The Colin McEnroe Show
Episodes
An ode to ink
26 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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,...
Music critic and author Kelefa Sanneh writes that music genres are communities
25 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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 an...
The Nose looks at the BBC’s 100 greatest TV series of the century, Netflix’s ‘Maid,’ and more
22 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Combating corrosion: the war on rust
21 Oct 2021
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: ...
We take your calls. Ask (or tell) us anything
20 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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 hav...
Jewish unity is kryptonite to antisemitic rage
19 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Jews have a long history of resistance against antisemitism that has sought to eradicate their literal existence. The power of their resistance lies i...
Alcohol is bad for us. So why have humans been drinking it for thousands of years?
18 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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, we ...
The Nose plays 'Squid Game' and discusses 'Who Is the Bad Art Friend?'
15 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This hour, The Nose talks about Netflix’s hit show Squid Game. Plus: the viral New York Times Magazine article “Who Is The ...
Needle phobia is as old as human history
14 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Human beings are wired to hate pain, even in the form of a teeny tiny needle delivering life-saving elixir. Needle phobia, or trypanophobia, rang...
The role of the Senate parliamentarian, the importance of local newspapers, and the history of the wheelie suitcase
13 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This hour, a potpourri of topics: the Senate parliamentarian, local news, and wheelie suitcases. First, we talk about the Senate parliamentarian. And ...
Good bulldozer, bad bulldozer
12 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Everybody loves a bulldozer. In fact, we all grew up loving bulldozers, didn't we? From Benny the Bulldozer to Katy and her big snow, from a...
The phones are open. We're taking your calls
11 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve been doing these almost weekly shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. This hour, we do it aga...
The Nose looks at ‘The Many Saints of Newark’ and Dave Chappelle’s ‘The Closer’
08 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Many Saints of Newark is a film prequel to The Sopranos. It takes place in the 1960s and ’70s, and part of Tony Soprano’s or...
No, Mark Twain did not say that. If we're going to quote people, let's get it right
07 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
From our favorite songs and movies, to Shakespeare and Maya Angelou, we regularly quote others in our daily lives. This hour, we talk about famous quo...
COVID won’t kill the handshake. It has survived worse PR problems.
07 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
COVID is no match for the enduring power of the handshake. It has survived cholera, the 1918 pandemic, and Donald Trump’s lengthy grip. It has t...
Ted Williams: the greatest hitter who ever lived?
05 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
During his remarkable career with the Boston Red Sox, Ted Williams earned many nicknames: The Kid, The Splendid Splinter, Teddy Ballgame… but t...
We take your calls: ask (or tell) us anything
04 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve been doing these almost weekly shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. The last few times, we ...
The Nose is a very strong rooster: revenge bedtime procrastination, Clint Eastwood’s ‘Cry Macho,’ more
01 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
So you get home from a long day of work, and then you spend a long evening dealing with the family and the dinner and the house and the pets. And then...
The Longest Continuous Human Thought: A Look At Mathematics
30 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It’s been a while since we’ve done a math show. So this hour, some discussion of just what mathematics even is in the first plac...
A Conversation With Ruth Ozeki
29 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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, ...
The Following Show About Movie Trailers Has Been Approved For Appropriate Audiences
28 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This hour, we talk about movie trailers. Maybe you wonder what a movie critic thinks of them. Actually, critics don’t see as many as you do beca...
An Hour With Francisco Goldman
27 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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...
The Nose Won The Apocalypse: ‘Y: The Last Man,’ The Real-Time True Crime-ification of Gabby Petito, More
24 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Y: The Last Man is an FX on Hulu television series (whatever that means) based on the DC comics series. It stars Diane Lane as President Jennifer...
Radiation: Maybe Not As Bad As You Think
23 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Radiation is everywhere. It’s emitted by our sun, by cat litter, by bananas, and occasionally by nuclear bombs. It’s even emitted by you a...
Looking At Our World Through Glass
22 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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, about...
The New England Patriots: From Winner To Champion, From Champion To Dynasty
21 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Seventeen AFC East championships. Nine Super Bowl appearances. Six Lombardi trophies. Twenty seasons pairing maybe the greatest head coach in the hist...
The Best Laid Schemes Of Mice And Men: Human And Wildlife Conflict
20 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
“Animals, which were in the service of man, could be arrested, tried, convicted and executed,” according to Edmund P. Evans in his book Th...
The Nose Knew The Deceased Only In Passing: ‘Only Murders In The Building,’ ‘Small Engine Repair,’ More
17 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Only Murders in the Building is a half-hour-ish (!) mystery-comedy series on Hulu. It stars Steve Martin, Martin Short, Selena Gomez, and Amy Rya...
The Art Of Gossip
16 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Gossiping is considered a bad habit. But, when done well, it can actually have social benefits. This hour on the Colin McEnroe Show, we’ll discu...
The State Of Vax Requirements, Dunkin' Drops Merch, And Resurrecting The Woolly Mammoth
15 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This hour, a smorgasbord of disparate topics: mandates, mammoths, and merch. First, a look at the state of America’s patchwork of COVID vac...
Fire: Sparking Imagination Since 2 Million B.C.
14 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Fire imagery abounds in music, literature, art, and scripture. It thrives at the center of ceremony and ritual around the world. We associate fire wit...
We Take Your Calls: Ask (Or Tell) Us Anything
13 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve been doing these weekly shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. A few times, we haven’t ...
A Radio Show About Mimes? You Bet.
10 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Mimes have been gesticulating their way into our hearts (or nightmares) nearly for forever. It may be that the legendary Marcel Marceau popularized th...
A Tribute To The Proud And Peaceful Pigeon
09 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Star Trek: 55 Years Of Boldly Going
08 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
At 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, September 8, 1966, NBC aired the premiere of a new series called Star Trek. The episode was “The Man Trap.”...
Bastards! A Look At Illegitimacy From ‘Game Of Thrones’ To ‘Hamilton’ And Beyond
07 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The word “bastard” hasn’t always been meant to offend. Used simply as an indication of illegitimate birth at first, the label &ldquo...
The Nose Is Important For The Health Of The Department: ‘Seinfeld’ On Netflix, TV’s White Guys, And ‘The Chair’
03 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
According to Vulture, TV’s white guys are in crisis, and specifically on a bunch of shows The Nose has covered: Kevin Can F**k Himself...
The Movies, Mysteries, And Marvels Of Christopher Nolan
02 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In the 20 years since Christopher Nolan’s Memento hit theaters, his movies have grossed more than $5 billion, earned 36 Academy Award ...
From ‘Bye Bye Bye’ To ‘Butter’: The Enduring Appeal Of Boy Bands
01 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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 back at the histor...
The Search For What It Means To Be Alive (And Human)
31 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
“Life is a self-sustained chemical system capable of undergoing Darwinian evolution.” That’s the so-called “NASA definition of...
We Take Your Calls: Ask (Or Tell) Us Anything
30 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve been doing these weekly shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. The last couple weeks, we have...
The Nose Never Wears Shoes: Pumpkin Spice Lattes, Barefoot CEOs, 'Roadrunner,' More
27 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
There is a longstanding tendency among tech CEOs to be sort of performatively photographed with bare feet. Also: It’s gross. And: Washingto...
Exploring Climate Solutions
26 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recently released a report detailing the latest scientific understanding about cli...
Words That Shall Not Be Said
25 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Profanity used to be about someone swearing insincerely to God. Then the Reformation came along and made profanity about sex and the body. Today, our ...
New Thinking About Cavities, Smokey Bear Needs A Rebrand, And Earth As Exoplanet
24 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This hour, a potpourri of topics. First, some new thinking around dental cavities — are they really an oral microbiome problem? And, as we ...
We Take Your Calls: Ask (Or Tell) Us Anything
23 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve been doing these weekly shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. This week, we aren’t eve...
The Nose Won’t Be The New Host OfThe Nose Won’t Be The New Host Of ‘Jeopardy!’ Either: Mike Richards, ‘FBOY Island,’ More ‘Jeopardy!’ Either: Mike Richards, David & Dershowitz, ‘FBOY Island’
20 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Nose had planned to discuss all the scandals around Jeopardy! executive-producer-turned-incoming-host Mike Richards. But then&...
The Humble Fly
19 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
There are thought to be about 17 quadrillion flies alive on Earth at any one time. That’s 17 million for every living human. They’re preda...
Building Utopia
18 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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...
We Take Your Calls
17 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve been doing these weekly shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. This week, our plan was to for...
Sly Like A (Domesticated) Fox
16 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This show originally aired July 26, 2017. In 1959, Soviet geneticist Dmitri Belyaev started an ambitious experiment to study the origins of domesticat...
The Nose Wants 2 B Released Posthumously: Prince’s ‘Welcome 2 America’ And T.J. Newman’s ‘Falling’
13 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome 2 America is a brand new, never-before-released full studio album of Prince material. And it’s the first one of those released afte...
‘To The Hobbits’: Celebrating ‘The Lord Of The Rings’
12 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It has been almost 20 years since the The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring movie was released. This hour, a look back at the The Lord of ...
The Semiotics of Cigarettes, Sexy Shoes, and Some Other Stuff
11 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Semiotics is the study of sign process, which is to say: it’s the science of the search for meaning. And then, part of the underlying premise of...
A Failed Star Dubbed ‘The Accident,’ The Rise And Fall Of The Segway, And Squirrel Parkour
10 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It’s a magazine show — which is to say, it’s a show covering a number of disparate topics linked only by the fact that we’ve d...
We Take Your Calls: The Delta Variant
09 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As compared to two weeks ago, new COVID case counts are up 112%, hospitalizations are up 90%, and deaths are up 92%. This would seem to be driven by t...
The Nose Booked The Pineapple Suite: Ashton Kutcher’s Irregular Bathing, Tapbacks, And ‘The White Lotus’
06 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis have publicly admitted that they rarely bathe. Kutcher, in fact, went as far as to say he washes his “armpits...
The Return Of The Music Mavens
05 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Three Music Musketeers return! Are you bored with your playlist? We’ve reunited our trio of music mavens — novelist Wally Lamb, critic...
Hunting For Treasure
04 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Treasure hunts are prolific across literature, film, and history. This hour we talk about treasure hunts, including what happens when you drop one in ...
How Soon Is Too Soon? (And Other Classic Questions And Conundrums About Comedy)
03 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
humor = tragedy + time OK, but then the logical next question is: How much time? If it’s OK, at this point, to joke about, say, The Spanish...
We Take Your Calls: Trying To Get Comfortable With Uncomfortable Conversations About Race
02 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This hour, a conversation not exactly about the recent anti-CRT hysteria on the right and not exactly about extreme wokeness on the left, but about ho...
The Nose Watches ‘Schmigadoon!’ And ‘Summer of Soul’
30 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Schmigadoon! is a musical comedy series on Apple TV+ starring Cecily Strong and Keegan-Michael Key. In it, the couple gets stuck in a musical tow...
Taking Your Calls: Simone Biles, House Select Committee Hearing On The Capitol Attack
29 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This hour, we take your calls about Olympian Simone Biles. She withdrew from competition on Tuesday to focus on her mental health, just weeks after te...
Profiling Criminal Profilers
28 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Criminal Minds. Mindhunter and Manhunt. Cracker and Profiler. Nearly the whole of the Hannibal Lecter universe: Man...
An Ode To Obituaries And Obituarists
27 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On the one hand, obituaries are an amalgam of a bunch of different kinds of journalism: they’re feature stories, they’re profile pieces, t...
Do The 2020 Olympics Deserve A Medal?
26 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The 2020 Olympics began late last week in Tokyo, Japan. This hour: we look back at the opening weekend, and ahead at the rest of the games. GUESTS: B...
The Nose Does Weird Deer [Stuff]: Deepfaked Bourdain, Black Rifle Coffee Company, And ‘Sweet Tooth’
23 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The disclosure that a new documentary about Anthony Bourdain uses an artificial intelligence-generated version of his voice for three lines of its dia...
The Multiplicity Of The Multiverse
22 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
There’s a theory that ours isn’t the only universe. That there are, actually, infinitely many universes. That there are, then, infini...
A Meeting To Talk About Meetings
21 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
For many, meetings at work can feel like they get in the way of actual work. This hour, we talk about the history of meetings, why we meet, and how to...
We Take Your Calls
20 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How far would you go? How far would you go, for instance, to convince people to get vaccinated? Vaccination is, in a way, a test run. It’s a tes...
The Exodus Of Young Evangelicals, The COVID Vaccine In Sports, And Soon-To-Be Astronaut Wally Funk
19 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
For decades, Christian evangelicals were the fastest-growing religious group in this country. Now, some young evangelicals are abandoning the fai...
The Nose Needs A Wet Paper Towel: ‘Black Widow’ And ‘I Think You Should Leave’
16 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Black Widow is the 24th movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It is the ninth, and final, one to feature Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff...
The Unicorn Show
15 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Plum Island: ‘Sounds Charming’
14 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
We Take Your Calls
13 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On the one hand, it kind of feels like the pandemic is winding down, right? On the other hand, the daily caseload in the U.S. is 23,000, up 94% v...
It's Time To Talk About The Alphabet In The Room
12 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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 o...
The Nose Has A Few Dunkies Coffees And A Pack Of Menthols: 'Kevin Can F**k Himself,' More
09 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Nose is all TV all the time this week. First: Is the era of the unifying television hit already over? And: Has Netflix already lost its ...
A Personal And Literary Exploration Of Blindness And Sight
08 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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:...
An Hour With John McPhee
07 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
John McPhee is a writer's writer. He's thought of as one of the progenitors of the New Journalism, of creative nonfiction or narrative nonfiction, alo...
Colliding With Asteroids (On Purpose), Shohei Ohtani, And The Misunderstood Shark
06 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The impending doom of an asteroid (or comet or whatever) colliding with the Earth is the premise of any number of movies and books and such. But what ...
But Look, The Nose Made You Some Content: 'Bo Burnham: Inside' And 'No Sudden Move'
02 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Bo Burnham: Inside is a Netflix standup comedy concert play documentary thing written, shot, edited, directed, and performed by Bo Burnham. Burnh...
Zillow Surfing: The Surprising Appeal Of Online Real Estate Listings
01 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Scrolling through online real estate listings, a practice known as "Zillow surfing," has become a popular pastime this past year. And it's not ju...
Operators Are Standing By: A Show About Infomercials
30 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Thighmaster, the Chop-O-Matic, the George Foreman Grill, and the Clapper... products which are all part of American consumer culture and which wer...
Here Be Dragons
29 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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 to...
A Show About Nothing (Really!)
28 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Why is there something rather than nothing? This has been described as perhaps the most sublime philosophical question of all. This our, we try to ans...
Pressing Rewind On Cassettes
25 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In March, Lou Ottens died in Duizel in the Netherlands. He was 94. I don't think I had ever heard of Ottens before, but the news of his deat...
An Ode To Ink
24 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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,...
Combating Corrosion: The War On Rust
23 Jun 2021
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 Longest War, w...
Radiation: Maybe Not As Bad As You Think
22 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Radiation is everywhere. It's emitted by our sun, by cat litter, by bananas, and occasionally by nuclear bombs. It's even emitted by you and by me and...
Fire: Sparking Imagination Since 2 Million B.C.
21 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Fire imagery abounds in music, literature, art, and scripture. It thrives at the center of ceremony and ritual around the world. We associate fire wit...
The Nose On 'High On The Hog' And Afro-Latinx Representation In 'In The Heights'
17 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It's a special, Juneteenth (observed)-observing, Thursday edition of The Nose. First: The lack of Afro-Latinx actors in the movie version of In t...
Living With Grief In A Culture That Doesn't Like To Talk About It
14 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We don't do grief very well in this country. We don't talk about, we get uncomfortable around it, and in some mind-twisting way, we hope grief will le...
The Nose Endorses Betsy Kaplan (And Sees 'In The Heights')
11 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Betsy Kaplan has been producing episodes of The Colin McEnroe Show for a decade. Today is her last day. (Ostensibly, anyway. She's producing...
Clocking Out of Work
10 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Many people are reassessing how they view their work after a year of Covid. The pandemic magnified everything we don’t like about mode...
Our (10th Or) 11th (Almost) Annual Song Of The Summer Show
09 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We've done this show every year since 2013. We almost certainly didn't do it 2012. But we did in 2011. And there's good circumstantial evidence that w...
Good Bulldozer, Bad Bulldozer
08 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Everybody loves a bulldozer. In fact, we all grew up loving bulldozers, didn't we? From Benny the Bulldozer to Katy and her big snow, from a...
The History Of Black Cowboys On The Western Frontier
07 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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, ...
Not Necessarily The Nose: Regarding Hitchcock
04 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Over just six years, from 1954 to 1960, Alfred Hitchcock made four movies -- Rear Window (1954), Vertigo (1958), North by Nor...
After We Die, Our Dust Will Live Forever
03 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Dust is everywhere, but we rarely see it. We shed it from our skin, hair, and nails, leaving little bits of DNA wherever we roam. More than 100 ...
Bastards! A Look At Illegitimacy From 'Game Of Thrones' To 'Hamilton' And Beyond
02 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The word "bastard" hasn't always been meant to offend. Used simply as an indication of illegitimate birth at first, the label "bastard" didn't bring w...