The Colin McEnroe Show

We don't need politicians. Hélène Landemore makes the case

20 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Do we really need politicians? What would our politics look like without them? These are some of the ideas that Yale political scientist Hél&eg...

Why does "like" bother us so much?

19 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 G...

All Calls: Stop spraying your sperm-laden dust on my Subaru Outback

18 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

You may be wrong, but you may be right: A look at Billy Joel

15 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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...

The day the clowns cried: A look at ‘Circus Fire’ and the Hartford circus fire

14 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

The intangibility of ‘good taste,' from literature to food

13 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 a...

All calls: deChardin will take you on a hot air balloon ride you weren’t expecting to go on

12 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

What the golden age of Condé Nast can tell us about the future of magazines

11 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Michael M. Grynbaum's book Empire of the Elite: Inside Condé Nast, the Media Dynasty That Reshaped America, traces the rise of Condé Nas...

The Nose looks at ‘Lord of the Flies’ and ‘The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins’

08 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 writte...

Listen and you shall hear the lore and legend of Paul Revere

07 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 Rev...

George Orwell saw it coming

06 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

George Orwell's novels 1984 and Animal Farm feel especially prescient in this moment, as surveillance technologies continue to exp...

Monsters: A look at the real, the fake, and the friendly

05 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Monsters are our subconscious perversions, our twisted fears realized, but what causes their creation, and how are they made? This hour, we look at fa...

All calls: ‘I’ll never call while eating a hamburger again’

04 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

An hour with Rupert Holmes

01 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Rupert Holmes won two Tony Awards for his musical The Mystery of Edwin Drood. His single “Escape (The Piña Colada Song)” went to No...

O Romeo (and Juliet): The lasting appeal of Shakespeare’s tragedy

30 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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

Occam’s razor makes the case for simplicity in a complex world

29 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Occam’s razor states that “entities should not be multiplied beyond necessity.” This hour: Occam’s razor — where the pri...

Beverly Gage's road trip through American history

28 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

To celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, historian Beverly Gage took a road trip around the country to vi...

All Calls: Rome is kind of like a lasagna

27 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

Wild and crazy guys: A look at ’80s comedies

24 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Bill Murray, Eddie Murphy, Chevy Chase, Steve Martin, John Belushi, John Candy, Rick Moranis. Animal House, The Blues Brothers, Beverly Hills Cop, Cad...

Beam me up! A look at teleportation

23 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Gregg Phillips, the current head of the largest division at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, has said that he has teleported multiple times &m...

Rope has been knotting humanity together for centuries

22 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 t...

The value of introspection in an outward-looking world

21 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Westend61/Getty Images What happens when the people reshaping our world don't believe in introspection? This hour, a look at looking inward. And, we e...

All Calls: With callers like these, who needs Shazam?

20 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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. The...

How critics and creatives grapple with spoilers and plot twists, like those in 'The Drama'

17 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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...

‘A most confounding affliction’: A look at headaches

16 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Headache symptoms can strike sufferers without warning, disabling them for even days at a time. There have been nearly 4,000 years of documented heada...

Every weirdo in the world: A look at Thomas Pynchon

15 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

On September 26, 2025, last year’s Best Picture Oscar winner, One Battle After Another, a loose adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s novel&...

An hour with poet Christian Wiman

14 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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...

All calls: Could the Statue of Liberty be they/them?

13 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

All calls: Special make-up Friday edition

10 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Sycophancy: From Shakespeare to AI

08 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

All calls: The Grackle kept Colin up all night, then broke the phones

07 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

Combating corrosion: The war on rust

06 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 L...

The Nose looks at ‘Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie’ and ‘Louis Theroux: Inside the Manosphere’

03 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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,...

Demystifying the life, and legacy, of Henry David Thoreau

02 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Henry David Thoreau is a bit of a polarizing figure. He has been both celebrated and criticized for his writing. He’s considered an inspirationa...

‘Murder in the Dollhouse’: Jennifer Dulos and our fascination with true crime

01 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 m...

Americans love the idea of royals. So why do we hate the idea of kings?

31 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

All calls: "Let's Go Culverts!" (Is not an actual radio show)

30 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

The Nose looks at ‘Project Hail Mary’ and ‘Saturday Night Live UK’

27 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

How nihilism can help us find meaning in this moment

26 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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: N...

What do rising measles cases say about public health and trust?

25 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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...

The backbone of rock and roll: The drummer

24 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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

All calls: The ninjas next door took my parents’ stuffed owl

23 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

How WWE got a chokehold on U.S. politics

20 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Josephine Riesman, author of Ringmaster: Vince McMahon and the Unmaking of America, argues that understanding WWE can help us understand President Don...

How do we calculate the cost of war?

19 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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,...

March Madness 2026

18 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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...

All calls: Crows make better noise than Oasis

17 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

The Noscars 2026

16 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The 98th Academy Awards were Sunday night. KPop Demon Hunters swept its two nominations. Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein c...

What if tug of war were still an Olympic sport? And other questions with Mike Pesca

13 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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,...

How cowboys, action movies, and hypermasculinity can help us understand the war with Iran

12 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The Trump administration’s messaging around the war with Iran feels reminiscent of stuff like … cowboy movies. And video games. And the m...

What happens when we can bet on anything?

11 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

From the Golden Globes, to global conflicts, to elections, prediction markets have moved into the mainstream. What happens when we can bet on anything...

All calls: Marty the Robot is gonna kill Colin first chance he gets

09 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

Attention must be paid: A look at ‘Death of a Salesman’

07 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 sai...

How reality TV shapes our politics

05 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 understa...

From Mr. Rogers to Minneapolis, what does it mean to be a 'neighbor'?

04 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 n...

What is the role of faith leaders right now?

03 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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...

All Calls: Mr. Picky wants to be a pirate, not a cowboy

02 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

The Nose looks at ‘The Secret Agent’ and ‘Network’

27 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The Secret Agent (O agento secreto) is a neo-noir political thriller written and directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho. It’s set in Braz...

A look at the art of casting

26 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 Be...

All Calls: You had me at consciousness.

25 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

A refresher on your rights and why they’re worth fighting for

24 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Alissa Wilkinson on Joan Didion, Hollywood, and American mythmaking

23 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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:  ...

Love, revenge, moors: why we’re haunted by ‘Wuthering Heights’

20 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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? Th...

The animating power of rivers with writer Robert Macfarlane

19 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 woul...

Shedding light on the mystery of Mary

18 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Biblical scholar James Tabor says that Mary – the mother of Jesus – is “the best known, least known woman in history.” This ho...

All calls: Name a musician who is not from Connecticut

17 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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. The...

The Nose looks at ‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’ and ‘Hamnet’

13 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Listen live Friday at 1 p.m. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is the third series in the A Song of Ice and Fire television franchise. It ...

Why whistles are becoming the symbol of the moment

12 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 o...

The wonder of termites

11 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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, ther...

A look at the Kennedy Center, the Melania luxury brand, and more

10 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

On February 1, President Trump announced that The Kennedy Center would close for two years for “Construction, Revitalization, and Complete Rebui...

All calls: The fleeting joy of waking up in the United States of Bunny

09 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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. The...

The Nose tries to figure out how to deal with … all this

06 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 d...

What counts as 'classical music'?

05 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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...

All calls: You caught me mid-Burger

04 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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. The...

Nothing lasts forever, except maybe Stoicism

03 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 ho...

The Nose looks at ‘The Night Manager’ and ‘Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man!’

30 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 aire...

Historian Joanne Freeman on reckoning with where we are and where we want to be

29 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Do you hear the people sing? A celebration of protest songs

28 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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....

We take your calls

27 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

The romance of the north

26 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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...

The Nose looks at ‘Song Sung Blue’ and ‘Merrily We Roll Along’

23 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Kalaallit Nunaat: An exploration of Greenland

22 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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. Greenl...

All calls: Fear and present danger: Listeners react to Trump’s obsession with Greenland

21 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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. The...

From totes to Birkins, handbags hold the keys to the world (along with your wallet and phone)

20 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 pl...

The Nose looks at ‘Marty Supreme’ and ‘Good Night, and Good Luck.: Live on Broadway’

16 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Marty Supreme is the first movie written and directed by Josh Safdie without his former filmmaking partner, his brother Benny Safdie. It is a spo...

A look at human stupidity, from Socrates to today

15 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Two thumbs up: A show all about fingers

14 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

All calls: Boomy babers are the ones who worry about the mail

13 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

The value of expertise in a world where everybody knows everything

12 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 so...

The Nose catches up on some of the 2025 movies it had missed

09 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 tri...

The humble fly

08 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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’...

We take your calls

07 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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. The...

What Wikipedia can teach us about truth, information, and random trivia

06 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 a...

Historian Timothy Snyder helps us understand this current moment through the lessons of history

05 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

Our favorite jazz of 2025

30 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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, com...

List making, listicles, lists of lists: An hour devoted to list culture

29 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Live from Watkinson, it’s part 2 of our 2025 holiday spectacular

27 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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 throug...

Live from Watkinson, it’s part 1 of our 2025 holiday spectacular

24 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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 throug...

Checking in on self-checkout

23 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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, an...

All calls: Vultures tend not to eat Episcopalians

22 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

The Nose looks at ‘The Mastermind’ and ‘Sorry, Baby’

19 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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 ho...