniversary (which was last year, but never mind about that part).

Over those 15+ years, we’ve done something north of 3,000 shows. And every one of those shows was intended, more or less, to be about some … thing. Towels or Trump or toast or television or whatever.

This hour we do the opposite thing: a show not about a specific something — tapirs.

Note: This show features Chion Wolf’s performance of “Let’s Not Talk About Tapirs,” with lyrics by Colin McEnroe and music by Chion Wolf.

Also note: We’re idiots. Don’t let the fact that we’re idiots prevent you from finding tapirs as fascinating as we actually do. If you’re able, you might consider supporting the Tapir Specialist Group, which conserves “biological diversity by stimulating, developing, and executing practical programs to study, save, restore, and manage the four species of tapir and their remaining habitats in Central and South America and Southeast Asia.”

GUESTS:

Carmen Baskauf: Former producer for Where We Live on Connecticut Public
Kimberly Hyde: A keeper at the San Diego Zoo; she handles the zoo’s tapirs in its Elephant Odyssey habitat
Betsy Kaplan: Senior producer emeritus of The Colin McEnroe Show
Jonathan McNicol: The producer of this very episode of The Colin McEnroe Show
Carlos Mejia: Former digital producer at Connecticut Public
Mike Pesca: Hosts the independent daily podcast The Gist
Josh Nilaya: Former producer for The Colin McEnroe Show
Susan Piver: Meditation teacher, speaker, and long-time Buddhist practitioner
Patrick Skahill: Connecticut Public’s digital editor; producer emeritus of The Colin McEnroe Show

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe contributed to this show, which originally aired September 5, 2019, in a different form.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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There are more than 800 miles of Blue-Blazed Hiking Trails in Connecticut. Today we're doing our show from one of them.

There are things out in the woods that might surprise you, and one of the guys walking down the trail to visit us today is our state archeologist, who's still uncovering the mysteries of Connecticut distant past.

But we're also going to talk about the ecosystem of the trails and woods and about an unwelcome visitor, the emerald ash borer. We also hope to provides lots of good hiking tips and a few warnings about what to watch out for. So put on some [smack] bug spray and join us out in the woods.

GUESTS:

Clare Cain: Trail stewardship director for the Connecticut Forest and Parks Association
Geoff Meissner: Hiker who has hiked every Blue-Blazed trail in Connecticut
Nicholas Bellantoni: Connecticut’s state archaeologist
Steve Broderick: Forester and program director for the Goodwin Forest Conservation Education Center in Hampton

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Tucker Ives, Chion Wolf, Lydia Brown, and Gene Amatruda contributed to this show, which originally aired on August 9, 2012.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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March Madness is here!

And for the 15th* time, the only logical thing to do is to get improv comedian Julia Pistell and the actual Bill Curry together to talk basketball for an hour on the radio.

That may not be the only logical thing to do. It may be that that’s not actually a logical thing to do at all.

But we’re doing it anyway.

It’s our 15th one of these unless it isn’t. We’re pretty sure we’ve done this show every year from 2010 on, but for 2020. That 2010 show is lost to internet history, but we’re fairly confident it happened. And the 2012 show … was about birds? But we’re counting it.*

GUESTS:

Bill Curry: Playing the part of Bill Curry
Frankie Graziano: Host of The Wheelhouse on Connecticut Public
Mike Pesca: Hosts the independent daily podcast The Gist
Julia Pistell: A founding member of Sea Tea Improv, among a number of other things
Nayef Samhat: President of Wofford College

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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GUESTS:

Kevin Kern: Associate Professor of History at The University of Akron. He is co-author of Ohio: A History of the Buckeye State
Beverly Gage: Professor of 20th-century U.S. history at Yale University. Her newest book, G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century, received the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Biography.
Joan Antonson: Executive Director of the Alaska Historical Society

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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You can now watch our calls shows and send us a comment on YouTube!

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Angelica Gajewski, Jonathan McNicol, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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I’m Still Here (Ainda Estou Aqui) is a Brazilian, Portuguese-language political biographical drama based on the memoir by Marcelo Rubens Paiva. At this year’s Oscars, it won the Academy Award for Best International Feature, and it was the first Brazilian movie ever nominated for Best Picture.

And: A Hollywood Reporter piece worries that the recency bias in Netflix’s catalog — in which the oldest movie would currently appear to be 1957’s An Affair to Remember — is making us “cinema-illiterate.”

GUESTS:

David Edelstein: America’s Greatest Living Film Critic
Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Nobody Asked Shawn podcast
Lindsay Lee Wallace: Writes about culture, health care and health equity, and other stuff, too

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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“The Nose” may be Nikolai Gogol’s most famous short story. It’s a surrealist — and self-consciously, self-awarely surrealist — story about a man whose nose disappears from his face and reappears in another man’s biscuits. And other places. There’s a moment toward the end of Susanne Fusso’s translation when the narrator says, “The strangest and most incomprehensible thing of all — is that writers can choose such plots.”

Well, yes.

Nikolai Gogol was a 19th-century Russian/Ukrainian novelist and playwright. One of his best-known plays, The Inspector, opens March 13 at Yale Repertory Theatre in New Haven.

And that short story, “The Nose,” might well be intertwined with the mythology of our little public radio show.

This hour, a look at the writer Nikolai Gogol.

GUESTS:

Susanne Fusso: Professor of Russian, East European, and Eurasian studies at Wesleyan University and the author of a number of books, including Designing Dead Souls: An Anatomy of Disorder in Gogol and a recent translation, The Nose and Other Stories by Nikolai Gogol
Yura Kordonsky: The adaptor and director of the Yale Repertory Theatre’s production of The Inspector

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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GUESTS:

Kent Dunlap: Professor of Biology at Trinity College, Hartford, and author of The Neck: A Natural and Cultural History
Nancy MacDonell: Fashion journalist and fashion historian. She writes The Wall Street Journal column "Fashion with a Past.” Her new book is Empresses of Seventh Avenue: World War II, New York City, and the Birth of American Fashion

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Robyn Doyon-Aitken, Angelica Gajewski, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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Beavers build sophisticated dams and deep-water ponds that slow erosion of riverbanks, create cooler deep-water pools for temperature-sensitive plant and fish species, and increase the water table, a big deal for Western states coping with drought. And they're social animals who have mates, kits, and an active social life.

But centuries-old myths and fables about the beaver have led to their destruction and prevented us from recognizing their charms and value to the ecosystem. We fear them, dislike them, and use them for all the wrong reasons, like killing them for their pelts.

Let's celebrate the beaver!

GUESTS:

Jim Robbins: Freelance journalist based in Montana and a frequent contributor to the New York Times. He’s the author of several books including, The Man Who Planted Trees: Lost Groves, Champion Trees, and An Urge To Save the Planet
Rachel Poliquin: Freelance writer and curator. She’s the author of The Breathless Zoo: Taxidermy and the Cultures of Longing, and Beaver, for the Reaktion Books’ Animal Series
Heidi Perryman: Child psychologist and the founder of Worth A Dam
Sherri Tippie: Rescues beaver in Colorado and rehabilitates and relocates them to areas where ponds are needed

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired on November 19, 2014.

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We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls, calls about anything, everything. And we’re doing another one. In other words: Give us a call during the 1 p.m. EDT hour. 888-720-9677. And! Now you can watch our calls shows on Connecticut Public’s YouTube. Come say (nice) things to us in the comments!

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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In January, World Wrestling Entertainment's (WWE) Monday night show, Raw, moved to Netflix. The move comes around the time that a known WWE fan and Hall of Famer, President Donald Trump, entered the White House.

Josephine Riesman, author of Ringmaster: Vince McMahon and the Unmaking of America, argues that understanding WWE can help us understand Trump and his politics. This hour, we learn about WWE and its impact on Trump, and discuss the experience and appeal of watching wrestling.

GUESTS:

Josephine Riesman: Author of Ringmaster: Vince McMahon and the Unmaking of America
Tim Kail: Creator of “The Work of Wrestling” website and podcast. He is also the host and producer of “The Sarah Lawrence College Podcast”

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President Donald Trump has been using the phrase “common sense” a lot. But it turns out that this is nothing new for politicians.

GUESTS:

Sophia Rosenfeld: Walter H. Annenberg Professor of History and Chair of the Department of History at the University of Pennsylvania; she is the author of multiple books, including Common Sense: A Political History and her new book, The Age of Choice: A History of Freedom in Modern Life
Mark Whiting: Research fellow at the Computational Social Science lab at the University of Pennsylvania and chief technology officer of the startup Pareto.AI; you can find the common sense survey here
Mayank Kejriwal: Research professor and principal scientist at the University of Southern California

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Angelica Gajewski, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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This hour, we look at the anthropological, psychological, and linguistical ramifications of the concept of numbers.

And we look at one philosophical question too: Are numbers even real in the first place?

GUESTS:

Brian Clegg: Author of Are Numbers Real? The Uncanny Relationship of Mathematics and the Physical World
Caleb Everett: Author of Numbers and the Making of Us: Counting and the Course of Human Cultures

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired October 12, 2017.

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We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to booing, the separation of church and state, our anniversary party, showering in the morning vs. at night, pinball (again), Gene Hackman, whether or not Colin owns a suit … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

You can now watch our calls shows on Connecticut Public’s YouTube. Subscribe to get notified when we go live. Or join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Megan Fitzgerald, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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We’ve never done this before.

The Nose has done Oscars shows any number of times, but they’ve basically all been preview shows of one kind or another on the Friday and/or Saturday before the Sunday ceremony.

But this year, we’re doing the other thing: a Monday reaction show after the Sunday ceremony. (The closest we’ve come before was a short emergency Nose to deal with The Slap, which I still think was really more of a smack, but whatever.)

Point being: The 97th Academy Awards were Sunday night. Anora cleaned up, winning five major awards including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actress. The Brutalist picked up a couple other big awards. Movies like Emilia Pérez and Conclave and A Complete Unknown came up close to empty (Pérezand Conclave) or completely empty (Complete Unknown).

This hour, The Nose reacts to the Oscars — the surprises, the snubs, the speeches, the outfits, the memes, the chewing gum. The whole thing.

GUESTS:

Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Nobody Asked Shawn podcast
Vivian Nabeta: Director of digital marketing for CT State Community College
Gene Seymour: A “writer, professional spectator, pop-culture maven, and jazz geek”

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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Severance is a science fiction office comedy psychological thriller series created by Dan Erickson and executive produced and primarily directed by Ben Stiller. After a 32-month hiatus between seasons, its second season is running now on Apple TV+.

And: The Mother Lode is a standup special from comedian Rosebud Baker. It stitches together two performances from The Comedy Cellar in Manhattan — one when Baker was eight months pregnant and one 11 months after she gave birth.

GUESTS:

Sam Hadelman: Works in music public relations and hosts The Sam Hadelman Show at Radio Free Brooklyn
Irene Papoulis: Teaches writing at Trinity College, and she’s the author of The Essays Only You Can Write
Bill Yousman: Professor of media studies at Sacred Heart University

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe contributed to this show.

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This hour, we'll explore the idea of "northmanship." We'll talk about what it means to be from the north and to be inspired by the north. Is there a connection that we make to truth and beauty? Are we obsessed with it because it's slowly disappearing?

GUESTS:

Michael Robinson: Author, Department of Humanities Chair and Professor of History at University of Hartford. He hosts a podcast called "Time to Eat the Dogs"
Luanne Rice: Author of more than 30 novels, including 22 consecutive New York Times best sellers
Mary Ehrlander: Professor Emeritus of History at University of Alaska, Fairbanks
Halla Oskarsdottir: Icelandic journalist, columnist and book critic

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Julia Pistell and Chion Wolf contributed to this program, which originally aired March 5, 2015.

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You may notice that we curate our music rather carefully, the music we use going in and out of segments.

This hour, a look at how we do that, what our standards are, and how we make those choices about music.

GUEST:

Robyn Doyon-Aitken: Deputy director of audio storytelling and talk shows at Connecticut Public

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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This hour we took your calls about anything you wanted to talk about.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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You have probably encountered poet Robert Frost through his famous poems “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” or “The Road Not Taken.” But how much do you know about the man behind the poetry and the rest of his poems?

This hour, we learn about the life and poetry of Robert Frost and discover how he's helped to inspire other poets.

You can hear Adam Plunkett talk about his new book on Monday, February 24, at 7 p.m. EST at The University of Saint Joseph.

GUESTS:

Adam Plunkett: Literary critic and author of Love and Need: The Life of Robert Frost’s Poetry
Sydney Lea: Former Poet Laureate of Vermont and a recipient of Vermont’s highest artistic distinction, The Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts; he is the author of 16 poetry collections, seven collections of personal essays, and two novels

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Dylan Reyes, and Kathy Wang contributed to this show.

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This past weekend, Saturday Night Live celebrated its 50th anniversary with a concert and a special.

This hour, a look at the institution SNL has become over five decades on television.

Plus, a look at Jason Reitman’s movie, Saturday Night, which tells (a version of) the story of SNL’s inception in 1975.

GUESTS:

Dave Itzkoff: A journalist and writer and the author of four books; his most recent is Robin
Maureen Lee Lenker: A senior writer at Entertainment Weekly and the author of the novel It Happened One Fight
Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Nobody Asked Shawn podcast

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on October 18, 2024.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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President Trump and his new administration have been dismantling the U.S. government's administrative state, what they call the "deep state." This hour, we take a look at what government bureaucrats do, the impact of Trump's actions, and how the reality of the administrative state differs from the rhetoric surrounding it.

Plus, we'll hear from the longtime congressional staffer who popularized the term "deep state" about how it's being used. And, a look at cultural depictions of the bureaucracy.

GUESTS:

Cristina Rodríguez: Professor of Law at Yale Law School
Mike Lofgren: Worked in Congress for twenty-eight years. He is the author of The Party is Over: How Republicans Went Crazy, Democrats Became Useless, and the Middle Class Got Shafted, as well as The Deep State: The Fall of the Constitution and the Rise of a Shadow Government
Jennifer Szalai: Nonfiction book critic for The New York Times

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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What else besides an egg can give us human life, culinary delight, life-saving vaccines, jarping, the Clowns International Egg Registry, and a satisfying bit of schadenfreude, all wrapped in one small package? Making a great omelet is the tip of the eggshell for the versatility of the egg.

This hour, a hard-boiled look at the ubiquitous, yet overlooked egg.

GUESTS:

John Portmann: Taught moral philosophy and ethics at the University of Virginia for several decades; he’s the author ofWhen Bad Things Happen To Other People
Chris Prosperi: Chef and co-owner of Metro Bis in Simsbury, Connecticut, and a former recipe columnist for the Hartford Courant
Lizzie Stark: The author of Egg: A Dozen Ovatures

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, Cat Pastor, Dylan Reyes, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show, which originally aired April 27, 2023.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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This hour we take your calls about anything you want to talk about.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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This hour is all about America’s 21st president, Chester A. Arthur, who took office after President James Garfield was assassinated.

We look at Arthur’s life and legacy and at what happens when someone unexpectedly takes over the highest office in the land.

GUESTS:

David Edelstein: America’s Greatest Living Film Critic
Scott S. Greenberger: Executive editor of Stateline and the author of The Unexpected President: The Life and Times of Chester A. Arthur
Victoria Sample: Historic sites section chief for the state of Vermont

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired March 6, 2024.

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State Sen. Martin Looney has proposed a bill in the Connecticut legislature that would require movie theaters to publish the actual start times of movies, rather than the time all the commercials and trailers and ads for concessions start.

This hour, a Nose-ish look at, well, that bill and the effects it would have on movie theaters and moviegoing.

Plus: the art and history of movie trailers, themselves.

GUESTS:

Allan Arkush: A contributor to Trailers from Hell; he worked in the trailers department for Roger Corman
Stephen Garrett: Founder of Jump Cut
James Hanley: Co-founder of Cinestudio at Trinity College
Sam Hatch: Co-hosts The Culture Dogs on WWUH
Martin Looney: President pro tempore of the Connecticut Senate and the state senator serving Hamden and New Haven
Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Nobody Asked Shawn podcast
Kevin O’Toole: Co-hosts The Culture Dogs on WWUH
Lindsay Lee Wallace: Writes about culture, health care and health equity, and other stuff, too

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Betsy Kaplan, Cat Pastor, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, parts of which originally aired July 2, 2014, in a different form.

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GUESTS:

Arik Kershenbaum: Professor of Zoology at University of Cambridge, and author of Why Animals Talk: The New Science of Animal Communication
Federico Rossano: Associate Professor of Cognitive Science at the University of California San Diego

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At the same time, for some people, squirrels are nightmare fuel.

GUESTS:

Nick Buckley: A freelance journalist and photographer
Nancy Lawson: The author, most recently, of Wildscape: Trilling Chipmunks, Beckoning Blooms, Salty Butterflies, and other Sensory Wonders of Nature and the founder of The Humane Gardner
Jennifer Smith: A behavioral ecologist and an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin—Eau Claire, where she leads the Behavioral Ecology of Social Mammals Lab

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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What’s in your pockets right now? Phone, wallet, keys … maybe some discarded receipts or old gum?

This hour: what we carry with us every day, from flashlights the size of a lip balm to a life-saving medicine.

GUESTS:

Bernard Capulong: Founder and editor-in-chief of everydaycarry.com
Peter Canning: A Hartford paramedic, an emergency medical services coordinator at John Dempsey Hospital, and the author of Killing Season: A Paramedic’s Dispatches from the Front Lines of the Opioid Epidemic
Hannah Carlson: Senior lecturer in the Apparel Department at the Rhode Island School of Design and the author of Pockets: An Intimate History of How We Keep Things Close
Mona Gohara: Private practice dermatologist, associate clinical professor of dermatology at the Yale School of Medicine, and an advocate around increasing inclusivity in dermatology
Drew John Ladd: A writer

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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This hour we took your calls about anything you wanted to talk about.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Sing Sing is a theater and prison drama directed by Greg Kwedar and written by Clint Bentley and Kwedar from a story by Bentley, Kwedar, Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin, and John “Divine G” Whitfield. It is nominated for three Academy Awards, including Best Actor for Colman Domingo and Best Adapted Screenplay.

And: American Primeval is a Netflix limited series written and created by Mark L. Smith and directed by Peter Berg. It’s set in 1857 during the Utah War, and it stars Taylor Kitsch, Betty Gilpin, Dane DeHaan, Jai Courtney, Shea Whigham, and more.

GUESTS:

Rebecca Castellani: Co-founder of Quiet Corner Communications and a freelance writer
Taneisha Duggan: Associate producer at Octopus Theatricals
Bill Yousman: Professor of media studies at Sacred Heart University

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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There’s a theory that people are drawn to work that fits their name. This hour, an exploration of nominative determinism. Plus, a look at the different ways your name impacts your life.

GUESTS:

David Bird: Emeritus professor of wildlife biology and director of the Avian Science and Conservation Centre of McGill University
Brett Pelham: Professor of psychology at Montgomery College
Tess Terrible: Senior producer of Where We Live on Connecticut Public
Laura Wattenberg: Naming expert, author of The Baby Name Wizard, and the creator of Namerology

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired February 16, 2023.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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Most of the Western world is organized by alphabetical order, which is so much more than the 26 letters that make up the alphabet.

This hour, a conversation about how we order our world and why we do it.

GUESTS:

Nicholson Baker: A novelist and essayist; his most recent book is Finding a Likeness: How I Got Somewhat Better at Art
Judith Flanders: Author of A Place for Everything: The Curious History of Alphabetical Order
Peter Sokolowski: Editor-at-large at Merriam-Webster

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired January 21, 2021.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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Just last week, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved the Doomsday Clock closer to midnight. The end of the world has been something humans have been preoccupied with for a very long time. This hour, we talk about how we imagine the world ending, and what it says about us.

GUESTS:

Dorian Lynskey: Journalist and author of multiple books, most recently Everything Must Go: The Stories We Tell About the End of the World. He is also co-host of the Origin Story podcast.
Brian Slattery: Freelance writer and editor. He is the author of four novels. His latest short story is “Clouds” which appears in the anthology Shadow Lab

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to Hartford’s Grammy winners in the jazz categories, Peacock’s Ladies & Gentlemen … 50 Years of SNL Music documentary, international news reporting vs. domestic news reporting, a growing general sense of consternation … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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In his book From Hollywood with Love: The Rise and Fall (and Rise Again) of the Romantic Comedy, Scott Meslow lays out two ways to tell if a given movie is a rom-com. First, his own definition: “A romantic comedy is a movie where (1) the central plot is focused on at least one romantic love story; and (2) the goal is to make you laugh at least as much as the goal is to make you cry.”

And then, The Donald Petrie Test, named for the director of some rom-coms, like Mystic Pizza and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, but also some edge cases, like Miss Congeniality and Grumpy Old Men: “If you removed the love story from this [comedy], would you still have a movie? If the answer is no, it’s a romantic comedy. […] If the answer is yes, it’s a comedy with a romantic subplot.”

So those are the litmus tests. Now, does that make Broadcast News a rom-com, or no? What about Annie Hall? Or something like Grosse Pointe Blank? How about His Girl Friday? Or even, actually, Love Actually?

This hour, a deconstruction — and celebration — of the romantic comedy.

GUESTS:

Illeana Douglas: The Official Movie Star of The Colin McEnroe Show
David Edelstein: America’s Greatest Living Film Critic
Scott Meslow: Author of From Hollywood with Love

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired August 24, 2022.

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Occam’s razor states that “entities should not be multiplied beyond necessity.”

This hour is all about Occam’s razor: where the principle came from, how it impacts science, its role in medicine, and how it shapes our daily lives.

GUESTS:

Kurt Andersen: Co-founder of Spy magazine, the host and co-creator of Studio 360, and the author of Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire — A 500-Year History
Johnjoe McFadden: Author of Life Is Simple: How Occam’s Razor Set Science Free and Shapes the Universe
Lisa Sanders: Clinician educator in the Primary Care Internal Medicine Residency Program at the Yale School of Medicine and the author of the Diagnosis column for The New York Times Magazine

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode.

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired November 17, 2021.

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Zero is considered by many mathematicians to maybe be humanity’s greatest achievement.

This hour, a look at the strange and essential concept of the number zero and how the human brain deals with it.

Plus: the trend toward zero-sugar and zero-calorie sodas.

And: 0 (and 00) as a uniform number in sports.

GUESTS:

Emily Contois: Associate professor of media studies at The University of Tulsa and the author of Diners, Dudes, and Diets: How Gender and Power Collide in Food Media and Culture
Todd Radom: A designer, sports branding expert, and writer
Yasemin Saplakoglu: A staff writer covering biology for Quanta Magazine

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, SpotifyAmazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Robyn Doyon-Aitken, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on November 20, 2024.

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Crawford Hall at Yale. The Louis Micheels House in Westport. The Babbidge Library at UConn. Hotel Marcel in New Haven.

Connecticut is dotted with stunning examples of brutalism, the divisively modernist and minimalist style of architecture.

With Brady Corbet’s epic drama, The Brutalist, nominated for 10 Academy Awards including Best Picture, we take a long look at brutalism.

GUESTS:

Bruce Redman Becker: Founder and director of Becker + Becker in Westport, Connecticut
Barnabas Calder: Head of the History of Architecture Research Cluster at the University of Liverpool and the author of Raw Concrete: The Beauty of Brutalism
Philip Kennicott: Senior art and architecture critic at The Washington Post

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Everyone has likely experienced some form of writer's block in their lives — when you sit down to write and the words just won't come. This hour we dive into the phenomenon and talk with writers about their experiences with it. What is writer's block, where does it come from, and how can you get past it? Plus, we take a look at the long history of writer's block, and the muses, goddesses, and saints we call on when we have it.

GUESTS:

Jami Attenberg: Author whose new book is A Reason to See You Again. She is also the creator of “#1000wordsofsummer,” and writes the newsletter “Craft Talk”
Dennis Palumbo: Writer and licensed psychotherapist who specializes in working with creative patients. He is a former Hollywood screenwriter, and the author of numerous books
Joyce Kinkead: Distinguished Professor Emeritus of English at Utah State University. She is author of A Writing Studies Primer, among other books

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on September 19, 2024.

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Randy Newman has been nominated for 22 Academy Awards (he’s won twice), for 23 Grammy Awards (seven wins), and for three Primetime Emmy Awards (and he won all three).

Critic Robert Hilburn has published what may well be the definitive biography of Newman, A Few Words in Defense of Our Country.

This hour, Hilburn joins us to talk Randy Newman.

GUEST:

Robert Hilburn: Author of A Few Words in Defense of Our Country: The Biography of Randy Newman

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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This hour, we look at our cultural fascination with dead bodies. What do we owe the dead? What can the dead teach us? What does a body represent to you?

We talk to a death investigator who observes what the dead can teach us about living, a poet / mortician, who laments our growing estrangement from our dead, and a reporter who has investigated the large — and legal — market for body parts.

GUESTS:

Barbara Butcher: A retired New York City death investigator and the author of What the Dead Know: Learning About Life as a New York City Death Investigator
Ally Jarmanning: A senior reporter for WBUR; she’s the host and reporter for Season 4 of the podcast Last Seen: Postmortem
Thomas Lynch: The author of six collections of poems, six books of essays, and a book of stories; he worked as a funeral director for over 50 years

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, Jonathan McNicol, and Bradley O’Connor contributed to this show, which originally aired July 18, 2024.

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This hour, philosopher Agnes Callard joins us to talk about her new book, Open Socrates: The Case for a Philosophical Life.

GUEST:

Agnes Callard: Associate Professor of Philosophy at The University of Chicago. Her new book is Open Socrates: The Case for a Philosophical Life

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We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to the inauguration, our immigration system, Van Gogh, The Price Is Right, Klaus Schulze’s Kontinnum … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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We’re at a point where, for many of us, there has simply never been a popular culture in which Bob Dylan wasn’t a towering figure.

And with the new Dylan biopic, A Complete Unknown, getting awards nominations left and right, this hour we take a look at the Poet Laureate of Rock ’n’ Roll: Bob Dylan.

GUESTS:

Noah Baerman: A pianist, composer, and educator
Fred Bals: Hosted the Dreamtime podcast, covering Theme Time Radio Hour with Your Host, Bob Dylan
Sean Latham: Director of the Institute for Bob Dylan Studies, editor of The World of Bob Dylan, and the writer and narrator of It Ain’t Me You’re Looking For: Bob Dylan at 80
Gayle Wald: Professor of American studies at George Washington University; her most recent book is It’s Been Beautiful: Soul! and Black Power Television

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired May 20, 2021.

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This hour we take a look at the history and evolution of chapters, and discuss how they impact our reading experiences.

GUESTS:

Nicholas Dames: Professor in the Department of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, where he studies the history and theory of the novel. His new book is The Chapter: A Segmented History from Antiquity to the Twenty-First Century. He is also co-editor in chief of Public Books
Rebecca Makkai: Author of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award Finalist The Great Believers, among other books. Her latest book is I Have Some Questions For You. She is artistic director of StoryStudio Chicago

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In the century since Russia’s “Mad Monk” was poisoned, we’ve come to believe a lot of things: he was mystical, he was evil, he was the world’s greatest lover.

This hour: Rasputin — the all-too-human peasant who found his way to friendship with the Romanovs and the comical, absurd version of him that just won’t die.

Plus, a look at "The New Rasputins."

GUESTS:

Douglas Smith: Historian and author of Rasputin: Faith, Power, and the Twilight of the Romanovs
Anne Applebaum: Staff writer at The Atlantic, Senior Fellow at the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University and the School of Advanced International Studies, author of books including Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run The World

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode.

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, Cat Pastor, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, parts of which originally aired May 3, 2022.

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It feels like tourism hit a breaking point this past summer, with residents around Europe protesting visitors, new entrance and tourist fees popping up at famous spots, and even a net going up to block a popular view of Mt. Fuji. This hour, a philosopher makes the case against travel. Plus, we talk about how tourism is impacting destinations, like Bologna, Italy, and ways to travel differently.

GUESTS:

Agnes Callard: Associate Professor of Philosophy at The University of Chicago. Her forthcoming book is Open Socrates: The Case for a Philosophical Life
Ilaria Maria Sala: Italian journalist
Lisa Abend: Journalist for The New York Times, TIME, Vanity Fair and AFAR. Her Substack is “The Unplugged Traveler”

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on September 17, 2024.

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This hour we take your calls about anything you want to talk about.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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Elvis left two legacies. Musically, he pulled several American musical traditions out of the shadows, braided them together, and made them mainstream. Personally, he created a far darker template for the way a musical celebrity could be devoured by the very fame he avidly sought.

Recorded live in front of an audience — long before the pandemic — as part of Colin’s Freshly Squeezed series at Watkinson School, an hour about the artist who defined the birth of rock and roll and was the genre’s first superstar.

GUESTS:

Jim Chapdelaine: Guitar and vocals
Latanya Farrell: Vocals
Steve Metcalf: Piano and vocals

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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This show originally aired February 20, 2019.

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During the Inauguration in a few weeks, President-elect Donald Trump will take the oath of office. It's a practice that elected officials are taking part in across the country following the 2024 election. So what is the significance of this oath? This hour, we take a look at oaths, vows, and pledges. We'll discuss their history and their meaning, and explore the examples of marriage vows and the Pledge of Allegiance.

GUESTS:

Joanne Pierce: Professor Emerita in the Department of Religious Studies at the College of The Holy Cross, who specializes in medieval Christianity, particularly liturgy and worship
Cheryl Mendelson: Author of Vows: The Modern Genius of an Ancient Rite
Charles Dorn: Professor of Education at Bowdoin College, and co-author of Patriotic Education in a Global Age

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While some people decide to abstain from alcohol for Dry January, we take a look at alcohol, and our relationship with it.

Drinking alcohol has a number of negative impacts. But humans have been doing it for thousands of years and show no signs of stopping. This hour, a look at why we drink, why more people are moving towards sobriety through the “sober curious” movement, and the rise of nonalcoholic cocktails.

GUESTS:

Edward Slingerland - Author of Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization, and a professor of philosophy at the University of British Columbia
Hilary Sheinbaum - Journalist and author of The Dry Challenge: How to Lose the Booze for Dry January, Sober October, and Any Other Alcohol-Free Month
Elva Ramirez - Journalist, media consultant and author of Zero Proof Cocktails: 90 Non-Alcoholic Recipes for Mindful Drinking

Join the conversation on Facebook andTwitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired on October 18, 2021.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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When you think of the Vikings, you probably picture a bearded man wearing a horned hat, pillaging on a Viking ship. But that's far from the whole story.

This hour is all about the everyday lives of the Vikings with historian Eleanor Barraclough, from their homes and hair to their myths and music.

GUEST:

Eleanor Barraclough: Historian, writer, and broadcaster based at Bath Spa University; her new book is Embers of the Hands: Hidden Histories of The Viking Age

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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This hour we take your calls about anything you want to talk about.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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Is there some thing that EVERYBODY seems to like that you’re just not that into? Star Wars? Game of Thrones? Seinfeld? The Beach Boys? Christopher Nolan? … Taylor Swift?

Or what about some very current thing that seemingly everybody thinks is so interesting and cutting edge and exciting, but you just don’t like it? (For Colin, that very current thing is The Bear on TV.)

What do you do when that happens? How do you feel about it? Embarrassed? Wrong? Defiant?

This hour, a look at not liking all the things you’re “supposed” to like.

GUESTS:

John Dankosky: Director of news and audio for Science Friday, event and podcast host for The Connecticut Mirror, and co-owner of Lam Yoga in New Hartford, Connecticut
David Edelstein: America’s Greatest Living Film Critic
Irene Papoulis: Teaches writing at Trinity College, and she’s the author of The Essays Only You Can Write
Gene Seymour: A “writer, professional spectator, pop-culture maven, and jazz geek”
Lindsay Lee Wallace: Writes about culture, health care and health equity, and other stuff, too

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on September 20, 2024.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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This hour we took your calls about anything you wanted to talk about.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, Dylan Reyes, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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We’ve put on a holiday special every year for the last decade. But this year, for the first time, we did it in front of a (pretty large!) audience.

On the night of December 18, Colin got 10 performers together onstage, and they rocked their way through an 18-song setlist of holiday and holiday-adjacent classics.

There were nine different vocalists, three different pianists. Some of these folks had never met in person before soundcheck, but somehow it really worked!

This hour, live from the Foisie Family Ampitheater at Watkinson School in Hartford, it’s part two of our annual holiday spectacular!

GUESTS:

Michelle Begley: Vocals and guitar, In Trine
Kate Callahan: Vocals, In Trine
Jim Chapdelaine: Guitar and vocals, The Shinolas
Atla DeChamplain: Vocals, Atla & Matt
Matt DeChamplain: Piano, Atla & Matt
Lorne Entress: Drums and vocals, The Shinolas
Latanya Farrell: Vocals
Atticus Kelly: Piano and vocals, In Trine
Steve Metcalf: Piano
Cynthia Wolcott: Vocals, In Trine

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Maegn Boone, Meg Dalton, Robyn Doyon-Aitken, Megan Fitzgerald, Dylan Reyes, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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Grocery prices were a regular talking point in this past election cycle. This hour is all about the grocery store. We talk about how items get on the shelves, the unique business model of Trader Joe's, and the factors that impact grocery prices. Plus, a look at the appeal of Costco.

GUESTS:

Benjamin Lorr: Author of The Secret Life of Groceries: The Dark Miracle of the American Supermarket; his first book was Hell-Bent: Obsession, Pain, and the Search for Something Like Transcendence in Competitive Yoga
Abha Bhattarai: Economics correspondent for The Washington Post
Ben Ryder Howe: Contributor to The New York Times and author of My Korean Deli: Risking It All for a Convenience Store

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired September 4, 2024.

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As we have every year for at least the last 11 years, to round out the year, we round up the best jazz of the year.

GUESTS:

Jen Allen: A pianist, composer, arranger, and educator; her most recent album is Sifting Grace
Noah Baerman: A pianist, composer, and educator; his newest album, from the Noah Baerman Trio, is Live at the Side Door
Gene Seymour: A film, television, and music critic

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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In the midst of this holiday week, we talk about the importance of rest, and how to rest well. Plus, we'll talk about the role of rest in religion, and look at the history of "the rest cure" in medicine.

GUESTS:

Alex Soojung-Kim Pang: Author of Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less, and Shorter: Work Better, Smarter, and Less—Here's How among other books
Kristen Lucken: Program chair of religious studies, and lecturer in religion, sociology, and global studies at Brandeis University
Alicia Puglionesi: Writer, historian, lecturer at Johns Hopkins, and author of In Whose Ruins: Power, Possession, and the Landscapes of American Empire, among other books

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Cat Pastor, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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This hour we took your calls about anything you wanted to talk about.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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We’ve put on a holiday special every year for the last decade. But this year, for the first time, we did it in front of a (pretty large!) audience.

On the night of December 18, Colin got 10 performers together onstage, and they rocked their way through an 18-song setlist of holiday and holiday-adjacent classics.

There were nine different vocalists, three different pianists. Some of these folks had never met in person before soundcheck, but somehow it really worked!

This hour, live from the Foisie Family Ampitheater at Watkinson School in Hartford, it’s part one of our annual holiday spectacular!

GUESTS:

Michelle Begley: Vocals and guitar, In Trine
Kate Callahan: Vocals, In Trine
Jim Chapdelaine: Guitar and vocals, The Shinolas
Atla DeChamplain: Vocals, Atla & Matt
Matt DeChamplain: Piano, Atla & Matt
Lorne Entress: Drums and vocals, The Shinolas
Latanya Farrell: Vocals
Atticus Kelly: Piano and vocals, In Trine
Steve Metcalf: Piano
Cynthia Wolcott: Vocals, In Trine

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Maegn Boone, Meg Dalton, Robyn Doyon-Aitken, Megan Fitzgerald, Dylan Reyes, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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‘Tis the season for holiday movies. This hour, we look at this year's offerings from Netflix and Hallmark, discuss what makes a good holiday movie, and get some ideas for what to watch this holiday season.

GUESTS:

Laura Bradley: Entertainment and features reporter
Amanda Hess: Critic at large for The New York Times

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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This hour, we take a look at the legends of King Arthur. We discuss their evolution and why they endure.

Plus, we talk with author Lev Grossman about his new retelling of the King Arthur legend, The Bright Sword.

And, a conversation with an archeologist about excavating the history of Arthurian legends.

GUESTS:

Lev Grossman: Bestselling author of The Magicians Trilogy. His new book is The Bright Sword
Leah Tether: Professor of Medieval Literature and Publishing at Bristol University, and Vice President of the International Courtly Literature Society
Win Scutt: Archeologist and Senior Properties Curator for the West of England at English Heritage, a nonprofit that cares for over 400 historic monuments

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired on July 30, 2024.

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Samuel and Olivia Clemens and their children moved into the house they’d had built at Nook Farm in Hartford — the house that we now call the Mark Twain House — in 1874, 150 years ago this year.

To celebrate that anniversary, this hour we present a new version of our 2015 interview with the late Hal Holbrook.

Holbrook was probably best known for his one-man show, Mark Twain Tonight!, which he performed for 63 years — longer than Samuel Clemens used the Mark Twain moniker.

Beyond Mark Twain Tonight!, you probably know Hal Holbrook as Deep Throat in All the President’s Men. He’s in a Dirty Harry movie. He’s in a Steven Spielberg movie. He’s in Wall Street and The Firm and John Carpenter’s The Fog. He appeared on Designing Women and The West Wing and The Sopranos and Sons of Anarchy and Grey’s Anatomy.

Hal Holbrook won a Tony Award. He was nominated for 12 Emmys, and he won five. And he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Into the Wild.

We talked to Holbrook on the evening of February 3, 2015. He was two weeks shy of his 90th birthday — which birthday he celebrated by performing Mark Twain Tonight! at The Bushnell in Hartford.

Hal Holbrook died in 2021. He was 95.

GUEST:

Hal Holbrook: Film, television, and stage actor

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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This interview was originally produced by Betsy Kaplan.

Colin McEnroe, Cat Pastor, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, parts of which originally aired February 4, 2015, and June 17, 2023, in a different form.

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This hour: the art of the epigraph.

We talk with writers about how they pick the quotes that open their books, what epigraphs can do well, how the business of epigraphs works, and what epigraphs mean for readers.

Plus, a look at how some movies use epigraphs.

GUESTS:

David Edelstein: America’s Greatest Living Film Critic
Tajja Isen: A contributing writer for The Walrus and the author of Some of My Best Friends
Courtney Maum: The author of five books including Before and After the Book Deal and the memoir The Year of the Horses; she also writes the Before and After the Book Deal Substack

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to corniness and sappiness with age, needless words like “personally,” Irishness, the dangers possibly coming to the free press and public media, the Green Bay Packers, bird friends … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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Say Nothing. Small Things Like These. Kneecap. Bad Sisters. All of Us Strangers. The Banshees of Inisherin and An Cailín Ciúin a couple years ago. Normal People and Derry Girls a few years before that.

Paul Mescal and Colin Farrell and Saoirse Ronin and Cillian Murphy and Barry Keoghan and Hozier and Andrew Scott and Daryl McCormack and Kerry Condon.

The list goes on.

Something’s going on with the Irish and Ireland in our movies and TV and elsewhere.

This hour, a Nose-ish look at the current Irish moment in our popular culture.

GUESTS:

Will Hermes: Writes about music “and life’s other mysteries,” and he’s a longtime contributor to All Things Considered; he’s the author, most recently, of Lou Reed: The King of New York
Nate Jones: A senior writer for Vulture and New York magazine covering movies and pop culture
Róisín Lanigan: A contributing editor at The Fence Magazine and the author of the forthcoming novel I Want to Go Home But I’m Already There, and she writes the Substack Notions

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Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today.

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Oxford University Press has named “brain rot” the word of the year for 2024. The term beat out five other finalists: “demure,” “dynamic pricing,” “lore,” “romantasy,” and “slop.” This hour, a look at brain rot, from Thoreau’s Walden through to social media.

GUESTS:

Casper Grathwohl: President of Oxford Languages at Oxford University Press
Katie Notopoulos: Senior correspondent at Business Insider who writes about technology, business, and culture
Laura Dassow Walls: Professor Emeritus of English at the University of Notre Dame and the author of Henry David Thoreau: A Life, among other books

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Shakespeare, it turns out, is not immune to the culture wars, the book banning, the cancel culture (despite his being dead for more than four centuries). So, fine. Cancel Shakespeare, then, one argument goes. Because here’s the thing: Shakespeare’s plays and poems ARE dirty and smutty and gory — and that’s a big part of what makes them so great.

And: Earlier this year, the romantic comedy Anyone But You became the highest-grossing live-action Shakespeare adaptation ever made. So we look at Shakespeare as fertile rom-com IP, from 10 Things I Hate About You and beyond.

And finally, Bardcore is a thing. The one and only Hildegard von Blingin’ joins us.

GUESTS:

Maureen Lee Lenker: A senior writer at Entertainment Weekly and the author of the novel It Happened One Fight
Drew Lichtenberg: Associate director at Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, DC
Hildegard von Blingin’: A singer and illustrator

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Meg Dalton, Cat Pastor, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show, which originally aired on June 14, 2024.

Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today.

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This hour, a look at that data and the history and evolution of kitchen tools and gadgets. Plus, examples of creative kitchen tools throughout history.

GUESTS:

Megan Elias: Historian and director of the Food Studies Program and associate professor at Boston University
David Montgomery: Senior data journalist at YouGov and a history podcaster
Corinne Mynatt: Author of Tools for Food: The Objects That Influence How and What We Eat

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired December 11, 2023.

Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today.

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This hour we took your calls about anything you wanted to talk about.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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Lioness is the seventh of eight TV series created by Taylor Sheridan. It’s a spy thriller starring Zoe Saldaña, Nicole Kidman, Morgan Freeman, Michael Kelly, and Laysla De Olivera. Its second season concludes December 8.

And: The Remarkable Life of Ibelin is a Norwegian documentary that tells the story of a terminally ill disabled young man and the surprising life he led in the massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft. Ibelin won two World Cinema Documentary awards at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, including the Audience Award.

GUESTS:

Rebecca Castellani: Co-founder of Quiet Corner Communications and a freelance writer
Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Nobody Asked Shawn podcast
Irene Papoulis: Teaches writing at Trinity College, and she’s the author of The Essays Only You Can Write

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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This hour, we're going to take stock of what it's like to read as an adult, and discuss why some Americans, including college students, are reading fewer books. We'll talk about how technology has impacted how we read. And we'll celebrate the practice of reading.

GUESTS:

Rose Horowitch: Assistant editor at The Atlantic
Maryanne Wolf: Permanent member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, and the Director of the Center for Dyslexia, Diverse Learners, and Social Justice at the University of California, Los Angeles. She is the author of books including Reader, Come Home: The Reading Brain in a Digital World
Ben Winters: Novelist, television writer and producer, comic book writer, and creator of original audio content. His most recent novel, Big Time, came out in March

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Eugene Amatruda contributed to this show.

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Trump’s trial. AI. Online learning. Everything’s a “Pandora's Box."

This hour, we discuss the myth and the metaphor of Pandora's Box. Plus, a look at human curiosity.

GUESTS:

Natalie Haynes: Author of six books, including the nonfiction work Pandora’s Jar, and the novels A Thousand Ships and Stone Blind
Maria Tatar: Professor of folklore and mythology at Harvard University. Her latest book is The Heroine with 1001 Faces
Federico Rossano: Associate Professor of Cognitive Science at the University of California San Diego

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on August 29, 2024.

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From Thurston Harris and Crash Test Dummies to that noise your refrigerator makes, humming sounds are all around us (especially if you’ve been to Windsor, Ontario).

This hour, musical humming, mysterious humming, and how humming could be good for your health.

GUESTS:

Colin Novak: Associate professor at the University of Windsor
Susan Rogers: Multi-platinum record producer, cognitive neuroscientist, professor at Berklee College of Music and co-author of This Is What It Sounds Like: What the Music You Love Says About You
Gunjan Trivedi: Co-founder of Wellness Space and an author of several studies exploring the benefits of humming on stress and health

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, Jonathan McNicol, Bradley O’Connor, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired July 25, 2024.

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We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to the FX on Hulu series Say Nothing and parallels to the Israel-Hamas war, “Whatever You Say, Say Nothing,” A Charlie Brown Christmas on Apple TV+, the windshield phenomenon, the regionally different lilt of sentences, whether or not the Democrats will ever get it together … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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This hour, we look at the idea of the Western canon and those books that are considered “classics.” We talk about what’s in the canon, what isn’t and what should be, and how it evolves.

Plus, we talk about The Atlantic’s recent list of “The Great American Novels.” And we learn about a publishing company that is experimenting with artificial intelligence to bring classic books alive for a new audience.

GUESTS:

Gal Beckerman: Senior editor for books at The Atlantic
Laura Kipnis: Cultural critic, essayist, and the author of Love in the Time of Contagion: A Diagnosis, among other books
Roosevelt Montás: Senior lecturer in American studies and English at Columbia University and the author of Rescuing Socrates: How the Great Books Changed My Life and Why They Matter for a New Generation
James Mustich: Author of 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, and Jonathan McNicol contributed to this show, which originally aired July 24, 2024.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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This hour, a look at refrigeration and how it’s shaped what we eat and how we live with Nicola Twilley, author of Frostbite: How Refrigeration Changed Our Food, Our Planet, and Ourselves. Plus, we’ll take a look at what we can learn about someone from the inside and outside of their refrigerator.

GUESTS:

Nicola Twilley: Co-host of the podcast Gastropod and author of Frostbite: How Refrigeration Changed Our Food, Our Planet, and Ourselves
Peyton Dix: Social media strategist, content creator, writer, and co-host of the podcast Lemme Say This

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode.

Colin McEnroe and Bradley O’Connor contributed to this show, which originally aired July 11, 2024.

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President John F. Kennedy was shot and killed on November 22, 1963.

It would be hard to argue that the modern American era, the era that we’re still living in more than 60 years later, didn’t begin on that Friday afternoon in Dallas. It would be hard to overstate the effect and influence of that event, that act on the American psyche.

This hour, a look at the shadow that the JFK assassination still casts over our news and politics, our movies and music, our media and culture.

GUESTS:

Stephen Battaglio: Writes about television and the media business for the Los Angeles Times
Timothy Hampton: The author of several books, including Bob Dylan: How the Songs Work
Sean O’Neal: A writer, a contributor to Texas Monthly, and the former editor-in-chief of The A.V. Club
Steve Rose: Assistant features editor at The Guardian
Philip Shenon: The author of A Cruel and Shocking Act: The Secret History of the Kennedy Assassination

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Joey Morgan, Cat Pastor, Lateshia Peters, Dylan Reyes, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, parts of which originally aired November 22, 2017, and November 22, 2023, in a different form.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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This hour, a look at the myth of Sisyphus, and how we invoke it today. Plus, we'll hear from a musician who has found inspiration in the story, and we'll discuss when it's time to give up.

GUESTS:

Joel Christensen: Professor of Classical Studies and Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs at Brandeis University. His newest book is The Many-Minded Man: The Odyssey, Psychology, and the Therapy of Epic
Noah Baerman: Pianist, composer, and educator. He is director of the Wesleyan University Jazz Ensemble and artistic director of the nonprofit Resonance Motion. His most recent album is Live at the Side Door
Joshua Rothman: The New Yorker’s Ideas Editor, who writes the weekly column “Open Questions”

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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Zero is considered by many mathematicians to maybe be humanity’s greatest achievement.

This hour, a look at the strange and essential concept of the number zero and how the human brain deals with it.

Plus: the trend toward zero-sugar and zero-calorie sodas.

And: 0 (and 00) as a uniform number in sports.

GUESTS:

Emily Contois: Associate professor of media studies at The University of Tulsa and the author of Diners, Dudes, and Diets: How Gender and Power Collide in Food Media and Culture
Todd Radom: A designer, sports branding expert, and writer
Yasemin Saplakoglu: A staff writer covering biology for Quanta Magazine

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, SpotifyAmazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Robyn Doyon-Aitken, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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Some women in the United States are adopting the 4B Movement from South Korea: no marriage, no childbirth, no dating, and no sex. This hour we take stock of that movement globally, and the history of other similar movements, including one depicted in an ancient Greek play, Lysistrata.

GUESTS:

Min Joo Lee: Assistant Professor of Asian Studies at Occidental College
Cécile Simmons: Researcher at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue focusing on gender, extremism and digital culture. Her forthcoming book is Ctrl Hate Delete: The New Anti-Feminist Backlash and How We Fight It
Tania Shew: Research fellow at the University of Oxford, who has a book under contract tentatively titled Sex Strikes and Suffragettes
Elizabeth Bobrick: Visiting Scholar in Wesleyan’s Department of Classical studies

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This hour we take your calls about anything you want to talk about.

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Note: This episode contains strong language.

He produced After Hours and Running on Empty and Once Around. He directed Practical Magic and Addicted to Love and the documentary Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold.

Last week, we recorded a conversation with Griffin Dunne on stage at The Mark Twain House & Museum in Hartford. It’s a lot about that complicated, sometimes tragic, often hilarious family. And it’s about movies and TV and writing. And Hartford.

This hour: Griffin Dunne.

GUEST:

Griffin Dunne: An actor, producer, and director and the author of The Friday Afternoon Club: A Family Memoir

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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You probably know Brian Reed from his hit award-winning series "S-Town." Now, Brian has a new podcast, "Question Everything," where he is re-examining everything about journalism. Today Brian Reed joins us for the full show to talk about what he's discovered.

GUEST:

Brian Reed: Host and producer of the new podcast “Question Everything” from KCRW and Placement Theory, which you can find wherever you get your podcasts. He also hosted and executive produced the podcast series “S-Town”and “The Trojan Horse Affair”

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Franz Kafka died 100 years ago, but his work is still very much alive today in literature classes and, surprisingly, on social media.

This hour, we look at Kafka’s life and legacy, discuss the “Kafkaesque,” and investigate why the author resonates so much today.

Plus, we revisit his most famous work, “The Metamorphosis,” and talk with a zoologist about the idea of turning into an insect.

GUESTS:

Benjamin Balint: Author of Kafka’s Last Trial; his latest book is Bruno Schulz: An Artist, A Murder, and the Hijacking of History
Tim Coulson: Professor of zoology at the University of Oxford; his latest book is The Science of Why We Exist: A History of the Universe from the Big Bang to Consciousness
Margarita Mouka: Content creator and creative executive; her TikTok handle is @aquariuscat444
Karolina Watroba: Post-doctoral research fellow in modern languages at Oxford’s All Souls College and the author of Metamorphoses: In Search of Franz Kafka

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Bradley O’Connor contributed to this show, which originally aired July 8, 2024.

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We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to tables, Keri Russell, how much you should disengage from politics, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari, stolen deliveries and mail theft … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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We hear about algorithms all the time, but what is an algorithm exactly? This hour, we learn about how algorithms work, a bit about their history, and how they're impacting our culture.

GUESTS:

Ed Finn: Author of What Algorithms Want: Imagination in the Age of Computing, and founding director of the Center for Science and the Imagination at Arizona State University
Bruce Gil: Reporter for Quartz
Liz Pelly: Writer and editor, whose forthcoming book is Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on May 22, 2024.

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Roommates: can't live with them, can't (afford to) live without them. They're the people who use your dishes and don't wash them. They're the people who apparently have a huge influence on your career choice and drinking habits. This hour, we're getting to know them better!

GUESTS:

Ken Jennings: Colin’s college roommate
Kelli María Korducki: Journalist who writes about work and the family
Bruce Sacerdote: Professor of Economics at Dartmouth College
Francesca Fontánez: Social Media Editor at CT Public and a former college RA

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Cat Pastor, Lily Tyson, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on May 23, 2024.

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As I type this, four states remain uncalled, including two battlegrounds. It could take days or longer to determine the final popular vote tally. Control of the U.S. House of Representatives is still to be determined.

But that’s nothing like the uncertainty we were expecting to reign over the day and days after Election Day.

Put another way: Donald Trump is projected to have won the presidency. And pretty decisively.

In some ways, we’ve been here before.

In other ways, though, things seem pretty significantly different this time around. Just as an example, Connecticut seems to have swung toward Trump by 10 points or more as compared to 2020.

This hour, we start to pick up the pieces after a long and consistently, persistently surprising election that has come to its inevitable end.

GUESTS:

Bill Curry: Playing the part of Bill Curry
David Folkenflik: NPR’s media correspondent
Azar Nafisi: The author of six books, including Reading Lolita in Tehran; her newest is Read Dangerously: The Subversive Power of Literature in Troubled Times

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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On Election Day we do a show where we ask people across Connecticut to do a simple thing: Go vote in your town before 1 p.m. Then call us between 1 and 2 p.m. and tell us how it felt, what you saw, whom you spoke to. Say whatever you want to say about the experience of voting.

This hour we hear from Citizen Observers about their experiences at the polls.

GUESTS:

Lara Herscovitch: Singer-songwriter-poet, performer, advocate, former CT State Troubadour, and children’s book author
Logan Tomlinson: Student at the University of New Hampshire
Kate Rushin: Poet, writer, and educator
Francesca Fontanez: Associate Social Media Editor here at Connecticut Public
Charles Barber: Nonfiction author and writer in residence at Wesleyan University
Betsy Kaplan: Senior Producer emeritus of The Colin McEnroe Show
Dr. Ulysses Wu: System director of infectious diseases and chief epidemiologist at Hartford HealthCare
George Noujaim: Owner of Noujaim’s Bistro in Winsted
Terry Cowgill: Was an op-columnist at CTNewsJunkie for 12 years who now has a Substack "Red Meat For Mushy Moderates"
Susan Clinard: Owner of Clinard Sculpture Studio in West Haven

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This hour we took your calls about anything you wanted to talk about.

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Four days left. Four (4!) days until Election Day. We’re feeling the stress, the anxiety. And we’re guessing you are too.

In one of our show meetings, we got to talking about the benefits of, uh, smoothing out your brain a bit in times like these.

So this hour, we gather a number of folks you know from The Nose and talk about ways to quiet your mind over these last few days, bits of culture you can consume — from The Great British Bake Off to Love Is Blind, from horror movies to Jane Austen to giving fantasy football a try — to get your brain a break over the weekend.

For the full list of shows and movies and books and everything else recommended in this show and in the prep leading up to it — it’s a long list! — subscribe to The Noseletter before November 2.

GUESTS:

Jim Chapdelaine: An Emmy-winning musician and a patient advocate for people with rare cancers
Taneisha Duggan: Associate producer at Octopus Theatricals
Sam Hadelman: Works in music public relations and hosts The Sam Hadelman Show at Radio Free Brooklyn
Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian and writer and the host of the Nobody Asked Shawn podcast
Carolyn Paine: An actress, comedian, and dancer; she is founder, director, and choreographer of CONNetic Dance
Lindsay Lee Wallace: Writes about culture, health care and health equity, and other stuff, too
Tracy Wu Fastenberg: Development officer at Connecticut Children’s
Bill Yousman: Professor of media studies at Sacred Heart University

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, SpotifyAmazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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This hour we talk with experts in ballot design about how to put together a ballot that's accessible to everyone, and all of the things to keep in mind, from font size to the length of candidate's names. Plus, a look at the evolution of ballots throughout history.

GUESTS:

Whitney Quesenbery: Executive Director of the Center for Civic Design
Alicia Cheng: Head of Design at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and author of This is What Democracy Looked Like: A Visual History of the Printed Ballot

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This hour, we look at how political campaigns use music, from the history of political jingles to how Harris and Trump are using music in the 2024 election.

GUESTS:

Dana Gorzelany-Mostak: Associate professor of music at Georgia College; she is the founder of Trax on the Trail and the author of Tracks on the Trail: Popular Music, Race, and the US Presidency
Charlie Harding: Music journalist, songwriter, producer, adjunct professor of music at New York University, and the co-creator and co-host of the Switched on Pop podcast
Eric Kasper: Professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and the author of Don’t Stop Thinking About the Music: The Politics of Songs and Musicians in Presidential Campaigns
Justin Patch: Associate professor and chair of music at Vassar College and the author of The Art of Populism in US Politics: Pro-Trump DIY Popular Culture

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, and Jonathan McNicol contributed to this show, which originally aired August 22, 2024.

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GUESTS:

Alex Prud'homme: Journalist and author of several books, includingDinner with the President: Food, Politics, and a History of Breaking Bread at the White House. He also co-wrote My Life In France with Julia Child
Linda Civitello: Food historian and author of books including Baking Powder Wars and Cuisine and Culture

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We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to election stress, acclimating ourselves to the cold winter, the difference between comedy and journalism, Declan the Dog, Colin’s use of the phrase “and stuff like that” … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

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Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton follow-up is here, and it’s a concept album — a musical adaptation, written with Eisa Davis, of the 1979 film The Warriors and the novel that preceded it.

This hour, a look at Warriors, the album, and The Warriors, the movie, and more.

GUESTS:

Walter Chaw: A writer, editor, and instructor and the author of A Walter Hill Film
Sam Hadelman: Works in music public relations and hosts The Sam Hadelman Show at Radio Free Brooklyn
Craig Jenkins: A critic for Vulture and New York Magazine who writes about music and television and comedy and video games
Bill Yousman: Professor of media studies at Sacred Heart University

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It’s our annual Halloween special, a look at the year in horror!

We delve into the economic- and artistic wherewithal of the genre surrounded by a larger Hollywood in flux, with particular looks at breakouts like Osgood Perkins’ Longlegs, Jane Schoenbrun’s I Saw the TV Glow, Damien Leone’s Terrifier 3, and maybe the most divisive movie of the year, Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance.

Plus, for its 25th anniversary, an appreciation of The Sixth Sense and the long shadow its twist ending still seems to cast over the career of filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan.

GUESTS:

Miriam Balanescu: A culture writer and editor
Tim Grierson: Senior U.S. critic for Screen Daily, the author of This Is How You Make a Movie, and co-host of the Grierson & Leitch podcast
Lindsay Lee Wallace: Writes about culture, health care and health equity, and other stuff, too
Christian Zilko: Staff editor at IndieWire

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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Some Americans are considering whether this country is a place where they want to live in the future.

This hour is all about leaving the United States.

We talk to someone who made the move about what inspired her and her new life in Portugal. Plus, we learn more about the process of actually moving out of the country. And we talk to someone who has considered leaving, but ultimately decided to stay here, for now at least.

GUESTS:

Wajahat Ali: The Daily Beast columnist, public speaker, and author of Go Back To Where You Came From: And Other Helpful Recommendations on Becoming American; he wrote “Is It Time for Me to Leave America?”
DeNeen Brown: Local enterprise reporter at The Washington Post and an associate professor at the University of Maryland; she wrote “The Case for Leaving America to Escape Racism”
Caryl Hallberg: Moved from the United States to Portugal in 2020
Jennifer Stevens:Executive editor of International Living

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Colin McEnroe, Jacob Gannon, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired on November 7, 2022.

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Going into November, we’ll be doing some shows where we talk with one guest, for the hour, who knows a lot about the election. This hour, we talk with Ruth Ben-Ghiat about authoritarianism and democracy.

GUEST:

Ruth Ben-Ghiat: Professor of History and Italian Studies at New York University. Her latest book is Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present. She also writes the Substack newsletter “Lucid.”

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This hour we took your calls about anything you wanted to talk about.

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Saturday Night Live started its 50th season in September.

This hour, a look at the institution SNL has become over five decades on television.

Plus: Jason Reitman’s new movie, Saturday Night, which tells (a version of) the story of SNL’s inception in 1975.

GUESTS:

Dave Itzkoff: A journalist and writer and the author of four books; his most recent is Robin
Maureen Lee Lenker: A senior writer at Entertainment Weekly and the author of the novel It Happened One Fight
Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Nobody Asked Shawn podcast

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From Saturday Night Live to the cover of The Atlantic, George Washington is having a bit of a moment. This hour is about our first president and his legacy. Plus, is he funny?

GUESTS:

Joanne Freeman: The Class of 1954 Professor of History & American Studies at Yale University. Her most recent book is The Field of Blood: Violence in Congress and the Road to Civil War
Tom Nichols: Staff writer at The Atlantic and an author of the Atlantic daily newsletter. He is also a professor emeritus of national-security affairs at the U.S. Naval War College, and a five-time undefeated Jeopardy champion
Sara Ruberg: A member of the 2024-25 class of Times Fellows at The New York Times

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Is print dead? Or will it make a comeback? This hour, we talk about the benefits and drawbacks of getting your news in print form. We learn about the print age, or the “Gutenberg Parenthesis,” and we talk about the business of printing.

GUESTS:

Kelsey Russell: A media literacy influencer and co-host of “First Stop News”
Jeff Jarvis: Author of The Gutenberg Parenthesis: The Age of Print and Its Lessons for the Age of the Internet. His new book is The Web We Weave. He co-hosts the “This Week in Google” and “AI Inside” podcasts
John Garrett: Founder and CEO of “Community Impact,” a privately owned chain of 40 community newspapers in Texas, which also includes its own printing facilities

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired on May 16, 2024.

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Going into November, we’ll be doing some shows where we talk with one guest, for the hour, who knows a lot about the election. This hour, we talk with Brad Onishi about Christian nationalism and its impact on U.S. politics.

GUEST:

Brad Onishi: Co-host of the “Straight White American Jesus” podcast and author of Preparing for War: The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism -- And What Comes Next

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This hour, the conversation winds around to Columbus Day, Colin’s favorite joke, textures, J.R.R. Tolkien, the movie The Apprentice, food allergies, our fundraising drives … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

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Jeffrey Lieber was one of the Emmy-nominated creators of the TV series Lost.

He has been a showrunner on series like NCIS: New Orleans and Charmed and the new reboot of Matlock starring Kathy Bates.

And his play Fever Dreams (of animals on the verge of extinction) is currently running at TheaterWorks Hartford.

This hour, screenwriter, television producer, and playwright Jeffrey Lieber joins us in studio.

GUEST:

Jeffrey Lieber: A screenwriter, showrunner, and playwright

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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This hour is all about notebooks. We'll talk about the history and evolution of notebooks, favorite examples, and celebrate the joy of writing things down. Plus, a look at the Notes App.

GUESTS:

Roland Allen: Book publisher and author of The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper
Charley Locke: Journalist, and contributing writer to The New York Times Magazine, who recently wrote “Keep Your Notes App Under Lock and Key” for The Atlantic

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This hour we take your calls about anything you want to talk about.

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This hour, a look at words and usage and grammar and language and all that fun stuff.

Have you noticed how we Americans have become “so bloody keen on Britishisms?” Ben Yagoda joins us to talk about his new book, Gobsmacked! The British Invasion of American English.

Plus, there’s been an update to The Chicago Manual of Style, its first in seven years. We take a look at the CMOS, in particular, and bang on (there it is again!) about dreaded style guides, in general.

GUESTS:

Scott Huler: The author of seven non-fiction books; his most recent is A Delicious Country: Rediscovering the Carolinas along the Route of John Lawson’s 1700 Expedition
Ben Yagoda: The author, coauthor, or editor of 14 books and the host of the podcast The Lives They’re Living

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This hour: Rupert Holmes.

GUEST:

Rupert Holmes: Playwright, composer, singer-songwriter, and author

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired April 20, 2024, in a different form.

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As a fellow at the Global Brain Health Institute, monologuist Josh Kornbluth started to see parallels between brain disease and, well, everything that’s going on in our politics today.

With his new solo show, Citizen Brain, he hopes to “spark an empathy revolution.”

Josh Kornbluth joins us in studio for the hour.

GUEST:

Josh Kornbluth: A monologuist, author, and actor, and he writes the But Not Enough About MeSubstack

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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This hour we talk with Christine Rosen about her new book, The Extinction of Experience: Being Human in a Disembodied World. We talk about how technology has impacted face-to-face interactions, boredom, loneliness, handwriting, and more.

GUEST:

Christine Rosen: Author of The Extinction of Experience: Being Human in a Disembodied World. She is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a columnist for Commentary magazine, senior editor at The New Atlantis and fellow at the University of Virginia’s Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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Going into November, we’ll be doing some shows where we talk with one guest, for the hour, who knows a lot about the election. This hour, we talk with journalist Rachel Janfaza about Gen Z voters.

GUEST:

Rachel Janfaza: Journalist who covers Gen Z political culture and young voters in U.S. politics. Her newsletter is “The Up and Up”

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In A.J. Jacobs’ new book, The Year of Living Constitutionally: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Constitution’s Original Meaning, he details his experience living by the Constitution for a year.

Jacobs joins us for the hour to tell us about the experiment and what he learned.

GUESTS:

A.J. Jacobs: The author, most recently, of The Year of Living Constitutionally: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Constitution’s Original Meaning and the host of The Puzzler podcast

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired May 7, 2024.

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We’ve been doing these shows a couple times a month where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to our old friends evolving (or not), sports losing its magic (or not), spending billions of dollars trying to get rockets to Mars (or not), Fat Bear Week, radio call-in shows, sane washing … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

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Percival Everett is the author of 24 novels, four short story collections, and six collections of poetry.

His 2001 novel Erasure was adapted as the feature film American Fiction, which was nominated this year for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

Everett has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

His newest novel, James, reimagines Adventures of Huckleberry Finn “from the enslaved Jim’s point of view.”

This hour, Percival Everett joins us in studio.

GUEST:

Percival Everett: Novelist and poet

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired June 5, 2024.

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Going into November, we’ll be doing some shows where we talk with one guest, for the hour, who knows a lot about the election. This hour, we talk with veteran journalist Mark Jacob about the state of American journalism and its impact on the upcoming election.

GUEST:

Mark Jacob: Writes the weekly newsletter “Stop the Presses.” He is the former Metro Editor of The Chicago Tribune and former Sunday Editor of The Chicago Sun-Times. He is also the co-author of ten books on history and photography

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Policy speeches, convention speeches, concession speeches, victory speeches, stump speeches. Inaugural addresses, State of the Union addresses, prime-time addresses. There sure are a lot of speeches that we expect presidents and presidential candidates to give.

But how much do those speeches really matter anymore? How much do they work as, say, TikTok fodder?

This hour, the art and politics of political speechmaking.

GUESTS:

Bill Curry: Playing the part of Bill Curry
Jeff Nussbaum: A special assistant and senior speechwriter to President Joe Biden from 2021 to 2022; he is a partner at Bully Pulpit Interactive Media and the author of Undelivered: The Never-Heard Speeches That Would Have Rewritten History
Linda Qiu: A New York Times reporter specializing in fact-checking statements made by politicians and public figures

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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This year, local students lobbied Connecticut lawmakers to change our state insect, which is currently the praying mantis.

This hour, we are focused on the praying mantis.

We learn about the insect, why students think it should not represent the state, and what praying mantises of the future could look like.

GUESTS:

Liz Alter: Professor of evolutionary biology at California State University Monterey Bay
Katherine Dugas: Entomologist and research technician at The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired April 8, 2024.

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Is there some thing that EVERYBODY seems to like that you’re just not that into? Star Wars? Game of Thrones? Seinfeld? The Beach Boys? Christopher Nolan? … Taylor Swift?

What do you do when that happens? How do you feel about it? Embarrassed? Wrong? Defiant?

This hour, a look at not liking all the things you’re “supposed” to like.

GUESTS:

John Dankosky: Director of news and audio for Science Friday, event and podcast host for The Connecticut Mirror, and co-owner of Lam Yoga in New Hartford, Connecticut
David Edelstein: America’s Greatest Living Film Critic
Irene Papoulis: Teaches writing at Trinity College, and she’s the author of The Essays Only You Can Write
Gene Seymour: A “writer, professional spectator, pop-culture maven, and jazz geek”
Lindsay Lee Wallace: Writes about culture, health care and health equity, and other stuff, too

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GUESTS:

Jami Attenberg: Author whose new book, out next week, is A Reason to See You Again. She is also the creator of “#1000wordsofsummer,” and writes the newsletter “Craft Talk”
Dennis Palumbo: Writer and licensed psychotherapist who specializes in working with creative patients. He is a former Hollywood screenwriter, and the author of numerous books
Joyce Kinkead: Distinguished Professor Emeritus of English at Utah State University. She is author of A Writing Studies Primer, among other books

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Bestselling author Don Winslow joins us to discuss his new novel, City in Ruins, which he says is the last of his career.

GUEST:

Don Winslow: Bestselling author whose new book is City in Ruins

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired on April 3, 2024.

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It feels like tourism hit a breaking point this summer, with residents around Europe protesting visitors, new entrance and tourist fees popping up at famous spots, and even a net going up to block a popular view of Mt. Fuji. This hour, a philosopher makes the case against travel. Plus, we talk about how tourism is impacting destinations, like Bologna, Italy, and ways to travel differently.

GUESTS:

Agnes Callard: Associate Professor of Philosophy at The University of Chicago. Her forthcoming book is Open Socrates: The Case for a Philosophical Life
Ilaria Maria Sala: Italian journalist
Lisa Abend: Journalist for The New York Times, TIME, Vanity Fair and AFAR. Her Substack is “The Unplugged Traveler”

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Listen live Monday at 1 p.m.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we’re doing another one.

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If I say “cult classic,” what do you think of? Probably an underground movie that built up an intense following over time, like The Rocky Horror Picture Show or The Room, right? Or maybe even something a bit more mainstream like The Big Lebowski?

But where’s the limit here, if there is one? Is Blade Runner a cult movie? Or Pulp Fiction? Monty Python and the Holy Grail? Office Space? Slap Shot? (I mean: Slap Shot?!?)

This hour, a look at a genre, a cross section of cinema history that seems to include everything from all-time classics like A Clockwork Orange to all-time terribles like Plan 9 from Outer Space and many, many weird and not-even-so-weird things in between: the cult classic.

GUESTS:

Millie De Chirico: Co-author of TCM Underground: 50 Must-See Films from the World of Classic Cult and Late-Night Cinema and co-host of the I Saw What You Did podcast
David Edelstein: America’s Greatest Living Film Critic
Sam Hatch: Co-hosts The Culture Dogs on WWUH
Kevin O’Toole: Co-hosts The Culture Dogs on WWUH

This show was produced with Sajina Shrestha.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired April 11, 2024, in a different form.

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How did taxes, this quintessentially frustrating thing, come to be so frustrating? And must it be so?

This hour, we’re learning about why taxes are so complicated to file in the U.S. Then, we’ll talk about how some of the richest people in America end up paying next to no taxes on the wealth they grow every year. Finally: a conversation with someone who doesn’t pay a chunk of his taxes — on purpose — as a form of protest.

GUESTS:

Monica Prasad: Professor of Economic and Political Sociology at Johns Hopkins University
Paul Kiel: Reporter for ProPublica who covers taxes
Lawrence Rosenwald: Professor of English Emeritus at Wellesley College and a longtime war tax resister

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on March 28, 2024.

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It has been 23 years since the sunny late summer Tuesday morning that changed basically everything.

This hour, a look back at September 11, 2001, and its long shadow, still darkening our days a bit now.

We talk to a historian about the generation that has lived its life in a post-9/11 world and a critic about the influence of 9/11 on and in our popular culture.

GUESTS:

Lindsay Ellis: An author, video essayist, and film critic; her new novel is Apostles of Mercy
Matthew Warshauer: Professor of history at Central Connecticut State University and the author of Creating and Failing the 9/11 Generation: The Real Story of September 11

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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Plastic is everywhere in our world, and scientists are increasingly discovering the negative health and environmental impacts of the material.

This hour, we take a look at our relationship to plastic. We talk about the material, its evolution, and its symbolism in our culture. Plus, we look at the use of single use plastic in television and why it matters.

GUESTS:

Susan Freinkel: Author of Plastic: A Toxic Love Story; her Substack is 1,017 Acres: Life in the Park
Erica Cirino: Communications manager of the Plastic Pollution Coalition and the author of Thicker Than Water: The Quest for Solutions to the Plastic Crisis
Dana Weinstein: Project specialist for the Media Impact Project at the University of Southern California Annenberg Norman Lear Center

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired on March 25, 2024.

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We all strive to be right about things — we do our research, we listen to people who seem smarter than us, we make compelling arguments over dinner tables. But is there an underappreciated art to being wrong?

This hour, lessons on changing your mind and admitting mistakes, from newspaper corrections to public intellectual pivots.

GUESTS:

Eranda Jayawickreme: Professor of psychology at Wake Forest University
Ty Seidule: Visiting professor of history at Hamilton College and the author of Robert E. Lee and Me; he’s a retired brigadier general in the U.S. Army and the former vice chair of the Department of Defense’s Naming Commission
Isaac Saul: Founder of the newsletter Tangle

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Lily Tyson, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on March 20, 2024.

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Chimp Crazy is a four-part HBO docuseries that “explores the captivating, often unfathomable, and secretive world of raising chimpanzees.” It is documentarian Eric Goode’s follow-up to the 2020 sensation Tiger King.

Plus: There is absolutely, definitely, 100% a right way to load your dishwasher. And you’re the only one in your house who knows what it is. Right? The Nose gets into it.

And finally, the new phenomenon known as fridgescaping. Which is a thing. Apparently.

GUESTS:

Betsy Kaplan: Senior producer emeritus of The Colin McEnroe Show
Jacques Lamarre: A playwright, and chief communications officer at Buzz Engine
Carolyn Paine: An actress, comedian, and dancer, and she is founder, director, and choreographer of CONNetic Dance

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Grocery prices are becoming a regular talking point in this election cycle. This hour is all about the grocery store. We talk about how items get on the shelves, the unique business model of Trader Joe's, and the factors that impact grocery prices. Plus, a look at the appeal of Costco.

GUESTS:

Benjamin Lorr: Author of The Secret Life of Groceries: The Dark Miracle of the American Supermarket. His first book was Hell-Bent: Obsession, Pain, and the Search for Something Like Transcendence in Competitive Yoga
Abha Bhattarai: Economics correspondent for The Washington Post
Ben Ryder Howe: Contributor to The New York Times and author of My Korean Deli: Risking It All for a Convenience Store

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This hour is all about America’s 21st president, Chester A. Arthur, who took office after President James Garfield was assassinated.

We look at Arthur’s life and legacy and at what happens when someone unexpectedly takes over the highest office in the land.

GUESTS:

David Edelstein: America’s Greatest Living Film Critic
Scott S. Greenberger: Executive editor of Stateline and the author of The Unexpected President: The Life and Times of Chester A. Arthur
Victoria Sample: Historic sites section chief for the state of Vermont

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired March 6, 2024.

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This hour we took your calls about bird identification, the DNC, the World's Fair, third places, synchronicity, and more.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, Being John Malkovich, The Blair Witch Project, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Eyes Wide Shut, Family Guy, Fight Club, Freaks and Geeks, Futurama, The Iron Giant, The Matrix, Office Space, Princess Mononoke, Run Lola Run, The Sixth Sense, The Sopranos, SpongeBob SquarePants, South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace, Toy Story 2, The West Wing.

That’s just a partial list of the stuff that came out in 1999, kind of famously a crazy good year for movies and television.

This hour, a 25th anniversary look at some of the pop culture of 1999, with a special focus on The Blair Witch Project, The Matrix … and SpongeBob SquarePants.

GUESTS:

Noah Berlatsky: A freelance writer who mostly covers politics or culture or both; he writes the Everything Is Horrible Substack
Allegra Frank: A senior culture editor at The Atlantic
Alissa Wilkinson: A movie critic at The New York Times

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Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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Trump’s trial. AI. Online learning. Everything’s a “Pandora's Box."

This hour, we discuss the myth and the metaphor of Pandora's Box. Plus, a look at human curiosity.

GUESTS:

Natalie Haynes: Author of six books, including the nonfiction work Pandora’s Jar, and the novels A Thousand Ships and Stone Blind. Her novel The Children of Jocasta will be re-released in October
Maria Tatar: Professor of folklore and mythology at Harvard University. Her latest book is The Heroine with 1001 Faces
Federico Rossano: Associate Professor of Cognitive Science at the University of California San Diego

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

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Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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Everything’s felt like, and been called, a “crisis” lately.

This hour, a look at all the overuse of the term “crisis” and our collective crisis fatigue.

Plus: a crisis communicator on how to manage a crisis.

And finally, a look at the midlife crisis.

GUESTS:

Eliah Bures: Historian of modern Europe and a senior fellow at the University of California, Berkeley’s Center for Right-Wing Studies
Barbara Bradley Hagerty: Contributing writer at The Atlantic and the author of Life Reimagined: The Science, Art, and Opportunity of Midlife
Molly McPherson: An expert in crisis communications and emergency management and the author of the book Indestructible: Reclaim Control and Respond with Confidence in a Media Crisis
Christian Paz: Senior politics reporter for Vox

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired February 29, 2024.

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You must have heard the term “vibe” by now, right?

We’ve heard about the vibe of the economy, the vibe of a music playlist, the vibe of a season, the vibe of a party … Plus there are vibe shifts and vibe checks.

This hour: vibes. We learn what the word really means, where it comes from, and how the internet has given it new life.

GUESTS:

Kyle Chayka: Contributing writer for The New Yorker covering technology and culture on the Internet
Robin James: Editor for philosophy and music at Palgrave Macmillan
Eda Uzunlar: Freelance journalist and student at Yale University
Ben Zimmer: Linguist, lexicographer, and the Word on the Street columnist for The Wall Street Journal

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Taylor Doyle, Jacob Gannon, Jonathan McNicol, Cat Pastor, and Catie Talarski contributed to this show, which originally aired November 15, 2022.

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This hour, we took your calls.

Topics this hour included election certification, car registration, celebrity endorsements, news radio, technology, travelling to Italy, sandwiches, and more.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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The Doobie Brothers. Christopher Cross. Steely Dan. Kenny Loggins. Toto. Michael McDonald. Ambrosia. Supertramp. (The Eagles? Uh, Michael Jackson?)

Something was happening in the music world out there on the West Coast in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Something with electric pianos and slower tempos and jazz and R&B influences and hi-fi, almost crystalline production.

This hour, we take a deep dive into the smooth, soft sounds of … yacht rock.

GUESTS:

Hollywood Steve Huey: A music critic and a cohost of the Beyond Yacht Rock and Yacht or Nyacht? podcasts
Charly Kay: Lead and backing vocalist in the Yacht Lobsters
David Mendelsohn: Vocalist and guitarist in the Yacht Lobsters
Scout Raimondo: Production intern at Connecticut Public
Gaston Raimondo: Scout’s dad
Brian Slattery: Arts editor for the New Haven Independent and a producer at WNHH radio

This show was produced with Scout Raimondo.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired March 7, 2024.

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This hour, we look at how political campaigns use music, from the history of political jingles, to how Harris and Trump are using music in this 2024 election.

GUESTS:

Dana Gorzelany-Mostak: Associate Professor of Music at Georgia College. She is the founder of Trax on the Trail, a website and research project that tracks and catalogs the soundscapes of US presidential elections. Her new book is Tracks on the Trail: Popular Music, Race, and the US Presidency
Eric Kasper: Professor of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. He's the author of Don’t Stop Thinking About the Music: The Politics of Songs and Musicians in Presidential Campaigns
Charlie Harding: Music journalist, songwriter, and producer. He is the co-creator and co-host of the podcast “Switched on Pop.” He's also an adjunct professor of music at NYU.
Justin Patch: Associate Professor and Chair of Music at Vassar College. His new book is The Art of Populism in US Politics: Pro-Trump DIY Popular Culture

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Eugene Amatruda contributed to this show.

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Barcodes are everywhere, and they helped to shape the world we live in.

This hour, a look at the history and impact of barcodes.

Plus, the rise of QR code menus and tickets and what we might gain and lose as we move away from physical objects to digital ones.

GUESTS:

Jordan Frith: Pearce Professor of Professional Communications at Clemson University and the author of Barcode
Bailey Sincox: Perkins-Cotsen Postdoctoral Fellow in the Princeton Society of Fellows, where she teaches and writes about early modern English literature
Sean Willard: Menu engineer with Menu Engineers

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired February 22, 2024.

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Going into November, we’ll be doing some shows where we talk with one guest, for the hour, who knows a lot about the election.

This hour, The New York Times’ Carlos Lozada joins us to discuss what we can learn about politics by reading. We’ll discuss Lozada’s unique lens as a reader and the state of the 2024 election.

GUEST:

Carlos Lozada: Opinion columnist and co-host of the weekly “Matter of Opinion” podcast for The New York Times. His new book is The Washington Book: How to Read Politics and Politicians

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Eugene Amatruda contributed to this show.

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We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to J.R.R. Tolkien, the new Lady Gaga/Bruno Mars single and bridges in pop songs, a new approach to the Israel-Hamas war, Yale and New Haven public schools, electric vehicles … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Eugene Amatruda contributed to this show.

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This hour, a look at some of the ways culture and politics seem to be overlapping at the moment.

First, we wonder who might play all these new candidates on the upcoming season of Saturday Night Live.

And then, we try to understand all the focus — from both sides — on Kamala Harris’ laugh.

And finally, just why in the world is Donald Trump so obsessed with Hannibal Lecter?

GUESTS:

Margaret Hartmann: A senior editor for New York magazine’s Intelligencer
Dave Itzkoff: A journalist and writer and the author of four books; his most recent is Robin
Maura Judkis: A reporter covering culture, fashion, politics, food, and the arts for The Washington Post

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Eugene Amatruda contributed to this show.

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Going into the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, many are comparing this year to 1968. After all, there are a number of similarities: both were Olympic years that featured student protest movements, an incumbent president deciding not to run for re-election, a Democratic National Convention in Chicago, and even a new Planet of the Apes movie. But there were important differences as well. This hour, we look back on 1968, and the events of that DNC, as well as the media’s coverage of it. Plus, a look at the music and movies of that year.

GUESTS:

Mark Kurlansky: Author of 1968: The Year That Rocked the World, among many other books
Heather Hendershot: Cardiss Collins Professor of Communication Studies and Journalism at Northwestern University. She is author of When the News Broke: Chicago 1968 and the Polarizing of America
Dan Balz: Chief correspondent at The Washington Post
Tammy Kernodle: University Distinguished Professor and Park Creative Arts Endowed Professor in the Department of Music at Miami University, and author of Soul on Soul: The Life and Music of Mary Lou Williams

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Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Eugene Amatruda contributed to this show.

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Adam Wren recently reported for Politicothat Trump's running mate, J.D. Vance, is a fan of J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy epic, The Lord of the Rings. This hour we talk to Wren about Vance's interest in the work, and the politics of the series.

Plus, we'll discuss Tolkien's fantasy world building, and look back on the books, their film adaptations, and their enduring appeal.

GUESTS:

Adam Wren: National political correspondent for Politico
John Garth: Author of The Worlds of J.R.R. Tolkien: The Places that Inspired Middle-earth and Tolkien and the Great War, among other books
Susana Polo: Senior entertainment writer for Polygon

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, Cat Pastor, and Eugene Amatruda contributed to this show, portions of which originally aired August 12, 2021.

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This hour is all about printers.

We talk about printer problems and why, despite our struggles, we can’t seem to quit our printers.

Plus: a rage room owner on the appeal of smashing printers.

GUESTS:

Cory Doctorow: Science fiction author, activist with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and journalist
Cody Nicholas: Co-owner of the Lose It Rage Room in Woodbridge, Virginia
Allen St. John: Multimedia content producer for Consumer Reports

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, Cat Pastor, and Katie Pellico contributed to this show, which originally aired February 15, 2024.

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We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to the sandwichiness (or not) of hot dogs and the cube rule of food, crazy interest rates on credit cards, loud music in movies, Olympic basketball, winking … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Eugene Amatruda contributed to this show.

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America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders is a seven-part Netflix docuseries. It is directed and executive produced by Greg Whiteley. It follows the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders’ 2023–2024 season.

And: Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes is a documentary from HBO Documentary Films. It is directed by Nanette Burstein and produced by J. J. Abrams. Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes was nominated for the L’Œil d’or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

GUESTS:

Carolyn Paine: An actress, comedian, and dancer; she is founder, director, and choreographer of CONNetic Dance
Irene Papoulis: Teaches writing at Trinity College, and she’s the author of The Essays Only You Can Write
Lindsay Lee Wallace: Writes about culture, health care and health equity, and other stuff, too

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Bradley O’Connor contributed to this show.

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Going into November, we’ll be doing some shows where we talk with one guest, for the hour, who knows a lot about the election.

This hour, The New York Times’ Astead Herndon joins us to talk about the run-up to 2024. We’ll talk about his unique approach to political reporting, and the state of the race.

GUEST:

Astead Herndon: National politics reporter for The New York Times and the host of the politics podcast “The Run-Up”

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode.

Colin McEnroe and Eugene Amatruda contributed to this show.

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From pen names to online aliases, pseudonyms are all around us. This hour, we’re talking about what compels people to adopt an alternate identity when they write.

Do pseudonyms liberate us? Do they make us treat each other better? Or do they stop credit from going where it’s due?

GUESTS:

Carmela Ciuraru: Author of “Nom de Plume: A (Secret) History of Pseudonyms” and, most recently, “Lives of the Wives: Five Literary Marriages”
Daniel A. Gross: Editor at the New Yorker and author of the Atlantic article, “The Mystery of the Hardy Boys and the Invisible Authors”
Alfred Moore: Senior lecturer in Politics at the University of York

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Lily Tyson and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on February 14, 2024.

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It’s kind of weird how much the word “weird” has been coming up all of a sudden in the election, isn’t it?

This hour, a look at weirdness and the Democrats’ new wall-to-wall, paint-Trump-and-Vance-as-weird strategy.

Plus, the history of the word “weird,” what it’s like being weird, and a few minutes on quantum weirdness.

GUESTS:

Olga Khazan: A staff writer for The Atlantic covering health, gender, and policy and the author of Weird: The Power of Being an Outsider in an Insider World
Douglas Natelson: Associate dean for research at the Wiess School of Natural Sciences at Rice University, where he studies the emergent properties of materials
Kase Wickman: A freelance journalist and frequent contributor to Vanity Fair
Ben Zimmer: A linguist and lexicographer and the language columnist for The Wall Street Journal

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Bradley O’Connor contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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This hour we took your calls about anything you wanted to talk about.

This hour, the conversation winds around to the election, debates, vice presidential picks, the Olympics opening ceremony, Kevin Spacey, a book recommendation, and more.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Gene Amatruda contributed to this show.

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There’s something kind of special about the experience of a really great, really bad movie.

Think Red Dawn or Under Siege. Snakes on a Plane or Batman & Robin.

Independence Day is nearly perfect and so rewatchable — and also terrible.

This hour, a Nose-ish look at the joy of bad movies.

GUESTS:

Theresa Cramer: A freelance writer and editor and the co-founder of Quiet Corner Communications
Alicia di Leo: A para-educator in the integrated preschool program in the Manchester school system
David Edelstein: America’s Greatest Living Film Critic
Severn Sandt: Associate director of strategic partnerships and outreach at Trinity College in Hartford
Howard Sherman: A theater administrator, writer, and advocate; he is the U.S. columnist for The Stage newspaper of London and the author of Another Day’s Begun: Thornton Wilder’s Our Town in the 21st Century

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Eugene Amatruda contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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This hour, we talk about where this election is taking place in this media environment. We'll discuss how Americans are getting their election news, investigate how misinformation spreads, take stock of the role of social media in this, and look at the state of political podcasts.

GUESTS:

Dannagal Young: Director of the Center for Political Communication and a Professor of Communication and Political Science at the University of Delaware. Her newest book is Wrong: How Media, Politics, and Identity Drive our Appetite for Misinformation
Christian Paz: Senior Politics Reporter for Vox
Derek Robertson: Writer, reporter, and producer at Politico, where he writes the “Digital Future Daily” newsletter

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode.

Colin McEnroe and Bradley O’Connor contributed to this show.

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Have you ever heard someone say that East Coasters are kind but not nice, and West Coasters are nice but not kind?

This hour, a look at what “niceness” is, why it’s so important to us, and how it can sometimes mask not-so-nice things.

GUESTS:

Carrie Tirado Bramen: Professor at the University at Buffalo and the author of American Niceness: A Cultural History
Jordan Green: Self-proclaimed “kind West Coaster”
Amit Kumar: Assistant professor of marketing and psychology at the University of Texas at Austin
Mia Mercado: Humor writer and author from the Midwest who wrote She’s Nice Though: Essays on Being Bad at Being Good

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, Cat Pastor, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show, which originally aired January 25, 2024.

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This hour, we take a look at the legends of King Arthur. We discuss their evolution and why they endure.

Plus, we talk with author Lev Grossman about his new retelling of the King Arthur legend, The Bright Sword.

And, a conversation with an archeologist about excavating the history of Arthurian legends.

GUESTS:

Lev Grossman: Bestselling author of The Magicians Trilogy. His new book is The Bright Sword
Leah Tether: Professor of Medieval Literature and Publishing at Bristol University, and Vice President of the International Courtly Literature Society
Win Scutt: Archeologist and Senior Properties Curator for the West of England at English Heritage, a nonprofit that cares for over 400 historic monuments

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to the election, the Olympics opening ceremony, Project 2025, the stain (maybe) of Elon Musk on Teslas. Plus some wonderings: What would aliens make of the Olympics? What’s the most impactful way to get involved with the election? … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Eugene Amatruda contributed to this show.

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Political satire is alive and well in America today. And it turns out it might have an important role in educating the public and the health of our democracy.

This hour, a look at the state and the art of political satire with comedian Samantha Bee and Sophia McClennen, a political scientist who studies satire.

GUESTS:

Samantha Bee: Comedian, the host of Choice Words with Samantha Bee, and the former host of Full Frontal with Samantha Bee
Sophia McClennen: Professor of international affairs and comparative literature at Penn State University and the author of numerous books, including Trump Was a Joke: How Satire Made Sense of a President Who Didn’t and Is Satire Saving Our Nation?

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired September 15, 2023.

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From Thurston Harris and the Crash Test Dummies to that noise your refrigerator makes, humming sounds are all around us (especially if you’ve been to Windsor, Ontario). This hour — musical humming, mysterious humming, and how humming could be good for your health.

GUESTS:

Susan Rogers: Multi-platinum record producer, cognitive neuroscientist, professor at Berklee College of Music and co-author of “This Is What It Sounds Like: What the Music You Love Says About You”
Gunjan Trivedi: Co-founder of Wellness Space based in India and author of several studies exploring the benefits of humming on stress and health
Colin Novak: Associate Professor at the University of Windsor

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, and Bradley O’Connor contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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This hour, we look at the idea of the Western canon, and those books that are considered "classics." We'll talk about what's in the canon, what isn't and what should be, and how it evolves.

Plus, we’ll talk about The Atlantic’s recent list of “The Great American Novels.” And, we’ll learn about a publishing company that is experimenting with artificial intelligence to bring classic books alive for a new audience.

GUESTS:

Roosevelt Montás: Senior Lecturer in American Studies and English at Columbia University. He is author of Rescuing Socrates: How the Great Books Changed My Life and Why They Matter for a New Generation
James Mustich: Author of 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die
Gal Beckerman: Senior editor for books at The Atlantic
Laura Kipnis: Cultural critic, essayist, and the author of Love in the Time of Contagion: A Diagnosis, among other books

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Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Eugene Amatruda contributed to this show.

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Well, we’ve had another weekend, haven’t we? So we figured you might want to talk again.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Eugene Amatruda contributed to this show.

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This hour on The Colin McEnroe Show, we discuss President Biden's decision not to run for reelection. We'll look at the historical precedent for this decision, talk about Vice President Kamala Harris, and hear about the role of the press in all of this.

GUESTS:

Bill Curry: Former White House advisor to the Clinton administration, Connecticut State Senator, and two-time Democratic nominee for the Governor of Connecticut
Hunter Schwarz: Journalist and the founder and curator of the visual politics newsletter “Yello”
Leah Wright Rigueur: Associate Professor of History at Johns Hopkins, author of The Loneliness of the Black Republican: Pragmatic Politics and the Pursuit of Power
Manisha Sinha: James L. and Shirley A. Draper Chair in American History at the University of Connecticut and the President of the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic. She is author of The Rise and Fall of the Second American Republic: Reconstruction, 1860-1920, among other books
David Folkenflik: NPR’s media correspondent

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Bradley O’Connor contributed to this show.

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I saw someone on TikTok ask (rather vulgarly) that we just have, for once, a week that is … precedented. And I mean, yes. Could we?

Well, not this week. The shooting. The convention. The running mate. The president with COVID. The ominous election.

And then Bob Newhart died, too.

So we decided we need — and that you might need, too — an hour to figure out where to find hope even in the face of all this.

GUESTS:

Noah Baerman: A pianist, composer, and educator; his new album, from the Noah Baerman Trio, is Live at the Side Door
Susan Clinard: The owner of Clinard Sculpture Studio in Hamden, Connecticut
Azar Nafisi: The author of six books, including Reading Lolita in Tehran; her newest is Read Dangerously: The Subversive Power of Literature in Troubled Times
Benjamin Perry: Minister of outreach and media strategy at Middle Church and the author of Cry, Baby: Why Our Tears Matter
Gene Seymour: A “writer, professional spectator, pop-culture maven, and jazz geek

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Eugene Amatruda contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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This hour, we look at our cultural fascination with dead bodies. What do we owe the dead? What can the dead teach us? What does a body represent to you?

GUESTS:

Barbara Butcher: Aretired New York City death investigator and the author ofWhat the Dead Know: Learning About Life as a New York City Death Investigator; she is featured in Dick Wolf’s Netflix docuseries Homicide: New York
Thomas Lynch: The author of six collections of poems, six books of essays and a book of stories; a novel, No Prisoners, is forthcoming; he worked as a funeral director for over 50 years with Lynch & Sons
Ally Jarmanning: A senior reporter for WBUR; she’s the host and reporter for Season 4 of the podcast Last Seen: Postmortem — The Stolen Bodies of Harvard

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Bradley O’Connor contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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This hour, we're taking stock of what the events of July 13 mean for our election and our polity.

First, a conversation about the effects political violence can have on democracy. Then, a look at the rise of conspiracy thinking across the political spectrum in response to the attempted assassination of former President Trump and an analysis of the iconic photo of Trump with his fist raised.

GUESTS:

Arie Periliger: Professor at UMass Lowell studying political extremism and political violence for more than 20 years
David Gilbert: A reporter at WIRED covering covering disinformation and online extremism
Philip Kennicott: Senior art and architecture critic at The Washington Post

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Eugene Amatruda contributed to this show.

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In Greek mythology, Prometheus stole fire from the gods to give it to humans, and suffered an eternity of punishment for it.

This hour, we revisit that myth, and talk about why it resonates so much today.

Plus, a look at the Alien prequel Prometheus.

GUESTS:

Annie Dorsen: Theater director; her most recent production was Prometheus Firebringer
Adrienne Mayor: Research scholar in the Classics Department and the History of Science Program at Stanford University and the author of Gods and Robots: Myths, Machines and Ancient Dreams of Technology, among other books
Dom Nero: Writer, video editor, and co-host of the Eye of the Duck podcast
A.O. Scott: Critic at large for The New York Times Book Review and the author of Better Living Through Criticism

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired January 17, 2024.

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After this weekend, we thought you might want to talk.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Eugene Amatruda contributed to this show.

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We got to the end of this week and decided it’d be nice to have some stuff to think about besides the election. This hour, we present you three such things.

First, in advance of this weekend’s finals, we check in with arguably the grandest of the Grand Slams, the most major of the four tennis majors, The Championships, Wimbledon 2024.

And then: The New York Times wondered, “Should you hug a sloth?” (Spoiler: Probably not.)

And finally, a look at all the ways our mapping apps — Google Maps, Waze, Apple Maps, etc. — are (maybe) letting us down.

GUESTS:

Julia Angwin: A contributing opinion writer at The New York Times and the founder of Proof News
Matthew Futterman: A senior writer covering tennis at The Athletic
Melena Ryzik: A roving culture reporter at The New York Times

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, and Bradley O’Connor contributed to this show.

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GUESTS:

Nicola Twilley: Co-host of the podcast “Gastropod,” and author of the new book, Frostbite: How Refrigeration Changed Our Food, Our Planet, and Ourselves
Peyton Dix: Social media strategist, content creator, writer, and co-host of the podcast “Lemme Say This”

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Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Bradley O’Connor contributed to this show.

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Legal gratuities for government officials, an overturning of the Chevron doctrine, and (perhaps most importantly) presidential immunity from prosecution for official acts — the Supreme Court just issued a batch of rulings that you may have noticed in the headlines, and we’re here to debrief them! Plus: a discussion on the state and future of the court.

GUESTS:

Akhil Reed Amar: Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale University. He hosts the podcast “Amarica’s Constitution” and wrote the book “The Words That Made Us: America’s Constitutional Conversation, 1760-1840”
Cristina Rodríguez: Professor of Law at Yale Law School.
Ian MacDougall: Writer and lawyer by training who’s clerked for federal judges in Brooklyn and Washington D.C.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Eugene Amatruda contributed to this show.

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Somewhere along the way, cars stopped being just a means of transportation — now, they’re also a dining room, an entertainment center, even an extension of our selves. And apparently, they’re sharing and selling data about you that you might not know they collected in the first place.

This hour: everything you didn’t know about that thing you sit in for an hour every day.

GUESTS:

Jen Caltrider: Program director of Mozilla’s *Privacy Not Included project
Stefan Gössling: Professor at Linnaeus University
Kashmir Hill: Technology reporter at The New York Times, specializing in privacy
Ian Walker: Professor of environmental psychology at Swansea University

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, Cat Pastor, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show, which originally aired January 11, 2024.

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Franz Kafka died 100 years ago last month, but his work is still very much alive today in literature classes and, surprisingly, on social media. This hour, we look at Kafka’s life and legacy, discuss the “Kafkaesque,” and investigate why the author resonates so much today. Plus, we revisit his most famous work, “The Metamorphosis,” and talk with a zoologist about the idea of turning into an insect.

GUESTS:

Margarita Mouka: Content creator and creative executive. Her TikTok Handle is @aquariuscat444
Karolina Watroba: Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in Modern Languages at Oxford’s All Souls College, and the author of Metamorphoses: In Search of Franz Kafka
Benjamin Balint: Author of Kafka’s Last Trial. His new book is Bruno Schulz: An Artist, A Murder, and the Hijacking of History
Tim Coulson: Professor of Zoology at the University of Oxford. His new book is The Science of Why We Exist: A History of the Universe from the Big Bang to Consciousness

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Bradley O’Connor contributed to this show.

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A Quiet Place: Day One is the third movie in the A Quiet Place film series. It is a prequel to the first film, A Quiet Place. It’s written and directed by Michael Sarnoski (who wrote and directed Pig), and it stars Lupita Nyong’o. Djimon Hounsou reprises his role from A Quiet Place Part II, which hasn’t happened yet, as of Day One.

And: Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is the fifth movie in the Mad Max film series. It is a prequel to and spinoff from Mad Max: Fury Road, and it is written by George Miller and Nico Lathouris and directed by Miller. Furiosa is an origin story for Charlize Theron’s Fury Road character, Furiosa, here played by Alyla Browne and Anya Taylor-Joy.

GUESTS:

Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Nobody Asked Shawn podcast
Carolyn Paine: An actress, comedian, and dancer, and she is founder, director, and choreographer of CONNetic Dance
Bill Yousman: Professor of media studies at Sacred Heart University

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Bradley O’Connor contributed to this show.

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This hour: we look at running mates. We'll talk about whether or not a presidential candidate's running mate matters, and their role on the campaign trail. Plus, we'll take a look at our favorite running mates from popular culture.

GUESTS:

Christopher Devine: Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Dayton. He is co-author of the booksDo Running Mates Matter? The Influence of Vice Presidential Candidates in Presidential Elections, and author of News Media Coverage of the Vice-Presidential Selection Process: What's Wrong with the ‘Veepstakes’?
Karrin Vasby Anderson: Professor of Communications Studies at Colorado State University, and author of Women, Feminism, and Pop Politics, among other books

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Bradley O'Connor contributed to this show.

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This show's all about guts! How are our guts and our brains connected? How much of our emotional lives come from our stomachs? And how, across history, did our digestive systems become such pivotal parts of our identity?

GUESTS:

Diego Bohórquez: Gut-brain neuroscientist
Elsa Richardson: Historian of health and medicine and the author of the book, “Rumbles: A Curious History of the Gut”
Julie Balsamo: Gut health dietician

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Lateshia Peters, Lily Tyson, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired on December 7, 2023.

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This hour we take your calls about anything you want to talk about.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Bradley O'Connor contributed to this show.

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The Nose is off this week.

In its place: What is a diva? And how has the term evolved?

This hour, divas — from Tay-Tay to Beyoncé to Barbra to Dolly, from opera to the top of the pop charts.

GUESTS:

Spencer Kornhaber: Staff writer at The Atlantic and author of On Divas: Persona, Pleasure, Power
Myrna Reynolds: Retired singer
Zachary Woolfe: Classical music critic for The New York Times

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired December 6, 2023.

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Marching bands are now a staple at halftimes. But why? This hour, we discuss the art of the marching band. We’ll talk about all of the work that goes into coordinating them, and the evolution of marching band music and competitions. Plus, a look at the history of halftime.

GUESTS:

Justin McManus: Director of Athletic Bands at the University of Connecticut
Dylan Reyes: Occasional board operator for The Colin McEnroe Show who marched competitively through high school
Mark Dyreson: Professor of Kinesiology and Affiliate Professor of History at Penn State, where he is also Co-Director of Research and Educational Programs for the Penn State Center for the Study of Sports in Society. He is the author of numerous books and articles about the history of sport

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired on November 13, 2023.

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Back before radio stations (ours included) started re-airing daytime programs during the night as a default, nighttime airwaves were a place for experimentation, confessions, and wondering that wouldn't be welcome in the light of day.

“Why don’t we try that?” said we!

On June 20th, Colin McEnroe, a team of intrepid radio producers and engineers, and one very generous security guard stayed in the office from 11 p.m. - 1 a.m. The resulting radio program, which featured live music, poetry, and phone calls about UFOs, Boy Scout horror stories, and siphonophores, is available here (in an abridged format) for your listening pleasure. Click here to listen to the unabridged episode.

GUESTS:

Hugh Blumenfeld Folk musician and singer-songwriter from Connecticut
Mike Penicello: State Director of the Connecticut Mutual UFO Network
Keith Trosell: Truck driver and owner/operator of Boba Freight, which is based in Columbia, CT
Zulynette: Performer, artist, author, and creator of the annual storytelling event, “A Little Bit of Death.” Her most recent book of poetry is “Seeing in the Dark”

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Robyn Doyon-Aitken, Jonathan McNicol, Lily Tyson, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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It's becoming easier every day to pay for things without cash. You can pay with your credit card, your phone, an app, or even your palm. So how does the move away from cash change how we think about our money? This hour, we look at our changing attitudes towards money, and what we gain and lose as we use less cash. Plus, we'll look at the history and future of ATMs.

GUESTS:

Jay Zagorsky: Clinical Associate Professor of Markets, Public Policy, and Law at the Boston University Questrom School of Business
Ursula Dalinghaus: Cultural anthropologist who specializes in economic anthropology and the anthropology of money. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Anthropology in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Ripon College
Bernardo Batiz-Lazo: Professor in the Newcastle Business School at Northumbria University

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired on November 8, 2023.

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Remote controls date all the way back to the 1800s, but they only entered most households in the 1950s or later. What impact did this have on how we watch television, and how we use other devices in our homes? This hour we look at the history and the impact of the remote control, and discuss what the remote control of the future will look like. And we'll take a look at buttons, and how they shape our interactions with the technology in our lives.

GUESTS:

Caetlin Benson-Allott: Professor of English, Director of Film and Media Studies at Georgetown University, and a member of the Program in American Studies. She is the author of Remote Control, among other books
Rachel Plotnick: Associate Professor of Cinema and Media Studies in The Media School at Indiana University Bloomington, and author ofPower Button: A History of Pleasure, Panic and the Politics of Pushing

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on November 7, 2023.

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“Why don’t we try that?” said we!

On June 20, Colin McEnroe, a team of intrepid radio producers and engineers, and one very generous security guard stayed in the office from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. The resulting radio program, which features live music, poetry, and phone calls about UFOs, Boy Scout horror stories, and siphonophores, is available here for your listening pleasure.

GUESTS:

Hugh Blumenfeld: Folk musician and singer-songwriter from Connecticut
Major Jackson: Professor of English at Vanderbilt University and host of the podcast The Slowdown from American Public Media; his most recent book is Razzle Dazzle: New and Selected Poems
Mike Penicello: State director of the Connecticut Mutual UFO Network
Keith Trosell:Truck driver and owner/operator of Boba Freight, which is based in Columbia, Connecticut
Zulynette:Performer, artist, author, and creator of the annual storytelling event A Little Bit of Death; her most recent book of poetry is Seeing in the Dark

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Robyn Doyon-Aitken, Jonathan McNicol, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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The Nose is off this week. In its place, a look at how we imagine extraterrestrial life.

What do you picture when you picture aliens? Is it like E.T.? Or little green men? Or an alien from Star Trek?

This hour: how we imagine extraterrestrial life and how those visions are shaped by our TV and movies and more.

GUESTS:

Jaime Green: Freelance writer, editor, writing teacher, and the author of The Possibility of Life: Science, Imagination, and Our Quest for Kinship in the Cosmos
Doug Jones: Actor known for his roles in Hellboy, The Shape of Water, Pan’s Labyrinth, and more; he plays Saru in Star Trek: Discovery

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired December 1, 2023.

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News outlets and opinion writers have called it: The traditional dinner party is dead. But are dinner parties really so bad? Or are we just bad at hosting them?

This hour, the history of dinner parties and some advice from people who turn party-hosting into an art form.

GUESTS:

Rand Richards Cooper: Fiction writer, contributing editor at Commonweal, and the restaurant critic for the Hartford Courant
Nandita Godbole: Author of several cookbooks including Masaleydaar: Classic Indian Spice Blends; she also writes the blog Curry Cravings
Julia Skinner: Culinary historian and food writer whose work includes the book Our Fermented Lives

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired October 26, 2023.

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We’ve been doing these shows a couple times a month where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to favorite TV theme songs; the Ham Primus House in Guilford, Connecticut; the upcoming Poor People’s March; the upcoming presidential debates; the upcoming Deadpool & Wolverine … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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This hour, Mounk joins us to talk about the future of democracy and The Identity Trap: A Story of Ideas and Power in Our Time.

GUEST:

Yascha Mounk: Professor of the practice of international affairs at Johns Hopkins University; founder of Persuasion; host of The Good Fight; and the author, most recently, of The Identity Trap: A Story of Ideas and Power in Our Time

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired October 4, 2023.

Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today.

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And finally, Bardcore is a thing. The one and only Hildegard von Blingin’ joins us.

GUESTS:

Maureen Lee Lenker: A senior writer at Entertainment Weekly and the author of the novel It Happened One Fight
Drew Lichtenberg: Associate director at Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, DC
Hildegard von Blingin’: A singer and illustrator

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Meg Dalton, Cat Pastor, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show.

Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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Just in time for your summer vacation, an hour about beach reads. We look at how the term came to be, get some beach read recommendations, and even hear a case against reading on the beach.

GUESTS:

Meghan Hayden: Owner of River Bend Bookshop, which has locations in Glastonbury and West Hartford, Connecticut
Andrew Limbong: Reporter for NPR’s Culture Desk and Host of NPR's Book of the Day podcast
Donna Harrington-Lueker: Professor in the Department of English, Communications, and Media at Salve Regina University. She is author of Books for Idle Hours: Nineteenth-Century Publishing and the Rise of Summer Reading

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We’ve done a version of this show every year since 2013. And we did it in 2011. We probably even did one in 2010. (We just can’t prove it.)

So it’s a bit of a tradition. It’s a tradition that … makes some people angry, we realize.

And that has a lot to do with how we define the term “song of the summer.” We use the Amanda Dobbins definition:

Let’s be clear about how this works: There is no such thing as a “personal” song of summer. We do not anoint multiple songs of summer. There can only be one; the Song of Summer, by its very definition, is a consensus choice. It is the song that wrecks wedding dance floors. It is the song that you and your mother begrudgingly agree on (even though your mom has no idea what rhymes with “hug me” and won’t stop yelling it in public). It does not necessarily have to hit No. 1 on the charts, but it should probably be on the charts because it must be widely played. It must bring people together. It must be a shared enthusiasm.

And if we’re wrong, well, it really just won’t matter at all.

GUESTS:

Sam Hadelman: Works in music public relations and hosts The Sam Hadelman Show at Radio Free Brooklyn
Brendan Jay Sullivan: A writer, producer, and DJ
Cassie Willson: A comedian, musician, and content creator

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe contributed to this show.

Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today.

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With the first presidential debate just two weeks away, an hour on the art and science of the presidential debate. We look at the evolution of debates through history, question whether or not they matter to the election, and even learn about the art of the political putdown.

GUESTS:

Kathryn Cramer Brownell: Associate Professor of History at Purdue University. She is author of Showbiz Politics: Hollywood in American Political Life and 24/7 Politics: Cable Television and the Fragmenting of America from Watergate to Fox News
Aaron Kall: Director of Debate and a Lecturer in the Department of Communication at the University of Michigan. He is also author of Debating The Donald
Chris Lamb: Professor of Journalism at Indiana University Indianapolis, and author of The Art of the Political Putdown: The Greatest Comebacks, Ripostes, and Retorts in History

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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"These boots are made for walking…" but instead, they sit by the door while you watch TV. This hour: Why is it often so hard to get walking? And what can our footsteps tell us about ourselves and the world?

GUESTS:

Jeff Speck: City planner and author of the book “Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time”
Liam Satchell: Senior lecturer in Psychology at the University of Winchester
Dr. I-Min Lee: Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and an epidemiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital

Join the conversation onFacebook andTwitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired on November 2, 2023.

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Godzilla Minus One (Gojira -1.0) is the 37th movie in the Godzilla franchise, the 33rd Godzilla movie from Toho Studios, and the fifth movie in the franchise’s Reiwa era. It has grossed more than $150 million at the worldwide box office, making it the highest-grossing Japanese Godzilla movie. It is the first Godzilla movie ever nominated for an Academy Award, which it won, for Best Visual Effects. Godzilla Minus One is a prequel to the original movie, Godzilla (1954).

And: Following the worst Memorial Day weekend at the domestic box office in nearly 30 years and the disappointing openings of the big-budget summer action movies The Fall Guy and Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, industry watchers are, let’s say … in a bit of a panic. The Nose has thoughts and concerns.

GUESTS:

Raquel Benedict: Claims to be the most dangerous woman in speculative fiction, and she’s the host of the Rite Gud podcast
James Hanley: Co-founder of Cinestudio at Trinity College
Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Nobody Asked Shawn podcast

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Eugene Amatruda contributed to this show.

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Last month, Florida and Alabama became the first U.S. states to ban the sale and manufacture of lab-grown meat. The plant-based meat company Impossible Foods announced a shift from green to red packaging, in an apparent rejection of the company’s “woke” reputation that angered some Cracker Barrel customers. This hour: how did meatless meat join the culture wars?

GUESTS:

Matt Reynolds: Senior writer at Wired magazine
S. Marek Muller: Assistant Professor of Communication Studies at Texas State University
Yasmin Tayag: Staff writer at The Atlantic covering food and health

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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Percival Everett is the author of 24 novels, four short story collections, and six collections of poetry.

His 2001 novel Erasure was adapted as the feature film American Fiction, which was nominated this year for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

Everett has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

His newest novel, James, reimagines Adventures of Huckleberry Finn “from the enslaved Jim’s point of view.”

This hour, Percival Everett joins us in studio.

GUEST:

Percival Everett: Novelist and poet

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We've recently discovered, thanks to TikTok, that many more people are thinking about the Roman Empire than you might expect... including the host of this radio show. This hour, we talk about why people think about the Roman Empire, and we talk with the preeminent scholar of the Roman Empire, Mary Beard, about all the things you could think about if you wanted to think about the Roman Empire.

GUESTS:

Doug Boin: Professor of History at St. Louis University, and author ofAlaric the Goth: An Outsider’s History of the Fall of Rome, among other books
Mary Beard: Historian of Ancient Rome. She is the author of bestselling books, including SPQR, and her newest book is Emperor of Rome: Ruling the Ancient Roman World

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired on October 25, 2023.

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This hour we take your calls about anything you want to talk about.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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Illeana Douglas’ new book is Connecticut in the Movies: From Dream Houses to Dark Suburbia. It isn’t just an encyclopedia of appearances by and references to Connecticut in movies. But rather, it’s a history and theory of “Connecticut movies,” something close to a genre unto itself with its own set of signs and meanings.

This hour, Illeana Douglas and David Edelstein join us to take a Not Necessarily The Nose-style look at the Nutmeg State on the silver screen.

GUESTS:

Illeana Douglas: The Official Movie Star of The Colin McEnroe Show and the author, most recently, of Connecticut in the Movies
David Edelstein: America’s Greatest Living Film Critic

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired October 13, 2023.

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A wealthy prince needs your help (via a wire transfer) to unfreeze his fortunes. He’ll reward you handsomely. While you’re sending him the money, listen to this show about scam emails.

We'll talk about the surprising history and future of scam emails and what you can do to protect yourself. Plus: a conversation with an author who got caught up in an infamous email scam.

GUESTS:

Arun Vishwanath: Cybersecurity expert and author of the book, “The Weakest Link: How to Diagnose, Detect, and Defend Users from Phishing”
Peter C. Baker: Author of the novel “Planes”

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired on October 19, 2023.

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What can we learn about ourselves from what we sit on?

This hour, the history of chairs, their impact on our lifestyle and health, and what’s in store for their future.

Plus, we celebrate the joy of a well-designed chair, talk with a chair maker, and discuss some of our favorite examples.

GUESTS:

Galen Cranz: Professor emerita of architecture at the University of California at Berkeley, a founding member of the Association for Body Conscious Design, and the author of The Chair: Rethinking Culture, Body and Design, among other books
Aspen Golann: Artist and furniture maker; she teaches in the furniture department at The Rhode Island School of Design and founded The Chairmaker’s Toolbox
Witold Rybczynski: Architect, emeritus professor of urbanism at the University of Pennsylvania, and author of Now I Sit Me Down: From Klismos to Plastic Chair — A Natural History, among other books

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired October 18, 2023.

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In 2018, Emily Wilson became internationally known for her translation of Homer’s The Odyssey, which was called “a revelation” and “a cultural landmark.” This hour, Wilson joins us to talk about her translation of Homer’s other great surviving work, The Iliad.

GUEST:

Emily Wilson: Professor in the Department of Classical Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. Her new translation of Homer’s The Iliad is out now. She previously translated The Odyssey, in addition to works by Euripides, Seneca, and Sophocles

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired on October 16, 2023.

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Challengers is the eighth feature film directed by Luca Guadagnino. It’s a romantic sports drama tennis movie thriller kind of thing that stars Zendaya, Josh O’Connor, and Mike Faist as the three points of a love triangle. It opened at No. 1 at the domestic box office, making it Zendaya’s second No. 1 movie of 2024 (after Dune: Part Two).

And: Spacey Unmasked is a two-part Investigation Discovery docuseries that looks at actor Kevin Spacey’s “rise and fall from grace amid allegations of inappropriate sexual behavior.”

GUESTS:

Rebecca Castellani: Co-founder of Quiet Corner Communications and a freelance writer
Sam Hadelman: Works in music public relations and hosts The Sam Hadelman Show at Radio Free Brooklyn
Bill Yousman: Professor of media studies at Sacred Heart University

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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GUESTS:

Ken Jennings: Colin’s college roommate
Kelli María Korducki: Journalist who writes about work and the family
Bruce Sacerdote: Professor of Economics at Dartmouth College
Francesca Fontánez: Social Media Editor at CT Public and a former college RA

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Cat Pastor, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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We hear about algorithms all the time, but what is an algorithm exactly? This hour, we learn about how algorithms work, a bit about their history, and how they're impacting our culture.

GUESTS:

Ed Finn: Author of What Algorithms Want: Imagination in the Age of Computing, and founding director of the Center for Science and the Imagination at Arizona State University
Bruce Gil: Reporter for Quartz
Liz Pelly: Writer and editor, whose forthcoming book is Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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From book bans to comics and the strange origins of fairy tales, this hour we look at children’s literature and who decides what’s appropriate for children to read.

GUESTS:

Adam Gidwitz: Author of A Tale Dark and Grimm and its companions and the creator of the podcast Grimm, Grimmer, Grimmest
Carol St. George: Professor of teaching and curriculum and director of reading and literacy at the Warner School of Education at the University of Rochester
Maria Tatar: Research professor of folklore and mythology at Harvard University; her latest book is The Heroine with 1001 Faces
Carol Tilley: Comics historian, librarian, educator, and youth advocate; she is a professor in the faculty of the School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois

This show was produced with Stacey Addo.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired September 20, 2023.

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We’ve been doing these shows a couple times a month where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to the stock market, inflation and the real estate market, incidental music in theater, commercials and trailers and such at the movie theater, Woody Harrelson and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., rocketing all of our plastic into the Sun … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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We’ve been noticing a sort of backwards-looking bent lately in TV shows like Ripley, with its 1960s setting and its black-and-white aesthetic and its lush 1950s Italian pop soundtrack. Or Fallout, with its particular brand of retro-futurism and its Jazz Age-to-Space Age music. Or Sugar, with it classic movie-obsessed protagonist and its neo-noir tone.

There’s a theory that there’s more of an emphasis on nostalgia right now than normal because no one wants to live in 2024. There’s even a whole new Taylor Swift song about it.

This hour, a Nose-ish look at the heightened role of nostalgia in our popular culture right now. Plus: the dark side of nostalgia culture.

GUESTS:

Jessica Andrews: A novelist and a contributing editor at Elle UK; her most recent novel is Milk Teeth
Spencer Kornhaber: A staff writer at The Atlantic and the author of On Divas: Persona, Pleasure, Power

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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GUESTS:

Kelsey Russell: A media literacy influencer and co-host of “First Stop News”
Jeff Jarvis: Author of The Gutenberg Parenthesis: The Age of Print and Its Lessons for the Age of the Internet. His new book, The Web We Weave will be out this fall. He co-hosts the “This Week in Google” and “AI Inside” podcasts
John Garrett: Founder and CEO of “Community Impact,” a privately owned chain of 40 community newspapers in Texas, which also includes its own printing facilities

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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This hour, Colin and his guests look at why humans touch others with their lips (and often their tongues!). Join us as we overthink the simple act of kissing.

GUESTS:

Marcel Danesi: Professor Emeritus of Linguistic Anthropology at The University of Toronto and author of The History of the Kiss! The Birth of Popular Culture
Matthew Longcore: Director of Membership and Outreach for the Human Relations Area Files at Yale University and an Adjunct Faculty Member in Anthropology at the University of Connecticut Stamford
Andréa Demirjian: Runs The Kissing Expert website, Instagram feed, and Facebook page. She’s the author of the book Kissing: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About One of Life’s Sweetest Pleasures

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, Lily Tyson, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired on October 10, 2023.

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What’s in your pockets right now? Phone, wallet, keys … maybe some discarded receipts or old gum?

This hour: what we carry with us every day, from flashlights the size of a lip balm to a life-saving medicine.

GUESTS:

Bernard Capulong: Founder and editor-in-chief of everydaycarry.com
Peter Canning: A Hartford paramedic, an emergency medical services coordinator at John Dempsey Hospital, and the author of Killing Season: A Paramedic’s Dispatches from the Front Lines of the Opioid Epidemic
Hannah Carlson: Senior lecturer in the Apparel Department at the Rhode Island School of Design and the author of Pockets: An Intimate History of How We Keep Things Close
Mona Gohara: Private practice dermatologist, associate clinical professor of dermatology at the Yale School of Medicine, and an advocate around increasing inclusivity in dermatology
Drew John Ladd: A writer

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired September 19, 2023.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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This hour, a look at the cultural significance of the apple, from Adam and Eve to keeping the doctor away.

Plus: growing apples and the future of apples, and we compare apples and oranges.

GUESTS:

Martha Bayless: Director of folklore and public culture and a professor of English and folklore at the University of Oregon; she is also the founder of the Early English Bread Project, which studies the role of bread in early medieval English culture
David Bedford: Senior research fellow in the Department of Horticultural Science at the University of Minnesota; his team is responsible for creating the Honeycrisp, SweeTango, Zestar, and Rave apple varieties, among others
Dan Pashman: Creator and host of the The Sporkful podcast

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired September 7, 2023.

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Baby Reindeer is a seven-episode half-hour limited series written and created by Richard Gadd and based on his autobiographical one-man play. According to Netflix, it “follows struggling comedian Donny Dunn’s warped relationship with his female stalker and the impact it has on him as he is ultimately forced to face a deeply buried trauma.” With its unique mix of black comedy, drama, and thriller, Baby Reindeer went to No. 1 on Netflix’s Top 10 TV Shows in the U.S. Today list in its second week of release.

And: The New York Times’ chief TV critic, James Poniewozik, says we’ve entered an era of mid television. He cites shows like The Diplomat, Hijack, House of the Dragon, Manhunt, Ozark (Ozark?!), and Poker Face as prime examples of mid TV. The Nose has thoughts.

GUESTS:

Irene Papoulis: Teaches writing at Trinity College, and she’s the author of The Essays Only You Can Write
Lindsay Lee Wallace: Writes about culture, health care and health equity, and other stuff, too
Tracy Wu Fastenberg: Development officer at Connecticut Children’s

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The internet is up in arms over the revelation that South Dakota governor Kristi Noem once shot and killed her dog. This hour, we’ll get into it. From vice presidential contenders to “Old Yeller” and “Marley and Me” — what is it about dogs that brings us all together, and unites us in grief and uproar when they die?

GUESTS:

Li Zhou: Senior politics and society reporter at Vox.
David Edelstein: America’s Greatest Living Film Critic
Tommy Tomlinson: Author of the book “Dogland: Passion, Glory, and Lots of Slobber at the Westminster Dog Show.”

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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It has been 25 years since the deal between the state of Connecticut and Robert Kraft’s New England Patriots — the deal that would’ve brought the Patriots to a brand new publicly funded stadium in Hartford — fell through.

Over the two-and-a-half decades since, the Patriots hired coach Bill Belichick and drafted quarterback Tom Brady, and they won 17 division titles, nine conference championships, and six Super Bowls.

Hartford, on the other hand, eventually built a 6,000-seat Double A ballpark as part of a much larger development plan that has since mostly been scrapped. And people continue to pine for the return of the Whalers.

This hour, a look back at what might have been, what could have been — what never was.

GUESTS:

Jeff Benedict: The author of 16 books, including The Dynasty
Michael Leeds: Professor of economics at Temple University and co-author of The Economics of Sports, now in its seventh edition

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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In A.J. Jacobs' new book, The Year of Living Constitutionally: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Constitution’s Original Meaning, he details his experience living by the Constitution for a year. Jacobs joins us for the hour to tell us about the experiment and what he learned.

GUESTS:

A.J. Jacobs: Author of The Year of Living Constitutionally: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Constitution’s Original Meaning. His previous books include Drop Dead Healthy and The Year of Living Biblically. He is also host of “The Puzzler” podcast

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

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Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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What exactly is charisma? You know it when you see it, but is it possible to measure? Is it something you can learn, or just something you’re born with?

This hour we look at the impact of charisma, especially in politics.

Plus, in the world of wildlife conservation there’s a term for those animals everyone cares about: “charismatic megafauna.”

What are the impacts of decisions about conservation or leadership coming down to a nebulous trait like charisma?

GUESTS:

John Antonakis: Professor of organizational behavior at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland
Sophie Monsarrat: Rewilding manager with Rewilding Europe, who used to be a researcher who studied charismatic megafauna, among other topics
Russ Schriefer: Founding partner of Strategic Partners & Media, a public affairs political consulting firm; he is senior strategist for the Tell It Like It Is super PAC that supported Chris Christie for President

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired September 6, 2023.

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Adrian McKinty is a Northern Irish writer of thrillers and mysteries probably best known for The Chain and the Sean Duffy series.

On a dark and stormy night in September, McKinty talked to Colin on stage at The Mark Twain House and Museum in Hartford. It’s the first show we’ve done in front of a live audience since the before times.

This hour, a lightly edited version of that conversation.

GUEST:

Adrian McKinty: The author of 20 novels, including The Chain, the Michael Forsythe trilogy, and the Sean Duffy series; The Detective Up Late, the seventh Duffy novel, is out in paperback May 14

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired September 14, 2023.

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It's hard to stay on top of everything happening in the Supreme Court lately — a case about whether governments can criminalize sleeping outside when you're homeless, a different decision that headlines tell us "effectively abolishes the right to mass protest in three US states." Today, we're getting caught up with three of the most important cases you might have missed!

GUESTS:

Mark Joseph Stern: Senior writer at Slate covering courts and the law
Vera Eidelman: Staff attorney with the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project
Nisha Kashyap: Attorney at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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It’s been reported that Donald Trump has been sleeping during his Manhattan trial. This hour, a look at the storied history of people sleeping through things. We talk with a sleep doctor. Plus: an actor on what it’s like when an audience member nods off during your stage performance.

GUESTS:

Maura Judkis: Features Reporter for The Washington Post
Michael Greaney: Professor of English Literature at Lancaster University
Dr. Rafael Pelayo: Clinical professor at Stanford University’s Sleep Medicine division and the author of How to Sleep
Derek Garza: Actor, director, voice-over actor and creative artist, who works in theater, television and film

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Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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Journalist Lisa Belkin spent 10 years retracing the ancestry of three families, over four generations, to understand how a series of random encounters between three men led to the 1960 murder of a Stamford, Connecticut, police officer.

Genealogy of a Murder looks at how family “truths” passed down through the generations can influence the choices of the descendants that follow.

How do family stories, happenstance, and the cultural ethos of the moment shape the people we become?

GUESTS:

Lisa Belkin: A journalist and the author of Genealogy of a Murder: Four Generations, Three Families, One Fateful Night
Doreen Troy Dolan: Daughter of David Troy
Kelsey Rose Dolan: Granddaughter of David Troy

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired August 24, 2023.

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We’ve been doing these shows a couple times a month where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to people backing into parking spaces, incorrect (maybe) pronunciations, spoon theory, the movie Civil War, Gov. Kristi Noem’s puppy … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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Fallout is a post-apocalyptic TV series developed for Amazon MGM Studios by Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, who co-created Westworld for HBO. It is the first screen adaptation of the game franchise, which comprises four main series video games, seven spinoff video games, and six tabletop games. It stars Ella Purnell (from Yellowjackets), Aaron Morten, Kyle MacLachlan, and Walton Goggins.

And: Conan O’Brien Must Go is a Max Original travel series. It is a spinoff from the podcast Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend and a successor to the Conan Without Borders travel specials that aired as part of the TBS late night show Conan. Four episodes are out so far, in which O’Brien travels to Norway, Argentina, Thailand, and Ireland.

GUESTS:

Rich Hollant: Principal at CO:LAB, founder of Free Center, and commissioner on cultural affairs for the city of Hartford
Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Nobody Asked Shawn podcast
Carolyn Paine: An actress, comedian, and dancer; she is founder, director, and choreographer of CONNetic Dance

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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The Supreme Court recently started hearing oral arguments about whether the Jan. 6 attacks constitute obstruction of an official proceeding. Thursday, they’ll hear arguments on Trump’s claim of presidential immunity.

This hour, a status update on the confusing, monumental, and democracy-defining goings-on in the Supreme Court.

GUESTS:

Melissa Murray: Professor of law at New York University, a host of the podcast Strict Scrutiny, and co-author of The Trump Indictments: The Historic Charging Documents with Commentary
Holly Brewer: Burke Chair of American Cultural and Intellectual History and associate professor of history at the University of Maryland

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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Daniel Dennett was one of the most famous philosophers in the world, one of the so-called “Four Horsemen of the New Atheism.”

Dennett died April 19 at age 82.

This hour, our 2015 conversation with Daniel Dennett, as recorded onstage at the Mark Twain House and Museum in Hartford.

GUEST:

Daniel Dennett: Was a philosopher, writer and and the co-director of the Center for Cognitive Studies at Tufts University

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Betsy Kaplan, Dylan Reyes, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired January 21, 2016, in a different form.

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It took almost a week to select the jurors and alternates for the Manhattan trial of former President Donald Trump. This hour is all about juries. We'll talk about jury selection, how to root out potential bias, and the process of choosing an impartial jury in this day and age. Plus, we'll look at depictions of juries in popular culture. And, some of the jury selection questions have to do with what media a person consumes, so we'll look at what the media we consume can say about us, and discuss media bias.

GUESTS:

Renato Mariotti: Trial attorney and partner at the law firm Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP. He is a former federal prosecutor, and host of the “It’s Complicated” podcast
Nancy Marder: Professor of Law, Director of the Justice John Paul Stevens Jury Center and Co-Director of the Institute for Law and the Humanities at the Chicago-Kent College of Law at Illinois Tech. She is author of The Power of the Jury: Transforming Citizens Into Jurors
Vanessa Otero: Creator of the Media Bias Chart and the Founder and CEO of Ad Fontes Media

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Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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This hour: Rupert Holmes.

GUEST:

Rupert Holmes: Playwright, composer, singer-songwriter, and author

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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In January, we did a show that wondered both how much the American Civil War speaks to the present American moment and how likely a new American Civil War might be. Well, movies and television have now, finally caught up with us.

Civil War is the fourth film written and directed by Alex Garland. It tells the story of the end of a future second American Civil War as four journalists — played by Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, Cailee Spaeny, and Stephen McKinley Henderson — move through it. Civil War is currently the No. 1 movie in the country.

And: Manhunt is a seven-episode limited series on Apple TV+. It is based on the book Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer by James L. Swanson. It’s a conspiracy thriller that focuses on War Secretary Edwin Stanton (as played by Tobias Menzies) leading the chase and on John Wilkes Booth (Anthony Boyle) as he’s being chased.

GUESTS:

Taneisha Duggan: Associate producer at Octopus Theatricals
Xandra Ellin: A producer at Pineapple Street Studios
Frankie Graziano: Host of The Wheelhouse on Connecticut Public
Matthew Warshauer: Professor of history at Central Connecticut State University, and he’s the author of the forthcoming book Creating and Failing the 9/11 Generation: The Real Story of September 11

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today.

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This hour, we've got one show with three topics. First, the Trump 'hush money' trial; next, the history of slouch-shaming; and finally, the Golden Bachelor's divorce news.

GUESTS:

Mark Joseph Stern: Senior writer at Slate covering courts and the law
Beth Linker: Professor and Chair of History and Sociology of Science at the University of Pennsylvania. Her recently-released book is called “Slouch: Posture Panic in Modern America.”
Kay Brown: Host of the Bachelor recap podcast, “The Betchelor”

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The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Taylor Swift’s newest album, The Tortured Poets Department, comes out Friday. So this hour, we are taking a look at the idea of the actual tortured poet. We talk about where the idea of tortured poets came from, learn about the nature of creativity, and hear from a poet about where their inspiration comes from.

GUESTS:

Roland Greene: Professor of English and Comparative Literature and Director of the Humanities Center at Stanford University. He is editor in chief of the Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics. His newest book is Five Words: Critical Semantics in the Age of Shakespeare and Cervantes
James C. Kaufman: Professor of Educational Psychology at the Neag School of Education at the University of Connecticut. He is the author or editor of more than 50 books, includingThe Creativity Advantage and The Cambridge Handbook of Creativity
Sandra Simonds: Writer, professor, and author of eight collections of poetry, the most recent of which is Triptychs. She is also the author of the novel Assia

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Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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We imagine pirates to be the quintessential rule-breakers — but really, they had their own strictly-followed codes.

How did 18th-century pirates dictate their own community standards? How did they create social mobility in an age when changing one's social status was nearly impossible?

This hour, we join pirate historian Rebecca Simon to find out!

GUEST:

Rebecca Simon: Pirate historian with a doctorate in history from King’s College London; she’s the author of several books about piracy, including The Pirates’ Code: Laws and Life Aboard Ship

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on October 11, 2023.

Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today.

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We’ve been doing these shows a couple times a month where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to an essay about NPR in The Free Press, NPR’s response to the essay, (our friend) David Folkenflik’s reporting on the essay and NPR’s response and such … Oh, and Scrabble … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Ripley is an eight-episode limited series adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s Ripley novels. It is the first serialized screen version of those stories following five feature film adaptations, including the 1999 film The Talented Mr. Ripley, starring Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Jude Law. The Netflix series stars Adam Scott, Dakota Fanning, and Johnny Flynn. It is created, written, and directed by Oscar-winning screenwriter Steven Zaillian (who also created The Night Of) and shot — in black and white — by Oscar-winning cinematographer Robert Elswit.

And: Scrabble Together is a new, forthcoming version of the classic board game that’s coming to Europe from Mattel. It’s a faster-paced, collaborative version of Scrabble that’s being billed as less “intimidating.” It will not be available in the U.S.

GUESTS:

Irene Papoulis: Teaches writing at Trinity College, and she’s the author of The Essays Only You Can Write
Lindsay Lee Wallace: Writes about culture, health care and health equity, and other stuff, too

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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But where’s the limit here, if there is one? Is Blade Runner a cult movie? Or Pulp Fiction? Monty Python and the Holy Grail? Office Space? Slap Shot? (I mean: Slap Shot?!?)

GUESTS:

Millie De Chirico: Co-author of TCM Underground: 50 Must-See Films from the World of Classic Cult and Late-Night Cinema and co-host of the I Saw What You Did podcast
David Edelstein: America’s Greatest Living Film Critic
Sam Hatch: Co-hosts The Culture Dogs on WWUH
Kevin O’Toole: Co-hosts The Culture Dogs on WWUH

This show was produced with Sajina Shrestha.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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This hour, Yale Dean Tamar Gendler joins us to discuss her course “Public Plato: Ancient Wisdom in the Digital Age.” We'll talk about how to make ancient philosophy relevant for a modern audience, questions of framing and form, and what we can all learn from concepts like alief, phronesis, and eudaimonia.

GUEST:

Tamar Gendler: Professor of Philosophy, Psychology and Cognitive Science, and the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, at Yale University

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired on October 5, 2023.

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This hour, we’re talking about lotteries. How did this massive money redistribution game come to be? And we know that lotteries can randomly allocate cash prizes to ticket buyers – but could they also pick our political officials? Or the victims of our human sacrifice rituals to ensure that “corn be heavy soon”?

GUESTS:

Jonathan D. Cohen: Historian and author of For a Dollar and a Dream: State Lotteries in Modern America
Alex Guerrero: Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers University and author of the forthcoming book, “Lottocracy: The Case for Democracy without Elections”
Ruth Franklin: Book critic and author of the award-winning biography Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life

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Colin McEnroe, Stacey Addo, Lily Tyson, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired on August 23, 2023.

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This legislative session, local students lobbied Connecticut lawmakers to change our state insect, which is currently the praying mantis. This hour we are focused on the praying mantis. We'll learn about the insect, why students think it should not represent the state, and what praying mantises of the future could look like.

GUESTS:

Katherine Dugas: Entomologist and research technician at The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station
Liz Alter: Professor of Evolutionary Biology at California State University Monterey Bay

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Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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Larry David’s Curb Your Enthusiasm has been on HBO for going on 24 years. As the show comes to a close, we take a Nose-ish look at it and its impact on cringe comedy and the role of cringiness and awkwardness in our lives.

GUESTS:

Katie Baker: Senior Staff Writer at The Ringer
Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Nobody Asked Shawn podcast
Carolyn Paine: Actress, comedian, and dancer. She is founder, director, and choreographer of Connetic Dance
Ty Tashiro: Psychologist by training and author of the book Awkward: The Science of Why We’re Socially Awkward and Why That’s Awesome

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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On Monday, the contiguous U.S. will see a total solar eclipse for the last time until 2044. Online, the excitement is also giving way to fears — will communities in the eclipse’s path have enough food and gas to support all the travelers? Will it interrupt our power grid? This hour, we’re talking about the dark side of the eclipse — from doomsday predictions to ancient omens.

GUESTS:

Vahé Peroomian: Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Southern California’s Dornsife College of Arts, Letters, and Sciences
Rebecca Boyle : Science journalist and author of the book, “Our Moon: How Earth's Celestial Companion Transformed the Planet, Guided Evolution, and Made Us Who We Are”
Leah Hudson Leva: Writer who researched conspiracy theories about this year's total eclipse

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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Bestselling author Don Winslow joins us to discuss his new novel, City in Ruins, which he says is the last of his career.

GUEST:

Don Winslow: Bestselling author, whose new book, City in Ruins, is out this week

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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Today “Luddite” is used as a derogatory term for someone who doesn’t understand technology. But the original Luddites weren’t behind. They were technical workers who were concerned about the impact that technology would have on people.

This hour, we look at the history of Luddites, how their philosophy applies today, and ask what our present would look like if they had won. Could we all gain something from thinking more like a Luddite?

GUESTS:

Miriam A. Cherry: Professor of law at St. John’s University and the author of Work in the Digital Age: A Coursebook on Labor, Technology, and Regulation
Brian Merchant: Technology columnist at the Los Angeles Times and the author of Blood in the Machine: the Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech
Gavin Mueller: Assistant professor of new media and digital culture at the University of Amsterdam and the author of Breaking Things at Work: The Luddites Are Right About Why You Hate Your Job

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, and Jonathan McNicol contributed to this show, which originally aired August 21, 2023.

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We’ve been doing these shows a couple times a month where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing — calls about grammar, gardening, long-distance dialing, autotune. Anything. Everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we’re doing another one.

In other words: Give us a call during the 1 p.m. EDT hour about whatever you want to talk about. 888-720-9677.‌ Or join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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This week’s Nose has crazy substitute teacher energy.

3 Body Problem is a Netflix series created by David Benioff, D. B. Weiss, and Alexander Woo and loosely based on the 2008 novel The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin, the first novel in the Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy. 3 Body Problem is the first television series created by Benioff and Weiss since Game of Thrones.

And: More Feelings is the second HBO comedy special from Ramy Youssef.

GUESTS:

Rebecca Castellani: Co-founder of Quiet Corner Communications and a freelance writer
Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Nobody Asked Shawn podcast
Bill Yousman: Professor of media studies at Sacred Heart University

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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It's tax season. How did this quintessentially frustrating thing come to be so frustrating? And must it be so?

GUESTS:

Monica Prasad: Professor of Economic and Political Sociology at Johns Hopkins University
Paul Kiel: Reporter for ProPublica who covers taxes
Lawrence Rosenwald: Professor of English Emeritus at Wellesley College and a longtime war tax resister

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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Constructed languages have existed in popular culture for a long time, but they've reached a new level of ubiquity today. This hour, we talk with professional conlangers who have created languages for Game of Thrones, Dune, and many other worlds. We'll learn about the art of constructing languages, and the appeal of learning one of them.

GUESTS:

David and Jessie Peterson: Professional conlangers whose work appears in Dune: Part Two, Elemental, Shadow and Bone, and more. They co-host the weekly livestream “LangTime Studio” on YouTube. David also created languages for Game of Thrones
Gregory Danielson III: Experienced Toki Pona speaker and teacher

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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This hour, we grapple with the impact our ancestors have on our lives and what our responsibility is if they did something we disagree with.

GUESTS:

Maud Newton: Author of Ancestor Trouble: A Reckoning and a Reconciliation
Jenny Strauss: Great-granddaughter of Lewis Strauss

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired August 17, 2023.

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Plastic is everywhere in our world, and scientists are increasingly discovering the negative health and environmental impacts of the material.

GUESTS:

Susan Freinkel: Author of Plastic: A Toxic Love Story; her Substack is 1,017 Acres: Life in the Park
Erica Cirino: Communications manager of the Plastic Pollution Coalition and the author of Thicker Than Water: The Quest for Solutions to the Plastic Crisis
Dana Weinstein: Project specialist for the Media Impact Project at the University of Southern California Annenberg Norman Lear Center

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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The Nose is off. In its place this hour, a look at the current controversies swirling around certain celebrities:

Catherine, Princess of Wales hasn’t made a scheduled public appearance since last year. Kensington Palace announced in January that she was having “planned abdominal surgery.” The internet was dissatisfied with that explanation. And then some photos this month, including one that the Princess admitted to doctoring, have left the internet, let’s say, even less satisfied.

And: Dan Schneider has been described as “the Norman Lear of children’s television.” His Nickelodeon shows launched the careers of people like Amanda Bynes, Ariana Grande, Keenan Thompson, and others. But a new docuseries, Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, brings together a number of previously known stories and allegations with some new information that, altogether, paints an ugly picture of what was going on behind the scenes — and often even on the screen — on Dan Schneider’s sets.

And finally: Director Jonathan Glazer’s acceptance speech at this year’s Academy Awards included this passage: “Right now we stand here as men who refute their Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation which has led to conflict for so many innocent people. Whether the victims of October the 7th in Israel or the ongoing attack on Gaza, all the victims of this dehumanization, how do we resist?” At the ceremony, people applauded. Since the ceremony, (some) people have responded, uh, less kindly. In any case, the Oscars have a long history of political controversy.

GUESTS:

Alison Foreman: A features writer at IndieWire covering and critiquing TV, film, and trends in Hollywood
Tiffany Hsu: A technology reporter for The New York Times covering misinformation and disinformation and its origins, movement, and consequences
Pete Hammond: Awards columnist and chief film critic at Deadline

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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March Madness is here!

And so the only logical thing to do is to get improv comedian Julia Pistell and the actual Bill Curry together to talk basketball for an hour on the radio.

That may not be the only logical thing to do. It may be that that’s not actually a logical thing to do at all.

But we’re doing it anyway.

It’s our 14th one of these unless it isn’t. We’re pretty sure we’ve done this show every year from 2010 on, but for 2020. There’s circumstantial evidence, at least, that we did this show that first March that our show was on the air, in 2010. But no proof that that’s a thing we did survives. But we’re still fairly confident we did it.*

GUESTS:

Eugene J. Cornacchia: President of Saint Peter’s University
Bill Curry: Playing the part of Bill Curry
Frankie Graziano: Host of The Wheelhouse on Connecticut Public
Julia Pistell: A founding member of Sea Tea Improv, among a number of other things

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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This hour, lessons on changing your mind and admitting mistakes, from newspaper corrections to public intellectual pivots.

GUESTS:

Eranda Jayawickreme: Professor of psychology at Wake Forest University
Ty Seidule: Visiting professor of history at Hamilton College and the author of Robert E. Lee and Me; he’s a retired brigadier general in the U.S. Army and the former vice chair of the Department of Defense’s Naming Commission
Isaac Saul: Founder of the newsletter Tangle

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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This hour, we talk to some professional “lookers” to find out: Is there joy, or hidden value, to be found in the search process? Can we learn to be better lookers?

GUESTS:

Chris Turner: CEO of The Ring Finders, a global directory of metal detecting specialists
James Renner: Journalist and author
Walter Wick: Photo-illustrator and picture puzzle designer known for the I Spy and Can You See What I See? series

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Cat Pastor, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show, which originally aired August 16, 2023.

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This hour we take your calls about anything you want to talk about.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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Irving Berlin, Dorothy Fields, George and Ira Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Johnny Mercer, Cole Porter, Rodgers and Hammerstein. These, along with many others, are the sorts of songwriters we associate with the Great American Songbook, the amorphous canon of important 20th-century pop songs, jazz standards, and show tunes from Broadway, Tin Pan Alley, and movie musicals.

But there’s another important detail here. The songs we think of as the Songbook are from, more specifically, the 1920s through the 1950s. With some simple arithmetic, you can see that they’re, uh, getting on in years — which might (must?) mean that their devotees are, too.

The Nose is off this week. In its place this hour, a look at and a listen to — and some concern for the future of — the Great American Songbook.

GUESTS:

Joelle Lurie: Vocalist, songwriter, voiceover artist, and bandleader
Steve Metcalf: Founder and director of the Garmany concert series at the University of Hartford’s Hartt School

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Eugene Amatruda contributed to this show, which originally aired September 1, 2023.

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Today, the sea chantey is something people listen to while having a good time in bars or at festivals, but its roots are more complex, stretching into the hard labor performed by sailors on 19th century merchant vessels and having ties to Black work songs. During the first year of the pandemic, there was a sea chantey craze on TikTok as people found joy and connection in the songs.

This hour, we treat you to the joy of the chantey form and some of the history that lies behind it.

GUESTS:

The Jovial Crew: A group of musicians and historians that’s been performing chanteys, forebitters, and other traditional old songs in Essex, Connecticut, since its founding in 1986; on the show today are Joseph Morneault, Rick Spencer, Michael Hotkowski, and the group’s founder, Cliff Haslam
Maya Angela Smith: Associate professor of French at University of Washington who wrote the essay “A People’s Song Upon the Waters”

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired August 2, 2023.

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Christopher Nolan’s movies have grossed more than $6 billion, earned 49 Academy Award nominations, and won 18 Oscars — including seven wins this year for Oppenheimer.

His Dark Knight films helped spark the comic book movie renaissance we’re still experiencing, and his seventh feature, Inception, is the highest-grossing totally original, totally standalone movie ever made.

This hour — and in the wake of Oppenheimer’s Best Picture-winning Oscar weekend — a look at the filmmaker behind Batman Begins, Dunkirk, Interstellar, Memento, and more: Christopher Nolan.

GUESTS:

Kayleigh Donaldson: A pop culture writer and critic
James Hanley: Co-founder of Cinestudio at Trinity College
Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Nobody Asked Shawn podcast
Carolyn Paine: An actress, comedian, and dancer; she is founder, director, and choreographer of CONNetic Dance
Tom Shone: The author of The Nolan Variations: The Movies, Mysteries, and Marvels of Christopher Nolan

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Rebecca Castellani, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, parts of which originally aired September 2, 2021, and July 28, 2023, in a different form.

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Our lives are entrenched in secrets — the average person, apparently, keeps as many as 13 of them at any given time. They’re largely regarded as bad for us.

But maybe secrets, like us, are more complex? Is there a time when a secret can be harmless, or even good? Can a secret save lives? And how many people can be involved in one before it all topples down?

GUESTS:

David Robert Grimes: Scientist and science writer
Raneta Lawson Mack: Professor of law emerita at Creighton University School of Law
Michael Slepian: Researcher who studies the psychology of secrecy, as well as an associate professor at Columbia Business School; he’s the author of The Secret Life of Secrets

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired August 9, 2023.

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Dune: Part Two is the third film adaptation of Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel. It is the second part of Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation and the first of his Dune films released exclusively in theaters. It has grossed $204 million in its first week at the worldwide box office, making it the highest grossing American movie of 2024 so far. Dune: Part Two stars an ensemble cast that includes Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Austin Butler, Florence Pugh, Stellan Skarsgård, Charlotte Rampling, Javier Bardem, and … Christopher Walken?

And: The Greatest Night in Pop is a Netflix documentary about the recording of “We Are the World.” It features new interviews with Sheila E., Cyndi Lauper, Huey Lewis, Kenny Loggins, Lionel Richie, Smokey Robinson, Bruce Springsteen, and Dionne Warwick.

GUESTS:

Jim Chapdelaine: An Emmy-winning musician and a patient advocate for people with rare cancers
John Dankosky: Director of news and audio for Science Friday, event and podcast host for The Connecticut Mirror, and co-owner of Lam Yoga in New Hartford, Connecticut
Irene Papoulis: Teaches writing at Trinity College and she’s the author of The Essays Only You Can Write
Pedro Soto: President and CEO of Hygrade Precision Technologies

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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The Doobie Brothers. Christopher Cross. Steely Dan. Kenny Loggins. Toto. Michael McDonald. Ambrosia. Supertramp. (The Eagles? Uh, Michael Jackson?)

This hour, we take a deep dive into the smooth, soft sounds of … yacht rock.

GUESTS:

Hollywood Steve Huey: A music critic and a cohost of the Beyond Yacht Rock and Yacht or Nyacht? podcasts
Charly Kay: Lead and backing vocalist in the Yacht Lobsters
David Mendelsohn: Vocalist and guitarist in the Yacht Lobsters
Scout Raimondo: Production intern at Connecticut Public
Gaston Raimondo: Scout’s dad
Brian Slattery: Arts editor for the New Haven Independent and a producer at WNHH radio

This show was produced with Scout Raimondo.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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This hour is all about America’s 21st president, Chester A. Arthur, who took office after President James Garfield was assassinated. We look at Arthur’s life and legacy and at what happens when someone unexpectedly takes over the highest office in the land.

GUESTS:

David Edelstein: America’s Greatest Living Film Critic.
Scott S. Greenberger: Executive editor of Stateline, and author of The Unexpected President: The Life and Times of Chester A. Arthur
Victoria Sample: Historic Sites Section Chief for the State of Vermont

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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When was the last time you read a short story? This hour, we talk about why short stories are so popular in the classroom, but why adults don’t seem to read them much once they’re done with school. And we make the case for why you should. Plus, a look at the art of the short story with some masters of the craft.

You can read Rebecca Makkai’s Substack post that inspired this show here.

Here is the story that is discussed in the final segment, “How I Became a Vet” by Rivka Galchen.

As part of this show we asked each of our guests to recommend a short story, a collection, or an author. Here are those recommendations:

Rebecca Makkai: “The Dinner Party” by Joshua Ferris
George Saunders: “The Stone Boy” by Gina Berriault, “The Conventional Wisdom” by Stanley Elkin
Deborah Treisman: Liberation Day by George Saunders, After the Funeral by Tessa Hadley, “The Haunting of Hajji Hotak” by Jamil Jan Kochai
Amy Bloom: “The Dead” by James Joyce, stories by Edward P. Jones, essays by Samantha Irby
Irene Papoulis: “Drinking Coffee Elsewhere” by ZZ Packer
Brian Slattery: “Hell is the Absence of God” by Ted Chiang
Colin McEnroe: “The Hole on the Corner” and “What’s the Name of That Town?” by R.A. Lafferty

GUESTS:

Rebecca Makkai: Author of the Pulitzer Prize- and National Book Award-finalist The Great Believers, among other books; her newest book is I Have Some Questions For You, and she is artistic director of StoryStudio Chicago
George Saunders: Author of twelve books; his most recent is Liberation Day, a collection of short stories
Deborah Triesman: Fiction editor for The New Yorker and the host of their Fiction Podcast
Amy Bloom: Author of four novels and three collections of short stories; her most recent book is the memoir In Love
Irene Papouli: Teaches writing at Trinity College
Brian Slattery: Arts editor for the New Haven Independent

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired on August 7, 2023.

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This hour: lunch — from the hungry judge effect to the sad desk lunch. We’ll look at the history of our mid-day meal, talk about school lunches, and get tips for packing lunch.

And we want to hear from you. Do you love lunch? Hate it? Eat the same lunch every day? Never eat lunch? Call us: 888-720-9677.

GUESTS:

Megan Elias: Historian, Director of the Food Studies Program, Associate Professor at Boston University, and author of Lunch: A History
Aviva Wittenberg: Author of Lunchbox: 75+ Easy and Delicious Recipes for Lunches on the Go
Erin Feinauer Whiting: Professor of Multicultural Education at Brigham Young University

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Poor Things is the eighth feature film directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. It is written by Tony McNamara and based on the 1992 novel Poor Things: Episodes from the Early Life of Archibald McCandless M.D., Scottish Public Health Officer by Alasdair Gray. Poor Things is a fantastical comedy that deals with some pretty dark ideas, and it’s nominated for 11 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director (Lanthimos), Best Actress (Emma Stone), Best Supporting Actor (Mark Ruffalo), and Best Adapted Screenplay.

And: After a year without a permanent host, The Daily Show has finally filled its vacancy! Or one-quarter of its vacancy, at least. But anyway: Jon Stewart is back! But just on Mondays. But Jon Stewart has returned! At least through the election. And then Tuesdays and Wednesdays and Thursdays are hosted by a rotating group of correspondents. For now, anyway, it sounds like.

GUESTS:

Raquel Benedict: The most dangerous woman in speculative fiction … and she’s the host of the Rite Gud podcast
Sam Hadelman: Works in music public relations and hosts The Sam Hadelman Show at Radio Free Brooklyn

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Everything's felt like, and been called, a "crisis" lately. This hour, we talk about the overuse of the term "crisis," and crisis fatigue. Plus, we'll talk with a crisis communicator about how to manage a crisis. And, finally, a look at the midlife crisis.

GUESTS:

Eliah Bures: Historian of modern Europe and a Senior Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley’s Center for Right-Wing Studies
Christian Paz: Senior Politics Reporter for Vox
Molly McPherson: An expert in crisis communications and emergency management. She is the author of the book Indestructible: Reclaim Control and Respond with Confidence in a Media Crisis
Barbara Bradley Hagerty: Contributing writer to The Atlantic, and author ofLife Reimagined: The Science, Art, and Opportunity of Midlife

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"The lesser of two evils" is a phrase we hear a lot during election cycles. Why is that? This hour, we look to philosophy, the polls, and forensic psychiatry to explore the meaning of this idiom.

GUESTS:

Lakshya Jain: Partner at the election analysis website splitticket.org
Julia Maskivker: Professor of Political Theory and Political Science at Rollins College in Florida. She wrote the book “The Duty to Vote.”
Dr. Michael Welner: Forensic psychiatrist and chairman of The Forensic Panel

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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Who am I? We’ve all wondered at some point. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, a personality test based on Carl Jung’s psychological types, has offered many an answer.

This hour, we delve into the history of the MBTI and contemporary applications of this test and explore its scientific validity.

Plus, a look at a dating app that uses the 16 personality types to help people find love.

GUESTS:

Jessica Alderson: Founder of So Syncd, a 16 personalities-based dating app
Alexander Swan: Associate professor of psychology at Eureka College and host of the CinemaPsych podcast
Paul Tieger: A prolific author on the MBTI; his books include Do What You Are and Just Your Type

This show was produced by Carol Chen.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Catie Talarski contributed to this show, which originally aired August 3, 2023.

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We’ve been doing these shows a couple times a month where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to the cold, Cheese & Stuff, fast crocodiles, how we choose music, when Colin eats lunch … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

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Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, Cat Pastor, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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With the Academy Awards just two weekends away, this year’s awards season is coming to a close.

With that in mind, this hour we take a Nose-ish look at awards shows — awards shows as live events, as television, and as the actual doling out of artistic accolades.

Plus: a brief history of the Academy Awards with Michael Schulman, the author of Oscar Wars: A History of Hollywood in Gold, Sweat, and Tears.

GUESTS:

David Edelstein: America’s Greatest Living Film Critic
Alison Herman: TV critic at Variety
Michael Schulman: A staff writer at The New Yorker and the author, most recently, of Oscar Wars

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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Barcodes are everywhere, and they helped to shape the world we live in. This hour, we'll look at the history and impact of barcodes. Plus, we'll look at the rise of QR code menus and tickets, and talk about what we might gain and lose as we move away from physical objects to digital ones.

GUESTS:

Jordan Frith: Pearce Professor of Professional Communications at Clemson University, and author of the book Barcode
Sean Willard: Menu Engineer with Menu Engineers
Bailey Sincox: Perkins-Cotsen Postdoctoral Fellow in the Princeton Society of Fellows, where she teaches and writes about early modern English literature

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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This hour, partly cloudy spies with a 50% chance of certain rain. Have you ever wondered if you really exist? Consider that you might not exist at all. In other news, get ready to gyre and gimble in the wabe — our show today is about incoherence.

GUESTS:

Alex Worsnip: Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He’s the author of “Fitting Things Together: Coherence and the Demands of Structural Rationality”
Tom Nichols: Staff writer at The Atlantic and an author of the Atlantic Daily newsletter.
Major Jackson: Professor of English at Vanderbilt University and host of the podcast the Slowdown from American Public Media. His most recent book is “Razzle Dazzle: New and Selected Poems”

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The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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J. Edgar Hoover served as the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation under eight presidents and made the FBI into the organization it is today.

This hour, Beverly Gage, Yale historian and author of a Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of Hoover, joins us to talk about his life and legacy.

Plus, a look at the status of the FBI today and the lessons we can learn from Hoover’s example.

GUESTS:

Beverly Gage: Professor of 20th-century U.S. history at Yale University; her newest book, G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century, received the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Biography

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired July 27, 2023.

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American Fiction, the feature film directorial debut of Cord Jefferson, is a comedy based on the 2001 novel Erasure by Percival Everett. It is nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay for Jefferson, Best Actor for Jeffrey Wright, and Best Supporting Actor for Sterling K. Brown.

And: Criminal Record is a British crime thriller series on Apple TV+. Here’s their synopsis: “In the heart of London, an anonymous phone call draws two brilliant detectives — a young woman in the early stages of her career and a well-connected man determined to protect his legacy — into a fight to correct an old miscarriage of justice.” Criminal Record stars Peter Capaldi and Cush Jumbo.

GUESTS:

Rich Hollant: Principal at CO:LAB, founder of Free Center, and commissioner on cultural affairs for the city of Hartford
Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Nobody Asked Shawn podcast
Irene Papoulis: Teaches writing at Trinity College, and she’s the author of The Essays Only You Can Write

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Colin McEnroe and Eugene Amatruda contributed to this show.

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This hour is all about printers. We’ll talk about printer problems and why, despite our struggles, we can’t seem to quit them. And, we’ll talk with a rage room owner about the appeal of smashing printers.

GUESTS:

Cory Doctorow: Science fiction author, activist with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and journalist. His new book, The Bezzle, is out next week
Allen St. John: Multimedia Content Producer for Consumer Reports
Cody Nicholas: Co-owner of the Lose It Rage Room in Woodbridge, VA

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Colin McEnroe, Katie Pellico, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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From pen names to online aliases, pseudonyms are all around us. This hour, we’re talking about what compels people to adopt an alternate identity when they write.

Do pseudonyms liberate us? Do they make us treat each other better? Or do they stop credit from going where it’s due?

GUESTS:

Carmela Ciuraru: Author of “Nom de Plume: A (Secret) History of Pseudonyms” and, most recently, “Lives of the Wives: Five Literary Marriages”
Daniel A. Gross: Editor at the New Yorker and author of the Atlantic article, “The Mystery of the Hardy Boys and the Invisible Authors”
Alfred Moore: Senior lecturer in Politics at the University of York

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The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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This hour, novelist Joyce Maynard joins us for a second time to talk about her latest novel, the blurring of life and fiction, and her new career running a hotel in Guatemala.

GUEST:

Joyce Maynard: Novelist; her latest is The Bird Hotel

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired July 25, 2023.

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This hour is all about commercials. We'll look at the Super Bowl ads, and how commercials have infiltrated streaming. Plus, a look at what’s going on with those "He Gets Us" ads for Jesus.

GUESTS:

Patrick Dugan: Executive creative director at Adams and Knight in Avon
Suzanne Vranica: Advertising Editor for The Wall Street Journal
Bob Smietana: National reporter for Religion News Service, and author of Reorganized Religion: The Reshaping of the American Church and Why it Matters

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Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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The Nose is off this week. In its place, and with the week coming to an end, it’s time for an hour on endings.

We look at the art of the ending, wonder what makes a satisfying ending in literature and TV and music, and ponder how we know it’s time to let a thing come to an end.

GUESTS:

Jen Chaney: TV critic at Vulture and New York magazine and the author of As If! The Oral History of Clueless
Geoff Dyer: Author of The Last Days of Roger Federer: And Other Endings, among other books
Rebecca Makkai: Artistic director of StoryStudio Chicago and the author, most recently, of I Have Some Questions for You
Susan Rogers: Multi-platinum record producer, cognitive neuroscientist, professor at Berklee College of Music and co-author of This Is What It Sounds Like: What the Music You Love Says About You

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, Cat Pastor, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, parts of which originally aired May 17, 2019, and May 17, 2023.

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This hour we look at the philosophy of humanism. We survey the history and evolution of the humanist tradition, and discuss what it means to practice humanism. Plus, how humanism can help us relate to technology.

GUESTS:

Sarah Bakewell:Author of Humanly Possible: Seven Hundred Years of Humanist Freethinking, Inquiry and Hope, among other books
Greg Epstein: Author and Humanist Chaplain at Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he is also Convener for Ethical Life at the MIT Office of Religious, Spiritual, and Ethical Life

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired on July 13, 2023.

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We’ve been doing these shows a couple times a month where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to coyote behavior, the asphalt on the highway, where bare feet are and are not acceptable (and, relatedly, “Barefootin’”), crosswalk signals … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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Terms that started out in the therapist’s office have moved into the public discourse. This hour we talk about therapy-speak, armchair psychology, and how greater awareness of mental health terminology and diagnoses impacts the broader conversation around mental health, for better and worse. Plus, a look at how therapists are depicted on TV and how that’s impacted their work outside the screen.

GUESTS:

Lucy Foulkes: An academic psychologist at the University of Oxford and author of the book Losing Our Minds: The Challenge of Defining Mental Illness
Jessica Gold: Assistant Professor and the Director of Wellness, Engagement, and Outreach in the Department of Psychiatry at Washington University in Saint Louis School of Medicine. She works clinically as an outpatient psychiatrist, and writes about mental health for a variety of general audience publications
Inkoo Kang: The television critic at The New Yorker

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired on July 24, 2023.

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This hour, we revisit the classic debate about whether or not we have free will.

Plus: Is there anything that makes you feel like you have free will more than a "Choose Your Own Adventure" book? We revisit the series … if you choose to listen, that is.

GUESTS:

Kevin J. Mitchell: Associate Professor of Genetics and Neuroscience at Trinity College Dublin. His new book is Free Agents: How Evolution Gave Us Free Will
Shannon Gilligan: CEO and Publisher of the “Choose Your Own Adventure” series, which has been in print for more than 40 years

SONGS:

“Can’t Help Myself” by Four Tops
“You’re Made That Way” by Mavis Staples
“Metacognition” by High School for the Recording Arts Los Angeles
“Make Your Own Kind of Music” by Cass Elliot
“Choose your own adventure (Kyle Watson Remix)” by GoldFish

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Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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In the Know is a stop-motion, claymation, half-hour comedy series created by Zach Woods, Brandon Gardner, and Mike Judge. It follows a third-rate NPR host, Lauren Caspian (voiced by Woods), a “well-meaning, hypocritical nimrod puppet” and his third-rate NPR interview show, In the Know.

And: Shocking, Heartbreaking, Transformative is a limited-series podcast from Radiotopia Presents. It is created and hosted by Jess Shane, and it attempts to expose and question “the nuts and bolts of documentary storytelling.”

GUESTS:

Theresa Cramer: A freelance writer and editor and the co-founder of Quiet Corner Communications
Tracy Wu Fastenberg: Development officer at Connecticut Children’s
Bill Yousman: Professor of media studies at Sacred Heart University

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today.

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This hour: popular songs are getting shorter, tropical sand is made of fish poop, and Scramble the weather-predicting duck puts Punxsutawney Phil to shame.

GUESTS:

Joe Bennett: Forensic musicologist and a professor at Berklee College of Music in Boston
Joe Roman: Conservation biologist at the University of Vermont and author of book, “Eat, Poop, Die: How Animals Make Our World”
Isaac Torcellini: One of Scramble the Duck’s handlers

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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What is yodeling, anyway? Some consider it singing, some say it’s an ululation, and still others consider it merely a means to herd animals. Whatever yodeling is, one thing’s clear: Yodeling has been around for thousands of years and shows no signs of disappearing.

This hour, we speak with a musicologist, a DJ, and a professional singer about this age-old vocal practice. We trace yodeling’s history from its humble, utilitarian roots to its place in modern day pop music and beyond.

GUESTS:

Bart Plantenga: The author of several books including Yodel in Hi-Fi: From Kitsch Folk to Contemporary Electronica
Roger Tincknell: A cowboy yodeler, musician, and traveling performer
Timothy Wise: Author of Yodeling and Meaning in American Music
Chion Wolf: Host of Audacious on Connecticut Public

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Jonathan McNicol contributed to this show, which originally aired October 10, 2017.

Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today.

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This hour, we take a look at the state of philanthropy with Amy Schiller, author of the new book, The Price of Humanity: How Philanthropy Went Wrong and How to Fix It. We’ll look at the evolution of philanthropy through history, and potential reforms for its future. Plus, we’ll discuss the rise of effective altruism, the philanthropic philosophy of LeBron James, and what we can learn from the example of Notre Dame.

GUEST:

Amy Schiller: Writer, political philosopher, and visiting scholar at Dartmouth College. She is author of The Price of Humanity: How Philanthropy Went Wrong and How to Fix it

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today.

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Samuel and Olivia Clemens and their children moved into the house they’d had built at Nook Farm in Hartford — the house that we now call the Mark Twain House — in 1874, 150 years ago this year.

Partly to celebrate that anniversary, we present this hour a new version of our 2015 interview with the late Hal Holbrook.

Holbrook was probably best known for his one-man show, Mark Twain Tonight!, which he performed for 63 years — longer than Samuel Clemens used the Mark Twain moniker.

Beyond Mark Twain Tonight!, you probably know Hal Holbrook as Deep Throat in All the President’s Men. He’s in a Dirty Harry movie. He’s in a Steven Spielberg movie. He’s in Wall Street and The Firm and John Carpenter’s The Fog. He appeared on Designing Women and The West Wing and The Sopranos and Sons of Anarchy and Grey’s Anatomy.

Hal Holbrook won a Tony Award. He was nominated for 12 Emmys, and he won five. And he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Into the Wild.

We talked to Holbrook on the evening of February 3, 2015. He was two weeks shy of his 90th birthday — which birthday he celebrated by performing Mark Twain Tonight! at The Bushnell in Hartford.

Hal Holbrook died in 2021. He was 95.

GUEST:

Hal Holbrook: Was a film, television, and stage actor

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This interview was originally produced by Betsy Kaplan.

Colin McEnroe, Cat Pastor, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, parts of which originally aired February 4, 2015, in a different form.

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Jodie Foster and Kali Reis in Alaska in True Detective: Night Country. Juno Temple, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Richa Moorjani in Minnesota in the recent fifth season of Fargo. Emma Corrin and Brit Marling in Iceland in A Murder at the End of the World.

There’s something going on with all these TV mysteries set in the frozen, frigid North with all these neo noiry North Country female leads.

This hour, a Nose-ish look at what Colin’s taken to calling the current "hard-boiled women in cold climates" phenomenon.

GUESTS:

Melanie McFarland: Senior culture critic at Salon
Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Nobody Asked Shawn podcast
Kat Rosenfield: A novelist, a columnist for UnHerd, and the co-host of the Feminine Chaos podcast; her most recent novel isYou Must Remember This

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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Have you ever heard someone say that East Coasters are kind but not nice, and West Coasters are nice but not kind? This hour, we’re figuring out what “niceness” is, why it's so important to us, and how can it sometimes mask not-so-nice things.

GUESTS:

Carrie Tirado Bramen: Professor at the University at Buffalo and author of the book “American Niceness: A Cultural History”
Amit Kumar: Assistant Professor of Marketing and Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin
Jordan Green: Self-proclaimed “kind West Coaster”
Mia Mercado: Humor writer and author from the Midwest who wrote “She's Nice Though: Essays on Being Bad at Being Good”

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Lily Tyson, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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This hour we take a look at the science fiction books and movies set in 2024 to see how close to reality they turned out to be. We'll discuss the 1960 film Beyond the Time Barrier, the 1975 film A Boy and His Dog, and Octavia E. Butler's 1993 novel Parable of the Sower. Plus, we'll hear from a speculative fiction writer about the challenge, and value, of imagining the future. And, we'll talk with someone behind The Washington Post's annual "List" about predicting trends for the next year.

GUESTS:

Charles Bramesco: Afilm and television critic, and author of the article “The beginning of the end? What we can learn from films set in 2024”
Annalee Newitz: A writer of science fiction and nonfiction whose books includeThe Terraformers and Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age. Their forthcoming book is Stories are Weapons: Psychological Warfare and the American Mind. They are also the co-host of the podcast Our Opinions Are Correct
Cassandra L. Jones: Assistant Professor of Africana Studies at the University of Cincinnati. Her forthcoming book is Black Speculative Feminisms: Memory and Liberated Futures in Black Women's Speculative Fiction
Maura Judkis: Features Reporter for The Washington Post who wrote “The List: What’s In and What’s Out for 2024”

SONGS:

“The Future” by Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats
“2024” by Tyson James
“Don’t Leave Me” by The Winans
“You Want it Darker” by Leonard Cohen
“Not My Fault” by Reneé Rapp and Megan Thee Stallion

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Loneliness: It’s often cited as an “epidemic” and can have a health impact comparable to smoking 15 cigarettes a day.

This hour, we talk about what loneliness looks like in the brain and how public policy could affect our loneliness epidemic.

Plus: a conversation with an expert on making friends as an adult!

GUESTS:

Elisa Baek: Assistant professor of psychology at USC Dornsife
Chris Murphy: U.S. Senator from Connecticut
Kat Vellos: A speaker, connection coach, and the author of We Should Get Together: The Secret to Cultivating Better Friendships

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired July 12, 2023.

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This hour we take your calls about anything you want to talk about.

SONGS:

“Now You Know” by the Original Cast of Merrily We Roll Along
“Winston Churchill’s Boy” by Benjamin Clementine
“Give Him a Great Big Kiss” by The Shangri-Las
"Bombay Bicycle Club" by Fantasneeze (feat. Matilda Mann)
"The Telephone Call" by Kraftwerk

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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Saltburn is the second movie written and directed by Emerald Fennell, following Promising Young Woman. It is a comedy-drama-thriller set mostly on the titular sprawling estate during summer break from Oxford University. Barry Keoghan and Rosamund Pike were both nominated for Golden Globes for their performances.

And: The Holdovers is the eighth feature film directed by Alexander Payne and the first feature written by David Hemingson. It is the second time Payne and Paul Giamatti have worked together, following Sideways. The Holdovers is a comedy-drama set mostly during Christmas break from a fictional New England boarding school. Giamatti and Da’Vine Joy Randolph both won Golden Globes for their performances.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take:

‘Honeymooners’ Star Joyce Randolph Dead at 99 Played Ed Norton’s Wife, Trixie
‘Rap Sh!t’ Canceled at Max The comedy from creator Issa Rae starring Aida Osman ran for two seasons on the streamer.
‘Schmigadoon’ Canceled After Two Seasons at Apple TV+
Elton John Just Got EGOT
The 150 Greatest Science Fiction Movies of All Time From space odysseys to star wars, alien invaders to guardians of the galaxy — the best sci-fi films from the beginning of the movies until now
Reboot Star Wars!
Toward a definition of “Egg Cinema” How movies made by seeming cis people sometimes end up super trans.
Lorne Michaels Says Tina Fey ‘Could Easily’ Take Over ‘Saturday Night Live’: She’s ‘Brilliant and Great at Everything’

GUESTS:

Xandra Ellin: A producer at Pineapple Street Studios
Sam Hadelman: Works in music public relations and hosts The Sam Hadelman Show at Radio Free Brooklyn
Irene Papoulis: Teaches writing at Trinity College, and she’s the author of The Essays Only You Can Write

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From abortion rights to partisan school board elections, ballot measures are a big deal in 2024. But what are they? A drop of direct democracy to defend against corrupt politicians? A pawning-off of governance to voters who don’t know what they’re voting on? This hour: the good, the bad, and the weird of ballot measures.

GUESTS:

Dane Waters: Founder of the Initiative and Referendum Institute at the University of Southern California
Desmond Meade: Executive Director of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition and author of "Let My People Vote: My Battle to Restore the Civil Rights of Returning Citizens"
Ryan Byrne: Managing Editor of the Ballot Measures Project at Ballotpedia

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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In Greek mythology, Prometheus stole fire from the gods to give it to humans, and suffered an eternity of punishment for doing so. This hour, we revisit that myth, and talk about why it resonates so much today. Plus, we’ll take a look at the 2012 film Prometheus.

GUESTS:

Adrienne Mayor: Research scholar in the Classics Department and the History of Science Program at Stanford University. She is the author of Gods and Robots: Myths, Machines and Ancient Dreams of Technology, among other books
Annie Dorsen: Theater director who works at the intersection of algorithmic art and live performance. Her most recent production was Prometheus Firebringer. She is the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship
A.O. Scott: Critic at large for The New York Times Book Review, where he was formerly film critic. He is the author of Better Living Through Criticism
Dom Nero: Writer, video editor, and co-host of “Eye of The Duck,” a podcast about movies and the scenes that make them special

SONGS:

“Road to Hell (Live)” by the Original Cast of Hadestown
“We Didn’t Start the Fire” by Billy Joel
“Oppenheimer” by Old 97s
“Prometheus” by SickTanicK
“A Planet” by Marc Streitenfeld

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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Why do humans cry? This hour, we look at the science of crying and discuss what it does for us, emotionally and culturally.

Plus: musician Dar Williams on why some songs make us cry. And: We investigate “crocodile tears” with a crocodile biologist.

GUESTS:

Benjamin Perry: Minister at Middle Church and the author of Cry, Baby: Why Our Tears Matter
Kent Vliet: An expert in crocodilian biology
Dar Williams: Singer-songwriter

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Colin McEnroe, Stacey Addo, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired July 6, 2023.

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In lieu of a standard Nose, we decided to take a show-length look at some of the best stand-up comedy from 2023 and some of the most-anticipated stand-up comedy of 2024.

There are the new controversial specials from Dave Chappelle and Ricky Gervais. But there are also good, recent specials from folks like Kenny DeForest, Gary Gulman, Dina Hashem, Pete Holmes, and Beth Stelling.

And there’s Taylor Tomlinson’s new late night gig starting January 16.

Plus: Pete Davidson has a brand-new special. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are on tour. John Mulaney and Rory Scovel have new specials coming. And more!

GUESTS:

Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Nobody Asked Shawn podcast
Jason Zinoman: Critic at large for The New York Times, where he writes the On Comedy column

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The cars have eyes: Data privacy (or lack thereof) and your vehicle

GUESTS:

Jen Caltrider: Program Director of Mozilla’s *Privacy Not Included project
Kashmir Hill: Technology reporter at the New York Times, specializing in privacy
Stefan Gössling: Professor at Linnaeus University
Ian Walker: Professor of Environmental Psychology at Swansea University

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The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Lily Tyson, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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It’s kind of Civil War days right now. Presidential candidate Nikki Haley choked on the cause. Former President Trump is being disqualified from state ballots based on an amendment intended to keep Confederate leaders from holding federal offices and charged with another offense derived from the Civil War.

This hour: Are we in the Civil War era? And what would it mean if we were? Plus, what another civil war could look like.

GUESTS:

Caroline Janney: Professor of history of American Civil War and the director of the NauCenter for Civil War History at the University of Virginia
Gerard Magliocca: Samuel R. Rosen Professor at the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law
Stephen Marche: Novelist and essayist; his most recent book is The Next Civil War: Dispatches from the American Future
Clint Smith: Staff writer at The Atlantic and author of How the Word is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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There’s an old Latin saying from the early Middle Ages: Verba volant, scripta manent — What is written remains, what is spoken flies away. Essentially, it means you should write down your contracts.

But according to Alberto Manguel, author of A History of Reading, the phrase can be interpreted in a different way: What is written is stuck to the page. It’s only when you give it a voice that it acquires wings and can fly.

This hour: reading out loud. We look at the history of the practice and talk to people who make reading expressive, communal, and loud.

GUESTS:

Taneisha Duggan: Director, producer, arts consultant, and an artist working at the crossroads of performance and creative leadership
Dennis Duncan: Lecturer in English at University College London
Drew John Ladd: Blogger, activist, and the author of Wolfsong Beloved
Alberto Manguel: Director of Lisbon’s Center for Research into the History of Reading
Robin Miles: An audiobook narrator and a producer, director, teacher, and actor for theater, television, films, and museums
Brooke Steinhauser: Programs director at the Emily Dickinson Museum
Chion Wolf: Host of Audacious on Connecticut Public

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired July 5, 2023.

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This hour we take your calls about anything you want to talk about.

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Anatomy of a Fall (Anatomie d’une chute) is a French courtroom drama thriller directed by Justine Triet and written by Triet and Arthur Harari. It won the Palme d’Or (and the Palm Dog Award — which is a real thing, it turns out) at Cannes last year. It is currently nominated for four awards at Sunday’s Golden Globes, including Best Motion Picture — Drama.

And: Provocative sex has returned to the movies, according to Alexandra Gleeman in The New York Times Magazine, citing things like May December and Saltburn and even Oppenheimer. The Nose wonders how we feel about that.

GUESTS:

Raquel Benedict: Claims to be the most dangerous woman in speculative fiction, and she’s the host of the Rite Gud podcast
Xandra Ellin: A producer at Pineapple Street Studios
Lindsay Lee Wallace: Writes about culture, health care and health equity, and other stuff, too

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In honor of Merriam-Webster’s 2023 Word of the Year, we're doing a show on authenticity! What is it? Why do we care about it? And whether we're talking about historical paintings or people — how do you figure out what's authentic?

GUESTS:

Peter Sokolowski: Editor-at-large at Merriam-Webster
George Newman: Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior at the University of Toronto
Ethan Bueno de Mesquita: Interim Dean and Sydney Stein Professor at the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago
Jeffrey Taylor: Partner at New York Art Forensics and a U.S. Fulbright Scholar to Lithuania. He wrote the book, “The Art Business: Art World, Art Market.”

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The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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This hour we look at the world of political merchandise. We explore the history of political merchandise, what it can tell us about an election, and the latest trends going into 2024. Plus, we’ll talk with a t-shirt maker to learn about the current landscape of political merchandise, and what sales can tell us about the priorities of voters.

GUESTS:

Claire Jerry: Curator of Political History for the Smithsonian National Museum of American History
Hunter Schwarz: Journalist and the founder and curator of the visual politics newsletter “Yello”
Mike Draper: Founder and owner of the t-shirt maker Raygun

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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Before Covid,Most Americans couldn’t imagine the staggering loss of life that earlier generations experienced during epidemics of smallpox, diphtheria, polio and other fatal infectious diseases. We’ve been living in a golden age since WWII, when widespread use of vaccines and antibiotics eradicated the biggest killers and doubled life expectancy. But the catch-22 of medical discovery is that over time, we collectively forget the horror of the diseases from which we were saved.

Today, a look at our never-ending quest to escape contagion. We also talk about the myth of ‘Patient Zero’ and a lunar pandemic that never happened.

GUESTS:

Richard Conniff: National Magazine Award-winning writer for Smithsonian magazine, National Geographic, and other publications. He’s also a former Guggenheim Fellow. His most recent book is Ending Epidemics: A History of Escape From Contagion.
Leyla Mei: New York City-based writer and medical historian. She has a PhD in American history and writes about disease, risk and race.
Dagomar DeGroot: Associate professor of environmental history at Georgetown University. His work has appeared in Aeon magazine, The Conversation, and The Washington Post, among other outlets. His most recent book, Ripples in the Cosmic Ocean: An Environmental History of Humanity's Place in the Solar System, will be published in 2024.

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, Cat Pastor, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show, which originally aired on June 22, 2023.

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Continuing a streak of long, strange years, it’s been a long, strange year. And so, The Nose wonders how our popular culture is dealing with it all.

We look back at a whole bunch of movies and TV shows: American Symphony, Barbie, Black Mirror, The Curse, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Headliners Only, Killers of the Flower Moon, Leave the World Behind, Maestro, Oppenheimer, Reservation Dogs, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, and more.

We wonder about the future of superhero movies. We look at the over- and under-appreciated figures in our pop culture.

And don’t worry: Taylor Swift gets discussed.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take:

Tom Smothers, Comic Half of the Smothers Brothers, Dies at 86 Though he played a naïve buffoon onstage, he was the driving force behind the folk-singing duo’s groundbreaking TV show.
Lee Sun-kyun, ‘Parasite’ Actor, Found Dead at 48 Mr. Lee, a familiar face on Korean television and movie screens, rose to international fame after starring in the Oscar-winning film.
Jo Koy to Host 2024 Golden Globes The comedian will make his awards show debut on the CBS broadcast.
‘Zone of Interest,’ ‘Perfect Days,’ & ‘Godland’ Make 2024 International Film Oscars Shortlist
The Year Millennials Aged Out of the Internet
The Internet Isn’t Dead. It’s Saturday Night Live In 2023, a new idea took hold: The internet isn’t fun anymore. Except it’s not a new idea.
We Aren’t Posting on Social Media as Much Anymore. Will We Ever? Excessive ads, bots and misinformation have sucked the fun out of sharing publicly, users say
The Triumph of Zelda In a year of huge games, Tears of the Kingdom still stands out

GUESTS:

Rebecca Castellani: Co-founder of Quiet Corner Communications and director of marketing at Washington Montessori
David Edelstein: America’s Greatest Living Film Critic
Rich Hollant: Principal at CO:LAB, founder of Free Center, and commissioner on cultural affairs for the city of Hartford
Bill Yousman: Professor of media studies at Sacred Heart University

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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As we have every year for at least the last 10 years, to round out the year, we round up the best jazz of the year.

GUESTS:

Jen Allen: A pianist, composer, arranger, and educator; her most recent album is Sifting Grace
Noah Baerman: A pianist, composer, and educator; his most recent album, with Henry Lugo, is Alter Ego
Gene Seymour: A film, television, and music critic

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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This hour: invisibility. We learn about the science of invisibility and whether we’re getting close to having the technology to turn invisible. We also talk about invisibility in pop culture and science fiction and debate questions we all have about what would happen if someone could turn invisible.

GUESTS:

Gregory Gbur: Author of Invisibility: The History and Science of How Not To Be Seen, and a Professor of Physics and Optical Science at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Lisa Yaszek: Regents Professor of Science Fiction Studies in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication at Georgia Tech
Sophia Brueckner: Futurist artist, designer and engineer, Associate Professor at the School of Art and Design, and Co-Director of the Center for Ethics, Society, and Computing at the University of Michigan

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The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired on May 31, 2023.

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Romance novels have long had a reputation for being flimsy, sexist, trashy bodice-rippers. But there’s lots more to the genre than meets the eye. This hour, we look at what makes romance novels work – and why so many of us are devouring them.

GUESTS:

Olivia Waite: The New York Times Book Review’s romance fiction columnist who writes queer and historical romance, fantasy, and critical essays on the genre’s history and future
Jason Rogers: Olympic medalist, journalist covering masculinity, and the founder of a now-defunct romance book club for men
Tony Horvath: Creative director for the long-time romance-novel publisher Harlequin, where he oversees production of about 80 book covers a month

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The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Lily Tyson, Jonathan McNicol, Carolyn McCusker, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired on June 1, 2023.

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Every year since 2014, we’ve done some version of this show. We get “Big Al” Anderson and Jim Chapdelaine and Colin together, we sing some songs, tell some stories, have some surprise guests … and somehow we wind up with a holiday special.

We couldn’t, strictly speaking, do the together part of that this year. But that’s no reason not to sing songs — eight of them, no less — and tell stories and have some surprise guests. And this year, we’ve included a brand-new version of an unheard, age-old Big Al song that Al and Jim sent along special.

It’s an hour of joyous nonsense for Christmas Eve Eve, an audio “Happy holidays” from us to you.

🎄

GUESTS:

“Big Al” Anderson: Vocals, guitar, songwriter
Jim Chapdelaine: Guitar, vocals, songwriter, mixer, engineer, producer, etc.
Lorne Entress: Drums and vocals
Paul Kochanski: Bass guitar and vocals
Nekita Waller: Connecticut’s 17th State Troubadour

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Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, Natalie Frascarelli, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, parts of which originally aired in a different form December 24, 2019, and December 22, 2021.

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Maestro is the second film produced, written, and directed by Bradley Cooper. Netflix calls it a “love story chronicling the lifelong relationship between Leonard Bernstein and Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein.” It stars Carey Mulligan as Felicia and Cooper as Leonard Bernstein. Maestro is nominated for four Golden Globes, including Best Picture, Drama and Best Director, Motion Picture.

Plus: A brief look at the year in classical music.

GUESTS:

Steve Metcalf: Founder and director of the Garmany concert series at the University of Hartford’s Hartt School
Irene Papoulis: Teaches writing at Trinity College

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At the beginning of the year, the company behind the public effort to de-extinct the wooly mammoth announced it will also be de-extincting the dodo. The announcement stirred up a lot of excitement and questions about whether we can – or should – bring back species once they’re gone.

So this hour we're talking about de-extinction! We’ll hear about what it takes to bring back extinct animals, efforts to build a safety net for plants that might go extinct in the future, and walk through some fun de-extinction thought experiments.

GUESTS:

Helen Pilcher: Science and comedy writer with a PhD in cell biology who wrote Bring Back the King: The New Science of De-extinction
Ben Lamm: CEO of the de-extinction company Colossal, which he co-founded with George Church.
Carlos de la Rosa: President and CEO of the Center for Plant Conservation

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The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired on May 18, 2023.

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As some stores announce they are getting rid of self-checkout machines, we take an hour to explore that technology and its impacts. We'll debate its pros and cons, look at the history of self-service at grocery stores, and talk about the future of technology in stores.

Plus, we'll learn about the psychology of "weak ties," and the value of talking to strangers in places like the checkout aisle.

GUESTS:

Christopher Andrews: Associate Professor and Chair of Sociology at Drew University, and author of The Overworked Consumer: Self-Checkouts, Supermarkets, and the Do-It-Yourself Economy
Stew Leonard Jr.: President and CEO of Stew Leonard’s, a regional supermarket chain headquartered in Connecticut
Gillian Sandstrom: Senior Lecturer in the Psychology of Kindness at the University of Sussex

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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This hour, we look at the idea of sacredness — in both religious and secular spaces — and ask how we can identify and make places for the sacred in our everyday lives, through reading, music, and even baseball.

GUESTS:

Mark Miller: Lecturer in sacred music at Yale’s Institute of Sacred Music and Divinity School, composer in residence at Drew University, and the minister of music of Christ Church
Mary-Jane Rubenstein: Professor of religion and science in society at Wesleyan University and the author of Astrotopia: The Dangerous Religion of the Corporate Space Race, among other books
Vanessa Zoltan: An atheist chaplain; co-host of the podcasts Harry Potter and the Sacred Text, Hot & Bothered, and Should I Quit; and the author of Praying with Jane Eyre: Reflections on Reading as a Sacred Practice

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired May 15, 2023.

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We’ve been doing these shows a couple times a month where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to YouTube’s algorithm, The Misfits song “Hybrid Moments,” Costco, John Lennon: Murder Without a Trial, the perpetual state of existential dread that millennials experience, birdwatching … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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Cult documentaries and docuseries sure seem to be having a moment right now. (On the other hand.) This isn’t the sort of material The Nose usually gets into. But, and partly inspired by Cat’s Corner in the current edition of The Noseletter, we decided to give three popular new shows a look:

Escaping Twin Flames is a three-part Netflix docuseries that looks at the controversial online community Twin Flames Universe.

The Garden: Commune or Cult is a six-part Discovery Channel docuseries about the off-the-grid community The Garden.

And Love Has Won: The Cult of Mother God is a three-part HBO docuseries that looks at the life and death of Amy Carlson, also known as Mother God.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take:

André Braugher Dies: Star Of ‘Homicide: Life On The Street’, ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’ & Other Series And Films Was 61
Golden Globe Nominations: ‘Barbie’, ‘Oppenheimer’ Top Movie List; ‘Succession’ Leads Way In TV
The Year Twitter Died
Nicolas Cage Says He’s Almost Finished: “Three or Four More Movies Left” The famously prolific 59-year-old actor says he’s eyeing a Hollywood endgame: “I’ve said what I’ve had to say with cinema.”
‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ Officially Ending With Season 12 at HBO “I will now have the opportunity to finally shed this ‘Larry David’ persona and become the person God intended me to be,” David says of ending his HBO comedy.
The New Yorker Drops Andy Borowitz’s Satire Column Amid Cutbacks
How ‘Mr. Brightside’ Became a Generation’s Anthem Overlooked at its release, the Killers’ signature hit has become one of the most inescapable rock songs of its time.
A 25-Year-Old X-Files Mystery Was Solved on Twitter in Less Than 24 Hours
24 Things That Stuck With Us in 2023 Films, TV shows, albums, books, art and A.I.-generated SpongeBob performances that reporters, editors and visual journalists in Culture couldn’t stop thinking about this year.
The Most Egregious Example of “We Didn’t Use CGI” Mythology (So Far)
Strapped, stressed, axed: is it curtains for theatre’s artistic directors? Indhu Rubasingham has been named as the National’s new head. But elsewhere, theatres are ditching this once coveted role altogether. Can a theatre really manage without one?

GUESTS:

Sam Hatch: Co-hosts The Culture Dogs on Sunday nights on WWUH
Jacques Lamarre: A playwright and chief communications officer at Buzz Engine
Carolyn Paine: An actress, comedian, and dancer; she is founder, director, and choreographer of CONNetic Dance
Cat Pastor: Assistant radio operations manager at Connecticut Public

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A listener told us we should do a call-in show dedicated to endorsements from listeners. What a great recommendation! So we’re doing just that.

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The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, Lily Tyson, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show. Thanks to Carmen Baskauf, David Borsvold, Mayor Luke Bronin, John Dankosky, Meg Fitzgerald, Francesca Fontánez, Sabrina Herrera, Iman James, Betsy Kaplan, Carlos Mejia, Jessica Severin de Martinez, Cat Shen, and Chion Wolf.

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Amanda Mull writes The Atlantic’s “Material World” column about American consumerism. This hour, we talk with Mull about the state of online shopping and returns, the changing quality of what we buy, and the experience of shopping in person.

GUEST:

Amanda Mull: Staff writer at The Atlantic who writes the column “Material World” about American consumerism

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Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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This hour, a look at the life, music, and legacy of Connie Converse and what her example teaches us about how we think about the role of art and artists in our society.

GUEST:

Howard Fishman: Musician, frequent contributor to The New Yorker, and author of To Anyone Who Ever Asks: The Life, Music, and Mystery of Connie Converse

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Colin McEnroe contributed to this show, which originally aired May 2, 2023.

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What’s in your kitchen? With a plethora of kitchen tools available to us today, the contents of our kitchen drawers varies. But a recent survey has shed light on some trends in kitchen tool ownership. This hour, we look at that data, and we talk about the history and evolution of kitchen tools and gadgets. Finally, we talk about examples of creative kitchen tools throughout history.

GUESTS:

Megan Elias: Historian, Director of the Food Studies Program, and Associate Professor at Boston University
David Montgomery: Senior Data Journalist at YouGov, and a history podcaster
Corinne Mynatt: Writer, editor, consultant, and producer. She is the author of Tools for Food: The Objects that Influence How and What We Eat

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today.

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May December is the 10th film directed by Todd Haynes and his fifth collaboration with Julianne Moore. It stars Natalie Portman, Moore, and Charles Melton, and it’s loosely based on Mary Kay Letourneau.

And: John Lennon: Murder Without a Trial is a three-part docuseries. It is directed by Rob Coldstream and Nick Holt and narrated by Kiefer Sutherland. John Lennon was murdered 43 years ago, on December 8, 1980.

GUESTS:

Taneisha Duggan: Associate producer at Octopus Theatricals
Lindsay Lee Wallace: Writes about culture, health care and health equity, and other stuff, too
Bill Yousman: Professor of media studies at Sacred Heart University

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GUESTS:

Diego Bohórquez: Gut-brain neuroscientist
Elsa Richardson: Historian of health and medicine and the author of the forthcoming book, “Rumbles: A Curious History of the Gut”
Julie Balsamo: Gut health dietician
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The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Lateshia Peters, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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What is a diva? And how has the term evolved? This hour is all about divas. We’ll talk about how the term emerged in the opera and moved into the popular music landscape. And we’ll take stock of the current moment for divas.

GUESTS:

Myrna Reynolds: Retired singer who sang at the New York City Opera among many other places
Zachary Woolfe:The New York Times’ Classical Music Critic
Spencer Kornhaber: Staff writer at The Atlantic, and author of the new book, On Divas: Persona, Pleasure, Power

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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Hotlines: whether you realize it or not, you’ve likely used one before. From emergency services to customer service and crisis lines, they often fly under the radar in our daily lives.

This hour, we’ll look at the history of hotlines and then meet some people who have created innovative ways to talk to strangers on the phone: from a hotline for advice from elementary schoolers to an app that calls you to talk.

GUESTS:

Dr. Lee Humphreys: Professor of Communication at Cornell University
Jessica Martin: An artist who leads an art program for West Side Elementary in Healdsburg, California. She’s also the co-creator of the kids-advice hotline, Peptoc
Danielle Baskin: An artist who co-created Dialup, a voice-chat app that connects you to strangers
Michelle Rorong: An architect in Indonesia who wrote about her experience using Dialup during a COVID-19 quarantine period

HOTLINES MENTIONED IN THE SHOW:

Peptoc — 707-8PEPTOC
Butterball Turkey Talk-Line — 1-800-BUTTERBALL
Callin' Oates — 719-26-OATES

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The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Frankie Graziano, Sabrina Herrera, Jonathan McNicol, Cat Pastor, Lily Tyson, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired on May 10, 2023.

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We’ve been doing these shows a couple times a month where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to The Hold Steady, Leonard Bernstein and Maestro, the (always) impending government shutdown, the late John Lennon’s voice, the late Shane MacGowan’s voice … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

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We come to the end of our week of special coverage with a show about how we imagine extraterrestrial life.

What do you picture when you picture extraterrestrial life? Is it like E.T.? Or little green men? Or an alien from Star Trek?

This hour is all about how we imagine extraterrestrial life and how those visions are shaped by pop culture.

GUESTS:

Jaime Green: Freelance writer, editor, writing teacher, and the author of The Possibility of Life: Science, Imagination, and Our Quest for Kinship in the Cosmos
Doug Jones: Actor known for his roles in Hellboy, The Shape of Water, Pan’s Labyrinth, and more; he plays Saru in Star Trek: Discovery

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

You can find all of our Astronaughty Week shows here.

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If you follow the show, then you probably know that we’ve had a bogus ban on astronauts for quite some time now. In case you don’t follow the show, let me just explain at the top here that it’s been 2,220 days — more than six years — since an astronaut last appeared on The Colin McEnroe Show.

But. The ban is over! We are astronautless no more!

And so, this hour — and to celebrate Astronaughty Week — we bring you no fewer than THREE astronauts.

We listen back to our (in)famous interviews with legends Buzz Aldrin and Scott Kelly. And then: a brand new interview with a real, live astronaut, former International Space Station Commander Chris Hadfield.

The bogus ban is over! Don’t let Colin tell you any different!

If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts, call or text the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or visit 988lifeline.org. It’s free, confidential, and always available — in English and Spanish.

GUESTS:

Buzz Aldrin: A retired astronaut, engineer, and fighter pilot in the United States Air Force; he was the Lunar Module Pilot on Apollo 11, and he was one of the first two humans to walk on the Moon; his 2016 book is No Dream Is Too High: Life Lessons from a Man Who Walked on the Moon
Chris Hadfield: An engineer, musician, and a retired astronaut and fighter pilot in the Canadian Air Command; his new book, The Defector, is his second novel
Scott Kelly: An engineer and a retired astronaut and aviator in the United States Navy; his 2017 book is Endurance: A Year in Space, a Lifetime of Discovery

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Colin McEnroe, Betsy Kaplan, Josh Nilaya, Cat Pastor, Esther Shittu, Audrianna Smith, Evan Sobel, Ashley Taylor, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, parts of which originally aired in a different form May 24, 2016, and November 1, 2017.

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Today, we continue our week of special coverage with a show focused on belief, and how we react when we experience things that we think should be impossible.

A few years ago, Diana Walsh Pasulka published American Cosmic: UFOs, Religion, Technology, which looked at the mechanism of belief in extraterrestrial life, finding that this is becoming a new American religion. Now, she has a new book out, Encounters: Experiences with Nonhuman Intelligences, which looks at our experiences with non-human life forms, including UFOs, dreams, angels, and AI, and how these encounters challenge our assumptions about life. This hour, we talk with Diana Walsh Pasulka about her work.

Plus, Yale Professor Carlos Eire joins us to talk about the history of the impossible, including discussions of levitation and bilocation, and how beliefs form.

GUESTS:

Diana Walsh Pasulka: Professor of Religion at University of North Carolina, Wilmington, and author of American Cosmic: UFOs, Religion, Technology. Her new book is Encounters: Experiences with Nonhuman Intelligences.
Carlos Eire: Professor of History and Religious Studies at Yale University. His new book is They Flew: A History of The Impossible.

You can find all of our Astronaughty Week shows here.

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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Today, our week of discussions about life in the universe continues as we talk with two prominent astrophysicists about the possibility of life outside of earth. Astrophysicist Adam Frank is part of the team of scientists that is currently using the most advanced technology to search for life on other planets. This hour, we talk with Frank about that work, and what would happen if they find something. Plus, we'll talk with Neil deGrasse Tyson about the likelihood of life on other planets, and the variety of life here on earth.

Neil deGrasse Tyson is presenting “Delusions of Space Enthusiasts” on December 1, 2023 at 8 p.m. at Foxwoods Resort and Casino.

GUESTS:

Adam Frank: Helen F. and Fred H. GowenProfessor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at The University of Rochester. He is the author of the new book The Little Book of Aliens
Neil deGrasse Tyson: Astrophysicist, author, and science communicator. His newest book is To Infinity and Beyond: A Journey of Cosmic Discovery

You can find all of our Astronaughty Week shows here.

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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The United States has a long history of UFO sightings and reports, dating all the way back to the 1940s. This hour we talk about that history, and, specifically, how the U.S. government has related to these objects over time with Garrett Graff, author of the new book UFO: The Inside Story of the US Government’s Search for Alien Life Here — and Out There.

GUEST:

Garrett Graff: Journalist and historian. His latest book is UFO: The Inside Story of the US Government’s Search for Alien Life Here — and Out There. His previous book, Watergate: A New History was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize.

You can find all of our Astronaughty Week shows here.

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President John F. Kennedy was shot and killed on November 22, 1963.

It would be hard to argue that the modern American era, the era that we’re still living in 60 years later, didn’t begin on that Friday afternoon in Dallas. It would be hard to overstate the effect and influence of that event, that act on the American psyche.

This hour, a look at the shadow that the JFK assassination still casts over our news and politics, our movies and music, our media and culture.

GUESTS:

Stephen Battaglio: Writes about television and the media business for the Los Angeles Times
Timothy Hampton: The author of several books, including Bob Dylan: How the Songs Work
Sean O’Neal: A writer, a contributor to Texas Monthly, and the former editor-in-chief of The A.V. Club
Steve Rose: Assistant features editor at The Guardian
Philip Shenon: The author of A Cruel and Shocking Act: The Secret History of the Kennedy Assassination

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Colin McEnroe, Joey Morgan, Cat Pastor, Lateshia Peters, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, part of which originally aired in a different form November 22, 2017.

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Yeah, yeah, yeah, we all recognize the big names or fall in love with a brand-new star — but what about that lady who killed it with her one line about the coffee? She's a professional actor, too! On this hour of The Colin McEnroe Show, we learn about the art of the smaller role: how they're cast, how to nail it, and what it's like to have a long resume of one-liners. And don't forget the extras and body-doubles, too! They'll be with us, for just a minute.

GUESTS:

Jenny Ravitz: Casting director based in New York. She has worked on over 500 episodes of television in addition to theater, film, and commercials
Ezra Buzzington: Actor whose over 70 film credits and dozens of TV appearances range from "Weird Al the Waiter" in Ghost World to a mutant in The Hills Have Eyes and, most recently, as one of the leads in the South By Southwest hit film Brooklyn 45. He has appeared in Academy Award-winning films alongside some of your favorite actors
Vlad Perez: LA-based actor who has co-starred in television shows including Brooklyn 99, Murderville, Friendsgiving, and many more. He’s also one of the founders of the Sea Tea Comedy Theater right here in Hartford
Harriet Dobin: Former Hartford media maven now actor in Philadelphia
Allie Rivera: Performer and teacher at the Sea Tea Comedy Theater in downtown Hartford, and is the creator and producer of the theater’s Improvised Hallmark & Lifetime show

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The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Lily Tyson, Jonathan McNicol, Carolyn McCusker, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired May 4, 2023.

Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today.

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This hour we take your calls about anything you want to talk about. You can reach us at 888-720-9677.

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This week’s Nose has had to work through the occasional civilian who’s stood between eyes and the prize.

The Killer is the 12th movie directed by David Fincher and his first credited feature film collaboration with screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker since 1995’s Se7en. It’s Fincher’s second movie for Netflix, who describe it this way: “After a fateful near-miss an assassin battles his employers, and himself, on an international manhunt he insists isn’t personal.” The Killer stars Michael Fassbender as the titular assassin.

And: Albert Brooks: Defending My Life is an HBO documentary directed by Rob Reiner. It chronicles Brooks’s career in comedy, and it’s the first documentary Reiner has ever made (other than This Is Spinal Tap, of course).

Some other stuff that happened this week give or take:

UCLA Study: Gen Z Wants Less Sex Onscreen, Prefers Platonic Relationships Depicted to Romantic Rollercoasters A 2023 study by UCLA’s Center for Scholars and Storytellers found that viewers ages 10 to 24 want content more relatable to them.
What Comes After Marvel? Better Hope It’s Not Something Worse With the MCU in its early endgame, many may think that movies can return to “normal.” Think again.
Why the Dying DVD Business Could Be Headed for a Resurrection Netflix and Best Buy said adieu to discs — but with streamers deleting titles to cut costs, could DVDs and Blu-rays mimic the revival of vinyl and CDs?
Hungry (but Not for Human Contact), Americans Head for the Drive-Through A national fixture is enjoying a fresh surge as post-pandemic customers crave speed and solitude. And restaurants are responding with a raft of innovations.
Jared Leto Climbed the Empire State Building to Promote a 30 Seconds to Mars Tour or SomethingActor-singer becomes first person to legally scale the Manhattan landmark in excessive promotional stunt
Warner Bros shelves completed $70m Coyote vs Acme movie Studio decides to take $30m tax write-down by not releasing live-action/animation comedy starring John Cena
Talking Heads Concert Film ‘Stop Making Sense’ Re-Release Surpasses Initial Box Office Run
The War on Charlie Chaplin He was one of the world’s most celebrated and beloved stars. Then his adopted country turned against him.

GUESTS:

Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian and writer and the host of the Nobody Asked Shawn podcast
Irene Papoulis: Teaches writing at Trinity College, and she’s the author of The Essays Only You Can Write
Gene Seymour: A “writer, professional spectator, pop-culture maven, and jazz geek”

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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COVID, by the way, is … still a thing.

The new vaccines are here, and people mostly aren’t getting them. The new variants are here, and the people who’re getting COVID are mostly getting them.

Just this week, some new data seems to show that getting your COVID and flu shots together isn’t just safe — it might actually be the better thing to do.

And it turns out that Paxlovid rebound probably is real and more prevalent than we knew.

Oh. And: Picking your nose maybe makes you more susceptible to a COVID infection. The more you know, and all that.

GUESTS:

Scott Roberts: Associate medical director for infection prevention at Yale Medicine and an assistant professor in infectious diseases at Yale School of Medicine
Mark Siedner: Associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and an infectious disease clinician and researcher in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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You likely know historian Heather Cox Richardson from her Substack, “Letters from an American,” where she puts the news of the day into historical context. Now Cox Richardson has a new book out, Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America, where she looks at the crossroads we’re at as a country, how we got here, and where we could go from here. Today we spend the hour with Heather Cox Richardson as she helps us make sense of the latest news and the state of our democracy.

GUESTS:

Heather Cox Richardson: Historian, Professor of History at Boston College, and author of the “Letters from an American” Substack. Her new book is "Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America"

Join the conversation onFacebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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This hour: bedtime stories. What can we learn from people who write and tell them? How can we all be more intentional and magical about the last things we think about before sleeping?

GUESTS:

Faith Adiele: Travel writer, speaker, teacher, and Thailand’s first Black Buddhist nun; she writes sleep stories for adults on the Calm app
Adam Mansbach: Author, screenwriter, and cultural critic who wrote the famous not-for-children children’s book, Go the Fk to Sleep

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, Dylan Reyes, Catie Talarski, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show, which originally aired May 3, 2023.

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GUESTS:

Justin McManus: Director of Athletic Bands at the University of Connecticut
Dylan Reyes: Student at the University of Hartford who marched competitively through high school. He is a former Colin McEnroe Show intern, and he occasionally fills in on the board
Mark Dyreson: Professor of Kinesiology and Affiliate Professor of History at Penn State, where he is also Co-Director of Research and Educational Programs for the Penn State Center for the Study of Sports in Society. He is the author of numerous books and articles about the history of sport

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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Don't turn your nose up at it! This hour, we'll hear a defense of reality TV from some of its most fiery fans. Plus: an exploration into the show taking TV screens by storm, The Golden Bachelor.

GUESTS:

Danielle Lindemann: Sociologist and author of the book "True Story: What Reality TV Says About Us"
Kay Brown is the host of The Betchelor podcast
Mireille Silcoff: Regular essayist with the New York Times Magazine
Andy Dehnart: Founder and editor of realityblurred.com
Cat Pastor: Assistant radio operations manager at Connecticut Public

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Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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Let’s be honest, sometimes we all just read the headline of a story, and nothing more. After all, who has time to read every article? Headlines help us decide what to click on, and give us a sense of what’s going on in the world. But often the headline tells only a very small part of the story, or even the wrong story. This hour we talk about the art of the headline. We'll look at why headlines matter, and celebrate some of the best examples.

GUESTS:

Tom Jones: Poynter’s senior media writer
Zizi Papacharissi: Professor and Head of the Communication Department and Professor of Political Science at the University of Illinois-Chicago. She is the editor of Trump and The Media, and her newest book is After Democracy: Imagining Our Political Future
Scott Dikkers: Founding Editor of The Onionand author of How to Write Funny, and other books about humor writing

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GUESTS:

Jay Zagorsky: Clinical Associate Professor of Markets, Public Policy, and Law at the Boston University Questrom School of Business
Ursula Dalinghaus: Cultural anthropologist who specializes in economic anthropology and the anthropology of money. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Anthropology in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Ripon College
Bernardo Batiz-Lazo: Professor in the Newcastle Business School at Northumbria University

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GUESTS:

Caetlin Benson-Allott: Professor of English, Director of Film and Media Studies at Georgetown University, and a member of the Program in American Studies. She is the author of Remote Control, among other books
Rachel Plotnick: Associate Professor of Cinema and Media Studies in The Media School at Indiana University Bloomington, and author of Power Button: A History of Pleasure, Panic and the Politics of Pushing

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Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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We’ve been doing these shows a couple times a month where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to Facebook scams, running, Multivac, local elections … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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“Now and Then” is the first Beatles single of any kind in more than 27 years, and it may well be their last. It was released Thursday. “Now and Then” was originally written and recorded by John Lennon circa 1977. Using machine learning technology developed for the Get Back documentary, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr were able to isolate Lennon’s vocals, record new instrumentation and vocals, and combine all of that with vocals and guitar parts recorded by George Harrison in 1995. “Now and Then” is the lead single off new editions of the so-called Red and Blue Albums, which come out November 10.

And: Killers of the Flower Moon is the 26th scripted feature film directed by Martin Scorsese. It is written by Eric Roth and Scorsese and based on the book by David Grann. It is Scorsese’s 10th feature film collaboration with Robert De Niro and his sixth with Leonardo DiCaprio. Killers of the Flower Moon is also the second-longest Scorsese movie at 206 minutes. He has now made two 200-minute pictures in a row.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take:

Hall of Fame basketball coach Bobby Knight has died at 83
‘Sarcasm’: The Sort of Wit That Defined Matthew Perry’s Career Has Ancient Roots The actor’s trademark form of humor takes its name from Latin words for cutting into flesh
Taylor Tomlinson Named Host of CBS’ ‘After Midnight,’ From Stephen Colbert
Disney Says It Will Take Full Control of Hulu The company will pay at least $8.61 billion to Comcast, which owned a 33 percent stake of the popular streaming service.
HBO Bosses Used ‘Secret’ Fake Accounts to Troll TV Critics Casey Bloys ordered staffers to create fake accounts to fire back at critics, according to text conversations reviewed by Rolling Stone as part of a new lawsuit
Get shorty! Why everyone needs to stop complaining about long films It’s become voguish to sing the praises of 90-minute movies and bite-sized books and plays, writes Louis Chilton. With a run-time of almost four hours, Martin Scorsese’s ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ isn’t ‘too long’ — it’s part of an art form, from George Eliot to Bruce Springsteen, that demands patience and persistence
It’s Time To Bring Back the Movie Intermission
Bros Are Coming for BookTok. These TikTokers Aren’t Having It “If you’ve ever had a pea coat-wearing liberal arts student talk at you about the genius that is David Foster Wallace then you’d call Infinite Jest bro-lit too”
Marvel Needs to Make ‘Less Films’ and Bad VFX Has ‘F—ed Up Everything,’ Says Matthew Vaughn: ‘Maybe We Need a Little Bit of Time Off’ From Superhero Films
‘The Right Stuff’ at 40: Director Philip Kaufman on chasing demons in the sky to make a true American classic The esteemed filmmaker recalls casting and shooting ‘The Right Stuff’ to celebrate its 40th anniversary.
The Many Lives of Tomato Pie It may look a little different across cities in the Northeast, but this Italian American staple is always an exercise in restraint.
Crisis at Marvel: Jonathan Majors Back-Up Plans, ‘The Marvels’ Reshoots, Reviving Original Avengers and More Issues Revealed

GUESTS:

Jim Chapdelaine: An Emmy-winning musician and a patient advocate for people with rare cancers
James Hanley: Co-founder of Cinestudio at Trinity College
Irene Papoulis: Teaches writing at Trinity College, and she’s the author of The Essays Only You Can Write

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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GUESTS:

Jeff Speck: City planner and author of the book “Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time”
Liam Satchell: Senior lecturer in Psychology at the University of Winchester
Dr. I-Min Lee: Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and an epidemiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital

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Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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This hour, we talk about the election of the new House Speaker: Representative Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana. We'll talk about Speaker Johnson, including the role of his faith in his politics, and what we can learn from how he dresses. Plus, we'll look at why we even have a House Speaker to begin with.

GUESTS:

Vanessa Friedman: Fashion Director and Chief Fashion Critic of The New York Times
Katherine Stewart: Investigative Reporter and author of The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism
Lee Drutman: Senior Fellow in the Political Reform program at New America, and the author of Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop: The Case for Multiparty Democracy in America. He is also co-host of the “Politics In Question” podcast, the co-founder of “Fix Our House,” a campaign for proportional representation, and author of the Substack “Undercurrent Events”

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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This hour, a hard-boiled look at the ubiquitous, yet overlooked egg.

GUESTS:

John Portmann: Taught moral philosophy and ethics at the University of Virginia for several decades; he’s the author ofWhen Bad Things Happen To Other People
Chris Prosperi: Chef and co-owner of Metro Bis in Simsbury, Connecticut, and a former recipe columnist for the Hartford Courant
Lizzie Stark: The author of Egg: A Dozen Ovatures

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, Cat Pastor, Dylan Reyes, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show, which originally aired April 27, 2023.

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We’ve done a Halloween special each year for the past five years. And each year, and for no particular reason, we’ve spent a chunk of the show covering a classic horror movie celebrating, specifically, its 40th anniversary.

I’m a little sad to say that this year we’re breaking the tradition, partly because 1983 was a strikingly barren year for horror movies (notwithstanding, uh, Cujo, I guess? Psycho II?). And partly because, well, one of the greatest horror movies ever made happens to be celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.

So. This hour, our take on William Friedkin’s 1973 masterpiece, The Exorcist. And a look at filmmaker David Gordon Green’s turn away from indie dramas and Hollywood comedies and toward horror legacy requels. His latest is The Exorcist: Believer.

Plus: There sure are a lot of those crazy 12-foot skeleton things showing up on people’s lawns, aren’t there? We investigate the Skelly sensation.

GUESTS:

Aislinn Clarke: A screenwriter and director and a lecturer in film studies at Queen’s University Belfast
Bill Curry: Playing the part of Bill Curry playing the part of Standing Concerned Man
Jesse Hassenger: Associate editor of Paste Movies and co-host of the New Flesh horror movie podcast
Rachel Kurzius: A reporter for The Home You Own at The Washington Post

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Sometimes, we just love to hate. From reality TV shows like The Bachelor and The Real Housewives franchise to movies like The Room and Twilight, sometimes it’s so bad it’s good. The phenomenon of hate-watching has reached new audiences on social media platforms such as Twitter and YouTube. Haters are more vocal than ever.

In this episode we ask why we want to watch and suffer through movies and TV shows we extremely dislike. Do we get enjoyment from objectively bad content? Or from hating on things? Join us on this episode as we discuss the psychology and impacts of hate-watching.

GUESTS:

Jonathan Gray: Professor of Media and Cultural Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and author of Dislike-Minded: Media, Audiences, and the Dynamics of Taste
Brian Moylan: Writer, reality tv show recapper, and author of The New York Times bestseller The Housewives: The Real Story Behind the Real Housewives
Alex Meyers: A YouTuber who makes cartoons and video essays about movies and TV shows

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Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Lizzie Van Arnam, Colin McEnroe, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired on April 11, 2023.

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News outlets and opinion writers have called it: the traditional dinner party is dead. But are dinner parties really so bad? Or are we just bad at hosting them? This hour, the history of dinner parties and some advice from people who turn party-hosting into an art form.

GUESTS:

Rand Richards Cooper: Fiction writer, contributing editor at Commonweal, and the restaurant critic for the Hartford Courant
Julia Skinner: Culinary historian and food writer whose work includes the book “Our Fermented Lives”
Nandita Godbole: Author of several cookbooks including “Masaleydaar: Classic Indian Spice Blends”. She also writes the blog Curry Cravings.

Join the conversation onFacebook andTwitter.

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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GUESTS:

Doug Boin: Professor of History at St. Louis University, and author ofAlaric the Goth: An Outsider’s History of the Fall of Rome, among other books
Mary Beard: Historian of Ancient Rome. She is the author of bestselling books, including SPQR, and her newest book is Emperor of Rome: Ruling the Ancient Roman World

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This hour is about the psychology of fandom. We look at how the mind of a fan operates. We talk with experts about the mental attachments and connections fans have with their favorite shows and fictional characters.

Plus, there are many reasons why one becomes a fan. We’ll talk about that, and how fandoms have evolved over time. Finally, a look at the types of emotions fans feel and how they express them in fanfiction and other forms of transformative fandom.

GUESTS:

Lynn Zubernis: Licensed Clinical Psychologist and Professor at West Chester University, who has written 7 books based on her research on the psychology of fandom
Maya Phillips: Author of Nerd: Adventures in Fandom from This Universe to the Multiverse, and a critic at The New York Times
Jessica Hautsch: Teaching Assistant Professor of Humanities at the New York Institute of Technology, and author of Mind, Body, and Emotion in the Reception and Creation Practices of Fan Communities

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Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Melody Rivera, Colin McEnroe, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired on April 3, 2023.

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We’ve been doing these shows a couple times a month where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to uptalk, mortality, the zipper merge, the health of the baby boom generation, regionalizing cities, proving that you’re not a witch … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

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Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour is the highest-grossing concert film ever made, and it’s only been in theaters for five days. It took in more than $100 million in global presales alone. The 169-minute, 41-song-long movie is nothing short of a phenomenon.

Speaking of a phenomenon, you may have heard that Swift and Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce are a couple. Swift and Kelce haven’t publicly commented on or even confirmed their romantic relationship (though they have been photographed holding hands), but the NFL and its broadcast partners have certainly capitalized on it anyway. Oh, and TSwift and TKelce were both on SNL last weekend, too.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take:

Piper Laurie, Actress in ‘The Hustler,’ ‘Carrie’ and ‘Twin Peaks,’ Dies at 91 The three-time Oscar nominee and Emmy winner also starred in the original ‘Days of Wine and Roses’ and in ‘Children of a Lesser God.’
Suzanne Somers, Star of ‘Three’s Company,’ Is Dead at 76 She became famous for playing, as she put it, “one of the best dumb blondes that’s ever been done,” then became a sex-positive health and diet mogul.
Louise Glück, 80, Nobel-Winning Poet Who Explored Trauma and Loss, Dies Acclaimed as one of America’s greatest living writers, she blended deeply personal material with themes of mythology and nature.
Burt Young, Decorated Character Actor Of Rocky Fame, Has Died At 83
Michael Caine Officially Announces Retirement From Acting: ‘You Don’t Have Leading Men at 90’
Michael Jordan Is the First Pro Athlete to Rank Among the 400 Wealthiest Americans The former NBA star has an estimated net worth of $3 billion.
Best Buy Is Ending DVD and Blu-Ray Sales
Netflix plans to open brick and mortar locations
Will Smith Has Broken His Silence On Jada Pinkett Smith’s Memoir Revelations After a week of bombshell details regarding Jada’s new memoir, Will has responded directly to his estranged wife.
The Actors Are on Strike, But the Awards Shows Go On Here is our (extremely early) forecast for the biggest Oscar races this (very uncertain) year.
Why is movie candy sold in boxes?

GUESTS:

Rebecca Castellani: Co-founder of Quiet Corner Communications and a freelance writer
Sam Hadelman: Works in music public relations and hosts The Sam Hadelman Show at Radio Free Brooklyn
Jacques Lamarre: A playwright and chief communications officer at Buzz Engine

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

Correction: This show has been updated to remove an incorrect reference to the rapper and singer Bad Bunny’s nationality. Bad Bunny is an American artist.

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A wealthy prince needs your help (via a wire transfer) to unfreeze his fortunes. He’ll reward you handsomely. While you’re sending him the money, listen to this show about scam emails.

We'll talk about the surprising history and future of scam emails and what you can do to protect yourself. Plus: a conversation with an author who got caught up in an infamous email scam.

GUESTS:

Arun Vishwanath: Cybersecurity expert and author of the book, “The Weakest Link: How to Diagnose, Detect, and Defend Users from Phishing”
Peter C. Baker: Author of the novel “Planes”

Join the conversation on Facebook andTwitter.

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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What can we learn about ourselves from what we sit on? This hour, we talk about the history of chairs, their impact on our lifestyle and health, and what's in store for their future. Plus, we'll celebrate the joy of a well-designed chair, talk with a chair maker, and discuss some of our favorite examples.

GUESTS:

Witold Rybczynski: Architect, Emeritus Professor of Urbanism at the University of Pennsylvania, and author of Now I Sit Me Down: From Klismos to Plastic Chair: A Natural History, among other books. His latest book is The Story of Architecture
Galen Cranz: Professor Emerita of Architecture at the University of California at Berkeley, and a founding member of the Association for Body Conscious Design. She is the author of The Chair: Rethinking Culture, Body and Design, among other books. She is a certified Teacher of the Alexander Technique
Aspen Golann: Artist and furniture maker. She teaches in the furniture department at The Rhode Island School of Design, and founded “The Chairmaker Toolbox,” a project that provides free tools, education, and mentorship to increase equity and access in the field of chairmaking

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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This hour: a conversation with novelist Emily St. John Mandel about time travel, the simulation hypothesis, adapting her work to television, art and culture during times of crisis, autofiction, Wikipedia, and much more.

GUEST:

Emily St. John Mandel: Novelist, whose books include Sea of Tranquility,The Glass Hotel, and Station Eleven

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired March 30, 2023.

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In 2018, Emily Wilson became internationally known for her translation of Homer’s The Odyssey, which was called “a revelation” and “a cultural landmark.” This hour, Wilson joins us to talk about her new translation of Homer’s other great surviving work, The Iliad.

GUEST:

Emily Wilson: Professor in the Department of Classical Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. Her new translation of Homer’s The Iliad is out now. She previously translated The Odyssey, in addition to works by Euripides, Seneca, and Sophocles

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

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Illeana Douglas’ new book is Connecticut in the Movies: From Dream Houses to Dark Suburbia. It isn’t just an encyclopedia of appearances by and references to Connecticut in movies. But rather, it’s a history and theory of ‘Connecticut movies,’ something close to a genre unto itself with its own set of signs and meanings.

This hour, Illeana Douglas and David Edelstein join us to take a Not Necessarily The Nose-style look at the Nutmeg State on the silver screen.

GUESTS:

Illeana Douglas: The Official Movie Star of The Colin McEnroe Show and the author, most recently, of Connecticut in the Movies
David Edelstein: America’s Greatest Living Film Critic

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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This hour, a conversation about handling life’s hardships with philosopher Kieran Setiya, the author of Life Is Hard: How Philosophy Can Help Us Find Our Way.

GUESTS:

Kieran Setiya: Professor of philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the author of Life Is Hard: How Philosophy Can Help Us Find Our Way

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired April 17, 2023.

Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today.**

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We imagine pirates to be the quintessential rule-breakers — but really, they had their own strictly-followed codes.

How did 18th-century pirates dictate their own community standards? How did they create social mobility in an age when changing one's social status was nearly impossible?

This hour, we join pirate historian Rebecca Simon to find out!

GUEST:

Rebecca Simon: Pirate historian with a doctorate in history from King’s College London; she’s the author of several books about piracy, including The Pirates’ Code: Laws and Life Aboard Ship

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today.**

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We’ve been doing these shows a couple times a month where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to Israel, fat bear week, former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, the Roman Empire, dark coffee mugs, pirates … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today.**

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This week’s Nose has gotta be more like a rat than anything else in the world. Cleverer, even, than a rat, and that is not an easy thing to be, let me tell ya.

The Nose returns!

On September 15, The New Yorker ran a story that reported out a number of embellishments / untruths / lies in Hasan Minhaj’s standup specials. Minhaj had reportedly been the frontrunner to become the new permanent host of The Daily Show. On September 27, Variety reported that Comedy Central was going back to square one with their search for a host.

And: In September, 2021, Netflix acquired the Roald Dahl Story Company for $686 million. Wes Anderson has written and directed adaptations of four Dahl short stories: “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar,” “Poison,” “The Rat Catcher,” and “The Swan.” They’re the first projects released by Netflix as part of their ownership of Dahl’s work, and they star a repertory company of actors that includes Ralph Fiennes, Benedict Cumberbatch, Ben Kingsley, Dev Patel, and Rupert Friend.

GUESTS:

Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Nobody Asked Shawn podcast
Tracy Wu Fastenberg: Development officer at Connecticut Children’s
Bill Yousman: Professor of media studies at Sacred Heart University

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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This hour, Yale Dean Tamar Gendler joins us to discuss her new course “Public Plato: Ancient Wisdom in the Digital Age.” We'll talk about how to make ancient philosophy relevant for a modern audience, questions of framing and form, and what we can all learn from concepts like alief, phronesis, and eudaimonia.

GUEST:

Tamar Gendler: Professor of Philosophy, Psychology and Cognitive Science, and the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, at Yale University

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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In Yascha Mounk’s new book, he “traces the origin of a set of ideas about identity and social justice that is rapidly transforming America — and explains why it will fail to accomplish its noble goals.” This hour, Mounk joins us to talk about the future of democracy and The Identity Trap: A Story of Ideas and Power in Our Time.

GUEST:

Yascha Mounk: Professor of the Practice of International Affairs at Johns Hopkins University, the founder of the digital magazine Persuasion, and host of the podcast The Good Fight. His new book is The Identity Trap: A Story of Ideas and Power in Our Time

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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This hour we look at mis-speaks, mis-hearings, and mis-understandings, like malapropisms, mondegreens, eggcorns, and spoonerisms. We share our favorite examples and learn about what they can tell us about the English language and how our brains process language. And we celebrate the joy of playing with language.

GUESTS:

Emily Brewster: Senior Editor and lexicographer at Merriam-Webster, and host of the Word Matters podcast
Melissa Baese-Berk: Professor of language teaching studies and linguistics at the University of Oregon, where she is also director of the Speech Perception and Production Lab
Ben Zimmer: Linguist, lexicographer, and the Word on the Street columnist for The Wall Street Journal

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Carolyn McCusker, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired March 29, 2023.

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This hour, Colin and his guests look at why humans touch others with their lips (and often their tongues!). Join us as we overthink the simple act of kissing.

GUESTS:

Marcel Danesi: Professor Emeritus of Linguistic Anthropology at The University of Toronto and author of The History of the Kiss! The Birth of Popular Culture
Matthew Longcore: Director of Membership and Outreach for the Human Relations Area Files at Yale University and an Adjunct Faculty Member in Anthropology at University of Connecticut Stamford
Andréa Demirjian: Runs The Kissing Expert website, Instagram feed, and Facebook page. She’s the author of the book Kissing: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About One of Life’s Sweetest Pleasures

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, Lily Tyson, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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This week’s Nose got a couple other cans, ya know, and came back and switched the labels and the cans around.

The Long Goodbye is a satirical neo-noir mystery feature film adaptation of Raymond Chandler’s 1953 novel. It is the eighth feature directed by Robert Altman and the second-to-last screenplay by the science fiction writer Leigh Brackett (who also wrote The Empire Strikes Back and the 1946 version of The Big Sleep, among others). It stars Elliott Gould as Philip Marlowe in 1970s Los Angeles. This year is The Long Goodbye’s 50th anniversary.

Plus: A look at the value and the art of rewatching and rewatchability.

Raquel Benedict’s endorsements:

Helpmeet by Naben Ruthnum
Nocebo on Shudder

Helder Mira’s endorsements:

Hawkeye: L.A. Woman by Matt Fraction, Annie Wu, and Javier Pulido
Jury Duty on Freevee
Documentary Now! Season 4 on Netflix

Gene Seymour’s endorsements:

Emerald City Nights: Live at the Penthouse by Ahmad Jamal
Ain’t But a Few of Us: Black Music Writers Tell Their Story edited by Willard Jenkins

Colin’s endorsement:

The Battered Bastards of Baseball on Netflix

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take:

Michael Gambon, Dumbledore in the ‘Harry Potter’ Films, Dies at 82 After he made his mark in London in the 1970s, he went on to play a wide range of roles, including Edward VII, Oscar Wilde and Winston Churchill.
Golden Globes Adds Two New Categories: Blockbuster Movies and Stand-Up Comics Enter the Race
The Definitive Guide to All Things Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce Whether you’re a football fan, a Swiftie, or both, this helpful glossary will tell you everything you need to know about the budding relationship between the Kansas City Chiefs tight end and the world’s biggest pop star
Kelce-Swift Is a Dream Pairing for the N.F.L. The romance between the Chiefs tight end and the world’s biggest pop star represents an alliance with the only cultural force in America bigger than the league itself.
MAGA Goes to War Against the Swifties! Now they’ve picked a fight with the wrong people.
Lying in Comedy Isn’t Always Wrong, but Hasan Minhaj Crossed a Line The stand-up’s penchant for making up stories goes beyond embellishment. When real people and real stakes are involved, a different standard applies.
Comedy Central Widens Search for ‘Daily Show’ Host Beyond Hasan Minhaj
The Death of Netflix DVD Marks the Loss of Something Even Bigger It’s the end of an era—and not just for plastic discs.
‘Stop Making Sense’ Talks Up $800k Weekend, $1.4M Cume As 1984 Concert Film Draws Young Crowd
The Office Reboot In The Works, Original US Showrunner Returning After years of speculation, a reboot of The Office is reportedly finally going to happen and the original US showrunner is attached to return.
Inside Apple’s Plan to Change the Way We Watch SportsLongtime Apple executive Eddy Cue happens to be an enormous sports fan. And with Apple entering the wild west of broadcasting live sports, he’s ready to shake up the way we watch games on TV—with a little help from none other than Leo M

GUESTS:

Raquel Benedict: The most dangerous woman in speculative fiction and the host of the Rite Gud podcast
Helder Mira: Multimedia producer at Trinity College and co-host of the So Pretentious podcast
Gene Seymour: A “writer, professional spectator, pop-culture maven, and jazz geek”

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Colin McEnroe, Cat Pastor, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired May 19, 2023.

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Do you daydream? What do you daydream about? This hour: the art of daydreaming.

We reflect on the value of daydreaming and why it can be so difficult to talk about our daydreams. Plus, a look at what daydreaming does to our brains and at maladaptive daydreaming.

GUESTS:

Leslie Jamison: Novelist, essayist and professor at Columbia University’s MFA Program
Jayne Rachel: An advocate for maladaptive daydreaming, who used to experience it
Jonathan Schooler: Distinguished professor of psychological and brain sciences and director of The Center for Mindfulness and Human Potential at the University of California, Santa Barbara

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired March 15, 2023.

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I’m so excited!!!

The exclamation point is the only punctuation mark that can express (and evoke) strong emotion. You either love them or you hate them.

Writers use the exclamation mark to express emotion that words can’t fully capture, politicians and advertisers can use it to manipulate and alarm, and authors and their editors often clash over its appropriate use. Our brains physically respond to the sight of it.

This hour, a look at the history and culture of this most controversial mark.

GUESTS:

John Breunig: An editorial page editor with Hearst Connecticut Media Group
Lan Samantha Chang: Director of the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop
Florence Hazrat: Author of An Admirable Point: A Brief History of the Exclamation Mark

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, Cat Pastor, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show, which originally aired March 9, 2023.

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Have you noticed that voice assistants like Alexa and Siri default to female voices?

This hour, we talk about how artificial intelligence is reinforcing gender biases.

Plus, a look at how representations of artificial intelligence in pop culture have contributed to this model.

GUESTS:

Kerry McInerney: Research fellow at the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence and co-host of The Good Robot Podcast
Deborah Tannen: Distinguished university professor of linguistics at Georgetown University and author of You Just Don’t Understand: Women and Men in Conversation, among other books
Lisa Yaszek: Regents professor of science fiction studies in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication at Georgia Tech

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, Cat Pastor, and Lizzie Van Arnam contributed to this show, which originally aired March 6, 2023.

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This hour, the full measure of short stature, from personal health, professional discrimination, and environmental impact to Humphrey Bogart’s strap-on inch-adders.

GUESTS:

Arne Hendriks: Artist, researcher, and exhibition-maker based in Amsterdam who writes about height at The Incredible Shrinking Man
William Mann: The author of Bogie & Bacall: The Surprising True Story of Hollywood’s Greatest Love Affair
Tanya Osensky: A lawyer and the author of Shortchanged: Height Discrimination and Strategies for Social Change

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, Cat Pastor, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show, which originally aired March 2, 2023.

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The Nose is off.

In its stead: Country music dominated the charts for most of the summer. But the genre has also been the subject of controversy. This hour, we take stock of the state of country music.

GUESTS:

Jason Lipshutz: Executive director of music at Billboard
Amanda Marie Martinez: Postdoctoral fellow in the Department of American Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who is currently working on a book project titled The Industry Is Playing the People Cheap: Race and the Country Music Business from Nixon to 9/11
Chris Molanphy: Chart analyst and pop critic who writes about the intersection of culture and commerce in popular music; he is host of Slate’s Hit Parade podcast, writes Slate’s “Why Is This Song No. 1?” series, and he is author of the new book Old Town Road

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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There’s a theory that people are drawn to work that fits their name. This hour, an exploration of nominative determinism. Plus, a look at the different ways your name impacts your life.

GUESTS:

David Bird: Emeritus professor of wildlife biology and director of the Avian Science and Conservation Centre of McGill University
Brett Pelham: Professor of psychology at Montgomery College
Tess Terrible: Senior producer of Where We Live on Connecticut Public
Laura Wattenberg: Naming expert, author of The Baby Name Wizard, and the creator of Namerology

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired February 16, 2023.

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From book bans to comics and the strange origins of fairy tales, this hour we look at children's literature and talk about who decides what is appropriate for children to read.

GUESTS:

Carol St. George: Professor of Teaching and Curriculum and Director of Reading and Literacy at the Warner School of Education at the University of Rochester
Adam Gidwitz: Author of A Tale Dark and Grimm, and its companions, as well as The Inquisitor’s Tale, and The Unicorn Rescue Society. He is also the creator of the podcast, Grimm, Grimmer, Grimmest, and he produced the adaptation of A Tale Dark and Grimm for Netflix
Maria Tatar: Research Professor of Folklore and Mythology at Harvard University. Her latest book is The Heroine with 1001 Faces
Carol Tilley: Comics historian, librarian, educator, and youth advocate. She is a Professor in the Faculty of the School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois

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What’s in your pockets right now? Phone, wallet, keys… maybe some discarded receipts or old gum? This show’s all about what we carry with us every day: from flashlights the size of a lip balm to a life-saving medicine.

GUESTS:

Bernard Capulong: Founder and Editor-in-Chief of everydaycarry.com
Hannah Carlson: Senior Lecturer in the Apparel Department at the Rhode Island School of Design. She’s also the author of “Pockets: An Intimate History of How We Keep Things Close”
Dr. Mona Gohara: Private practice dermatologist and Associate Clinical Professor of Dermatology at the Yale School of Medicine. She’s also an advocate around increasing inclusivity in dermatology.
Peter Canning: Hartford paramedic and an EMS coordinator at John Dempsey hospital. He’s also the author of “Killing Season: A Paramedic’s Dispatches from the Front Lines of the Opioid Epidemic”
Drew John Ladd: Writer

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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This hour we talk about age in politics, from why our politicians skew older to the impacts of that. And, we’ll learn about how animals pick leaders, and the role age plays in those decisions.

GUESTS:

Eugene Scott: Senior Politics Reporter for Axios
Lucy Schiller: Writer and professor of creative writing based in Texas
Kevin Munger: Assistant Professor of Political Science and Social Data Analytics at Penn State University, and author of Generation Gap: Why the Baby Boomers Still Dominate American Politics and Culture
Jennifer Smith: Studies the evolutionary ecology of social mammals at the University of Wisconsin EauClaire

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Political satire is alive and well in America today. And it turns out it might have an important role in educating the public and the health of our democracy. This hour, we look at the state and the art of political satire with comedian Samantha Bee and Sophia McClennen, a political scientist who studies satire.

GUESTS:

Samantha Bee: Comedian, host of the podcast Choice Words with Samantha Bee, and the former host of Full Frontal with Samantha Bee. She is performing at The Bushnell on Thursday, September 21
Sophia McClennen: Professor of International Affairs and Comparative Literature at Penn State University and author of numerous books, including Trump Was a Joke: How Satire Made Sense of a President Who Didn’t and Is Satire Saving Our Nation?

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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Adrian McKinty is a Northern Irish writer of thrillers and mysteries probably best known for The Chainand the Sean Duffy series.

On the dark and stormy night of September 9, McKinty talked to Colin on stage at The Mark Twain House and Museum in Hartford. It’s the first show we’ve done in front of a live audience since the before times.

This hour, a lightly edited version of that conversation.

GUEST:

Adrian McKinty: The author of 20 novels, including The Chain, the Michael Forsythe trilogy, and the Sean Duffy series; The Detective Up Late, the seventh Duffy novel, is his latest

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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Gone are the days when we’d browse a local store if we needed a new air purifier or oven mitt. Now, many people don’t dare make a purchase without first Googling “best kitchen mixer” and browsing lists of top-tens on recommendation sites.

How did these sites come to dominate our shopping carts? And if you’re not a fan of that humidifier you got off a top-ten list, are there other ways to shop?

GUESTS:

Inger Stole is a professor emerita at the University of Illinois
Michael Zhao was the first employee and a former deputy editor at Wirecutter
Mark Frauenfelder is a co-editor of Recomendo

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This hour, a look at misunderstood monsters, why humans create monsters in the first place, and the benefits of hearing a monster’s perspective.

Plus, we learn more about Medusa and talk to a researcher who studied purported yeti samples to find the animal behind the myth.

GUESTS:

Natalie Haynes: A writer and broadcaster; her newest book is Stone Blind
Charlotte Lindqvist: Associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University at Buffalo
Asa Simon Mittman: Professor of art and art history at California State University, Chico

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired February 8, 2023.

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We’ve been doing these shows a couple times a month where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to the speed limit, the Great American Songbook, trucks on the Merritt Parkway, the state parks, police car chases. Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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The Nose is off. In its place, a look at the No. 1 podcast in America, Strike Force Five, hosted by Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers, and John Oliver as a way to pay the late night writing staffs during the strikes.

Plus: New Yorker film critic Richard Brody joins us to extol the virtues of owning movies on physical media.

And finally: endorsements, Nose or no.

During this little period of Noselessness, we’ve decided at least to entertain ideas around doing the show differently. And we want your input! If you’re familiar with The Nose, and you have a couple minutes, please take our survey. You might even win a life-alteringly great prize! (It’s a coffee mug. You might win a coffee mug.)

GUESTS:

Richard Brody: The movies editor for Goings On About Town at The New Yorker
Megan Fitzgerald: Senior project manager at Connecticut Public
Sabrina Herrera: Community engagement and social media editor at Connecticut Public
Jennifer LaRue: A writer, editor, and publicist and a contributing producer for The Colin McEnroe Show
Cat Pastor: Assistant radio operations manager at Connecticut Public
Julia Pistell: A writer and comedian, a founding member of Sea Tea Improv, and a contributing producer for The Colin McEnroe Show
Nicholas Quah: The podcast critic for New York Magazine and Vulture, where he writes the weekly newsletter 1.5× Speed
Catie Talarski: Senior director of storytelling and radio programming at Connecticut Public
Chion Wolf: The host of Audacious on Connecticut Public

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This hour, a look at the cultural significance of the apple, from Adam and Eve to keeping the doctor away. Plus: growing apples, the future of apples, and we compare apples and oranges.

GUESTS:

Martha Bayless:Director of Folklore and Public Culture and a Professor of English and Folklore at the University of Oregon. She is also the founder of the Early English Bread Project, which studies the role of bread in early medieval English culture
David Bedford:Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Horticultural Science at the University of Minnesota. His team is responsible for creating the Honeycrisp, SweeTango, Zestar, and Rave apple varieties, among others
Dan Pashman:Creator and Host of The Sporkful podcast

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What exactly is charisma? You know it when you see it, but is it possible to measure? Is it something you can learn, or just something you’re born with? This hour we look at the impact of charisma in our world, especially in politics. Plus, in the world of wildlife conservation there’s a term for those animals everyone cares about: “charismatic megafauna.” What are the impacts of decisions about conservation or leadership coming down to a nebulous trait like charisma?

GUESTS:

John Antonakis: Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Faculty of Business and Economics of the University of Lausanne, Switzerland
Russ Schriefer: Founding Partner of Strategic Partners & Media, a public affairs political consulting firm. He is Senior Strategist for the Tell It Like It Is SuperPac that supports Chris Christie for President
Sophie Monsarrat: Rewilding Manager with Rewilding Europe, who used to be a researcher who studied charismatic megafauna, among other topics

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Since we just spent a number of years thinking about viruses, here’s a question: Should we be pretty worried about funguses, too?

This hour, a look at the real-life fungal infection of ants that inspired the video game and TV series The Last of Us. Plus we talk with a local mushroom farmer and an author who writes fungal fiction and look at the role of fungi in our world.

GUESTS:

William Beckerson: Post-doctoral research Fellow with the National Science Foundation
Patricia Kaishian: Mycologist and visiting assistant professor of biology at Bard College
Chris Pacheco: Owner of Seacoast Mushrooms in Mystic, Connecticut
Jeff VanderMeer: Author of a number of books, including the Southern Reach Trilogy, which includes Annihilation; he co-founded The Sunshine State Biodiversity Group

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired February 6, 2023.

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Irving Berlin, Dorothy Fields, George and Ira Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Johnny Mercer, Cole Porter, Rodgers and Hammerstein. These, along with many others, are the sorts of songwriters we associate with the Great American Songbook, the amorphous canon of important 20th century pop songs, jazz standards, and show tunes from Broadway, Tin Pan Alley, and movie musicals.

The Nose is off. In its place this hour, a look at and a listen to — and some concern for the future of — the Great American Songbook.

GUESTS:

Joelle Lurie: Vocalist, songwriter, voiceover artist, and bandleader
Steve Metcalf: Founder and director of the Garmany concert series at the University of Hartford’s Hartt School

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Colin McEnroe and Eugene Amatruda contributed to this show.

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GUESTS:

Rick Ostfeld: Distinguished senior scientist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies
Holly Gaff: Professor of Biological Sciences at Old Dominion University
Jen Wegner: Associate curator of the Egyptian section at the Penn Museum
Birnur Aral: Executive Director of the Beauty, Health and Sustainability Lab at the Good Housekeeping Institute

Join the conversation onFacebook and Twitter.The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode.Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.Stacey Addo, Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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When we think of public health, we tend to think of things along the lines of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccines, or even seatbelts and tobacco. But public health expands well beyond that, to realms like housing, climate change, access to the outdoors, and gun violence. This hour, we look broadly at the world of public health. And we ask what’s next for the field.

GUESTS:

Katelyn Jetelina:Epidemiologist and author of the “Your Local Epidemiologist” newsletter
Megan Ranney:Emergency physician and Dean of the Yale School of Public Health

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There’s more to narcissism than meets the eye.

This hour, we reflect on narcissism — our misunderstandings about it, its pervasiveness in our culture, and the personal, public, and political damage it wreaks.

GUESTS:

Mark Ettensohn: Clinical psychologist specializing in the treatment of narcissists
Lee Hammock: “Self-aware” narcissist who shares his experience and insights on social media
Pete Hatemi: Distinguished professor of political science at Penn State University

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, Cat Pastor, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show, which originally aired January 26, 2023.

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We’ve been doing these shows a couple times a month where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to wild fires, riding bikes, Jay Silverheels, the Bronze Age Pervert, and … explaining the concept of Earth time to aliens. Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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The Nose is off this week. In its place:

Everyone loves a good band breakup story.

But it’s far more unusual to find bands that manage to stay together for the long haul.

This hour we explore the challenges musicians face as they seek band harmony and discuss what makes them succeed — or fail — together.

GUESTS:

Jim Chapdelaine: Guitarist, producer, Emmy Award-winning composer, recording engineer, and an adjunct professor at the University of Hartford School of Music
Heather Ferguson: Psychotherapist and psychoanalyst and a member of the Music Industry Therapist Collective
Steven Hyden: Cultural critic at UPROXX and the author of Long Road: Pearl Jam and the Soundtrack of a Generation
Nerissa Nields: Singer-songwriter, guitarist, and founding member of The Nields
Jay Russell: Singer, songwriter, and guitarist in The Split Coils; former member of Hot Rod Circuit

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, Cat Pastor, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show, which originally aired February 9, 2023.

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Journalist and author Lisa Belkin, spent ten years retracing the ancestry of three families, over four generations, to understand how a series of random encounters between three men led to the 1960 murder of a Stamford, Connecticut, police officer.

Genealogy of a Murder: Four Generations, Three Families, One Fateful Night, looks at how family ‘truths’ passed down through the generations can influence the choices of the descendants that follow. How do family stories, happenstance, and the cultural ethos of the moment shape the people we become?

GUESTS:

Lisa Belkin is a journalist and the author of narrative non fiction, including Show Me a Hero, which became an HBO miniseries, and most recently, Genealogy of a Murder: Four Generations, Three Families, One Fateful Night. She has been a reporter at the New York Times for more than 25 years.
Doreen Troy Dolan is the daughter of David Troy.
Kelsey Rose Dolan is the granddaughter of David Troy.

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Earlier this month, somebody in Florida won a $1.58 billion lottery jackpot. It was the largest Mega Millions jackpot to date, although four other Mega Millions prizes over $1 billion have been won in the past five years. This hour, we’re talking about lotteries. How did this massive money redistribution game come to be? And we know that lotteries can randomly allocate cash prizes to ticket buyers – but could they also pick our political officials? Or the victims of our human sacrifice rituals to ensure that “corn be heavy soon”?

GUESTS:

Jonathan D. Cohen: Historian and author of “For a Dollar and a Dream: State Lotteries in Modern America”
Alex Guerrero: Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers University and author of the forthcoming book, “Lottocracy: The Case for Democracy without Elections”
Ruth Franklin: Book critic and biography of Shirley Jackson

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You’ve likely heard the Greek myth of Cassandra, a woman given the gift of prophecy who was cursed never to be believed.

This hour, a look at the Cassandra story and its relevance today, including some real-life Cassandras, like the diplomat who tried to stop World War II and the public health official who tried to warn us about the COVID-19 pandemic.

GUESTS:

Joel Christensen: Professor of classical studies at Brandeis University; his newest book is The Many-Minded Man: The Odyssey, Psychology, and the Therapy of Epic
Charity Dean: CEO, founder, and chairman of the Public Health Company
Steve Kemper: Author of Our Man in Tokyo: An American Ambassador and the Countdown to Pearl Harbor
Amanda Rees: Historian of science at the University of York and the author of Human

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired January 25, 2023.

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Today "Luddite" is used as a derogatory term for someone who doesn't understand technology. But the original Luddites weren’t behind, they were technical workers who were concerned about the impact that technology would have on people. This hour, we look at the history of Luddites, how their philosophy applies today, and ask what our present would look like if they had won. Could we all gain something from thinking more like a Luddite?

GUESTS:

Brian Merchant: Technology Columnist at the Los Angeles Times. He is the author of the forthcoming book Blood in the Machine: the Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech, which comes out next month
Gavin Mueller: Assistant Professor of New Media and Digital Culture at the University of Amsterdam, and author of Breaking Things at Work: The Luddites Are Right About Why You Hate Your Job
Miriam A. Cherry: Professor of Law at St. John’s University in New York City, and the Faculty Director of the Labor and Employment Law Center. She is the author of Work in the Digital Age: A Coursebook on Labor, Technology, and Regulation

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Colin McEnroe and Eugene Amatruda contributed to this show.

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This hour, we grapple with the impact our ancestors have on our lives, and what our responsibility is if they did something we disagree with.

GUESTS:

Jenny Strauss: Great-granddaughter of Lewis Strauss
Maud Newton: Author of Ancestor Trouble: A Reckoning and a Reconciliation

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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You’re probably familiar with the panicked rush that comes when you’re running around your house, looking for keys or a wallet you’ve misplaced. It’s an awful feeling. But maybe there’s some value in the process of searching for lost things — beyond the prize you may (or may not) find at the end. This hour, we’re talking to some professional “lookers” to find out: Is there joy, or hidden value, to be found in the search process? Can we learn to be better lookers?

GUESTS:

Chris Turner: CEO of Ring Finders, a global directory of metal detecting specialists
James Renner: Journalist and author
Walter Wick: Photo-illustrator and picture puzzle designer known for the “I Spy” and “Can You See What I See?” series

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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Scientists estimate that there are 20 quadrillion ants on Earth. But. How do we make sense of a number like that, like 20,000,000,000,000,000?

This hour, how we relate to unimaginable numbers, both large and small.

Plus: why our inability to conceptualize large numbers might have a real-world impact during times like a pandemic.

GUESTS:

Shabnam Mousavi: A scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development and a senior scientist at the Center for Artificial Intelligence
Sabine Nooten: An insect ecologist and a temporary principal investigator at the University of Würzburg
Elizabeth Toomarian: Director of the Brainwave Learning Center at Synapse School and an educational neuroscience Researcher at Stanford University
Edward Tufte: The author of five books on information design and data visualization

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired January 12, 2023.

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We’ve been doing these shows a couple times a month where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to our Jesse Thorn take off promo, the Roberts Sinners and Heinlein (and Heinlein’s short story “ ‘—All You Zombies—’ ” and the movie adaptation of it), pronoun case agreement, rabbits and their feelings about carrots, mounted police, Jacques Cousteau … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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Timothy Olyphant has been a regular presence on various TV shows every single year dating back to Damages in 2009, before the original Justified. And yet, it feels significant that he’s in no less than three new series this year. The Nose already covered the first, Daisy Jones & the Six. This week, we catch up with the other two:

Full Circle is a Max Original limited series written and created by Ed Solomon and photographed, edited, and directed by Steven Soderbergh. Here’s Warner Bros.’s logline: “An investigation into a botched kidnapping uncovers long-held secrets connecting multiple characters and cultures in present day New York City.” It stars an ensemble cast that includes Zazie Beetz, Claire Danes, Jim Gaffigan, Timothy Olyphant, CCH Pounder, and Dennis Quaid.

And: Justified: City Primeval is an FX limited series continuation of Justified, which ended in 2015 after six seasons and 78 episodes. It is based on the Elmore Leonard novel City Primeval: High Noon in Detroitand short story “Fire in the Hole.” Olyphant reprises his role as U.S. Marshall Raylan Givens.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take:

William Friedkin, Acclaimed Director of ‘The French Connection’ and ‘The Exorcist,’ Dies at 87 The Oscar winner “never played by the rules, often to my own detriment,” he said.
Robbie Robertson, Leader of The Band, Dies at 80
Arthur Schmidt, Oscar-Winning ‘Forrest Gump’ and ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit’ Film Editor, Dies at 86
DJ Casper, artist behind ‘Cha Cha Slide,’ has died
McDonald’s New Meal Celebrates Its Pop Culture Cameos—Including ‘Loki,’ ‘Seinfeld’ and MoreThe As Featured In Meal is tied to the upcoming season of Loki and celebrates the chain’s past pop culture cameos
The Forgotten Former Meaning of “Jerk” The curious pop culture etymology of “jerk,” from 1979’s ‘The Jerk’ through today. (Or, “When did jerk stop meaning ‘stupid’?”)
A Va. woman’s burp was louder than some motorcycles. It set a record.
What to Stream: A Lost Seventies Classic About a (Rather Sympathetic) Stalker Alan Rudolph’s “Remember My Name” is an understated film noir—a drama of stark motives and delicate surfaces.

GUESTS:

Elizabeth Keifer: Professor emerita of English at Tunxis Community College
Helder Mira: Multimedia producer at Trinity College and co-host of the So Pretentious podcast
Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Nobody Asked Shawn podcast

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Colin McEnroe and Eugene Amatruda contributed to this show.

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It seems like everything’s been turned into a story.

You can see a company’s story on the packaging of juice, cereal, alternative milks. Politicians tell stories to rally support for policies. And social media helps us all tell the story that we want to tell about our lives.

This hour, Peter Brooks on his book, Seduced by Story: The Use and Abuse of Narrative, and a look at why storytelling isn’t always a good thing.

GUESTS:

Peter Brooks: Author of Seduced by Story: The Use and Abuse of Narrative
Chris Knopf: A novelist and the retired CEO of Mintz & Hoke
Elise Wang: Assistant professor in the Department of English, Comparative Literature, and Linguistics at California State University, Fullerton

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired December 27, 2022.

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Our lives are entrenched in secrets — the average person, apparently, keeps as many as 13 of them at any given time. They’re largely regarded as bad for us.

GUESTS:

David Robert Grimes: Scientist and science writer
Raneta Lawson Mack: Professor of law emerita at Creighton University School of Law
Michael Slepian: Researcher who studies the psychology of secrecy, as well as an associate professor at Columbia Business School; he’s the author of The Secret Life of Secrets

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Rules are everywhere around us.

This hour we talk about the history of rules and the power of unwritten rules.

We wonder why some rules succeed while others fail. Plus: a game designer on how rules can facilitate play.

GUESTS:

Lorraine Daston: Author of Rules: A Short History of What We Live By
Jason Turbow: Author of The Baseball Codes: Beanballs, Sign Stealing, and Bench-Clearing Brawls: The Unwritten Rules of America’s Pastime
Eric Zimmerman: Award-winning designer of board games and video games and the author of The Rules We Break: Lessons in Play, Thinking, and Design

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired December 21, 2022.

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When’s the last time you read a short story? This hour, we talk about why short stories are so popular in the classroom, but why adults don’t seem to read them much once they’re done with school. And we make the case for why you should. Plus, a look at the art of the short story with some masters of the craft.

You can read Rebecca Makkai’s Substack post that inspired this show here.

Here is the story that is discussed in the final segment, “How I Became a Vet” by Rivka Galchen.

As part of this show we asked each of our guests to recommend a short story, a collection, or an author. Here are those recommendations:

Rebecca Makkai: “The Dinner Party” by Joshua Ferris
George Saunders: “The Stone Boy” by Gina Berriault, “The Conventional Wisdom” by Stanley Elkin
Deborah Treisman: Liberation Day by George Saunders, After the Funeral by Tessa Hadley, “The Haunting of Hajji Hotak” by Jamil Jan Kochai
Amy Bloom: “The Dead” by James Joyce, stories by Edward P. Jones, essays by Samantha Irby
Irene Papoulis: “Drinking Coffee Elsewhere” by ZZ Packer
Brian Slattery: “Hell is the Absence of God” by Ted Chiang
Colin McEnroe: “The Hole on the Corner” and “What’s the Name of That Town?” by R.A. Lafferty

GUESTS:

Rebecca Makkai: Author of the Pulitzer Prize- and National Book Award-finalist The Great Believers, among other books; her newest book is I Have Some Questions For You, and she is artistic director of StoryStudio Chicago
George Saunders: Author of twelve books; his most recent is Liberation Day, a collection of short stories
Deborah Triesman: Fiction editor for The New Yorker and the host of their Fiction Podcast
Amy Bloom: Author of four novels and three collections of short stories; her most recent book is the memoir In Love
Irene Papouli: Teaches writing at Trinity College
Brian Slattery: Arts editor for the New Haven Independent

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This week’s Nose has been traveling 22 years to get here, and now it’s here, and it’s either heads or tails, and you have to say.

Hollywood continues its seeming slow-speed suicide. It’s hard to imagine it even really capitalizing on the huge and ongoing Barbenheimer phenomenon. The Nose continues to be concerned.

But. The Meg 2 is finally here! Actually, that exclamation point notwithstanding, The Nose doesn’t really care about The Meg 2. But it does care about — and have various beefs with — this Meg 2-pegged ranking of movie monsters.

And finally: Hijack is a seven-part, real-time thriller limited series starring Idris Elba. The seventh part, the finale, hit Apple TV+ this week.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take:

Paul Reubens, Pee-wee Herman Actor, Dies at 70 After Private Bout of Cancer
Final Stephen Sondheim Musical ‘Here We Are’ Sets Cast; Joe Mantello-Directed Show Bows Off Broadway In September
Lin-Manuel Miranda to Adapt ‘The Warriors’ as Stage Musical
Meeting friends online is normal. Here’s how to do it. Move over, online dating. Online friend-making is having its day.
Streaming has surpassed cable as America’s most-watched viewing platform Amid the first combined work stoppage involving writers and actors represented by the WGA and SAG-AFTRA, some streaming platforms still scored some wins.
‘Suits’ Sets Record for Library Shows on Streaming Charts ‘The Bear’ has another strong week, becoming the second Hulu show to top a billion minutes of viewing.
Shake it off: Taylor Swift concert triggers actual seismic activity
X’s Subscription Service, Formerly Twitter Blue, Now Lets You Hide Your Blue Check Mark
So Many Women Have Dumped Their Boyfriends After “Barbie”, But This Woman’s Story HAS To Be The Wildest One Yet I am so much more horrified than you can imagine!
Max Is Bleeding Subscribers Following Its Boneheaded Rebrand The service lost 1.8 million subscribers as Warner Bros. Discovery announced a $10.3 million loss in total revenue for its second quarter.
Apple TV+ Is on a Scripted-Series Hot Streak. Are People Paying Attention? Apple TV+ has amassed a rich library of original content in less than four years—with the awards season nominations to prove it. Can its dedication to curation help it overtake the top streamers, or will Apple lose its appetite for spending on prestige?

GUESTS:

Irene Papoulis: Teaches writing at Trinity College
Bill Yousman: Professor of media studies at Sacred Heart University

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Who am I? We’ve all wondered at some point. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, a personality test based on Carl Jung’s psychological types, has offered many an answer.

This hour, we delve into the history of the MBTI and contemporary applications of this test and explore its scientific validity. Plus, a look at a dating app that uses the 16 personality types to help people find love.

GUESTS:

Paul Tieger: A prolific author on MBTI; his books include Do What You Are, Nurture by Nature, and Just Your Type
Alexander Swan: Associate professor of psychology at Eureka College and host of the CinemaPsychpodcast
Jessica Alderson: Founder of So Syncd, a 16 Personalities-based dating app

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Colin McEnroe, Carol Chen, Jonathan McNicol, and Catie Talarski contributed to this show.

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Connecticut Public’s talk shows have teamed up to bring you a full week of stories exploring the state’s shoreline and beyond. You can find all of our NautiWeek coverage at ctpublic.org/nautiweek

GUESTS:

The Jovial Crew: A group of musicians and historians that’s been performing chanteys, forebitters, and other traditional old songs in Essex, CT since its founding in 1986. On the show today is Joseph Morneault, Rick Spencer, Michael Hotkowski and the group’s founder, Cliff Haslam.
Dr. Maya Angela Smith: Associate professor of French at University of Washington who wrote the essay “A People’s Song Upon the Waters”

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Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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Searching for sunken treasure? Long Island Sound is hardly the place to look.

But what can be found in its murky waters are ample remains of Connecticut’s once prominent shipping industry, and perhaps evidence of early Native American villages from around 20,000 years ago when the Sound was a glacial lake.

This hour, we survey shipwrecks and other bits of history resting off Connecticut’s coast, as well as at the bottom of some lakes and rivers.

From dugout canoes and mastodon molars to the more than two dozen ships set ablaze in Essex harborduring the War of 1812, it’s an underwater adventure not to be missed.

GUESTS:

Nicholas Bellantoni: Emeritus Connecticut state archaeologist who has investigated shipwrecks in Long Island Sound and the Connecticut River
Christopher Goodwin: President and CEO of R. Christopher Goodwin & Associates, which was contracted by the State Historic Preservation Office to survey shipwrecks along the Connecticut coast
Kevin McBride: University of Connecticut archaeology professor specializing in the Native American history of Connecticut and former director of research at the Mashantucket Pequot Museum

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Colin McEnroe, Scott Brede, Betsy Kaplan, Carolyn McCusker, Jonathan McNicol, Cat Pastor, Larry Roeming, Jesse Steinmetz, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired July 9, 2019.

Connecticut Public’s talk shows have teamed up to bring you stories exploring Connecticut’s shoreline and beyond. You can find all of our NautiWeek show coverage at ctpublic.org/nautiweek.

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We’ve been doing these shows a couple times a month where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to ticks, sea shanties, classical music on our show, ice cream, artificial intelligence in sports … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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According to Mattel, more than a billion Barbie dolls have been sold since they launched the toy in 1959. Barbie and Ken are said to be the two most popular dolls in the world. It would be hard to overstate the influence — for better and worse — that the Barbie toy line has had on our culture.

And now, you may have heard, there’s a movie. Greta Gerwig’s Barbie is the No. 1 movie in the country. Its opening last weekend was the largest ever for a movie based on a toy, and it’s expected to hold onto the No. 1 spot this weekend, too.

So it’s not like Barbie’s influence is waning.

This hour, a look at our relationship with Barbie (and Ken), the history of Barbie and the woman who invented her, and, yes, the new movie Barbie.

GUESTS:

Rebecca Castellani: Co-founder of Quiet Corner Communications and a freelance writer
Rand Richards Cooper: A fiction writer, contributing editor at Commonweal, and the restaurant critic for the Hartford Courant
Theresa Cramer: A freelance writer and editor and co-founder of Quiet Corner Communications
Robin Gerber: The author of several books, including Barbie and Ruth: The Story of the World’s Most Famous Doll and the Woman Who Created Her
James Hanley: Co-founder of Cinestudio at Trinity College
Rich Hollant: Principal at CO:LAB, founder of Free Center, and commissioner on cultural affairs for the city of Hartford
Michal Lev-Ram: Editor-at-large covering the technology and entertainment sectors for Fortune
Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Nobody Asked Shawn podcast
Carolyn Paine: An actress, comedian, and dancer; she is founder, director, and choreographer of CONNetic Dance

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Betsy Kaplan, Josh Nilaya, Cat Pastor, Lily Tyson, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, parts of which originally aired June 30, 2017; May 21, 2019; and July 28, 2023, in a different form.

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It looks like this beach was a little too much beach for this week’s Nose.

The Barbenheimer Apocalypse is upon us.

Barbie is the fourth film written and directed by Greta Gerwig and the second Gerwig has cowritten with Noah Baumbach. It is the first film released by Mattel Films and the first live-action film based on the dolls. Oh, and it’s the No. 1 movie in the country, having grossed $495 million worldwide so far. Its opening last weekend was the highest-grossing opening ever for a movie directed by a woman and the highest-grossing opening ever for a movie based on a toy. Barbie is the sixth-highest grossing movie of 2023 so far.

And: Oppenheimer is the 12th film written and directed by Christopher Nolan. It is based on the biography of J. Robert Oppenheimer American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin, and it stars Cillian Murphy in the title role. It’s the No. 2 movie in the country. Its opening last weekend was the largest of Christopher Nolan’s career outside of his Batman films. Oppenheimer is three hours long, and IMAX prints of the film are reportedly 11 miles long and weigh 600 pounds.

GUESTS:

Rebecca Castellani: Co-founder of Quiet Corner Communications and a freelance writer
James Hanley: Co-founder of Cinestudio at Trinity College
Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Nobody Asked Shawn podcast
Carolyn Paine: An actress, comedian, and dancer; she is founder, director, and choreographer of CONNetic Dance

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J. Edgar Hoover served as the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations under eight Presidents, and made the FBI into the organization it is today. This hour, Beverly Gage, Yale historian and author of a Pulitzer-prize winning biography of Hoover, joins us to talk about Hoover’s life and legacy. Plus, we’ll talk about the status of the FBI today, and the lessons we can learn from Hoover’s example.

GUESTS:

Beverly Gage: Professor of 20th-Century U.S. History at Yale University. Her newest book, G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century, received the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Biography

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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It’s been more than a decade since Tom Cruise made a movie that did NOT make $100 million. The newest Mission: Impossible just opened at $235 million.

And yet. Didn’t we all decide not to like Tom Cruise anymore a long time ago?

This hour — in the fifth decade of his career, in the seventh (!) decade of his life, nearly two decades after Oprah’s couch — a look at the continued phenomenon that is Tom Cruise.

GUESTS:

Jim Chapdelaine: An Emmy-winning musician and a patient advocate for people with rare cancers
Taneisha Duggan: Associate producer at Octopus Theatricals
James Hanley: Co-founder of Cinestudio at Trinity College
Sam Hatch: Co-hosts The Culture Dogs on Sunday nights on WWUH
Rich Hollant: Principal at CO:LAB, founder of Free Center, and commissioner on cultural affairs for the city of Hartford
Jacques Lamarre: A playwright and chief communications officer at Buzz Engine
Ben Lindbergh: Senior editor at The Ringer
Stephanie Merry: Book World editor for The Washington Post
Bob Mondello: NPR’s senior arts critic
Carolyn Paine: An actress, comedian, and dancer; she is founder, director, and choreographer of CONNetic Dance
Julia Rosenblatt: A playwright, director, actor, theater educator, and co-founder of HartBeat Ensemble
Brian Slattery: Arts editor for the New Haven Independent
Pedro Soto: President and CEO of Hygrade Precision Technologies

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Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, Cat Pastor, Catie Talarski, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, parts of which originally aired April 27, 2017; August 3, 2018; March 6, 2019; January 15, 2021; August 26, 2022; and September 30, 2022, in a different form.

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This hour, novelist Joyce Maynard joins us again to talk about her latest novel, the blurring of life and fiction, and her new career running a hotel in Guatemala.

GUEST:

Joyce Maynard: Novelist whose latest book is The Bird Hotel

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GUESTS:

Lucy Foulkes: An academic psychologist at the University of Oxford and author of the book Losing Our Minds: The Challenge of Defining Mental Illness
Jessica Gold: Assistant Professor and the Director of Wellness, Engagement, and Outreach in the Department of Psychiatry at Washington University in Saint Louis School of Medicine. She works clinically as an outpatient psychiatrist, and writes about mental health for a variety of general audience publications
Inkoo Kang: The television critic at The New Yorker

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This week’s Nose wants its own water working.

Showing Up is the eighth feature film directed by Kelly Reichardt, and it’s Reichardt’s fourth collaboration with Michelle Williams. Williams plays a sculptor preparing to open a new show. Showing Up is a quintessential example of so-called “slow cinema.”

And: The Whale is the eighth feature film directed by Darren Aronofsky. Brendan Fraser won the Oscar for Best Actor for his performance as “a reclusive English teacher who attempts to reconnect with his estranged teenage daughter.”

GUESTS:

Susan Clinard: Owner of Clinard Sculpture Studio in Hamden, Connecticut
Bill Yousman: Professor of media studies at Sacred Heart University

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What if our ideas about how sleep should look are getting in the way of a good night's rest? This hour we talk about how we came to develop ideas of how, and how much, we should sleep. Plus, we'll compare how humans and animals sleep. And it turns out that some animals aren’t hibernating as well as they used to.

GUESTS:

Matthew Wolf-Meyer:Professor of Science and Technology Studies at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York. He is author of The Slumbering Masses: Sleep, Medicine, and Modern American Life, among other books
Gandhi Yetish:Human evolutionary ecologist and anthropologist who studies sleep patterns among small-scale subsistence societies
Cory Williams: Associate Professor in the Department of Biology at Colorado State University

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We’ve been doing these shows a couple times a month where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to spongy moths, white baseball caps, Hiram Bingham, Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 6 … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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This hour: recipes.

We talk with someone who makes recipes found on gravestones, and we consider what makes an effective recipe, the history of the modern recipe, and the art of the recipe introduction.

Plus, a look at the phenomenon of pop culture cookbooks.

GUESTS:

Dinah Bucholz: Author of The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook and The Unofficial Narnia Cookbook
Rosie Grant: Posts gravestone recipes and cemetery stories on her TikTok and Instagram
Francis Lam: Host of The Splendid Table and vice president and editor-in-chief at Clarkson Potter
Chandra Ram: Cookbook author, food writer, and associate editorial director of food for Food & Wine
Helen Zoe Veit: Associate professor of history at Michigan State University

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Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, and Jonathan McNicol contributed to this show, which originally aired November 22, 2022.

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This hour we get an update on the latest in the American conversation about the search for extraterrestrial life. This includes a conversation with journalist Leslie Kean, a check-in with the director of MUFON CT, and a discussion with astrophysicist Adam Frank about what we miss in space when we're focused on the objects we find here on earth.GUESTS:

Leslie Kean: Investigative journalist and author of UFOs: Generals, Pilots and Government Officials Go on the Record
Michael Panicello: State Director of Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) Connecticut Chapter
Adam Frank: The Helen F. and Fred H. Gowen Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at The University of Rochester. He is the author of the forthcoming book The Little Book of Aliens

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The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists has joined the Writers Guild of America on strike. It’s the first SAG strike since 1980 (which strike was largely about the oncoming home video boom). And it’s the first dual actors-writers strike since 1960 (when Ronald Reagan was president of SAG and the strike was mostly about residuals for movies licensed to television).

Also: The Emmy nominations are out.

And: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is the 32nd movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the second movie (of an expected seven) in the MCU’s Phase Five. It is written and directed by James Gunn, who has written and directed all three Guardians of the Galaxy movies, and who was fired and rehired during preproduction of Vol. 3 in 2018. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is the second-highest grossing movie of 2023 so far.

Taneisha Duggan’s endorsement:

Liturgy|Order|Bridge at Christ Church Cathedral in Hartford

Helder Mira’s endorsements:

Secret Invasion on Disney+
Connecticut’s state parks

Bill Yousman’s endorsements:

The Twittering Machine by Richard Seymour
Antisocial Media: How Facebook Disconnects Us and Undermines Democracy by Siva Vaidhyanathan

Colin’s endorsements:

The Town with Matthew Belloni
The Watch
the audiobook of Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane, as narrated by Robin Miles
the audiobook of Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver, as narrated by Charlie Thurston

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take:

We Had Relationship Therapists React To The Alleged Jonah Hill Texts To His Ex-Girlfriend, Sarah Brady “[It’s] not simply like, ‘This is a thing that I feel,’ but ‘This is the thing that I feel plus therapy has condoned this way of feeling.’”
The Twitter Watch Party Is Over Ten years after “Sharknado” spun Twitter and TV together, the online water cooler is running dry.
Kristen Bell Shared A Photo Of Her Friends Eating Dinner, And It’s The Most Intense Guest List Ever Thanks for the invite.
Ryan Murphy Muse David Corenswet Is Superman
Wait, Was Napoleon Hot? Ridley Scott’s new biopic certainly makes it seem like he was.
How to Write Music for Rolling Boulders
Harrison Ford and the Ravages of Time
Go Inside Stephen Sondheim’s $7M Manhattan Townhouse The East Midtown home features a music studio on the second floor with a “music library, wood-burning fireplace and baby grand piano.”
How Steven Soderbergh and Ed Solomon Straightened Out ‘Full Circle’ Their new crime thriller for Max is loaded with twists and layers. But it is actually much simpler than what they originally conceived.
Federal Reserve credits Taylor Swift with boosting hotel revenues through her blockbuster Eras Tour “Taylor Swift is a force to be reckoned with,” one local tourism official said, as the pop superstar draws legions of fans nationwide.

GUESTS:

Taneisha Duggan: Associate producer at Octopus Theatricals
Helder Mira: Multimedia producer at Trinity College and co-host of the So Pretentious podcast
Bill Yousman: Professor of media studies at Sacred Heart University

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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GUESTS:

Sarah Bakewell:Author of Humanly Possible: Seven Hundred Years of Humanist Freethinking, Inquiry and Hope, among other books
Greg Epstein: Author and Humanist Chaplain at Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he is also Convener for Ethical Life at the MIT Office of Religious, Spiritual, and Ethical Life

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Loneliness: it’s often cited as an “epidemic” and can have a health impact comparable to smoking 15 cigarettes a day. This hour, we’ll talk about what loneliness looks like in the brain and how public policy could affect our loneliness epidemic. Plus: a conversation with an expert on making friends as an adult!

GUESTS:

Chris Murphy: Democratic U.S. Senator for Connecticut
Elisa Baek: Assistant Professor of Psychology at USC Dornsife
Kat Vellos: Speaker, connection coach, and author of We Should Get Together: The Secret to Cultivating Better Friendships

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Whether we love or loathe our butt is deeply influenced by race, gender, and whether the shape and size of our butt is in or out of style.

This hour, a look “back” at the science, history, and culture of butts, including how they took on so much meaning beyond their basic function and why it’s so hard to find pants that fit.

GUESTS:

Alex Bartlett: Co-owner of Planet Pepper and a costume supervisor for television and theater
Vincent Cuccia: Co-owner of Planet Pepper; he teaches public relations at the City University of New York
Shomara Garcia: CEO and founder of Muneca Private Care Recovery Services and a licensed massage therapist
Heather Radke: Contributing editor and reporter at Radiolab and the author of Butts: A Backstory

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, Cat Pastor, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show, which originally aired December 20, 2022.

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This hour, a look at what’s going on with Twitter, and why it matters, even if you don’t use the platform. Plus, we discuss what this all means for the future of social media and the human archive.

GUESTS:

Shannon McGregor: Associate professor at the Hussman School of Journalism and Media, and a senior researcher with the Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Ethan Zuckerman: Associate professor of public policy, communication and information at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, author, and founder of the Initiative for Digital Public Infrastructure
William Kilbride: Executive Director of the Digital Preservation Coalition

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Asteroid City is Wes Anderson’s 11th feature film. It’s written and directed by Anderson from a story by Anderson and Roman Coppola. It’s a comedy-drama, sort of sci-fi thing with a play-within-a-TV-show-within-a-movie structure. The ensemble cast is predictably ridiculous and includes the likes of Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, and Adrien Brody, Liev Schreiber, and Hope Davis. There are more. I didn’t even mention Willem Dafoe or Steve Carell or Margot Robbie. Or others.

And: The OceanGate Titan disaster isn’t the sort of thing The Nose usually covers. But collective internet obsession is, and so The Nose is interested in the internet’s collective, dark, ongoing obsession with the OceanGate Titan disaster.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take:

America Is… What one piece of culture captures the true spirit of our country? We asked 17 columnists to find out.
The Case Against Travel It turns us into the worst version of ourselves while convincing us that we’re at our best.
How Review-Bombing Can Tank a Book Before It’s Published The website Goodreads has become an essential avenue for building readership, but the same features that help generate excitement can also backfire.
If you love film, you should be worried about what’s going on at Turner Classic Movies
Turner Classic Movies Is a National Treasure The channel has an astounding degree of control over a crucial part of American cinema. It should become a public resource available to all.
Want to suffer Hollywood’s wrath? Mess with TCM, you dirty rats! Few things are sacrosanct in streaming TV’s chaotic revolution. But as Warner Bros. Discovery’s top exec recently learned, Turner Classic Movies is still zealously protected.
This Broadcast TV Genre Continues to Thrive. (What Are Game Shows?) “Wheel of Fortune,” “Jeopardy!” and “Family Feud” continue to attract big audiences even as streaming upends viewing habits.
Fifty Years of Hip-Hop in a World That Could Not Exist Without It The musical genre of sociopolitical change, cultural transformation, excess, and fabulousness enters its next half century.
Virginia Woolf classic joins growing list with ‘ludicrous’ trigger warnings To the Lighthouse from 1927 now carries warning that the book ‘reflects the attitudes of its time’
It’s Getting Hard to Stage a School Play Without Political Drama At a time when lawmakers and parents are seeking to restrict what can and cannot be taught in classrooms, many teachers are seeing efforts to limit what can be staged in their auditoriums.
A ‘Cage Match’ Between Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg May Be No Joke Talks over a matchup between the two tech billionaires have progressed and the parameters of an event are taking shape.
GQ Editor Who Pulled Critical David Zaslav Story Is Producing Movie for Warner Bros.

GUESTS:

David Edelstein: America’s Greatest Living Film Critic
Sam Hadelman: Works in music public relations and hosts The Sam Hadelman Show at Radio Free Brooklyn
Carolyn Paine: An actress, comedian, and dancer; she is founder, director, and choreographer of CONNetic Dance

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Why do humans cry? This hour we look at the science of crying and discuss what it does for us, emotionally and culturally. We'll also talk with musician Dar Williams about why some songs make us cry. And we investigate "crocodile tears" with a crocodile biologist.

GUESTS:

Benjamin Perry: Minister at Middle Church, and author of Cry, Baby: Why Our Tears Matter
Dar Williams: Singer-songwriter
Kent Vliet: Recently retired from his position as Coordinator of Laboratories at the University of Florida. He is an expert in crocodilian biology

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, Stacey Addo, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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What does reading sound like? Is it silent? Or does it make noise? This hour is all about reading out loud — we’ll hear about the history of the practice and talk to people who make reading expressive, communal, and loud.

GUESTS:

Alberto Manguel: Director of Lisbon’s Center for Research into the History of Reading
Robin Miles: Hall of Fame audiobook narrator who’s garnered the industry’s top honors, as well as a producer, director, teacher, and actor for theater, television, films, and museums
Brooke Steinhauser: Programs Director at the Emily Dickinson Museum in Amherst, MA.
Drew John Ladd: Blogger, activist, and the author of Wolfsong, Beloved
Dennis Dunan: Lecturer in English at University College London
Taneisha Duggan: Director, producer, arts consultant, and an artist working at the crossroads of performance and creative leadership
Chion Wolf: Host of Audacious on CT Public

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These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we’re doing another one.

In other words: Give us a call during the 1 p.m. EDT hour about whatever you want to talk about. 888–720–9677.‌ Or join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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The Nose is off this week. In its place: Why do we have so much trouble remembering all the TV we watch?

This hour, a look at why episode recaps are so popular, what makes them so useful, and what their prevalence can tell us about the current TV landscape.

Plus: the evolution of the “previously on” television recap sequence.

GUESTS:

Wilma Bainbridge: Assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at The University of Chicago
Alison Herman: Television critic for The Ringer
Genevieve Koski: Senior TV editor for New York magazine
Jason Mittell: Professor of film and media culture at Middlebury College

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired January 5, 2023.

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This hour, we’re celebrating things that are so bad, they’re good — the underdog ideas that fail so hard, they become successes. We’ll talk about contests that give awards for bad writing, perfumes that smell like animal butts, and a happy marriage that started with a comically awful first date.

Plus: a chance to vote on what "bad" show idea we should produce next!

To enter our contest or vote on the upcoming episode, email colinshow@ctpublic.org.

GUESTS:

Adam Cadre: Writer in a wide variety of media who created the Lyttle Lytton Contest in 2001
Haldane King: Science writer and air quality researcher
Katy Kelleher: Author of The Ugly History of Beautiful Things
Betsy Kaplan: Senior producer emeritus for The Colin McEnroe Show
Jennifer LaRue: Freelance producer for The Colin McEnroe Show
Carolyn McCusker: Producer of this very episode of The Colin McEnroe Show
Jonathan McNicol: Producer for The Colin McEnroe Show
Lily Tyson: Senior producer for The Colin McEnroe Show

Colin McEnroe, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show. Thanks to scent consultant Tracy Wan.

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Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Has everything original been done?

It’s a question that’s been asked about storytelling, music, fine art, movies, and so much more.

This hour, we attempt to answer that question and discover if everything has already been done.

Along the way, we explore the idea of originality and our tolerance for novelty and talk to artists who are reckoning with these questions.

GUESTS:

Martha Buskirk: Professor of art history and criticism at Montserrat College of Art and author of Is It Ours? Art, Copyright, and Public Interest, among other books
Jill Magid: Artist, writer, and filmmaker
Kirby Ferguson: Filmmaker and a creator of the Everything Is a Remix series
Brian Slattery: Arts editor for the New Haven Independent

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired December 8, 2022.

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Ethics and the Supreme Court are back (still?) in the news and in question. This hour, we are revisiting a show we did just over a year ago around the leaked draft of the Dobbs decision. In it we look at how the Supreme Court got so much power, why we have nine justices, how journalists cover the court, and the viability of proposed potential reforms.

GUESTS:

Akhil Reed Amar: Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale University, and author of The Words That Made Us: America’s Constitutional Conversation, 1760-1840, among other books.
Emily Bazelon: Lecturer in Law, Senior Research Scholar in Law, and a Truman Capote Fellow at Yale Law School, a staff writer at the New York Times Magazine, and a co-host of the Slate Political Gabfest.
David Folkenflik: NPR’s media correspondent.
Tara Leigh Grove: Professor at the University of Alabama School of Law, who was a member of the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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This hour: spelling — what it is, why it matters, and why some of us actually find it fun.

There will be a test.

GUESTS:

Deb Amlen: Crossword columnist and senior staff editor of the crossword column Wordplay for The New York Times
Richard Gentry: Education consultant and the author, most recently, of the Spelling Connectionsseries
Peter Sokolowski: Editor at large at Merriam-Webster and a member of the Word Panel for the Scripps National Spelling Bee

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Taylor Doyle, Jacob Gannon, Jonathan McNicol, Cat Pastor, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show, which originally aired December 6, 2022.

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Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is the second movie in the Spider-Verse film series and the 14th (not a typo) Spider-Man feature film. It has made more than half a billion dollars worldwide, and it is the fourth-highest grossing movie of 2023 so far. A third Spider-Verse movie, Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, is expected to come out next year, and a Spider-Woman spinoff film is in development.

And: “Whether you have spent the past decade and a half avoiding Marvel movies like scabies or are in so deep that you can expound on the Sokovia Accords, it is impossible to escape the films’ intergalactic reach,” according to Michael Schulman in The New Yorker. And it’s hard to argue that he’s wrong. The Nose looks at “How the Marvel Cinematic Universe Swallowed Hollywood.”

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take:

Sheldon Harnick, ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ Lyricist, Dies at 99 His collaborations with the composer Jerry Bock also included “Fiorello!” — which, like “Fiddler,” was a Tony winner — and “She Loves Me.”
Young People Have No Idea What We Used to Do After Work. Let Me Regale You. “I never knew what time it was, so I was constantly buying watches and losing them.”
Pixar’s ‘Elemental’ Falls Flat, Adding to Worries About the Brand The original animated film took in $29.5 million at the box office, by far the worst opening in Pixar’s three-decade history. “The Flash,” from Warner Bros., also struggled.
The Troubling Pixar Paradox Recent misses and low expectations for ‘Elemental’ beg the question: Has Pixar lost its magic touch? Perhaps the answer is that original animation is now a smaller business—one that can’t necessarily support the unique culture and $200 million budgets that made Pixar great in the first place.
Pixar Boss Pete Docter Says the Studio ‘Trained’ Families to Expect Disney+ Debuts, ‘Elemental’ Buzz at Cannes Was ‘Confusing’
Richard Kind Just Doesn’t Want to Be Left Out Maybe that’s why everyone in Hollywood has this master of comedy and tragedy on speed dial.
Apple Is Taking On Apples in a Truly Weird Trademark Battle Apple, the company, wants rights to the image of apples, the fruit, in Switzerland—one of dozens of countries where it’s flexing its legal muscles.
The 100 Most Significant Political Films of All Time Not “best.” Not “favorite.” Not “most likable.” Most significant. Some are obvious. Some obscure. A few will be controversial. Let the debate begin.
Come for the Broadcast, Stay for the Mets Game SNY already had some of the best announcers in baseball. John DeMarsico, the network’s director, has made every game feel like a trip to the movies.

GUESTS:

Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Nobody Asked Shawn podcast
Tracy Wu Fastenberg: Development officer at Connecticut Children’s
Bill Yousman: Professor of media studies at Sacred Heart University

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Today, a look at our never-ending quest to escape contagion. We also talk about the myth of ‘Patient Zero’ and a lunar pandemic that never happened.

GUESTS:

Richard Conniff is a National Magazine Award-winning writer for Smithsonian magazine, National Geographic, and other publications. He’s also a former Guggenheim Fellow. His most recent book is Ending Epidemics: A History of Escape From Contagion.
Leyla Mei is a New York City-based writer and medical historian. She has a PhD in American history and writes about disease, risk and race.
Dagomar DeGroot is an associate professor of environmental history at Georgetown University. His work has appeared in Aeon magazine, The Conversation, and The Washington Post, among other outlets. His most recent book, Ripples in the Cosmic Ocean: An Environmental History of Humanity's Place in the Solar System, will be published in 2024.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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This hour we take your calls about anything you want to talk about. You can reach us by calling 888-720-9677.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today.

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The botched Watergate break-in happened 51 years ago today, on June 17, 1972.

Over the decades since, the whole Watergate story has been processed through our popular culture over and over again, from Alan J. Pakula’s classic movie of All the President’s Men through HBO’s recent limited series White House Plumbers.

This hour, a look at both of those versions, plus we talk to writer Thomas Mallon about adapting the story as a novel and the late actor Hal Holbrook about playing Deep Throat.

GUESTS:

Jim Chapdelaine: An Emmy-winning musician and a patient advocate for people with rare cancers
Ann Hornaday: Chief film critic for The Washington Post and the author of Talking Pictures: How to Watch Movies
Hal Holbrook: Was a film, television, and stage actor
Thomas Mallon: A critic and the author of many novels, including Watergate: A Novel
Irene Papoulis: Teaches writing at Trinity College

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Anya Grondalski, Betsy Kaplan, Cat Pastor, Catie Talarski, Lily Tyson, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, parts of which originally aired August 6, 2014; February 4, 2015; June 15, 2022; and June 2, 2023, in a different form.

Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today.

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This week’s Nose thinks that a semicolon is worth fighting a civil war about.

Turn Every Page: The Adventures of Robert Caro and Robert Gottlieb is a 2022 documentary directed by Lizzie Gottlieb. We decided late Monday or early Tuesday — kind of randomly, to be honest — that we wanted to talk about this movie this week. And then Robert Gottlieb died on Wednesday. The Nose feels vaguely, cosmically responsible. On the other hand, we’re glad we get to talk about Gottlieb at length this hour.

And: “The Binge Purge” is a nearly 6,000-word New York magazine feature on TV’s broken streaming model and what the hell Hollywood can possibly do about it. The Nose has thoughts.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take:

Cormac McCarthy, Novelist of a Darker America, Is Dead at 89 “All the Pretty Horses,” “The Road” and “No Country for Old Men” were among his acclaimed books that explore a bleak world of violence and outsiders.
Glenda Jackson, Oscar-Winning Actress Turned Politician, Dies at 87 She walked away from a successful acting career to enter the British Parliament, before returning to the stage as the title character in an acclaimed “King Lear.”
Treat Williams, Actor Known for ‘Hair’ and ‘Everwood,’ Dies at 71 His many other roles included a detective turned informant in “Prince of the City.” He was killed in a motorcycle accident in Vermont.
Pat Sajak, host of ‘Wheel of Fortune,’ says 41st season will be his last
10 of the Most Valuable Cassette Tapes From the ‘80s and ‘90s
The Startling Intimacy of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour Even addressing a stadium of seventy thousand people, the singer seems to be speaking directly to you, confessing something urgent.
Paul McCartney Used AI to Purify John Lennon’s Voice on Upcoming ‘Last Beatles Record’: AI ‘Is Kind of Scary, but Exciting Because It’s the Future’
This alien ocean is the first known to have all elements crucial for life The subsurface waters on an icy moon of Saturn appear to contain the ingredients needed for ‘habitability’

GUESTS:

Illeana Douglas: The Official Movie Star of The Colin McEnroe Show
Gene Seymour: A “writer, professional spectator, pop-culture maven, and jazz geek”
Lindsay Lee Wallace: Writes about culture, health care and health equity, and other stuff, too

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We have so much on our minds that we couldn’t pick one topic for today — we’re going with three! Strap in.

First: a failed bill from the 1900s that proposed hippopotamus ranching in the U.S.

Then: an initiative to save humanity by storing poop in a vault

And finally: orcas teaching each other to sink boats.

GUESTS:

Dr. Shoshi Parks: freelance writer
Dr. Maria Gloria Dominguez-Bello:Professor at Rutgers University and President of The Microbiota Vault
Monika Wieland Shields:Co-founder and Director of the Orca Behavior Institute and author of Endangered Orcas: The Story of the Southern Residents

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We’ve done this show every year (except 2012) since 2011. (We maybe even did it in 2010. We probably did. I just can’t prove it.)

So it’s a bit of a tradition. It’s a tradition that… makes some people angry, we realize.

And that has a lot to do with how we define the term ‘song of the summer.’ We use the Amanda Dobbins definition:

Let’s be clear about how this works: There is no such thing as a ‘personal’ song of summer. We do not anoint multiple songs of summer. There can only be one; the Song of Summer, by its very definition, is a consensus choice. It is the song that wrecks wedding dance floors. It is the song that you and your mother begrudgingly agree on (even though your mom has no idea what rhymes with ‘hug me’ and won’t stop yelling it in public). It does not necessarily have to hit No. 1 on the charts, but it should probably be on the charts because it must be widely played. It must bring people together. It must be a shared enthusiasm.

So it’s our job here to figure out what song from 2023 will get added to the long list of song of the summer classics like “Party Rock Anthem,” “Call Me Maybe,” “Despacito,” and “Blurred Lines.”

And if we’re wrong, well, it really just won’t matter at all.

GUESTS:

Sam Hadelman: Works in music public relations and hosts The Sam Hadelman Show at Radio Free Brooklyn
Brendan Jay Sullivan: A writer, producer, and DJ
Cassie Willson: A comedian and musician

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today.

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Countless books, movies, and TV shows explore time travel. This hour, a look at the hold that time travel has on pop culture and the philosophy, ethics, and science of time travel.

Plus, we hear from an author about how to create and utilize rules of time travel in fiction and the idea of memory as time travel.

GUESTS:

Sara Bernstein: The R.L. Canala College Professor of Philosophy at The University of Notre Dame
Amanda Gefter: MIT Knight Science Journalism Fellow and the author of Trespassing on Einstein’s Lawn
Emma Straub: The author of This Time Tomorrow, now out in paperback

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Taylor Doyle, Jacob Gannon, Jonathan McNicol, Cat Pastor, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired November 17, 2022.

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This hour we take your calls about anything you want to talk about.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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Colin is off this week, so we decided to do a Nose without him — and a Nose all about stuff Colin doesn’t care about: video games and things video games-adjacent. Comedian Shawn Murray guest hosts.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie is the highest-grossing movie of 2023, the highest-grossing video game adaptation ever made, and the third-highest-grossing animated movie of all-time. None of that, of course, means it’s particularly good.

And: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Wild is the 20th entry in the main Legend of Zelda series of video games dating back to 1986. It is the second Zelda game for the Nintendo Switch, and a direct sequel to 2017’s Breath of the Wild. Tears of the Kingdom came out last month and reportedly sold 10 million copies in its first three days of release. It’s the fastest-selling Nintendo game in the Americas — ever. Oh, and it’s already showing up in discussions of the greatest video games ever made.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take:

Taylor Swift And Matty Healy Have Reportedly Broken Up Best believe she’s still bejeweled.
How the Marvel Cinematic Universe Swallowed Hollywood Robert Redford, Gwyneth Paltrow, Paul Rudd, and Angela Bassett now disappear into movies whose plots can come down to “Keep glowy thing away from bad guy.”
The Binge Purge TV’s streaming model is broken. It’s also not going away. For Hollywood, figuring that out will be a horror show.
Why Is Everyone Watching TV With the Subtitles On? It’s not just you.
‘Perry Mason’ Canceled By HBO After 2 Seasons
A ‘Crown Jewel of Comedy’: The Joan Rivers Card Catalog of Jokes Finds a Home Take a look at some of the artifacts from her archive, which includes 65,000 cross-referenced gags and is headed to the National Comedy Center.
Kylie Jenner Casually Pulled Out A $40,000 Rolex During A “What’s In My Bag” Video, And People Have Thoughts The post just called me broke.
How to Talk to Your Child About Minesweeper
This Sandwich Is Due to Go Viral Any Second The absurd moo yong sandwich is just what the internet craves. Why haven’t we heard more about it?

GUESTS:

Carolyn Paine: An actress, comedian, and dancer; she is founder, director, and choreographer of CONNetic Dance
Brian Slattery: Arts editor for the New Haven Independent
Pedro Soto: President and CEO of Hygrade Precision Technologies
Bill Yousman: Professor of media studies at Sacred Heart University

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Shawn Murray contributed to this show.

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You must have heard the term “vibe” by now, right?

We’ve heard about the vibe of the economy, the vibe of a music playlist, the vibe of a season, the vibe of a party … Plus there are vibe shifts and vibe checks.

This hour: vibes. We learn what the word really means, where it comes from, and how the internet has given it new life.

GUESTS:

Kyle Chayka: Contributing writer for The New Yorker covering technology and culture on the Internet
Robin James: Editor for philosophy and music at Palgrave Macmillan
Eda Uzunlar: Freelance journalist and student at Yale University
Ben Zimmer: Linguist, lexicographer, and the Word on the Street columnist for The Wall Street Journal

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Taylor Doyle, Jacob Gannon, Jonathan McNicol, Cat Pastor, and Catie Talarski contributed to this show, which originally aired November 15, 2022.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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From San Francisco’s iconic fog and COVID-related brain fog to a location-tracking program called Fog Reveal, this hour, we lift the fog on all kinds of fog.

GUESTS:

Travis O’Brien: Professor of Earth and atmospheric sciences at Indiana University
Javeed Sukhera: Chair of psychiatry at the Institute of Living and chief of psychiatry at Hartford Hospital
Anne Toomey McKenna: Visiting professor of law at the University of Richmond School of Law

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, Cat Pastor, Dylan Reyes, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show, which originally aired November 1, 2022.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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Mysteries have been popular for centuries. This hour we ask: Why are we drawn to this genre?

Plus, a look at television detectives and true crime podcasts.

GUESTS:

Martin Edwards: Author of The Life of Crime: Detecting the History of Mysteries and Their Creators
Alexandra Petri: Columnist for The Washington Post and the author of Alexandra Petri’s US History: Important American Documents (I Made Up)
Nick Quah: Podcast critic for Vulture and New York Magazine
Gene Seymour: A “writer, professional spectator, pop-culture maven, and jazz geek”

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired October 18, 2022.

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This hour, humorist and The New Yorker columnist Andy Borowitz on his book Profiles in Ignorance, which explains how our nation’s elected leaders have grown dumb — and dumber.

GUEST:

Andy Borowitz: Writes The Borowitz Report; his latest book is Profiles in Ignorance: How America’s Politicians Got Dumb and Dumber

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, Cat Pastor, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show, which originally aired September 13, 2022.

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There’s been a changing of the guard, a succession, if you will, in prestige TV (or whatever). In the span of five days, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel ended after five seasons, Succession ended after four seasons, Barry ended after four seasons, and Ted Lasso (maybe? probably? seemingly?) ended after three seasons. Those four shows have been nominated for the Emmy for Outstanding Comedy or Drama Series a total of 12 times, and they’ve won those top awards five times. So far. TV is different now, we think, is the point.

And: White House Plumbers is a five-part HBO miniseries based on Egil “Bud” Krogh’s Watergate memoir. It tells the bumbling story of the bumbling lead up to the bumbled burglary and stars Woody Harrelson, Justin Theroux, Lena Headey, Domhnall Gleeson and an ensemble cast.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take:

The Matty Healy, Ice Spice (and Taylor Swift) drama, explained Healy, who is rumored to be dating Swift, faced backlash over comments he made about the rapper Ice Spice
Max streaming service says it will restore writer and director credits after outcry
Broadway Musicians Object to David Byrne’s ‘Here Lies Love’ The show plans to use recorded music instead of a live band, but a labor union says its contract for the theater requires musicians for musicals.
‘Oppenheimer’ Earns R Rating, Imax Film Prints Are 11 Miles Long and Weigh 600 Pounds
How to Hire a Pop Star for Your Private Party For the very rich, even the world’s biggest performers—Beyoncé, Drake, Jennifer Lopez, Andrea Bocelli—are available, at a price.
We’re All Bored of Culture Anglo-Calvinist moralism has turned the American arts into something strenuously polite and deadly dull
Soft Pants: The Postpandemic Benefit That’s Here to Stay
Should we know where our friends are at all times? “I love you, now let me watch your location 24/7.”
Die-Hards Still Mailing Newspaper Clips to Family and Friends Some people still deliver news, tips and the occasional obituary to their grown children using scissors, stamps and envelopes; ‘Sometimes they chuckle at me, which is fine’
Searching for Meg White It’s been over a decade since we’ve heard from the elusive White Stripes drummer. Could renewed attention over a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nomination coax her back into the spotlight?
Letterboxd Unboxed: How a Grassroots Social Network Is Revolutionizing Film Fandom
‘The Larry Sanders Show’ was a sitcom that changed sitcoms Actors, writers and directors remember the highs and lows of making the seminal ’90s series, which aired for the last time 25 years ago this week

GUESTS:

Jim Chapdelaine: An Emmy-winning musician and a patient advocate for people with rare cancers
Sam Hadelman: Works in music public relations and hosts The Sam Hadelman Show at Radio Free Brooklyn
Irene Papoulis: Teaches writing at Trinity College
James Poniewozik: The chief television critic for The New York Times

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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GUESTS:

Olivia Waite:The New York Times Book Review’s romance fiction columnist who writes queer and historical romance, fantasy, and critical essays on the genre’s history and future
Jason Rogers:Olympic medalist, journalist covering masculinity, and the founder of a now-defunct romance book club for men
Tony Horvath:Creative director for the long-time romance-novel publisher Harlequin, where he oversees production of about 80 book covers a month

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GUESTS:

Gregory Gbur: Author of Invisibility: The History and Science of How Not To Be Seen, and a Professor of Physics and Optical Science at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Lisa Yaszek: Regents Professor of Science Fiction Studies in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication at Georgia Tech
Sophia Brueckner: Futurist artist, designer and engineer, Associate Professor at the School of Art and Design, and Co-Director of the Center for Ethics, Society, and Computing at the University of Michigan

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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This hour, an invention that transformed care for traumatic injuries. Charles Barber’s new book, In The Blood: How Two Outsiders Solved a Centuries-Old Medical Mystery and Took on the US Army, details how Frank Hursey discovered that a mineral called zeolite could help stop excessive bleeding, and the challenge he and his partner, Bart Gullong, faced in getting the invention to take hold in trauma care.

GUESTS:

Charles Barber: Nonfiction author, Writer in Residence at Wesleyan University, and Lecturer in Psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine. His new book is In The Blood: How Two Outsiders Solved a Centuries-Old Medical Mystery and Took on the US Army
Bart Gullong: Co-founder and former CEO of Z-Medica, who worked to get QuickClot widely adopted
Frank Hursey: Founder of On-Site Gas, Co-Founder of Z-Medica, and the inventor of QuickClot

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Eugene Amatruda contributed to this show.

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For this week’s Nose, the straightness is the difficulty of the lack of a bend.

Last week, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled against the Andy Warhol Foundation, saying that Warhol could not use a photographer’s portrait of Prince as the basis of his own image of Prince. In her dissent, Justice Elena Kagan writes that the ruling, “will impede new art and music and literature. It will thwart the expression of new ideas and the attainment of new knowledge. It will make our world poorer.”

And: Jury Duty is “a documentary-style comedy series that chronicles the inner workings of an American jury trial through the eyes of one particular juror.” The catch is that that one particular juror doesn’t know that everyone else involved is an actor, and the whole trial is fake. Eight half-hour (!) episodes of Jury Dutyare available to stream on Amazon FreeVee.

Carolyn Paine’s endorsement:

The Comeback on Max

Mercy Quaye’s endorsement:

When the Heavens Went on Sale: Misfits and Geniuses Racing to Put Space Within Reach by Ashlee Vance

Bill Yousman’s endorsements:

The Guest by Emma Cline
Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane

Colin’s endorsement:

Tina Turner

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take:

Tina Turner, Queen of Rock & Roll, Dead at 83 Legendary singer “died peacefully” Wednesday after a long illness
Helmut Berger, Actor Known for His Work With Visconti, Dies at 78 He first made his mark in “The Damned” as a character one critic said personified “the outright perversion” of Nazism. He and the director became lovers.
I swear, our profane society is a disgrace
‘Caligula’ Director Tinto Brass Slams ‘Caligula – The Ultimate Cut’ Screening in Cannes, Says He Is Taking Legal Action Against Penthouse Films
The looming existential crisis for cable news The number of cable subscribers, dropping for years, just took a record-breaking plunge. Sooner or later, it will hurt news channels’ bottom line.
Is E.T. Eavesdropping on Our Phone Calls? Cell phone towers leak radio waves into space, but they’ll be tough for aliens to detect
The First Social-Media Babies Are Growing Up—And They’re Horrified How would you feel if millions of people watched your childhood tantrums?
Natalie Portman Called Out The Double Standards Women Face At Cannes A Day Before Jennifer Lawrence Was Critiqued For Wearing Flip Flops On The Red Carpet Instead Of Heels “The expectations are different on you all the time, and it affects how you behave — whether you’re buying into it, whether you’re rejecting it, or whether you’re doing something in between.”
How Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer Recreated A Nuclear Explosion Without Using CGI
How to Quit Cars They crowd streets, belch carbon, bifurcate communities, and destroy the urban fabric. Will we ever overcome our addiction?
Surgeon General Warns That Social Media May Harm Children and Adolescents The report by Dr. Vivek Murthy cited a “profound risk of harm” to adolescent mental health and urged families to set limits and governments to set tougher standards for use.
Max Announces an Expanded Roster of 4K Programming Available To Stream on Its Ultimate Ad-Free Tier on May 23
Netflix begins its password sharing crackdown in the US and global markets
BuzzFeed cooks up new AI-powered recipe generator, Botatouille Artificial ‘culinary companion’ will suggest meals based on what you have in your refrigerator and has a chatbot feature
Against the Cult of “Sticking the Landing” The ‘Succession’ finale may be great—or it may be deflating. But it likely doesn’t matter either way. A TV show is mostly remembered for what happens before the finale, not during it.
Barbiemania! Margot Robbie Opens Up About the Movie Everyone’s Waiting For
Puritanism took over online fandom — and then came for the rest of the internet Puriteens, anti-fans, and the culture war’s most bonkers battleground.
Where have all the Disney villains gone? The live-action Little Mermaid is a reminder of what movies like Encanto and Frozen II don’t have: a bad guy.

GUESTS:

Carolyn Paine: An actress, comedian, and dancer, and she is founder, director, and choreographer of CONNetic Dance
Mercy Quaye: Founder and principal consultant for The Narrative Project
Bill Yousman: Professor of media studies at Sacred Heart University

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Eugene Amatruda contributed to this show.

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The writer and public intellectual Martin Amis died May 19. He was 73.

Amis broke into the literary scene in the 1970s, and by the time his London trilogy — Money, London Fields, and The Information — came out in the 1980s and 1990s, people had started to think of him as “the author” and “the standard for authorhood.”

This hour, an appreciation of Martin Amis and a look back at his 2018 appearance on this show.

GUESTS:

Martin Amis: The author of 15 novels, two short story collections, a memoir, and seven books of nonfiction
Dan Kois: An editor and writer at Slate and cohost of the podcast The Martin Chronicles; his most recent book is the novel Vintage Contemporaries

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Cat Pastor, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, parts of which originally aired in a different form March 8, 2018.

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In record producer and neuroscientist Susan Rogers’s This Is What It Sounds Like: What the Music You Love Says About You, she writes, “The music that delivers the maximum gratification to you is determined by seven influential dimensions of musical listening.” Those seven dimensions are authenticity, realism, novelty, melody, lyrics, rhythm, and timbre.

This hour, we talk with Rogers about some of those seven dimensions, the role of the listener in music, and why we are drawn to some songs and not others.

GUEST:

Susan Rogers: Multi-platinum record producer, cognitive neuroscientist, and co-author of This Is What It Sounds Like: What the Music You Love Says About You

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired October 15, 2022.

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We’ve been doing these shows a couple times a month where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to a bit of trivia about the John Wayne version of True Grit, paupers and banking in the 1840s, the draft, job descriptions for politicians, prejudices against classic rock … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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This week’s Nose got a couple other cans, ya know, and came back and switched the labels and the cans around.

Plus: A look at the value and the art of rewatching and rewatchability.

Raquel Benedict’s endorsements:

Helpmeet by Naben Ruthnum
Nocebo on Shudder

Helder Mira’s endorsements:

Hawkeye by Fraction and Aja
Jury Duty on Freevee
Documentary Now! Season 4 on Netflix

Gene Seymour’s endorsements:

Emerald City Nights: Live at the Penthouse by Ahmad Jamal
Ain’t But a Few of Us: Black Music Writers Tell Their Story edited by Willard Jenkins

Colin’s endorsement:

The Battered Bastards of Baseball on Netflix

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take:

Doyle Brunson, the ‘Godfather of Poker,’ has died at 89
End of a love affair: AM radio is being removed from many cars Ford, BMW, Volkswagen, Tesla and other automakers are eliminating AM radio from some new vehicles, stirring protests against the loss of a medium that has shaped American life for a century
Tony Awards Broadcast Can Proceed After Striking Writers’ Union Agrees The Tony Awards, a key marketing opportunity for Broadway, can go ahead in an altered form after the striking screenwriters’ union said it would not picket this year’s broadcast.
TV Isn’t About to Get Worse. It Already Is. The problems that Hollywood’s writers are protesting can be seen on our screens.
YouTube Bringing Unskippable 30-Second Ads To The Living Room
Supreme Court Rules Against Andy Warhol in Copyright Case The question for the justices was whether the artist was free to use elements of a rock photographer’s portrait of the musician Prince.
ESPN Plans to Stream Flagship Channel, Eyeing Cable TV’s Demise Internal project code-named ‘Flagship’ lays out shift in coming years, as talks with leagues and cable partners have begun
At 81, Martha Stewart lands ‘historic’ Sports Illustrated Swimsuit cover “The whole aging thing is so boring," Stewart proclaimed.
Meghan Markle And Prince Harry Released A Statement After Escaping A “Near Catastrophic Car Chase” With Paparazzi “This relentless pursuit, lasting over two hours, resulted in multiple near collisions involving other drivers on the road, pedestrians, and two NYPD officers."
Montana becomes first US state to ban TikTok Greg Gianforte, the governor, signed legislation prohibiting mobile app stores from offering the video-sharing platform by next year
Disney’s Expensive ‘Star Wars’ Galactic Starcruiser Hotel to Close After Less Than Two Years The immersive and pricy hotel in Florida is being sent to a galaxy far, far away.
Limiting what novelists can write about won’t help readers
An influencer’s AI clone will be your girlfriend for $1 a minute CarynAI is the first AI companion product from a new startup called Forever Voices, allowing users to chat with a digital version of the fastest growing Snapchat star
Arnold Schwarzenegger Gets Candid on Career, Failures, Aging: “My Plan Is to Live Forever” The action icon — set to make his series TV debut in Netflix’s ‘FUBAR’ — sounds off on his ‘Terminator’ and ‘Conan’ futures, identity politics and why emotions are overrated: “We have to work our ass off and stop worrying about feelings.”
The Dave Matthews Guide to Living and Dying The troubadour of mellow vibes has been one of the biggest acts in music for three decades. Now 56, Matthews has been singing about mortality for a long time, and he’s confronting its specter in new and surprising ways.
A Few Thoughts on Quentin Tarantino’s Plan to Retire The director has said that his tenth film will be his last. What does this mean for his cinematic legacy?
The 23 Best ’90s Movies
Once is enough: 18 movies you’ll never want to rewatch They may be beautifully shot, brilliantly acted, thought-provoking films, but you’re not going to reach for them again on movie night
How to Spin Bad News, Featuring Jonathan Majors and Johnny Depp
This Viral Debate Over Young Al Pacino And Robert De Niro’s Hotness Has Caused Me To Rethink Everything If you’re on Twitter, you may have seen it; if you’re not, prepare for the most important debate of your life.

GUESTS:

Raquel Benedict: The most dangerous woman in speculative fiction and the host of the Rite Gud podcast
Helder Mira: Multimedia producer at Trinity College and co-host of the So Pretentious podcast
Gene Seymour: A “writer, professional spectator, pop-culture maven, and jazz geek”

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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GUESTS:

Helen Pilcher: a science and comedy writer with a PhD in cell biology who wrote Bring Back the King: The New Science of De-extinction
Ben Lamm: CEO of the de-extinction company Colossal, which he co-founded with George Church.
Carlos de la Rosa: President and CEO of the Center for Plant Conservation

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With Succession, Ted Lasso, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and Barry all coming to a close within the span of a week, it’s time for an hour on endings. We look at the art of the ending, wonder what makes a satisfying ending in literature and TV and music, and ponder how we know it’s time to let a thing come to an end.

GUESTS:

Jen Chaney: TV critic at Vulture and New York Magazine, and author of As If! The Oral History of Clueless
Geoff Dyer: Author of The Last Days of Roger Federer: And Other Endings, among other books
Rebecca Makkai: Author of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award Finalist The Great Believers, among other books. Her newest book is I Have Some Questions For You. She is Artistic Director of StoryStudio Chicago
Susan Rogers: Multi-platinum record producer, cognitive neuroscientist, professor at Berklee College of Music and co-author of the book This is What It Sounds Like: What the Music You Love Says About You

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The purpose of incarceration in America is supposed to be a balance between punishment and reform, with the scales tipping toward reforms that can lead to redemption and a second chance after release. But that’s not been the experience of many currently and formerly incarcerated people.

Incarcerated influencers are sharing a view of prison life through TikTok videos, podcasts, and journalism that shows a more nuanced look at prison life, including the network of support, friendships, and mentors the incarcerated share with one another in the absence of significant reform.

The content challenges misperceptions about incarceration that are often depicted in popular culture, and it exposes the lack of formal opportunities available to help the incarcerated prepare for life after release.

GUESTS:

Emily Bazelon: Staff writer for The New York Times Magazine and the co-host of the Slate Political Gabfest; she recently started The Prison Letters Project
Robin Kaiser-Schatzlein: A freelance writer who writes about American life for numerous publications including The New York Times, The New Republic, and The Baffler
John J. Lennon: An incarcerated journalist writing from Sullivan Correctional Facility; he is a contributing editor at Esquire magazine and a frequent contributor to The New York Times
Justin Paperny: A prison consultant, the co-founder of White Collar Advice and Prison Professors, and the author of Lessons from Prison

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, Cat Pastor, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show, which originally aired September 26, 2022.

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GUESTS:

Mary-Jane Rubenstein: Professor of Religion and Science in Society at Wesleyan University. She is the author of Astrotopia: The Dangerous Religion of the Corporate Space Race, among other books
Vanessa Zoltan: An atheist chaplain, co-host of the podcasts “Harry Potter and The Sacred Text,” “Hot & Bothered,” and “Should I Quit,” and author of Praying with Jane Eyre: Reflections on Reading as a Sacred Practice
Mark Miller: Lecturer in Sacred Music at Yale’s Institute of Sacred Music and Divinity School. He is also Professor of Church Music, Director of Chapel, and Composer in Residence at Drew University, and the Minister of Music of Christ Church

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You don’t have to worry about this week’s Nose taking your phone and putting it in the bottom of a root beer float.

On Sunday, The New York Times published an Amy Chozik profile of Elizabeth Holmes, who wants to go by Liz now, it turns out. The piece has been, let’s say, controversial.

And: Bupkis is a somewhat autobiographical comedy series created by Pete Davidson with Judah Miller and Dave Sirus and executive produced by Lorne Michaels. Eight half-hour (!) episodes are available to stream on Peacock.

Rebecca Castellani’s endorsement:

Jury Duty on Freevee

Irene Papoulis’s endorsements:

David O. Russell’s Spanking the Money on DVD
Unmasking Narcissism: A Guide to Understanding the Narcissist in Your Life by Mark Ettensohn

Pedro Soto’s endorsement:

Westville Artwalk 26 in New Haven

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take:

Heather Armstrong, who made it okay to say motherhood was hard, dead at 47 The pioneering blogger behind Dooce.com upended women’s media and laid the ground for the influencer industry
The Sad Dads of The National For two decades, the band has written music about the kind of sadness that feels quotidian and incremental—the slow accumulation of ordinary losses.
‘It’s Going to Be a While’: No End in Sight for Hollywood Strike The writers and entertainment companies remain far apart on several key issues, including money, and the standoff could last for months.
There’s a ‘volume war’ happening in music
Drag business flourishes in state’s arts and entertainment scene
Why are these groups so much more likely to wear glasses than any others?
“After Breakfast Mom Would Kick Me Outside And Tell Me Not To Come Home Until The Street Lights Came On”: Gen X’ers Are Sharing The Laughably Bad Parenting Boomers Did To ThemApparently, Gen X grew up in cigarette smoke-filled rooms and never wore seatbelts.
Pickleball is the worst
Paramount Can’t Say No to the Man Behind ‘Yellowstone’: $50,000 a Week for His Ranch, $25 Per Cow Taylor Sheridan writes most of the company’s hits, giving him clout to dominate the big-budget productions through his network of commercial projects, pushing costs to among the highest in Hollywood
I Really Didn’t Want to Go On the Goop cruise
On David Foster Wallace Reconsidering the man, the meme, and the writing
Notes from Prince Harry’s Ghostwriter Collaborating on his memoir, “Spare,” meant spending hours together on Zoom, meeting his inner circle, and gaining a new perspective on the tabloids.
Bill Hader Just Wants to Make Weird Things The co-creator and star of the HBO comedy “Barry” on the end of the series, his film-nerd past, and why he has no desire to be part of “the conversation.”
Shakira And Tom Cruise Were Spotted Together Amid Dating Rumors — Here’s How People Reacted Randomest couple.
People Are Calling Ben Affleck The Unhappiest Husband In Hollywood After A Video Of Him Slamming A Car Door On Jennifer Lopez Sparked A Debate About Their Marriage Sad Ben Affleck strikes again.
Please stop using AI to make Wes Anderson parodies A recent online trend has seen users mock up Harry Potter, Star Wars and Lord of the Rings in the director’s distinctive style but is he beyond parody?

GUESTS:

Rebecca Castellani: Co-founder of Quiet Corner Communications and a freelance writer
Irene Papoulis: Teaches writing at Trinity College
Pedro Soto: President and CEO of Hygrade Precision Technologies

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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If you've spent time on the internet, you've probably experienced the feeling of going down a rabbit hole. This hour, we talk about that feeling, how Lewis Carroll invented such a powerful metaphor for the digital world, and, of course, real rabbit holes.

GUESTS:

Franziska Kohlt:Researcher in Science Communication and the History of Science and Literature. She is currently the LeverhulmeResearch Fellow at the University of Leeds and Inaugural CarrollianFellow at the University of Southern California
Annie Rauwerda:Writer, comedian, and Wikipedia influencer, who created “Depths of Wikipedia.” She was named “Wikimedian of The Year” in the media category for 2022, and she is currently working on a book about Wikipedia
Dominic Couzens:Award-winning nature writer, who’s just finished his 45th book on wildlife

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Hotlines: whether you realize it or not, you’ve likely used one before. From emergency services to customer service and crisis lines, they often fly under the radar in our daily lives.

GUESTS:

Dr. Lee Humphreys: Professor of Communication at Cornell University
Jessica Martin: An artist who leads an art program for West Side Elementary in Healdsburg, California. She’s also the co-creator of the kids-advice hotline, Peptoc
Danielle Baskin: An artist who co-created Dialup, a voice-chat app that connects you to strangers
Michelle Rorong: An architect in Indonesia who wrote about her experience using Dialup during a COVID-19 quarantine period

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Well designed queues give you hope and feel fair, while poorly designed ones can ruin your day.

Queues are everywhere around us, and not all are designed well.

This hour, the art of the queue, the challenge of waiting in line, and when, if ever, cutting in line is appropriate.

GUESTS:

Jennifer Goff: Owner and founder of Skip the Line
Marie Helweg-Larsen: Professor of psychology at Dickinson College
Richard Larson: Professor of data, systems, and society at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Steven Soifer: President of the American Restroom Association

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired September 22, 2022.

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This hour, we take your calls about whatever you want to talk about.

Call us: 888-720-9677.

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The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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This week’s Nose force feeds hero’s journey to its network.

The Writers Guild of America is on strike for the first time in 15 years. The film and television industry, you may have noticed, is very different from the way it was 15 years ago. And that’s a big part of why the WGA is striking and why it matters.

And: Mrs. Davis is an eight-episode Peacock miniseries created by Tara Hernandez and Damon Lindelof. It has been described as a “religious odyssey/thriller/comedy/drama/sci-fi epic,” which isn’t really much of a description at all. Here’s Peacock’s synopsis, which isn’t really much of a synopsis at all: “Mrs. Davis is the world’s most powerful artificial intelligence. Simone is the nun devoted to destroying Her. Who ya got?”

Taneisha Duggan’s endorsements:

Garden Answer on YouTube
Gentle Bull Shop in Hartford

Rich Hollant’s endorsements:

Blessed Not Bitter: The Barbara McClane Journey by Barbara McClane
The Rembrandt at TheaterWorks in Hartford

Lindsay Lee Wallace’s endorsements:

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
An Ordinary Age: Finding Your Way in a World That Expects Exceptional by Rainesford Stauffer

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take:

Gordon Lightfoot, Hitmaking Singer-Songwriter, Is Dead at 84 His rich baritone voice and songs like “Sundown,” “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” and “If You Could Read My Mind” made him a top artist of the 1970s.
Graphic designer Peter Good, creator of the Hartford Whalers logo, dies at 80
Ask Amy: Is it offensive to refer to people as ‘ladies’ or ‘gentlemen’?
Ed Sheeran Won His Copyright Trial. Here’s What to Know. The heirs of Ed Townsend, who co-wrote “Let’s Get It On” with Marvin Gaye, had accused the pop star of copying it in “Thinking Out Loud.”
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame to induct Missy Elliott, Willie Nelson
‘Yellowstone’ to End With Season 5, New Sequel Series to Debut in December
The Stupefying Success of “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” Recycling old intellectual property is a default formula in today’s Hollywood. But few franchises have managed to yield so much by doing so little.
The Best Songs of 2023 (So Far)
A terrible decision on AI-made images hurts creators
The guy who ate a $120,000 banana in an art museum says he was just hungry
The Speed Bump Those chipmunk-pitched songs you hear on TikTok are more than just a viral craze. They’re the latest big thing in the music biz. Here’s what their success says about remix culture, artists’ control over their own work, and why we want everything so fast these days.

GUESTS:

Taneisha Duggan: Associate producer at Octopus Theatricals
Rich Hollant: Principal at CO:LAB, founder of Free Center, and commissioner on cultural affairs for the city of Hartford
Lindsay Lee Wallace: Writes about culture, health care and health equity, and other stuff, too

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Note: This episode contains strong language.

GUESTS:

Jenny Ravitz: Casting director based in New York. She has worked on over 500 episodes of television in addition to theater, film, and commercials
Ezra Buzzington: Actor whose over 70 film credits and dozens of TV appearances range from "Weird Al the Waiter" in Ghost World to a mutant in The Hills Have Eyes and, most recently, as one of the leads in the South By Southwest hit film Brooklyn 45. He has appeared in Academy Award-winning films alongside some of your favorite actors
Vlad Perez: LA-based actor who has co-starred in television shows including Brooklyn 99, Murderville, Friendsgiving, and many more. He’s also one of the founders of the Sea Tea Comedy Theater right here in Hartford
Harriet Dobin: Former Hartford media maven now actor in Philadelphia
Allie Rivera: Performer and teacher at the Sea Tea Comedy Theater in downtown Hartford, and is the creator and producer of the theater’s Improvised Hallmark & Lifetime show

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Lily Tyson, Jonathan McNicol, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today.

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Today on The Colin McEnroe Show, we're talking about bedtime stories. What can we learn from people who write and tell them? How can we all be more intentional and magical about the last things we think about before sleeping?

GUESTS:

Adam Mansbach: Author, screenwriter, and cultural critic who wrote the famous not-for-children children’s book, Go the F*k to Sleep
Faith Adiele: Travel writer, speaker, teacher and formerly Thailand’s first Black Buddhist nun. She writes sleep stories for adults on the Calm app

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Lily Tyson, Catie Talarski, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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Have you heard the music of Connie Converse? She was a singer-songwriter in New York City in the middle of the 20th century, who, in her lifetime, never received widespread recognition. Then, at 50, she drove off, and was never heard from again. This hour, we talk about the life, music, and legacy of Connie Converse, and what her example can teach us about how we think about the role of art and artists in our society.

GUEST:

Howard Fishman: Musician, frequent contributor to The New Yorker, and author of To Anyone Who Ever Asks: The Life, Music, and Mystery of Connie Converse

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe contributed to this show.

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According to a cursory search of my email archive, we started working on rebranding The Colin McEnroe Show in the fall of 2021. It was probably actually longer ago than that.

In any case, today, more than 18 months later, our new look and new logo and new tagline and new whatever elses are all ready for the world to see.

And so, this hour, a look at rebranding, from Philip Morris and Facebook and Tronc and Prince and Madonna and the Washington Football Team to, yes, The Colin McEnroe Show.

GUESTS:

Patrick Dugan: Executive creative director at Adams and Knight
Christopher King: Co-founder and creative director of LVCK Design, a Beyer Blinder Belle studio
Irene Papoulis: Teaches writing at Trinity College
Mike Pesca: Hosts the independent daily podcast The Gist
Brendan Jay Sullivan: A writer, producer, and DJ and a food history TikTok personality
Laura Varacchi: Co-founder and creative strategist of LVCK Design

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, Cat Pastor, Dylan Reyes, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show, parts of which originally aired in a different form November 9, 2021.

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This week’s Nose traded one fatted goose for ten radishes.

The Diplomat is an eight-episode political thriller romantic-comedy (sort of?) Netflix limited series created by Debora Cahn. It stars Keri Russell as the title character and Rufus Sewell as her husband, who is also a diplomat, though a somewhat less diplomatic diplomat. Here’s Netflix’s logline: “In the midst of an international crisis, a career diplomat lands in a high-profile job she’s unsuited for, with tectonic implications for her marriage and her political future.” The Diplomat is currently No. 2 in TV Shows Today on Netflix.

And: Baby J is John Mulaney’s fifth comedy special, his fourth for Netflix, and his fourth standup special. It’s also his first special since his divorce, his time in rehab, and the birth of his son. As Mulaney says early on in Baby J, he has “kind of a different vibe now.” Baby J is currently No. 10 in TV Shows Today on Netflix.

Sam Hadelman’s endorsement:

Hung Up by Hunter Harris

Shawn Murray’s endorsements:

John Mulaney & The Sack Lunch Bunch on Netflix
Selected Poems by Gwendolyn Brooks

Carolyn Paine’s endorsements:

Celeste Barber: Fine, Thanks on Netflix
Wellmania on Netflix

Colin’s endorsement:

financial literacy
Scott Galloway’s podcasts The Pivot and The Prof G Pod

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take:

Harry Belafonte, 96, Dies; Barrier-Breaking Singer, Actor and Activist In the 1950s, when segregation was still widespread, his ascent to the upper echelon of show business was historic. But his primary focus was civil rights.
Jerry Springer, Host of a Raucous TV Talk Show, Is Dead at 79 The confrontational “Jerry Springer Show” ran for nearly three decades and became a cultural phenomenon. Mr. Springer also had a career in politics.
The Future of Social Media Is a Lot Less Social Facebook, TikTok and Twitter seem to be increasingly connecting users with brands and influencers. To restore a sense of community, some users are trying smaller social networks.
It’s Okay to Like Good Art by Bad People Art transcends the artist.
The best television of 2023 so far ‘Mrs. Davis,’ ‘Barry,’ ‘Yellowjackets,’ ‘Succession,’ ‘The Mandalorian’ and ‘Poker Face’ all make our evolving critics’ list of 2023’s best TV shows
This Babysitter Sparked A Huge Debate After Asking Parents To Pay Half Of Their $840 Bill After They Canceled Last Minute “When I told Claudia, she definitely had sticker shock. But when I broke down the price and she shopped around, she realized I was the cheaper option.”
Sylvester Stallone’s Best Sci-Fi Movie Is Smart Enough to Know Just How Stupid It Is Grab some Taco Bell and settle in.
The Succession Timeline Kind of Makes Sense Now
Where to rent DVDs and Blu-rays as Netflix ends disc rentals
‘Convicting A Murderer’ Series Acquired By DailyWire+ With Candace Owens Set To Front Response To Netflix True-Crime Hit
19 Movie Moments From The ’90s That Aged Like Cow’s Milk Why was every ’90s movie transphobic as heck?
In Praise of the Long Movie In the right hands, a three-hour-plus film expands the boundaries of cinematic possibilities.

GUESTS:

Sam Hadelman: Works in music public relations and hosts The Sam Hadelman Show at Radio Free Brooklyn
Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Nobody Asked Shawn podcast
Carolyn Paine: An actress, comedian, and dancer; she is founder, director, and choreographer of CONNetic Dance

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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What besides an egg can give us life, culinary delight, life-saving vaccines, egg jarping, an international clown egg registry, and a satisfying bit ofschadenfreude, all wrapped in one small package? Making a great omelet is the tip of the eggshell for the versatility of the egg.

Today, we take a hard-boiled look at the ubiquitous, yet overlooked egg.

GUESTS:

Lizzie Stark is the author of two non-fiction books, including Pandora’s DNA and Leaving Mundania. Her new book is Egg: A Dozen Ovatures.
Chris Prosperi is the chef and co-owner of Metro Bis restaurant in Simsbury and a former recipe columnist for the Hartford Courant.
John Portmann taught moral philosophy and ethics at the University of Virginia for several decades. He’s the author of When Bad Things Happen To Other People

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We all do some bad thinking sometimes, whether in relatively minor ways or relatively major ones.

This hour, we look at why bad thinking happens, how reasoning errors are embedded in the way we think, and how we can all learn how to think better, through lessons from philosophy and psychology.

GUESTS:

Woo-kyoung Ahn: Director of The Thinking Lab at Yale University and the author of Thinking 101: How to Reason Better to Live Better
Steven Nadler: Co-author of When Bad Thinking Happens to Good People: How Philosophy Can Save Us from Ourselves and a philosophy professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
Larry Shapiro: Co-author of When Bad Thinking Happens to Good People: How Philosophy Can Save Us from Ourselves and a philosophy professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired September 21, 2022.

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Most of us have books that we just can’t finish, no matter how many times we try.

This hour, a look at those books that we find unreadable, whether they’re too long, too difficult, too confusing, or too dated. What makes a book unreadable?

Plus: The Voynich Manuscript, an unreadable and undeciphered book housed at Yale University’s Beinecke Library.

We asked our listeners for their list of unreadable books. Here are those responses:

The Bible
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt
Rim by Alexander Besher
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
Collapse by Jared Diamond
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
S. by JJ Abrams and Doug Dorst
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
anything by William Faulkner
Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas Hofstadter
Les Misérables by Victor Hugo
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
50 Shades of Grey by E.L. James
The Dubliners by James Joyce
Ulysses by James Joyce
Wicked by Gregory Maguire
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
Faithful by Stewart O’Nan and Stephen King
Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon
How to Write by Gertrude Stein
Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace

GUESTS:

Ray Clemens: Curator of early books and manuscripts at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Rand Richards Cooper: Fiction writer, contributing editor at Commonweal, and restaurant critic for The Hartford Courant
Dennis Duncan: Lecturer in English at University College London and the author of Index, A History of the: A Bookish Adventure from Medieval Manuscripts to the Digital Age
Juliet Lapidos: Ideas editor for The Atlantic and the author of Talent

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired September 14, 2022.

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We’ve been doing these shows a couple times a month where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to the inflation in our language, the Mario Pavone track “Colin Mac,” Tucker Carlson … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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This week’s Nose is gonna make three 10X trades: 1K to 10K, 10K to a hundred, hundred to a million. Boom.

On April 20, Twitter stripped its blue check marks from the accounts of public figures and others who weren’t paying for them. Including many celebrities, who then went on to drag Twitter about how much they don’t care. At the same time, there seems to be a growing feeling (again) that Twitter might be dying.

And: Beef is a Netflix comedy-drama limited series created by Lee Sung Jin and starring Steven Yeun and Ali Wong. It “follows the aftermath of a road rage incident between two strangers.” Beef is currently the most popular TV series on Rotten Tomatoes and #2 in TV Shows Today on Netflix.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take:

Ahmad Jamal, Whose Spare Style Redefined Jazz Piano, Dies at 92 He was known for his laid-back style and for his influence on, among others, Miles Davis, who once said, “All my inspiration comes from Ahmad Jamal.”
Netflix Will End Its DVD Service, 5.2 Billion Discs Later Sending movies through the mail, in recognizable red-and-white envelopes, helped the company become a behemoth in Hollywood.
Yes, People Will Pay $27,500 for an Old ‘Rocky’ Tape. Here’s Why. Collectors are finding that their childhood has a price — and it’s going up. When the future is frightening, it’s boom times at the nostalgia factory.
Netflix’s Love Is Blind Live Failure Had Big ‘Game Servers Are Down’ Energy The streaming service tried its second-ever live broadcast for the highly anticipated Love Is Blind reunion
Hollywood Writers Approve of Strike as Shutdown Looms The writers have not gone on strike in 15 years, and the vote gives their unions the right to call for a walkout when their contract expires on May 1.
What the death of a literary magazine says about our cultural decay
BuzzFeed Shuts Down Its News Division BuzzFeed News, which won a Pulitzer Prize but never made money, is “beginning the process of closing,” the company’s founder, Jonah Peretti, said in a memo to employees.
‘Air’ and the Argument for Letting the Talent Share in the Profits The movie’s focus (how Michael Jordan got a cut from Nike) reflects what its filmmakers, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, are trying to do in their new venture.
Fringe’s Finest Hour Is Sci-Fi’s Most Profound Exploration of Faith and Science “I’ve asked God for a sign of forgiveness. A specific one, a white tulip.”
Scientists discovered a new ‘quasi-moon’ orbiting Earth
McDonald’s is upgrading its burgers
The Myth of the Broke Millennial After a rough start, the generation is thriving. Why doesn’t it feel that way?
After he sold his company for over $1 billion, Ryan Reynolds’ investing spree continues with a fintech company that has ties to Binance and DraftKings
Hot 100 First-Timers: Jack Black Scores First Solo Hit With ‘Super Mario Bros.’ Ballad ‘Peaches’ The song debuts at No. 83.
An A.I. Hit of Fake ‘Drake’ and ‘The Weeknd’ Rattles the Music World A track like “Heart on My Sleeve,” which went viral before being taken down by streaming services this week, may be a novelty for now. But the legal and creative questions it raises are here to stay.

GUESTS:

Jacques Lamarre: A playwright and chief communications officer at Buzz Engine
Tracy Wu Fastenberg: Development officer at Connecticut Children’s
Bill Yousman: Professor of media studies at Sacred Heart University

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In April, 2010 — 13 years ago this month — we did a segment on the concept of the “mesofact,” a certain kind of data point that feels fixed even though it’s actually always slowly changing. (I’d add a link to that show, but our archive doesn’t actually go back that far.) And we’ve gone back to the idea every now and again ever since.

Think about things like the world population or the Periodic Table of the Elements. Or think about our understanding of the health and nutritional value of red wine. Or coffee. Or how Brussels sprouts are supposed to taste. Or what dinosaurs are supposed to look like.

This hour, an update on a bunch of mesofacts that we’d probably all lost track of, including the myth of the alpha wolf and the misconceptions around white gloves and antique books.

GUESTS:

Samuel Arbesman: A scientist and writer; he is the author of Overcomplicated: Technology at the Limits of Comprehension and The Half-Life of Facts: Why Everything We Know Has an Expiration Date
Jennifer Schuessler: A culture reporter covering intellectual life and the world of ideas for The New York Times
Maddy Witt: An educator at the International Wolf Center in Ely, Minnesota

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We have a complicated relationship with our food. We need food to live, yet we’ve become removed from the food we eat and how it’s grown and processed. Even with the best intentions, today’s ultra-processed foods make it hard for us to know exactly what we’re eating or how the methods used to mass produce our food affect our environment and health. And I haven’t even touched on how food has led to war, famine, poverty, and enslavement.

This hour, we talk about the history of agriculture, where it went wrong, and how we might begin to cultivate food that is kinder to our bodies, our earth, and our fellow humans.

GUEST:

Mark Bittman: Author of Animal, Vegetable, Junk: A History of Food From Sustainable To Suicidal, among many other books

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired February 3, 2021.

Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today.

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This hour, our new favorite way to communicate: emoji.

We look at how emoji are created and how they change meaning and talk to the creator of Emojiland: The Musical.

GUESTS:

Keith Broni: Editor-in-chief of Emojipedia
Keith Harrison Dworkin: Composer and creator of Emojiland: The Musical
Alex King: Associate professor of philosophy at Simon Fraser University and editor-in-chief of Aesthetics for Birds

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired June 9, 2022.

Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today.

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This hour: a conversation about handling life’s hardships with Kieran Setiya, philosophy professor and author of Life is Hard: How Philosophy Can Help Us Find Our Way.

GUESTS:

Kieran Setiya: Professor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the author of Midlife: A Philosophical Guide. His new book is Life is Hard: How Philosophy Can Help Us Find Our Way

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today.

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This week’s Nose could be some genetic switch that flipped. Something that was there, dormant, and it just…

On April 8, The New York Times Opinion published an interactive, “17 Pop Culture Moments That Define the COVID Era.” The Nose didn’t really have a choice but to start figuring out its own COVID canon.

And: The Power is a TV series adaptation of Naomi Alderman’s 2016 science fiction novel (which The Nose covered in 2018). It tells the story of a world where teenage girls suddenly develop the ability to produce electricity. It stars an ensemble cast that includes John Leguizamo, Halle Bush, Toheeb Jimoh, Eddie Marsan, and Toni Collette. Five of The Power’s expected nine episodes are available to stream on Prime Video.

Rebecca Castellani’s endorsements:

Dark on Netflix
the books of Margaret Atwood

Rand Richards Cooper’s endorsement:

the books of W.G. Sebald

Lindsay Lee Wallace’s endorsements:

Crush on Hulu
Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin

Colin’s endorsement:

the music of Connie Converse

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take:

Al Jaffee, Mad magazine’s cartoon maestro, dies at 102 He was Mad magazine’s longest-serving contributor and proudly helped corrupt the minds of generations of young Americans
Mary Quant, British Fashion Revolutionary, Dies at 93 Known as the mother of the miniskirt, clad in her signature play clothes and boots, with huge painted eyes, fake freckles and a bob, she epitomized London’s Swinging Sixties.
Food storage synonym Tupperware has ‘substantial doubt’ it can survive
Taylor Swift’s breakups defined her early stardom. Not anymore. The tone and reaction to Swift’s split with actor Joe Alwyn after six years is remarkably different from a decade ago
Some People’s ‘Funny’ Is Other People’s ‘Offensive’
A Resurfaced Clip Of Aubrey Plaza Recalling The Time A Director Instructed Her To Masturbate On Camera Has Left People Seriously Disturbed “The camera was mounted on the ceiling, I was in my underwear and a Clinton t-shirt, and there were a bunch of old men smoking — the crew guys. And then I went and touched myself.”
Actor Jesse Metcalfe talks about dating in CT on podcast
Inside Donald Glover’s New Creative Playground He changed the course of television with Atlanta and laid out a blueprint for a whole era of dark comedy. And now, out in Ojai, California, the multihyphenate star is preparing for the next phase of his career, building something even bigger and more ambitious that only he could have imagined.
‘Succession’ and ‘Dr. Pimple Popper’ Together in New Warner Streaming App The service, expected to be called Max, is meant to help the company compete more directly with Netflix and Disney.
“The Body You’ve Been Comparing My Current Body To Was The Unhealthiest Version Of My Body”: Ariana Grande Addressed Speculation Around Her Body “I was on a lot of antidepressants and drinking on them and eating poorly and at the lowest point of my life when I looked the way you consider my ‘healthy.’”
How ‘Hud’ Began Texas’s Love Affair With the Bastard Paul Newman plays a brutish, morally repugnant monster in the classic anti-western. So why do Texans admire him anyway?
The Case of the Fake Sherlock Richard Walter was hailed as a genius criminal profiler. How did he get away with his fraud for so long?
NASA’s Webb Telescope Reveals Supernova in Unprecedented Detail A stunning new picture of an exploded star includes a “green monster” and other never-before-seen features.
Brad Pitt and the Bizarre Charity Mess That’s Left Katrina Victims Stranded Again Owners of faulty homes built by the star’s Make It Right Foundation in New Orleans were relieved when charity Global Green promised $20.5 million for repairs. The only problem: It never had the money.
A Journey Inside the Updated James Bond Novels Book Bond has long been obscured by his cinematic doppelgänger. Now, thanks to savvy edits, readers can finally have a serious discussion about the complicated man on the page.

GUESTS:

Rebecca Castellani: Co-founder of Quiet Corner Communications and a freelance writer
Rand Richards Cooper: A fiction writer, contributing editor at Commonweal, and the restaurant critic for the Hartford Courant
Lindsay Lee Wallace: Writes about culture, health care and health equity, and other stuff, too

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Humans have always been interested in the sky, and astrology has been used as a tool for people in power for a long time.

During times of stress, interest in astrology increases.

But why are we so interested in something that is not considered a science?

This hour, a look at the history of astrology, its relationship with astronomy, and the reasons why people love it so much.

GUESTS:

Julie Beck: Senior editor at The Atlantic, where she wrote “The New Age of Astrology”
Darin Hayton: Associate professor of the history of science at Haverford College and the author of The Crown and the Cosmos: Astrology and the Politics of Maximilian I
Emily Levesque: Professor in the University of Washington’s Astronomy Department and the author of The Last Stargazers: The Enduring Story of Astronomy’s Vanishing Explorers

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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This episode was produced by Sara Gasparatto.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, Cat Pastor, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired April 21, 2022.

Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today.

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Alana Newhouse, editor-in-chief of Tablet Magazine, recently wrote an article where she argued that the real divide currently is between those who think we can fix our institutions, and those who think they are broken beyond repair. Alana joins us for the hour to explore the divide between the “brokenists” and the “status-quoists,” and to explain what this framework means for the future.

GUESTS:

Alana Newhouse: Editor-in-Chief of Tablet Magazine, which she founded in 2009

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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In this episode we ask why we want to watch and suffer through movies and TV shows we extremely dislike. Do we get enjoyment from objectively bad content? Or from hating on things? Join us on this episode of The Colin McEnroe Show as we discuss the psychology and impacts of hate-watching.

GUESTS:

Jonathan Gray: Professor of Media and Cultural Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and author of Dislike-Minded: Media, Audiences, and the Dynamics of Taste
Brian Moylan: Writer, reality tv show recapper, and author of The New York Times bestseller The Housewives: The Real Story Behind the Real Housewives
Alex Meyers: A YouTuber who makes cartoons and video essays about movies and TV shows

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Lizzie Van Arnam, Colin McEnroe, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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We’ve been doing these shows a couple times a month where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to the end of civilization and why we aren’t doing anything about it, roller derby, the music we use, litter, very fast cars … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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This week’s Nose is a redundancy in case the FBI needs to contact the president and other methods are compromised.

The Night Agent is an espionage conspiracy thriller TV series created by Shawn Ryan and based on the 2019 novel by Matthew Quirk. It stars Gabriel Basso. All 10 first season episodes are available on Netflix. The Night Agent was renewed for a second season.

And: Rabbit Hole is an espionage conspiracy thriller TV series created by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa. It stars Kiefer Sutherland. The first three episodes are available on Paramount+.

Sam Hadelman’s endorsements:

The New York Times crossword puzzle
Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd. by Lana Del Rey

Irene Papoulis’s endorsements:

Bordertown (Sorjonen) from Finland on Netflix
The Bureau (Le Bureau des Légendes) from France on AMC+ and Sundance Now
Deutschland 83, Deutschland 86, and Deutschland 89 from Germany on Hulu
Occupied (Okkupert) from Norway on Netflix

Tracy Wu Fastenberg’s endorsement:

The spring flower arrangement sale this weekend at the Garmany Visitor center at Elizabeth Park in West Hartford

Colin’s endorsements:

“The Astronaught” by Carl Reiner & Mel Brooks
Mythologies by Thomas Bangalter

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take:

Klaus Teuber, Creator of the Board Game Catan, Dies at 70 He created the strategy game about settling a new land in 1995. Millions of copies have been sold since then, and it’s played all over the world.
A Viral Video Of Tom Holland And Zendaya Being Hounded By Paparazzi Has Left People Super Uncomfortable “The look on her face…Can we just, idk, leave people alone?? Following their car is kinda creepy, no??”
Bidens clarify national champ LSU’s White House invitation
James Gunn Explains Why ‘Superhero Fatigue’ Isn’t Really Superhero Fatigue
What Is Jeremy Renner’s Deal? The Marvel actor’s inexplicable new series might be the key to finally making sense of this avowedly strange man.
Every Oscar Best Picture Winner Ranked: From Argo to The Life of Emile Zola Featuring some of film’s greatest achievements (and a few stinkers)
Meghan Trainor Is Still Peeing With Her Husband On Their Side-By-Side Toilets, And Their Routine Is Really Something Meghan Trainor toilet talk is back, baby.

GUESTS:

Sam Hadelman: Works in music public relations and hosts The Sam Hadelman Show at Radio Free Brooklyn
Irene Papoulis: Teaches writing at Trinity College
Tracy Wu Fastenberg: Development officer at Connecticut Children’s

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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Bears, bobcats, coyotes, and deer are repopulating Connecticut, despite being hunted to near extinction by early settlers. Is the mountain lion among those returning?

The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection thinks it’s unlikely. They investigate hundreds of mountain lion sightings every year without finding physical evidence of their presence. The sightings increased in 2011, after a driver hit and killed a mountain lion who was trying to cross the Merritt Parkway in Milford. But the mountain lion’s DNA was traced to South Dakota.

Mountain lions in Connecticut are a lot like Big Foot and the Loch Ness Monster: elusive and spectacular creatures that are widely spotted but leave no trace.

This hour, we talk about wildlife in Connecticut, including the Greenwich mountain lion and Buddy the Beefalo.

GUESTS:

Ed Benecchi: Retired police officer
Jason Hawley: A wildlife biologist for the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection
William Stolzenburg: A screenwriter and journalist and the author of Heart of a Lion: A Lone Cat’s Walk Across America

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Megan Fitzgerald, Jonathan McNicol, Cat Pastor, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show, which originally aired August 23, 2022. Special thanks to Jennifer Ahrens, Julia Gill, Peter Herrmann, and Anna Huether for contributing stories.

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This hour, we investigate what it means to be a good citizen today.

What are our responsibilities? What do we owe each other?

GUESTS:

Tamar Gendler: Professor of philosophy, psychology, and cognitive science and Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Yale University
Azar Nafisi: Author of six books, including Reading Lolita in Tehran; her newest is Read Dangerously: The Subversive Power of Literature in Troubled Times
John Shattuck: Co-author of Holding Together: The Hijacking of Rights in America and How to Reclaim Them for Everyone and the former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Catie Talarski contributed to this show, which originally aired June 14, 2022.

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Ahead of NPR’s special coverage of the arraignment of former President Donald Trump, we look at the possible legal case and its broader implications.

And we take your calls.

GUEST:

Ross Garber: A lawyer specializing in political investigations and impeachment and a legal analyst for CNN

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

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Colin McEnroe, Carolyn McCusker, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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GUESTS:

Lynn Zubernis: Licensed Clinical Psychologist and Professor at West Chester University, who has written 7 books based on her research on the psychology of fandom
Maya Phillips: Author of Nerd: Adventures in Fandom from This Universe to the Multiverse, and a critic at The New York Times
Jessica Hautsch: Lecturer in the Program of Writing and Rhetoric at Stony Brook University. Her forthcoming book is Mind, Body, and Emotion in the Reception and Creation Practices of Fan Communities

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

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We believe this week’s Nose will be perceived as indigenous and will not trigger the immune response.

Avatar: The Way of Water is the first of four planned sequels to 2009’s Avatar. It is the highest-grossing film of 2022, the highest-grossing film of the COVID era, and the third-highest grossing film ever made. The Way of Water is now available to purchase on iTunes/Amazon/etc., and it’s still in theaters.

And: Daisy Jones & the Six is a musical drama docuseries limited series that tells the story of the fictional titular 1970s rock band. It is based on the 2019 novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid, and its 10 episodes are now available to stream on Prime Video.

Jim Chapdelaine’s endorsements:

Luther on Hulu and Luther: The Fallen Sun on Netflix

Taneisha Duggan’s endorsements:

Heirloom Market in Wethersfield
seeds from Botanical Interests

Shawn Murray’s endorsements:

The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L’Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution by C.L.R. James
Praise a Lord Who Chews But Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds) by Yves Tumor
Scaring the Hoes by JPEGMAFIA x Danny Brown

Colin’s endorsements:

Pivot podcast
The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take:

Why Jonathan Majors’s assault arrest is so disturbing — and so complicated The Marvel star faces domestic assault charges, and now other allegations spanning years.
Jury Finds Gwyneth Paltrow Not at Fault in Ski Crash Trial Jurors found that a retired optometrist who sued the actress was “100 percent” at fault. The trial has combined celebrity culture and questions of skiing etiquette into a courtroom spectacle.
Adnan Syed’s conviction reinstated by Maryland Appellate Court panel
Afroman put home footage of a police raid in music videos. Now the cops are suing him
Pepsi’s new logo is a subliminal war on sugar Pepsi launched a new logo and brand system that uses high contrast visuals to sell Zero Sugar products.
For $18,500 (and Up), You, Too, Can Travel Like James Bond When the (real) world is not enough, new luxury tours offer fans a chance to engage with their favorite film and TV worlds.
The best musicals are the equal of great plays, so why the snobbery? The song ’n’ dance genre is everywhere, David Hare has bemoaned. He needs to watch more of these joyous shows
Ireland Asks: What if Artists Could Ditch Their Day Jobs? A government pilot program is giving 2,000 artists $350 a week with no strings attached, allowing them to concentrate on creative pursuits.
Tyrannosaurus rex had lips over its teeth, research suggests Contrary to depiction in movies like Jurassic Park, scientists now believe T rexes were not ‘toothy lipless things’

GUESTS:

Jim Chapdelaine: An Emmy-winning musician and a patient advocate for people with rare cancers
Bill Curry: Playing the part of Bill Curry
Taneisha Duggan: Associate producer at Octopus Theatricals
Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Nobody Asked Shawn podcast

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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This hour: a conversation with novelist Emily St. John Mandel, about time travel, the simulation hypothesis, adapting her work to television, art and culture during times of crisis, autofiction, Wikipedia, and much more.

GUESTS:

Emily St. John Mandel: Novelist, whose books include Sea of Tranquility, The Glass Hotel, and Station Eleven

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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This hour we look at mis-speaks, mis-hearings and mis-understandings, like malapropisms, mondegreens, eggcorns, and spoonerisms. We'll share our favorite examples and learn about what they can tell us about the English language, and how our brains process language. And we'll celebrate the joy of playing with language.

GUESTS:

Emily Brewster: Senior Editor and lexicographer at Merriam-Webster, and host of the “Word Matters” podcast
Melissa Baese-Berk:Professor of language teaching studies and linguistics at the University of Oregon, where she is also director of the Speech Perception and Production Lab
Ben Zimmer: Linguist, lexicographer, and the “Word on the Street” columnist for The Wall Street Journal

Join the conversation onFacebook and Twitter.

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This hour: historical reenactments. We look at the role reenactments play in helping us understand or experience history. We talk with reenactors about what draws them to this and what their experiences are like.

Plus, reenactments aren’t just about the acting but the costumes and the props. We hear from a tailor who creates custom clothing using traditional materials and methods to create true-to-history costuming.

And: a look at experimental archeology and the stone-aged tools used by our predecessors. How were those tools made? And by recreating them, what can we learn about history, evolution, and psychology?

GUESTS:

Michelle Bebber: Co-director of The Kent State University Experimental Archaeology Laboratory
Metin Erin: Co-director of The Kent State University Experimental Archaeology Laboratory
Ian Graves: Tailor and owner of Royal Blue Traders, specializing in American Revolutionary War clothing
J.R. Hardman: Associate producer at PBS Utah and a Civil War reenactor who is directing and producing the documentary Reenactress
Brad Keefer: Professor of history at Kent State University and an active Civil War and colonial period living historian

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired September 8, 2022.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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We’ve been doing these shows a couple times a month where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to John Donne and William Shakespeare, the age-old dilemma: to pay someone to plow your driveway or not to pay someone to plow your driveway, layoffs at NPR, a long-ago tabloid takedown of Burt Reynolds … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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The Nose is off this week. In its stead, a Not Necessarily The Nose-style deconstruction — and celebration — of the romantic comedy.

Some favorite rom-coms from some of the people on this show:

Illeana Douglas
Theodora Goes Wild (1936)
Bringing Up Baby (1938)
Ninotchka (1939)
Too Many Husbands (1940)
The More the Merrier (1943)
Christmas in Connecticut (1945)
Cluny Brown (1946)
Pillow Talk (1959)
The Apartment (1960)
What’s Up, Doc? (1972)
Foul Play (1978)
Arthur (1981)

David Edelstein
Trouble in Paradise (1932)
The Awful Truth (1937)
Ninotchka (1939)
Midnight (1939)
The Lady Eve (1941)
His Girl Friday (1940)
The Philadelphia Story (1940)
The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
Cluny Brown (1946)

Scott Meslow’s five recommended under-seen rom-coms from the past decade

Populaire (2012)
A zippy, ultra-stylish French rom-com about the romance between a dapper boss and his secretary, set amid the long-forgotten craze for competitive speed typing.
Sleeping with Other People (2015)
Alison Brie and Jason Sudeikis are at the peak of their charms in this witty rom-com about two friends who reunite years after losing their virginities to each other — the rare rom-com to get the balance of raunchy and sweet just right.
Man Up (2015)
Ignore the lame title — this rom-com, in which Lake Bell plays an unlucky-in-love woman who pretends to be a man’s blind date, is pure, fizzy fun (and is also the only rom-com I’ve seen to borrow a plot point from The Silence of the Lambs).
Destination Wedding (2018)
Other critics weren’t as high on this extremely stripped down rom-com, in which Winona Ryder and Keanu Reeves snark their way through a wedding they’d both prefer not to be attending — but in a genre in which so many characters have “negative” qualities that are actually just adorable, I appreciated this movie’s deliberately sour tone.
Plus One (2019)
A delightfully unapologetic throwback to the genre’s ’90s heyday, but with a modern touch, as two platonic friends (Jack Quaid and Maya Erskine) agree to be each other’s plus-ones for a packed wedding season before realizing they may actually have a spark after all.

Colin’s 5 (or 6) favorite rom-coms

Heaven Can Wait (1978)
I realize this is assailable on the basis of Julie Christie not being an especially memorable character and getting less screen time than, say, Jack Warden. Warren Beatty is so vain, he probably thinks this movie is about him, and he’s sort of right. But it is very nearly perfect and enriched by an amazing ensemble of supporting players.
Silver Linings Playbook (2012)
I surprised myself by ranking SLP this high, but I love the frank and funny handling of mental illness and its indistinguishability from being an Eagles fan. I’ve seen it quite a few times, and I invariably cry at the end. I love what J-Law does with her part, and Chris Tucker and John Ortiz are standouts among the fine supporting cast. Shout out to Kevin Lowry for his work as dolly grip on the “A” camera.
The Lady Eve (1941) / Intolerable Cruelty (2003)
These are both “rom-cons” involving grifts by a femme fatale who is usually a few steps ahead of the male lead. Barbara Stanwyck actually generates more sexual heat than the smoldering Catherine Zeta-Jones. She was still doing that 42 years later, hitting on a rain-streaked, bare-chested priest played by Richard Chamberlain in The Thorn Birds. But I do love Intolerable Cruelty. I think it’s the only Coen brothers rom-com and definitely an homage to the ’30s and ’40s.
Say Anything (1989)
I loved John Cusack during this period. A few years later, I was seeing a psychotherapist who looked exactly like him. It was distracting. I’ve learned that Cusack didn’t really see himself as a rom-com person and even pushed back against the iconic boombox scene. That has something to do with why this movie works so well.
Bringing Up Baby (1938)
Grant. Hepburn. Two leopards. Thirty pounds of sirloin. What’s not to love?

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take:

And Now Let’s Review … A.O. Scott conducts his own exit interview as he moves to a new post after more than two decades of reviewing films.
What if ‘The Daily Show’ Used Guest Hosts Permanently? Fill-ins for Trevor Noah have shown how exciting the lack of a permanent replacement could be. It’s an option with an illustrious history in television.
David Letterman’s Retirement Beard Just Keeps Getting Better And more from the week in celebrity grooming.
The Oscars Aren’t Where Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans And West Side Story Needed To Win
Apple to Spend $1 Billion a Year on Films to Break Into Cinemas
Paramount Sets Remake Of Hitchcock’s ‘Vertigo’ As Potential Robert Downey Jr-Starrer; Steven Knight To Write Script & Davis Entertainment To Produce With Team Downey
The Movies Of The DCEU, Ranked
The Rise of Gender-Neutral Names Isn’t What It Seems The desire of parents to be truly original has had a perhaps unintended effect.

GUESTS:

Illeana Douglas: The Official Movie Star of The Colin McEnroe Show
David Edelstein: America’s Greatest Living Film Critic
Scott Meslow: Author of From Hollywood with Love: The Rise and Fall (and Rise Again) of the Romantic Comedy

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired August 24, 2022.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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This hour, we wrap our heads around clapping — its history, its varied permutations, and the kinds of occasions on which people applaud.

GUESTS:

Erin Elstner: Percussionist and professor of percussion at Webster University
Frank Rizzo: Theater critic for Variety and other publications
Gavin Witt: Professor of theater history at Towson University

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, Cat Pastor, Dylan Reyes, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show, which originally aired August 30, 2022.

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It could be that you’ve used online reviews to try new restaurants, dry cleaners, hotels or even movies.

But what makes us trust the opinions of strangers on the internet?

This hour, a look at the art and the etiquette of the online review.

GUESTS:

Tyler Anderson: Owner of Tanda Hospitality
Lauren Dragan: Senior staff writer at Wirecutter
Xandy Schiefer: Co-host of the podcast Beach Too Sandy, Water Too Wet
Camilla Vásquez: Author of The Discourse of Online Consumer Reviews

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, and Jonathan McNicol contributed to this show, which originally aired August 25, 2022.

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Tuberculosis has been around for thousands of years, and it still infects millions per year.

This hour, we look back at how tuberculosis has shaped history and how it is still impacting health today.

Plus, a look at the history of tuberculosis treatment, how tuberculosis has shaped modern architecture, and the impact of tuberculosis on art and artists.

GUESTS:

Heran Darwin: Professor in the Department of Microbiology at New York University
Beatriz Colomina: Author of X-Ray Architecture
Carolyn Day: Author of Consumptive Chic: A History of Beauty, Fashion and Disease
Kyle Harper: Author of Plagues Upon the Earth: Disease and the Course of Human History
Tara Knapp: Vice president of external affairs at Gaylord Specialty Healthcare
Elizabeth Lee: Author of The Medicine of Art: Disease and the Aesthetic Object in Gilded Age America

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired September 1, 2022.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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How do you like to relax? Do you read a book? Go for a hike, maybe? How about grabbing dinner with friends? The list goes on, and we consider these activities leisure.

This hour, we learn what leisure is and how to master it. We take a look at the importance of leisure for health, how the concept differs around the world, and what it means to value your free time. Finally, we examine what the future holds for leisure.

In case you find some inspiration in this hour, here’s a list of leisure activities from our guests and The Colin McEnroe Show staff:

Gardening.
Finishing that old show you’ve been meaning to finish.
Drawing yourself.
Counting clouds.
Staring at the wall.
Laying down.
Playing the closest instrument.
Going bug collecting.
Trying your hand at claymation.
Trying to get the hiccups.
Buying clay pigeons (biodegradable) and smashing them.
Exploring the forest behind your home.
Throwing rocks into the mysterious well you find in the forest.
Summoning (accidentally) an eons-old forest spirit.
Visiting a national park.

GUESTS:

Tom Hodgkinson: Founder of Idler magazine and the author How to Be Idle: A Loafer’s Manifestoand An Idler’s Manual, among other books
Selin Malkoc: Behavioral scientist at the Fisher College of Business at The Ohio State University
Ken Roberts: Professor of sociology, social policy, and criminology at The University of Liverpool

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, Jonathan McNicol, Cat Pastor, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show, which originally aired August 11, 2022.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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This week’s Nose is being institutionally told that its personal expression is bad.

This weekend, Adam Sandler receives the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. Colin says it’s the end of Western civilization, or something like that. But is it?

And: Seth Rogen has gone on the record about how “devastating” critiques of his work can be. It’s a topic this week’s Nose, which includes America’s Greatest Living Film Critic, couldn’t resist.

And finally: Star Trek: Picard is the eighth Star Trek television series and the second series in the expanded Star Trek universe (I don’t really know what that is). It’s a sequel to the third Star Trek television series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and it starts 20 years after the last Next Generation movie, Star Trek: Nemesis (2002). Its third and final season is streaming now.

David Edelstein’s endorsements:

the 26th season of South Park on Comedy Central
Unscripted: The Epic Battle for a Media Empire and the Redstone Family Legacy by James B. Stewart and Rachel Abrams

Mercy Quaye’s endorsements:

Daniel and Jorge Explain the Universe
Houston, We Have a Podcast’s Mars miniseries
StarTalk

Carolyn Paine’s endorsement:

You Season 4 on Netflix

Colin’s endorsements:

the music of Declan O’Rourke and Solas

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take:

Bobby Caldwell, ‘Blue-Eyed Soul’ Singer, Dead at 71
Al Jaffee, Now 102, Is Ready to Be Added to Mount Rushmore MAD’s longest-serving contributor on comedy, art, and the origins of the “Fold-in.”
Marvel Is Looking For The Person Behind The Alleged Quantumania Script Leaks
Warner Bros. Discovery Worried That ‘HBO’ Name Turns Off New Subscribers CEO David Zaslav is considering ”Max“ as the name for the service which combines the company’s flagship streamer and Discovery+
Sesame Street to Launch First NFTs With VeVe, Starting With Cookie Monster Digital Collectibles at $60 Each
Netflix Pulls Plug On Nancy Meyers’ New Project Over Budget Issue
The Fabulist in the Woods In Northampton with Kelly Link and her community of like-minded writers.
The Cure tried to circumvent Ticketmaster’s price gouging. It didn’t work. While tickets went for as low as $20, Ticketmaster’s fees easily doubled the price
Bad Projection Is Ruining the Movie Theater Experience Multiplexes are failing at their most basic function: delivering a bright, sharp image.
Peak TV Is Over. Welcome to Trough TV. Streaming’s golden age has been ending for a while, but it’s only now become clear what’s replacing it.
34 Things That Happened Almost Exactly 3 Years Ago Before The Pandemic That Will Make You Question Reality The world really was such a different place, and I just hope Charlotte Awbery is slaying a subway platform somewhere again.
20 Cringey And 9 Funny Things Celebrities Did At The Beginning Of The Pandemic That Are Wild To Look Back On Now It’s weird looking back three years later, but I think all celebrities learned it’s just sometimes better not to post.
It’s Time to Kill the Multiverse (at Least in This Timeline) Don’t let ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ and its Oscar front-runner status fool you: The supposedly limitless storytelling device has been pushed to its narrative limits. Just look to ‘Quantumania’ for proof.
How Please Stopped Being Polite The phrase if it please you has been shortened and shortened over time—until it’s become more brusque than courteous.
If You’re Reading This, Your Favorite Show Is Canceled
Ben Affleck on ‘Air,’ New CEO Gig and Those Memes: “I Am Who I Am” The actor, filmmaker and budding mogul on the disruptive production company he launched with Matt Damon, why he’s done with D.C., getting Michael Jordan’s blessing for his new film and the advice wife Jennifer Lopez gave him for this interview.
We Spoke To The NYU Student Who Did Not Have Fun Studying Abroad In Florence And She Doesn’t Care That You’re Mad Emily in Paris has nothing on Stacia in Florence.
Why Are So Many People Rewatching ‘Girls’? Viewership of Lena Dunham’s HBO dramedy is surging as many millennials reassess their 20s and a show that defined them.
Meg White’s Drumming Chops Are the Hot Topic of the Day, and Yes, It’s 2023

GUESTS:

David Edelstein: America’s Greatest Living Film Critic
Carolyn Paine: An actress, comedian, and dancer, and she is founder, director, and choreographer of CONNetic Dance
Mercy Quaye: Founder and president of The Narrative Project and a columnist and editor at The Connecticut Mirror

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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March Madness is upon us!

And so the only logical thing to do is to get improv comedian Julia Pistell and the actual Bill Curry together to talk basketball for an hour on the radio.

That may not be the only logical thing to do. It may be that that’s not actually a logical thing to do at all.

But we’re doing it anyway.

*It’s our 13th one of these unless it isn’t. Our thinking is that we’ve done this show every year from 2010 on, but for 2020. There’s a mention, in our 2013 edition of this show, of our having done a 2010 edition of this show. But no evidence of the 2010 edition of the show survives on the internet. And yet we’re still fairly confident it’s a thing that we did.

GUESTS:

Bill Curry: Playing the part of Bill Curry
Frankie Graziano: Host of The Wheelhouse on Connecticut Public
Andrew Hsu: President of the College of Charleston in South Carolina
Julia Pistell: A founding member of Sea Tea Improv, a contributing producer on this show, and a number of other things

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Do you daydream? What do you daydream about? This hour is all about the art of daydreaming. We'll reflect on the value of daydreaming, and why it can be so difficult to talk about our daydreams. Plus, we’ll look at what daydreaming does to our brains, and we’ll learn about maladaptive daydreaming.

GUESTS:

Leslie Jamison: Novelist, essayist and professor at Columbia University’s MFA Program
Jonathan Schooler: Distinguished Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences and Director of The Center for Mindfulness and Human Potential at the University of California, Santa Barbara
Jayne Rachel: An advocate for maladaptive daydreaming, who used to experience it

Join the conversation onFacebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Food isn’t just a way to cure hunger. In food, we find identity, history, politics, and more.

This hour, a look at the evolution of food and how our perception of different diets and lifestyles is changing.

GUESTS:

Anthony Jung: Executive chef of retail dining at UMass Amherst
Cathy Kaufman: Lecturer of food studies at The New School and chairwoman of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery
Uma Naidoo: Director of nutritional and lifestyle psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital and the author of This Is Your Brain on Food

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired August 9, 2022.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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We’ve been doing these shows a couple times a month where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to the statute of limitations on break room food, Ron DeSantis, (the lack of) motorcycle helmet laws in Connecticut, an ad running on our air about junking vehicles, state police cars … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Over the last year, The Nose has covered 14 of this year’s Academy Award-nominated movies, encompassing 64 nominations.

So on this special edition of The Nose, we look back at our discussions of nominated movies, and we look ahead to Sunday’s Oscars ceremony with film and television star (and Oscars voter) Illeana Douglas.

Some of the movies covered include: The Banshees of Inisherin, Elvis, Everything Everywhere All at Once, The Fabelmans, Tár, Top Gun: Maverick, Triangle of Sadness, Turn Every Page: The Adventures of Robert Caro and Robert Gottlieb, The Whale, Women Talking, and more.

Note: This special two-part Oscars season finale edition of The Nose, airing over two days on the radio, is presented here as one double-length (or so) episode.

GUESTS:

Raquel Benedict: The most dangerous woman in speculative fiction and the host of the Rite Gud podcast
Rebecca Castellani: Co-founder of Quiet Corner Communications and a freelance writer
Illeana Douglas: The Official Movie Star of The Colin McEnroe Show and a real, live Oscars voter
Sam Hadelman: Works in music public relations and hosts The Sam Hadelman Show at Radio Free Brooklyn
James Hanley: Co-founder of Cinestudio at Trinity College
Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Nobody Asked Shawn podcast
Carolyn Paine: An actress, comedian, and dancer, and she is founder, director, and choreographer of CONNetic Dance
Irene Papoulis: Teaches writing at Trinity College
Mercy Quaye: Founder and principal consultant for The Narrative Project
Gene Seymour: A “writer, professional spectator, pop-culture maven, and jazz geek”
Pedro Soto: President and CEO of Hygrade Precision Technologies
Bill Yousman: Professor of Media Studies at Sacred Heart University

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, Cat Pastor, and Catie Talarski contributed to this show, parts of which have aired previously in different form.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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I’m so excited!!! The exclamation point is the only punctuation mark that can express (and evoke) strong emotion. You either love them or hate them.

Writers use it to express emotion that words can’t fully capture, politicians and advertisers can use it to manipulate and alarm, and authors and their editors often clash over its appropriate use. Our brains physically respond to the sight of it.

Today, we look at the history and culture of this most controversial mark.

GUESTS:

Florence Hazrat is a literary researcher and writer. She isthe author of An Admirable Point: A Brief History of the Exclamation Mark, which will be published in the US on March 28.
Lan Samantha Chang’s most recent novel is The Family Chao. Her novel Hunger, will be reissued in a 25th anniversary edition this summer. She is the director of the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop.
John Breunig is an editorial page editor with Hearst Connecticut Media Group. He writes a weekly column for Hearst called “Look at it this way.”

Join the conversation onFacebook and Twitter.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Snacking on snacks, savory or sweet, has become a way of life.

This hour, we sink our teeth into our snack-food obsessions.

GUESTS:

Andrea Hernández: Founder of SnaxShot
Julia Pistell: Freelance writer and co-founder of SeaTea Improv
Chris Prosperi: Chef and owner of Metro Bis
Mark Schatzker: Writer in residence at the Modern Diet and Physiology Research Center and the author of The Dorito Effect

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, Cat Pastor, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show, which originally aired July 25, 2022.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Jane Austen completed six full-length novels. And today, more than two centuries later, those novels are all still present in our culture.

This hour, a look at Austen’s life and work, the world of Janeites, and the many film and television adaptations of her work.

GUESTS:

Devoney Looser: Author of The Making of Jane Austen and Sister Novelists: The Trailblazing Porter Sisters, Who Paved the Way for Austen and the Brontës
Deborah Yaffe: Author of Among the Janeites: A Journey Through the World of Jane Austen Fandom

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Anya Grondalski, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired July 28, 2022.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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Have you noticed that voice assistants, like Alexa and Siri, default to having female voices? This hour we talk about how artificial intelligence is reinforcing gender biases. Plus, we’ll look at how representations of artificial intelligence in pop culture have contributed to this model.

GUESTS:

Kerry McInerney: Research Fellow at the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence, and co-host of “The Good Robot Podcast”
Lisa Yaszek: Regents Professor of Science Fiction Studies in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication at Georgia Tech
Deborah Tannen: Distinguished University Professor of Linguistics at Georgetown University, and author of You Just Don’t Understand: Women and Men in Conversation, among other books

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Lizzie Van Arnam, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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This week’s Nose has never asked the men for anything. Not a single thing.

Women Talking is an adaptation of Miriam Toews’s 2018 novel written and directed by Sarah Polley. It’s Polley’s fourth feature film as writer and director. Polley is nominated for the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay, and the film is nominated for Best Picture. It’s the story of the women of an isolated religious community choosing their path forward: do nothing, stay and fight, or leave. Women Talking stars Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley, Judith Ivey, Sheila McCarthy, and more.

And: The Consultant is, so far, an eight-episode comedy-thriller series from Prime Video. It is created for television by Tony Bagsallop based on the 2016 novel by Bentley Little. Christoph Waltz stars as Regus Patoff, who may be more than just the titular corporate consultant.

Mercy Quaye’s endorsements:

Edge of Tomorrow on demand on HBO Max and available to rent on iTunes/Amazon/etc.
The Tomorrow War on Prime Video

Lindsay Lee Wallace’s endorsements:

The Black Guy Dies First: Black Horror Cinema from Fodder to Oscar by Robin R. Means Coleman and Mark H. Harris
Force Majeure on demand on HBO Max and available to rent on iTunes/Amazon/etc.

Bill Yousman’s endorsement:

the music of Wayne Shorter

Colin’s endorsements:

The Last of Us on HBO
the podcast The Watch

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take:

Wayne Shorter, Innovator During an Era of Change in Jazz, Dies at 89 His career as an influential tenor saxophonist and composer reached across more than half a century, tracking jazz’s complex evolution during that span.
‘The Idol’: How HBO’s Next ‘Euphoria’ Became Twisted ‘Torture Porn’ Thirteen sources tell Rolling Stone that The Idol — Sam Levinson’s new show with The Weeknd and Lily-Rose Depp — has gone wildly, disgustingly off the rails
This is the most populist Oscars in a long time So why doesn’t it feel like it?
The Great MLB Jersey Caper When players’ jerseys mysteriously started to disappear three years ago, teams weren’t just worried about the laundry—they were spooked by what seemed like a startling security breach. What came next: an all-out search for the thief.
The End of the English Major Enrollment in the humanities is in free fall at colleges around the country. What happened?
Chris Rock Is Finally Ready to Talk About Will Smith’s Oscar Slap The stand-up comedian, going live with a new Netflix special a week before the Oscars, spent the past year on tour and working out material on the infamous Oscar slap
Stop Groping Celebrities, You Creeps
The New Black Film Canon From Touki Bouki to Friday, the 75 greatest movies by Black directors, as chosen by our special panel of filmmakers and critics.
Why I Watch the Closing Credits of Every Movie I See One look is enough to challenge the myth of the genius auteur calling all the shots.
Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward Collection Will Be Auctioned in June by Sotheby’s A ‘Cool Hand Luke’ prop, Woodward’s wedding dress, one of Newman’s racing suits and a trove of 19th century American folk art are among the items offering “further insight into who they were beyond their glamorous Hollywood personas.”
The Bidens ordered the same dish at a restaurant. Who does that?
The Cult of Daniels How the directors of the universe-hopping kung fu drama Everything Everywhere All at Once became unlikely Oscar front-runners.
Two Sides of the HBO Apocalypse ‘The Last of Us’ and ‘Station Eleven’ are a natural point of comparison, but what separates the series is ultimately more instructive than what lumps them together
Artificial Digging: How Google’s AI Now Reveals What Producers Sampled
Are We Having Fun Yet?!: The Oral History of ‘Party Down’ As the Starz comedy makes an unlikely return to air, its creators look back on creating a unique inside-Hollywood workplace sitcom, scrapping through a difficult development period, and getting gold from Adam Scott, Ken Marino, and Jane Lynch
Netflix Announces ‘Stranger Things’ Prequel — As a Stage Show
Lord, We Are Doing the Double Down Again KFC is bringing back its breadless fried chicken sandwich, and it’s 2010 all over again

GUESTS:

Mercy Quaye: Founder and principal consultant for The Narrative Project
Lindsay Lee Wallace: Writes about culture, health care and health equity, and other stuff, too
Bill Yousman: Professor of Media Studies at Sacred Heart University

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Join Colin and his guests this hour as they take the measure of shortness, from personal health, professional discrimination, and environmental impact to Humphrey Bogart’s strap-on inch-adders.

GUESTS:

Arne Hendriks: Artist, researcher, and exhibition-maker based in Amsterdam who writes about height at his website "The Incredible Shrinking Man"
Tanya Osensky: Lawyer and author of the book Shortchanged: Height Discrimination and Strategies for Social Change
William Mann: Author and historian whose new book, Bogey and Bacall, comes out in June

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe, Lily Tyson, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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We’re now three years into the COVID-19 pandemic. This hour we look back at the past few years, and how we attempt to make sense of them. We’ll talk with the co-director of a COVID-19 oral history project, and an author who’s included the pandemic in her latest novel. Plus, we’ll get an update on the state of the virus.

GUESTS:

Dr. Saskia Popescu:Infectious Disease Epidemiologist, and an Assistant Professor in the Biodefense Program within the ScharSchool of Policy and Government at George Mason University
Ryan Hagen: Lecturer in the Department of Sociology at Columbia University, and Co-Director of the New York City COVID-19 Oral History Memory and Narrative Archive
Weike Wang:An author whose latest novel is Joan Is Okay

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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Malls are an important gathering place for people of all ages to shop, eat, be entertained, walk, and enjoy the controlled temperature.

This hour, the history of malls in America, their unique design, and a look ahead to the future of those spaces, now that there are dead malls all over the country.

Plus: the art of curating mall music.

GUESTS:

Michael Bise: A former Gap employee who runs the Gap In-Store Playlists blog
Alexandra Lange: Author of Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall
Erik Pierson: Videographer of the YouTube channel Retail Archeology

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Ray Hardman, Greg Hill, Tucker Ives, Jonathan McNicol, Cat Pastor, Patrick Skahill, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired July 21, 2022.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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We’ve been doing these shows a couple times a month where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to tailgating in the snow, modern monetary theory, the left hemisphere of the human brain, cycling, raising guide dogs for the blind, UFOs … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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This week’s Nose has every right to be consulted about your schemes and machinations regarding its property.

To this point, The Nose has covered exactly one significantly animated movie that came out in 2022. (We did also tackle I Am Groot, thank you very much.) So we decided to devote this show to three of the Best Animated Feature nominees at this year’s Academy Awards.

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio is a stop-motion animated adaptation of the 1883 novel The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi. It won the Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature, and it is nominated for nine awards at Saturday night’s Annie Awards for excellence in animation. Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio is available to stream on Netflix.

Marcel the Shell with Shoes On is a stop-motion animated and live action adaptation of the series of shorts. It is nominated for four Annie Awards. Marcel the Shell with Shoes On is available to rent on Amazon/iTunes/etc.

And: Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is a computer-animated sequel to Puss in Boots, itself a spinoff from Shrek 2. The Last Wish is the sixth film in the Shrek franchise, and the second-highest grossing animated movie of 2022. It is nominated for six Annie Awards. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish will be available to rent on Amazon/iTunes/etc. on February 28.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take:

Richard Belzer, Extraordinarily Smart-Ass as a Comic and a TV Cop, Dies at 78 The stand-up legend and ‘Groove Tube’ actor played Det. John Munch on ‘Homicide: Life on the Street,’ ‘Law and Order: SVU’ and eight other shows.
Every US president as a Pixar character: Baseball writer uses AI to generate America’s 46 leaders as cartoon characters
Pete Docter Opens Up About the Past, Present and Future of Pixar The Annies honoree and Pixar’s Chief Creative Officer tells TheWrap about bringing more diverse voices to the studio, “Toy Story 5” and where “Lightyear” went wrong
Film Forum’s longtime director on why New York still needs movie theaters
Carey Mulligan Was Mistakenly Announced As The Winner For Best Supporting Actress At The BAFTAs “This is a bad moment.”
Titanic Is Still the Purest Expression of Who James Cameron Is
Could Mediocre Movies Save Movie Theaters? ‘Ticket to Paradise,’ ‘A Man Called Otto’ and ‘80 for Brady’ Say Yes
Miami Vice’s Journey From Misfire to Masterpiece
Mindhunter Is Officially Dead; Long Live *Mindhunter David Fincher is closing the door on his perfect true-crime series, one of Netflix’s best offerings.*
The End Of TCM Underground Is A Huge Loss
The End of “Succession” Is Near The show’s creator, Jesse Armstrong, explains why he has chosen to conclude the drama of the Roy family in its fourth season.
New ‘Lord of the Rings’ Movies Set at Warner Bros.
Roald Dahl’s publisher responds to backlash by keeping ‘classic’ texts in print

GUESTS:

Carolyn Paine: An actress, comedian, and dancer; she is founder, director, and choreographer of CONNetic Dance
Irene Papoulis: Teaches writing at Trinity College
Pedro Soto: President and CEO of Hygrade Precision Technologies

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Today is Curling is Cool Day, Digital Learning Day, Single-Tasking Day, National Chili Day, and Introduce a Girl To Engineering Day. And these are just a few of hundreds of examples of unusual holidays observed throughout the year. This hour we learn all about these unusual holidays and how they’re created. We discover why some people find joy in celebrating these days, and we talk with the creators of International Talk Like a Pirate Day, National Grammar Day, and Find Your Inner Nerd Day.

GUESTS:

Marlo Anderson:Founder of the National Day Calendar
John Baur:Co-founder of International Talk Like a Pirate Day
Martha Brockenbrough:Author, teacher, and creator of National Grammar Day
Holly McGuire: Editor-in-chief of Chase’s Calendar of Events
Beth Ziesenis:Author, speaker, and founder of Find Your Inner Nerd Day

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

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UFOs are in the news again. This hour we look at how a once fringe interest in UFOs became mainstream. We discuss why so many Americans believe in extraterrestrial life, how our relationship to UFOs have changed over time, and how the government and pop culture contribute to these beliefs. Finally, we learn about the frequency illusion, and what that can teach us about the prevalence of unidentified objects in the sky.

GUESTS:

Greg Eghigian:Professor of History and Bioethics at Penn State
Carly Leonard:Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Colorado Denver
Diana Walsh Pasulka:Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina Wilmington and Chair of the Department of Philosophy and Religion. She is the author of American Cosmic: UFOs, Religion, Technology

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Homer’s The Iliad is a literary classic.

This hour, we look at some of the many ways the epic applies to life today, in our understanding of plague, death, politics, and anger.

We look at the value of returning to the story over and over again and how it can be used as a framework for other stories.

GUESTS:

Emily Katz Anhalt: Professor of classical languages and literature at Sarah Lawrence College and the author of Embattled: How Ancient Greek Myths Empower Us To Resist Tyranny and Enraged: Why Violent Times Need Ancient Greek Myths
Joel Christensen: Professor of classical studies and senior associate dean for faculty affairs at Brandeis University and the author of The Many-Minded Man: The Odyssey, Psychology, and the Therapy of Epic
Maya Deane: Author of Wrath Goddess Sing

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired July 13, 2022.

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If I say “Liam Neeson movie,” you picture, at this point, a pretty specific thing, right? It’s kind of an action-thriller. Neeson is avenging some wrong. It’s usually some wrong against his family. And it’s usually avenged with Neeson’s “particular set of skills.”

Basically, the movie is some version of Taken, right?

Well, Taken came out in 2008. Liam Neeson has been making these movies for 15 years now. He turned 70 last year, and he says he just made his 100th movie. (I’ve put a certain amount of effort into trying to figure out just what he’s counting to get to exactly 100, and I can’t quite do it. But I’ve decided we should just accept the guy’s count. Right?)

The Nose is off this week. In its place, and with the release Wednesday of Marlowe, a Not Necessarily theNose-style look at late-career Liam Neeson, post-Taken Liam Neeson, doing-action-movies-into-his-70s Liam Neeson.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take:

Raquel Welch, ‘One Million Years B.C.’ and ‘Three Musketeers’ Icon, Dies at 82
Trugoy the Dove, founding member of De La Soul, dead at 54
Cody Longo, ‘Days of Our Lives’ actor, dead at 34
Penn Badgley Says He Wants to Put His Sex Scenes to Bed
How Rihanna Pioneered a New Kind of Super Bowl Performance The singer gave much of her halftime show performance atop seven suspended platforms. It was all in the name of protecting the grass.
How the Oscars and Grammys Thrive on the Lie of Meritocracy Despite all the markers of excellence, contenders like Danielle Deadwyler, Viola Davis and Beyoncé weren’t recognized for the highest honors. Niche awards don’t suffice.
Aliens And UFOs May Have Just Made Contact With Us, And Now Everyone’s Meme-ing About ItThey better pick me…
John Wick 4’s Long Runtime Sets New Franchise Record
An Ode to Swearing A well-turned curse can remind you of the power of language.
The Wit and Wisdom of Regé-Jean Page The former Bridgerton star (and possibly the next James Bond?) is awfully humble for someone named the most handsome man in the world.
A new, old rhythm: How the pitch clock could be profoundly positive
The Case for Hanging Out There’s a growing crisis in our social lives. Could the cure be this simple?

GUESTS:

David Edelstein: America’s Greatest Living Film Critic
Nate Fisher: A writer and comedian and cohost of the podcast A Closer Look
Ben Lindbergh: Senior editor at The Ringer
Stephen Marche: A novelist and essayist; his newest book, out this week, is On Writing and Failure: Or, On the Peculiar Perseverance Required to Endure the Life of a Writer

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired September 30, 2022.

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There's a theory called 'nominative determinism' that people are drawn to work that fits their name. This hour we explore that theory. And we look at the different ways your name impacts your life.

GUESTS:

David Bird:Emeritus Professor of Wildlife Biology and Director of the Avian Science and Conservation Centre of McGill University. He’s now retired, but in his career as an ornithologist he was president of the Raptor Research Foundation and the Society of Canadian Ornithologists
Brett Pelham: Professor of Psychology at Montgomery College
Tess Terrible:Senior Producer of Where We Live
Laura Wattenberg:Naming expert, author of The Baby Name Wizard, and the creator of namerology.com

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We’ve been doing these shows a couple times a month where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been surprising and compelling.

This hour, the conversation focuses largely on right to die laws and mental health, while also winding around to a private high school closing in Uncasville, stuff that’s wrong with the human body, public disclosure of lottery winners (or not), and more.

If you are or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts, text or call 9-8-8, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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This hour, a look at how the pandemic shaped dating, long-term relationships, and love over its first two years.

GUESTS:

Philippa Found: An artist and writer and the creator of Lockdownlovestories
Hiwote Getaneh: A producer on the This Is Dating podcast
Laura Kipnis: Author of Love in the Time of Contagion: A Diagnosis

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired February 14, 2022.

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Burt Bacharach was, simply put, one of the most important figures in popular music in the 20th century.

He wrote 73 Top 40 hits, including songs like “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head,” “I Say a Little Prayer,” “That’s What Friends Are For,” and “Arthur’s Theme.”

He was nominated for six Academy Awards, 21 Grammy Awards, three Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Tony Award, of which he won three Oscars, six Grammys, and an Emmy.

His songs have been recorded by more than a thousand different artists.

Bacharach died last week at age 94. This hour, a look back at his seven-decade-long songwriting career.

GUESTS:

Noah Baerman: A pianist, composer, and educator; his most recent album, with Henry Lugo, is Alter Ego
Illeana Douglas: Official Movie Star of The Colin McEnroe Show
Steve Metcalf: Founder and director of the Garmany concert series at the university of Hartford’s Hartt School
Gene Seymour: A “writer, professional spectator, pop-culture maven, and jazz geek”
Paula West: A jazz and cabaret singer

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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This week’s Nose needs food to live, so it begins to devour its host from within.

The Last of Us is a post-apocalyptic TV series adapted for HBO from the classic PlayStation game. It stars Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey.

And: Triangle of Sadness is a black comedy written and directed by Ruben Östlund. It’s his English-language feature film debut, and it won the Palme d’Or at last year’s Cannes Film Festival. It’s nominated for three Academy Awards: Best Director and Best Original Screenplay for Östlund and Best Motion Picture of the Year.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take:

Burt Bacharach, Composer Who Added a High Gloss to the ’60s, Dies at 94 His sophisticated collaborations with the lyricist Hal David — “The Look of Love,” “Walk On By,” “Alfie” and many more hits — evoked a sleek era of airy romance.
Melinda Dillon, Actress in ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’ and ‘A Christmas Story,’ Dies at 83 A two-time Oscar nominee, she also appeared in ‘Bound for Glory,’ ‘Slap Shot’ and on Broadway in ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?’
Charles Kimbrough, Actor Best Known for ‘Murphy Brown,’ Dies at 86 In a career that included a Tony nomination for “Company,” he specialized in playing uptight characters, notably Candice Bergen’s stuffy straight man.
In Memoriam: Austin Butler’s Elvis Voice (2019–2023) After three years of Method acting as the King, the “Elvis” actor has announced he’s “getting rid of” the accent that got him mocked at the Golden Globes.
18 “Normal” Things In Our Society That Are Actually, Pretty Weird, Cruel, Damaging, Etc. “Only doing nice things for clout. I’m looking at all the influencers who film themselves giving food, blankets, money, etc., to homeless people. Tell me they’d do that if there wasn’t a camera filming them.”
Jimmy Fallon Explains to Paul Shaffer Why All Comedians Laugh Like Him “Ahhhh!” (He’s got a point.)
Armie Hammer Breaks His Silence Two years after some of the most shocking allegations of the #MeToo era lit up the Internet and destroyed his career, the actor has finally decided to tell his side of the story
“2001: A Space Odyssey” directed by George Lucas?
Avatar: The Way Of Water And Titanic Are About To Enter A Tight Race At The Box Office
What’s the deal with this AI Seinfeld stream?
White Men Can’t Jump Teaser Trailer: Sinqua Walls And Jack Harlow Are Ready To Play Ball
Dave Chappelle Wins Grammy for Netflix Special Condemned for Being Transphobic Following its release in October 2021, ‘The Closer’ was criticized for the comedian’s material focused on the transgender community.
18 Jokes Elon Musk Stole From His Fans On Twitter
AMC Theatres to Change Movie Ticket Prices Based on Seat Location
Duluth 14-year-old has slept outside for 1,021 straight nights, and still counting
‘Yellowstone’ Shocker: Kevin Costner Cowboy Drama Series Plots End As Taylor Sheridan Eyes Franchise Extension With Matthew McConaughey
‘Get something that’s fun to play, then think about the story’: how Nintendo keeps levelling up
Ben Affleck’s Misery at the 2023 Grammys Became Twitter’s Favorite New Meme
Mike Schur Comedy Series Starring Ted Danson Based On ‘The Mole Agent’ Documentary Sparks Bidding War
‘The Late Late Show With James Corden’ To Be Replaced With ‘@midnight’ Reboot Exec Produced By Stephen Colbert On CBS
The Mystery of the Dune Font Putting a name to the typeface that defined the visual identity of the science fiction series and its author, Frank Herbert
Gustavo Dudamel Will Take Over the New York Philharmonic And the internet wants to replace him in Los Angeles with … Lydia Tár.
Harrison Ford: “I Know Who the F I Am” The actor is busier than ever with ‘Shrinking,’ ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’ and ‘1923.’ We tried to get the delightfully testy 80-year-old icon to open up about his life and latest projects. Here’s how that went.*
Steven Spielberg’s Oscar Curse Inside nearly 50 years of frustration at the Academy Awards for the most popular director of all time.
The unacceptable look on Madonna’s face We seem so horrified when women age, no matter how they try to do it.
The Films Steven Soderbergh Watches on a Loop A conversation with the director about his inspirations for Magic Mike’s Last Dance
‘It was a witch-burning’: Roseanne may forgive Hollywood, but she’ll never forget

GUESTS:

Raquel Benedict: The most dangerous woman in speculative fiction and the host of the Rite Gudpodcast
Rebecca Castellani: Co-founder of Quiet Corner Communications and a freelance writer
Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Nobody Asked Shawn podcast

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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Everyone loves a good band breakup story. But it’s far more unusual to find bands that manage to stay together for the long haul. This hour we explore the challenges musicians face as they seek band harmony, and discuss what makes them succeed – or fail – together.

GUESTS:

Steven Hyden: Cultural critic at UPROXX and the author of several books on rock music, most recently Long Road: Pearl Jam and the Soundtrack of a Generation
Nerissa Nields: Singer-songwriter, guitarist, and founding member of The Nields
Jim Chapdelaine: Guitarist, producer, Emmy Award-winning composer, recording engineer, and an adjunct professor at the University of Hartford School of Music
Jay Russell: Singer, songwriter, and guitarist from Connecticut whose current band is The Split Coils; former member of Hot Rod Circuit
Heather Ferguson: Psychotherapist, psychoanalyst, and clinical supervisor in New York City, and a member of the Music Industry Therapist Collective

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Colin McEnroe, Lily Tyson, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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This hour, we talk about what we can learn when we hear a story from a monster's perspective. We discuss misunderstood monsters, and why humans create monsters in the first place. Plus, we’ll learn more about Medusa, and talk to a researcher who studied purported yeti samples to find the animal behind the myth.

GUESTS:

Asa Simon Mittman:Professor of Art and Art History at California State University, Chico
Natalie Haynes:Writer, broadcaster, and author whose newest book is Stone Blind
Charlotte Lindqvist:Associate Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University at Buffalo

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What counts as a robot? This hour, a look at what robots are and the latest in robot technology.

Plus, how robots were used and thought about in medieval times and Ancient Greece and the role of robots in science fiction.

GUESTS:

Chris Atkeson: Professor at the Robotics Institute and the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University
Adrienne Mayor: Author of Gods and Robots: Myths, Machines and Ancient Dreams of Technology, among other books
Elly Truitt: Author of Medieval Robots: Mechanism, Magic, Nature, and Art
Daniel H. Wilson: Author of Robopocalypse and How To Survive a Robot Uprising: Tips on Defending Yourself Against the Coming Rebellion, among other books

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired July 12, 2022.

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The HBO television adaptation of the video game, The Last of Us, takes place after a global pandemic caused by a fungal infection. Which sparked the question: how much should we be afraid of a fungal infections in our world today? This hour, we learn about the real-life fungal infection of ants that inspired the video game, and we discuss the role of fungi in our world. Plus, we talk with a local mushroom farmer, and an author who writes fungal fiction.

GUESTS:

William Beckerson: Post-Doctoral Research Fellow with the National Science Foundation, who works in Dr. Charissa de Bekker’s lab, where they study zombie fungus
Patricia Kaishian:Mycologist and Visiting Assistant Professor of Biology at Bard College.
Chris Pacheco:Owner of Seacoast Mushrooms in Mystic, CT
Jeff VanderMeer: Author of a number of books, including “The Southern Reach Trilogy”, which includes Annihilation. He recently co-founded The Sunshine State Biodiversity Group, an environmental non-profit

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This week’s Nose thanks you for your underwear concern.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is a sequel to 2018’s Black Panther. It is the seventh and final movie in Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the first phase of The Multiverse Saga. It is the 30th film overall in the MCU. I don’t really know what most of that stuff means, but here’s some stuff I do understand: Wakanda Forever is the fourth movie written and directed by Ryan Coogler. It’s the second-highest grossing movie of 2022 at the domestic box office. And it’s currently nominated for five Academy Awards.

And: Poker Face is a howcatchem, case-of-the-week murder mystery series created by Rian Johnson. It follows Natasha Lyonne’s Charlie, a woman who can always — always — tell when someone is lying. Five episodes are currently available on Peacock.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take:

Cindy Williams, Co-Star of ‘Laverne & Shirley,’ Dies at 75 From 1976 to 1983, she (Shirley) and Penny Marshall (Laverne) drew millions of viewers to a sitcom playing roommates who worked in a Milwaukee brewery.
George P. Wilbur, Actor And Stunt Man Known For Halloween Movies, Has Died At 81
‘Father of Peeps’ Bob Born, whose tech made popular candy chicks, dies at 98
A Eulogy for Gawker, the Best and Worst Thing I Ever Made.
Ozzy Osbourne cancels all shows, says his touring career is over
2023 Grammy Awards: The full list of nominees
Netflix Unveils First Details of New Anti-Password Sharing Measures
Do You Know How to Behave? Are You Sure? How to text, tip, ghost, host, and generally exist in polite society today.
Showtime and Paramount+ Merging, With Rebrand Planned Both the linear Showtime channel and the premium version of Paramount+ will be rebranded as CEO Bob Bakish acknowledges “uncertainty” for staff, and company seeks to focus on shows with “franchise” potential.
The Last Of Us Is Giving Linda Ronstadt A Stranger Things-Style Soundtrack Boost
What Became of the Oscar Streaker? After Robert Opel dashed naked across the stage in 1974, he ran for President and settled into the gay leather scene, in the orbit of Robert Mapplethorpe and Harvey Milk.
Academy Won’t Revoke Andrea Riseborough’s ‘To Leslie’ Oscar Nom Despite Backlash, But “Tactics Are Being Addressed”

GUESTS:

Helder Mira: Multimedia producer at Trinity College and co-host of the So Pretentious podcast
Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Nobody Asked Shawn podcast
Tracy Wu Fastenberg: Development officer at Connecticut Children’s

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today.

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This hour we discuss the problem with pizza boxes and food expiration dates. Plus we look at the history of the donkey and what it can tell us about human history.

GUESTS:

Samantha Brooks: Associate Professor of Equine Physiology and a Member of the Genetics Institute at the University of Florida
Brian Roe:The Van Buren Professor in the Department of Agriculture, Environmental, and Development Economics at Ohio State University who leads the Ohio State Food Waste Collaborative
Scott Wiener:New York Pizza-Tour Guide, Author of Viva la Pizza!: The Art of the Pizza Box, who maintains a Guinness World Record-winning collection of pizza boxes

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These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we’re doing another one.

In other words: Give us a call during the 1 p.m. EST hour about whatever you want to talk about. 888–720–9677.‌ Or join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Redheads. They smell better. They’re better at sensing temperature changes. They can handle more pain. (Those things are apparently all true.)

But. From being associated with witchcraft in the Middle Ages to being portrayed as hot-tempered or even soulless in our present popular culture, the red-haired continue to be seen as another kind of other.

This hour, in the era of Prince Harry and Ed Sheeran and Jessica Chastain and Amy Adams, a look at the myths and reality surrounding red hair.

GUESTS:

Jacky Colliss Harvey: Author of Red: A History of the Redhead
Erin La Rosa: Creator of the blog Side of Ginger and author of The Big Redhead Book: Inside the Secret Society of Red Hair

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired in a different form January 16, 2018.

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This hour: are too many documents classified in the U.S.? Plus, why the State Department is changing its default font. And, we'll look at the connection between exercise and spirituality.

GUESTS:

Matthew Connelly: Professor of International and Global History at Columbia University, author of the forthcoming book The Declassification Engine: What History Reveals About America’s Top Secrets, and principal investigator of History Lab
Juan Villanueva: Senior Type Designer at the Monotype Studio, and co-founder of Type Electives, an online school for type design education
Cody Musselman: Postdoctoral Research Associate at the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at Washington University in St. Louis, who is working on a book called Spiritual Exercises: Fitness and Religion in Modern America

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This week’s Nose never burns anything unless by design — to make delicious.

This year’s Academy Award nominations were announced Tuesday morning. Everything Everywhere All at Once leads the pack with 11. Steven Spielberg, nominated three times for The Fabelmans, earned his first-ever screenwriting nod in 45 years of nominations. Tom Cruise is nominated for the first time in 23 years (and for the first time as a producer). The Best Actor field is all first-time nominees (something that hadn’t happened since 1934), and the Best Actress category is among the hardest to predict in recent memory.

Lots of good stories. And yet there’s plenty for the internet to get all riled up about, too. There are no women among the Best Director nominees. Jordan Peele and his Nope were completely ignored. Ryan Coogler didn’t get a Best Director nom for his blockbuster Black Panther sequel (though Coogler is actually nominated this year — for Best Original Song). In fact, there are zero movies by Black filmmakers nominated anywhere among the Best Picture, Director, Screenplay, or International Feature categories. The Oscars seem to have taken some steps backwards in certain ways.

And: The Menu is a haute cuisine horror/thriller/comedy directed by Mark Mylod and produced by, among others, Adam McKay and Will Ferrell. It stars Ralph Fiennes and Anya Taylor-Joy, who both earned leading actor nominations at the Golden Globes … but not at the Academy Awards.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take:

Paul La Farge, Inventive Novelist, Is Dead at 52 He played with history and narrative techniques whether writing about 19th-century France or H.P. Lovecraft.
Panic! at the Disco Is Over, Brendon Urie Says The group’s last remaining original member is turning his attention toward family life
M&M’s Ditches ‘Spokescandies’ After Tucker Carlson Complained About Their Sexiness ‘SHOES CAN BE POLARIZING’
Reading is precious – which is why I’ve been giving away my books I’m donating my books to people who can most benefit from them. Why keep a novel that could delight someone else?
Twitter Is Obsessed With A Rumor That Shakira Discovered Her Husband Cheated Because Of Strawberry Jam, And The Memes Are Very, Very, Very Good Apparently no one messes with Shakira and her strawberry jam.
Ticketmaster Hearing Takeaways: After Taylor Swift Debacle, Some Senators Call Live Nation a ‘Monopoly’ The Senate Judiciary Committee explored whether the merger of Live Nation, the giant concert company, and Ticketmaster, the leading ticket seller, has harmed consumers by stifling competition.
Why we all need subtitles now It’s not you — TV dialogue has gotten harder to hear.
How Many Peaches Can Justin Bieber Buy With $200 Million?
Columbo and Chill How the internet turned a boomer TV cop into a sex symbol and queer icon.
We Think Rian Johnson’s Poker Face Is a Superhero Show, and He’s OK With That We asked the Glass Onion director about the mysterious power at the center of his new Peacock detective series.
Rian Johnson Mastered the Whodunit. Now He’s on to the “Howcatchem.” In an interview with The Ringer, the ‘Glass Onion’ director discussed his new crime mystery series ‘Poker Face,’ his TV experience with ‘Breaking Bad,’ and why Natasha Lyonne is the perfect collaborator
A font feud brews after State Dept. picks Calibri over Times New Roman The Times (New Roman) are a-Changin,’ read the subject line of a cable from Secretary of State Antony Blinken to U.S. embassies as part of an accessibility push
NCIS: Los Angeles Is Coming To An End After 14 Seasons And 322 Episodes
My Husband Was Right About DVDs All Along
Avatar: The Way Of Water Becomes James Cameron’s Third $2 Billion Movie At The Worldwide Box Office
25 Years Of Spice World And The Peak Of ’90s Girl Power
There’s Snow on Mars And it would be strangely beautiful to behold.
Beyoncé Was Paid Millions To Perform At A Hotel Grand Opening In Dubai, And Fans Aren’t Happy About It Beyoncé was reportedly paid $24 million for her performance.
Go Ahead And Cross The Streams With A Ghostbusters Rewatch
A Children’s Classic with a Refreshing Lack of Lessons “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day” refuses explicit conclusions. That’s the source of its appeal.
Syndicated Late-Night Talk Show With Craig Ferguson Shopped By Sony Pictures TV For Fall 2023
A Radiohead fan has recreated the whole In Rainbows album using sounds from Mario 64 On4word delivers his super Mario odyssey with a little help from the SoundFont format
New owner of Astoria Goonies house wants to keep it open for movie fans
Asteroid Measurements Make No Sense Is this space rock the size of a train car or 22 penguins?
Jimmy Kimmel celebrates 20 years as a (reluctant) late night TV institution
Future Cringe One day we’ll look back on this moment and wonder: What were we thinking?

GUESTS:

Sam Hadelman: Works in music public relations and hosts The Sam Hadelman Show at Radio Free Brooklyn
Lindsay Lee Wallace: Writes about culture, health care and health equity, and other stuff, too
Bill Yousman: Professor of Media Studies at Sacred Heart University

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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There’s more to narcissism than meets the eye. This hour Colin and his guests reflect on narcissism: our misunderstandings about it, its pervasiveness in our culture, and the personal, public, and political damage it wreaks.

GUESTS:

Mark Ettensohn:Clinical psychologist who specializes in the treatment of narcissists
Lee Hammock: “Self-aware” narcissist who shares his experience and insights on social media
Pete Hatemi: Distinguished Professor of Political Science at Penn State University

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You've likely heard the story from Greek mythology of Cassandra: a woman given the gift of prophecy who was cursed to never be believed. This hour we explore that myth, and its relevance. Plus, we'll talk about real-life Cassandras, including the diplomat who tried to stop World War II, and a public health official who tried to warn us about the COVID-19 pandemic.

GUESTS:

Joel Christensen: Professor of Classical Studies and Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs at Brandeis University. His newest book is The Many-Minded Man: The Odyssey, Psychology, and the Therapy of Epic
Dr. Charity Dean: CEO, Co-Founder, and Chairman of the Public Health Company. She previously served as the Assistant Director for the California Department of Public Health
Steve Kemper: Freelance journalist and author of Our Man in Tokyo: An American Ambassador and the Countdown to Pearl Harbor
Amanda Rees: Historian of Science based at the University of York who works on the history of the future. She is the author of the book Human

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This hour we look at the landscape of monuments across the United States and explore how new monuments are created and how old ones are decommissioned.

Plus, what could a COVID-19 memorial look like and represent?

GUESTS:

Sue Mobley: Director of research at Monument Lab
Erin Thompson: Professor of art crime at John Jay College and the author of Smashing Statues: The Rise and Fall of America’s Public Monuments
Kristin Urquiza: Co-founder and chief activist of Marked by COVID

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired July 7, 2022.

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Talk of regulating gas stoves in the United States recently ignited a firestorm. This hour we talk about what sparked the debate, the health impacts of gas stoves, and why many have grown attached to them. Plus, we look at what this debate can teach us about climate communications and actions, and the history and culture of cooking.

GUESTS:

Daniel Cohan:Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Rice University, and author of Confronting Climate Gridlock
Megan Elias:Historian, Director of the Gastronomy Program, and Associate Professor at Boston University
Rebecca Leber:Senior Climate Reporter for Vox

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This week’s Nose has no prince autopilot button that you can press and it just takes you away.

The English-language edition of Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex’s Spare reportedly sold 1.43 million copies on the day it was published and 3.2 million copies in its first week. It is now the fastest-selling non-fiction book ever published.

And then there’s Harry & Meghan, the six-part docuseries about Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex. Its December debut was the biggest ever for a Netflix documentary, with a total of 81.6 million hours watched, amounting to more than 28 million households, over its first four days, according to Netflix.

And there’s the 60 Minutes interview and the Late Show interview and the ITV interview and all their attendant outsized audience numbers.

This week’s Nose looks at the present Prince Harry moment.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take:

David Crosby, Byrds and Crosby, Stills & Nash Co-Founder, Dies at 81
Gina Lollobrigida, Italian Bombshell Movie Star, Dies at 95
Brian Tufano, British Cinematographer Known For Trainspotting And Billy Elliot, Has Died At 83
Alec Baldwin Will Be Charged With Involuntary Manslaughter in ‘Rust’ Killing A gun that Mr. Baldwin was rehearsing with went off, killing the film’s cinematographer. The armorer responsible for weapons on set also faces manslaughter charges.
Wikipedia’s Redesign Is Barely Noticeable. That’s the Point.
A decade on, the ‘This is fine’ creator wants to put the famous dog to rest
This Film Does Not Exist
Paramount+ Pivots ‘Mayor of Kingstown’ Marketing to Remove Wounds From Jeremy Renner’s Face “It’s good of the network,” co-creator Hugh Dillon says, adding: “Everybody is sensitive to Jeremy" following his snowplow accident.
Channing Tatum Is Back for Magic Mike’s Last Dance And ready to talk about life, love, and learning to be a feminist.
‘The SNL of Sabermetrics’: How a group of message-board misfits changed baseball
“Hater” doesn’t have to be a dirty word Meet the influencers who won’t “let people enjoy things.”
Sunrise Is The Only Best Picture Oscar Winner The Academy Doesn’t Recognize
The Mindy Kaling Backlash Has Lost All Nuance Recent criticism of the comedian’s artistic laziness has fans reexamining her whole career.
‘Night Court’ Is NBC’s Best Comedy Debut in Five Years The update of the 1980s sitcom also has the best 18–49 rating this season for any network entertainment show without an NFL lead-in.
In the fight against slowing growth, Netflix and its rivals are all in this together
Sexbots Are Liking People’s Instagram Stories And It’s Getting Weird Now “them IG sex bots was there when you weren’t”

GUESTS:

Theresa Cramer: A freelance writer and editor and the co-founder of Quiet Corner Communications
Taneisha Duggan: Associate producer at Octopus Theatricals
Carolyn Paine: An actress, comedian, and dancer; she is founder, director, and choreographer of CONNetic Dance

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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Thanks to rapid COVID-19 tests, most of us have gotten comfortable taking medical tests at home. But why aren't there home tests for more diseases? This hour, we look at the phenomenon of home medical tests, explore what's in store for their future, and discuss their impact on the medical world. Plus, we'll dig into the history and the cultural impact of home pregnancy tests.

GUESTS:

Dr. Michael Mina: The Chief Science Officer of eMed
Dr. Catherine Klapperich: Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Boston University, and Scientific Director of the Design, Automation, Manufacturing, and Processes Laboratory at Boston University
Karen Weingarten: Associate Professor of English at Queens College of the City University of New York, and author of the forthcoming book Pregnancy Test

Join the conversation onFacebook and Twitter.T

he Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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We’ve been doing these shows a couple times a month where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to aging and independent living, printers and their upkeep, leaving the TV on for your pets, the dangers of deflated balloons to cattle and otherwise … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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The concept of the hero’s journey was popularized by Joseph Campbell and outlined in his 1949 book, The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Campbell based the hero’s journey framework off of myths from around the world. Since then, the idea of the hero’s journey has been used in popular books and movies from Star Wars through Harry Potter to The Hunger Games and beyond.

But, despite its popularity, Campbell’s hero’s journey framework has faced a number of criticisms, including that he left women out of the story. Maria Tatar’s new book, The Heroine with 1,001 Faces, changes that.

This hour, a look at the impact of the hero’s journey — and at its limitations.

GUESTS:

Jeff Garvin: Co-host of the The Hero’s Journey podcast
Lev Grossman: Author of the Magicians trilogy; his newest book is The Golden Swift
Maria Tatar: Author of The Heroine with 1,001 Faces

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired June 30, 2022.

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Decision to Leave (헤어질 결심) is the eleventh feature film directed by Park Chan-wook. It deftly threads the police procedural, neo-noir, mystery, and, maybe, romance genres together. Decision to Leave was nominated for Best Non-English Language Film at the Golden Globe Awards, and it’s shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film.

Some other possible topics include:

Jeff Beck, Guitarist With a Chapter in Rock History, Dies at 78 His playing with the Yardbirds and as leader of his own bands brought a sense of adventure to their groundbreaking recordings.
Lisa Marie Presley dies at 54 after hospitalization
The World of Crackers Has Lost a Giant Rest in power.
The Winners and Losers of the 2023 Golden Globes Hollywood’s most tumultuous award show returned to television and offered a surprising number of pleasing moments—even if the play-off music almost stopped them from happening
I’m the Prince from ‘Two Princes,’ and I have also written a tell-all
In the age of anti-police sentiment, why do we still love detective stories so much? Despite increased distrust in policing, films about detective work have only become more popular, achieving both financial and critical acclaim.
This Device Will Not Let You LOL Unless You Mean It When you type “LOL” in a message to your friends, do you really laugh out loud? This device will hold you accountable.
Francis Ford Coppola’s ‘Megalopolis’ in Peril Amid Ballooning Budget, Crew Exodus The filmmaker is halfway through the movie in Atlanta, with one source describing the set as “absolute madness.”
Spielberg, ‘Top Gun’ feted by National Board of Review
People Are Calling Out Gwen Stefani After She Repeatedly Said She’s Japanese In An Interview“Gwen Stefani telling an Asian American interviewer that she identifies as Japanese is the kind of oblivion i’m trying to channel in this dark, cruel world.”
Women Were Better Represented in Hollywood During the Silent Film Era, AFI Study Reports
Games Rule: Sports events account for all but six of the top 100 telecasts of 2022
People Are Revealing The Beloved Celebrities They Actually Can’t Stand, And While Some Hurt My Heart, Others Are Spot-On
Why Top Gun: Maverick’s Joseph Kosinski Should Be Nominated For Best Director
I Ranked 133 Celeb’s Bathrooms From Best To Worst, And I’m Honestly SHOCKED By How Many Are Ugly And Dysfunctional Money can’t buy you class, but it CAN help celebrities buy some truly horrific looking bathrooms 🤑🚽
Matilda’s Trunchbull Is Still Evolving How Roald Dahl’s last great character went from misogynistic caricature to drag showstopper to Emma Thompson.

GUESTS:

James Hanley: Co-founder of Cinestudio at Trinity College
Helder Mira: Multimedia producer at Trinity College and co-host of the So Pretentious podcast
Carolyn Paine: An actress, comedian, and dancer; she is founder, director, and choreographer of CONNetic Dance

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe contributed to this show.

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We recently heard that scientists are estimating that there are 20 quadrillion ants on earth. Which made us wonder: how do we make sense of a number like that? This hour is all about how we relate to unimaginable numbers, both large and small. And, why our inability to conceptualize large numbers can have a real-world impact during times like a pandemic.

GUESTS:

Shabnam Mousavi: Scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, and a Senior Scientist at the Center for Artificial Intelligence
Sabine Nooten: Insect Ecologist, and a Temporary Principal Investigator at the University of Würzburg
Elizabeth Toomarian: The Director of the Brainwave Learning Center at Synapse School, and an Educational Neuroscience Researcher at Stanford University
Edward Tufte: Wrote, designed, and self-published five books on information design and data visualization. He also designed and built Hopgen Hill Farms, a sculpture farm, in Woodbury, Connecticut. He was a Professor at Princeton and Yale for 32 years

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In just the last year, at least six different late night comedy shows have ended. Conan O’Brien left Conanon TBS, who also canceled Full Frontal with Samantha Bee. Desus & Mero split up, ending their Showtime program. NBC canceled the very late A Little Late with Lilly Singh. Trevor Noah just left The Daily Show a few weeks ago, and James Corden has announced that he’ll leave The Late Late Show later this year. (And let’s not forget HBO Max’s currently disappeared The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo.)

And then there’s Saturday Night Live. Eight cast members left the show before Season 48 premiered in October — including the likes of Kate McKinnon and Kyle Mooney and Pete Davidson. And then Cecily Strong left last month, too. SNL’s current cast includes four new featured players.

So there’s a lot of churn and change in late night right now. Oh, and here’s one other new thing: The most-watched show in late night comedy at the moment is on, uh … Fox News? (This idea requires a liberal — you see what I did there — definition of “late night.” And maybe “comedy,” too. But still.)

This hour, a look at the current state and possible future of late night.

GUESTS:

Eric Deggans: NPR’s television critic
Constance Grady: Senior correspondent on the culture team for Vox

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe contributed to this show.

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Punk rock’s been around for a good half a century now.

This hour, a deep dive into punk’s past and present.

GUESTS:

Legs McNeil: Co-founder of PUNK Magazine and co-author of Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk
Kelefa Sanneh: Author of Major Labels: A History of Popular Music in Seven Genres and a staff writer at The New Yorker
Ben Social and Amy Wappel: Formed the Connecticut-based punk band Sadplant in 2007

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, Cat Pastor, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show, which originally aired June 29, 2022.

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After 15 votes, Representative Kevin McCarthy is now speaker of the House of Representatives. This hour we talk about that election, its historical significance, and C-SPAN’s coverage of it.

GUESTS:

Joanne Freeman: The Class of 1954 Professor of History and American Studies at Yale University and the co-host of the American History and politics podcast “Now & Then.” Her most recent book is The Field of Blood: Violence in Congress and the Road to Civil War
Ben O’Connell: C-SPAN’s Director of Editorial Operations
Aaron Rupar: Independent journalist and publisher of the “Public Notice” newsletter, covering U.S. Politics and Media

Join the conversation onFacebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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This week’s Nose is like a shapeless, growing thing, a dark, black, breathing thing of smoke.

White Noise is a movie adaptation of the landmark 1985 Don DeLillo novel written and directed by Noah Baumbach. It stars Adam Driver, Greta Gerwig, and Don Cheadle, and Driver is nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy. Netflix calls the movie, “At once hilarious and horrifying, lyrical and absurd, ordinary and apocalyptic.”

And: The Recruit is an eight-episode espionage adventure/comedy/drama/thriller thing series on Netflix. It is created by Alexi Hawley, and Doug Liman directs its first two episodes. Noah Centineo stars as a new CIA lawyer who finds himself caught up in more actual international intrigue than he’s prepared for.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take:

Henry Grossman, Photographer of Celebrities and Beatles, Dies at 86 He was best known for his formal portraits of prominent politicians and entertainers. Less famously, he took thousands of candid shots of John, Paul, George and Ringo.
Novelist Appears to Announce She’s Alive 2 Years After Faking Suicide: ‘Let the Fun Begin’ “I debated on how to do this a million times,” Susan Meachen recently wrote on her Facebook page.
The 200 Greatest Singers of All Time From Sinatra to SZA, from R&B to salsa to alt-rock
‘Glass Onion’ and ‘Babylon’ Have Broken People’s Brains It’s time to log off, folks
Sleazeballs are hot again Matty Healy, for when you’re ready to graduate from Harry Styles.
More Networks Are Pulling Shows From Streaming — And This Trend Couldn’t Be More Dangerous
‘Office Space’ Inspired Engineer’s Theft Scheme, Police Say The authorities said a software engineer in Washington State stole more than $300,000 from his employer and named the scheme after the 1999 workplace comedy.
Secret Meetings, Tequila and Black Adam vs. Superman: How Dwayne Johnson’s Bid for DC Power Flamed Out
Martin Scorsese: The ‘Clouds Lifted’ for Cinema’s Future When I Saw ‘TÁR’ Scorsese praised Todd Field’s “high-wire act” before bestowing upon him the Best Picture prize at Wednesday night’s New York Film Critics Circle awards.
The Best Movie Posters of 2022

GUESTS:

Jacques Lamarre: A playwright and the chief communications officer at Buzz Engine
Irene Papoulis: Teaches writing at Trinity College
Pedro Soto: President and CEO of Hygrade Precision Technologies

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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This hour we discuss episode recaps and why we need them. We talk about why they're so popular, what makes them useful, and what their prevalence can tell us about the current TV landscape. Plus, we learn about why we have trouble remembering all the TV we watch, and we take a look at the evolution of the “previously on” television recap sequence.

GUESTS:

Dr. Wilma Bainbridge: Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at The University of Chicago.
Alison Herman: Television critic for The Ringer
Genevieve Koski: Senior TV Editor for New York Magazine
Jason Mittell: Professor of Film and Media Culture at Middlebury College, who has written numerous books about American television

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The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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Translators help open up our worlds by bringing us stories from around the globe. But often they’re not given very much credit for their work.

This hour, the art of translation. Plus, a look at the challenges of translating movies and TV shows through subtitles and dubbing for international audiences.

GUESTS:

Jennifer Croft: Writer and translator and the winner of the 2018 Booker International Prize for her translation of Olga Tokarczuk’s Flights
Denise Kripper: Translation editor for Latin American Literature Today and an associate professor of Spanish at Lake Forest College
Emily Wilson: Chair of the program in comparative literature and literary theory at the University of Pennsylvania and translator of works such as The Odyssey

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired June 23, 2022.

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Welcome to 2023. For our first show of the new year, we figured we’d see what’s on your minds.

This hour, it’s book editors and learning foreign languages and The Cars tribute bands and the Oscar contenders and Damar Hamlin and the music streaming services on your minds. … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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To round out the year, we round up the best jazz of the year. We’ve done this every year for at least the last nine years.

GUESTS:

Jen Allen: A pianist, composer, arranger, and educator; her most recent album is Sifting Grace
Noah Baerman: A pianist, composer, and educator; his most recent album, with Henry Lugo, is Alter Ego
Gene Seymour: A film, television, and music critic

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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It’s been a long, strange year. Again. So how is our popular culture dealing with it all?

The Nose is thinking about a few things.

Our shared monoculture. Is there such a thing anymore?

All the -verses. The MCU-verse. The DCEU-verse. The Star Wars-verse. The Sheridan-verse. The Waititi-verse.

And all the -assances. The Jennifer Coolidge-assance. The Will Smith-assance? The Top Gun-assance. The Avatar-assance. The Brendan Fraser-assance. The Bennifer-assance. Beyoncé’s Renaissance. The renaissance-assance.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take:

The biggest pop culture moments of 2022 The face-offs (both fictional and real), celebrity deaths, interviews, and other entertainment stories that dominated headlines this year.
The 41 Most Defining Memes Of 2022 Lea Michele, if you can read this, you’re #8.
What Did Being Online Look Like for You in 2022?
It’s High Noon in America In our popular culture and in our politics, we’re returning to the Old West.
This Was the Year of the Prequel Once in short supply, the indispensable prequel dominated screens both big and small in 2022, transcending the genre’s spotty track record and giving sequels a run for their money as conversation drivers
Are Cracks Beginning to Emerge in the Superhero Era? After 20 years and billions in box office earnings, early signs suggest that the tides are turning against superheroes as the most dominant force in pop culture
It’s Time to Accept That Millennials and Gen Z Are the Same Generation Though discourse in 2021 tried to deepen the distinctions, it’s clear that young people today are forged from the same digital monoculture
Waking Up From the American Dream How the TV of 2022 depicted the weird, warping pressures of work and ambition in a boom-and-bust economy.
What Did We Get Stuck In Our Rectums Last Year?
Bill Cosby Considering Return to Touring in 2023 Getting back on the comedy stage would follow Cosby’s sexual assault conviction being overturned by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
The 10 most bizarre celebrity apologies of 2022

GUESTS:

Raquel Benedict: The most dangerous woman in speculative fiction, and she’s the host of the Rite Gud podcast
Rebecca Castellani: Co-founder of Quiet Corner Communications and a freelance writer
Jim Chapdelaine: An Emmy-winning musician and a patient advocate for people with rare cancers
Taneisha Duggan: Associate producer at Octopus Theatricals
Sam Hadelman: Works in music public relations and hosts The Sam Hadelman Show at Radio Free Brooklyn
Rich Hollant: Principal at CO:LAB, founder of Free Center, and commissioner on cultural affairs for the city of Hartford
Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Nobody Asked Shawn podcast
Carolyn Paine: An actress, comedian, and dancer; she is founder, director, and choreographer of CONNetic Dance
Bill Yousman: Professor of Media Studies at Sacred Heart University

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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Lists feel especially suited to the digital age, but humans have been creating lists for a long time.

So why are we drawn to lists?

This hour, the art and the utility of the list.

GUESTS:

Matthew Dicks: A West Hartford elementary school teacher and the author of Twenty-One Truths About Love
Dan Kois: Editor and writer at Slate, where he recently wrote the list “The 50 Greatest Fictional Deaths of All Time”
Ann Powers: NPR Music’s critic and correspondent
Liam Young: Author of List Cultures: Knowledge and Poetics from Mesopotamia to BuzzFeed

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired October 4, 2022.

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It seems like everything's been turned into a story lately. You can see a company's story on the packaging of juice, cereal, and alternative milks. Politicians tell stories to rally support for policies. And social media helps us all tell the story that we want to tell about our lives. This hour we talk with Peter Brooks about his new book Seduced by Story: The Use and Abuse of Narrative, and we discover why storytelling isn't always positive.

GUESTS:

Peter Brooks: Author of Seduced by Story: The Use and Abuse of Narrative and Professor Emeritus of Comparative Literature at Yale University
Chris Knopf:Retired CEO of Mintz & Hoke who is currently a full-time novelist
Elise Wang:Assistant Professor in the Department of English, Comparative Literature, and Linguistics at California State University, Fullerton

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This week’s Nose wants you to stop runnin’ away like some fool of a moody school child.

Could it be that the market for highbrow movies is drying up? Some of the numbers ain’t great. Could it be that the golden age of streaming is coming to an end? Well, maybe. But it’s not like we’ll be starved for prestige TV next year.

And: The Banshees of Inisherin is the fourth feature film written and directed by Martin McDonagh. It’s nominated for eight Golden Globe Awards, including Best Picture — Comedy or Musical, Best Director, and Best Screenplay. It’s the most nominations for any movie (or TV show, for that matter). The Banshees of Inisherin stars Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Kerry Condon, and Barry Keoghan.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take:

Terry Hall, Lead Singer of the Specials, Dies at 63 The ska vocalist and two-tone icon died following a “brief illness”
Mike Hodges, British Director of ‘Get Carter,’ ‘Croupier,’ Dies at 90
Cecily Strong says farewell to Saturday Night Live
An All But Definitive Guide to the Hollywood Nepo-Verse Actors, singers, directors who just happen to be the children of actors, singers, directors.
Here Are the Nepo Babies We Love The term gets thrown around like it’s a bad thing, but the world runs on nepo babies
Netflix’s Film Chief on Glass Onion and the Future of Theaters Netflix’s film chief Scott Stuber says the company expects the sequel to Knives Out will reach more than 80 million accounts.
The Seeds Of Avatar: The Way Of Water Were Planted In James Cameron’s First Film
James Cameron aims to finally put that ‘Titanic’ door debate to rest, 25 years later
Everything Is ‘30 Rock’ Now From politics to TV, we are living in Liz Lemon’s world
Toward a unified theory of “millennial cringe” Remember when “epic bacon” was the height of comedy?
An Unpublished Poem by Paul Newman Previously uncovered words from the eminent late actor, director, and philanthropist.
Ana de Armas Fans’ Lawsuit Puts Studios at Risk Over Deceptive Trailers
Television Academy Reveals Emmy Rule Changes for 2023, Including New Replacements for Variety Talk and Sketch Categories
The Christmas Movie That Became a Classic Because of a Mistake The role of accidents, chance and serendipity can be crucial to success. It’s the reason people still watch a black-and-white film every year.
Empire’s 50 Greatest Actors Of All Time List, Revealed [Ed. note: Just at first glance, this list, voted on by readers, omits the likes of James Cagney and Charlie Chaplin and Henry Fonda and Jane Fonda and Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn and Jack Lemmon and Steven McQueen and Spencer Tracy and Orson Welles. To name a few. I mean. Cary Grant! Charlie Chaplin!]
The Best LGBTQ TV Shows and Movies of 2022 And what a queer year it was!
The 20 Best Home Video Releases of 2022 You should buy a ticket at your local rep house for each title you buy, lest we run out of titles to laud here in the future.
Best of Late Night 2022: A Rebuilding Year After a year of significant change, as hosts like Trevor Noah and Samantha Bee signed off, the future of late-night TV has never seemed more uncertain.
The Best TV Title Sequences of 2022, Ranked
The best movies and TV of 2022, picked for you by NPR critics

GUESTS:

Sam Hadelman: Works in music public relations and hosts The Sam Hadelman Show at Radio Free Brooklyn
Irene Papoulis: Teaches writing at Trinity College
Bill Yousman: Professor of Media Studies at Sacred Heart University

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Toward the end of every year since 2014, we’ve done a holiday special with “Big Al” Anderson and Jim Chapdelaine.

In the beforetimes, we’d get them and a rhythm section and Colin in a room together with some special guests like Nekita Waller or the Dankosky Tabernacle Choir and sing some songs and tell some stories … But for three years running now, the “in a room together” part of that just isn’t happening.

So we’ve gone through all eight of those past shows, added some previously unheard material, and put together an hour of joyous best-of nonsense for Christmas Eve Eve Eve.

It’s an audio Happy Holidays from us to you.

🎄

GUESTS:

Al Anderson: Vocals, guitar, songwriter
Jim Chapdelaine: Guitar, vocals, songwriter, mixer, engineer, producer, etc.
Lorne Entress: Drums and vocals
Paul Kochanski: Bass guitar and vocals
Nekita Waller: Connecticut’s 17th State Troubadour
Chion Wolf: Host of Audacious with Chion Wolf on Connecticut Public Radio

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Gene Amatruda, Natalie Frascarelli, Betsy Kaplan, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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Rules are everywhere around us. This hour we talk about the history of rules, the power of unwritten rules, and we'll look at why some rules succeed while others fail. Plus we’ll learn about baseball’s unwritten rules, and talk to a game designer about how rules can facilitate play.

GUESTS:

Lorraine Daston: Author of Rules: A Short History of What We Live By, Director Emerita of the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin, and a Regular Visiting Professor in the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago
Jason Turbow: Journalist and author of The Baseball Codes: Beanballs, Sign Stealing, and Bench-Clearing Brawls: The Unwritten Rules of America's Pastime, among other books
Eric Zimmerman: Award-winning designer of board games and video games, an Arts Professor of Game Design at the NYU Game Center, and author of The Rules We Break: Lessons in Play, Thinking, and Design

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Trains may often be billed as a toy for tots, but there are locomotive-lovers of all ages where we live. This hour, go for a ride on the Naugatuck Railroad at the Railroad Museum of New England, and one holiday train tailored for children on the autism spectrum.

Plus, Yale New Haven Children's Hospital is home to a toy train display that sparks joy in children and adults alike.

GUESTS:

Christine Faressa: Founder and President, Sun, Moon & Stars
Orion Newall:Passenger Operations Director, Naugatuck Railroad
Ebony Wright: Registered Nurse; Assistant Patient Service Manager, Pediatric Specialty Center at Yale New Haven Children's Hospital
Walt Zawalich: Volunteer Trains Curator, Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital and Eli Whitney Museum

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Whether we love or loathe our butt is deeply influenced by race, gender, and whether the shape and size of our butt is in or out of style.

This hour, a look ‘back’ at the science, history, and culture of butts, including how it took on so much meaning beyond its basic function and why it’s so hard to find pants that fit.

GUESTS:

Heather Radke: Contributing editor and reporter at Radiolab and the author of Butts: A Backstory
Alex Bartlett: Co-owner of Planet Pepper and a costume supervisor for television and theater
Vincent Cuccia: Co-owner of Planet Pepper; he teaches public relations at the City University of New York
Shomara Garcia: CEO and founder of Muneca Private Care Recovery Services and a licensed massage therapist

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Cat Pastor, Lily Tyson, and Jonathan McNicol contributed to this show.

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The second season of Mike White’s The White Lotus concluded on HBO this week. Its first season won the most awards at the Emmys this year: 10, including Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series. The second season is now nominated for four Golden Globe Awards, including Best Limited or Anthology Series or Television Film. The White Lotus has been renewed for a third season.

And: The Fabelmans is the 34th feature film directed by Steven Spielberg. It is written by Spielberg and Tony Kushner, and it’s Spielberg’s sixth feature film writing credit — his first in 21 years. The Fabelmanswas nominated, this week, for five Golden Globe Awards, including Best Picture — Drama, Best Director, and Best Screenplay.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take:

Stephen Boss, Dancer and Reality TV Star Known as tWitch, Dies at 40 Mr. Boss spent nine years with “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” as D.J., guest host and, eventually, an executive producer.
Angelo Badalamenti, David Lynch’s Composer on ‘Blue Velvet,’ ‘Twin Peaks’ and More, Dies at 85He also wrote songs recorded by Nina Simone, Nancy Wilson, Shirley Bassey and Mel Tillis and themes for ‘Inside the Actors Studio’ and the Barcelona Summer Olympics.
Lee Lorenz, 90, Cartoonist and Gatekeeper at The New Yorker, Dies Over 40 years at the magazine he drew hundreds of cartoons and covers and served as art and cartoon editor, recruiting new talent and deciding who got published.
Gabrielle Beaumont, Pioneering TV Director, Dies at 80 The prolific Emmy nominee helmed episodes of ‘Dynasty’ (and helped get Joan Collins on the show) and also worked on ‘Hill Street Blues,’ ‘MASH’ and three ‘Star Trek’ series.*
Richard Miller Dies: Sculptor Behind Princess Leia’s Gold Bikini Was 80
Golden Globes 2023: Complete Nominations List
Highbrow Films Aimed at Winning Oscars Are Losing Audiences The kind of critically praised dramas that often dominate the awards season are falling flat at the box office, failing to justify the money it takes to make them.
Steven Spielberg’s Movie Magic Has a Dark Side And no one knows it better than he does.
Judd Hirsch Can Tell You a Story or Three. ‘The Fabelmans’ Is Just the Latest. The veteran actor has been singled out for his rousing performance in Steven Spielberg’s drama. It’s the latest chapter in a long career full of anecdotes.
When Jewish Artists Wrestle With Antisemitism In this unsettling moment, comedians, filmmakers, playwrights and others have been struggling against a long-ingrained American response to look away.
‘Westworld’ & ‘The Nevers‘ Pulled Off HBO Max, Marking Victorian Drama’s Formal End
Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want for Christmas Is You’ Returns to No. 1 The singer’s holiday anthem, first released in 1994, ends Taylor Swift’s six-week run atop the Hot 100 singles chart.
Christopher Nolan Recreated a Nuclear Weapon Explosion Without CGI, Developed New IMAX Film for ‘Oppenheimer’: ‘A Huge Challenge’
Elon Musk’s new Twitter Blue logo is perfectly awful The ’80s throwback logo is shiny, poorly kerned, and barely legible. But it’s also an accurate representation of what Twitter has become.
Olivia Wilde Is Getting Backlash After People Actually Watched “Don’t Worry Darling” And Learned The Truth About Those “Female Pleasure” Sex Scenes It appears that Miss Flo was right all along.
The Intertwining History of the ‘Avatar’ Papyrus Font and the ‘SNL’ Sketch That Spoofed It It surely is odd that James Cameron chose to use such a ridiculed typeface for his 2009 mega-blockbuster, but he wasn’t exactly acting like a thoughtless child wandering by a garden, yanking leaves along the way
CNN Cancels ‘Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy’ as Part of Originals Pullback The actor is still exec producing the spinoff ‘Searching for Mexico,’ and could be involved if the show is shopped elsewhere.
‘Luddite’ Teens Don’t Want Your Likes When the only thing better than a flip phone is no phone at all.

GUESTS:

Carolyn Paine: An actress, comedian, and dancer; she is founder, director, and choreographer of CONNetic Dance
Irene Papoulis: Teaches writing at Trinity College
Gene Seymour: A “writer, professional spectator, pop-culture maven, and jazz geek”

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today.

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Almost every week, at the end of the show, The Nose spends a segment on endorsements, on recommendations of things from the world of pop culture.

This hour — for the first time ever — a gift-idea themed, all-endorsements show: The Nose’s holiday gift guide.

GUESTS:

John Dankosky: Director of news and radio for Science Friday and cohost of the Connecticut Mirror’s Untold podcast
Illeana Douglas: Official Movie Star of The Colin McEnroe Show
Taneisha Duggan: Associate producer at Octopus Theatricals
David Edelstein: America’s Greatest Living Film Critic
Xandra Ellin: A producer at Pineapple Street Media
Sam Hadelman: Works in music public relations and hosts The Sam Hadelman Show at Radio Free Brooklyn
Sabrina Herrera: Community engagement and social media editor at Connecticut Public
Jacques Lamarre: A playwright and chief communications officer at Buzz Engine
Jennifer LaRue: A freelance producer for The Colin McEnroe Show
Carlos Mejia: Manager of media insights and analytics for WWE
Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Nobody Asked Shawn podcast
Carolyn Paine: An actress, comedian, and dancer; she is founder, director, and choreographer of CONNETIC Dance
Jessica Severin de Martinez: Produces Audacious with Chion Wolf on Connecticut Public Radio
Chion Wolf: Hosts Audacious with Chion Wolf on Connecticut Public Radio
Tracy Wu Fastenberg: Development officer at Connecticut Children’s
Bill Yousman: Professor of Media Studies at Sacred Heart University

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today.

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Wednesday, December 14, 2022 marks 10 years since 20 children and six educators were killed at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. This hour on The Colin McEnroe Show we talk about the emotional impact of the day, and posttraumatic growth in its aftermath.

If you or someone you know may be considering suicide or is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

GUESTS:

Dannel Malloy: Former Governor of the State of Connecticut. He is currently Chancellor of the University of Maine System
Scarlett Lewis: Founded the Jesse Lewis Choose Love Movement after her son, 6-year old Jesse Lewis, was murdered during the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting
John Woodall: Psychiatrist, Medical Director of Newtown TMS, and the Representative for the Baha’i Community to the Newtown Interfaith Council

Join the conversation onFacebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode.

Colin McEnroe, Catie Talarski, Eugene Amatruda, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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This hour: why timekeepers are getting rid of the leap second, how animism is misinterpreted, and whether we should have a spectrum of verdicts beyond “guilty” and “not guilty.”

GUESTS:

Judah Levine:Professor of Physics at the University of Colorado and a Physicist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology
Justine Buck Quijada:Associate Professor in the Department of Religion at Wesleyan University
Barry Lam:Philosophy Professor at the University of California, Riverside, and Executive Producer of Hi-Phi Nation, a philosophy podcast

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The term “brainwashing” has been used throughout history by scientists, politicians, and journalists, as well as in movies and literature.

This hour: a look at the history and science of brainwashing.

GUESTS:

Joel Dimsdale: Distinguished professor emeritus in the department of psychiatry at University of California San Diego and the author of Dark Persuasion: A History of Brainwashing from Pavlov to Social Media
Timothy Melley: Professor of English at Miami University

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, Cat Pastor, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired April 20, 2022.

Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today.

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She Said is a feature film adaptation of the book by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey, and it follows their New York Times investigation of Harvey Weinstein’s sexual misconduct. It is directed by Maria Schrader and written by Rebecca Lenkiewicz. Its $2.2 million domestic opening is among the worst ever for a movie showing in more than 2,000 theaters.

And: Bone Valley is a true crime podcast that covers the 1987 murder of 18-year-old Michelle Schofield. Her husband, Leo, who has always proclaimed his innocence, was convicted for the murder and sentenced to life in prison. Recently, another man has given a detailed confession to the murder, but Leo remains incarcerated. Bone Valley is hosted by investigative journalist Gilbert King, the author of Devil in the Grove, which won the Pulitzer Prize.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take:

Bob McGrath, Original, Longtime Resident of ‘Sesame Street,’ Dies at 90 He performed on ‘Sing Along With Mitch’ and was a teenage idol in Japan before spending 46 years on the iconic kids TV program.
Kirstie Alley, ‘Cheers’ and ‘Look Who’s Talking’ Star, Dies at 71
Keke Palmer: I Have Sex, and Now I’m Pregnant!!! Big Reveal On ‘SNL’
‘Goblin mode’: new Oxford word of the year speaks to the times
We’re Out of Movie Stars. Whose Fault Is That? There are fewer films now that allow an actor to grow a persona and a Tom Cruise level of stardom. It’s a crisis, and the movies know it.
Best Comedy of 2022 Stand-up specials like “Rothaniel” pushed boundaries this year, and Netflix’s financial setbacks could mean that its dominance in comedy is slowing.
BuzzFeed to Cut 12 Percent of Workforce Amid “Audience Shift to Vertical Video,” CEO Says The layoffs are expected to cost $8 million to $12 million in restructuring charges, the company said in an SEC filing.
The College Essay Is Dead Nobody is prepared for how AI will transform academia.
The Grinchiest Cities in the U.S. (2022)
The Goonies House Is on the Market
‘Stomp’ to Close After Nearly Three Decades Off-Broadway The award-winning show’s North American and European tours will continue to run after the January closure.
Box Office Bust: ‘Black Adam’ Faces Theatrical Losses
Every “chronically online” conversation is the same At what point does discourse become punishment?
Why A Hard Reboot Is Probably The Best Choice For The New DC Movie Universe

GUESTS:

Theresa Cramer: A freelance writer and editor and the co-founder of Quiet Corner Communications
Taneisha Duggan: Associate producer at Octopus Theatricals
Tracy Wu Fastenberg: Development officer at Connecticut Children’s

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today.

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Has everything original been done? It’s a question that’s been asked about storytelling, music, fine art, movies, and so much more. This hour, we attempt to answer that question, and discover if everything has already been done. Along the way we’ll explore the idea of originality and our tolerance for novelty, and talk to artists who are reckoning with these questions.

GUESTS:

Brian Slattery: Arts Editor for The New Haven Independent
Kirby Ferguson: Filmmaker and a creator of the “Everything is a Remix” series
Martha Buskirk: Professor of Art History and Criticism at Montserrat College of Art and author of Is It Ours? Art, Copyright, and Public Interest, among other books
Jill Magid: Artist, writer, and filmmaker

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COVID is on the rise again. The flu is setting all-time records, and is especially bad in Connecticut. Oh, and there’s still a respiratory syncytial virus situation going on.

This week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that people “wear a high-quality, well-fitting mask to prevent the spread of respiratory illnesses.” But it’s hard to imagine that very many people are about to actually do that.

This hour, an update on the pandemic or the triple-demic or whatever we want to call this ongoing mess at this point.

GUESTS:

Gregg Gonsalves: Associate professor of epidemiology (microbial diseases) at the Yale School of Public Health and the public health correspondent for The Nation
Eric Topol: A physician and scientist; he writes the Ground Truths Substack, and he’s founder and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute
Katherine J. Wu: A staff writer at The Atlantic

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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This hour Colin and his guests school us on spelling – what it is, why it matters, and why some of us actually find it fun. There will be a test.

GUESTS:

Peter Sokolowski: Editor at large at Merriam-Webster. He contributed definitions to the brand-new Seventh Edition of the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary and has just been made a member of the Word Panel for the Scripps National Spelling Bee
Richard Gentry: Education consultant and a former university professor, reading center director, and elementary school teacher. He has most recently publishedthe spelling-book series Spelling Connections: A Word Study Approach for grades 1-6
Deb Amlen: Crossword columnist and senior staff editor of the crossword column “Wordplay” for The New York Times. She also writes the weekly “Diary of a Spelling Bee Fanatic” column.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Lily Tyson, Jonathan McNicol, Taylor Doyle, Jacob Gannon, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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Humans have long been interested in the possibility of extraterrestrial life. This hour, a look at why that interest has persisted.

Plus, we talk to a scientist who is looking for extraterrestrial life and a linguist who is preparing in case we ever receive communications from extraterrestrials.

GUESTS:

Kate Dorsch: Historian, philosopher of science, and the associate director of the philosophy, politics, and economics program at the University of Pennsylvania
Amanda Rees: Historian of science based at the University of York
Seth Shostak: Senior astronomer at the SETI Institute and host of the radio show and podcast Big Picture Science
Sheri Wells-Jensen: Associate professor of English and linguistics at Bowling Green State University and a member of the board of directors of METI International

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired June 2, 2022.

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The Nose is off this week. In its place: The movie musical died a long, slow death a long time ago. Right?

Well, except that there’s Spielberg’s West Side Story. And Hamilton and In the Heights and Tick, Tick… Boom! And A Star Is Born and The Greatest Showman. And Annette and Cyrano. Oh, and Bohemian Rhapsody and Rocketman and Elvis. And Encanto.

And those are just from the last five years. And I could keep going.

This hour, a long look at the long-dead movie musical. Long live the movie musical.

Some stuff that happened this week, give or take:

Irene Cara, ‘Fame’ and ‘Flashdance’ Singer, Dies at 63 Ms. Cara was a child star from the Bronx who gained fame in the 1980s as a singer of pop anthems and as the star of the movie “Fame.”
Christine McVie, Fleetwood Mac Singer-Songwriter, Dies at 79
The greatest film of all time: Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles For the first time in 70 years the Sight and Sound poll has been topped by a film directed by a woman — and one that takes a consciously, radically feminist approach to cinema. Things will never be the same.
Glass Onion Is Expected To Gross $15 Million In Its One-Week Theatrical Preview
This Was the Worst Thanksgiving Weekend in Box-Office History. Yes, Disney’s animated “Strange World” is a bomb — but without Netflix’s “Glass Onion,” the weekend would have been even worse.
Was ‘Glass Onion’ a Success? Peeling Back the Layers on Netflix’s Box Office Gambit
Top Gun: Maverick Is Being Re-Released In Theaters Before Avatar Comes For The Box Office Crown
Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny Trailer Breakdown: Where There’s A Whip, There’s A Way
‘Nasty, vile, want to unsee’: Mum sparks debate over multi-use of ‘family sick bowl’ Social media is split
Brian Robinson’s BIG HAT deserves all caps because it’s a BIG HAT It’s BIG HAT world, and we’re living in it.
Cocaine Bear: the trailer for 2023’s wildest film is everything and more The Elizabeth Banks-directed caper, based on a true story, looks to be exactly what the internet wants it to be
The 2023 Oscars Will Televise The Presentation Of All 23 Awards Categories
A teary Will Smith opens up to Trevor Noah about the ‘rage’ behind his Oscar slap
Nicole Kidman Receives Standing Ovation at Broadway’s ‘The Music Man’ After Bidding $100,000 for Hugh Jackman’s Signed Hat
Why has the internet invented a fake Martin Scorsese film? Thousands of Tumblr users have been making posters, soundtracks, drawings and fan fiction for a 1973 Scorsese film starring Robert De Niro — but it never existed
A man won the legal right to not be ‘fun’ at work after refusing to embrace ‘excessive alcoholism’ and ‘promiscuity’
Video games for dogs aim to help aging canine brains
Aubrey Plaza Is Leveling Up—and Still Pranking Her Costars The famously deadpan Aubrey Plaza is reaching new heights with a star turn in the new season of The White Lotus and a mega Francis Ford Coppola project on the horizon.
Helena Bonham Carter: Good on young men for finding middle-aged beauty sexy The London Library’s first female president on why she thinks Johnny Depp has been ‘vindicated’ and the ‘horrendous’ treatment of JK Rowling
‘Avatar’ and the Mystery of the Vanishing Blockbuster It was the highest-grossing film in history, but for years it was remembered mainly for having been forgotten. Why?
Rolling Stone: The 100 Greatest TV Theme Songs of All Time From Seventies sitcoms with expository jams to modern prestige classics with experimental scores, from ‘Sanford and Son’ to ‘Succession,’ from ‘Match Game’ to ‘Game of Thrones’
Poynter: We asked, you answered: Here are your favorite journalism movies We’ve published our own list before, but we wanted to hear from you.
Legendary Entertainment Formalizes Sony Deal After Cutting Ties With Warner Bros.
Adults Are Spending Big on Toys and Stuffed Animals—for Themselves
The Last Real American Dictionary Scrabble’s new edition is full of delightful new words. But are there enough of them?
Kylie Jenner’s Humongous Christmas Tree Has Pissed Off A Lot Of People, But I’m Just Trying To Figure Out What That Potato Sack Thing Is Another day, another drama. This time about a Christmas tree.
Planes, Trains and Automobiles at 35: An Oral History of One of the Most Beloved Road Movies Ever Made Starring Steve Martin and John Candy, the John Hughes road trip comedy had a nearly four-hour runtime at one point. Hear from cast, crew, and Hughes’ family about the classic.
‘Wednesday’ Summons Record-Breaking Debut Week On Netflix With 341.23M Hours Viewed
NYC is hiring a rat czar. ‘General aura of badassery’ required.

GUESTS:

Jeanine Basinger: Founder of the Department of Film Studies at Wesleyan University and the author of many books on film; her latest is Hollywood: The Oral History
Steve Metcalf: Director of the University of Hartford’s Presidents’ College

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired March 5, 2020.

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Touch, grip, read, dance, gesture — what can’t they do? Our fingers are so vital to our everyday life, sometimes it seems they have minds of their own.

This hour, a look at the hidden language of finger gestures, the future of Braille, and the joys and challenges of animating fingers for the movies.

GUESTS:

Kensy Cooperrider: Cognitive scientist, writer, and host of the Many Minds podcast
Jonathan McNicol: Producer of The Colin McEnroe Show
Sile O’Modhrain: Professor at the University of Michigan studying sound and touch and the ways in which they interact
Carlos Fernandez Puertolas: Animator with DreamWorks

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Cat Pastor, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show, which originally aired May 31, 2022.

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On the one hand, calling something “medieval” carries with it negative connotations of outdated times. But lately there has almost been a nostalgia for life in the Middle Ages.

This hour, we look at what life was really like in that time period and why we remember it the way we do.

Plus, a look at the medieval origin of environmental anxiety and student debt.

GUESTS:

Jenny Adams: Associate professor of English at the University of Massachusetts Amherst
Courtney Barajas: Author of Old English Ecotheology: The Exeter Book
Martha Bayless: Director of folklore and public culture at the University of Oregon; her books include Sin and Filth in Medieval Culture: The Devil in the Latrine and A Cultural History of Comedy in the Middle Ages

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired May 23, 2022.

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We use zippers all the time, whether on clothes, shoes, bags, tents … the list goes on.

Zippers keep our belongings secure, they keep us warm, they help keep out the elements, and they make it easier to get dressed.

This hour: the zipper — its history and significance, its role in fashion … and why so many zippers say “YKK.”

GUESTS:

Robert Friedel: Professor emeritus of history at the University of Maryland and the author of Zipper: An Exploration in Novelty
Emma McClendon: Fashion historian, curator, and author
Jim Reed: President of YKK Corporation of America

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired April 14, 2022.

Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today.

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The humble tambourine is the underrated, understated, unsung hero of contemporary music.

This hour we shake our assumptions about this surprisingly enduring and ubiquitous instrument.

GUESTS:

Ira Elliot: Percussionist best known as the drummer for the band Nada Surf
Erin Elstner: Percussionist and professor of percussion at Webster University
Tim Kubart: Musician, songwriter, and performer known world-wide as The Tambourine Guy

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, Cat Pastor, Michayla Savitt, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show, which originally aired May 17, 2022.

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This week’s Nose has enrolled itself as an ultrasonic epistemic dissident.

Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story is a new memoir by Bono. It’s largely illustrated essays telling the stories of particular songs (40 of them, one imagines). It’s currently No. 2 on The New York Times Hardcover Best Sellers List. As such, Bono has been everywhere lately. As such, The Nose got to thinking about the tension between Bono, the actual big-deal important figure, and Bono, the guy who seems to mostly annoy everybody all the time.

And: Tár is Todd Field’s third feature film as writer and director, his first in 16 years. It stars Cate Blanchett as the iconic fictional musician and conductor Lydia Tár, and it won Blanchett the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at this year’s Venice International Film Festival.

GUESTS:

Sam Hadelman: Works in music public relations and hosts The Sam Hadelman Show at Radio Free Brooklyn
Irene Papoulis: Teaches writing at Trinity College
Bill Yousman: Professor of Media Studies at Sacred Heart University

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe and Eugene Amatruda contributed to this show.

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This hour is all about recipes. We'll talk with someone who makes recipes found on gravestones, consider what makes an effective recipe, the history of the modern recipe, and the art of the recipe introduction. Plus, we'll look at the phenomenon of pop culture cookbooks.

GUESTS:

Rosie Grant: Posts gravestone recipes and cemetery stories on her TikTok and Instagram accounts
Helen Zoe Veit: Associate Professor of History at Michigan State University
Chandra Ram: Cookbook author, food writer, and the Associate Editorial Director of Food for “Food & Wine”
Francis Lam: Host of “The Splendid Table,” and Vice President and Editor-in-Chief at Clarkson Potter
Dinah Bucholz: Author of The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook and The Unofficial Narnia Cookbook

Join the conversation onFacebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Colin McEnroe and Eugene Amatruda contributed to this show.

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On the long timeline of long-distance communication technology that starts with the telegraph and leads all the way to the iPhone and beyond, there’s a particular, once-ubiquitous device that seems to have left an indelible mark on the culture while also disappearing nearly completely from it.

This hour, the history and present? (and future??) of the fax machine.

GUESTS:

Jonathan Coopersmith: Professor of history at Texas A & M University and the author of Faxed: The Rise and Fall of the Fax Machine
Troy Kreiner: Design director at Use All Five, the firm that organized Artifax
Kay Savetz: A tech historian; they co-host Antic: The Atari 8-Bit Podcast and run a number of websites, including Fax Toy and FaxZero

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Cat Pastor, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show, which originally aired May 19, 2022.

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This week’s Nose has been attending various dinners and functions and telling what it’s learned about banks and troop movements, so on and so forth.

Last night, Elon Musk’s “hardcore” Twitter “long hours at high intensity” ultimatum deadline passed, and hundreds of Twitter employees seemingly decided to leave. And then Twitter closed all of its offices until next week. And now people ON Twitter are pretty sure it’s going to start failing at any moment. The Nose is worried.

And: Amsterdam is the ninth film written and directed by David O. Russell, his first in seven years. It is based on the Business Plot, an alleged interwar political conspiracy in the U.S. And despite its writer/director pedigree and ridiculously stacked ensemble cast — which includes Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, John David Washington, Chris Rock, Michael Shannon, Mike Myers, Taylor Swift, Rami Malek, Robert De Niro, and many others — Amsterdam is a box office bomb.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take:

David Davis, a Force Behind Game-Changing ’70s Sitcoms, Dies at 86 A writer and producer, he worked with James Brooks and others on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and was a creator of “The Bob Newhart Show” and “Taxi.”
Robert Clary, Corporal LeBeau on ‘Hogan’s Heroes,’ Dies at 96 The French actor and singer spent 31 months in a concentration camp but said he had no reservations about starring in a TV comedy about the Nazis.
Jay Leno Has Been Hospitalized With Serious Burn Injuries After A Car At His Garage Reportedly Exploded The comedian was scheduled to perform at an event at Las Vegas on Sunday evening but canceled due to “a very serious medical emergency.”
Dave Chappelle Apparently Tricked “Saturday Night Live” Staff By Performing A “Fake” Monologue In The Dress Rehearsal Before Revealing New Antisemitic Material Live On Air Chappelle’s 15-minute monologue included a number of jokes about the Jewish community and prompted accusations of him normalizing and popularizing antisemitism.
Ticketmaster To Swifties: “It’s Me. Hi, I’m The Problem. It’s Me.” 🎶 I THINK THERE’S BEEN A GLITCH 🎶
Ticketmaster Cancels Sale of Taylor Swift Tickets After Snags After a presale for the pop star’s Eras Tour ended in chaos earlier this week, the ticket broker canceled its plans to sell tickets to the general public on Friday.
Here Are The Grammy Nominees For 2023 Beyoncé led the way with nine nominations — and is now tied with husband Jay-Z as the most nominated artist of all time — but Kendrick Lamar, Adele, and Brandi Carlile were close behind.
‘Grey’s Anatomy‘ Sets Date For Ellen Pompeo’s Farewell Episode As Full-Time Cast Member – What’s Next For Meredith & ABC Series?
You’re one in 8 billion The world population just hit a milestone. Here’s where you fit in.
Here’s Every Person Pete Davidson Has Dated Ever Since He Became Famous — Like, I Was Not Expecting Some Of These It’s kind of wild that Pete only dated Ariana for five months, because I felt that relationship ruled our lives for years.
We Need to Talk About Your Nirvana Shirt
You can’t out-shoot a teenager: how to play first-person shooters if you’re over 30 Reflexes start to decline in your 20s, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be competitive at first-person shooters any more. Keith Stuart shares some hard-won knowledge
Finally, a video game that lets you play as Jesus Christ Try not to develop a God complex.
NASA’s Overshadowed Moon Launch After a successful takeoff, a crewless capsule is on its way to the moon. Where’s the fanfare?
Watch Michael Jackson’s THRILLER in 4K The seminal music video has been restored, and the results are astonishing.

GUESTS:

Raquel Benedict: The most dangerous woman in speculative fiction … and she hosts the Rite Gud podcast
James Hanley: Co-founder of Cinestudio at Trinity College
Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, a writer, and the host of the Nobody Asked Shawn podcast

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe and Catie Talarski contributed to this show.

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Countless books, movies, and TV shows explore time travel. This hour, we talk about the hold that time travel has on pop culture and the philosophy, ethics and science of time travel.

And, we hear from an author about how to create and utilize rules of time travel in fiction and the idea of memory as time travel.

GUESTS:

Sara Bernstein: The R.L. Canala College Professor of Philosophy at The University of Notre Dame
Amanda Gefter: Science writer, MIT Knight Science Journalism Fellow, and author of Trespassing on Einstein’s Lawn
Emma Straub: Novelist and bookstore owner, whose newest book is This Time Tomorrow

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The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Colin McEnroe, Taylor Doyle, Jacob Gannon, Dylan Reyes, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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This hour we investigate the ways words change when they enter our discourse and how they acquire new meanings, or sometimes even lose their meanings.

We look at specific examples, discuss how the internet is influencing language, and learn about how dictionaries interact with the evolving nature of words.

GUESTS:

Sylvia Sierra: A linguist and the author of Millennials Talking Media: Creating Intertextual Identities in Everyday Conversation
Peter Sokolowski: Editor-at-large at Merriam-Webster and co-host of the Word Matters podcast
Kory Stamper: A lexicographer and the author of Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired May 16, 2022.

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You must have heard the term “vibe” by now, right? We’ve heard about the vibe of the election, the vibe of the economy, the vibe of a music playlist, the vibe of a season, the vibe of a party… Plus there are vibe shifts and vibe checks. This hour, we’re talking about vibes. We’ll learn about what the word really means, where it comes from, and how the internet has given it new life.

GUESTS:

Eda Uzunlar: Freelance journalist and student at Yale University
Ben Zimmer: Linguist, lexicographer, and the “Word on the Street” Columnist for The Wall Street Journal
Kyle Chayka: Contributing writer for The New Yorker covering technology and culture on the Internet
Robin James: Editor for philosophy and music at Palgrave Macmillan

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Ringtones went from uniform to a million dollar industry to the unconscious soundtrack of our lives. They’re pieces of music that are designed to get you to react. They’re sounds that often carry emotions and memories with them. But we tend not to give them much thought.

This hour, the art of the ringtone. We look back at their history, investigate their rise and fall, discuss the appeal of a well-composed one, and talk to someone who designed his own.

Warning: This show contains the default iPhone alarm tone.

GUESTS:

Sumanth Gopinath: Associate professor of music theory at the University of Minnesota and the author of The Ringtone Dialectic: Economy and Cultural Form
Sam Hadelman: Works in music public relations and hosts The Sam Hadelman Show at Radio Free Brooklyn
Paula Matthusen: Composer and a professor of music at Wesleyan University
Steve Metcalf: Founder and director of the Garmany Concert Series at the University of Hartford’s Hartt School
Ernie Smith: Editor of Tedium and a contributor to Vice’s Motherboard
Brian Slattery: Arts editor for the New Haven Independent and a producer at WNHH radio

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Gene Amatruda, Cat Pastor, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired May 12, 2022.

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There’s no gentlemen where we are and none where we’re going. This week’s Nose is worried it’s not fair.

Taylor Sheridan is an actor and film- and television-maker. You might recognize him from Sons of Anarchy or Veronica Mars. You might have seen some of his movies, like Sicario or Wind River or Hell or High Water.

But it’s more likely you’ve seen some of the five TV series he’s created. This week’s Nose looks at three of them: Yellowstone, the most-watched scripted show on television; the Yellowstone prequel, 1883; and the standalone Mayor of Kingstown, starring Jeremy Renner.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take:

Aaron Carter Has Died At 34 Police were called to his home in Lancaster, California, Saturday.
Gallagher, Watermelon-Smashing Comedian, Is Dead at 76 He called himself “The Wizard of Odd” for his outrageous stage act, making him one of the most recognizable comedians of the 1980s.
Douglas McGrath, Playwright, Filmmaker and Actor, Is Dead at 64 His one-man Off Broadway show, “Everything’s Fine,” directed by John Lithgow, had opened just weeks ago.
Mimi Parker, vocalist and drummer of the minimalist rock band Low, has died
HBO cancels the sci-fi series ‘Westworld’
Stressed Out? Grab a Shovel and Dig a Hole Scientists spend a lot of time unearthing what it all means, but park rangers say fill them in when you’re done, please
When Was HBO’s Best Sunday Night? HBO has owned Sunday for almost 25 years. But when did its Sunday lineup peak? The Ringer investigates.
The Polymath Film Composer Known as “the Third Coen Brother” Carter Burwell’s spare, haunting scores make audiences uncomfortable.
Judd Hirsch, in Medias Res The eighty-seven-year-old actor, who plays Steven Spielberg’s great-uncle Boris in “The Fabelmans,” traipses around his old Bronx stomping grounds and recounts stories (Colin Powell! Robert Moses!) without beginnings or endings.
A Mets Fan Grows in Italy My young son loves the Mets from afar, but does he understand baseball heartbreak?
Rainn Wilson Changes Name to Rainnfall Heat Wave Extreme Winter Wilson to Highlight Melting Arctic Ahead of the COP27 summit, the star of ‘The Office’ has changed his name to bring attention to the climate crisis, “which amplifies global risks, including extreme weather events around the globe.”
‘Airplane!’ Director Says Hollywood Is ‘Destroying Comedy’: My James Bond Parody Got Dinged for ‘Mild’ Breast Reduction Joke
Netflix Takes Bold Bet on Theatrical With ‘Knives Out’ Sequel — But Don’t Expect ‘Glass Onion’ Box Office Numbers

GUESTS:

Rebecca Castellani: Co-founder of Quiet Corner Communications and a freelance writer
Jim Chapdelaine: An Emmy-winning musician and a patient advocate for people with rare cancers
Taneisha Duggan: Associate producer at Octopus Theatricals

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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In the century since Russia’s “Mad Monk” was poisoned, we’ve come to believe a lot of things: he was mystical, he was evil, he was the world’s greatest lover.

This hour: Rasputin — the all-too-human peasant who found his way to friendship with the Romanovs and the comical, absurd version of him that just won’t die.

GUESTS:

Chris Roberson: Co-writer of the Hellboy comic Rasputin: Voice of the Dragon
Douglas Smith: Historian and author of Rasputin: Faith, Power, and the Twilight of the Romanovs

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, Cat Pastor, Dylan Reyes, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show, which originally aired May 3, 2022.

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The one thing we knew for sure was that by the time we got to today, Election Day would be over.

And it is.

This hour, we regroup after a long night and try to figure out what we’ve figured out by today.

And we do our best not to start immediately talking about 2024. Hopefully.

Listen live Wednesday, November 9, at 1 p.m.

GUESTS:

Dan Barry: Longtime reporter and columnist for The New York Times; his most recent book is This Land: America, Lost and Found
Matt Grossmann: Director of the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research and professor of political science at Michigan State University and he hosts The Science of Politics podcast
Bethany Teachman: Professor of psychology and director of clinical training at the University of Virginia

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Cat Pastor, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show.

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This hour we hear from Citizen Observers about their experiences at the polls.

GUESTS:

Charlie Barber: Nonfiction author and Writer in Residence at Wesleyan University
Barry Blitt: Cartoonist and illustrator for The New Yorker and other publications
Susan Clinard: Owner of Clinard Sculpture Studio
Jack French: Research Associate in the Yale Program for Financial Stability at the Yale School of Management
Lara Herscovitch: Singer-songwriter, poet, performer, advocate, former CT State Troubadour, and children’s book author
Iman James: Competitive boxer and a New Haven Public School Teacher

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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Some Americans are considering whether this country is a place where they want to live in the future.

This hour is all about leaving the United States.

GUESTS:

Wajahat Ali: The Daily Beast columnist, public speaker, and author of Go Back To Where You Came From: And Other Helpful Recommendations on Becoming American; he recently wrote “Is It Time for Me to Leave America?”
DeNeen Brown: Local enterprise reporter at The Washington Post and an associate professor at the University of Maryland; she recently wrote “The Case for Leaving America to Escape Racism”
Caryl Hallberg: Moved from the United States to Portugal in 2020
Jennifer Stevens:Executive editor of International Living

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Colin McEnroe, Jacob Gannon, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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This week’s Nose is energy unfocused, innovation hindered, hope strangled, greatness disguised.

Taylor Swift currently occupies the entire top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 chart. That’s the, uh, new record. She’s also got 10 other songs in other spots on the Hot 100. Fully one-fifth of the entire Hot 100 is Taylor Swift songs right now. Federal law requires that we cover this phenomenon. (No it doesn’t.)

And: Don’t Worry Darling is the second movie directed by Olivia Wilde. It’s kind of a feature-length Black Mirror episode starring Florence Pugh, Harry Styles, Chris Pine, and Wilde. Its reportedly troubled production and promotion have been the focus of much scrutiny and spawned the word, uh, “spitgate.”

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take:

Remembering Takeoff, The Best Rapper in Migos He was “the quiet” member of the Atlanta rap group, but his demeanor belied a commanding presence
The Decline of Etiquette and the Rise of ‘Boundaries’ For centuries, strict social norms dictated what people could politely talk about. Now we have to figure it out for ourselves.
Grading Taylor Swift’s ‘Karma’ With a Buddhist-Studies Professor
A Mom Who Tweeted About Throwing Out Her Kids’ Halloween Candy Said She Was Accused Of Abuse After It “Escaped The Orbit” Of Her Followers Meet this week’s Bean Dad.
What do users want from their TV streaming? A new NPR/Ipsos poll has some answers
‘Non-binary’ Romeo and Juliet* set in Nazi Germany apologises for omitting Jews from casting callThe Icarus Theatre production shows the hero as being a member of the Hitler Youth*
Pack Your Bags, We’re Moving to ‘Roku City’ Instead of streaming a new TV show or movie, some Roku users are in it for the screen saver.
The Eerie Comfort of Liminal Spaces Why we’re compelled by images of abandoned shopping malls, waiting rooms, and corridors
The Original E.T. Model From The Movie Is Going Up For Auction, And You’ll Just Need A Couple Million Bucks
Martin Luther King Jr. paid the bill for Julia Roberts’ birth. Here’s the backstory
Professional Cornhole Has a Cheating Scandal Called BagGate Officials talk of new regulations to root out illegally sized bags. Fans are reeling: ‘The dirty underbelly is being exposed.’
Netflix’s ‘Blockbuster’ and Hollywood’s Greatest Spite Projects The new workplace sitcom is the ultimate flex by Netflix after Blockbuster refused to buy the streamer in the early 2000s. But this isn’t the first time egos in Hollywood decided to be petty…
Who Is Jennifer Lawrence Now? The Oscar-winning “Hunger Games” actress is free from her franchise commitments. But after a brief hiatus from acting, what will she do next?
Aubrey Plaza and Joe Locke Are Conjuring a WandaVision Spinoff
The Best Movies of 2022 (So Far)
Comedy’s Crowd-Work Clip Civil War
The Best Comedy Specials of 2022 (So Far)
Netflix has (probably) ordered a second season of Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman A since-deleted tweet from the official DC Comics account seemed to confirm that the Tom Sturridge-starring show would be coming back for a second season
WWE Closes Book On Vince McMahon Investigation; Says Probe Complete, Special Committee Disbanded
Jeff Knows Bo …and Magic, and Sweetness, and the ‘86 Mets and pretty much every other legendary athlete and outrageous sports story you’ve ever heard of but were afraid to ask more about.
NBC revives Golden Globes telecast after HFPA racial exclusion scandal The network did not air a Golden Globes ceremony in 2022 as the HFPA attempted to rehabilitate its image and overhaul its membership.
Academy promises ‘great legacy surprises’ in 2023 Oscars preview CEO Bill Kramer and Academy President Janet Yang previewed the 95th Oscars ceremony at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival.
Adele, Florence Pugh, And 23 Other Celebs Whose Names You’ve Unknowingly Been ButcheringLittle did I know “Adele” could be pronounced any other way…

GUESTS:

Theresa Cramer: A freelance writer and editor and the co-founder of Quiet Corner Communications
Sam Hadelman: Works in music public relations and hosts The Sam Hadelman Show at Radio Free Brooklyn
Irene Papoulis: Teaches writing at Trinity College

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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This hour we talk with Mark Leibovich about the past, present, and future of the Republican Party, and his new book, Thank You For Your Servitude: Donald Trump’s Washington and the Price of Submission.

GUESTS:

Mark Leibovich: Author of Thank You For Your Servitude: Donald Trump’s Washington and the Price of Submission, and a staff writer at The Atlantic

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This hour, we celebrate poetry with three contemporary poets.

GUESTS:

Margaret Gibson: The seventh poet laureate of Connecticut; her most recent collection is The Glass Globe
Yanyi: Writes the advice column The Reading for creative writers; his most recent poetry collection is Dream of the Divided Field
Matthew Zapruder: A poet, professor, and the author of Why Poetry; his most recent poetry collection is Father’s Day

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired April 28, 2022.

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From San Francisco’s iconic fog and COVID-related brain fog to a location-tracking program called Fog Reveal, this hour, we lift the fog on all kinds of fog.

GUESTS:

Travis O’Brien: Professor of Earth and atmospheric sciences at Indiana University
Javeed Sukhera: Chair of psychiatry at the Institute of Living and chief of psychiatry at Hartford Hospital
Anne Toomey McKenna: Visiting professor of law at the University of Richmond School of Law

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The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, Cat Pastor, Dylan Reyes, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show.

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We’ve been doing these shows a couple times a month where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to Halloween as the most educational holiday (or not), having Election Day on the weekend (or not), giving poll workers your license (or not), the oncoming civil war (or not) … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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This week’s Nose is, I don’t know, worrying about a volcano.

The Watcher is a thriller/mystery miniseries on Netflix created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan and (very loosely) based on the New York magazine story “The Haunting of a Dream House.” It stars Naomi Watts, Bobby Cannavale, Mia Farrow, and others, and it’s currently the No. 2 TV show on Netflix in the U.S.

And: Bros is a romantic comedy written by Billy Eichner and Nicholas Stoller and directed by Stoller. It stars Eichner and Luke Macfarlane, and it was a bit of a flop at the box office. It’s now available for rental on premium video on demand platforms.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take:

Leslie Jordan, ‘Will & Grace’ and ‘American Horror Story’ Star, Dies at 67 in Car Accident
Lenny Lipton, ‘Puff the Magic Dragon’ Lyricist and 3-D Film Pioneer, 82, Dies He used the royalties earned from the hit folk song, based on a poem he wrote in college, to fund decades of research into stereoscopic projection.
Salman Rushdie has lost sight in one eye and use of one hand, says agent Full extent of injuries from ‘brutal attack’ on Satanic Verses author in New York state in August revealed
Adidas cuts ties with Ye over antisemitic remarks that caused an uproar
James Corden Finally Responded To Being Banned From A NYC Restaurant, And It Only Made Things Waaay Worse I just need someone to pull the surveillance footage.
James Corden and the Dangers of Likability No one knows what an egg yolk omelet is, but we all know that TV hosts should be relatable. Or should they? That didn’t do Ellen DeGeneres any favors.
This Woman Tweeted About Having Coffee Every Day With Her Husband — The Internet Tore Her Apart “I never thought someone could take what I said and turn it into something negative.”
The Tale of the Racist Lesbian Emu Farmer is Shaking the Internet
The Pet-Name Trend Humans Can’t Resist Why would anyone name their dog Kyle?
A Secret Writers Room, a Rising Scribe and a Post-‘Skywalker’ Timeline: A Look Inside Damon Lindelof’s ’Star Wars’ Movie Justin Britt-Gibson is penning the script with Lindelof, with the film potentially bringing back some characters from the 2010s films.
Kentucky man posed as a dead body on TikTok for 321 days. Now he’s going to be on ‘CSI’
Relentless Angst and Uniformly Excellent Sex: How Colleen Hoover Became the Queen of BookTok
New Seasons Of Doctor Who To Premiere Globally On Disney+ In 2023
Warner Bros. Discovery To Axe $2 Billion Worth Of Movies And Shows As Part Of Brutal Cost-Saving Efforts
The Fake Spirit Halloween meme shows the most frightening costume this year is a millennial cliché We should all fear the upper-class influencer or east London sommelier, because nothing is darker than facing your own unoriginality

GUESTS:

Rebecca Castellani: Co-founder of Quiet Corner Communications and a freelance writer
Jacques Lamarre: A playwright and chief communications officer at Buzz Engine
Tracy Wu Fastenberg: Development officer at Connecticut Children’s

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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Why is the two-party system so entrenched here in the United States?

This hour, we talk about third parties. We learn about a new third party, discuss the history and political viability of third parties, and talk with a third party candidate.

GUESTS:

Dr. Amy Chai: Independent Party candidate for Connecticut’s 3rd U.S. Congressional District
Seth Masket: Professor of political science and director of the Center on American Politics at the University of Denver; he is the author of The Inevitable Party: Why Attempts to Kill the Party System Fail and How they Weaken Democracy, among other books
Andrew Yang: Co-founder and co-chair of the new Forward Party; he previously ran as a Democratic candidate for president and for mayor of New York City

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The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Colin McEnroe, Jacob Gannon, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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Note: This episode contains strong language.

We realized four years ago now that The Nose doesn’t cover very much horror stuff. So we started doing an annual Halloween special that tackles horror head-on. This hour: the fifth one of those.

We look at the indie studio that’s mostly taken over the elevated horror genre (and the not-so-elevated horror genre some, too): A24.

Plus: the evolving relationship between queer and/or women-identified audiences and horror movies.

And finally: We have a largely arbitrary tradition of spending a chunk of this show on a horror classic that’s celebrating, specifically, its 40th anniversary. Previously, it’s been Halloween, Alien, The Shining, An American Werewolf in London. This year: Tobe Hooper and Steven Spielberg’s Poltergeist.

GUESTS:

Nate Jones: Staff writer for Vulture
Jacob Trussell: Author of the forthcoming Poltergeist from DieDieBooks
Lindsay Lee Wallace: Writes about culture, digital spaces, health care inequity, and other stuff too

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Gene Amatruda, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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This hour, we investigate the relationship between public opinion and policy.

We explore to what extent public opinion impacts policy in the United States and discuss public opinion and Supreme Court decisions.

Plus, a look at polling and how we understand public opinion.

GUESTS:

Jennifer Dineen: Associate professor in residence in the School of Public Policy and associate director of the Center for Advancing Research, Methods, and Scholarship in Gun Injury Prevention at the University of Connecticut
Scott Keeter: Senior survey advisor at Pew Research Center
Maya Sen: Professor of public policy at Harvard University and the author of The Judicial Tug of War: How Lawyers, Politicians, and Ideological Incentives Shape the American Judiciary

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The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Colin McEnroe, Taylor Doyle, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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Henry David Thoreau is a bit of a polarizing figure. He has been both celebrated and criticized for his writing. He’s considered an inspirational figure for retreating to the woods but mocked for his reliance on his mother during that same period.

This hour, we look at the life and legacy of Henry David Thoreau and ask what his example can teach us about who is remembered and celebrated.

GUESTS:

Alex Beam: Author, journalist, and contributor to The Boston Globe
Tracy Fullerton: Director of the Game Innovation Lab at the University of Southern California and the designer and director of Walden, A Game
Laura Dassow Walls: Professor emeritus of English at the University of Notre Dame and the author of Henry David Thoreau: A Life

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired April 27, 2022.

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This week’s Nose wants to feel like it’s in the middle of a conversation … between inanimate objects.

Confess, Fletch is the third movie in the Fletch series, the first in 33 years, and the first to star Jon Hamm, rather than Chevy Chase, in the title role. It premieres on Showtime on October 28.

And: Athena is a French-language epic action tragedy directed by Romain Gavras, the son of the two-time Academy Award-winning Greek-French filmmaker Costa-Govras. Athena's opening shot, which runs more than 10 minutes without a (detectable, at least) cut, has been much discussed. It premiered at the Venice International Film Festival, where it won the Premio Arca Cinema Giovani — the Young Cinema Award — and it hit Netflix in September.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take:

Taylor Swift Has Clocked In and Finally Released Midnights
Kanye West to buy the conservative-friendly social site Parler
1776’s Sara Porkalob Has Some Notes
Bakery Creates ‘Pan Solo,’ a 6-Foot Replica of ‘Star Wars’ Hero Made of Bread A California bakery made Han Solo frozen in carbonite out of bread. Passers-by “kind of don’t believe you that it’s made out of dough,” a baker said.
New details emerge about Bill Murray’s alleged misconduct Production on Aziz Ansari’s directorial debut stalled months ago due to Murray’s behavior
How Colleen Hoover Rose to Rule the Best-Seller List With legions of devoted fans and a knack for high-voltage emotional drama, Hoover has sold more than 20 million books. And she’s done it her way.
‘Twisters’ Forecast For Spring Start As Universal, Amblin Finalize Director For Sequel
‘It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown’ won’t be on TV this year. Here’s how to watch
A raft of cancellations show a broken touring industry that’s linked to deeper #BrokenRecord crisis and why it needs to change!
‘Family Means No One Gets Left Behind’ An oral history of Lilo & Stitch, the Disney movie that almost brought hand-drawn animation back.
Why My Favorite Character in The Breakfast Club Is the Janitor I used to idolize the teens in John Hughes movies — but I was so, so wrong.
Everything You Need to Achieve the Twin Peaks Aesthetic Let the fog roll in, pour us a damn fine cup of coffee, and find us in the Black Lodge—it’s Twin Peaks season.
Patti LuPone Isn‘t Retiring but Broadway Has ‘Dumbed Down the Audience’ by Turning Into ‘Disneyland, a Circus and Las Vegas’
The Infinite Possibilities in a Tiny Smudge From Outer Space Astronomers have captured a poignant view of another planetary system in the making.
Netflix Boards Untitled Adam Sandler-Safdie Brothers Project
Criterion Lays Off 20 Percent of Staff in ‘Reorganization’ Move Criterion Collection president Peter Becker told IndieWire the layoffs were “meant to prepare the company for the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.”
‘Don’t Worry Darling,’ ‘Blonde,’ and the Faux Feminism of 2022’s Most Debated Films“Brainwashed” documentarian Nina Menkes unpacks the botched messages behind this year’s “feminist” films with IndieWire.

GUESTS:

Rich Hollant: Principal at CO:LAB, founder of Free Center, and commissioner on cultural affairs for the city of Hartford
Mercy Quaye: Founder and principal consultant for The Narrative Project

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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State politics are becoming increasingly nationalized, as voters, and candidates, focus more on national issues, instead of local ones. This hour, we look at the impact of this nationalization, and we discuss how the loss of local news has impacted our awareness of state politics. Finally, we’ll learn about how Americans have become increasingly politically segregated.

GUESTS:

Daniel Hopkins: Professor of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania, and author of The Increasingly United States: How and Why American Political Behavior Nationalized
Meghan Rubado: Associate Professor in the Levin School of Urban Affairs at Cleveland State University
Paul Bass: Editor of The New Haven Independent
Ryan Enos: Professor of Government and the Director for the Center for American Political Studies at Harvard University

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The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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Mysteries have been popular for centuries. This hour we ask: why are we drawn to this genre? Plus, we look at the television detective and discuss true crime podcasts.

GUESTS:

Martin Edwards: Crime novelist and author of the new book The Life of Crime: Detecting the History of Mysteries and Their Creators
Gene Seymour: A “writer, professional spectator, pop-culture maven, and jazz geek”
Alexandra Petri: Columnist for The Washington Post and the author of Nothing Is Wrong And Here Is Why
Nick Quah: Podcast critic for Vulture and New York Magazine

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The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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We’ve been doing these shows a couple times a month where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to driving culture in Connecticut, pet culture everywhere, the state cutting down trees on route 164, probate, direct registration of stocks … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Colin McEnroe and Eugene Amatruda contributed to this show.

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Record producer and neuroscientist Susan Rogers has a new book out, This Is What It Sounds Like: What the Music You Love Says About You. In it, she writes that “the music that delivers the maximum gratification to you is determined by seven influential dimensions of musical listening.” Those seven dimensions are authenticity, realism, novelty, melody, lyrics, rhythm, and timbre.

This hour, we talk with Rogers about some of those seven dimensions, the role of the listener in music, and why we are drawn to some songs and not others.

GUEST:

Susan Rogers: Multi-platinum record producer, cognitive neuroscientist, professor at Berklee College of Music, and co-author of This Is What It Sounds Like: What the Music You Love Says About You

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The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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This week’s Nose clearly harassed a human with dark features and chose the wrong person to annoy.

Andor is the fourth live-action Star Wars series from Disney+. It is a prequel to Rogue One, which is a prequel to Star Wars. Andor follows thief-turned-spy Cassian Andor during the five years leading up to Rogue One. It is created by Tony Gilroy, who wrote Rogue One, and written in part by Tony and his brother Dan Gilroy and edited in part by Dan’s twin brother John Gilroy.

And: I Love You, You Hate Me is a two-part Peacock docuseries about Barney the Purple Dinosaur.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take:

Angela Lansbury, Broadway luminary and ‘Murder, She Wrote’ star, dies at 96 She also excelled as the world’s most evil mother in the film ‘The Manchurian Candidate’
Kanye West’s Posts Land Him in Trouble on Social Media The rapper, who now goes by Ye, made antisemitic remarks on Instagram and Twitter that were widely criticized. They came after he wore a “White Lives Matter” shirt at Paris Fashion Week.
Is There a Future for Late-Night Talk Shows? Big changes are coming to the longtime staple of television programming, as the genre struggles to make the leap to the streaming world.
How the Glengarry Glen Ross “Coffee Is for Closers” Scene Got Made Alec Baldwin, James Foley, and more reveal an oral history of one of the most quotable movie scenes ever.
The Best TV Shows of 2022…So Far Severance, The Rehearsal, Borgen, Tokyo Vice, and more series to catch up on before the next wave of television hits.
Guillermo del Toro Defends Scorsese After ‘Cruel’ Essay Calls Him ‘Uneven Talent’: ‘This Article Baited Them Traffic, but At What Cost?’
‘Amsterdam’ Stands To Lose Nearly $100 Million: What This Means For Upscale Movies
Dunkin' Donuts Devalues Rewards Points, Enraging Customers: ‘I No Longer Run on Dunkin’ “Don’t try to piss on me and tell me it’s raining,” said one longtime Dunkin' customer.
Sorry, Gen X, the thumbs up emoji is actually hostile
I’m too uncool to know which thumbs-up emoji is uncool so someone help me.
New ‘Naked Gun’ Movie A Go At Paramount With Liam Neeson In Talks To Star And ‘Lonely Island’s Akiva Schaffer Directing
Austin Powers References Are Comedy’s Hottest Mini-Trend

GUESTS:

Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Nobody Asked Shawn podcast
Carolyn Paine: An actress, comedian, and dancer; she is founder, director, and choreographer of CONNetic Dance
Pedro Soto: President and CEO of Hygrade Precision Technologies

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today.

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We have a complicated relationship with our food. We need food to live, yet we’ve become removed from the food we eat and how it’s grown and processed. Even with the best of intentions, today’s ultra-processed foods make it hard for us to know exactly what we’re eating or how the methods used to mass produce our food are affecting our environment and our health. And I haven’t even touched on how food has led to war, famine, poverty, and enslavement.

This hour, we talk about the history of agriculture, where it went wrong, and how we might begin to cultivate food that is kinder to our bodies, our earth, and our fellow humans.

GUEST:

Mark Bittman: Author of Animal, Vegetable, Junk: A History of Food From Sustainable To Suicidal, among many other books

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired February 3, 2021.

Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today.

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This hour, we investigate what centrism means, and what the role of centrism is in U.S. politics and discourse today.

GUESTS:

Lee Drutman: Senior fellow in the Political Reform program at New America, and the author of Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop: The Case for Multiparty Democracy in America among other books. He is also co-host of the “Politics In Question” podcast, and the co-founder of “Fix Our House,” a campaign for proportional representation.
Yascha Mounk: Professor at Johns Hopkins University and author of The Great Experiment: Why Diverse Democracies Fall Apart and How They Can Endure, among other books. He is also the founder of the publication “Persuasion.”
Christine Todd Whitman: Co-chair of the new “Forward Party,” and the President of The Whitman Strategy Group. She is former Governor of the state of New Jersey, and she served in the cabinet of President George W. Bush as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.

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Perfectionism is on the rise among young people.

This hour, we look at the impact of perfectionism on mental health and how to deal with perfectionist tendencies.

Plus: what the self-help industry can tell us about our interest in perfection.

GUESTS:

Thomas Curran: Assistant professor of psychological and behavioral science at the London School of Economics and Political Science
Tamar Gendler: Professor of philosophy, psychology and cognitive science at Yale University
Kristen Meinzer: Host of the By the Book podcast

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired April 13, 2022.

Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today.

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This week’s Nose is like the trick you do with the wiggling, getting all the girls hipped up.

Blonde is Andrew Dominik’s fourth feature film as writer and director, his first since Killing Them Softly in 2012. It’s an adaptation of the Joyce Carol Oates novel, and it stars Ana de Armas as Marilyn Monroe. Blonde is a Netflix release, and it’s said to be the first movie distributed by a streaming service to receive the NC-17 rating.

And: Elvis is Baz Luhrmann’s sixth feature film as writer and director, his first since The Great Gatsby in 2013. It stars Austin Butler in the title role and Tom Hanks as Colonel Tom Parker. Its theatrical run this summer made it the second-highest grossing biopic (after Bohemian Rhapsody) ever made. Elvispremiered on HBO in September.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take:

Loretta Lynn, ever a ‘Coal Miner’s Daughter,’ dies at 90 After a hardscrabble start, Ms. Lynn rose from poverty in Kentucky to the top of Billboard’s Nashville charts and brought a strong woman’s voice to country music
Billy Eichner says straight people ‘just didn’t show up for Bros’ at the box office
YouTuber Dream Revealed His Face And People Have Been Really Cruel About It Dream is faceless no more.
‘House of the Dragon’ Viewers Outraged Over Scenes Too Dark to See, HBO Defends Them as ‘Intentional Creative Decision’
Why Did This Week’s House of the Dragon Look So Bad?
The Try Guys Release First Funny Video The three remaining survivors address the big controversy, and I’m feeling all the feels
You shouldn’t high-five a child [Ed. note: Retweets ≠ endorsements. Or whatever.]
The ’90s Cartoon That Mattered? ‘Beavis and Butt-Head.’ (Fight Me.) It doesn’t make best-of lists, but the series, then and now, was always much smarter than its characters, and it didn’t try too hard. Sorry, Bart Simpson.
Does it get any butter than this? The Butter board is the new viral food trend, and we are here for it.
‘Rust’ Team Announces Settlement With Halyna Hutchins Estate, Will Resume Film Production in January
Fans cheer as Velma is shown crushing on a woman in the new Scooby-Doo movie
Aaron Judge Is Great—but Don’t Erase Barry Bonds Barry Bonds is not regarded as the home run king, but he should be.
A Saturday Night Live Charmin Bears sketch has become bizarrely controversial A skit where Miles Teller plays an artistic young Charmin has drawn criticism for possibly pilfered material and it’s placement directly ahead of a Charmin ad
You Must Respect Candy Corn Even in paradise, death lurks.
Hollywood’s 50 Most Powerful TV Showrunners of 2022 The series they couldn’t stop watching, the peers they most admire and the industry trends that keep them awake at night … THR’s annual survey of the most influential writer-producers in TV reveals these secrets and more.
The Universe Is Not Locally Real, and the Physics Nobel Prize Winners Proved It Elegant experiments with entangled light have laid bare a profound mystery at the heart of reality
Super Mario Bros. Trailer: Chris Pratt Is Mario In Illumination’s Animated Take On The Video Game Character

GUESTS:

Irene Papoulis: Teaches writing at Trinity College
Bill Yousman: Professor of Media Studies at Sacred Heart University

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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And, just like that, we’re in the midst of yet another election season. With news fatigue, and election fatigue, it’s easy to feel jaded. This hour, we’re going to explore why we feel that way, talk about how to overcome those feelings, and discuss why we should care about politics.

GUESTS:

Amanda Ripley: Investigative journalist, author, and co-host of the podcast “How To!” She recently wrote “I stopped reading the news. Is the problem me — or the product?” in The Washington Post
Eitan Hersh: Associate Professor of Political Science at Tufts University, whose most recent book is Politics Is for Power: How to Move Beyond Political Hobbyism, Take Action, and Make Real Change
Gabe Fleisher: Author of “Wake Up To Politics,” a daily political newsletter, and a student at Georgetown University
Roya Hakakian: Author and poet whose latest book is A Beginner’s Guide to America: For the Immigrant and the Curious

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Around the world, history is filled with men mistaken for gods.

This hour we talk with Anna Della Subin, the author of Accidental Gods.

She takes us through some notable examples of mortal men mistakenly deified and discusses why people look for their gods here on Earth.

GUEST:

Anna Della Subin - Author of Accidental Gods: On Men Unwittingly Turned Divine

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired February 2, 2022.

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Lists feel especially suited to the digital age, but humans have been creating lists for a long time. So why are we drawn to lists? This hour, we look at the art and the utility of the list. And we talk to people who have created some lists we've especially enjoyed.

GUESTS:

Liam Young: Author of List Cultures: Knowledge and Poetics from Mesopotamia to BuzzFeed, and an Associate Professor of Communication and Media Studies at Carleton University.
Dan Kois: Editor and writer at Slate, where he recently wrote the list: “The 50 Greatest Fictional Deaths of All Time.” His novel Vintage Contemporaries comes out in January
Ann Powers:NPR Music’s critic and correspondent
Matt Dicks: West Hartford elementary school teacher, author of books including Twenty-One Truths About Love, MothStorySLAM champion, and co-founder and artistic director of Speak Up, a Hartford-based storytelling organization

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This hour we take your calls about anything you want to talk about.

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Basically, the movie is some version of Taken, right?

Well, Taken came out in 2008. Liam Neeson has been making these movies for 15 years now. He just turned 70, and he says he just made his 100th movie. (I’ve put a certain amount of effort into trying to figure out just what he’s counting to get to exactly 100, and I can’t quite do it, but I’ve decided we should just accept the guy’s count. Right?)

The Nose is off this week. In its place, a Not Necessarily the Nose-style look at late-career Liam Neeson, post-Taken Liam Neeson, doing-action-movies-into-his-70s Liam Neeson.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take:

Louise Fletcher, 88, Dies; Oscar Winner for ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ She was largely unknown to the public when she was cast as what the American Film Institute called one of cinema’s most memorable villains.
Trevor Noah Leaving ‘Daily Show’ After Seven Years The host, who took over for Jon Stewart in 2015, told the audience Thursday, “My time is up.”
Lizzo Played A 200-Year-Old Crystal Flute In Concert, And Its History Is Fascinating The rare crystal flute was rescued from the White House in 1814, and no one alive had heard its sound before.
An Apology From the Missing Comma in Don’t Worry Darling
Sorry, But Avatar Still Rules
The 100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time A ranking of the most game-changing, side-splitting, tear-jerking, mind-blowing, world-building, genre-busting programs in television history, from the medium’s inception in the early 20th century through the ever-metastasizing era of Peak TV
Maybe We Won’t End Up Like the Dinosaurs NASA has taken a major step toward protecting Earth from dangerous asteroids.
Hannah Gadsby Has Signed A New Deal With Netflix To Hopefully Change The ‘Notoriously Transphobic Industry’
We’re Witnessing the Birth of a New Artistic Medium Expect AI art to go the way of Warhol.
It’s Official: Wife Guys Are Out Ned Fulmer and Adam Levine are proof that nothing good comes from monetizing your role as a patriarchal monogamy doer — especially when you can’t even do the monogamy part.
Where Does “Saturday Night Live” Go From Here? After its biggest cast shakeup in decades, the long-running sketch show enters a period of uncertainty
In Praise of TK: Why the Handy Shorthand Has a Surprising Emotional Hold on Me
Danny Boyle to Direct Dance Adaptation of ‘The Matrix’
Actor Bruce Willis Becomes First Celebrity to Sell Rights to Deepfake Firm The actor calls the technology “a great opportunity to go back in time.”

GUESTS:

David Edelstein: America’s Greatest Living Film Critic
Nate Fisher: A writer and comedian and cohost of the podcast A Closer Look
Ben Lindbergh: Senior editor at The Ringer
Stephen Marche: A novelist and essayist; his most recent book is The Next Civil War: Dispatches from the American Future

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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Azar Nafisi is the author of Reading Lolita in Tehran, which spent 117 weeks on the New York Times Best Sellers list.

Her newest book, Read Dangerously, argues that reading literature, reading challenging, dangerous literature is foundational and fundamental to continued democracy.

Imagination, itself, she says, is a threat to autocracy and totalitarianism. Imagination is inherently, by definition, “free and wayward.”

“It should be clear by now that when I talk about books,” Nafisi writes, “I am not talking about literature of resistance but literature as resistance.”

Azar Nafisi joins us for the hour.

GUEST:

Azar Nafisi: The author of six books; her newest is Read Dangerously: The Subversive Power of Literature in Troubled Times

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired April 7, 2022.

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Note: This episode contains strong language and a number of things intended to be in bad taste.

This hour, we shoot the, er, breeze with the filmmaker, author, and artist whose œuvre of campy, raunchy films ranges from the cult classics Pink Flamingos and Polyester to the musicals Hairspray and Cry-Baby — John Waters.

On the occasion of Waters’ first novel, the “feel-bad romance” Liarmouth, a talk about everything from testicle tanning and teabagging to Baltimore and becoming a legend.

Be there or be square.

Note also: This show is about as spoilery as we get. We use audio of the very last lines of Waters’ Pink Flamingos. And the ending of Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood is just utterly revealed. (Colin will warn you when that one’s coming.) Now, neither of these movies is terribly recent — I mean, one of them is 50 years old — but it seems like we should mention it anyway. Please don’t send us angry emails. About the spoilers, at least.

GUEST:

John Waters: Writer, director, and actor; his first novel is Liarmouth … A Feel-Bad Romance

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Cat Pastor, Dylan Reyes, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show, which originally aired May 4, 2022.

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Harvey Fierstein has won four Tony Awards, for writing and acting in Torch Song Trilogy, for writing La Cage aux Folles, and for acting in Hairspray.

He has appeared in Mrs. Doubtfire, Bullets Over Broadway, Independence Day, Death to Smoochy, and more. He has sung to Muppets, he has voiced Disney characters, and he’s been in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Armistead Maupin has called Fierstein “a true American original who has blazed his own trail through popular culture for half a century.”

Harvey Fierstein joins us for the hour.

GUEST:

Harvey Fierstein: An actor on stage and screen, a playwright, and a screenwriter; he is the author of I Was Better Last Night: A Memoir

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Cat Pastor, and Michael Savitt contributed to this show, which originally aired March 10, 2022.

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GUESTS:

Emily Bazelon: Staff writer for The New York Times Magazine and the co-host of the Slate Political Gabfest; she recently started The Prison Letters Project
Robin Kaiser-Schatzlein: A freelance writer who writes about American life for numerous publications including The New York Times, The New Republic, and The Baffler
John J. Lennon: An incarcerated journalist writing from Sullivan Correctional Facility; he is a contributing editor at Esquire magazine and a frequent contributor to The New York Times
Justin Paperny: A prison consultant, the co-founder of White Collar Advice and Prison Professors, and the author of Lessons from Prison

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, Cat Pastor, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show.

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This week’s Nose uses the rug as its plan B.

Abbott Elementary is a mockumentary sitcom that airs on ABC, created by and starring Quinta Brunson. Think The Office, but set in a Philadelphia elementary school. It won two Primetime Emmy Awards last week, and its second season premiered this week.

And: Apple made a movie, Emancipation, that it expects will be worthy Oscar fodder. The only catch: It stars Will Smith, who is, ya know, banned from the Oscars and things. So now what?

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take:

24 Reactions To The “NyQuil Chicken Challenge” That Give Me A Spoonful Of Hope For HumanityFrom the same internet that brought you greatest hits like the “Tide pod” and “snorting condom” challenges comes a new, dangerously dumb trend that you must not attempt at all costs.
Adam Levine’s (Alleged) Sexts Are Amazingly Bad Famous people have never had to beg for a morsel of attention; it makes sense that their sexts might suck.
The moment you’ve all been waiting for: The Space Force has unveiled its official song
Gen Z Never Learned to Read Cursive How will they interpret the past?
How Student Debt Killed the Plot Fictional characters, too, are saddled with college loans, and struggling to keep the story of their lives moving forward.
The Enduring Wisdom of ‘Goodnight Moon’ It’s the first book many babies receive as a gift, and one of the few that parents will keep when their child is grown. Why does this 75-year-old story have such staying power?
An Ode to Being Read To Bedtime stories aren’t just for children.
Drew Barrymore challenges Andrew Garfield’s six-month celibacy with, “Yeah, so?” The Under The Banner Of Heaven star recently divulged details of his method acting processes
MI6 Is Looking for a New Bond. I’ve Got Some Suggestions.
Warner Bros. Discovery Has Bigger Problems Than Its DC Search The film studio’s hunt for its own Kevin Feige may be complicated by key questions about what’s next for the heavily indebted company — and whether another major deal is on the horizon.
Chess Is Just Poker Now A cheating controversy involving two grandmasters shows how computers have transformed the game.
Every Marilyn Monroe Movie, Ranked
Woody Allen Walks Back Claims, Says He Has ‘No Intention of Retiring’
Mariah Carey says we should finally hear her secret 1995 grunge album
Life on Screen: A Reality Television Reading List
A Gnarly New Theory About Saturn’s Rings The story of a long-lost moon
This Is Neptune? The James Webb Space Telescope has captured a mesmerizing view of the planet.
The ‘Grand Theft Auto’ Leak Is Enormous News That May Not Matter A massive leak of footage from the next big Rockstar Games release recently shook the video game industry. What does it mean for ‘GTA,’ fans of the franchise, and the way games get made?
Separating Sports by Sex Doesn’t Make Sense Though school sports are typically sex-segregated, a new generation of kids isn’t content to compete within traditional structures.
Wait, Is Taylor Swift Just Giving Us Straight Answers?
Preview the Art Show Entirely Inspired by Nicolas Cage and His Cat

GUESTS:

Sam Hadelman: Works in music public relations and hosts The Sam Hadelman Show at Radio Free Brooklyn
Carolyn Paine: An actress, comedian, and dancer; she is founder, director, and choreographer of CONNetic Dance
Gene Seymour: A “writer, professional spectator, pop-culture maven, and jazz geek”

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe and Eugene Amatruda contributed to this show.

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Well designed queues give you hope and feel fair, while poorly designed ones can ruin your day. Queues are everywhere around us, and not all are designed well. This hour, we talk about the art of the queue, the challenge of waiting in line, and when, if ever, cutting in line is appropriate.

GUESTS:

Richard Larson:Professor of Data, Systems, and Society at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Marie Helweg-Larsen:Professor of Psychology at Dickinson College
Jennifer Goff:Owner and Founder of Skip The Line
Steven Soifer:President of the American Restroom Association

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We all participate in bad thinking sometimes. Whether in relatively minor ways, or relatively major ones. This hour, we look at why bad thinking happens, how reasoning errors are embedded in the way we think, and how we can all learn how to think better, through lessons from philosophy and psychology.

GUESTS:

Steven Nadler: Co-author of When Bad Thinking Happens to Good People: How Philosophy Can Save Us from Ourselves, and a Philosophy Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
Larry Shapiro: Co-author of When Bad Thinking Happens to Good People: How Philosophy Can Save Us from Ourselves, and a Philosophy Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
Woo-kyoung Ahn: Psychology Professor, and Director of The Thinking Lab at Yale University, and author of the book Thinking 101: How to Reason Better to Live Better

Join the conversation onFacebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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This hour, a look at the path to sainthood and how it’s changed over time.

Plus: the local example of the Rev. Michael McGivney.

GUESTS:

Teresa Berger: Professor of liturgical studies and Catholic theology at Yale Divinity School
Joseph Laycock: Author of The Seer of Bayside: Veronica Lueken and the Struggle to Define Catholicism
Rachel McCleary: Lecturer in the Economics Department at Harvard University and a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute
James Sullivan: Rector of the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Waterbury, Connecticut

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Sara Gasparotto, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired March 31, 2022.

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We’ve been doing these shows a couple times a month where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to a number of whys: Why do people speed? Why do cigarettes come in packs of 20? Why do we say “beyond the pale?” Why did the Hartford Courant leave the queen’s funeral off of today’s front page? Why do we still make pennies? Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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This week’s Nose watches two recent comic book television adaptations: She-Hulk: Attorney At Law, from Disney+, and the recently canceled Paper Girls, from Prime Video.

GUESTS:

Rich Hollant:Principal at Co Lab, founder of Free Center, and Commissioner on Cultural Affairs for the city of Hartford
Jacques Lamarre:Playwright, and Chief Communications Officer at Buzz Engine
Tracy Wu Fastenberg:Development Officer at Connecticut Children’s

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Jill Sobule is back in town, and in the studio with Colin. In this hour, Jill and Colin sing, discuss seventh grade, fanny packs, and the power of sad music, among many other topics.

Here are the songs featured in the show:

“Jetpack”
“Island of Lost Things”
“Strawberry Gloss”
“Rainy Day Parade”
“A Good Life”

Jill Sobule performs at The Mark Twain House on Friday, September 16, 2022.

GUEST:

Jill Sobule:Award-winning singer, songwriter, and guitarist

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Most of us have books that we just can’t finish, no matter how many times we try. This hour is all about those books that we find unreadable, whether they’re too long, too difficult, too confusing, or too dated. We ask: what makes a book unreadable? Plus, we’ll learn about the Voynich Manuscript, an unreadable and undeciphered book, housed at Yale University’s Beinecke Library.

GUESTS:

Rand Richards Cooper: Fiction writer, contributing editor at Commonweal, and restaurant critic for The Hartford Courant
Dennis Duncan: Lecturer in English at University College London and author of Index, A History of the: A Bookish Adventure from Medieval Manuscripts to the Digital Age
Juliet Lapidos: Ideas Editor for The Atlantic and author of the novel Talent
Ray Clemens: Curator of Early Books and Manuscripts at Yale University’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library

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This hour Colin talks with comedian and The New Yorker columnist Andy Borowitz about his book Profiles in Ignorance, which explains how our nation’s elected leaders have grown dumb – and dumber.

GUESTS:

Andy Borowitz:Award-winning comedian, New York Times best-selling writer, and author of the satirical news column “The Borowitz Report” in The New Yorker. His new book is Profiles in Ignorance: How America’s Politicians Got Dumb and Dumber

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Bumper stickers are everywhere. They range from funny to informative to political to provocative and beyond.

This hour: bumper stickers — the philosophy of bumper stickers, the evolution of political bumper stickers, and so much more.

GUESTS:

Jack Bowen: Author of If You Can Read This: The Philosophy of Bumper Stickers
Henry Hoke: Author of Sticker
Claire Jerry: Curator of political history for the Smithsonian National Museum of American History

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired March 16, 2022.

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If You Can Read This: The Philosophy of Bumper Stickers

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This week’s Nose will not sit here and suffer crows that come to feast on their corpses.

Game of Thrones: House of the Dragon is the second show in the Game of Thrones franchise and a prequel to the original series. It is based on parts of George R. R. Martin’s Fire & Blood, and it starts about 200 years before the events of the original series. Its first episode was the most-watched series premiere in the history of HBO, according to HBO. House of the Dragon has been renewed for a second season.

And: The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is the first television series in the Lord of the Ringsfranchise. It is a prequel to The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings set thousands of years before them, during the Second Age of Middle-Earth. The Rings of Power is based mostly on the appendices of The Lord of the Rings. Amazon has made a five-season production commitment worth at least $1 billion. This would make it the most expensive television series ever made.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take:

Queen Elizabeth in Pop Culture: A History The long-reigning monarch has been referenced in everything from banned music videos and Beatles songs to Hannah Montana.
21 Unexpected And Surprising Twitter Accounts Paying Tribute To The Queen From Legoland to Crazy Frog.
Explaining Olivia Wilde’s celebrity dumpster fire ‘Don’t Worry Darling’ SFGATE columnist Drew Magary parses the gossip of the day
What on Earth Happened With Barack Obama’s White House Portrait? [Ed. note: I completely disagree with Dan Kois’ take here. Completely.]
Kids Yell “Poop” At Alexa, And These Musicians Profit “Alexa, play ‘Poopy Stupid Butt’ again.”
‘Saturday Night Live’: Alex Moffat, Melissa Villaseñor & Aristotle Athari Not Returning For Season 48
If There’s Still Such a Thing as the ‘Song of Summer,’ This Year’s Would Be …
How Sneakers Aged Better than Almost All Computer Thrillers

GUESTS:

Rebecca Castellani: Co-founder of Quiet Corner Communications and a freelance writer
Sam Hadelman: Works in music public relations and hosts The Sam Hadelman Show at Radio Free Brooklyn
Bill Yousman: Professor of Media Studies at Sacred Heart University

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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This hour is all about historical reenactments. We look at why people reenact history, and what we can learn from it.

GUESTS:

Brad Keefer: Professor of History at Kent State University, who is also an active Civil War and colonial period living historian
Metin Erin: Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Kent State University, and co-director of The Kent State University Experimental Archaeology Laboratory
Michelle Bebber: Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Kent State University, and co-director of The Kent State University Experimental Archaeology Laboratory
Ian Graves: Tailor and owner of Royal Blue Traders, who specializes in American Revolutionary War clothing
J.R. Hardman: Associate Producer at PBS Utah, and a Civil War reenactor, who is directing and producing the documentary Reenactress

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Schadenfreude, the German idea for taking pleasure in others’ misfortune, seems like an ugly human emotion. But psychologists and philosophers argue that schadenfreude is baked into the human condition and actually is kind of good for us.

This hour, we explore why it’s okay to laugh when someone slips on a banana peel.

GUESTS:

Scott Dikkers: Founding editor of The Onion and the author of How to Write Funny
Lauren Ober: Hosted the Spectacular Failures podcast
John Portmann: Professor of religious studies at the University of Virginia and the author of When Bad Things Happen to Other People

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, Jonathan McNicol, Cat Pastor, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show, which originally aired March 7, 2022.

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How To Write Funny: Your Serious, Step-By-Step Blueprint For Creating Incredibly, Irresistibly, Successfully Hilarious Writing

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Welcome back from the long weekend and, in a way, from the summer!

We figured you might have some things to say on a day like today, and we’ve been doing these shows a couple times a month where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to commercial creep on public radio, “The Purple People Eater” and Nope, defenders and detractors of our new radio promos, the Cary Grant movie People Will Talk(which we carelessly left out of our rom-coms show), the circular economy (and Amazon taking its damn boxes back), legendary Connecticut broadcaster Bob Steele, and legendary march maker John Philip Sousa. Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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This week’s Nose gets the Oprah shot.

Britney is back. Over the last week, Britney Spears released a 22-minute ‘audio statement’ covering her conservatorship and its long-awaited ending, and she dropped her first new music since 2016, a single with Elton John.

And: Nope is Jordan Peele’s third film as writer/director/producer, his followup to Get Out and Us. It’s a kind of mashup of horror, sci-fi, and neo-Western with some notes of Spielberg thrown in, too. Peele has acknowledged the influence of Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Jaws, but there’s clearly some War of the Worlds going on here as well. Domestically, Nope is the highest-grossing horror film of the year so far.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take:

Richard Roat, Character Actor Known for Friends and Seinfeld, Dead at 89
Why ‘She-Hulk’ is getting review bombed Fans and experts see a link between negative online reviews, primarily from male users, and the Marvel show’s exploration of gender.
The Alarming Prospect of NBC Clocking Out at 10 p.m.
Supporters Attempt to Redeem Legacy of Hollywood Legend Fredric March, Canceled Over Racism Allegations: “This Was a Rush to Judgment” As Turner Classic Movies gets ready to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the Oscar winner’s birth, host Ben Mankiewicz is among those calling it a “misconception” that the long-time civil rights champion once supported the Ku Klux Klan. “He couldn’t have done what he’s accused of doing,” adds actor Glynn Turman.
America Is Trying to Make the Moon Happen Again NASA is ready to give an ambitious lunar program its first real test.
Winnie The Pooh: Blood and Honey — First Trailer Reveals the Horrors in 100 Acre Wood Oh, bother.
Anti-Aging Ambassador Leonardo DiCaprio Breaks Up With 25-Year-Old Girlfriend Camila Morrone has hit the glass ceiling of being one-fourth of a century old and must now pack her bags.
This Is How the Hollywood Comeback Cycle Works Johnny Depp’s appearance at MTV’s Video Music Awards was at once bizarre and frustratingly predictable.
The Alleged Celeb Civil War Between Olivia Wilde, Florence Pugh, and Shia LaBeouf, ExplainedThe gossip includes conflicting accounts, a leaked video, and an on-set romance, but how much is just in fans’ imaginations?
Taylor Swift Is The Queen Of Easter Eggs And Hidden Messages. Here’s Everything That Fans Have Theorized About “Midnights” So Far. As soon as Swifties had finished screaming, crying, and throwing up over the Midnights announcement on Sunday, they got to work.
Did My Cat Just Hit On Me? An Adventure in Pet Translation Entrepreneurs are aiming to put A.I.-powered pet translation tools into our pockets.
The Cult of A24 The iconoclastic studio has bred superfans, dropped swag, and perfected a house style. It’s also teetering on the verge of self-parody.
Every A24 Movie, Ranked Neon lights, creepy birds, white people rapping — the studio spawned an aesthetic universe. Here are the good, bad, and vibe-y.
Breaking Down That Infamous E.T./Star Wars Fan Theory
2022 Fall Movie Preview: 34 Films to Watch Out For With the Venice Film Festival kicking off this week, the race is on to rule over the best season of the year for moviegoing.
25 TV Shows We Can’t Wait to See This Fall Television’s signature season offers a bounty of new series and returning favorites.
‘House of the Dragon’ Shake-Up: Co-Showrunner Miguel Sapochnik Leaving Hit Series Emmy-winning ‘Game of Thrones’ veteran Alan Taylor will join the team for season two.
The Guilt-Free Pleasure of Airplane Movies Amid the endless tiny indignities of air travel, only one true retreat remains.
Kim Kardashian and Kanye West’s Quest to Become America’s Favorite Superheroes Unpacking Kimye’s obsession, pre- and post-divorce, with Disney, “The Incredibles,” the nuclear family, and spandex.
Getting Away From It All in Mark Zuckerberg’s Metaverse Reality reality was terrible. Would virtual reality be any better?
You Don’t Really Want a Twitter Edit Button Our chaotic public square will lose a lot more than typos.
Pumpkin spice won. It’s time to accept it and move on.

GUESTS:

Raquel Benedict: The most dangerous woman in speculative fiction (and she’s the host of the Rite Gud podcast)
Taneisha Duggan: Associate producer at Octopus Theatricals
Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian and writer, and the host of the Nobody Asked Shawn podcast

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Cat Pastor, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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Tuberculosis has been around for thousands of years, and still infects millions per year. This hour, we look back at how tuberculosis has shaped history, and how it is still impacting health today. We will also learn about the history of tuberculosis treatment, how tuberculosis has shaped modern architecture, and the impact of tuberculosis on art and artists.

GUESTS:

Heran Darwin: Professor in the Department of Microbiology at New York University, whose lab studies Mycobacterium tuberculosis
Kyle Harper: Chair in the History of Liberty and a Professor of Classics and Letters at the University of Oklahoma, author of Plagues upon the Earth: Disease and the Course of Human History
Beatriz Colomina: Professor of the History of Architecture at Princeton University, and author of X-Ray Architecture
Tara Knapp: Vice President of External Affairs at Gaylord Specialty Healthcare
Carolyn Day: Associate Professor of History at Furman University, author of Consumptive Chic: A History of Beauty, Fashion and Disease
Elizabeth Lee: Associate Professor of Art History at Dickinson College, author of The Medicine of Art: Disease and the Aesthetic Object in Gilded Age America

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In his book, Seven Games, Oliver Roeder says that games are a “slice of life.”

This hour we look at three games: chess, Scrabble, and Monopoly.

We investigate why these games have endured in popularity through history, and we discuss what each one of them can teach us about life.

GUESTS:

Jenny Adams: Author of Power Play: The Literature and Politics of Chess in the Late Middle Ages
Mary Pilon: A journalist and screenwriter and the author of The Monopolists: Obsession, Fury, and the Scandal Behind the World’s Favorite Board Game
Oliver Roeder: A journalist and the author of Seven Games: A Human History
Lindsay Shin: A competitive Scrabble player; she organizes an annual tournament in New Orleans

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired March 15, 2022.

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This hour, we wrap our heads around clapping — its history, its varied permutations, and the kinds of occasions on which people applaud.

GUESTS:

Gavin Witt: Professor of theater history at Towson University and a long-time dramaturg
Erin Elstner:Percussionist and professor of percussion at Webster University
Frank Rizzo: Theater critic for Variety and other publications

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We’ve been doing these shows a couple times a month where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to the old Hartford music venue Lloyd’s; the village of Bentonsport, Iowa, current population 44; the town of Provincetown, Massachusetts, current population 3,644; our impending, delayed, ongoing rebrand; and our world famous, award winning, but currently mothballed, Factoids segments. Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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This week’s Nose is one hell of a steep climb outta there.

Top Gun: Maverick is a sequel 36 years in the making. It’s also the No. 1 movie of the year, both worldwide and domestically. It’s the highest-grossing film of Tom Cruise’s long career. And it’s the highest-grossing domestic release in the history of Paramount Pictures. Top Gun: Maverick starts its fourth month in theaters this weekend, and it’s now available for sale on digital platforms.

And: Val is a 2021 documentary written and photographed, from thousands of hours of videotapes and film reels documenting his life and career, by Val Kilmer, who plays Iceman in both Top Gun films. Val is, according to Kilmer in the movie, “A story about my life that is also not my life.”

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take:

Leon Vitali, ‘Barry Lyndon’ Actor and Personal Assistant to Stanley Kubrick, Dies at 74
The 102 Best Movie Sequels of All Time Whether they come after, before, or between their predecessors, these films have their own indelible legacies.
Thrones v. Rings: The Biggest Battle in TV History Is Here House of the Dragon [premiered] on HBO Max [last] weekend, The Rings of Power on Amazon two weeks later. The winner will set the course for fantasy—and streaming.
The HGTV-ification of America You can’t escape gray floors.
Yellowstone’s Brand of White Grievance Is Free-Range and Organic
Live Performance Is Back. But Audiences Have Been Slow to Return. Attendance lagged in the comeback season, as the challenges posed by the coronavirus persisted. Presenters hope it was just a blip.
Vince Gilligan Wants to Write a Good Guy After fourteen years of “Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul,” the showrunner talks about how TV has changed, the sins of auteur theory, and the appeal of an old-fashioned hero.
Why Rick And Morty Creator Justin Roiland Likes Mocking Their Own Jokes Within The Show Itself
Research says that your 40s are your unhappiest age. It’s worse for millennials I was already glum about soon turning 40. Then I learned that happiness is U-shaped — it bottoms out in your 40s, then starts to inch its way up again in your 50s
I realised I would never be an actor — now I’m a big advocate of giving up on dreams To succeed you need self-belief and drive. But life forces us to give up all the time, and being able to let things go is also a skill
You Know Holden Caulfield Isn’t Real, Right?
The Commodore 64 at 40: back to the future of video games The bestselling computer made home gaming accessible for millions as it launched the industry toward the mainstream with classic titles such as Dropzone and The Sentinel
An inside look at how the Girl Scouts chose their next cookie flavor, Raspberry Rally
MoviePass Is Relaunching Next Month After Failing in 2019 The company was driven out of business three years ago after offering customers a too-good-to-be-true subscription model.

GUESTS:

James Hanley: Co-founder of Cinestudio at Trinity College
Carolyn Paine: An actress, comedian, and dancer, and she is founder, director, and choreographer of CONNetic Dance
Pedro Soto: President and CEO of Hygrade Precision Technologies

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe and Catie Talarski contributed to this show.

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Chances are you have used online reviews to try new restaurants, dry cleaners, hotels or even movies. But what makes us trust the opinions of strangers on the internet? This hour: we’ll discuss the art and the etiquette of online reviews.

GUESTS:

Camilla Vásquez: Professor of Applied Linguistics at the University of South Florida, and author of The Discourse of Online Consumer Reviews
Chef Tyler Anderson: Owner of Tanda Hospitality
Lauren Dragan: Senior Staff Writer at Wirecutter
Xandy Schiefer: Co-host of the podcast “Beach Too Sandy, Water Too Wet”

Join the conversation onFacebook andTwitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Eugene Amatruda contributed to this show.

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In his new book, From Hollywood with Love, critic Scott Meslow lays out two ways to tell if a given movie is a rom-com. First, his own definition: “A romantic comedy is a movie where (1) the central plot is focused on at least one romantic love story; and (2) the goal is to make you laugh at least as much as the goal is to make you cry.”

This hour, a deconstruction — and celebration — of the romantic comedy.

Some favorite rom-coms from some of the people on this show:

Colin’s 5 (or 6) favorite rom-coms

Heaven Can Wait (1978)
I realize this is assailable on the basis of Julie Christie not being an especially memorable character and getting less screen time than, say, Jack Warden. Warren Beatty is so vain, he probably thinks this movie is about him, and he’s sort of right. But it is very nearly perfect and enriched by an amazing ensemble of supporting players.
Silver Linings Playbook (2012)
I surprised myself by ranking SLP this high, but I love the frank and funny handling of mental illness and its indistinguishability from being an Eagles fan. I’ve seen it quite a few times, and I invariably cry at the end. I love what J-Law does with her part, and Chris Tucker and John Ortiz are standouts among the fine supporting cast. Shout out to Kevin Lowry for his work as dolly grip on the “A” camera.
The Lady Eve (1941) / Intolerable Cruelty (2003)
These are both “rom-cons” involving grifts by a femme fatale who is usually a few steps ahead of the male lead. Barbara Stanwyck actually generates more sexual heat than the smoldering Catherine Zeta-Jones. She was still doing that 42 years later, hitting on a rain-streaked, bare-chested priest played by Richard Chamberlain in The Thorn Birds. But I do love Intolerable Cruelty. I think it’s the only Coen brothers rom-com and definitely an homage to the ’30s and ’40s.
Say Anything (1989)
I loved John Cusack during this period. A few years later, I was seeing a psychotherapist who looked exactly like him. It was distracting. I’ve learned that Cusack didn’t really see himself as a romcom person and even pushed back against the iconic boombox scene. That has something to do with why this movie works so well.
Bringing Up Baby (1938)
Grant. Hepburn. Two leopards. Thirty pounds of sirloin. What’s not to love?

GUESTS:

Illeana Douglas: A movie and television star
David Edelstein: America’s Greatest Living Film Critic
Scott Meslow: The author of From Hollywood with Love: The Rise and Fall (and Rise Again) of the Romantic Comedy

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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Bears, bobcats, coyotes, and deer are repopulating Connecticut, despite being hunted to near extinction by early settlers. Is the mountain lion among those returning?

The CT Department of Energy and Environmental Protection thinks it’s unlikely. They investigate hundreds of mountain lion sightings every year without finding physical evidence of their presence. The sightings increased in 2011, after a driver hit and killed a mountain lion who was trying to cross the Merritt Parkway in Milford. But his DNA was traced to South Dakota.

Mountain lions in Connecticut are a lot like BigFoot and the Loch Ness monster: elusive and spectacular creatures that are widely spotted but leave no trace.

Today, we talk about wildlife in Connecticut, including the Greenwich mountain lion and Buddy the beefalo.

GUESTS:

Jason Hawley is a wildlife biologist for the CT Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP)
William Stolzenburg is a screenwriter, journalist, and author who writes about science and wildlife. He’s the author of three books including Heart of Lion: a Lone Cat’s Walk Across America.
Ed Benecchi is a retired police officer, who served most recently as captain in the Plymouth police department

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Nobody ever died of a broken heart, right? Not true. A condition known as broken heart syndrome can be brought on by a sudden shock, such as grief from the death of a loved one or a divorce.

You may not die of a broken heart, but it can alter your biology in ways that can increase your risk for disease. The good news is that it can be reversed if you can begin to mend your heart.

Also this hour: We talk about how our language changes in the months leading up to a breakup — before either partner consciously realizes what’s happening — and why we’re so drawn to sad songs, particularly torch songs, when our hearts are breaking.

GUESTS:

Noah Baerman: A jazz pianist, composer, and educator
Kate Blackburn: A data analyst at TikTok
Sarah Seraj: Chief technology officer at A Better Force
Florence Williams: A science writer and the author of Heartbreak: A Personal and Scientific Journey

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired February 24, 2022.

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This week’s Nose is sittin’ here, moping, pigeon feeding.

It’s the generational divide that’s been tearing the nation asunder for as long as we can remember: Should you use a top sheet or not? [Ed. note: You obviously should not. What is this, the 19th century?]

And: The Sandman is a Netflix series adaptation of the DC/Vertigo comic book written by Neil Gaiman. Ten episodes dropped on August 5 and racked up 127.5 million hours of viewing in their first week of release, making The Sandman the most-watched show on Netflix. A surprise 11th episode was released early this morning.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take:

Wolfgang Petersen, ‘Air Force One,’ ‘Das Boot’ Director, Dies at 81
That’s It. You’re Dead to Me. Suddenly everyone is “toxic.”
You Do Not Want to Be on Brad Pitt’s “Shit List” According to his Bullet Train costar Aaron Taylor-Johnson, the Oscar winner has a “shit list” of actors he won’t work with.
The 15 Best Episodes Of NewsRadio, Ranked
The 100 Best Movies of the ’90s ’90s Week: From “Close-Up” to “Clueless,” and from “The Thin Red Line” to “Perfect Blue,” these timeless movies prove that the ’90s never went away.
The most-regretted baby names, and more!
Seth Meyers Finally Got the Top Late-Night Emmy Nomination—Only After Breaking All the Rules of the Format The host of NBC’s Late Night looks back at how the pandemic changed his show, from turning the writing staff into recurring characters to ditching the suit forever.
HBO/HBO Max Laying Off 70 Staffers as It Shuts Down Streamer’s Reality Unit and Restructures Other Departments
Top 50 Ben Affleck Moments Congrats on the big 5–0, Benny!
Academy Awards apologises to Sacheen Littlefeather for Oscars speech moment Nearly 50 years after speech on behalf of Marlon Brando about depiction of Native Americans, Academy apologises for ‘unwarranted’ abuse she endured
An Essay About Watching Brad Pitt Eat That Is Really About My Own Shit
The 15 Best Laura Dern Movies, Ranked
Lee Pace’s Body of Work The Bodies Bodies Bodies star has become the object of the Internet’s affection. He’d rather be working on his house.
Willie Nelson’s Long Encore As he approaches 90, even brushes with death can’t keep him off the road — or dim a late-life creative burst.
Addison Rae’s Dad Wants To Box The 26-Year-Old Rapper Hitting On Her Mom, And Honestly, I Can’t “You’ve got one of the most successful daughters in the world and you decide to act half her age to try to get some attention.”
The Door Opened by “Gangnam Style” The global hit primed Western audiences for films and shows about South Korea as a dystopia.
Why Serena Williams Has the Greatest Career in Sports History The 37-time Grand Slam champion’s accomplishments dwarf those of Tom Brady and LeBron James because of what she had to overcome.
The Psychology of Cringe Comedy: Why We Love to Watch What Hurts Us From ‘Da Ali G Show’ to viral TikTok videos, cringe comedy persists within pop culture. And oftentimes, the genre’s appeal is as much about the way we perceive ourselves as the comics we watch performing it.
The Powerful, Unlikely Force Shaping Modern TV In a Hollywood-worthy plot twist, television writers are embracing fan theorists who try to “solve” their shows.
Desus & Mero Brought the Block to Late-Night TV The show’s cancellation is a loss not only for the duo’s avid fans but for television as a whole.
All 13 Marx Brothers Comedies in the Order You Should Watch Them
N.B.A. Won’t Play on Election Day, in Hopes of Encouraging Voting
Do spiders sleep? Study suggests they may snooze like humans

GUESTS:

Helder Mira: Multimedia producer at Trinity College and co-host of the So Pretentious podcast
Cat Pastor: Assistant radio operations manager at Connecticut Public
Tracy Wu Fastenberg: Development officer at Connecticut Children’s
Bill Yousman: Professor of Media Studies at Sacred Heart University

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In a recent Quinnipiac poll, people were asked the most urgent issue facing the country. COVID-19 came in dead last among 13 options.

And the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention just relaxed its guidelines. Again.

But more than 400 Americans are dying each day, and the long Omicron surge continues.

There’s still a pandemic going on. This hour, we look at what’s going on with the pandemic.

GUESTS:

Rachel Gutman-Wei: Senior associate editor at The Atlantic
Jonathan McNicol: The producer of this very episode of this very show
Saad Omer: Professor of medicine and the epidemiology of microbial diseases at Yale and director of the Yale Institute for Global Health
Julia Pistell: A freelance producer on The Colin McEnroe Show, among a number of other things
Catie Talarski: Senior director of storytelling and radio programming at Connecticut Public
Ulysses Wu: System director of infectious diseases and chief epidemiologist at Hartford HealthCare

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Cat Pastor, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show.

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Chances are you’ve used an index at the back of a book. But how much thought have you given to their creation, their function, their history?

This hour: more than you ever thought to wonder about the role of indexes in our world.

Plus, we get mixed up in the world of cookbook indexes.

GUESTS:

Paula Clarke Bain: Professional indexer
Dennis Duncan: Author of Index, A History of The: A Bookish Adventure from Medieval Manuscripts to the Digital Age
Elizabeth Parson: Professional indexer

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, and Jonathan McNicol contributed to this show, which originally aired March 2, 2022.

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We’ve been doing these shows a couple times a month where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to mountain lions, punctuation and pronunciation and grammar, the death of David McCullough, the big (“big”) digital vs. analog controversy swirling around Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab, and Homo sapiens and their dogs. Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

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What makes something tacky?

This hour, a celebration of all things tacky. Plus, a look at why reality TV is sometimes tacky and at the tackiest home décor.

GUESTS:

Rax King: Author of Tacky: Love Letters to the Worst Culture We Have to Offer and co-host of the podcast Low Culture Boil
Jacques Lamarre: A playwright and the director of client services at Buzz Engine
Brian Moylan: A writer and reality TV show recapper and the author of The Housewives: The Real Story Behind the Real Housewives
Cat Pastor: Assistant radio operations manager at Connecticut Public
Peter York: A journalist and the author of Dictator Style: Lifestyles of the World’s Most Colorful Despots

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired February 23, 2022.

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This week’s Nose got the walls wet and on fire.

We present here a podcast-only segment on I Am Groot, Marvel’s new Disney+ series of shorts (each episode is three minutes long plus credits and logos) following the adventures of Baby Groot during the period between Guardians of the Galaxy and a Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 mid-credits sequence. (I’m not making this up, I swear.)

I’d explain why we’re doing this special segment, but the reason is very, very dumb. Also, Colin explains it during the segment. Not that it’ll really make sense once he does.

GUESTS:

Sam Hadelman: Works in music public relations and hosts The Sam Hadelman Show at Radio Free Brooklyn
Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Nobody Asked Shawn podcast
Irene Papoulis: Teaches writing at Trinity College

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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This week’s Nose got the walls wet and on fire.

The producers of an upcoming biopic about Fidel Castro’s exiled daughter, Alina of Cuba, reportedly did extensive heraldry and skull-shape analysis and somehow came to the conclusion that … James Franco should play Castro. The internet doesn’t think that’s a good idea. (Also: It’s not.)

And: The Rehearsal is Nathan Fielder’s new HBO docu-comedy series. The show “explores the lengths one man will go to reduce the uncertainties of everyday life. With a construction crew, a legion of actors, and seemingly unlimited resources, Fielder allows ordinary people to prepare for life’s biggest moments by ‘rehearsing’ them in carefully crafted simulations of his own design.”

And finally, a podcast-only segment on I Am Groot, Marvel’s new Disney+ series of shorts (each episode is three minutes long plus credits and logos) following the adventures of Baby Groot during the period between Guardians of the Galaxy and a Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 mid-credits sequence. (I’m not making this up, I swear.) I’d explain why we’re doing this special segment, but the reason is very, very dumb.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take:

Olivia Newton-John, pop singer and ‘Grease’ star, dies at 73 The sugary-sweet performer with a string of No. 1 hits was also an advocate for cancer research
Olivia Newton-John: That Headband Was a Crown When the singer smudged her classy image, she “unlocked something new that shot her to the top of pop’s Olympus,” our critic writes: “The vestal vamp.”
David McCullough, Best-Selling Explorer of America’s Past, Dies at 89 His research — on Adams, Truman and so much more — was deep, his writing was lively, and his narrator’s voice in documentary films was familiar to millions.
Gene LeBell Dies: Stuntman, Actor And Wrestling Legend Who Fought Bruce Lee & Chuck Norris Onscreen Was 89
Serena Williams Says Farewell to Tennis On Her Own Terms—And In Her Own Words
Bill Russell’s No. 6 to be retired across NBA following legend’s death last month
Why’d That Movie Disappear? Welcome to Streaming’s Memory Hole Era If ‘American Pickle’ doesn’t exist on HBO Max now, did it ever? Or: A new generation realizes that an endless stream of film titles can easily vanish into the online ether.
The Great HBO Freak-out of 2022 Was Unwarranted, but Understandable In light of what happened at Warner Bros. Discovery’s earnings call, some of the rumors that flew ahead of the event look borderline histrionic—but consumers had good reason to fear for the worst
Disney Now Has More Streaming Subscribers Than Netflix, But Makes Less Money From Them
The End of Manual Transmission Stick shifts are dying. When they go, something bigger than driving will be lost.
Taylor Swift files in Shake It Off copyright lawsuit: ‘The lyrics were written entirely by me’ Singer had been sued by writers of 3LW’s 2000 song Playas Gon’ Play for alleged plagiarism, and the case is due to return to court
How Catholicism became a meme One of the world’s most powerful religions is now an alt status symbol.
As Spider-Man turns 60, fans reflect on diverse appeal
Tinder’s Fatphobia Problem
Mike Judge’s Secret Art of Satire Judge has created some of the sharpest, most prophetic comedies of the past few decades. Now his first hit, “Beavis and Butt-Head,” is back on the air.
Cat lovers can try cat-food inspired dishes at Fancy Feast’s Italian pop-up
Reviews, reappraised — Simran Hans on the rise of the critic-influencers

GUESTS:

Sam Hadelman: Works in music public relations and hosts The Sam Hadelman Show at Radio Free Brooklyn
Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Nobody Asked Shawn podcast
Irene Papoulis: Teaches writing at Trinity College

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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How do you like to relax? Do you read a book? Go for a hike, maybe? How about grabbing dinner with friends? The list goes on, and we consider these activities leisure.

In case you find some inspiration in this hour, here’s a list of leisure activities from our guests and The Colin McEnroe Show staff:

Gardening.
Finishing that old show you’ve been meaning to finish.
Drawing yourself.
Counting clouds.
Staring at the wall.
Laying down.
Playing the closest instrument.
Going bug collecting.
Trying your hand at claymation.
Trying to get the hiccups.
Buying clay pigeons (biodegradable) and smashing them.
Exploring the forest behind your home.
Throwing rocks into the mysterious well you find in the forest.
Summoning (accidentally) an eons-old forest spirit.
Visiting a national park.

GUESTS:

Tom Hodgkinson: Founder of Idler magazine and the author a number of books, including How to Be Idle: A Loafer’s Manifesto and An Idler’s Manual
Selin Malkoc: Behavioral scientist at the Fisher College of Business at The Ohio State University
Ken Roberts: Professor of sociology, social policy, and criminology at The University of Liverpool

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In her book Sandy Hook, Elizabeth Williamson investigates the conspiracy theories that arose following the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, in Newtown, Connecticut.

GUEST:

Elizabeth Williamson: Author of Sandy Hook: An American Tragedy and the Battle for Truth

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, Cat Pastor, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired April 18, 2022.

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Food isn't just a way to cure hunger. In it, we find identity, history, politics, and more. This hour, Colin and his guests discuss the evolution of food and how our perception of different diets and lifestyles is changing.

GUESTS:

Cathy Kaufman: Lecturer of Food Studies at The New School and Chairwoman of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery
Dr. Uma Naidoo: Psychiatrist, Professional Chef, and a trained Nutrition specialist. She is the Director of Nutritional and Lifestyle Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital, and author of This Is Your Brain On Food
Anthony Jung: Executive Chef of Retail Dining at UMass Amherst who has been working at the university for 22 years

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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We’ve been doing these shows a couple times a month where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing. This hour, the conversation winds around to the R&B trio AKNU, calling everybody “guys” indiscriminately, force-field analysis, the writing of the U.S. Constitution, and the Bloomfield aquifer project.

There’s also a point in this show when Colin says, “No call is recherché,” which may be simultaneously the most and least public radio thing anyone’s ever said on our air.

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The Nose is off this week.

In its place this hour, a look at why, more than half a century after they first came walking down the street, we’re still bananas for The Monkees.

GUESTS:

Mark Rozzo: Contributing editor at Vanity Fair, where he published “The Most Influential Pop-Rock Band Ever? The Monkees!”
Andrew Sandoval: Manager of The Monkees from 2011 to 2021 and host of the podcast Come to the Sunshine
Rosanne Welch: Author of Why The Monkees Matter: Teenagers, Television and American Pop Culture
Brian Williams: Former anchor of the NBC Nightly News

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, Cat Pastor, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show, which originally aired February 9, 2022.

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Stickiness. We know it when we see it — or when we feel it under our feet at the movie theater. But what is stickiness, scientifically speaking?

How do geckos climb? Why don’t Post-it Notes ruin our books?

This hour, we talk to scientist Laurie Winkless about her book, Sticky, and figure out what holds it all together.

GUESTS:

Laurie Winkless: A science writer and physicist and the author of Sticky: The Secret Science of the Surfaces
Dr. Alyssa Stark: A professor at Villanova University; she runs a lab that studies biological adhesion
Will Coldwell: A freelance writer; he published “Bursting the Bubble: How Gum Lost Its Cool” in The Economist

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, Cat Pastor, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show, which originally aired February 17, 2022.

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Think about it: When’s the last time you saw a brand-new instrument in a marching band?

New instruments don’t come around too often — but it’s not for lack of trying. Getting a new sound off the ground involves design, production, music expertise, composition, and fans.

It’s no easy task to invent the next best thing, but this hour we talk to inventors, composers, teachers, and the Guthman Musical Instrument Competition to learn about the future of sound.

GUESTS:

Jason Freeman: Professor of music at Georgia Tech and chair of the School of Music who leads the Guthman Musical Instrument Competition
Kyle Grimm: Composer who specializes in both acoustic and electronic mediums and a professor of music at the University of Hartford
Keith Groover: The inventor of The Glide as well as a musician and music educator
Bosko Kante: Grammy-winning producer and the inventor of The ElectroSpit

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, Catie Talarski, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show, which originally aired January 26, 2022.

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Humans have been trying for, well, forever to predict the future. But how helpful is predicting the future, really? And what factors determine whether someone is successful at doing it, or not?

This hour, we try to predict whether predicting the future is useful, and understand why we’re so interested in doing so.

GUESTS:

Amanda Rees: A historian of science based at the University of York who works on the history of the future and coauthor of the book Human
Warren Hatch: A superforecaster and CEO of Good Judgment Inc.
Allan Lichtman: A distinguished professor of history at American University; he is known for accurately predicting the outcome of presidential elections since 1984, and his most recent book is Thirteen Cracks: Repairing American Democracy After Trump

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired January 20, 2022.

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Former Senator Joe Lieberman believes the center of Congress is the best place from which to legislate. It’s the sweet spot for negotiation and compromise and making the deals that move the country forward. He thinks Congress would get more done if members would shift closer to the center and away from the fringe.

But how do you bring legislators in today’s Congress together when they don’t all share one set of facts? And at what point does centrism become opportunism and the bridge-builder an appeaser? Are there compromises not worth making?

Joe Lieberman joins us to talk about his 24 years as a “centrist” legislator and his complicated relationship with Connecticut voters.

GUEST:

Joe Lieberman: Represented Connecticut in the U.S. Senate for 24 years; he is the author of The Centrist Solution: How We Made Government Work and Can Make It Work Again

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired December 7, 2021.

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This hour on The Colin McEnroe Show, our mostly-weekly pop culture roundtable, The Nose, looks at the new docu-series about Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, ‘The Last Movie Stars.’ Plus, we’ll discuss the unique phenomenon of why Hollywood sometimes produces two very similar movies at the same time, and the art of bookshelf organization.

GUESTS:

Rebecca Castellani:Co-founder of Quiet Corner Communications and a freelance writer
Illeana Douglas:Movie and television star
Taneisha Duggan: Director, producer, and arts consultant

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Jane Austen, the English novelist, wrote six full-length novels in her lifetime. And, over 200 years after Austen’s death, those novels are still present today, from English classes, to her devoted fans, known as Janeites. This hour, we look at Austen's life and work, the world of Janeites, and the many film adaptations of her work.

GUESTS:

Devoney Looser:Professor of English at Arizona State University and author of books including The Making of Jane Austen
Deborah Yaffe:Author of Among the Janeites: A Journey Through the World of Jane Austen Fandom

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Joni Mitchell is a singer-songwriter from Alberta, Canada. In 1968, her debut album, Song to a Seagull, was released and since then, Mitchell has become one of the most influential and greatest recording artists. Mitchell has won nine Grammys, including a Lifetime Achievement Award, and countless music awards, and her albums are considered among the best ever made.

We're big fans. It turns out we're not alone.

This hour, we talk to a few friends of the show to discuss Mitchell's influence on them while listening to their favorite Joni songs. Plus, we chat David Yaffe, the author of Reckless Daughter: A Portrait of Joni Mitchell.

GUESTS:

David Yaffe: Assistant professor of Humanities at Syracuse University and the author of Reckless Daughter: A Portrait of Joni Mitchell
Taneisha Duggan: Director, producer, and arts consultant
Brendan J. Sullivan: Producer and author of Rivington Was Ours: Lady Gaga, the Lower East Side, and the Prime of Our Lives
Lee Newton: Director of program promotion at Connecticut Public

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The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Colin McEnroe, Betsy Kaplan, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired April 4, 2019.

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We’ve all heard the generational stereotypes, and rolled our eyes at them.

This hour: we investigate generational groupings to discover why we’re interested in separating people into generations, when it is useful, and when it is not.

GUESTS: Ziad Ahmed: CEO and co-founder of JUV Consulting Justin Charity: Senior staff writer for The Ringer, where he published “It’s Time to Accept That Millennials and Gen Z Are the Same Generation” Bobby Duffy: Professor of public policy and director of the Policy Institute at King’s College London, and the author of The Generation Myth: Why When You’re Born Matters Less Than You Think

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Gene Amatruda, and Jonathan McNicol contributed to this show, which originally aired January 27, 2022.

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Snacking on snacks, savory or sweet, has become a way of life. This hour Colin and his guests sink their teeth into our snack-food obsessions.

GUESTS: Andrea Hernández: Founder of SnaxShot, an international online community of people talking about snacks Mark Schatzker: Writer in residence at the Modern Diet and Physiology Research Center affiliated with Yale University and the author of The End of Craving, The Dorito Effect, and Steak Chris Prosperi: Chef and owner of Metro Bis restaurant in Simsbury, Connecticut Julia Pistell: Freelance writer and co-founder of SeaTea Improv in Hartford, Connecticut

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The Nose is off this week. In its place, a look at movie trailers.

Maybe you wonder what a movie critic thinks of trailers. Actually, critics don’t see as many as you do because they often go to special screenings. Colin asked America’s Greatest Living Film Critic, David Edelstein, about trailers. Here’s what AGLFC said:

“Actually, I avoid them like the plague. I don’t watch them online, and when I see movies in theaters, I often whip out my Kindle and plug my ears. If I’m on the aisle, I leave and get a Diet Coke. Trailers give away everything. They give away jokes. More than that, they orient you to the narrative in a way I don’t like being oriented. (Of course, I have the luxury of going into a movie not knowing what it’s even about because I get paid to do so, but that’s my preferred way to work — to be left in the hands of the storyteller.) As for as awful ones I have seen… I remember Nebraska in particular as being terrible because the pace and tone of that movie are antithetical to the way mainstream trailers work. It said quirky. Offbeat. Lovable. Among the best, I recall Batman Returns as being so great. I thought the movie itself was an overrated shambles — a really terrible piece of storytelling — but even Tim Burton’s worst movies have so many good images and set-pieces that they really read in trailers.”

For the rest of us, trailers are either a pain or a pleasure.

Some stuff that happened this week, give or take: Claes Oldenburg Dies at 93; Pop Artist Made the Everyday MonumentalTaking ordinary objects like hamburgers and household items, he sculpted them in unfamiliar, often imposing dimensions — what he called his “Colossal Monuments.” Janeane Garofalo Never Sold Out. What a Relief.That concept might be the reason her trailblazing stand-up career has been overshadowed; it may also be the reason she’s still so sharp, our critic argues. Read this: How fake accounts and a powder-keg fandom helped Zack Snyder restore his Justice LeagueIt might be hard to believe, but the #ReleaseTheSnyderCut movement was even weirder than we thought Jennifer Lopez Becomes Jennifer Affleck, Now Please Sign Up for Her NewsletterAnd other reflections on her recent wedding. Raving for Shrek, the Swamp Comes to BrooklynA party in East Williamsburg invited fans of the 2001 film to translate into reality their online obsessions with the titular ogre. Can’t Talk, I’m Busy Being HotA social media movement inspired by the rapper Megan Thee Stallion strikes back at the gatekeepers of beauty. The 50 Greatest Fictional Deaths of All TimeThe most tearjerking, hilarious, satisfying, and shocking death scenes in 2,500 years of culture. Ethan Hawke: I’m at ‘the Beginning of My Last Act’ as an ActorIn an extensive conversation with IndieWire, the actor explained the impulse behind his new docuseries “The Last Movie Stars” and his uneasy relationship to fame. Amazon Is Giving Prime Video Its Biggest Redesign In YearsNew navigation, a top 10 list, and a very familiar look and feel How Did Yellowstone, America’s Most Popular Show, Get Totally Ignored by the Emmys?Taylor Sheridan’s universe of shows is a juggernaut, but awards still go to “stuff that appeals to the coastal elite.” Quidditch rebrands as quadball and further distances itself from Harry Potter author ‘The Bear’ Is Why We Must End The Reign Of TV’s Vibes Cartel Celebrities Continue to Be Richer Than You TVs Are Too Good NowWhy does Home Alone look better than the latest Marvel fare on the most advanced displays? America’s Most Misunderstood MarsupialThe opossum might be snarly and a little bit scraggly, but she deserves our admiration.

GUESTS: Allan Arkush: Contributor to Trailers from Hell; he worked in the trailer department for Roger Corman Stephen Garrett: Founder of Jump Cut Sam Hatch: Co-hosts The Culture Dogs on WWUH Kevin O’Toole: Co-hosts The Culture Dogs on WWUH

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Lydia Brown, John Dankosky, Greg Hill, Tucker Ives, Harriet Jones, Betsy Kaplan, Patrick Skahill, Catie Talarski, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired July 2, 2014.

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Malls are an important gathering place for people of all ages to shop, eat, be entertained, walk, and enjoy the controlled temperature. This hour, we look back at the history of malls in America, discuss their unique design, and look ahead to the future of those spaces, now that there are dead malls all over the country. Finally, we’ll learn about the art of curating mall music.

GUESTS: Alexandra Lange: Architecture and design critic, author or The Design of Childhood, whose new book is Meet Me By the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall Erik Pierson: Videographer of the YouTube channel “Retail Archeology” Michael Bise: Former Gap employee who runs a blog where he collects Gap music playlists

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Baseball’s All-Star Game was Tuesday night. (The American League won for the ninth year in a row, which doesn’t matter at all.) As such, the sports calendar is basically empty today. So why not spend the hour talking about sports?

And why not start with baseball? It’s how our conversation about this show started sometime last week. Me, a Yankees fan: “I do think the Yankees being historically great should be a topic.” Colin, a Red Sox fan: “In other words, you think I’ll be dead by showtime.”

But: The New York Yankees are on pace for a 113-win season, and their star outfielder Aaron Judge is on pace for a 58-home run season in his free agent year. And, not for nothing, the New York Mets are also good! The Boston Red Sox, on the other hand, lost their last two games before the All-Star break by a combined score of 27-3. I can’t remember to which team. I’ll look that up.

Plus: The New Yorker’s Sarah Larson wonders if pickleball can save America.

And finally: A look at some enterprising Indians and the whole cricket league they fabricated to dupe some Russian gamblers.

GUESTS: Kyle Barr: Breaking news reporter at Gizmodo Michael Baumann: Staff writer at The Ringer covering sports, culture, and politics Sarah Larson: Staff writer at The New Yorker

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Cat Pastor, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show.

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Conspirituality is a convergence of right-wing conspiracy, New Age spirituality, and grift.

The throughline from a left-leaning yoga instructor to a right-wing QAnon conspiracist is skepticism of institutional authority and Western medicine.

Skepticism within both groups accelerated during the pandemic, making wellness communities more vulnerable to the anti-vax, anti-COVID messaging QAnon packaged in softer tones and imagery that appealed to women concerned with health and wellness.

This hour, we explore how conspirituality plays out in our current political climate. We also talk about how conspiracy theories can sometimes cover up real conspiracies.

GUESTS: Derek Beres: Senior Editor at Eco a co-host of the podcast Conspirituality; he’s currently co-writing Conspirituality: How New Age Conspiracy Theories Became a Public Health Threat with Matthew Remski and Julian Walker Julian Walker: Co-host of the podcast Conspirituality; he has taught yoga in Los Angeles for 27 years Sarah Kendzior: author of three books including The View from Flyover Country: Dispatches from the Forgotten America; her new book, They Knew: How a Culture of Conspiracy Keeps America Complacent, will be published in September, and she’s the co-host of the podcast Gaslit Nation

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The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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GUESTS: Jim Chapdelaine: Guitar and vocals Latanya Farrell: Vocals Steve Metcalf: Piano and vocals

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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This show originally aired February 20, 2019.

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This week’s Nose shows no hails from the surface or sub-space chatter. No interplanetary traffic. Not one orbital dock.

This week, NASA released the first images sent back from the James Webb Space Telescope. They are mind-boggling. They are meme inducing. They are … mouth watering?

Sort of relatedly: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is the 11th Star Trek television series and the fifth series in Alex Kurtzman’s expanded Star Trek universe. It tells the story of Christopher Pike’s time as captain of the USS Enterprise in the years before Captain Kirk. Its first season concluded last week on Paramount+. A second season is currently in production.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take: ‘Sopranos’ actor Tony Sirico dies at 79 Larry Storch of TV’s ‘F Troop’ dies at 99 The Wild Bunch Star L.Q. Jones Has Died At 94 Bond theme composer Monty Norman dies aged 94Norman was commissioned to create the score for the first Bond movie, Dr. No, and wrote one of the most iconic guitar riffs in the process The Hottest Streamer (Right Now)The top three spots get a shake-up in our annual power ranking. Paul Rudd becomes a real-life hero for a bullied Colorado boy 10 per cent chance falling rockets will hit someone in next decadeHumans are sending ever more rockets up into space – bits of them falling back to Earth could result in casualties, unless action is taken Yes, Chef: How The Bear’s Jeremy Allen White Became the Breakout Star of SummerIn FX’s surprise hit, the 31-year-old actor plays a tormented culinary genius who returns home to run his family’s Chicago sandwich shop. We caught up with White in his native Brooklyn to learn what it took to get in the kitchen. A Hookup App for the Emotionally MatureModern romance can feel cold and alienating. Feeld, by encouraging open-mindedness and respect, suggests a way forward. Where the Crawdads Sing Author Wanted for Questioning in MurderA televised 1990s killing in Zambia has striking similarities to Delia Owens’s best-selling book turned movie. The Winners and Losers of the 2022 Emmy Nominations‘Squid Game’ and ‘Abbott Elementary’ defied the odds while sentimental favorites were snubbed, but in the end, maybe there’s just Too Much TV Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’ Belongs to EveryoneWhat is it about the once virtually unknown song that inspires so many musicians to make it their own? BMW starts selling heated seat subscriptions for $18 a monthThe auto industry is racing towards a future full of microtransactions Elliot Page Brings His Misfit Characters to LifeEven before Page—and his character on “Umbrella Academy”—came out as trans, he had a gift for playing people who were restless in their identities. Hybrid Work Is DoomedOffice workers work in offices, for better or for worse. Bill Burr’s Exhausting, Frustrating, Fascinating Battle With Himself How to Successfully Smash Your Face Against a TreeA new study refutes the widespread idea that woodpeckers have shock-absorbing heads. Leonard Bernstein movie ‘Maestro’ starring Bradley Cooper filming in Fairfield this week ‘Bada-Bing’: Improvised Nonsense Turned Mobster ArgotThe late James Caan slipped a few syllables of gibberish into ‘The Godfather.’ Now they have their own entry in the Oxford English Dictionary.

GUESTS: Jim Chapdelaine: An Emmy-winning musician and a patient advocate for people with rare cancers Mercy Quaye: Founder and principal consultant for The Narrative Project and the cohost of the Untold podcast with John Dankosky Bill Yousman: Professor of Media Studies at Sacred Heart University

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we’re doing another one.

In other words: Give us a call during the 1 p.m. EDT hour about whatever you want to talk about. 888-720-9677.‌ Or join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

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Homer's The Iliad is still considered a literary classic. This hour, we look at some of the many ways the epic applies to life today, from our understanding of plague, death, politics, and anger. We'll discuss the value of returning to the story over and over again, and learn about how it can be used as a framework for other stories.

GUESTS: Emily Katz Anhalt:Professor of Classical Languages and Literature at Sarah Lawrence College, she is the author of Embattled: How Ancient Greek Myths Empower Us To Resist Tyranny and Enraged: Why Violent Times Need Ancient Greek Myths Joel Christensen: Professor of Classical Studies and Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs at Brandeis University, he is author ofThe Many-Minded Man: ‘The Odyssey,’ Psychology, and the Therapy of Epic Maya Deane: Author of Wrath Goddess Sing

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What counts as a robot? This hour, we look at what robots are and learn about the latest in robot technology.

We’ll also go back in time to discover how robots were used and thought about in medieval times and ancient Greece.

Plus, we’ll talk about the role of robots in science fiction, and how the genre has shaped our attitudes towards robotics.

GUESTS: Elly Truitt: Professor in the History and Sociology of Science Department at the University of Pennsylvania, author of Medieval Robots: Mechanism, Magic, Nature, and Art Adrienne Mayor: Research Scholar in the Classics and History and Philosophy of Science Department at Stanford University, author of Gods and Robots: Myths, Machines and Ancient Dreams of Technology, among other books Chris Atkeson: Professor at the Robotics Institute and the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University Daniel H. Wilson: Author of books including Robopocalypse, Robogenesis, and How To Survive a Robot Uprising, his latest novel is The Andromeda Evolution, an authorized sequel to Michael Crichton’s The Andromeda Strain

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Recent scientific discoveries have shown just how much we’ve previously underestimated Neanderthals. It turns out that their lives were very similar to those of our ancestors.

This hour, a look at Neanderthals and at why humans have dismissed them for decades.

GUESTS: Ella Al-Shamahi: A National Geographic Explorer, TV presenter, palaeo-anthropologist, evolutionary biologist, and standup comic Claire Cameron: Author of The Last Neanderthal, among other books Anna Goldfield: An archeologist and the host of the podcast The Dirt Bruce Hardy: Professor of anthropology at Kenyon College

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired January 5, 2022.

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This week’s Nose wants Sollozzo. If not, it’s all out war.

James Caan was nominated for an Academy Award for playing Sonny in The Godfather. Early in his career, he worked with Billy Wilder and Howard Hawks and Olivia de Havilland, and he went on to star in movies like Brian’s Song, The Gambler, Freebie and the Bean, Funny Lady, Rollerball, Thief, Misery, and Elf. Caan died on Wednesday. He was 82.

And: The Old Man is a spy thiller series on FX based on the 2017 novel by Thomas Perry. It stars Jeff Bridges, John Lithgow, Alia Shawkat, and Amy Brenneman. Five of its seven first season episodes have aired, and it has been renewed for a second season.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take: Joe Turkel, the Bartender in ‘The Shining,’ Dies at 94Stanley Kubrick also employed him for ‘The Killing’ and ‘Paths of Glory,’ and he was unforgettable as the god-like Tyrell in ‘Blade Runner.’ Bette Midler Faces Backlash for Claiming Trans-Inclusive Language “Erases” WomenThe actor complained about women being “stripped of our name” due to the use of terms like “menstruators” and “people with vaginas.” Wonder Woman star Lynda Carter defends trans women and says to “focus on the real war on women”“I cannot think of anything that helps women’s rights less than pinning the blame on trans women,” tweeted the actor Happy Birthday Tom: A Tom Cruise Reading ListTom Cruise is about to turn 60 — time for a look back at the life of a master maverick. Brad Pitt Opens Up His Dream WorldWe know him as a legendary leading man, a Hollywood power broker, maybe the greatest heartthrob of all time. But Brad Pitt isn’t attached to any of those old conceptions. And, as Ottessa Moshfegh discovers, his ambitions for the rest of his life are more mystical than we ever could have imagined. James Cameron Tells Off ‘Avatar’ Haters, Defends Three-Hour ‘Avatar 2’ Runtime: ‘Get Up and Go Pee’ What Is #Gentleminions? Why Teens Are Wearing Suits to Minions: The Rise of GruCredit Tiktok for inspiring young men everywhere to go semi-formal at movie theaters last weekend. When Spider-Man Teamed Up With Planned Parenthood to Stop a Forced Pregnancy AlienThe 1976 special issue, “The Amazing Spider-Man vs. The Prodigy,” sought to teach teens about safe sex and contraception in order to curb the country’s teen-pregnancy problem. People bank blood. Why not faeces?Storing your stools when you are young may help you later in life Jessica Jones Has A New (Old) Title On Disney+ Nathan Fielder Is Out of His Mind (and Inside Yours)The comedian’s new show, The Rehearsal, is his grandest experiment yet. Wimbledon’s all-white clothing bothers some, delights others Rubber ducky watches that don’t tell time clock in TikTok views Outdoor Tennis Could Be Sports’ First Big Climate Change Casualty Fields Medals in Mathematics Won by Four Under Age 40The prize has gone to a woman for the second time in its history. One recipient didn’t start working on complex math problems until he was 23. NBA 2K23 cover star Diana Taurasi on the legacy of 2K covers “How Would You Like a Lap Dance?”: The Oral History of ‘Magic Mike’Ten years ago, Channing Tatum turned his past as a male stripper into movie gold with the help of Steven Soderbergh—and tapped into a thirst in a way Hollywood never had before No, Armie Hammer Isn’t Working as a Hotel Concierge in the Caymans Jeff Sagansky Says New Streaming Business Model “Has To Be Relegated To The Dust Bin” Now How Does a Hulk Smash?A close look at the sex lives of She-Hulks and He-Hulks. The Octopus Dreams of CrabsWhat do we know about how animals think, see, and feel? And should that change how we treat them? ‘I Don’t Know How My Show Is Doing’Streamers run on data, but that doesn’t mean they’re sharing it with showrunners. We’ve Never Seen Mars Quite Like ThisThe planet is looking extra sharp in photo dispatches from NASA’s newest rover. Light & Magic Trailer: This Disney+ Series Shows How Industrial Light & Magic Changed Movies Forever “Atari Was Very, Very Hard” Nolan Bushnell on Atari, 50 Years Later Goodbye to ‘Joe Pera Talks With You,’ the Sweetest Show on TVThe Adult Swim series “Joe Pera Talks With You” was a salve for its devoted fans. Now that it’s been canceled after three seasons, one such fan remembers what made it so special.

GUESTS: Rich Hollant: Principal at CO:LAB, founder of Free Center, and commissioner on cultural affairs for the city of Hartford Irene Papoulis: Teaches writing at Trinity College Tracy Wu Fastenberg: Development officer at Connecticut Children’s

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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This hour we look at the landscape of monuments across the United States and explore how new monuments are created and how old ones are decommissioned.

Plus, we discuss what a COVID-19 memorial could look like, and represent.

GUESTS: Erin Thompson: Professor of Art Crime at John Jay College, and author of Smashing Statues: The Rise and Fall of America’s Public Monuments Sue Mobley: Director of Research at Monument Lab Kristin Urquiza: Co-founder and Chief Activist of Marked By COVID

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The hearings put on by the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol have been produced and presented less like congressional hearings and more like an episodic HBO docuseries, with committee members — mostly Republican Rep. Liz Cheney — as the narrators, with witness testimony as the expert talking heads, with footage of depositions and speeches and the January 6 riot itself as the documentary actualities.

The hearings have been compared to true-crime podcasts, the true-scandal limited series, and prime-time news specials.

This hour, we look at the hearings as television.

GUESTS: James Poniewozik: Chief television critic for The New York Times and the author of Audience of One: Donald Trump, Television, and the Fracturing of America Frank Rich: Writer-at-large for New York magazine and executive producer of HBO’s Succession

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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We’ve been doing these shows a couple times a month where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing. This hour, the conversation winds around to the Jorō spider, the now-retired fartrepreneur, the last linotype newspaper, a poetry recitation. Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be for you, too. So we did another one.

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The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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This week’s Nose is more just like a regular, chill-archy.

The Bear is a new half-hour foodie dramedy series from FX and Hulu. Here’s some of FX’s synopsis: “The Bear follows Carmen ‘Carmy’ Berzatto, a young chef from the fine dining world, who comes home to Chicago to run his family sandwich shop — The Original Beef of Chicagoland — after a heartbreaking death in his family. A world away from what he’s used to, Carmy must balance the soul-crushing realities of small business ownership, his strong-willed and recalcitrant kitchen staff and his strained familial relationships, all while grappling with the impact of his brother’s suicide. As Carmy fights to transform both The Original Beef of Chicagoland and himself, he works alongside a rough-around-the-edges kitchen crew that ultimately reveal themselves as his chosen family.”

And: Kim’s Convenience is a half-hour sitcom that aired on the CBC for five seasons, from 2016 until last year. It depicts a Korean-Canadian family, the Kims, who run a convenience store in the Moss Park neighborhood of Toronto. Kim’s Convenience is based on Ins Choi’s 2011 stage play, which runs this month at Westport Country Playhouse.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take: When Lil Nas X calls out BET, it means something The Golden Age of the Aging ActorTom Cruise in ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ isn’t the exception—he’s the rule. There’s long been anecdotal evidence that top-line actors and actresses are getting older. Now, The Ringer has the data to back it up. Taco Bell’s newest food uses an oversized Cheez-It No, RadioShack’s Twitter wasn’t hacked. It sells cryptocurrency now.Internet marketer Tai Lopez bought RadioShack. This is the (edgelord) result. ‘No Aliens, No Spaceships, No Invasion of Earth’An oral history of Contact, the sci-fi movie that defied Hollywood norms and made it big anyway. After DJ Layoffs, a Radio Station Has Been Playing Rage Against the Machine Over and Over and OverVancouver’s KISS-FM has “Killing in the Name” on repeat after radio hosts were laid off on Tuesday ‘Mystery rocket’ that crashed into the Moon baffles NASA scientistsSo far, no space exploring nations have claimed responsibility for the rocket. The Confessions of a Conscious Rap FanA personal essay that traces the complicated legacy of conscious rap, from the era’s turn-of-the-century heyday to new albums by Kendrick Lamar and Black Star. Why the new PBS Kids logo got rid of the kidAn exciting new logo for PBS Kids expands the network’s take on inclusivity, but the channel mascot Dash disappears from the limelight.

GUESTS: Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Nobody Asked Shawn podcast Carolyn Paine: An actress, comedian, and dancer; founder, director, and choreographer of CONNetic Dance Pedro Soto: President and CEO of Hygrade Precision Technologies

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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The concept of the hero’s journey was popularized by Joseph Campbell, and outlined in his 1949 book The Hero With a Thousand Faces. Campbell based the hero’s journey framework off of myths from around the world. Since then, the idea of the hero’s journey has been used in books and movies like Star Wars, Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, and many more.

But, despite its popularity, Campbell’s hero’s journey framework has faced a number of criticisms, including that he left women out of the story. Maria Tatar’s new book, The Heroine with 1001 Faces, changes that.

This hour, we look at the impact of the hero’s journey, and its limitations.

GUESTS: Maria Tatar: Professor of Folklore and Mythology at Harvard University, whose new book is The Heroine with 1001 Faces Jeff Garvin: Author of books including The Symptoms of Being Human, and co-host of “The Hero’s Journey” podcast Lev Grossman: Author, best known for his Magicians trilogy, whose newest book is The Golden Swif

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Punk rock’s been around for a good half a century, but we’ve never devoted a show to it.

This hour, a deep dive into punk’s past and present.

GUESTS: Legs McNeil: Co-founder of PUNK Magazine and co-author of Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk Kelefa Sanneh: Author of Major Labels: A History of Popular Music in Seven Genres and a staff writer at The New Yorker Amy Wappel and Ben Social: Formed the Connecticut-based punk band Sadplant in 2007

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, Cat Pastor, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show.

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Should people use the Oxford comma? Is there a correct number of exclamation points per email? If someone ends a casual text with a period, does that mean they’re mad at you?

This hour: punctuation and how we use it. We talk about the history of punctuation marks, timeless punctuation debates, and how writing for texts and emails has changed the way we use punctuation.

GUESTS: Raquel Benedict: Claims to be the most dangerous woman in speculative fiction; she’s the host of the Rite Gud podcast Claire Cock-Starkey: Author of Hyphens and Hashtags: The Stories Behind The Symbols On Our Keyboard Julia Pistell: Founding member of Sea Tea Improv, one of the hosts of the Literary Disco podcast, and a producer freelancing with us

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired November 3, 2021.

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This week’s Nose is ’bout to explode, take off this load.

“Break My Soul” is the lead single from Beyoncé’s forthcoming album, Renaissance. The song dropped on Monday, and by the end of the week, its “You won’t break my soul” repeated refrain has taken on a whole new weight.

And: The actor Chris Pratt is taking his 9-year-old son on a 10-day camping trip. During an appearance on the Smartless podcast, he rattled off a list of 10 “coming of age” movies Pratt plans to watch with his son on the trip. The list caused a dumb, mini-controversy as it includes some R-rated movies and things (also just some good old garbage movies).

And finally: The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent is a meta action-comedy starring Nicolas Cage as… Nick Cage. Here’s Lionsgate’s synopsis: “Creatively unfulfilled and facing financial ruin, the fictionalized version of Cage must accept a $1 million offer to attend the birthday of a dangerous superfan (Pedro Pascal). Things take a wildly unexpected turn when Cage is recruited by a CIA operative (Tiffany Haddish) and forced to live up to his own legend, channeling his most iconic and beloved on-screen characters in order to save himself and his loved ones. With a career built for this very moment, the seminal award-winning actor must take on the role of a lifetime: Nick Cage.”

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take: Tony Siragusa, a Defensive Lineman Known as Goose, Dies at 55Siragusa won a Super Bowl with the Baltimore Ravens in the 2000 season and worked as a broadcaster after his playing career. John Williams, 90, steps away from film, but not music Director Paul Haggis Arrested in Italy for Sexual AssaultHaggis had been accused of rape in 2018, with the resulting lawsuit prompting three other women to come forward with their own allegations of misconduct. Bill Cosby Found Guilty of Sexually Abusing 16-Year-Old Judy Huth in 1975 Rowan Atkinson Says Comedy’s Job Is to Offend and That Can’t Be Stopped: ‘Every Joke Has a Victim’ This Viral Video of Justin Timberlake Dancing in Khakis Is Peak Cringe 21 Hilarious “She’s A 10 But” Tweets That Will Make You Feel Called Out“She’s a 10 but her gay awakening was Marceline from Adventure Time.” Sacheen Littlefeather Talks About What Really Happened Before, During And After Rejecting Marlon Brando’s Oscar Kellogg is splitting into 3 companies: Here’s what each one will focus onThe cereal giant will become three distinct companies in a deal that is expected to be completed by the end of 2023. Alan Alda Is Still AwesomeThe actor and director talks about his podcast, the comedic chops of Volodymyr Zelensky, and being called an “honorary woman.” How BTS Became One of the Most Popular Bands in HistoryIn an age of despair and division, a boy band from South Korea remixed the rules of pop and created a fandom bigger than Beatlemania. Kevin Costner’s New Movie, Horizon, Is Being Split Into Four 2 Hour And 45 Minute Movies Stephen Colbert Addresses Arrest of Triumph and Crew at U.S. Capitol: “This Was First-Degree Puppetry”Seven members of the ‘Late Show’ team, including comedian and Triumph the Insult Comic Dog actor Robert Smigel, were charged with unlawful entry last week. Westminster Dog Show: Trumpet the Bloodhound Wins Best in ShowAfter winning the hound group, Trumpet emerged from a tough group of fellow champions to become the first of his breed to claim the top prize. John Carpenter’s Masterpiece The Thing Is Back In The Box Office Top 10 After Four Decades Amazon’s Alexa could soon speak in a dead relative’s voice, making some feel uneasy

GUESTS: Raquel Benedict: Claims to be the most dangerous woman in speculative fiction, and she’s the host of the Rite Gud podcast Sam Hadelman: Works in music public relations and hosts The Sam Hadelman Show at Radio Free Brooklyn Bill Yousman: Professor of Media Studies at Sacred Heart University

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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Translators help open up our worlds by bringing us stories from around the globe. But often they’re not given very much credit for their work. This hour, we discuss the art of translation. Plus, we’ll learn about the challenges of translating movies and TV shows, through subtitles and dubbing for international audiences.

GUESTS: Jennifer Croft: Writer and translator, who was awarded the 2018 Booker International Prize for her translation of Flights, by Polish writer Olga Tokarczuk Emily Wilson: Professor of Classical Studies, and the Chair of the Program in Comparative Literature and Literary Theory at the University of Pennsylvania. She is also an author and translator of works such as The Odyssey Denise Kripper: Translator, a Translation Editor for “Latin American Literature Today,” and an Associate Professor of Spanish at Lake Forest College

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We’ve been doing these shows a lot of weeks where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. We don’t even, anymore, start with the suggestion of a topic that your calls might, potentially, be about. We’ve had fun with these shows, and you seem to like them too.

So we’re doing that again.

In other words: Give us a call during the 1 p.m. EDT hour about anything at all. 888–720–9677.‌ Or join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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This week’s Nose gave an idiot a machete.

Chip ’n Dale: Rescue Rangers is a hybrid live-action and animated sequel to and reboot of the 1989 Disney Channel series. It’s a metafictional comedy that might really be less for kids and more for their parents. The Lonely Island production stars Andy Samberg, John Mulaney, KiKi Layne, and many others.

Old Enough! is a reality TV show that has aired intermittently on Nippon Television since 1991. Twenty short episodes hit Netflix in March. Here’s their synopsis: “This long-running Japanese reality show follows along as young children leave the house to run errands by themselves for the very first time.” By “young,” they mean very young.

And: Is It Cake? is a game show-style baking competition reality TV Netflix original series thing. Bakers compete for $5,000 by trying to fool judges into thinking that their cake — styled to look like a bowling ball or a hamburger or a chess set, etc. — isn’t actually a cake. The winner of each episode can then win a second $5,000 by correctly identifying which bag of cash is actually a cake.

That may be the dumbest paragraph I’ve ever typed. Is It Cake?was renewed for a second season early this month.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take: Philip Baker Hall, ‘Boogie Nights’ and ‘Magnolia’ Actor, Dead at 90 Jennifer Hudson becomes an EGOT as a co-producer of the winning musical, ‘A Strange Loop.’ BTS Says It’s Taking a Break, but Promises It’s Not Permanent Members of the K-pop juggernaut said in a video conversation that they wanted time to explore their individual artistic identities. Internet Explorer, the love-to-hate-it web browser, has died at 26 After Seeing Our First Look Of Ryan Gosling As Ken In “Barbie,” It’s Safe To Say This Was The Role He Was Born To Play It’s now a Ken world and we’re just living in it. Vince McMahon Steps Down as Head of W.W.E. During Misconduct Investigation Mr. McMahon, the pro wrestling company’s chairman and chief executive, agreed to pay a secret settlement to an employee with whom he was said to have had an affair, The Wall Street Journal reported this week. Tom Hanks Explains It All No more Mr. Nice Guy: Tom Hanks drops F-bomb on fans who nearly toppled Rita Wilson People are using DALL-E mini to make meme abominations — like pug Pikachu ‘Pug-a-choo’ isn’t real, ‘Pug-a-choo’ can’t hurt you The Google engineer who thinks the company’s AI has come to life AI ethicists warned Google not to impersonate humans. Now one of Google’s own thinks there’s a ghost in the machine. One Weird Trick To Make Humans Think An AI Is “Sentient” Vulnerability. I made mistakes over Rebel Wilson, and will learn from them The Numbing Rise of I.P. TV Whereas golden-age television aspired to bring viewers something unexpected, a new glut of ripped-from-the-headlines content gives them exactly what they’ve had before. She Wrote a Dystopian Novel. What Happened Next Was Pretty Dystopian. Sarah Polley: ‘It took me years to see how responsible Terry Gilliam was for my terror’ The Books Swallowed by the Black Hole of the Coronavirus Some spectacular titles had the terrible luck of being released in early 2020. They still deserve our attention. ‘Squid Game’ is being turned into a reality TV show — minus the death A Frog So Small, It Could Not Frog Most frogs can jump and land with the precision and grace of an Olympic gymnast. And then there’s the pumpkin toadlet. What the BLEEP? Maine Is Cracking Down on Obscene License Plates. End of vanity-plate free-for-all likely to cause recall of hundreds of vulgar tags, but not in time for summer vacations Jerrod Carmichael’s 12-Step Truth Program The very private comedian-writer-director made his personal life very public with his recent HBO special, Rothaniel. Now he shares what happens when you have nothing to hide.

GUESTS: Jim Chapdelaine: An Emmy-winning musician and a patient advocate for people with rare cancers Taneisha Duggan: A director, producer, and arts consultant Carolyn Paine: An actress, comedian, and dancer; founder, director, and choreographer of CONNetic Dance

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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Friday marks the 50th anniversary of the Watergate burglary. This hour, we look back at the events surrounding Watergate, discuss how we remember them, and explore the parallels between that event and the January 6 hearings. Plus, we’ll look at the making, and the legacy, of the 1976 film All The President’s Men.

GUESTS: Garrett Graff: Author of Watergate: A New History Ann Hornaday: The Washington Post's chief film critic, and author of Talking Pictures: How to Watch Movies

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This hour, we investigate what it means to be a good citizen today. What are our responsibilities? What do we owe each other?

GUESTS: Tamar Gendler: Professor of Philosophy, Psychology and Cognitive Science, and the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, at Yale University. John Shattuck: Co-author of the new book, Holding Together: The Hijacking of Rights in America and How to Reclaim Them for Everyone. He is a professor at the Fletcher School at Tufts University, and a senior fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard University. He was formerly U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. Azar Nafisi: Author of six books, including Reading Lolita in Tehran. Her newest is Read Dangerously: The Subversive Power of Literature in Troubled Times.

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For a period of about 50 years, many of America’s top cartoonists and illustrators lived within a stone’s throw of one another in the southwestern corner of Connecticut.

Comic strips and gag cartoons read by hundreds of millions were created in this tight-knit group — Prince Valiant, Superman, Beetle Bailey, Hägar the Horrible, Hi and Lois, Nancy, The Wizard of Id, Family Circus … I could keep going.

This hour, a look at the funny pages, and at Connecticut’s cartoon county.

GUESTS: Bill Griffith: The creator and author of the daily comic strip Zippy Henry McNulty: A writer and editor who worked for the Hartford Courant for more than 25 years Cullen Murphy: Editor-at-large for Vanity Fair and the author of Cartoon County: My Father and His Friends in the Golden Age of Make-Believe

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Kevin MacDermott, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired January 11, 2018.

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This week’s Nose is one bubble floating in the cosmic foam of existence.

Everything Everywhere All at Once is the second feature film written and directed by Daniels (the filmmaking duo Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert). New York Times film critic A.O. Scott called it a “swirl of genre anarchy.” It has recently become indie auteur studio A24’s highest-grossing release to date. Here’s their synopsis: “Everything Everywhere All at Once is a hilarious and big-hearted sci-fi action adventure about an exhausted Chinese American woman who can’t seem to finish her taxes.”

And: It’s Pride Month. Which means, among other things, that corporations and other institutions will hamfistedly shoehorn rainbows and other tokens of “inclusion” into their logos and advertising, a phenomenon known as “rainbow capitalism.”

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take: Kate Bush, “Running Up That Hill,” and the End of Music Charts As We Knew Them Thanks to ‘Stranger Things,’ one of art pop’s most reclusive figures has almost inadvertently found herself with a top-10 charting hit. Is it a fluke or a sign of the times? Popeye is getting a makeover at age 93 Paramount Pictures faces copyright lawsuit over ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ ‘Die Hard’ On a Pedestal: Why John McTiernan’s Action Classic Is Such an Ode to Joy ‘Creem’ Once Made Journalism a ‘Contact Sport.’ Three Decades Later, the Rock Mag Is Back The legendary rag returns, unveiling a free online archive and brand new content David Cronenberg’s Dreams and Nightmares“People will say, ‘Oh, he’s back to body horror,’ ” the director of the new film “Crimes of the Future” says. “But it’s never changed for me.” ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ to End Broadway Run ‘White Noise’: Details Surface About Noah Baumbach’s Catastrophic 9-Month, $140 Million Shoot The Transformations of Pinocchio How Carlo Collodi’s puppet took on a life of his own. We Don’t Know Neptune at All You know, the planet? Matthew McConaughey Gives Emotional White House Speech, Accused of ‘Grandstanding’ by Newsmax Reporter His wife Camila Alves held the green Converse sneakers that were the only way to identify a 10-year-old victim. Madonna Biopic Will (Probably) Star Julia Garner The Short-Lived Reign of MTV’s Best Kiss Award In a time before gratuitous red-carpet makeouts, one category at the MTV Movie Awards became ground zero for celebrity spontaneity and PDA What’s Up With Lil Nas X and BET? Disney fires Peter Rice, its top TV content executive. Some in the entertainment business had seen him as a possible candidate to succeed Bob Chapek as Disney’s chief executive.

GUESTS: Rebecca Castellani: Co-founder of Quiet Corner Communications and a freelance writer James Hanley: Co-founder of Cinestudio at Trinity College Mercy Quaye: Founder and principal consultant for The Narrative Project

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe and Catie Talarski contributed to this show.

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This hour we look at our new favorite way to communicate: emoji. We'll learn about how emoji are created, discuss how emoji change meaning, and talk to the creator of "Emojiland: The Musical."

GUESTS: Keith Broni: Editor and Chief of Emojipedia Alex King: Associate Professor of Philosophy at Simon Fraser University, who runs “Aesthetics for Birds,” an aesthetics and philosophy of art website Keith Harrison Dworkin: Composer and creator of “Emojiland: The Musical”

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We’ve done this show every year (except 2012) since 2011. (We maybe even did it in 2010. We probably did.) It’s a bit of a tradition. It’s a tradition that… makes some people angry, we realize.

And that has a lot to do with how we define the term ‘song of the summer.’ We use the Amanda Dobbins definition:

And so, our job here is to try to predict a thing that you and your mom will agree on like three months from now.

Try not to get too annoyed by the whole thing.

GUESTS: Sam Hadelman: Works in music public relations and hosts The Sam Hadelman Show at Radio Free Brooklyn Brendan Jay Sullivan: A writer, producer, and DJ best known for his work with Lady Gaga Cassie Willson: A New York-based comedian and musician

Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today by visiting ctpublic.org/donate.

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You know Michael Schur from the shows he’s created, like The Good Place, Parks and Recreation and Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

This hour we talk with Schur about his latest project, his book, How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question.

Through the conversation we discuss moral philosophy, and big moral questions like “should you return your shopping cart to the cart corral?”

GUEST: Michael Schur: TV writer and producer and the author of How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired February 3, 2022.

Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today by visiting ctpublic.org/donate.

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So we’re doing that again.

In other words: Give us a call during the 1 p.m. EDT hour about anything at all. 888-720-9677.‌ Or join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

Our programming is made possible thanks to listeners like you. Please consider supporting this show and Connecticut Public with a donation today by visiting ctpublic.org/donate.

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This week’s Nose thinks the less it says, the less it gives away. But, really, it’s the opposite.

Obi-Wan Kenobi is a six-part Disney+ limited series. It’s mostly set 10 years after the events of Revenge of the Sith, with the Empire in power and Kenobi in exile on Tatooine. Three episodes are available so far.

And: A recent Reddit thread on the ways different cultures handle feeding their houseguests has spilled out onto the wider internet and caused a bit of a discussion.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take: LARPing Goes to Disney World Amber Heard Defamed Johnny Depp, Jury Decides The jury decided Amber Heard’s statement in her Washington Post op-ed was false and defamatory, and that Heard intended to defame Depp. Behind Netflix’s Leaner Movie Mandate: Bigger, Fewer and Better The Scott Stuber-run division is adjusting to a new set of realities as it readies a $200 million-plus ‘The Gray Man’ from the ‘Avengers: Endgame’ helmers and a pricey set of ‘Knives Out’ sequels. Donald Trump’s Media Company Plans “Non-Woke Alternative” To Netflix And Disney+; Streaming Slate To Feature “Cancelled Shows” Does a Comedian Really Need an Audience? Filmed during lockdown, a new Netflix special from Norm Macdonald and outtakes from Bo Burnham’s “Inside” suggest that crowd laughter can be limiting. We Must Defend Thanos’s Constitutional Right To Snap His Fingers and Make Half of the Universe Disappear The BuzzFeed App Is Now 100% Kardashian-Free (If You Want It To Be) One click to mute them all. DeLorean is back (to the future) with an electric car, and some caveats New Haven, Conn.: More Than Just Academics and Mozzarella After decades of crime, the city is ‘coming up’ — with the cuisine and culture of a major metropolis, but the laid-back vibe of a smaller place. “It Really Wasn’t What They Said It Was”: LeVar Burton Opens Up About ‘Jeopardy!’ and Hosting the National Spelling Bee What really happened with Burton’s ‘Jeopardy!’ host audition? What’s the latest with his Trivial Pursuit show? And is spelling a sport? The ‘Roots,’ ‘Star Trek,’ and ‘Reading Rainbow’ legend has the answers. With Cameras on Every Phone, Will Broadway’s Nude Scenes Survive? Audiences are increasingly asked to lock their phones in pouches at comedy shows, concerts and some plays. But what happens onstage doesn’t always stay onstage. The Mona Lisa was attacked again … this time with a slice of cake A man, who’s since been arrested, created an elaborate disguise in order to get close enough to the masterpiece How Love Island Became a TV Reality of Sex, Fame, and Sometimes Tragedy Starring swimsuit-clad cast members plucked from obscurity, the reboot of Britain’s Love Island promised to be the dating show for our self-made, self-aware era. After a series of high-profile suicides, including that of former host Caroline Flack, a darker reality set in. Ahead of the new season, here’s a look inside the highly produced machine. Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary team up for The Video Archives Podcast The two friends, filmmakers, and former co-workers will watch and discuss movies from the VHS archives The Woes of Being Addicted to Streaming After a decade under the influence of music algorithms, a look at what streaming services afford the most engaged fans and what lingers below the surface.

GUESTS: Jacques Lamarre: A playwright and the director of client services at Buzz Engine Pedro Soto: President and CEO of Hygrade Precision Technologies Tracy Wu Fastenberg: Development officer at Connecticut Children’s

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Humans have long been interested in the possibility of extraterrestrial life. This hour, we look at why that interest has persisted. Plus, we’ll talk to a scientist who is looking for extraterrestrial life, and a linguist who is preparing in case we ever receive communications from extraterrestrials.

GUESTS: Kate Dorsch: Historian, philosopher of science, and the Associate Director of the Philosophy Politics and Economics program at the University of Pennsylvania Amanda Rees: Historian of science based at the University of York Seth Shostak: Senior Astronomer at the SETI institute, and host of the radio show and podcast “Big Picture Science” Sheri Wells-Jensen: Associate Professor of English and Linguistics at Bowling Green State University, who is on the board of directors of METI International

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When was the last time you had fun? I mean the kind of fun where you lost track of time, you didn’t care what others were thinking of you, and you felt connected to the people you were having fun with. We all know what fun feels like, so why don’t we make time for it?

We tend to think of fun as a side dish, something to eat if you’re not too full. That’s wrong. Fun should be the main course. Fun nourishes our mind and body as much as healthy food and productive work.

This hour, we talk about fun, including why we’re not having it, why we need more of it, and how to have it.

GUESTS: Liliana DeLeo: A certified laughter yoga master trainer and the founder of Living Laughter Julia Pistell: Founding member of Sea Tea Improv Catherine Price: A science journalist and the author of The Power of Fun: How to Feel Alive Again

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired December 21, 2021.

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Touch, grip, read, dance, gesture — what can't they do? Our fingers are so vital to our everyday life, sometimes it seems they have minds of their own. In this hour, we talk about the hidden language of finger gestures, the future of Braille, and the joys and challenges of animating fingers for DreamWorks.

GUESTS: Kensy Cooperrider: Cognitive scientist, writer, and host of the podcast Many Minds Jonathan McNicol: Producer of The Colin McEnroe Show Sile O'Modhrain: Professor at the University of Michigan studying sound and touch and the ways in which they interact Carlos Fernandez Puertolas: Animator with DreamWorks

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The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Colin McEnroe, Cat Pastor, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show.

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This week’s Nose is the first one to say it’s a great country, but it’s a strange culture.

George Carlin’s American Dream is a new, two-part, nearly-four-hour HBO documentary directed by Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio. At 225 minutes, it actually runs 45 minutes shorter than Apatow’s previous HBO doc, The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling.

And: Brigsby Bear is a 2017 comedy-drama written by Kevin Costello and Kyle Mooney from a story by Mooney and directed by Dave McCary. Mooney is one of four major departures from the cast of Saturday Night Live last weekend. Brigsby Bear stars Mooney, Claire Danes, Mark Hamill, Greg Kinnear, Andy Samberg, and Matt Walsh.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take: ‘Goodfellas’ Star Ray Liotta Dies at 67 Colin Cantwell, The Concept Artist Who Designed The Death Star, Dies At 90 Andy “Fletch” Fletcher Dies: Depeche Mode Keyboard Player, Founding Member Was 60 Ricky Gervais’ Netflix Special Draws Criticism for Graphic Jokes Mocking Trans People I Watched the New Ricky Gervais Stand-up Special So You Don’t Have To John Mulaney Draws Criticism for Having Dave Chappelle Open, Tell ‘Transphobic Jokes’ at Ohio Show The Kids in the Hall Have Gotten Old. Their Comedy Hasn’t. A new documentary explains the undersung Canadian troupe’s brilliance, and a new season of its sketch show confirms it. The 100 Greatest Stools in Stand-up Special History A ‘Jaws’ actor is named police chief in the town where the iconic movie was filmed Broadcast TV’s reduced role made clear in fall presentations How Wordle brought us back together Spelling Bee, too, and Words With Friends. Who knew online word games would get us talking to each other again? Why the Depp-Heard trial is so much worse than you realize Amber Heard is just the first target of a new extremist playbook. As Frank Langella Defies His Firing, More Details About Inappropriate Behavior Claims On Set Of Netflix Series Emerge Rita Moreno to Play Vin Diesel’s Grandmother in ‘Fast X’ Conan O’Brien’s Podcast Company Sells to SiriusXM in Deal Valued Around $150 Million The sale of Team Coco comes as audio companies make deals with podcasters with large followings How Reality TV Stars Conquered Your Bookshelves Has Time Passed ‘Stranger Things’ By? In 2016, the Netflix hit became a zeitgeist-driving sensation. But in a streaming landscape that’s much more competitive, the supersized and long-awaited Season 4 may have a harder time standing out. ‘50% sweet, 50% salty’: Oreo, Ritz team up to make limited edition cookie-cracker snack A Brief History of the Cheez-It America’s iconic orange cracker turns 100 this year How Top Gun Became A Gay Classic Inside the Ambient Music Streaming Boom As more people turn to ambient playlists for sleeping, meditating, and growing houseplants, what does it mean for the artists behind the serene soundscapes? LARPing Goes to Disney World On a “Star Wars” spaceship, the company has taken live-action role-play to a lavish extreme. Guests spend days eating, scheming, and assembling lightsabres in character. ‘Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey’ Director Teases Slasher Film Plot: ‘Pooh and Piglet Go on a Rampage’

GUEST: Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Nobody Asked Shawn podcast Carolyn Paine: An actress, comedian, and dancer, and the founder, director, and choreographer of CONNetic Dance Bill Yousman: Professor of Media Studies at Sacred Heart University

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You probably know when you’re feeling happy, sad, or angry. But our range of emotions stretch beyond the language we have for them.

This hour, we learn what emotions are and give names to ones you’ve probably felt without ever having had a word for them.

GUESTS: Edgar Gerrard Hughes: The editor of How Do You Feel? A Spectacular Compendium of Ideas, Interactive Games, Provocations, Tests, and Tricks that Explore the World of What You Feel and Why and a researcher at the University of London’s Queen Mary Centre for the History of the Emotions John Koenig: Author of The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired January 10, 2022.

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There’s something almost romantic about airships. The image of a giant, floating aircraft feels both nostalgic and futuristic.

In the early 20th century, airships were on the leading edge of aviation; today, they mostly live on in the domain of steampunk art and speculative fiction.

But a number of companies are betting they can bring airships out of the history books and into modern real-world applications like cargo transport and military uses.

This hour, the past and future of airships, both real and imagined.

GUESTS: Nick Allman: Chief operating officer of Hybrid Air Vehicles Jeanne Marie Laskas: A journalist and the author of eight books; in 2016 she published “Helium Dreams” in The New Yorker Ken Liu: A futurist and author of speculative fiction, including The Dandelion Dynasty, an epic fantasy series featuring airships

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired November 1, 2021.

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This hour, we’re joined by Kelefa Sanneh, author of Major Labels: A History of Popular Music in Seven Genres. We talk about music genres and look back at the history of music.

GUESTS: Kelefa Sanneh: Staff writer at The New Yorker and the author of Major Labels: A History of Popular Music in Seven Genres

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired October 25, 2021.

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On the one hand, calling something "Medieval" carries with it negative connotations of outdated times. But lately there has almost been a nostalgia for life in the Middle Ages. This hour, we look at what life was really like in that time period, and why we remember it the way we do. Plus, we’ll talk about the Medieval origin of environmental anxiety and student debt.

GUESTS: Jenny Adams: Associate Professor of English at the University of Massachusetts Amherst Courtney Barajas: Former Assistant Professor of English and the Director of the Medieval and Early Modern Studies program at Whitworth University. She is the author of Old English Ecotheology: the Exeter Book Martha Bayless: Director of Folklore and Public Culture and a professor of English at the University of Oregon. Her books include Sin and Filth in Medieval Culture: The Devil in the Latrine, and A Cultural History of Comedy in the Middle Ages

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Your strength breaks men’s bones. This week’s Nose has the cunning to break their minds.

We Own This City is a six-part HBO miniseries developed by David Simon and George Pelecanos and based on the book by Baltimore Sun reporter Justin Fenton. It chronicles the Baltimore Police Department’s Gun Trace Task Force and corruption within and around it. Simon told NPR’s Eric Deggans that “this is the closest thing you’re going to get to a sequel” to The Wire.

And: The Northman is director Robert Eggers’s third feature and his first big-budget film. It is based on the Viking legend of Amleth, a prince who tries to avenge the murder of his father.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take: John Aylward Dies: ‘ER’ & ‘The West Wing’ Actor Was 75 Hannah Gadsby Stays Sunny by Any Means Necessary George Carlin narrator edits make Thomas The Tank Engine even more blue Genius editor combines Carlin’s Thomas & Friends narration with foul-mouthed clips from his audiobook readings Hollywood Has No Idea What to Do With the Erotic Thriller Streamers are struggling to reboot a genre that died too young. The Untold Story of the White House’s Weirdly Hip Record Collection Jimmy Carter’s grandson is unlocking its mysteries Attack of the Clones is underrated — and it’s crucial to the current state of Star Wars George Lucas’ maligned prequel chapter deserves reconsideration as it sets up the Obi-Wan series [Ed. note: Links ≠ endorsement.] The Believer, a Beloved Literary Magazine, Goes Home After a Risqué Detour The magazine, bought by a marketing company, briefly hosted clickbait content. Scandal ensued. After a flurry of negotiation, it is now back with its first publisher, McSweeney’s. Can You Remember the Plot of Avatar? We asked a semi-random assortment of smart and funny people who were alive in 2009—from Broti Gupta to Brandon Wardell to Marianne Williamson—if they could recall the plot of the highest-grossing movie ever. The Puzzle That Will Outlast the World One move down, 1,298,074,214,633,706,907,132,624,082,305,022 to go. Star Wars: The Rebellion Will Be Televised An exclusive look at the master plan for Obi-Wan Kenobi with Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen, Andor with Diego Luna, Ahsoka with Rosario Dawson—and a fleet of new shows. Squid Game Season 2 Likely Won’t Release Until End Of 2023 Or 2024 Taylor Swift’s NYU Commencement Speech Was About Cats, Cringe, And Getting Canceled The star’s NYU commencement speech was completely apolitical. Marvel Studios is licensing Stan Lee’s likeness from the company he sued before his death Lee sued POW! Entertainment in 2018 Tom Cruise Is Being Boring at Cannes ‘Doctor Who’ has its first Black lead. Will the show contend with race?

GUESTS: Taneisha Duggan: A director, producer, and arts consultant Sam Hadelman: Works in music public relations and hosts The Sam Hadelman Show at Radio Free Brooklyn Irene Papoulis: teaches writing at Trinity College

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This hour, the history and present? (and future??) of the fax machine.

GUESTS: Jonathan Coopersmith: Professor of history at Texas A & M University and the author of Faxed: The Rise and Fall of the Fax Machine Troy Kreiner: Design director at Use All Five, the firm that organized Artifax Kay Savetz: A tech historian; they co-host Antic: The Atari 8-Bit Podcast and run a number of websites, including Fax Toy and FaxZero

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Francisco Goldman made a big choice as a young man. He chose to spend a year in Guatemala living with his uncle instead of pursuing the master’s degree he could have had from a prestigious school offering him a full scholarship. It turned out to be one of the most consequential decisions of his early life.

This hour, Colin talks with Goldman about his novel Monkey Boy, a story about the legacy of violence on a family and much more, including how his decision to go to Guatemala has shaped his life.

GUEST: Francisco Goldman: Author of seven books; his most recent, the novel Monkey Boy, is now out in paperback

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired May 27, 2021.

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The humble tambourine is the underrated, understated, unsung hero of contemporary music. This hour we shake our assumptions about this surprisingly enduring and ubiquitous instrument.

GUESTS: Erin Elstner: Percussionist and Professor of Percussion at Webster University Ira Elliot: Percussionist best known as the drummer for the band Nada Surf Tim Kubart: Musician, songwriter, and performer known world-wide as “The Tambourine Guy” for his performances with Postmodern Jukebox

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This hour we investigate the ways in which words change when they enter our discourse and how they acquire new meanings, or sometimes even lose their meanings. We look at specific examples, discuss how the internet is influencing language, and learn about how dictionaries interact with the evolving nature of words.

GUESTS: Kory Stamper: Lexicographer and the author of Word By Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries Peter Sokolowski: Editor-at-Large at Merriam-Webster, public radio jazz host at New England Public Media, and co-host of the Word Matters podcast Sylvia Sierra: Linguist, Assistant Professor of Communication and Rhetorical Studies at Syracuse University, and the author of Millennials Talking Media: Creating Intertextual Identities in Everyday Conversation

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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It’s the end of an era. Apple announced this week that it has ended production of the last iPod-only device it was still making, the iPod Touch. Apple debuted the original iPod in October, 2001, and has sold an estimated 450 million iPods since. Existing stock of the iPod Touch is available while supplies last.

And: The Staircase is an HBO Max miniseries based on the 2004 French docuseries of the same name and the true story it tells. Colin Firth plays Michael Peterson, a man accused of murdering his wife.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take: George Pérez, Who Gave New Life to Wonder Woman, Dies at 67 Working for both Marvel and DC, he created comic book series that brought superheroes together, and was co-creator of The New Teen Titans. Ric Parnell, Real Drummer in a Famous Fake Band, Dies at 70 The central characters in the mockumentary “This Is Spinal Tap” were comic actors, but Mr. Parnell was an actual professional musician. In Conversation: John C. Reilly The actor thinks audiences just want to be surprised. He’d do (almost) anything to oblige. Fred Savage is fired from ‘The Wonder Years’ over allegations of misconduct ‘Sex Education’ actor Ncuti Gatwa will be the first Black lead in ‘Doctor Who’ ‘A Strange Loop’ earns a leading 11 Tony Award nominations Warhol’s ‘Marilyn,’ at $195 Million, Shatters Auction Record for an American Artist At Christie’s sale for charity, the glamorous silk-screen beat out Basquiat’s skull painting that had set a record in 2017. Elizabeth Olsen: ‘Throwing Marvel under the bus takes away from the talented crew’ The reluctant star is returning as the witchy Wanda in ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’. She talks to Jacob Stolworthy about superhero film flak, her famous sisters’ advice, and why she rarely watches herself on screen Marty Friedman on why streaming listeners are skipping guitar solos: “Solos often have an obligatory existence – they must be there for a deeper reason” The former Megadeth man says guitar solos are often included to meet a quota, rather than because the song actually requires one FIFA and EA Sports End Decades-Long Video Game Partnership The demise of a relationship that produced one of the most popular games of all time will mean risks for soccer’s governing body but few changes for consumers. “Succession” actor James Cromwell super-glued himself to a Starbucks counter as part of PETA’s vegan milk protest The PG-13 Rating Has Become Meaningless Marcelo dropped from Lyon first team for “farting and laughing” in dressing room - sources I Toot, Therefore I Am A new philosophy paper attempts to answer a crucial question: What makes a fart a fart? Bad Special Effects Are A Choice Percy Jackson creator Rick Riordan rips complaints about casting the TV series The Strange Afterlife of George Carlin Nearly 14 years after his death, his provocative humor has been embraced by people across the political spectrum. What happens when comedy outlasts the era it was made for? New York Times Changes Today’s Wordle #324 Answer Amid Abortion Controversy What might reverse late-night TV’s decline? “If someone’s already watching something on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok, why would they set their DVRs for 1:30 a.m.?” Traipsing Through the Vaster Wasteland On Netflix, HBO Max, and thirst in the desert. Christopher Walken To Play The Emperor In Dune 2 Disney Copyrights Targeted in Bill Proposed by Sen. Josh Hawley The company would lose its copyright to the original design of Mickey Mouse if the law is passed. This Is Spinal Tap sequel confirmed for 2024 with original cast Double ’Tap! Nigel Tufnel, David St. Hubbins and Derek Smalls are set to return to cinema screens for one final show

GUESTS: Raquel Benedict: Claims to be the most dangerous woman in speculative fiction, and she’s the host of the Rite Gud podcast Carolyn Paine: An actress, comedian, and dancer, and she is founder, director, and choreographer of CONNetic Dance Bill Yousman: Professor of Media Studies at Sacred Heart University

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Phone ringtones went from uniform, to a million dollar industry, to the unconscious soundtrack of our lives. They’re pieces of music that are designed to get you to react. They’re sounds that often carry emotions and memories with them. But we don’t often give them much thought.

This hour we explore the art of the ringtone. We’ll look back at their history, investigate their rise and fall, discuss the appeal of a well-composed one, and talk to someone who designed his own.

Warning: This show contains the default iPhone alarm tone.

GUESTS: Ernie Smith: The editor of Tedium and a contributor to Vice’s Motherboard Brian Slattery: Arts Editor for the New Haven Independent and a producer at WNHH radio Paula Matthusen: Composer and a Professor of Music at Wesleyan University who teaches experimental music and music technology and directs the laptop ensemble Sam Hadelman: Works in music public relations and hosts The Sam Hadelman Show at Radio Free Brooklyn Sumanth Gopinath: Associate Professor of Music Theory at the University of Minnesota and the author of The Ringtone Dialectic: Economy and Cultural Form Steve Metcalf: Founder and Director of the Garmany Concert Series at the University of Hartford’s Hartt School

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The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Colin McEnroe, Gene Amatruda, Cat Pastor, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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Occam’s razor states that “entities should not be multiplied beyond necessity.”

This hour is all about Occam’s razor: where the principle came from, how it impacts science, its role in medicine, and how it shapes our daily lives.

GUESTS: Kurt Andersen: Co-founder of Spy magazine, the host and co-creator of Studio 360, and the author of Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire — A 500-Year History Johnjoe McFadden: Author of Life Is Simple: How Occam’s Razor Set Science Free and Shapes the Universe Lisa Sanders: Clinician educator in the Primary Care Internal Medicine Residency Program at the Yale School of Medicine and the author of the Diagnosis column for The New York Times Magazine

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired November 17, 2021.

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This hour we look back at the history of the Supreme Court and the rules surrounding it. Plus, we discuss how the Supreme Court shares information with the public, and we talk about ideas for reforming the Court.

GUESTS: Akhil Reed Amar: Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale University, and author of The Words That Made Us: America’s Constitutional Conversation, 1760-1840, among other books. David Folkenflik: NPR’s media correspondent. Emily Bazelon: Lecturer in Law, Senior Research Scholar in Law, and a Truman Capote Fellow at Yale Law School, a staff writer at the New York Times Magazine, and a co-host of the Slate Political Gabfest. Tara Leigh Grove: Professor at the University of Alabama School of Law, who was a member of the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States.

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So we’re doing that again.

In other words: Give us a call during the 1 p.m. EDT hour about anything at all. 888-720-9677.‌ Or join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

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This week’s Nose is short. $6,950. But it is not, it’s not a problem.

Our original plan for this week was to look at the final seasons of Better Call Saul and Ozark. But it turns out that, among our full stable of nostrils — this is a group of more than 20 people who are, by definition, dialed into the mass market popular culture, mind you — there’s not a single person who watches both shows.

In discovering that, we got to thinking about how it just isn’t possible to keep up with all the TV there is anymore. How, in fact, it just isn’t possible to keep up with all of anything anymore. And how, even with the things that you specifically try to keep up with, by the time the new bits come out, you’ve forgotten all the details about the old bits.

So The Nose gets into some or all of that. And then we do look at the final season, the final part of the final season, “Season Four, Part Two” of Ozark. This bit almost certainly, almost necessarily gets spoilery. If you’re worried about that sort of thing, you might want to duck out at the first break.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take: Neal Adams, Comic Book Artist Who Revitalized Batman and Fought for Creators’ Rights, Dies at 80 He influenced multiple generations with his style and co-created such characters as Ra’s al Ghul, the Man-Bat and one of DC’s first Black superheroes, Green Lantern John Stewart. Naomi Judd, country music matriarch of The Judds, is dead at 76 Ron Galella, Celebrity-Hounding Photographer, Dies at 91 He personified the paparazzi — brazen and relentless in chasing the famous, particularly Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. But his pictures also came to be admired. Dave Chappelle was physically attacked in the middle of his performance in LA Dave Chappelle Issues Statement On Attack, Refuses “To Allow Last Night’s Incident To Overshadow The Magic” Of The Moment Sneakers, elastic pants: People alter office wear amid COVID The Office Beckons. Time for Your Sharpest ‘Power Casual.’ Work wear reflects how people feel about their jobs and the economy as a whole. So it makes sense that dressing for the office is all over the place. A24’s ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ Hits Impressive Box Office Milestone Fast 10 Reportedly Costs Over $300 Million, With The Largest Chunk Spent On Actor Salaries The Controversy Brewing on Elon Musk’s Wikipedia Page Amber Heard accuses Johnny Depp of physical abuse on her first day of testimony The Assassination of Amber Heard SPACE NUDES: NASA to launch naked pictures of humans to space in hope of ‘attracting aliens’ A New Wave of Shows Cares About a Group of Women the Rest of TV Has Ignored Sure, their characters are privileged, but they’re also dealing with unsteady marriages, ambition, and family. Golden-Con Threw a Party, Invited Every ‘Golden Girls’ Fan It Knew Thousands gathered in Chicago to celebrate the beloved sitcom, whose fan base has only expanded since its original run and made the Girls into L.G.B.T.Q. icons. The Pandemic Reminded Us That Most Women Still Don’t Have a Room of Their Own The past two years have shown us that we need to open our eyes to the biases built into our homes. A former Gap employee embarks on a quest to collect every in-store playlist It’s time for a non-white host of ‘The Late Late Show’. Here’s our critic’s shortlist The Biggest Challenge for ‘Jeopardy!’ Super Champions? Talking About Themselves. Mattea Roach is the latest ‘Jeopardy!’ champ to rattle off a long and impressive winning streak. But her success has an unintended side effect: She’s running out of personal fun facts to share after the first commercial break. Attention Girls, Gays, And Theys: Taylor Swift Is Dropping “This Love (Taylor’s Version)” Tonight!!!!! I guess 1989 is coming?!?!?!??! ‘Quantum Leap’ Reboot Picked Up To Series By NBC

GUESTS: Rebecca Castellani: Co-founder of Quiet Corner Communications and a freelance writer Jacques Lamarre: A playwright and the director of client services at Buzz Engine Brian Slattery: Arts editor for the New Haven Independent and a producer at WNHH radio

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has hired an advisor to review the agency. This comes as the CDC faces scrutiny for its pandemic response and communications. This hour, we ask what the CDC should, and could, look like into the future.

GUESTS: Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo: The inaugural Director of the Pandemic Center at the Brown School of Public Health, and a Professor of Epidemiology. Dr. Saad Omer: Professor of Medicine and the Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases at Yale University, where he is also Director of the Yale Institute for Global Health. Dr. Jennifer Bacani McKenney: A family physician, based in Kansas, who is also the Wilson County and Fredonia City Health Officer. Lori Freeman: Chief Executive Officer of the National Association of County and City Health Officials.

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Note: This episode contains strong language and a number of things intended to be in bad taste.

This hour, we shoot the, er, breeze with John Waters, the filmmaker, author, and artist whose œuvre of campy, raunchy films ranges from the cult classics Pink Flamingos and Polyester to the musicals Hairspray and Cry-Baby.

On the occasion of his first novel, the “feel-bad romance” Liarmouth, we talk to Waters about everything from testicle tanning and teabagging to Baltimore and becoming a legend.

Be there or be square.

Note also: This show is about as spoilery as we get. We use audio of the very last lines of Waters’ Pink Flamingos. And the ending of Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood is just utterly revealed. (Colin will warn you when that one’s coming.) Now, neither of these movies is terribly recent — I mean, one of them is 50 years old — but it seems like we should mention it anyway. Please don’t send us angry emails. About the spoilers, at least.

GUEST: John Waters: Writer, director, and actor; his first novel is Liarmouth … A Feel-Bad Romance

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Colin McEnroe, Cat Pastor, Dylan Reyes, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show.

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In the century since Russia's "Mad Monk" was poisoned, we've come to believe a lot of things: he was mystical; he was evil; he was the world's greatest lover. This hour is all about Rasputin: the all-too-human peasant who found his way to friendship with the Romanovs, and the comical, absurd version that just won't die.

GUESTS: Douglas Smith: Historian and author of Rasputin: Faith, Power, and the Twilight of the Romanovs. Chris Roberson: Co-writer of the Hellboy comic Rasputin: Voice of the Dragon.

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This hour, we’re joined by novelist Ruth Ozeki. Her latest novel is The Book of Form and Emptiness. We talk about animism, hearing voices, and how Zen Buddhism informs her writing.

GUESTS: Ruth Ozeki: Novelist, filmmaker, and professor of English language and literature at Smith College

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired September 29, 2021.

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This week’s Nose would come straight to your home and do it on the weekends too.

This week was week three of John C. Depp II v. Amber Laura Heard, Johnny Depp’s $50 million defamation lawsuit against his ex-wife Amber Heard (in which she’s countersued for $100 million). It is nothing if not a sordid tale where no one looks particularly innocent. But it certainly seems like the entire internet is Team Johnny Depp.

And: Slow Horses is a darkly funny espionage thriller series based on the novel by Mark Herron and starring Gary Oldman, Jack Lowden, and Kristin Scott Thomas. Its first season finale hit Apple TV+ today.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take: ‘Cinema Paradiso’ actor Jacques Perrin dies at 80 HBO reminds Jerry West that Winning Time is “not a documentary” Last week, the Lakers legend sent out a letter demanding a legal retraction by the company Why There’s So Much Unsexy Sex on TV How to Use (or Not Use) a Hyphen Plus: a brief digression into why The New Yorker hyphenates “teen-ager.” Jon Stewart says the ‘fragility of leaders’ is the real threat to humor The Avengers have been with us for 10 years. Have they made movies better or worse? Production on Bill Murray film ‘Being Mortal’ is halted after a behavior complaint It Is Still a Bad Idea to Antagonize Mike Tyson Yet people keep on trying ‘The Northman’ Was #4 Over the Weekend, Then #1 on Monday: Why the Uptick? This could be one of the most encouraging grosses of late — and a sign of great word of mouth. A rattlesnake bit Cary Elwes. Here’s what to do if it happens to you Megan Fox Appeared To Confirm That She And Machine Gun Kelly Are In A Consensual BDSM Relationship After Facing Intense Backlash Over Her Engagement Ring That He Designed To Cause Pain “I feel sexual power in that way, by experiencing it that way… I was being celebrated as being a feminist until I had the nerve to call my boyfriend, ‘Daddy.’” “Guardians Of The Galaxy” Director James Gunn Defended Chris Pratt On Twitter And Said He Will “Never” Be Replaced “I know the church he currently goes to. Do you?” The Return of Coachella and a Glimpse Into Our New Abnormal The most famous music festival in America returned this past weekend, providing a preview of the strange, not-so-distant future Billboard’s Newest No. 1 Hits Reiterate One Important Rule More pop stars have an oddball, ultimately forgotten big single than you might think. Disney announces Avatar 2 title, premieres teaser trailer At CinemaCon, Avatar producer Jon Landau discussed the “separate, but cohesive” strategy of the franchise Gene Kelly’s widow looks back on 70 years of Singin’ In The Rain Kelly’s widow Patricia offers some insights about the classic musical, Gene’s best moments, and the modern filmmaker she thinks he would have worked well with The Coastal Grandmother Aesthetic Is a Lifestyle, Not Just a TikTok Trend Coastal grandmother heralds a new kind of hot girl summer—with fresh produce, strong cocktails, and light linens. Mission: Impossible 7 Is Now Called Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning – Part One Humans Can’t Quit a Basic Myth About Dog Breeds Breed doesn’t have that big an effect on a dog’s personality. How Elisabeth Moss Became the Dark Lady of the Small Screen The actor—who is also a director, a rom-com fan, and a Scientologist—likes to swim in the weird. Viola Davis says critics ‘serve no purpose’ but we do – and it’s not to sell tickets The actor’s response to criticism of The First Lady is astonishingly thin-skinned and misses our role in building dialogue and serving readers James Corden Says He’ll Leave His CBS Show Next Year The British-born host, who was a successful actor and comedian before joining the network’s late-night lineup, has been signaling for some time that he was considering leaving.

GUESTS: David Edelstein: America’s Greatest Living Film Critic Helder Mira: Multimedia producer at Trinity College and co-host of the So Pretentious podcast Carolyn Paine: An actress, comedian, and dancer, and the founder, director, and choreographer of CONNetic Dance

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Cat Pastor, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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This hour, as National Poetry Month comes to a close, we celebrate the form with three contemporary poets.

GUESTS: Matthew Zapruder: Professor, poet, whose most recent collection is Father’s Day, and author of the book Why Poetry. Margaret Gibson: Poet laureate of Connecticut, whose most recent collection is The Glass Globe. Yanyi: Poet, whose most recent collection is Dream of the Divided Field, and writer of the advice column “The Reading,” for creative writers.

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This hour, we look at the life and legacy of Henry David Thoreau, and ask what his example can teach us about who is remembered and celebrated.

GUESTS: Laura Dassow Walls: Professor Emeritus of English at the University of Notre Dame, and author of Henry David Thoreau: A Life, among other books. Alex Beam: Author, journalist, former columnist, and a current contributor to The Boston Globe. Tracy Fullerton: Professor and Director of the Game Innovation Lab at the University of Southern California, and the designer and director of “Walden, A Game.”

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Mimes have been gesticulating their way into our hearts (or nightmares) nearly for forever. It may be that the legendary Marcel Marceau popularized the mime, but people have been communicating through movement since the very beginning.

Today, characters in big-budget Hollywood movies and television shows routinely rely on pantomime techniques to create the on-screen characters we love.

This hour, the past, present, and future of mimes.

GUESTS: Doug Jones: A trained mime, contortionist, and award-winning actor known for his roles in The Shape of Water, Hellboy, Pan’s Labyrinth, Hocus Pocus, Star Trek: Discovery, and more Richard Knight: Author of Mime the Gap: Techniques in Mime and Movement Shawn Wen: Author of A Twenty Minute Silence Followed by Applause

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe and Jonathan McNicol contributed to this show, which originally aired August 30, 2018.

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So we’re doing that again.

In other words: Give us a call during the 1 p.m. EDT hour about anything at all. 888-720-9677.‌ Or join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Colin McEnroe, Cat Pastor, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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When this week’s Nose hits the sky, it’s not just a call. It’s a warning.

Matt Reeves’ The Batman is the highest-grossing film of 2022 so far by a fairly wide margin. It stars Robert Pattinson in the title role, and it’s the first entry in a new Batman shared universe. Two sequels are expected and two HBO Max television series are planned. Pattinson’s Batman exists alongside the DC Extended Universe, in which Ben Affleck plays Batman, and, it turns out, alongside a universe where Michael Keaton is still Batman. It’s a shared multiverse that I’m talking about, I guess. Pattinson is Batman in what is apparently called ‘Earth-2.’ I am not making any of this up. I could not make any of this up.

Anyway, The Batman premieres on HBO on April 23. It is available to stream on HBO Max and for digital rental and purchase now. Oh, and it’s still in theaters, too.

And: Netflix announced this week that it lost 200,000 subscribers in the first quarter of the year and that it expects to lose another 2 million this quarter. And its animation department is kind of falling apart. And it’s now going to crack down on password sharing. And then its market value dropped more than $50 billion over night. Yikes.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take: Robert Morse, Impish Tony-Winning Comedy Star, Is Dead at 90 He dazzled as a charming corporate schemer in “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.” His later triumphs included a memorable role on “Mad Men.” Liz Sheridan, ‘Seinfeld’ actress, dead at 93 Radu Lupu, celebrated Romanian pianist, dies at age 76 In Cleveland, Some Fans Are Guardians Only of the Past Cleveland’s baseball team adopted a new nickname, and their home opener was the first in years without Native American protests. That doesn’t mean everyone was happy. The Artful, Subdued Translations of Modern Pop Young artists like Latto, Vince Staples, and Doechii are subtly persuading listeners to rethink the way music genres can be interpreted. Rachel Zegler Is Finding Her Voice Cast in starring roles in West Side Story and Snow White, a high schooler became an overnight celebrity. What comes next? Johnny Depp in court says he has never struck any woman in his life Taylor Swift was the inspiration for the name of a new millipede species Gen X Was Right About Everything. Here’s Proof Album anniversary tours are just our generation’s cultural victory lap A 4-year-old can run errands alone … and not just on reality TV What Happened to Jon Stewart? He is comedy royalty. But the world has changed since he was at the height of his powers. Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid It’s not just a phase. Elon Musk says he has secured the money to buy Twitter Florida legislature passes bill repealing Disney special tax status Martin McDonagh Isn’t Done Talking After a two-year delay that spanned a pandemic and his 50th birthday, McDonagh is back on Broadway with his new play, Hangmen—no longer the enfant terrible of the theater world, but still turning heads. Crap music isn’t as good as it used to be What is 2022’s equivalent to The Ketchup Song? Where are the tunes that teach us how to “Cha cha real smooth”?

GUESTS: Sam Hadelman: Works in music public relations and hosts The Sam Hadelman Show at Radio Free Brooklyn James Hanley: Co-founder of Cinestudio at Trinity College Tracy Wu Fastenberg: Development officer at Connecticut Children’s

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Cat Pastor, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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When this week’s Nose hits the sky, it’s not just a call. It’s a warning.

Matt Reeves’ The Batman is the highest-grossing film of 2022 so far by a fairly wide margin. It stars Robert Pattinson in the title role, and it’s the first entry in a new Batman shared universe. Two sequels are expected and two HBO Max television series are planned. Pattinson’s Batman exists alongside the DC Extended Universe, in which Ben Affleck plays Batman, and, it turns out, alongside a universe where Michael Keaton is still Batman. It’s a shared multiverse that I’m talking about, I guess. Pattinson is Batman in what is apparently called ‘Earth-2.’ I am not making any of this up. I could not make any of this up.

Anyway, The Batman premieres on HBO on April 23. It is available to stream on HBO Max and for digital rental and purchase now. Oh, and it’s still in theaters, too.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take:

Robert Morse, Impish Tony-Winning Comedy Star, Is Dead at 90 He dazzled as a charming corporate schemer in “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.” His later triumphs included a memorable role on “Mad Men.”
Liz Sheridan, ‘Seinfeld’ actress, dead at 93
Radu Lupu, celebrated Romanian pianist, dies at age 76
In Cleveland, Some Fans Are Guardians Only of the Past Cleveland’s baseball team adopted a new nickname, and their home opener was the first in years without Native American protests. That doesn’t mean everyone was happy.
The Artful, Subdued Translations of Modern Pop Young artists like Latto, Vince Staples, and Doechii are subtly persuading listeners to rethink the way music genres can be interpreted.
Rachel Zegler Is Finding Her Voice Cast in starring roles in West Side Story and Snow White, a high schooler became an overnight celebrity. What comes next?
Johnny Depp in court says he has never struck any woman in his life
Taylor Swift was the inspiration for the name of a new millipede species
Gen X Was Right About Everything. Here’s Proof Album anniversary tours are just our generation’s cultural victory lap
A 4-year-old can run errands alone … and not just on reality TV
What Happened to Jon Stewart? He is comedy royalty. But the world has changed since he was at the height of his powers.
Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid It’s not just a phase.
Elon Musk says he has secured the money to buy Twitter
Florida legislature passes bill repealing Disney special tax status
Martin McDonagh Isn’t Done Talking After a two-year delay that spanned a pandemic and his 50th birthday, McDonagh is back on Broadway with his new play, Hangmen—no longer the enfant terrible of the theater world, but still turning heads.
Crap music isn’t as good as it used to be What is 2022’s equivalent to The Ketchup Song? Where are the tunes that teach us how to “Cha cha real smooth”?

GUESTS:

Sam Hadelman: Works in music public relations and hosts The Sam Hadelman Show at Radio Free Brooklyn
James Hanley: Co-founder of Cinestudio at Trinity College
Tracy Wu Fastenberg: Development officer at Connecticut Children’s

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Humans have always been interested in the sky, and astrology has been used as a tool for people in power for a long time. During times of stress, interest in astrology increases. But why are we so interested in something that is not considered a science? During this hour we explore the history of astrology, its relationship with astronomy, and the reasons why people love it so much.

GUESTS: Darin Hayton: Associate Professor of History of Science at Haverford College, and author of The Crown and the Cosmos. Astrology and the Politics of Maximilian I. Julie Beck: Senior editor at The Atlantic, and author of the article “The New Age of Astrology.” Emily Levesque: Professor in the University of Washington’s Astronomy Department, and author of The Last Stargazers: The Enduring Story of Astronomy's Vanishing Explorers.

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The Last Stargazers: The Enduring Story of Astronomy's Vanishing Explorers (Narrative Nonfiction Science Book for Adults)

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The term brainwashing has been used throughout history by scientists, politicians, journalists, as well as in movies and literature. This hour: a look at the history and science of brainwashing.

GUESTS: Joel Dimsdale: Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Department of Psychiatry at University of California, San Diego, and author of Dark Persuasion: A History of Brainwashing from Pavlov to Social Media. Timothy Melley: Professor of English at Miami University.

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André Gregory has directed and acted in the theater for more than 50 years. He has appeared in a number of movies, including Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ, Woody Allen’s Celebrity, Brian De Palma’s The Bonfire of the Vanities, Peter Weir’s The Mosquito Coast, and many more. He has starred in three movies about the theater with the playwright, actor, and comedian Wallace Shawn: A Master Builder, Vanya on 42nd Street, and the iconic My Dinner with Andre.

Gregory’s memoir is This Is Not My Memoir. He joins us for the hour.

Note: I apologize for the flagrant hackiness of the “joke” of the headline here. I feel your scorn and must suffer through my shame. There are times when a work is so iconic one doesn’t have a choice but to make reference to it. And so here we are.

GUEST: André Gregory: An actor, writer, director, teacher, and painter; he is the author, with Todd London, of This Is Not My Memoir

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired January 27, 2021.

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In her new book, Sandy Hook: An American Tragedy and the Battle for Truth, Elizabeth Williamson investigates the conspiracy theories that arose following the shooting on December 14, 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary School, in Newtown, Connecticut.

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This week’s Nose will be able to tell this story at a conference wearing flip-flops.

The Dropout is an eight-part Hulu Original limited series that tells the story of Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos. It’s based on the ABC News podcast and stars Amanda Seyfried.

And Inventing Anna is a nine-part Netflix Original limited series created by Shonda Rhimes that tells the story of Anna Sorokin. It’s inspired by Jessica Pressler’s New York magazine story “Maybe She Had So Much Money She Just Lost Track of It,” and it stars Anna Chlumsky and Julia Garner.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take: Gilbert Gottfried Dies: Beloved Comedian and Voice Icon Was 67 The passing of the actor best known for his voice talents and stand-up comic gifts was announced Tuesday by his family. A secret plan, a bombshell lawsuit, and a soccer match: Inside Tom Brady’s un-retirement Women are now TAPING their foreheads for a ‘wrinkle-free’ complexion in a bizarre new TikTok trend — so does it actually work? How swearing became a weapon of resistance for Ukrainians Their enthusiastic use of bad language contrasts with Putin’s linguistic prissiness — and shows that Russia doesn’t own Russian The “Pity Me!” Personal Essay A recent trend in writing brings us a whole lot of dramatics and zero perspective The Kids In The Hall Trailer: The Sketch Comedy Revival Arrives In May Sure Elon Musk Might Buy Twitter Oh why not. Will Elon Musk Go Full Future-of-Civilization on Twitter? Of all the things Musk says are good for humanity, this one is not like the others.

GUESTS: Taneisha Duggan: Associate producer at Octopus Theatricals Mercy Quaye: Founder and principal consultant for The Narrative Project Bill Yousman: Professor of Media Studies at Sacred Heart University

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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We use zippers all the time: whether on clothes, shoes, bags, tents… the list goes on. Zippers keep our belongings secure, they keep us warm, they help keep out the elements, and they make it easier to get dressed. This hour is all about the zipper. We’ll learn about its history and significance, plus the role of zippers in fashion, and why so many zippers say “YKK.”

GUESTS: Robert Friedel: Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Maryland and author of Zipper: An Exploration in Novelty, among other books. Emma McClendon: Fashion historian, curator, and author. Jim Reed: President of YKK Corporation of America.

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Perfectionism is on the rise with young people. This hour, we look at the impact of perfectionism on mental health, and how to deal with perfectionist tendencies. Plus, what the self-help industry can tell us about our interest in perfection.

GUESTS: Thomas Curran: An Assistant Professor of Psychological and Behavioral Science at the London School of Economics and Political Science, who studies perfectionism. Tamar Gendler: Professor of Philosophy, Psychology and Cognitive Science, and the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Yale University. Kristen Meinzer: Author and host of many podcasts, including “By The Book,” where she reads self-help books and lives by their rules for two weeks.

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For decades, we didn’t take television seriously. We saw it as ephemeral, as “chewing gum for the eyes,” as, literally, furniture.

And then, around the turn of the century, things started to change. There was The Sopranos. The Wire. And, at the same time, shows like Big Brother and The Amazing Race. For Emily Nussbaum, it was Buffy the Vampire Slayer that forever changed her take on television.

This hour: A serious appraisal of television with The New Yorker’s television critic.

GUEST: Emily Nussbaum: Television critic for The New Yorker and the author of I Like To Watch: Arguing My Way Through the TV Revolution

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired July 15, 2020.

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So we’re doing that again.

In other words: Give us a call during the 1 p.m. EDT hour about anything at all. 888-720-9677.‌ Or join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Colin McEnroe, Cat Pastor, Dylan Reyes, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show.

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This week’s Nose is all gettin’ flushed.

Rothaniel is Jerrod Carmichael’s third HBO comedy special. The previous two, 2014’s Love at the Storeand 2017’s 8, were directed by Spike Lee and Bo Burnham, respectively. Rothaniel was taped in February at the Blue Note Jazz Club in New York City, and it, too, is directed by Burnham. This is the fourthdirectingproject in a row of Burnham’s that The Nose has covered.

And: The Outlaws is a BBC One series created by Stephen Merchant. It’s now available Stateside on Amazon Prime, and Amazon’s synopsis calls it “a comedy thriller about a disparate group of lawbreakers thrown together to complete a community service sentence.” It stars Merchant, Christopher Walken, and an ensemble cast.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take: Estelle Harris Dies: ‘Seinfeld’s Estelle Costanza, ‘Toy Story’ Franchise’s Mrs. Potato Head Was 93 Los Lobos founding member Francisco González has died at 68 Louis C.K.’s Grammy, After ‘Global Amounts of Trouble,’ Draws Backlash Some comedians are questioning how the Recording Academy saw fit to bestow an award to someone who had admitted to sexual misconduct. Why We Can’t Quit the Guitar Solo Elon Musk becomes Twitter’s largest shareholder. The Tesla chief executive, who has been critical of Twitter’s content moderation policies, has bought 9.2 percent of the social media company. Film Of Prince At Age 11 Discovered In Archival Footage Of 1970 Mpls. Teachers Strike Mad Magazine’s Most Significant Cultural Moments 2022 marks MAD magazine’s 70th Anniversary. We celebrate a publication that’s been dumbing down America for decades. How Everyone Got So Lonely The recent decline in rates of sexual activity has been attributed variously to sexism, neoliberalism, and women’s increased economic independence. How fair are those claims—and will we be saved by the advent of the sex robot? Inside the BBC Staff Exodus: Women of Color Are ‘Exhausted’ From Fighting a Broken System Japan’s Monkey Queen Made It Through Mating Season With Her Reign Intact Yakei, the 9-year-old macaque who seized power at a preserve, played the field and mated with at least one male, all while managing to maintain her status as her troop’s alpha. Newly Measured Particle Seems Heavy Enough to Break Known Physics A new analysis of W bosons suggests these particles are significantly heavier than predicted by the Standard Model of particle physics. If you want original movies to survive, get to a theater this April It’s Time To Revive the Nuclear Disaster Film With the U.S. and Russia Each Edging Towards Possible Atomkrieg, We’re Overdue for a Cinematic Reminder of the Horrors of Nuclear War

GUESTS: Sam Hadelman: Works in music public relations and hosts The Sam Hadelman Show at Radio Free Brooklyn Rich Hollant: Principal at CO:LAB, founder of Free Center, and commissioner on cultural affairs for the city of Hartford Irene Papoulis: Teaches writing at Trinity College

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Azar Nafisi is the author of Reading Lolita in Tehran, which spent 117 weeks on the New York Times Best Sellers list.

Her new book, Read Dangerously, argues that reading literature, reading challenging, dangerousliterature is foundational and fundamental to continued democracy.

Imagination, itself, she says, is a threat to autocracy and totalitarianism. Imagination is inherently, by definition, “free and wayward.”

“It should be clear by now that when I talk about books,” Nafisi writes, “I am not talking about literature of resistance but literature as resistance.”

Azar Nafisi joins us for the hour.

GUEST: Azar Nafisi: The author of six books; her newest is Read Dangerously: The Subversive Power of Literature in Troubled Times

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In the past two years, we've all turned into preppers. Whether dealing with a pandemic, supply chain disruptions, or natural disasters, we've learned the value of being prepared to be self-sufficient for a few days, weeks, or even months. This hour, we look at prepping, and talk about how it has become a part of our everyday lives.

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Gossiping is considered a bad habit. But, when done well, it can actually have social benefits.

This hour, what gossip is, its benefits and drawbacks, and why we’re interested in celebrity gossip.

GUESTS: Amanda Kehrberg: Adjunct media studies faculty at Arizona State University Shayla Love: Senior staff writer of features at Vice Frank McAndrew: Psychology professor at Knox College

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired September 16, 2021.

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There are thought to be about 17 million living flies for every human alive on Earth.

Also this hour: A look at David Cronenberg’s 1986 remake of, you guessed it: The Fly.

GUESTS: Jonathan Balcombe: Author of Super Fly: The Unexpected Lives of the World’s Most Successful Insects John Knuth: An artist Gale Ridge: Associate scientist at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station Jacob Trussell: Author of The Binge Watcher’s Guide to The Twilight Zone; he published the piece “Only Jeff Goldblum Could Make Us Fall in Love with ‘The Fly.’” at Film School Rejects

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired August 19, 2021.

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This week’s Nose is always moving, it’s rhythmic, it’s up close and personal, there’s no pads or helmets for protection.

On Wednesday, Demi Moore announced on Instagram that Bruce Willis is “stepping away” from his career after being diagnosed with aphasia. Willis turned 67 last month.

And: Last Friday, before last weekend’s Academy Awards ceremonies, Ross Douthat published an opinion piece in The New York Times: “We Aren’t Just Watching the Decline of the Oscars. We’re Watching the End of the Movies.”

And finally: Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty is an HBO series chronicling the professional and personal lives of the 1980s Los Angeles Lakers and starring John C. Reilly, Quincy Isaiah, and an ensemble cast. It is created by Max Borenstein and executive produced by Adam McKay.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take: Taylor Hawkins, Foo Fighters’ Drummer, Dies at 50 Hard-hitting and charismatic, he was direct about his hopes for the group’s future, even after two decades. “I want to be the biggest band in the world,” he said. Paul Herman, The Sopranos Actor, Dies At 76 Nicolas Cage Can Explain It All He is one of our great actors. Also one of our most inscrutable, most eccentric, and most misunderstood. But as Cage makes his case here, every extraordinary thing about his wild work and life actually makes perfect ordinary sense. The Real Mission Impossible: Saying “No” to Tom Cruise How the franchise superstar lawyered-up and out-gunned Paramount execs over costs, COVID and a last-minute submarine. Ryan Reynolds Is a Great Brand but an Increasingly Boring Actor Are You the Most Boring Person Alive? A recent study details the dull jobs, hobbies and personality traits that make someone a boring person Does Every Geek TV Series Need To Require Hours Of Homework? Even Before Will Smith, It Was a Strange and Awkward Oscars 2022 V.F.’s chief critic reviews the 94th Academy Awards ceremony. Both teams assured of a possession in playoff overtime with rules change approved by NFL owners

GUESTS: Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Nobody Asked Shawn podcast Carolyn Paine: An actress, comedian, and dancer, and the founder, director, and choreographer of CONNetic Dance Bill Yousman: Professor of Media Studies at Sacred Heart University

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This hour, we learn about the path to sainthood, and how that has changed over time. Plus, a look at the local example of Father Michael McGivney.

GUESTS: Teresa Berger: Professor of Liturgical Studies and Catholic Theology at Yale Divinity School Father James Sullivan: Rector of the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Waterbury Rachel McCleary: Lecturer in the Economics Department at Harvard University and a Visiting Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, who studies the political economy of religion Joseph Laycock: Professor of Religious Studies at Texas State University and the author of The Seer of Bayside: Veronica Lueken and the Struggle to Define Catholicism, among other books

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Colin McEnroe, Cat Pastor, and Sara Gasparotto contributed to this show.

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We tend to associate arguing with destructive actions like quarreling or fighting. Argument is a different animal. It may be fueled by the passion that drives fights and quarrels, but effective arguing requires factual evidence and logic to support why one idea might work better than another idea.

At its finest, argument opens our world to ideas and solutions we hadn’t considered, whereas the passion and clashing egos of a fight often send us sulking to our respective corners.

This hour, we argue that arguing can be good for us, but one could argue that we’re wrong.

GUESTS: Lee Siegel: A cultural critic and the author of seven books; his latest is Why Argument Matters Agnes Callard: An associate professor of philosophy at the University of Chicago and the author of Aspiration: The Agency of Becoming David Edelstein: America’s Greatest Living Film Critic

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Glass is all around us: from windows and mirrors, to phone screens and fiber optic cables.

This hour, we learn how glass helped shape our world, efforts to create different types of glasses, and what it's like to make art out of glass.

GUESTS: John Garrison: Professor at Grinnell College, and author of the book Glass. Alexis Clare: Professor of Glass Science at Alfred University. Eric Meek: Senior Manager of Hot Glass Programs at the Corning Museum of Glass.

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired September 22, 2021.

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Note: This episode contains strong language.

You may have seen that Sunday night, on the Academy Awards stage, Chris Rock made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith, Will Smith went up on stage and whacked Rock in the face, and then a few minutes later, Will Smith won the Best Actor award.

A more Noseish confluence of events we may never have seen been before. And so we assembled an emergency, podcast-only, shortish Nose to deal with it.

GUESTS: Jacques Lamarre: A playwright and the director of client services at Buzz Engine Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Nobody Asked Shawn podcast Vivian Nabeta: Director of marketing and public relations for Capital Community College and the cohost of the So Pretentious podcast

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So we’re doing that again.

In other words: Give us a call during the 1 p.m. EDT hour about anything at all. 888–720–9677.‌ Or join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

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Over the last eight months, The Nose has covered 11 of this year’s Academy Award-nominated movies, encompassing 54 nominations.

Some of the movies covered include: Being the Ricardos, Coda, Drive My Car, Dune, House of Gucci, King Richard, Last Night in Soho, Licorice Pizza, Nightmare Alley, No Time To Die, The Power of the Dog,Spencer, West Side Story, The Worst Person in the World, and more.

Note: This special two-part Oscars season finale edition of The Nose, airing over two days on the radio, is presented here as one double-length (or so) episode.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take: Stephen Wilhite, creator of the GIF, has died It’s pronounced ‘jif’ [Ed. note: It’s really not.] World No. 1 Ash Barty, 25, announces retirement from tennis: ‘I’m so happy and I’m so ready’ It Looks Like Rachel Zegler Is Going To The Oscars … As A Presenter Brutally Honest Oscar Ballot #1: ‘Don’t Look Up’ Is a “One-Joke Movie,” ‘CODA’ Is “Excellent in Every Way” A member of the Academy’s producers branch, granted anonymity to speak freely, shares which films earned his precious vote (and why). What’s going on with Ye — and why does it matter? Rent-a-stranger: This Japanese man makes a living showing up and doing nothing A Manifesto Against Sex Positivity

GUESTS: Rebecca Castellani: Co-founder of Quiet Corner Communications and a freelance writer Theresa Cramer: A freelance writer and editor and the co-founder of Quiet Corner Communications Illeana Douglas: A movie and television star and an Academy Awards voter Taneisha Duggan: A director, producer, and arts consultant Bill Griffith: Created the syndicated daily comic strip Zippy, and he’s the author of Nobody’s Fool: The Life and Times of Schlitzie the Pinhead Sam Hadelman: Works in music public relations and hosts The Sam Hadelman Show at Radio Free Brooklyn James Hanley: Co-founder of Cinestudio at Trinity College Steve Metcalf: Founder and director of the Garmany concert series at the university of Hartford’s Hartt School Helder Mira: Multimedia producer at Trinity College and co-host of the So Pretentious podcast Irene Papoulis: Teaches writing at Trinity College Tracy Wu Fastenberg: Development officer at Connecticut Children’s

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Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, Cat Pastor, Dylan Reyes, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show, parts of which have aired previously in different form.

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“Animals, which were in the service of man, could be arrested, tried, convicted and executed,” according to Edmund P. Evans in his book The Criminal Prosecution and Capital Punishment of Animals, published in 1906. They could also be excommunicated from the church.Our relationship to our pets and wildlife has mellowed over the centuries, but we still can’t figure out how to share space and food with the wildlife that lives among us without conflict, especially when resources get tight.We can’t translocate, trap, tase, laser, bomb, and euthanize our way toward a good solution. And aren’t we part of the problem? So, how do we coexist when humans make all the rules?

GUESTS: Mary Roach: The author, most recently, of Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law Ben Kilham: Founder of the Kilham Bear Center in New Hampshire and the author of two books, Among the Bears: Raising Orphan Cubs in the Wild and In the Company of Bears

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired September 20, 2021.

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In the 21 years since Christopher Nolan’s Memento hit theaters, his movies have grossed more than $5 billion, earned 36 Academy Award nominations, and won 11 Oscars.

His Dark Knight films helped spark the comic book movie renaissance we’re still experiencing, and his seventh feature, Inception, is the highest-grossing totally standalone live action movie ever made.

This hour, a look at the filmmaker behind Batman Begins, Dunkirk, Interstellar, Tenet, and more: Christopher Nolan.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take: Emilio Delgado, ‘Luis’ for 44 years on ‘Sesame Street,’ dies at 81 Jane Campion apologizes for comments made about Venus and Serena Williams Pete Davidson headed to space on Blue Origin craft Senate Unanimously Passes Bill to Make Daylight Saving Time Permanent The draft law still needs to pass the House. Netflix Will Prompt Subscribers to Pay for Users Outside Their Households in New Test to Address Unauthorized Password Sharing Why bad driving habits from the pandemic might be here to stay Kanye West Suspended From Instagram For Violating Harassment, Bullying Policy The rapper has targeted his ex Kim Kardashian, her new boyfriend Pete Davidson and comedian Trevor Noah in recent posts. An Educator Read ‘I Need a New Butt!’ to Children. Then He Was Fired. Toby Price, an assistant principal at an elementary school in Mississippi, read the book to a class of second graders over Zoom. “I am a firm believer that reluctant readers need the silly, funny books to hook them in,” he said. The Age of Everything Culture Is Here When anything on social media can become A Thing, trends take on an unnerving shape and velocity. It’s Time To Rebuild the Fourth Wall Characters in film and television must stop speaking directly to us. ‘John Carter’ Changed Hollywood, but Not in the Way Disney Hoped Ten years ago, the property that inspired ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Avatar’ bombed — and now both those franchises are in the Disney family. The Things I’m Afraid to Write About Fear of professional exile has kept me from taking on certain topics. What gets lost when a writer mutes herself?

GUESTS: Kayleigh Donaldson: A pop culture writer and critic James Hanley: Co-founder of Cinestudio at Trinity College Tom Shone: Author of The Nolan Variations: The Movies, Mysteries, and Marvels of Christopher Nolan

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired September 2, 2021.

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The NCAA’s March Madness is back!

And so the only logical thing to do is to get improv comedian Julia Pistell and the actual Bill Curry together to talk basketball for an hour on the radio.

That may not be the only logical thing to do. It may be that that’s not actually a logical thing to do at all.

But we’re doing it anyway.

*It’s our 12th one of these unless it isn’t. Our thinking is that we’ve done this show every year from 2010 on, but for 2020. Though, in 2012, we used our brackets to pick a new Connecticut state bird. But we’re counting it.

GUESTS: Eugene J. Cornacchia: President of Saint Peter’s University in Jersey City, New Jersey Bill Curry: Playing the part of Bill Curry Frankie Graziano: A reporter for Connecticut Public Julia Pistell: A founding member of Sea Tea Improv, among a number of other things

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Bumper stickers are everywhere. And they range from funny to informative to political to provocative. This hour is all about bumper stickers. We talk about the philosophy of bumper stickers, the evolution of political bumper stickers, and so much more.

GUESTS: Henry Hoke: Writer and the author of the memoir Sticker, among other books Jack Bowen: A philosophy teacher and author of If You Can Read This: The Philosophy of Bumper Stickers, among other books. Claire Jerry: Curator of political history for the Smithsonian National Museum of American History

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The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Author Oliver Roeder says that games are a “slice of life.” This hour we look at three games: chess, Scrabble, and Monopoly. We investigate why these games have endured in popularity through history, and we discuss what each one of them can teach us about life.

GUESTS: Oliver Roeder: journalist and author of Seven Games: A Human History Jenny Adams: Associate Professor of English at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the author of Power Play: The Literature and Politics of Chess in the Late Middle Ages, among other books Lindsay Shin: A competitive Scrabble player who’s been playing competitively for around 20 years; she organizes an annual Scrabble tournament in New Orleans Mary Pilon: A journalist, screenwriter, and the author of The Monopolists: Obsession, Fury, and the Scandal Behind the World's Favorite Board Game, among other books

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The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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So we’re doing that again.

In other words: Give us a call during the 1 p.m. EDT hour about anything at all. 888-720-9677.‌ Or join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

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This week’s Nose doesn’t need you to tell it whether it’s cool or not, old lady.

Licorice Pizza is the ninth feature film written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. The movie and Anderson are nominated for three Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay. It is a coming-of-age story set in the San Fernando Valley in the 1970s and starring Alana Haim and Cooper Hoffman in their film debuts. Its ensemble supporting cast includes Sean Penn, Tom Waits, Bradley Cooper, Benny Safdie, Maya Rudolph, and John C. Reilly.

And Drive My Car is an adaptation of the Haruki Murakami short story written by Ryusuke Hamaguchi and Takamasa Oe and directed by Hamaguchi. It is the first Japanese film ever nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards and just the sixth movie ever to win Best Picture from all three major U.S. critics’ groups after Goodfellas, Schindler’s List, L. A. Confidential, The Hurt Locker, and The Social Network.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take: Mitchell Ryan, Lethal Weapon And Grosse Pointe Blank Actor, Dies At 88 If the Lockout Makes Baseball Better, It Will Have Been Worth It After tense negotiations, Major League Baseball and the players’ union both made gains in their desired areas. But more important, they avoided losses — of games and, potentially, their standing. Netflix Suspends Service in Russia Amid Invasion of Ukraine Moonfall Has Bombed Its Way Into The Record Books, And That’s Concerning ‘Black Panther’ Director Ryan Coogler Mistaken for Bank Robber “We deeply regret that this incident occurred. It never should have happened and we have apologized to Mr. Coogler,” Bank of America told The Hollywood Reporter in a statement about the January incident in Atlanta. Disney Censors ‘Overtly Gay Affection’ In Movies, According To Pixar Employees Denzel Washington tackles Shakespeare and life’s fourth quarter with grace ‘We can’t afford to lose them’: the fight to bring missing movies back Films such as The Heartbreak Kid and I Shot Andy Warhol remain unavailable on any platform but a new initiative is aiming to change that Why Isn’t Brittney Griner the Biggest Sports Story in the Country?

GUESTS: Taneisha Duggan: A director, producer, and arts consultant James Hanley: Co-founder of Cinestudio at Trinity College Tracy Wu Fastenberg: Development officer at Connecticut Children’s

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Harvey Fierstein has won four Tony Awards, for writing and acting in Torch Song Trilogy, for writing La Cage aux Folles, and for acting in Hairspray.

He has appeared in Mrs. Doubtfire, Bullets Over Broadway, Independence Day, Death to Smoochy, and more. He has sung to Muppets, he has voiced Disney characters, and he’s been in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Armistead Maupin has called Fierstein “a true American original who has blazed his own trail through popular culture for half a century.”

Harvey Fierstein joins us for the hour.

GUEST: Harvey Fierstein: An actor on stage and screen, a playwright, and a screenwriter; he is the author of I Was Better Last Night: A Memoir

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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GUESTS: Avery Trufelman: Host of the podcast Nice Try! Akash Kapur: Author of Better to Have Gone: Love, Death, and the Quest for Utopia in Auroville Samir Patel: Editor-in-chief of Atlas Obscura

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The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired August 18, 2021.

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Between all we know to be true and all we know to be false lies a world of woo. “Woo-woo,” to use the full term, refers to ideas considered irrational or based on extremely flimsy evidence or that appeal to mysterious occult forces or powers.

But who decides what’s woo-woo, and what gets accepted into the hallowed halls of scientific truth?

The easy answer is that scientists decide. But the answer becomes harder when we remember that it was scientists who once deemed the world to be flat, light to be transmitted through “aether,” and a mysterious element called “phlogiston” to be responsible for combustion.

On any given day in history, one person’s science is another person’s woo-woo.

This hour, we bring together both skeptics and believers in an attempt to pin down exactly what constitutes “woo-woo.”

GUESTS: Stuart Hameroff: Anesthesiologist and professor at the University of Arizona known for theories on quantum consciousness Michael Shermer: Founder of The Skeptics Society and the author of The Believing Brain: From Ghosts and Gods to Politics and Conspiracies — How We Construct Beliefs and Reinforce Them as Truths and The Moral Arc: How Science Makes Us Better People Jess Tomlinson: Creator of Radiant & Rise

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Colin McEnroe, Greg Hill, Jonathan McNicol, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired September 22, 2015.

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Schadenfreude, the German word for taking pleasure in others’ misfortune, seems like an ugly human emotion. But psychologists and philosophers argue that Schadenfreude is baked into the human condition and actually is kind of good for us. This hour, we explore why it’s okay to laugh when someone slips on a banana peel.

GUESTS: John Portmann: Professor of religious studies at the University of Virginia and the author of When Bad Things Happen to Other People, which explores the moral and philosophical implications of schadenfreude Lauren Ober: Hosted the Spectacular Failures podcast, which during its 22-episode run looked at the demise of businesses large and small — before meeting its own demise. Ober is a podcast host, consultant, and voice coach in Washington, D.C. Scott Dikkers: Founding editor of The Onion and the author of How to Write Funny and other books about humor writing

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The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, Lily Tyson, Eugene Amatruda, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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This week’s Nose May come cannonballing down through the sky, Gleam in its eye, Bright as a rose! Who knows?

As of Wednesday, Kim Kardashian is legally single and officially no longer named West. Meanwhile, Kanye West (who is also officially no longer named West, nor Kanye — he legally changed his named to just Ye last year) dropped a new video — also on Wednesday — in which he buries Pete Davidson alive. Davidson and Kardashian have reportedly been dating since November.

On Monday, it took three Wheel of Fortune contestants 10 guesses to solve a phrase in which 19 of the 23 letters had been revealed: ANOTHER FEATHER _N YO_R _AP. It has since been called the “worst two minutes in Wheel of Fortune history.”

And finally: Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story is nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. It is the second film adaptation of the 1957 stage musical and one of two movie adaptations of Shakespeare (along with The Tragedy of Macbeth) nominated for Oscars this year.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take: Alan Ladd Jr., ‘Star Wars’ Savior and Oscar Winner for ‘Braveheart,’ Dies at 84 A longtime studio exec and son of a movie icon, he also had a hand in such films as ‘Blade Runner,’ ‘The Turning Point,’ ‘Alien’ and ‘Thelma & Louise.’ Oscars: Academy Infighting Mounting Over Categories Controversy The Hollywood Reporter’s awards columnist Scott Feinberg provides an update on the firestorm over the decision to present eight awards prior to the live Oscars telecast. The Lords of Baseball Think You’re Stupid The MLB lockout displays a breathtaking level of cynicism. AMC Theatres is charging more for The Batman tickets as a little experiment Tickets will be “slightly higher” for the Robert Pattinson-led superhero film says AMC CEO Designing Gotham Batman and his city are inextricably linked, and in developing their Dark Knight movies, filmmakers from Tim Burton to Matt Reeves have always paid special attention to how that city looks Warner Bros. Pulls ‘The Batman’ Russia Release Sony quickly followed suit in pausing the release of Jared Leto’s ‘Morbius.’ EA Sports Dumps Russian Squads from FIFA 22 Amazon to shut its bookstores and other shops as its grocery chain expands People Online Are Saying We’re In The Midst Of The “Lohanaissance,” And Hallelujah, What A Time To Be Alive! I’ve been waiting for years. Epic Games buys Bandcamp proving, once again, we can’t have nice things Too much is never enough as the multi-billion dollar gaming behemoth buys the only good music streaming and purchasing service Evan Rachel Wood Cast As Madonna (in Weird Al Biopic)

GUESTS: Rebecca Castellani: The co-founder of Quiet Corner Communications and a freelance writer Sam Hadelman: Works in music public relations and hosts The Sam Hadelman Show at Radio Free Brooklyn Steve Metcalf: Founder and director of the Garmany concert series at the university of Hartford’s Hartt School

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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Mike Pesca’s The Gist — with more than 1,700 episodes dating back to 2014 — is said to be the longest-running daily news podcast.

After a controversial split from Slate, Pesca relaunched The Gist as an independent podcast this January.

Mike Pesca joins Colin for the hour.

GUEST: Mike Pesca: Host of The Gist

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Chances are you’ve probably used an index at the back of the book at some point in your life. But how much thought have you given to their creation, their function, and their history?

Our guest this hour has written a whole book on the topic. Dennis Duncan, author of Index, A History of the: A Bookish Adventure from Medieval Manuscripts to the Digital Age, joins us, along with a professional indexer, to tell you more than you ever thought to wonder about the role of indexes in our world.

Plus, we get mixed up in the world of cookbook indexes.

GUESTS: Dennis Duncan: Author of Index, A History of the: A Bookish Adventure from Medieval Manuscripts to the Digital Age and a lecturer in English at University College London Paula Clarke Bain: Professional indexer Elizabeth Parson: Professional indexer

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The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, and Jonathan McNicol contributed to this show.

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Treasure hunts are prolific across literature, film, and history.

This hour we talk about treasure hunts, including what happens when you drop one in the present day.

GUESTS: Dan Barbarisi - Author of Chasing The Thrill: Obsession, Death and Glory In America’s Most Extraordinary Treasure Hunt Marcellus Cadd - Writes the blog Geocaching While Black

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired August 4, 2021.

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So we’re doing that again.

In other words: Give us a call during the 1 p.m. EST hour about anything at all. 888-720-9677.‌ Or join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Catie Talarski contributed to this show.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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This week’s Nose wants to be found out, same as everybody else.

Guillermo del Toro’s sideshow noir, Nightmare Alley, is nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture. It stars Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, Toni Collette, Willem Dafoe, and Richard Jenkins, among others. It’s based on the 1946 novel, of which it’s the second film adaptation, after Edmund Goulding’s 1947 version starring Tyrone Power and Joan Blondell.

And The Trojan Horse Affair is the fifth podcast from Serial Productions. It’s hosted by Brian Reed (host of S·Town) and newcomer Hamza Syed, and it’s billed as “a mystery in eight parts.”

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take: A Prominent Regional Theater Will Exit Its Stage to Explore Its City Long Wharf Theater, a regional nonprofit on New Haven’s waterfront, is ending a long, bumpy chapter there, hoping to expand access and reduce costs. Hiatus brain: When your favorite show returns, but you can’t remember a thing Famous, but wanting to be forgotten The Problem With the Pandemic Plot Literary novelists are struggling with whether, and how, to incorporate Covid into their fiction. Idris Elba on Plumbing the “Dark Side of Human Beings” and Making Room for Music With a far-reaching slate of movies ahead, including a big-screen adaptation of Luther, the actor is riding high—and ready to take risks. Academy Won’t Air All Categories Live for 94th Oscars Telecast Jerry Lewis’s Costars Speak Out: “He Grabbed Me. He Began to Fondle Me. I Was Dumbstruck”Women first interviewed by the directors behind Allen v. Farrow say the comedy icon sexually harassed—and in at least one case, sexually assaulted—them with impunity. A special collaboration, including a mini doc, between V.F. and the filmmakers. Hugh Jackman’s The Music Man Removes the Classic Show’s Racist Subtext. What’s Left? Harold Hill was a Trumpian figure—but not anymore. Self-loathing Will Kill the Oscars Have We Forgotten How to Forgive? The internet preserves our worst moments so they can’t be forgotten. Social media’s insatiable appetite for punishment ensures that they can never be forgiven. Is this really what anyone wants? Colin Farrell’s Penguin Banned From Smoking in ‘The Batman’: ‘I Fought Valiantly for a Cigar’ Still Tickets Left For The Louis CK Show In Kyiv [Tonight] Some may call stand-up comedy the biggest security risk of all…

GUESTS: Theresa Cramer: A freelance writer and editor and the co-founder of Quiet Corner Communications Bill Griffith: Created the syndicated daily comic strip Zippy, and he’s the author of Nobody’s Fool: The Life and Times of Schlitzie the Pinhead Irene Papoulis: Teaches writing at Trinity College

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Nobody ever died of a broken heart, right? Not true. A condition known as broken heart syndrome can be brought on by a sudden shock, such as grief from the death of a loved one or a divorce.

You may not die of a broken heart but it can alter your biology in ways that can increase your risk for disease. The good news is that it can be reversed if you can begin to mend your heart.

GUESTS: Florence Williams: A science writer and the author of three books, most recently Heartbreak: A Personal and Scientific Journey Kate Blackburn: A data analyst at TikTok Sarah Seraj: Chief Technology Officer at A Better Force Noah Baerman: A jazz pianist, composer, and educator; his most recent album is Love Right

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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What makes something tacky? This hour is a celebration of all things "tacky" with Rax King, author of the new book, "Tacky: Love Letters to the Worst Culture We Have to Offer." Plus, we look at why reality tv is sometimes tacky, and discuss the tackiest home décor.

GUESTS: Rax King - Author of “Tacky: Love Letters to the Worst Culture We Have to Offer,” and co-host of the podcast “Low Culture Boil.” Brian Moylan - A writer, reality tv show recapper, and author of “The Housewives: The Real Story Behind the Real Housewives.” Peter York - A journalist and author of “Dictator Style: Lifestyles of the World’s Most Colorful Despots,” among other books.

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This week’s Nose is concerned with problematic male comedians born in the mid-1930s.

Showtime describes We Need To Talk About Cosby as “writer/director W. Kamau Bell’s exploration of Bill Cosby’s descent from ‘America’s Dad’ to alleged sexual predator. Comedians, journalists and Cosby survivors have a candid, first of its kind conversation about the man, his career and his crimes.” The fourth part of the four-part docuseries airs Sunday.

And Rifkin’s Festival is the 49th feature film written and directed by Woody Allen. It was released internationally in 2020 and domestically in theaters and for rental on January 28. It stars Wallace Shawn in the Allen-proxy role along with Gina Gershon, Elena Anaya, Christoph Waltz, Richard King, Steven Guttenberg, and more.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take: Ivan Reitman, producer, ‘Ghostbusters’ director, dies at 75 P.J. O’Rourke, Conservative Political Satirist, Dies at 74 In articles, in best sellers and as a talk show regular he was a voice from the right skewering whatever in government or culture he thought needed it. Wanda Sykes, Amy Schumer and Regina Hall will host this year’s Oscars The Oscars will require tests for all and vaccines for most. Vaccine mandates and P.C.R. tests for the event, set for March 27 in Los Angeles. A Vibe Shift Is Coming Will any of us survive it? Is It Funny for the Jews? For a cultural critic, a sense of humor is integral to his Jewish identity. But these dark times raise existential questions about comedy and its uses. Network sitcoms are actually good again The Sex Scene Is Dead. Long Live the Sex Scene Four critics discuss erotic thrillers, prosthetic penises, “Euphoria,” and the state of desire onscreen. Yes, Some Musicals Are Unwoke. That’s Not a Writ to Rewrite Them. The Semiotics of a 1999 Toyota Corolla The YouTube channel Regular Car Reviews delights in cultural critiques of boring automobiles. Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine, World of Women Partner to Adapt NFTs Into Movies, TV Shows Francis Ford Coppola’s $100 Million Bet Fifty years after he gave us The Godfather, the iconic director is chasing his grandest project yet—and putting up over $100 million of his own money to prove his best work is still ahead of him.

GUESTS: Jacques Lamarre - A playwright and the director of client services at Buzz Engine Mercy Quaye - Founder and principal consultant for The Narrative Project Bill Yousman - Professor of Media Studies at Sacred Heart University

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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Stickiness: we know it when we see it-- or when we feel it under our feet at the movie theater. But what is stickiness, scientifically speaking? How do geckos climb? Why don't post-it notes ruin our books? On today's show we'll ask scientist Laurie Winkless about her new book, "Sticky," and figure out what holds it all together.

GUESTS: Laurie Winkless - A science writer, physicist, and author of the new book, “Sticky: the Secret Science of Stickiness” Dr. Alyssa Stark - A professor at Villanova University. She runs a lab that studies biological adhesion. Will Coldwell - A freelance writer and regular contributor to the Guardian, Economist and Financial Times. He is the writer of the Economist article “Bursting the Bubble: How Gum Lost Its Cool.”

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Why is dieting such an enduring idea when it has such mixed results? This hour we investigate that question by looking back at diets through history, talking about the latest science, and discussing portrayals of dieting through pop culture.

GUESTS: Virginia Sole-Smith - Author of “The Eating Instinct” and a journalist who covers diet culture and weight stigma, and who writes the “Burnt Toast” newsletter, and hosts the “Burnt Toast” podcast. Louise Foxcroft - A historian and author of “Calories and Corsets: A History of Dieting Over 2000 Years,” among other books. Evan Forman - Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences, and Director of the Center for Weight, Eating and Lifestyle Science at Drexel University. Constance Grady - A senior reporter for Vox, and author of the recent article “Looking back at the ’90s has meant reexamining the decade’s toxic diet culture.”

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Scrolling through online real estate listings, a practice known as “Zillow surfing,” has become a popular pastime.

And it’s not just for people who are actually looking to buy houses… It’s also for snooping on the value of other people’s homes, imagining different lives for yourself, or just finding unusual houses to make fun of and share with friends.

This hour, a look at the appeal of Zillow surfing.

GUESTS: Ariel Norling - Author of the I Know a Spot Newsletter Dana Bull - Realtor with Sagan Harborside Sotheby’s International Realty, based in Massachusetts

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired July 1, 2021.

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This hour we look at how the pandemic shaped dating, long-term relationships, and love, over the past two years.

GUESTS: Laura Kipnis - Author of “Love In The Time Of Contagion: A Diagnosis,” among other books. Hiwote Getaneh - A producer on the “This is Dating,” a dating podcast made by Magnificent Noise, where you listen in on people’s first dates. Philippa Found - An artist, writer, and the creator of “Lockdown Love Stories,” an art project where people can anonymously submit their love stories from the COVID-19 time period.

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This week’s Nose discusses “The Power of a Good Cry,” watches Super Bowl ads, and talks about HBO’s new comedy Somebody Somewhere.

GUESTS: Sam Hadelman -Works in music public relations and hosts The Sam Hadelman Show at Radio Free Brooklyn Rich Hollant - Principal at CO:LAB, founder of Free Center, and commissioner on cultural affairs for the city of Hartford Irene Papoulis - Teaches writing at Trinity College

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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Several high-profile NPR hosts recently left the station to work in other media organizations. Why?

Some think NPR has become less innovative and unaware of the competitive opportunities that are now available for talented journalists and producers. Others dislike NPR’s recent hyperfocus on race and gender or blame its “woke ideology” as too inhospitable to its employees of color. But it’s not just people of color who are leaving.

NPR may or may not have a race problem, but it’s just the tip of an iceberg that’s hiding a wider danger beneath the surface.

Today, we take a deep dive into what’s going on at NPR.

GUESTS: Matt Taibbi investigative reporter, the co-host of the podcast “Useful Idiots” and the publisher of the TK newsletter on Substack. He’s the author of several books, most recently, Hate Inc. Nikki Usher is an associate professor of journalism at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her third book is News for the Rich, White, and Blue: How Place and Power Distort American Journalism. Jenna Weiss-Berman is the co-founder of Pineapple Street Studios, which has produced podcasts like “Missing Richard Simmons” and "Still Processing." Before starting Pineapple Street, Jenna worked in public radio for a decade and started the podcast department at BuzzFeed.

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More than half a century after they first came walking down the street, we’re still bananas for The Monkees. This hour, Colin and his guests help us figure out why.

GUESTS: Mark Rozzo - Contributing editor at Vanity Fair and author of the August 2021 Vanity Fair story “The Most Influential Pop-Rock Band Ever? The Monkees!” Brian Williams - Former MSNBC anchor, lifelong Monkees fan Dr. Rosanne Welch - Executive director of the Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting and author of the book “Why The Monkees Matter: Teenagers, Television and American Pop Culture” Andrew Sandoval - Manager of The Monkees from 2011 to 2021 and host of the 60s-music podcast “Come to the Sunshine”

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This hour, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of A Clockwork Orange — the 50th anniversary of its wide release in the U.S., that is, on February 2, 1972 — our first full, show-length look at the work of filmmaker Stanley Kubrick.

Our original go at this, about six months into the pandemic, was my worst experience producing live radio remotely, with Colin hosting from home and Zoom guests and all the rest. Because of various technical issues, we spent many minutes during that live hour trying to make it so that Colin and the guests could, um, hear each other. That doesn’t usually make for very good radio, and it left us with a much shorter conversation about Kubrick than we’d planned. I’m still scarred by it.

But by some strange miracle, we’d also planned to record an extra, intentionally shorter conversation — also about Kubrick, also with those same guests — after that day’s show for a future day’s show. And somewhere in all that, there was the material for a whole show.

So finally, we present this full-length careful consideration of the filmmaker behind 2001, Dr. Strangelove, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket, Spartacus, Eyes Wide Shut, A Clockwork Orange… the filmmaker Steven Spielberg called “the best in history”: Stanley Kubrick.

GUESTS: James Hanley - Co-founder of Cinestudio at Trinity College David Mikics - Author of Stanley Kubrick: American Filmmaker Lila Shapiro - Senior reporter at New York magazine and Vulture, where she published “What I Learned After Watching Eyes Wide Shut 100 Times”

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, parts of which originally aired September 2 and October 28, 2020.

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This hour, an assortment of topics.

First up: why future COVID-19 boosters may be administered through the nose.

Next, we learn all about masks.

Finally: we get up to speed on the Winter Olympics.

GUESTS: Dr. Akiko Iwasaki - The Waldemar Von Zedtwitz Professor of Immunobiology at Yale University, and an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Dr. Iwasaki is on a team studying nasal COVID-19 boosters. Aaron Collins - A mechanical engineer with a background in aerosol science, who tests and evaluates masks on his YouTube channel, and publishes all the data in a Google doc. Ben Waterworth - An Australian journalist, radio host, and host of many podcasts, including “Off The Podium,” a podcast about the Olympics.

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This week’s Nose believes that everything happens for a reason. Call it luck. Call it fate. Call it karma.

On the Billboard Hot 100 chart dated February 5, “We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” from Lin-Manuel Miranda’s song score for Encanto, becomes the No. 1 song in the country. It’s the second song ever from a Disney animated movie to get to No. 1, after “A Whole New World” from Aladdin, 30 years ago. The Encanto Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is also No. 1 on the Billboard 200. It’s the first Disney animated movie ever to top both charts at once.

On a slightly different note: The Build-a-Bear Workshop, this week, launched a new ‘After Dark’ line of, uh, adult-themed bears. I don’t know what to say about that. I just report the news here, folks.

And finally: Ghostbusters: Afterlife is the first Ghostbusters sequel in more than 30 years and the fourth movie in the franchise. It’s directed by Jason Reitman, whose father, Ivan Reitman, directed the original movies in the 1980s. It stars Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace, and Paul Rudd, with appearances by many of the old favorites from the Ghostbusters universe.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take: The Washington Commanders name is perfectly designed to be instantly forgotten SFGATE columnist Drew Magary on the NFL franchise that’s clumsily begging for anonymity The New York Times Buys Wordle The word game, released in October, has millions of daily users. ABC suspends Whoopi Goldberg over Holocaust race remarks Aziz Ansari’s Nostalgic New Comedy Special In “Nightclub Comedian,” Ansari fixates on how the Internet shapes our lives and longs for the pre-digital past. Why Do I Always Tweet and Delete? Psychologists and tweet-deleters help explain my favorite pastime (that weirdly makes me feel a little guilty). The Name of This Interviewee Is David Byrne In advance of a show of his drawings at New York’s Pace Gallery, the polymathic performer answered T’s Artist’s Questionnaire. The 2022 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nominees include Dolly Parton and A Tribe Called Quest Our Solar System in True Color Is Really Something Else Venus is white. So is the sun. They’re beautiful anyway.

GUESTS: Jim Chapdelaine - An Emmy-winning musician and a patient advocate for people with rare cancers Carolyn Paine - An actress, comedian, and dancer; she is founder, director, and choreographer of CONNetic Dance Tracy Wu Fastenberg - Development officer at Connecticut Children’s

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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You know Michael Schur from the shows he’s created, like The Good Place, Parks and Recreation and Brooklyn Nine-Nine This hour we talk with Schur about his latest project: his new book How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question. Through the conversation we discuss moral philosophy, and big moral questions like “should you return your shopping cart to the cart corral?”

GUEST: Michael Schur - TV writer, producer, and creator of Parks and Recreation, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and The Good Place; his new book is How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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History is filled with men who were mistaken for gods around the world.

This hour, we talk with the author of a new book on that topic: Anna Della Subin, author of Accidental Gods: On Men Unwittingly Turned Divine. She takes us through some notable examples of men mistaken for gods, and discusses why people look for gods on earth.

GUESTS: Anna Della Subin - Author of Accidental Gods: On Men Unwittingly Turned Divine

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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Nat Love was born a slave but died a free cowboy and a legend of the Old West. After the Civil War freed Love from slavery, he walked to Dodge City, Kansas, and got a job breaking horses — after he could prove that he could rope a bucking horse, climb on its back without a saddle, and ride him without falling off. Thus began Nat’s life as a cowboy.

We don’t typically include Black cowboys as part of the American story of the West, even though 1 in 4 American cowboys is Black. Black cowboys are as American as baseball.

GUESTS: Zaron Burnett III - Host and creator of the podcast Black Cowboys Patricia Kelly - An African-American cowgirl and the founder of Ebony Horsewomen; she was inducted into the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in 2015

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired June 7, 2021.

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So we’re doing that again.

In other words: Give us a call during the 1 p.m. EST hour about anything at all. 888-720-9677.‌ Or join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

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This week’s Nose isn’t going to point out our houses, landmarks, or major highways during takeoff.

It’s not every ad campaign that can boast its own group of devoted fans, but Progressive’s Un-Becoming Your Parents television commercials seem to have staked out their own space in the popular culture.

And: Neil Young gave Spotify an ultimatum — you “can have [Joe] Rogan or Young. Not both.” Spotify chose Rogan.

And finally: The Book of Boba Fett is a Disney+ limited series created by Jon Favreau. It is a spinoff from Favreau’s The Mandalorian, a direct sequel to Return of the Jedi, and a direct prequel and sequel to The Mandalorian.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take: ‘Hannibal’ actor Gaspard Ulliel has died in a ski accident at age 37 Peter Robbins, who voiced Charlie Brown in the 1960s, has died “Bambi” Is Even Bleaker Than You Thought The original book is far more grisly than the beloved Disney classic—and has an unsettling message about humanity. The Tao of Wee Man His world was radically altered by “Jackass.” But now, Jason Acuña has harnessed his fame to live the life of his dreams. Is Old Music Killing New Music? Old songs now represent 70 percent of the U.S. music market. Even worse: The new-music market is actually shrinking. Cult Classic ‘Fight Club’ Gets a Very Different Ending in China Someone tried very hard to please Chinese movie censors. The people deciding to ditch their smartphones The rise of the post-credits scene, explained Marvel turned its post-credits scenes into a pop culture phenomenon. A ‘The Batman’ Controversy Unsettles a Portion of Fandom A vocal minority of fans took issue with comments from star Robert Pattinson, who confirmed his Dark Knight does not kill, yet such a rule has existed for decades in the comics. My Bologna Has a Face Mask Oscar Mayer’s latest gimmick is just that Mcminn County Bans “Maus,” Pulitzer Prize-Winning Holocaust Book Amy Schneider’s ‘Jeopardy!’ run has come to an end after 40 games The Internet Is Eating Wordle Alive Nothing should be easier to ignore than the game and its fans. And yet, here we are. Twitter boots a bot that revealed Wordle’s upcoming words to the game’s players 2022 DGA And WGA Award Nominations For Feature Films Include Dune, Licorice Pizza & More

GUESTS: Pedro Soto - President and CEO of Hygrade Precision Technologies Bill Yousman - Professor of Media Studies at Sacred Heart University

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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We’ve all heard the generational stereotypes, and rolled our eyes at them.

This hour: we investigate generational groupings to discover why we’re interested in separating people into generations, when it is useful, and when it is not.

GUESTS: Bobby Duffy - Professor of Public Policy and Director of the Policy Institute at King’s College London, and author of The Generation Myth: Why When You’re Born Matters Less Than You Think Justin Charity - Senior Staff Writer for The Ringer, who wrote the recent article “It’s Time to Accept That Millennials and Gen Z Are the Same Generation” Ziad Ahmed - The CEO/Co-Founder of JUV Consulting

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Gene Amatruda contributed to this show.

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Think about it. When’s the last time you saw a brand-new instrument in a marching band?

New instruments don’t come around too often — but it’s not for lack of trying. Getting a new sound off the ground involves design, production, music expertise, composition, and fans.

It’s no easy task to invent the next best thing, but this hour we talk to inventors, composers, teachers, and the Guthman Musical Instrument Competition to learn about the future of sound.

GUESTS: Jason Freeman - Professor of Music at Georgia Tech and Chair of the School of Music who leads the Guthman Musical Instrument Competition Kyle Grimm - Composer who specializes in both acoustic and electronic mediums and a Professor of Music at the University of Hartford Keith Groover - The inventor of The Glide as well as a musician and music educator. Bosko Kante - Grammy-winning producer and inventor of The ElectroSpit

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, Catie Talarski, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show.

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When we think of unicorns, many of us picture idyllic white horses with a single horn, surrounded by rainbows. But that’s not how unicorns have always been depicted.

This hour, a look at the history of unicorns and their enduring popularity.

GUESTS: Martha Bayless - The Director of Folklore and Public Culture and a professor of English at the University of Oregon Adam Gidwitz - Author of The Unicorn Rescue Society series, among other books, and the creator of the podcast Grimm, Grimmer and Grimmest Sarah Laskow - Author of The Very Short, Entirely True History of Unicorns and senior editor for science at The Atlantic

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, Cat Pastor, and Catie Talarski contributed to this show, which originally aired July 15, 2021.

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The Very Short, Entirely True History of Unicorns

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This hour, we discuss the latest on COVID-19, learn about how books can be used in therapy, and hear about a controversial football rule surrounding a coin toss.

GUESTS: Vincent Racaniello - Professor of Microbiology & Immunology at Columbia University, host of the podcast “This Week in Virology” Katrya Bolger - A journalist who works for Future of Good, and author of the recent article “Textual Healing: The Novel World of Bibliotherapy” for The Walrus Josh Levin - Slate’s national editor, co-host of the sports podcast “Hang Up and Listen,” and host of the podcast “One Year: 1995”

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This week’s Nose is a five-letter word.

Wordle is the newish online word game that, either, you’re already addicted to or you’re already sick of everybody else posting about. It’s browser-based, free and ad-free, deceptively simple, and exceedingly popular.

And: The Tragedy of Macbeth is a new movie adaptation of the Shakespeare play written, directed, produced, and co-edited by Joel Coen. It’s the Coen brother’s (that’s a little apostrophe humor there) solo writing and directing debut after making 18 features and parts of two anthology films with Ethan Coen. It stars Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take: Meat Loaf, ‘Bat Out of Hell’ rock superstar, dies at 74 Louie Anderson, Emmy-winning comedian, dies at 68 Fred Parris, co-founder of the Five Satins, dies at 85 after brief illness, band announces Friday Andre Leon Talley Dead at 73 Howard Alexander Dumble, legendary designer of Dumble Amps, has died Dumble created some of the most iconic amps of all time, and personally built amps for John Mayer, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Robben Ford, Carlos Santana, Eric Johnson and Kenny Wayne Shepherd The Undoing of Joss Whedon The Buffy creator, once an icon of Hollywood feminism, is now an outcast accused of misogyny. How did he get here? The Dumbledore of Clowning The French master teacher Philippe Gaulier has worked with stars like Sacha Baron Cohen. But at 78, are his methods, which include insults, outdated? The Best Book Covers of 2021 Microsoft set to acquire the gaming company Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion A Creative Disagreement Saved A Major Star Wars Planet From Destruction ‘King of the Hill’ to Return in Series From Original Creators’ New Animation Company It’s time to go back to Arlen Kathy Griffin Is Trying to Get Back on the D-List Ever since her Trump joke went wrong in 2017, Griffin has been seeking a professional rebirth, and wondering who among the canceled gets a second chance. Now You Can Pay Money to Use Instagram Popular Instagrammers will be able to charge you to subscriptions to exclusive Stories. M&Ms characters to become more inclusive ‘The Batman’ Runtime Revealed: 2 Hours and 47 Minutes, Without Credits

GUESTS: Tom Breen - Managing editor of The New Haven Independent Taneisha Duggan - A director, producer, and arts consultant Sam Hadelman - Works in music public relations and hosts The Sam Hadelman Show at Radio Free Brooklyn

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Humans have been trying for, well, forever to predict the future. But how helpful is predicting the future, really? And what factors determine whether someone is successful at doing it, or not?

This hour, we try to predict whether predicting the future is useful, and understand why we’re so interested in doing so.

GUESTS: Amanda Rees - A historian of science based at the University of York who works on the history of the future, and author of the book “Human.” Warren Hatch - A superforecaster, and CEO of the Good Judgment Project. Allan Lichtman - A distinguished professor of history at American University, his most recent book is “Thirteen Cracks: Repairing American Democracy After Trump.” He is known for accurately predicting the outcome of presidential elections since 1984.

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So we did that again.

From my post screening the calls, it’s kind of hard to know what’s going on on the actual show a lot of the time, but here’s some stuff that I’m fairly confident comes up during this hour: a new flavor of Girl Scout Cookies the end of French dressing regulation the (subliminal) arrow in the FedEx logo the (not-at-all-subliminal-as-far-as-I-can-tell) eagle in the U.S. Postal Service logo not just rebranding our show, but renaming it too Colin interviewing Terry Gross (not a thing that’s happening, as far as we know) a future show on the Knights of Columbus (not a thing we’re working on, as far as we know) veterinarians as first responders UFOs and UAPs converting our system to a direct democracy the correct pronunciation of “Tonga”

We also got a call complaining about “a grown man calling them the ‘damn Girl Scouts.’” I’m assuming the grown man in question is Colin, though I didn’t hear him say that, and that caller wouldn’t go on the air. But be forewarned about all the potential profanity, I guess?

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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Drinking alcohol has a number of negative impacts. But humans have been doing it for thousands of years and show no signs of stopping.

This hour, a look at why we drink, why more people are moving towards sobriety through the “sober curious” movement, and the rise of nonalcoholic cocktails.

GUESTS: Elva Ramirez - A journalist and media consultant and the author of Zero Proof Cocktails: 90 Non-Alcoholic Recipes for Mindful Drinking Hilary Sheinbaum - A journalist and the author of The Dry Challenge: How to Lose the Booze for Dry January, Sober October, and Any Other Alcohol-Free Month Edward Slingerland - Author of Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilizationand a professor of philosophy at the University of British Columbia

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired October 18, 2021.

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This week’s Nose is a crushing responsibility.

The Lost Daughter is Maggie Gyllenhaal’s debut as a writer and director, and it’s made her a Golden Globe-nominated director and a Golden Osella-winning screenwriter so far. It’s an adaptation of the Elena Ferrante’s 2006 novel, and it’s available to stream on Netflix. The Lost Daughter stars Olivia Colman (in a Globe-nominated performance), Jessie Buckley, Dakota Johnson, Ed Harris, and Peter Sarsgaard.

And: Station Eleven is an HBO Max limited series adaptation of Emily St. John Mandel’s 2014 novel. It tells the story of a world during and after a devastating, flu-like pandemic (sound familiar?). Station Eleven stars Mackenzie Davi, Himesh Patel, Lori Petty, Gael García Bernal, Caitlin FitzGerald, David Cross, and others. Its 10th and final episode hit HBOMax yesterday.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take: Ronnie Spector, ’60s icon who sang ‘Be My Baby,’ dies at 78 Bob Saget Dead at 65 Marilyn Bergman, Oscar-winning composer, dies at age 93 Ultima Online: The Assassination of Lord British Remains Gaming’s MOST Infamous Event The events of Ultima Online have become legendary in the gaming community, in ways no one could have ever imagined. Time for a history lesson. Box Office Report: No Flops in This Multiverse How the Potato Chip Took Over America A fussy magnate, a miffed chef and the curious roots of the comfort food we hate to love SAG Nominations: ‘House of Gucci’ and ‘Power of the Dog’ Score Big; ‘Succession’ and ‘Ted Lasso’ Lead TV WNBA Star Sue Bird at Center of New Doc From Alex Gibney’s Jigsaw Productions Into the Belly of the Whale With Sjón The Icelandic novelist, poet and Bjork collaborator is a surrealist for our time. FX Reviving ‘Justified’ Starring Timothy Olyphant for New Limited Series The actor is set to return as U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens in ‘Justified: City Primeval’ miniseries.

GUESTS: Rebecca Castellani - Co-founder of Quiet Corner Communications and a freelance writer Taneisha Duggan - A director, producer, and arts consultant Irene Papoulis - Teaches writing at Trinity College

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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As the pandemic marches on, the “Great Resignation” is a sign that a lot of us are feeling overworked. More than 745,000 people died in 2016 alone from overwork that resulted in stroke and heart disease, a problem so common in Japan they have a word for it: Karoshi.

This hour, our guests unpack the looming threat of overwork. We look at how we got here, why we idolize overwork, why the game development industry has such a troubled relationship with creative individuals, and what we can do to ensure better workplace conditions.

GUESTS: Anat Lechner - Clinical Associate Professor of Management and Organisations at Stern School of Business NYU, and a specialist in change management Keith Fuller - Consultant for game development companies on leadership and culture, and the founder of All About EX Alex Soojung-Kim Pang - Author of the books “Shorter”, “Rest”, and “The Distraction Addiction”, and the founder of Strategy & Rest

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This hour, we discuss COVID-19: from the latest science, to communication about the virus, and its depiction on television.

GUESTS: Brianne Barker - Associate Professor of Biology at Drew University and a co-host on the podcast “This Week in Virology.” Aaron Blake - Senior political reporter writing for The Fix at The Washington Post. James Poniewozik - Chief television critic for The New York Times, and author of “Audience of One: Donald Trump, Television, and the Fracturing of America.”

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Plum Island sits less than 7 miles off the coast of Connecticut in Long Island Sound. It is completely owned by the federal government and controlled by the Department of Homeland Security. Since 1954, it has been the site of the soon-to-be-decommissioned Plum Island Animal Disease Center.

“All islands carry a certain mystery, but Plum Island has more than its share of stories and secrets,” according to Marian Lindberg.

This hour, a look at the place Dr. Hannibal Lecter calls “Anthrax Island”: Plum Island, New York.

GUESTS: Ellen Killoran - Staff reporter and editor at Crime Online Marian Lindberg - Conservation specialist for The Nature Conservancy and the author of Scandal On Plum Island: A Commander Becomes the Accused Geoff Manaugh - Co-author of Until Proven Safe: The History and Future of Quarantine

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired July 14, 2021.

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You probably know when you’re feeling happy, sad, or angry. But our range of emotions stretch beyond the language we have for them.

This hour, we learn about what emotions are, and give names to ones you’ve probably felt, but never knew what to call.

GUESTS: Edgar Gerrard Hughes - Researcher at London's Queen Mary Centre for the History of the Emotions and editor of “The Book of Emotions” John Koenig - Author of “The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows”

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This week’s Nose is a willow hamper containing umpteen pins, plaques, and official citations of the highest order.

In this week’s newest nonsense news: Jon Stewart says he does not think the Harry Potter movies are antisemitic. The Pope says people who have pets instead of kids are selfish. And Connecticut’s own fart bottling “fartrepreneur” says she has retired.

And: The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun is Wes Anderson’s new anthology film. It tells five different stories in three different aspect ratios and in black and white and color, and it stars many of Anderson’s usual stable of actors: Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman, Anjelica Huston, Owen Wilson, Edward Norton, etc.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take: Sidney Poitier, Oscar-Winning Icon, Dies at 94 The first black actor to win a best-actor Oscar, and the first to become America’s top box-office draw, Poitier leaves behind a singular legacy. Peter Bogdanovich, Iconic Director of ‘Last Picture Show’ and ‘Paper Moon,’ Dies at 82 Max Julien, star of Blaxploitation classic ‘The Mack,’ has died at 88 ‘Sesame Street’ composer Stephen Lawrence has died at 82 Pabst Blue Ribbon Deletes Tweets About ‘Eating Ass,’ Saying They Were ‘in Poor Judgment’ The brand tried making cracks at Dry January’s expense Humans would probably start eating each other in space Don’t Look Up Is Netflix’s 3rd Most-Viewed Film Ever In 11 Days The Netflix feature Don’t Look Up from director Adam McKay starring Leonardo Dicaprio and Jennifer Lawrence, has become a massive success in 11 days. Late-night hosts Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers test positive for COVID-19 The Grammys are postponed and Sundance is moved online because of omicron surge Novak Djokovic Is Refused Entry Into Australia Over Vaccine Exemption The No. 1 men’s tennis player was told to leave the country following a 10-hour standoff with government officials at a Melbourne airport, ending his chance to defend his Australian Open title. What the Success of Spider-Man Means for Hollywood in 2022 Spider-Man: No Way Home bodes well for cinemas. Yet smaller-budget films might get left behind. Rated “G” for “Globalization” How the Drive for Easily Marketable, Mass-Consumable Children’s Media Stifles Complexity and Creativity Celebrity-obsessed people are less intelligent, new study boldly claims Most Of The Biggest Box Office Bombs Of All Time Were Made After 2010 Elmo is right about Rocco and it’s time we acknowledge that Elmo has been beefing with a rock since 1999 The Nonexistent Cancellation of Norman Mailer Junior staffers at Penguin Random House scoff at the idea that one of their own was powerful enough to derail a new collection of the author’s work. Nicolas Cage says actors need to know how to use a gun Asked if firearms should be banned from film sets after the fatal shooting involving Alec Baldwin last year, Cage said they are ‘part of the job profile’

GUESTS: Theresa Cramer - A freelance writer and editor and the co-founder of Quiet Corner Communications Sam Hadelman - Works in music public relations and hosts The Sam Hadelman Show at Radio Free Brooklyn Tracy Wu Fastenberg - Development officer at Connecticut Children’s

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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New York Times columnist Ross Douthat knew he was sick, but none of the doctors he visited in the early days of his illness could tell him what he had. He was treated for Lyme disease but he didn’t get better. So he took matters into his own hands.

Ross joins us to share his personal story of what it’s like to feel sick when few believe you and how his pain led him to seek answers in the controversial world of chronic Lyme disease.

His story is about living with chronic illness and his frustration with a medical community that can disregard that which it doesn’t understand. His story is also about the desperate measures one becomes capable of taking to fight an invisible foe while under the influence of pain, a desperation for proof of illness, and an internet filled with conflicting information.

GUEST: Ross Douthat - New York Times columnist and a film critic for National Review; he’s the author of several books including The Decadent Society: How We Became the Victims of Our Own Success and, most recently, The Deep Places: A Memoir of Illness and Discovery

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Colin McEnroe and Eugene Amatruda contributed to this show.

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Recent scientific discoveries have shown just how much we’ve previously underestimated Neanderthals. It turns out that their lives were very similar to those of our ancestors.

This hour: we learn about Neanderthals, and discuss why humans have dismissed them for decades.

GUESTS: Ella Al-Shamahi - National Geographic Explorer, a TV presenter, palaeo-anthropologist, evolutionary biologist, and a stand-up comic. Her latest book is "The Handshake: A Gripping History." Anna Goldfield - Host of the podcast “The Dirt” and an archeologist. Bruce Hardy - Professor of Anthropology at Kenyon College. Claire Cameron - Author of “The Last Neanderthal,” among other books.

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It’s a brand new year, baby! The holidays are over, the winter is upon us… 2022 is upon us. So we figured you might want to talk.

In other words: We’ve got no guests today, just Colin and you. Give us a call during the 1 p.m. EST hour about anything at all. 888-720-9677.‌ Or join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

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It’s been a long, strange year. (Aren’t they all at this point?) And so, how is our popular culture dealing with it all?

The Nose has a number of questions.

Will movies and TV ever really deal with COVID? Whatever happened to sympathetic characters? Whatever happened to comedies? Did anybody watch any standup comedy this year that wasn’t Bo Burnham or Dave Chappelle? Why do we cry at everything we watch? Isn’t Don’t Look Up great? Isn’t Don’t Look Up terrible? Why are we so stuck on old music? Do we even share a common popular culture anymore? Why are there so many good music documentaries all of sudden? Why don’t ALL the movies come directly to our houses now? Will we ever go back to movie theaters for real?

And other ones.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take: The 50 Wildest Pop Culture Moments of 2021 Literally how did this all happen in one year. Box Office: ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Soars to Record $260M U.S. Opening, $600.8M Globally The superhero pic scored the No. 2 domestic debut of all time as moviegoing returned to pre-pandemic levels for the first time despite omicron. But not all are celebrating: ‘Nightmare Alley’ found coal in its Christmas stocking. The Oscars Shortlist Contenders Have Been Announced, And Palme d’Or Winner Titane Was Left Out Hollywood Tests the Limit of Marquee Names a Single Film Can Hold Boldface names have always mattered at the movies, but a number of recent casts have been full of them. That hasn’t always helped at the box office. The Best Music of 2021: Lil Nas X is the boundary-smashing pop revolutionary of 2021 Winnie-the-Pooh and more works will enter the public domain tomorrow

GUESTS: Raquel Benedict - Claims to be the most dangerous woman in speculative fiction; she’s the host of the Rite Gud podcast Rebecca Castellani - Co-founder of Quiet Corner Communications and a freelance writer Sam Hadelman - Hosts The Sam Hadelman Show at Radio Free Brooklyn James Hanley - Co-founder of Cinestudio at Trinity College Rich Hollant - Principal at CO:LAB, founder of Free Center, and commissioner on cultural affairs for the city of Hartford Irene Papoulis - Teaches writing at Trinity College Bill Yousman - Professor of Media Studies at Sacred Heart University

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To round out the year, we round up the best jazz of the year. We’ve done this every yearforatleastthelasteightyears.

Here are our 2021 picks: “Dark Blue Residue” from Afrika Loveby Alchemy Sound Project “Homeward Bound (for Ana Grace)” from Homeward Bound by Johnathan Blake “Movement 6” from Promises by Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders, and The London Symphony Orchestra “It Come ’Round ’Gin” from The Democracy! Suite by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Septet with Wynton Marsalis “Relentless Mind” by Jihye Lee Orchestra featuring Sean Jones and Alan Ferber from Daring Mind by Jihye Lee Orchestra “Leone” from Migration of Silence Into and Out of the Tone World, Volumes 1–10 by The Music of William Parker “Shortie’s Portion” from Raise Up Off Me by Ralph Peterson “Gotham” by Andrew Renfroe featuring Marquis Hill, Braxton Cook, Taber Gable, Rick Rosato, and Curtis Nowosad from Run in the Storm by Andrew Renfroe “Wings” by Scott Robinson and Elan Mehler from Kimbrough by various artists “White Out” from Two Takes, Vol. 1: Quintet by Jared Schonig “The Sports Page” from This Bitter Earth by Veronica Swift “Up North” from Reverso: Live by Frank Woeste, Ryan Keberle, and Vincent Courtois

GUESTS: Jen Allen - A pianist, composer, arranger, and educator Noah Baerman - A pianist, composer, and educator Gene Seymour - A film, television, and music critic

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Colin McEnroe, Cat Pastor, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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Have you ever considered lifting lipstick from Sephora, only to wonder why? Did you feel the rush of valor when Indiana Jones breached Russian defenses to nab an enchanted skull for the sake of humanity? This hour on the Colin McEnroe Show, our guests invite our inner thieves to reveal themselves and shine light on why we steal.

We look at thefts through history and culture, discuss how a common villain gets made in times of uncertainty, and talk about the push for museums to restore ties between Native communities and their sacred belongings through artifact repatriation.

GUESTS: Robert Tyminski - Psychologist and psychoanalyst in the Jungian tradition, author of “The Psychology of Theft” and “Loss: Stolen and Fleeced” Lisa Feldman Barrett - Neuroscientist and psychologist at Northeastern’s College of Science, and author of “Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain” Chip Colwell - Founder of Sapiens magazine and podcast, anthropologist, former senior curator at the Denver Museum of Earth and Science, and author of “Plundered Skulls and Stolen Spirits”

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Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring hit theaters 20 years ago this month, on December 19, 2001.

This hour, a look back at the Lord of the Rings books and movies and their impact.

GUESTS: John Garth - Author of The Worlds of J.R.R. Tolkien: The Places that Inspired Middle-earth and Tolkien and the Great War, among other books Molly Ostertag - Graphic novelist, TV writer, and author of the article “Queer Readings of The Lord of the Rings are Not Accidents” Susana Polo - Entertainment editor for Polygon

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired August 12, 2021.

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We’re back from the holiday weekend. We’re looking forward to the holiday weekend. As we start this holiday interregnum week, we figured you might want to talk.

In other words: Give us a call during the 1 p.m. EST hour… about anything at all. 888-720-9677. Or join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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On this special Christmas Eve Eve edition, The Nose is not pretending to be any age.

And Just Like That… is an HBO Max original limited series revival of Sex and the City. Set 11 years after the events of the 2010 movie Sex and the City 2, the series is said to have had the most-watched debut on HBO Max to date.

And: Yellowjackets is an hour-long Showtime drama created by Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson. Here’s how Showtime describes it: “Wildly talented high school girls’ soccer players descend into savage clans after their plane crashes in the remote northern wilderness. Twenty-five years later, they discover that what began in the wild is far from over.” This month, Yellowjackets was renewed for a second season.

GUESTS: Taneisha Duggan - A director, producer, and arts consultant Carolyn Paine - An actress, comedian, and dancer; she is founder, director, and choreographer of CONNetic Dance

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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Every year since 2014, we’ve done some version of this show. Ideally, we’d do it in person, but these aren’t ideal times.

But our holiday spirit remains, dauntless. “Big Al” Anderson and Jim Chapdelaine and the band are back together over at Jim’s studio. Colin’s hermetically sealed up in our studio. We sing some songs, tell some stories, have some surprise celebrity cameos, and somehow we wind up with a holiday special.

It’s an hour of joyous nonsense for Christmas Eve Eve Eve, an audio Happy Holidays from us to you.

GUESTS: “Big Al” Anderson - Vocals, guitar, songwriter Jim Chapdelaine - Guitar, vocals, songwriter, mixer, engineer, producer, etc. Illeana Douglas - Movie and TV star Lorne Entress - Drums and vocals Paul Kochanski - Bass guitar and vocals

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Colin McEnroe, Gene Amatruda, Natalie Frascarelli, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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This hour, we talk about fun, including why we’re not having it, why we need more of it, and how to have it.

GUESTS: Catherine Price - Science journalist and the author of several books including The Power of Fun: How to Feel Alive Again Julia Pistell - Founding member of Sea Tea Improv, host of the Literary Disco podcast, a freelance producer at Connecticut Public, and a freelance writer Liliana DeLeo - A certified laughter yoga master trainer and the founder of Living Laughter

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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At 10 years old, M. Leona Godin began losing her vision. Her experience with sight and blindness is detailed in her new book, There Plant Eyes: A Personal and Cultural History of Blindness. In it she also explores blindness throughout literature, and through key figures and inventions throughout history.

This hour, we’re joined by Godin to discuss “the vast, dappled regions between seeing and not-seeing, blindness and sight, darkness and light.”

GUEST: M. Leona Godin - Author of There Plant Eyes: A Personal and Cultural History of Blindness

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired July 8, 2021.

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The Nose is off this week. In its place, America’s Greatest Living Film Critic, David Edelstein, joins Colin to talk about the year in movies and television and, well, everything.

GUEST: David Edelstein - America’s Greatest Living Film Critic

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Colin McEnroe, Cat Pastor, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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With the New Britain Museum of American Art staging two concurrent exhibitionsof Sol LeWitt’s prints, we listen back to our 2019 hour on the Hartford native, one of the giants of conceptualist and minimalist art.

As an artist, LeWitt abandoned the long histories of painting and drawing and sculpture in favor of his Wall Drawings and Structures.

And as an art figure, he abandoned the conventions of celebrity and resisted ever even having his picture taken.

This hour, a look at Connecticut’s own Sol LeWitt.

GUESTS: David Areford - Associate professor of art history at the University of Massachusetts Boston and curator of Strict Beauty: Sol LeWitt Prints for the New Britain Museum of American Art Lary Bloom - The author of Sol LeWitt: A Life of Ideas Andrea Miller-Keller - Was the Emily Hall Tremaine Curator of Contemporary Art at the Wadsworth Atheneum from 1968 to 1998 Cary Smith - An artist who makes abstract paintings

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Colin McEnroe, Cat Pastor, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired May 9, 2019.

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In their new book, Out of Office: The Big Problem and Bigger Promise of Working from Home, Anne Helen Petersen and Charlie Warzel argue that “whatever you were doing during the pandemic and its stilted aftermath, it was not working from home,” but instead “doing your job from home.”

This hour: Charlie Warzel joins us for a conversation about remote work, our relationship to work in general, and how to make work better for everyone.

GUESTS:

Charlie Warzel - Author of the newsletter Galaxy Brain and contributing writer at The Atlantic; his new book with Anne Helen Petersen is Out of Office: The Big Problem and Bigger Promise of Working from Home

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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The 18-year wait is nearly over, and the fourth Matrix movie, The Matrix Resurrections, is almost here.

This hour, we look back at the original film and its continued influence across the culture with bullet time and red pills and the “woah” meme and so much more.

We take the question of whether we’re living in a simulation much more seriously than we did when The Matrix came out. We’re much more attuned to the allegory for the trans experience that The Matrix might well have been.

And The Matrix Resurrections is just the latest iteration of the ongoing #Keanussance, from Duke Caboom to Bill & Ted Face the Music to John Wick: Chapter 4 next year.

GUESTS:

River Donaghey - An associate editor at Vice, where he published the piece “Give Keanu Reeves Some Space, Everybody”
David Sims - A staff writer at The Atlantic and the cohost of Blank Check with Griffin and David
Emily VanDerWerff - The critic at large for Vox, where she published “How The Matrix universalized a trans experience — and helped me accept my own”
Rizwan Virk - Executive director of Play Labs at M.I.T. and the author of The Simulation Hypothesis: An MIT Computer Scientist Shows Why AI, Quantum Physics, and Eastern Mystics All Agree We Are in a Video Game

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Colin McEnroe, Cat Pastor, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired June 19, 2019.

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We’ve been doing these shows most weeks where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls.

The last few times, we haven’t even started with the suggestion of a topic that your calls might, potentially, be about. And those shows have been fun. So we’re doing that again.

In other words: Give us a call during the 1 p.m. EST hour about anything at all. 888-720-9677. Or join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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This week, The Nose might mind if you come to the table without a washup.

The 1970s are back. Again. For the nth time. But maybe it’s different this time? That said, the ’70s weren’t all that bad.

And, the age-old question: Should movies have intermissions?

And finally: The Power of the Dog is a Western written and directed by Jane Campion and based on the 1967 novel. It’s Campion’s first movie in 12 years, and it won the Silver Lion for Best Direction at the Venice Film Festival. The movie is an early Oscar favorite, with special notice going to performances by Kodi Smit-McPhee and Benedict Cumberbatch. The Power of the Dog is available to stream worldwide on Netflix.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take:

Michael Nesmith, Monkees Singer-Songwriter, Dead at 78 “With Infinite Love we announce that Michael Nesmith has passed away this morning in his home, surrounded by family, peacefully and of natural causes,” his family said in a statement
Greg Tate, Groundbreaking Cultural Critic and Black Rock Coalition Co-Founder, Has Died Tate was a challenging and authoritative voice on everything from hip-hop to hardcore, and also made his own significant musical impact with projects like Burnt Sugar
Robbie Shakespeare, ‘Wickedest Bass’ in Reggae, Dead at 68 Alongside his Riddim Twins counterpart Sly Dunbar, the bassist played with everyone from Black Uhuru to Bob Dylan across more than four decades
Making of ‘Dune’: How Denis Villeneuve’s Sci-Fi Epic Is the Culmination of a Childhood Dream The filmmaker mined his boyhood obsession with Frank Herbert’s classic novel to create the big-screen adaptation he always wanted to see: “I said to myself, ‘I would love if I could make a movie for the teenager I was back then.’”
Inside Wheel of Time, Amazon’s Huge Gamble on the Next Game of Thrones As legend has it, a few years back, Jeff Bezos demanded that his team at Amazon Studios create a fantasy epic that would put Game of Thrones to shame. Turns out, that kind of thing is even harder to do than it sounds. And more expensive than you can imagine. Inside the epic quest to bring Wheel of Time to life—and maybe change the face of global television forever.
On “Succession,” Jeremy Strong Doesn’t Get the Joke “I take him as seriously as I take my own life,” he says of his character, Kendall Roy.
2021 Is the Year of Adam Driver
It’s a Great Time To Start a Show That Aired 10 Years Ago The key to happiness is embracing something at the absolute nadir of its cultural relevance
We Still Love 30 Rock, but Its Foundation Is Shaky The author of a new book about Tina Fey’s magnum opus on celebrating 30 Rock’s triumphs without skirting over the troubling way it handled race.
Longreads Best of 2021 Our year-end collection includes staff and community picks for the best essays, features, profiles, and investigations published in 2021.
The 20 Best TV Shows of 2021 From dark social satires to quirky comedies, twisty superhero tales, uplifting sci-fi, and more, this year’s small-screen gems were bold, surprising, and 100 percent satisfying
The Best Books of 2021 The 10 I most enjoyed this year.
The Best Movies of 2021 It was a year of octogenarian high jinks, long yet revealing documentaries, and masters reasserting themselves
The best movie trailers of 2021 Our list of the year’s best movie advertising campaigns includes Licorice Pizza, Last Night In Soho, and Titane
Debt collectors can now text, email and DM you on social media
Why Biopics Are Bad For Acting
Why the Year’s Most Popular Song Never Went to No. 1 Dua Lipa’s “Levitating” is Billboard’s top song of 2021, even though it never topped the Hot 100.
Stephen Sondheim Didn’t Just Change Musicals. He Changed Crosswords. The musical genius also helped introduce the U.S. to a tricky new kind of puzzle.
A Charlie Brown Christmas’ soundtrack captures the holiday spirit by not defining it The classic special is one of the last perennial strongholds for two very American art forms: the comic strip and jazz
An Exhaustive List of Directors Who Swear They Won’t Make a Superhero Movie There’s no more reliable way to elicit clicks and outrage in Hollywood.
The Joy Of Hating Stuff For No Good Reason It’s okay, you don’t always need one
The Rebrand Trend of 2021? Acting Your Age This year, heritage brands looked to their pasts to create visual identities for the multi-platform era
Bros., Lecce: We Eat at The Worst Michelin Starred Restaurant, Ever
Saudi camel beauty pageant cracks down on cosmetic enhancements
Oscar’s Penis Problem: Why Does the Academy Ignore Actors Doing Full Frontal?

GUESTS:

James Hanley - Co-founder of Cinestudio at Trinity College
Tracy Wu Fastenberg - Development officer at Connecticut Children’s

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Colin McEnroe, Cat Pastor, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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Newsletters have become a great way for journalists and others to dive deep into less-covered topics and engage directly with their readers in ways not always possible in the mainstream media ecosystem.

The platform Substack is making it easy for them. The subscription-based model offers writers more editorial control and the ability to offer free content and earn a sustainable salary at a time when public trust in media is low, local news is thinning and media content is often driven by social-media algorithms.

We talk about email newsletters with people who write them and critique them.

GUESTS:

Heather Cox Richardson - Professor of history at Boston College; she writes the Letters from an American newsletter
Gabe Fleisher - Student at Georgetown University and the author of the Wake Up To Politics newsletter
Isaac Saul - A journalist and the author of the Tangle newsletter
Ben Smith - Media columnist for The New York Times and the founder and former editor-in-chief of Buzzfeed News

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired May 5, 2021.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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We’ve been doing these shows most weeks where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls.

The last few times, we haven’t even started with the suggestion of a topic that your calls might, potentially, be about. And those shows have been fun. So we’re doing that again.

In other words: Give us a call during the 1 p.m. EST hour about anything at all. 888-720-9677. Or join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Joe Lieberman joins us to talk about his 24 years as a “centrist” legislator and his complicated relationship with Connecticut voters.

GUEST:

Joe Lieberman - Represented Connecticut in the U.S. Senate for 24 years; he is currently the national co-chair of the political group No Labels, and his new book is The Centrist Solution: How We Made Government Work and Can Make It Work Again

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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This hour, we talk about an assortment of topics.

First, the omicron variant has been found in at least 16 states. We’ll learn about the latest with COVID-19 and this new variant.

Then, we’ll get tips for how to think critically.

Finally, why cute cat videos have been used to spread misinformation online.

GUESTS:

Dr. Leana Wen - An emergency physician and public health professor at George Washington University. She is a CNN medical analyst and contributing columnist for The Washington Post. Her new book is “Lifelines: A Doctor’s Journey in the Fight for Public Health.”
Joe Árvai - The Dana and David Dornsife Professor of Psychology and Director of The Wrigley Institute of Environmental Studies at the University of Southern California. His recent article for The Conversation is “Aaron Rodgers dropped the ball on critical thinking -- with a little practice you can do better.”
Davey Alba - A technology reporter for The New York Times whose recent article is “Those Cute Cats Online? They Help Spread Misinformation.”

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This week, The Nose was a frying pan.

The Beatles: Get Back is a three-part Disney+ docuseries produced and directed by Peter Jackson. It’s made from material originally captured for a 1970 documentary of the making of Let It Be. Jackson has called it “a documentary about a documentary.”

Originally conceived as a feature film, The Beatles: Get Back was ultimately released last weekend as three episodes totaling nearly eight hours.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take:

Renowned fashion designer Virgil Abloh dies at 41 after a private battle with cancer
Ex-Child Actor in ‘Beasts of the Southern Wild’ Shot and Killed Police said Jonshel Alexander and a man were shot inside a vehicle Saturday in New Orleans.
Did Taylor Swift Just Make Billboard Chart History? She’s given The Beatles and Don McLean a 10-minute run for their money.
‘Home Alone’ House For Rent On Airbnb, Kevin Not Included
Which Films Lead the Biggest Best-Picture Race in Years? With epics like “West Side Story” and biopics like “King Richard” in contention, Oscar voters have plenty of choices in a category that’s now set at 10 slots.
The Best Movies of 2021 This year’s releases, augmented by movies postponed from last year, offer exceptional artistry amid the industry’s commercial difficulties.
Here’s Why Movie Dialogue Has Gotten More Difficult To Understand (And Three Ways To Fix It)
The 10 most outrageous moments from It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia The A.V. Club breaks down some of the wildest moments of the FXX comedy, which kicks off its 15th season on December 1
The New Yorker: The Best Music of 2021
NPR: Best Music Of 2021
Adele convinces Spotify to remove the shuffle button from album pages: “our stories should be listened to as we intended” Streaming giant makes it less easy on you if you want to mess with an album’s running order
Gen Z Pop Stars Made Their Mark in 2021. Beware, Millennial Forebears. Upstarts including Olivia Rodrigo, Lil Nas X, Chloe Bailey and the Kid Laroi grew up on the internet, admiring the artists who are now their contemporaries.
More Like Spotify Wrecked (I Use Apple Music) Here’s to the worst day of the year
M.L.B. Lockout: ‘We Understand It’s Bad for Our Business’ As the league and its players’ union settle in for a fight that the union called “unnecessary and provocative,” both sides went public to state their cases.
How Leisure Time Became Work The rise of the attention economy has accelerated our habit of engaging with our hobbies in a data-driven way.
The Package Is the Message American consumers can’t resist the lure of a well-designed container.
Cancel Mel Gibson Why is Hollywood still hiring this raging anti-Semite?

GUESTS:

Steve Metcalf - Director emeritus of the University of Hartford’s Presidents’ College
Irene Papoulis - Teaches writing at Trinity College
Brian Slattery - Arts editor for the New Haven Independent and a producer at WNHH radio

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From toilet paper shortages, to delayed shipping and low product inventories, the COVID-19 pandemic has taken a toll on our global supply chains.

This hour we look at what’s going on, and how supply chain disruptions have impacted truck drivers and secondhand stores. Plus, why you don’t have to worry about maple syrup shortages any time soon, thanks to a Canadian maple syrup reserve.

GUESTS:

Terry Esper- Associate Professor of Logistics in the Department of Marketing and Logistics at the Fisher College of Business of The Ohio State University. He is also on the Board of the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals.
Keith Trosell- Truck driver and owner/operator of Boba Freight, which is based in Columbia, CT.
Jeff Wieser- President and CEO of Goodwill of Western and Northern Connecticut.
Pascal Thériault- Director of the Farm Management and Technology program at McGill University.

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We’ve been doing these shows most weeks where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls.

The last few times, we haven’t even started with the suggestion of a topic that your calls might, potentially, be about. And those shows have been fun. So we’re doing that again.

In other words: Give us a call during the 1 p.m. EST hour about anything at all. 888-720-9677. Or join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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In 1959, Soviet geneticist Dmitri Belyaev started an ambitious experiment to study the origins of domestication: he would attempt to breed domesticated wild foxes by selecting on their behavior alone, a process he imagined our ancestors carried out with dogs thousands of years before.

This hour, a look at the history and progress of this still-ongoing experiment: What can it tell us about our animal companions — and ourselves?

Plus, we catch up with some domesticated fox owners and find out if foxes are good pets in real life.

GUESTS:

Amy and David Bassett - Founders of the Judith A. Bassett Canid Education and Conservation Center and the owners of several Russian domesticated foxes
Lee Dugatkin - Author of How to Tame a Fox (and Build a Dog): Visionary Scientists and a Siberian Tale of Jump-Started Evolution
Jacob Mikanowski - Writes about science, history, and art

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, Cat Pastor, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired July 26, 2017.

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Stephen Sondheim was, put simply, among the most important figures in the history of musical theater.

His major works include West Side Story, Gypsy, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Merrily We Roll Along, Sunday in the Park with George, and Into the Woods.

Sondheim won eight Tony Awards, a Pulitzer Prize, an Oscar, eight Grammy Awards, a Laurence Olivier Award, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Stephen Sondheim died November 26 in Roxbury, Connecticut. He was 91.

GUESTS:

Steve Metcalf - Director emeritus of the University of Hartford’s Presidents’ College
Alexandra Petri - Columnist for the Washington Post and the author of Nothing Is Wrong And Here Is Why
Gene Seymour - A “writer, professional spectator, pop-culture maven, and jazz geek”
Howard Sherman - Theater administrator, writer, and advocate; author of Another Day’s Begun: Thornton Wilder’s Our Town in the 21st Century

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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Bob Dylan turned 80 years old in May. His first album, 1962’s Bob Dylan, is in its 60th year on record store shelves.

We’re at a point where, for most of us, there has simply never been a popular culture in which Dylan wasn’t a towering figure whose influence seems to touch, well, everything.

This hour, a look at Bob Dylan at 80.

GUESTS:

Noah Baerman - A pianist, composer, and educator
Fred Bals - Hosted the Dreamtime podcast, covering Theme Time Radio Hour with Your Host, Bob Dylan
Sean Latham - Director of the Institute for Bob Dylan Studies, editor of The World of Bob Dylan, and the writer and narrator of It Ain’t Me You’re Looking For: Bob Dylan at 80
Gayle Wald - Professor of American studies at George Washington University; her most recent book is It’s Been Beautiful: Soul! and Black Power Television

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired May 20, 2021.

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From New Kids on the Block to *NSYNC to One Direction, boy bands have been a staple of popular music for decades.

This hour, a look at the history — and future — of boy bands.

GUESTS:

Brad Fischetti - The surviving member of LFO
Aja Romano - A culture staff writer for Vox
Maria Sherman - Author of Larger Than Life: A History of Boy Bands from NKOTB to BTS

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired September 1, 2021.

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Joni Mitchell’s album Blue turned 50 this year. It may not have the artistic sophistication of her later albums, but Mitchell’s vulnerability endeared her to fans, if not early critics unused to such intimate storytelling. That was okay with Mitchell. She said her “music is not designed to grab instantly. It’s designed to wear for a lifetime, to hold up like a fine cloth.”

She was right. Rolling Stone magazine ranked Blue the third-greatest album on its 2020 list of “The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time,” a move up from No. 33 in 2017.

We talk with musicians and critics about the album Blue and more.

GUESTS:

Peter Kaminsky - Professor of music theory at the University of Connecticut
Steve Metcalf - Director emeritus of Presidents’ College at the University of Hartford
Carolann Solebello - Singer-songwriter

Join us on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired April 8, 2021.

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This week, The Nose is lightning with the blam blams.

First: Taylor Swift’s new 15-minute film for the new 10-minute version of her old five-minute song “All Too Well.” Swift played all of “All Too Well (10 Minute Version)” in front of some of the film live on Saturday night. It is now the longest song anyone has ever performed on SNL.

And then: The Problem with Jon Stewart is a “late night” show that “airs” every other Thursday on AppleTV+. It marks Stewart’s return to television hosting after leaving The Daily Show in 2015. Each episode is an hour long and focuses on one issue. Four episodes are available so far.

And finally: The Harder They Fall is a revisionist Western co-written and directed by the British singer-songwriter and music producer Jeymes Samuel, in his feature film debut. The movie, streamable now on Netflix, opens with title cards: “While the events of this story are fictional… These. People. Existed.” and nearly every character of any import is Black.

Some other stuff that happened in the last couple weeks, give or take:

Dean Stockwell, Actor Known for ‘Quantum Leap,’ ‘Blue Velvet’ and ‘Married to the Mob,’ Dies at 85
Ed Bullins, Leading Playwright of the Black Arts Movement, Dies at 86 He wrote not for white or middle-class audiences, but for the strivers, hustlers and quiet sufferers whose struggles he sought to capture in searing works.
Rapper Young Dolph Was Killed In A Shooting In Memphis The 36-year-old rapper had survived shooting attacks in the past, incorporating his experiences into the music he released over the years.
Heath Freeman, ‘NCIS’ and ‘Bones’ actor, dead at 41
Paul Rudd Is PEOPLE’s 2021 Sexiest Man Alive: ‘I’m Getting Business Cards Made’ “I’m going to lean into it hard,” the actor says of earning the crown. “I’m going to own this"
What The Sexiest Man Alive Has Looked Like Every Year Since 1985 And What They Look Like NowSome of these are so random.
Inside Ivy Getty’s Fantasy Wedding Weekend in San Francisco
Big Bird got ‘vaccinated’ against COVID-19, drawing outrage from Republicans
The Metaverse Is Already Here — It’s Minecraft Blocky game-worlds are decentralized, thriving, hackable, and have produced a vibrant economy
Disney Plus to Launch 13 Marvel Movies in Imax Expanded Aspect Ratio
Star Wars Spin-Off Rogue Squadron Delayed, Director Patty Jenkins Still Attached
This West Side Story Teaser Wants To Pretend This Movie Isn’t A Musical For Some Reason
America’s Dad Is Lonelier Than Ever In recent movies like Finch, Tom Hanks’ once-genial everyman doesn’t have much use for humanity.
Disney+ Growth Slows, Stock Takes Big Hit Ahead Of Disney+ Day
Aaron Sorkin Defends ‘Being the Ricardos’ Casting Decisions The writer-director opens up about controversies in casting Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem, the parallels between McCarthy-era Hollywood and cancel culture today, and the all-important endorsement of Lucy and Desi’s daughter.
What happened to Eric Clapton? The guitar legend has long been inscrutable, but his covid turn has friends and fans puzzled like never before.
‘Party Down’ Revival Gets Starz Greenlight With Six Of Original Series’ Seven Stars Returning
Jane Campion Will Never Direct a Superhero Movie: ‘I Hate Them’
Dubbing ‘A Fistful of Dollars’ to spread the Navajo language
Grandma mistakenly invited a stranger to Thanksgiving. Six years later, they still celebrate the holiday together. The Internet is still swooning over their feel-good friendship

GUESTS:

Rich Hollant - Principal at CO:LAB, founder of Free Center, and commissioner on cultural affairs for the city of Hartford
Shawn Murray - A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Nobody Asked Shawn podcast
Carolyn Paine - An actress, comedian, and dancer, and she is founder, director, and choreographer of CONNetic Dance

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Cat Pastor, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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It’s a smorgaspourri of disparate topics this hour.

First: Who will be the Democratic nominee for president in 2024? President Biden says he’ll run, and being that he’s supposed to still be president in 2024, that would make sense. But not everyone believes him. So then you’d have to figure Vice President Harris, right? Well, there are some questions about that theory too.

And then: Why isn’t there a COVID vaccine for pets? Dogs and cats both get COVID from people. Lots of animals can. And lots of animals are getting vaccinated. Minks. Jaguars. Orangutans, otters, ferrets, lions, tigers… All getting vaccinated. So why not cats and dogs?

And finally: What happened to Eric Clapton? The legendary blues guitarist and singer hadn’t released a protest song in his 56 years of recording, until last year, when he and Van Morrison started putting out songs protesting… COVID lockdowns? And now Clapton won’t play places where there are vaccine mandates, and he gives interviews to anti-vax YouTube channels. Just what is going on there, exactly?

GUESTS:

Emily Anthes - Science and health reporter for The New York Times
Geoff Edgers - National arts reporter for The Washington Post
Alex Thompson - White House correspondent for POLITICO

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Occam's razor states that "entities should not be multiplied beyond necessity.”

This hour is all about Occam’s razor: where the principle came from, how it impacts science, its role in medicine, and how it shapes our daily lives.

GUESTS:

Johnjoe McFadden-Author of “Life Is Simple: How Occam's Razor Set Science Free and Shapes the Universe.”
Kurt Andersen - Co-founder of Spy Magazine and he was the host and co-creator of Studio 360; his newest book is “Evil Geniuses: The Unmaking of America -- A Recent History.”
Dr. Lisa Sanders - A Clinician Educator in the Primary Care Internal Medicine Residency Program at the Yale School of Medicine. She is also the author of the “Diagnosis” column for “The New York Times Magazine,” and is behind the Netflix show “Diagnosis.” She was also a technical advisor for the TV show “House,” which was based on her column.

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But who decides what’s woo-woo, and what gets accepted into the hallowed halls of scientific truth?

On any given day in history, one person’s science is another person’s woo-woo.

This hour, we bring together both skeptics and believers in an attempt to pin down exactly what constitutes “woo-woo.”

GUESTS:

Stuart Hameroff - Anesthesiologist and professor at the University of Arizona known for theories on quantum consciousness
Michael Shermer - Founder of The Skeptics Society and the author of The Believing Brain: From Ghosts and Gods to Politics and Conspiracies — How We Construct Beliefs and Reinforce Them as Truths and The Moral Arc: How Science Makes Us Better People
Jess Tomlinson - Creator of Radiant & Rise

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Greg Hill, Jonathan McNicol, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired September 22, 2015.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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We’ve been doing these shows most weeks where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls.

The last few times, we haven’t even started with the suggestion of a topic that your calls might, potentially, be about. And those shows have been fun. So we’re doing that again.

In other words: Give us a call during the 1 p.m. EST hour about anything at all. 888-720-9677. Or join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Dragons have captured our imagination going back to the Greek and Roman Empires when the skeletal bones of dinosaurs fed the myths we still believe today.

And those myths show up in our most popular popular culture today – in the Harry Potter books and movies, in Tolkien’s Middle-earth books and movies, in George R. R. Martin’s Drogon, Rhaegal, and Viserion.

This hour, a look at dragons from the ancients through Game of Thrones.

GUESTS:

Cressida Cowell - Author of the How to Train Your Dragon series
Adrienne Mayor - Author of The First Fossil Hunters: Paleontology in Greek and Roman Times and Fossil Legends of the First Americans
William O’Connor - The late author and illustrator of the Dracopedia book trilogy
Matthew Reilly - Author The Great Zoo of China, among many other novels

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Greg Hill, Jonathan McNicol, Chion Wolf, and Alan Yu contributed to this show, which originally aired June 4, 2015.

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Toad’s Place and The Shaboo Inn were part of a magical era for music in Connecticut in the 1970s and ’80s. It was a time when small music venues had a symbiotic relationship with fans and could lure thousands of rock, blues, and hip-hop superstars like Bruce Springsteen, Muddy Waters, and Cardi B to their stages.

Local arts papers, FM radio, two huge coliseums, a less fragmented music industry, and plenty of college students from places like Yale and UConn who wanted cheap drinks and great music, provided a pipeline for local and national artists who wanted the intimacy of a smaller venue.

This hour, the past and future of Toad’s and the Shaboo.

GUESTS:

Randall Beach - A columnist for Connecticut magazine and a former reporter, columnist, and rock music critic for the New Haven Register; he’s the co-author of The Legendary Toad’s Place: Stories from New Haven’s Famed Music Venue
Brian Phelps - Owner of Toad’s Place and the co-author of The Legendary Toad’s Place: Stories from New Haven’s Famed Music Venue
David Foster - Former co-owner of the Shaboo Inn, founder of the Shaboo and Mohegan Sun All-Stars, and current owner of Shaboo Productions

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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The inconic inventor and pitchman Ron Popeil died July 28. He was 86 years old. This hour, we listen back to the 2016 show we did with Popeil on the form he perfected: the infomercial.

The Thighmaster, the Chop-O-Matic, the George Foreman Grill, and the Clapper… products which are all part of American consumer culture and which were all introduced through infomercials.

But as online shopping increases and traditional television watching decreases, what will become of celebrity pitchmen like Tony Little and Richard Simmons?

GUESTS:

Kevin Harrington - Author of Key Person of Influence: The Five-Step Method to Become One of the Most Highly Valued and Highly Paid People in Your Industry
Ron Popeil - The late inventor and infomercial pitchman
Remy Stern - Author of But Wait… There’s More! Tighten Your Abs, Make Millions, and Learn How the $100 Billion Infomercial Industry Sold Us Everything But the Kitchen Sink

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Lydia Brown, Ray Hardman, Greg Hill, Betsy Kaplan, Ross Levin, Stephanie Riefe, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired March 7, 2016.

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Philip Morris became Altria. Apple Computer became Apple. Radio Shack became The Shack (and then went bankrupt). The New Britain Rock Cats moved to Hartford and became the Yard Goats. Tribune Publishing Co. became Tronc (and then became the Tribune Publishing Co. again). Dunkin’ Donuts became Dunkin’. The Washington Redskins became the Washington Football Team. Last month, Facebook became Meta. And next year, the Cleveland Indians will become the Cleveland Guardians and the Washington Football Team will become… something else.

And that’s all just this century, and it’s all just companies and sports teams.

Let’s not forget Puff Daddy/P. Diddy/Puffy or Snoop Doggy Dogg/Snoop Lion/Snoop Dogg or John Mellencamp/Johnny Cougar/John Cougar Mellencamp. Or His Royal Badness, The Artist Formerly Known as an Unpronounceable and Untypable Symbol. Or, just, David Bowie. Or, just, Madonna.

Sometimes a logo gets old or an identity gets stale or a color scheme gets out of date. Sometimes a company or a sports team needs to put its past behind it. Sometimes people go to a doughnut shop mostly for coffee. Sometimes a computer company mostly sells iPods and iPhones and iPads.

Sometimes rebranding is the only solution. Or a terrible mistake. Or even just an interesting challenge.

This hour: rebranding, from Google to Kanye to, yes, The Colin McEnroe Show.

GUESTS:

Patrick Dugan - Creative director and chief copywriter at Adams and Knight
Irene Papoulis - Teaches writing at Trinity College
Mike Pesca - Host of the independent podcast The Gist
Garett Sloane - Technology, digital, and media reporter for Ad Age
Brendan Jay Sullivan - A writer, producer, DJ, and food history TikTokker

Join the conversation on Facebook (or whatever it’s called) and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, Cat Pastor, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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Over the past few weeks, there has been a debate surrounding Munger Hall, a dorm designed by billionaire Charles Munger to house over 4,000 students on the University of California, Santa Barbara’s campus. The design has been criticized because of the lack of windows in most rooms, and concerns over fire safety.

This hour, inspired by that debate, we discuss architecture that makes humans feel bad, and the ethics of architecture.

GUESTS:

Mark Pasnik -Architect at OverUnder, Professor at Wentworth Institute of Technology, and author of Heroic: Concrete Architecture and the New Boston
Joseph Heathcott -Chair of Urban and Environmental Studies at The New School
Shalini Agrawal - Associate Professor in the Critical Ethnic Studies Program at the California College for the Arts, Director and Co-Founder of Pathways to Equity, and Founder and Principal of Public Design For Equity
Julio Bermudez - Director of the Sacred Space and Cultural Studies graduate concentration program of The Catholic University of America School of Architecture and Planning

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Voyage is ABBA’s ninth studio album and their first album of new material in 40 years. Its 10 tracks dropped early this morning. A concert residency, ABBA Voyage, is scheduled to run next year in London. The band will not appear in person for these concerts. Instead, digital “ABBAtars” will perform in their place. It was announced that ABBA would officially break up after the release of Voyage.

And: Succession is an hour-long, satirical comedy-drama series on HBO. It was created by Jesse Armstrong and originally debuted in 2018. We’re three episodes into its third season, and 23 episodes have aired overall. Its first two seasons won nine Emmys between them, including Outstanding Drama Series in 2020. Succession was renewed for a fourth season in October.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take:

‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’ Halloween and the Anatomy of the Sitcom Holiday Episode Over eight seasons on two networks, the recurring Halloween heists established a model template for one of TV’s underappreciated art forms
The 1970s sitcom divide that still secretly rules American TV comedy Though less and less of it with every year
We Asked Gen Z to Review Millennial Subculture Fashion From emo to nu-rave, nobody is safe.
This Man Moved Several States Away, Not Realizing He Had Accepted A Job At NASA, And TikTok Can’t Get Enough Of The Story I signed the paperwork and they measured me for my spacesuit.
Can We Separate the Art From the Artist?

GUESTS:

Rebecca Castellani - Co-founder of Quiet Corner Communications and a freelance writer
Sam Hadelman - Works in music public relations and hosts The Sam Hadelman Show at Radio Free Brooklyn

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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We’ve been doing these shows most weeks where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls.

The last few times, we haven’t even started with the suggestion of a topic that your calls might, potentially, be about. And those shows have been fun. So we’re doing that again.

In other words: Give us a call during the 1 p.m. EDT hour about anything at all. 888-720-9677. Or join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Should people use Oxford commas? Is there a correct number of exclamation points per email? If someone ends a casual text with a period, does that mean they're mad at you?

This hour is all about punctuation and how we use it. We talk about the history of punctuation marks, timeless punctuation debates, and how writing for texts and emails has changed the way we use punctuation.

GUESTS:

Claire Cock-Starkey - Author of Hyphens and Hashtags: The Stories Behind The Symbols On Our Keyboard
Julia Pistell - Founding member of Sea Tea Improv, one of the hosts of the Literary Disco podcast, and a producer freelancing with us
Raquel Benedict -Claims to be the most dangerous woman in speculative fiction; she’s the host of the Rite Gud podcast

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Why is there something rather than nothing? This has been described as perhaps the most sublime philosophical question of all. This hour, we try to answer it. But as we do, we realize that it’s not just a philosophical quandary; it’s a scientific, cultural, and theological one as well.

Indeed, to the extent that “nothing” is even understood, it is understood so differently across different domains that one person’s nothing truly is another person’s something.

Confused? You’re not alone. The concept has vexed, distressed, and seduced all manner of folk, from Aristotle to Einstein, and remains no less mysterious to today’s brightest minds.

GUESTS:

Ronald Green - Author of Nothing Matters: A Book About Nothing
Jim Holt - Author of Why Does The World Exist? An Existential Detective Story
James Owen Weatherall - Author of Void: The Strange Physics of Nothing

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired December 6, 2016.

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There's something almost romantic about airships--from zeppelins to dirigibles to little Goodyear Blimps. The image of a giant, floating aircraft feels both nostalgic and futuristic. In the early 20th century, airships were on the leading edge of aviation; today, they mostly live on in the domain of steampunk art and speculative fiction.
But a number of companies are betting they can bring airships out of the history books and into modern real-world applications like cargo transport and military uses.

This hour, we talk with speculative fiction author Ken Liu, as well as a journalist and the leader of a modern hybrid airship company about airships, real and imagined.

GUESTS:

Ken Liu-Speculative fiction author and futurist, the author of the Dandelion Dynasty, an epic fantasy featuring airships
Jeanne Marie Laskas- Journalist; she wrote a piece for The New Yorker in 2016 on modern airships
Nick Allman -Chief Operating Officer of Hybrid Air Vehicles

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Facebook announced Thursday that its umbrella company will rebrand as “Meta.” Mark Zuckerberg said that the new name reflects the full breadth of the future the company wants to help build: “Now we have a new North Star: to help bring the Metaverse to life. From now on, we’re going to be Metaverse first, not Facebook first.”

And: Do we want TV shows (and movies and books, etc.) to acknowledge the pandemic? It’s an odd conundrum. When shows deal with it, it seems intrusive. When they don’t, it seems unrealistic.

And finally: Dune: Part One is the fourth screen adaptation of Frank Herbert’s book series that dates back to the 1960s. It is directed and co-written by Denis Villeneuve, and it debuted in theaters and on HBOMax on October 22. A sequel was officially greenlit this week.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take:

Mort Sahl, Whose Biting Commentary Redefined Stand-Up, Dies at 94 A self-appointed warrior against hypocrisy, he revolutionized comedy in the 1950s by addressing political and social issues.
There’s No Dave Chappelle or Hannah Gadsby Without Mort Sahl Before Sahl, who died at 94 on Tuesday, intellectual arguments and controversial stances were off-limits to stand-ups seeking mass acceptance.
James Michael Tyler death: ‘Friends’ star who played Gunther dies from cancer, aged 59 ‘If you met him once you made a friend for life,’ family says of actor
The First Thing We Do, Let’s Kill All the Leaf Blowers
Photos Are Too Flattering Now An ode to the bygone days of blurry, poorly lit images
What happens when your favorite thing goes viral? A 2002 song by the Mountain Goats about a doomed divorce is suddenly big on TikTok. Why?
Joe Exotic, Carole Baskin, And Jeff Lowe’s Complicated Saga Continues In The First Trailer For “Tiger King 2” The big cat owners and their bigger rivalries will return to Netflix next month.
There is a consistency to the debate over book censorship: Distress about change
The Alec Baldwin shooting has some people calling for only computer-generated gunshots. It’s not as easy as it sounds. Creating a realistic muzzle flash is a key part of the problem
Gwyneth Paltrow, Jada Pinkett Smith Declare Porn ‘Harmful to Women’
Chappelle is unapologetic in his first public statement on ‘The Closer’ controversy
The 37-Year-Olds Are Afraid of the 23-Year-Olds Who Work for Them Twenty-somethings rolling their eyes at the habits of their elders is a longstanding trend, but many employers said there’s a new boldness in the way Gen Z dictates taste.

GUESTS:

Helder Mira - Multimedia producer at Trinity College and co-host of the So Pretentious podcast
Irene Papoulis - Teaches writing at Trinity College

Join the conversation on Facebook (I’m pretty sure it’s still called that) and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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We realized a few years ago that — basically because Colin and I are fraidy cats — The Nose doesn’t cover very much horror stuff. So we started doing an annual Halloween special that tackles horror head-on, in a vaguely Nose-ish way.

This year: Could it be that the one genre with a certain amount of immunity from the Disneyfication, the cinematic universeification of everything… is horror?

And: There’s an ongoing renaissance in Black horror dating back to Jordan Peele’s Get Out in 2017. This year’s best example is probably Nia DaCosta’s Candyman reboot/remake/sequel (co-written by DaCosta and Peele). But horror’s creeping (you see what I did there) reckoning with racism is having its share of ups and downs, too.

GUESTS:

Raquel Benedict - Claims to be the most dangerous woman in speculative fiction; she’s the host of the Rite Gud podcast
David Jesudason - A freelance writer and journalist
Rich Johnson - Writes about movies; he’s the host of two movie podcasts: Film & and Mondo Moviehouse

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

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An entrenched anxiety is taking hold throughout America. You can feel it in the air and see it in the rise of guns, doomsday preppers, and mask wars. The deep economic and social insecurity at the root of our anxiety comes from political decisions made since 9/11 that starve the public to benefit the private.

The elections of Barack Obama and Donald Trump, the Black Lives Matter movement, the global pandemic, and our endless war on terror have exposed our failures and electrified our anxiety.

Today, we talk about the cost of our public discontent and endless war.

GUESTS:

Evan Osnos - A staff writer at The New Yorker, a CNN contributor, and a senior fellow at Brookings Institution; his most recent book is Wildland: The Making of America’s Fury
Samuel Moyn - Teaches law and history at Yale; his most recent book is Humane: How the United States Abandoned Peace and Reinvented War

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Cat Pastor and Colin McEnroe contributed to this show.

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From ancient scrolls to modern toner cartridges, ink (in one form or another) has been around for millennia. And while we may take it for granted now, for much of that time, it was a precious and coveted substance.

Ink makers closely guarded their recipes; spy agencies developed secret, invisible ink formulations; and even now, billions are spent to create the perfect printer inks.

This hour, we look back at the history of ink and ask whether its heyday might be coming to a close.

GUESTS:

Ted Bishop - Author of Ink: Culture, Wonder And Our Relationship With The Written Word
Kristie Macrakis - Author of Prisoners, Lovers, & Spies: The Story of Invisible Ink from Herodotus to al Qaeda
Kyle Wiens - Founder of iFixit

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired August 9, 2017.

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This hour, we’re joined by Kelefa Sanneh, author of Major Labels: A History of Popular Music in Seven Genres. We talk about music genres and look back at the history of music.

GUESTS:

Kelefa Sanneh-Author of Major Labels: A History of Popular Music in Seven Genres and a staff writer at The New Yorker

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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This week, BBC Culture dropped its list of “The 100 Greatest TV series of the 21st Century.” No. 1 is exactly what you’d think it’d be, but below that, there’s plenty to argue about. (Deadwood at 18?! Horse pucky.) The Nose, over the years, has covered many of the shows on the list, by the way: Atlanta, Black Mirror, Fleabag, Game of Thrones, The Good Place, I May Destroy You, Mindhunter, OJ: Made in America, The Queen’s Gambit, Schitt’s Creek, Stranger Things, The Underground Railroad, Watchmen… to name a few.

And, speaking of shows: Maid is a Netflix limited series inspired by Stephanie Land’s memoir, Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother’s Will to Survive, and created by Molly Smith Metzler. Netflix describes it this way: “After fleeing an abusive relationship, a young mother finds a job cleaning houses as she fights to provide for her child and build them a better future.” Its 10 episodes dropped on October 1.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take:

Alec Baldwin Fired Prop Gun That Killed Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, Injured Director
Hartford names city’s first troubadour and flow artist; Khaiim Kelly and Lael Marie Saez will serve three-year terms
The Many Decades of Bond “How has someone who is a borderline rapist, murderer, and potential sociopath, endured through all these decades?”
Michael Caine Says His Latest Film Is His Last, but He’s Not Retired The 88-year-old screen legend says he’s transitioning to writing, while his representatives walk back his remarks.
Americans Are Overworked And Over Work “As I’ve gotten older, work is definitely [still] really important, but I think I’ve started to see it less as my identity.”
It’s Quitting Season
‘I Screwed Up’: Netflix’s Ted Sarandos Addresses Dave Chappelle Fallout
Netflix Staff Raised Concerns About Chappelle Special Before Its Release The company is dealing with an internal outcry unprecedented in its history.
Dave Chappelle’s views on gender are problematic and hurtful
Addison Rae Was Permanently Banned From TikTok For Literally Like A Day, So I Guess She Can Go Back To Dancing Now “Time to get a job.”
Why ‘Y: The Last Man’ Was Abruptly Canceled Six years after landing at FX for development, the drama based on the beloved comic series was axed before it could even finish its first and (possibly) only season.
Y: The Last Man Might Get Resurrected On HBO Max
The Huge Box Office For Halloween Kills Seemingly Says A Lot About Peacock
Succession at Scholastic Seemed to Be a Shock, Even to the New Chairwoman The powerhouse children’s publisher, known for Harry Potter, had been passed from father to son until Iole Lucchese, a top executive, was given control.
Top 40 New Wave Albums
The Believer Literary Magazine Shutting Down Issue No. 139, due out in February 2022, will be its last
Kanye West is now officially ‘Ye’
‘Handmaid’s Tale’ Author Margaret Atwood Faces Backlash for Gender Neutrality Tweet
MLB Just Tried a Bunch of Experimental Rules in the Minors. How Well Did They Work? Several minor leagues served as the guinea pig for ideas that could improve the pace of play, including robo umps, pushing the mound back, and bigger bases. Were they effective?
‘The Sopranos’: WarnerMedia In Talks With David Chase About HBO Max Prequel Series
Why Groundhog Day Left Harold Ramis And Bill Murray’s Friendship In Shambles
Royal Caribbean to offer 274-night cruise — the world’s longest

GUESTS:

Rand Richards Cooper - A fiction writer, contributing editor at Commonweal, and the restaurant critic for the Hartford Courant
Mercy Quaye - Founder and principal consultant for The Narrative Project

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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Rust is all around us. It’s in our cars, our homes, our infrastructure. It’s also the subject of Jonathan Waldman’s book Rust: The Longest War, which introduces us to the people who fight it.

This hour, Waldman joins us, and we hear from a visual artist who has found a way to incorporate rust into her work.

GUESTS:

Esther Solondz - A Rhode Island-based visual artist
Jonathan Waldman - Author of Rust: The Longest War

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Colin McEnroe, Greg Hill, Jonathan McNicol, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired March 25, 2015.

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We’ve been doing these shows most weeks where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls.

The last few times, we haven’t even started with the suggestion of a topic that your calls might, potentially, be about. And those shows have been fun. So we’re doing that again.

In other words: Give us a call during the 1 p.m. EDT hour about anything at all. 888-720-9677. Or join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

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