The Colin McEnroe Show
Episodes
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...
The echoes of the Red Scare can be heard today
18 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 S...
A look at the quiet power of the Schuyler sisters, Eliza and Angelica
17 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
You may know the Schuyler sisters, Angelica and Elizabeth (and Peggy!), from Hamilton. But the musical just scratches the surface of their fascin...
Why the American dream and the tragedy of 'The Great Gatsby' still resonate today
16 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
All calls: The thing about cats and comets is that you can’t reason with either one
15 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 ...
‘Love’s in need of love today’: A look at Stevie Wonder
12 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 “messag...
How robots, and our attitudes toward them, have evolved
11 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 medie...
Nothing to see here: Erasure in history, art and more
10 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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...
What the history of the McKinley era, tariffs, and the Gilded Age can teach us about the present
09 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
All calls: Should we be less worried about the Netflix deal and more worried about the collapse of the CDC?
08 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 ‘PLUR1BUS’ and ‘Orwell: 2 + 2 = 5’
05 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week’s Nose — guest hosted by writer and journalist Lindsay Lee Wallace — looks at: PLUR1BUS is a new post-apocalyptic sci-fi t...
A look at cultural manias from Liszt and orchids to the Beatles and beyond
04 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Trinity College's new president, Daniel G. Lugo, reflects on the transformative power of higher education
03 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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...
All calls: Guess the song; Win a free starling
02 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, calls about anything, everything. The...
Remembering Sir Tom Stoppard
01 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In 2014, Colin McEnroe and the playwright and screenwriter Tom Stoppard recorded a live conversation at The Study in New Haven. Stoppard, whom Colin c...
Wednesday is Soylent Day
26 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
The art of the recipe: Gravestones, fictional worlds, and cookbooks (of course)
25 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 mo...
‘Betcha can’t eat just one’: The science and art of snacking
24 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 Hern&aacu...
A (Paul) Winter’s Tale
21 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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. Wi...
There are rules for punctuation, but we don’t always agree on them
20 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
From spiritual to practical: We could learn a lot from modern (and Sixteenth-century!) nuns
19 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 s...
Happy Little Trees: The joy of Bob Ross (and Thomas Kinkade)
18 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 und...
All calls: Beware Pandora's crawlspace, it's FULL of sprickets
17 Nov 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, calls about anything, everything. The...
The Nose looks at ‘SNL’s Trump, Pope Leo’s favorite movies, and ‘Death by Lightning’
14 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 — a...
What the world needs now: The chemistry of Burt Bacharach and Dionne Warwick
13 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This hour, it’s our show on the relationship and chemistry between Burt Bacharach and Dionne Warwick (and the lyricist Hal David) recorded live ...
Why stories about heists, real or in movies, steal our hearts
12 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 h...
All Calls: Wiggingham, CT overrun with stomping, jumping spiders
10 Nov 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, calls about anything, everything. The...
The Nose looks at ‘Blue Moon’ and ‘Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere’
07 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Blue Moon is the ninth movie directed by Richard Linklater and starring Ethan Hawke. It is written by Robert Kaplow and “inspired by” the ...
Shall we dance?
06 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Why do we dance? The answer is more complicated than you might think. Dancing has served a multitude of functions for various cultures throughout hist...
What if we were addicted to forgiveness instead of revenge?
05 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 reveng...
From jelly beans to Diet Mountain Dew, how politicians eat and why it matters
04 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 Whi...
All calls: Does anybody even know what time it is on Lord Howe Island anyway?
03 Nov 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 ‘A House of Dynamite’ and ‘Task’
31 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A House of Dynamite is an apocalyptic political thriller directed by Kathryn Bigelow. It is Bigelow’s first movie in eight years, since Detroit ...
A look back at more than 200 years of Frankenstein (and his monster)
30 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
There are few monsters more iconic or enduring than Frankenstein’s. From Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel to the 1931 Universal monster movie to ...