The Colin McEnroe Show
Episodes
Bring Back The Beaver!
01 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Beavers build sophisticated dams and deep-water ponds that slow erosion of riverbanks, create cooler deep-water pools for temperature-sensitive plant ...
The Nose Would Rather Sling Bang Bang Chicken And Shrimp All Day: Adrian's Kickback, 'Hacks,' More
28 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Adrian Lopez is a high school kid from East Vale, California. He had planned a high school kid's birthday party at some fire pits for last weekend. Bu...
An Hour With Francisco Goldman
27 May 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 Search For What It Means To Be Alive (And Human)
26 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
"Life is a self-sustained chemical system capable of undergoing Darwinian evolution." That's the so-called "NASA definition of life." Or there's Russi...
Something Is Eternal: A Look At 'Our Town'
25 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Thornton Wilder's Our Town debuted more than 80 years ago. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and, over the decades since, it has continuo...
Excuse Me. You've Been Canceled.
24 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
'Cancel culture' has become a phrase that means so much that it means nothing at all. It originated in Black culture as a way to hold the po...
If The Nose Is Boring, It Isn't 'Cause Of Cancel Culture: Donald Glover, 'The Underground Railroad'
21 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
After a long absence from Twitter, Donald Glover last week, in a series of since-deleted tweets, blamed boring culture on cancel culture. After a...
The Poet Laureate Of Rock 'N' Roll At 80
20 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Bob Dylan turns 80 years old on May 24. His first album, 1962's Bob Dylan, is in its 60th year on record store shelves. We're at a point where, f...
Going Back To The Office Bathroom; "Familect"; And, The Semiotics Of Unmasking
19 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Using our private bathrooms while working from home opened our eyes to how uncomfortable it can be to use public bathrooms at the office - e...
A Non-Threatening Conversation About Jazz
18 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Who's afraid of the Bix bad Beiderbecke? Hartford has an amazing jazz history, and Colin has a lot of jazz musician friends. This hour, a little onsta...
The Nose Is Eligible For The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame In 2035: The 2021 Class And 'Mare of Easttown'
14 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The 2021 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees have been announced. Artists like Foo Fighters, Jay-Z, Todd Rundgren, Tina Turner, LL Cool J, Kra...
Words That Shall Not Be Said
13 May 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. ...
Are We Ready To Accept That UFOs Are Real?
12 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In 2017, The New York Times uncovered a program at the Defense Department which investigated unidentified flying objects. Thi...
The Semiotics of Cigarettes, Sexy Shoes, and Some Other Stuff
11 May 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 semio...
The Next Phase Of 'Jeopardy'; Van Morrison's Rant; Showering Less
10 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Alex Trebek’s imprint as the host of "Jeopardy" looms large over the show, making it hard for anyone else to live up to the impeccable standard ...
The Nose Is The World's Biggest Art Heist: 'This Is A Robbery,' Elon Musk Hosts 'SNL,' More
07 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Elon Musk will host tomorrow night's Saturday Night Live. It is, if nothing else, an odd choice. Speaking of choices, Rolling Stone's l...
The Secret Lives Of Numbers
06 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Are We In The Age Of Peak Newsletter?
05 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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 no...
Running Toward the Fire
04 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
to help. They chose to be nurses at a time when the risk to their own health was never greater. Why are some people willing to run toward the fire whe...
Aaron Rodgers And The Packers; Classical Music-Loving Cows; and, Why We Should Love Wasps
03 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Aaron Rodgers leaked his dissatisfaction with the Green Bay Packers just before last week's NFL opening round. The NFL draft drew ...
A Long Look At Losing And Lovable (And Loathsome) Losers
30 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As we were preparing for our show on underdogs, I kept saying that we shouldn’t overlook the fact that, often, to be an underdog in the fir...
From The Bad Ideas Dept.: It's A Show About Towels!
29 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Seriously: a show about towels. There's the history of towels, towels in Christianity, Terrible Towels, Towel Day. Oh, and there a...
It's The Breast Day Of The Week
28 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We're so caught up in fetishizing (mostly) female breasts in film, literature, art, and in the anatomy-defying breasts of com...
A Nerding Out About Clouds
27 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
No one likes a cloudy sky. A cloud on the horizon is seen as a harbinger of doom. We feel like clouds need to have silver linings. But here's our thes...
Our Lunchtime With André
23 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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&...
We're Feeling Nostalgic For Quarantine Life. It Wasn't All Bad.
22 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We're not the same people today that we were before covid upended our lives last spring. We found ways to survive a deadly and invisible virus, even a...
The Art Is The Idea: A Look At Sol LeWitt
21 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Hartford native Sol LeWitt was one of the giants of conceptualist and minimalist art. As an artist, he abandoned the long histories of painting and dr...
The Myth Of Meritocracy
20 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Americans like to believe we live in a meritocracy but the odds are stacked in favor of the already lucky and fortunate. We congratulate the "winners"...
Learning How To Breathe
19 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The jury will begin deliberations later today on whether George Floyd's death was caused by his inability to breathe under the weight of Derek Chauvin...
The Nose (Taylor's Version)
16 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Taylor Swift has announced plans to re-record six of her previous albums in order to own master recordings of her older catalogue. Fearless (Tayl...
Where Have All The Public Toilets Gone?
15 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof recently wrote a column proclaiming that "America Is Not Made for People Who Pee." It hit a nerve. ...
One Of The Greats: Robin Williams
14 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Popeye. The World According to Garp. Good Morning, Vietnam. Dead Poets Society. Awakenings. The Fisher King. Aladdin.&nb...
Ted Williams: The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived?
13 Apr 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 the on...
Politics Is No Laughing Matter
12 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Fox News broadcast the first episode of Greg Gutfeld's new late-night show, Gutfeld!, earlier this month. They're betting that Gutfeld can turn h...
The Nose Misses The Office: 'Hemingway' And More
09 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
At Connecticut Public, there's a smallish corner conference room thing that we think of as The Crying Room. I, personally, haven't ever seen anyone cr...
Joni Mitchell: 'Blue' Turns 50
08 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Joni Mitchell's album Blue turns 50 this year. It may not have the artistic sophistication of her later albums, but Mitchell's vulnerab...
The King: Before There Was Lebron, There Was Elvis
07 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Elvis left two legacies. Musically, he pulled several American musical traditions out of the shadows, braided them together, and made them mainstream....
How Soon Is Too Soon? (And Other Classic Questions And Conundrums About Comedy)
06 Apr 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 Inquisitio...
We Want To Hear From You. Give Us A Call.
05 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We'll be taking your calls during this hour -- and during more of our Monday shows moving forward. We'll still invite guests when we think it's import...
The Nose Vs. 'Godzilla Vs. Kong' (Plus Other Stuff)
02 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
So celebrities and their giant water bottles: It's a thing, I guess. And then there's the ABC Carpet couches email thread. Plus: Netfli...
The Allure Of Advice
01 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
John Dunton started the first advice column in 1690. He called it the Athenian Mercury. John, a bookseller, and his four "experts" wanted to answ...
They Say The City Never Sleeps. Neither Do We.
31 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Did you get enough sleep last night? If you're like most Americans, probably not. You might feel pretty good after six hours of sleep and a stron...
Connecticut's Cartoon County
30 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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 cor...
The First Dogs Are Home; And Other News
29 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A number of media critics gave poor grades to reporters questioning President Biden at his first formal press conference last week. Is there...
The Nose Is Stuck In A Canal: Cinnamon Toast Crunch Shrimp Tails, 'For All Mankind,' More
26 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As with all weeks, it's been a strange week. First there were the Cinnamon Toast Crunch shrimp tails. And then an enormous container ship go...
Pressing Rewind On Cassettes
24 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On March 6, 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 de...
Forget Google Maps. There's Still Lots To Explore
23 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
After a year of pandemic, we're all itching to break from the restrictions of the pandemic. We want to travel and explore. It makes sense; we're hard-...
Anti-Asian Racism, Religion, and 'Sex Addiction'
22 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Last week's violence at three spas in Georgia, followed a year of escalating violence against Asian Americans, some of it captured...
The Nose Needs To Go Home: 'Promising Young Woman' And More
19 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It might just be that the pandemic is starting to wind down. Advertisers are anxious to act like it is. We're all maybe anxious to get some ...
Our Hour With Lauren Oyler
18 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Writer and essayist Lauren Oyler, joins Colin to talk about Fake Accounts, her new novel on internet culture. They'll also talk about literary fi...
Our 11th* (Almost) Annual March Madness Show
17 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Every year around this time, there's a big-old college basketball tournament. So every* year around this time, for every* year that this show has been...
An Ode To Obituaries And Obituarists
16 Mar 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, they cover hi...
This Is 'Jeopardy!'
12 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Jeopardy! has been part of the fabric of American TV, in a couple different forms and across a couple different breaks, since 1964. It is the lon...
Profiling Criminal Profilers
11 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Criminal Minds. Mindhunter and Manhunt. Cracker and Profiler. Nearly the whole of the Hannibal Lecter universe: Man...
The Other Connecticut: The Southeastern Region
10 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The southeastern part of our state conjures images of casinos, submarines, and a blue-collar vibe that's just a little different from the rest of the ...
Dancin' In The Moonlight: Connecticut Dance Halls
09 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This hour, we talk about two Connecticut dance halls, each springing from the vision of two very different men who took their respective dance halls d...
An Evening With Patti Smith
07 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We reair Colin's 2016 interview with Patti Smith at the Immanuel Congregational Church in Hartford when she was in town for a Mark Twain House event. ...
The Nose Has Always Required Content Warnings: Dr. Seuss, The Muppets, 'Allen v. Farrow,' More
05 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This Week (or so) in Reassessing Not-Necessarily-Current Bits of Culture: Seuss enterprises pulled six mostly early Dr. Seuss books from future p...
The Face Behind The Mask
04 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We produced our first show on masks in the spring of 2020. It was when most of us were isolated at home to sidestep the life-threatening illness we've...
Regarding Hitchcock
03 Mar 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...
The Multiplicity Of The Multiverse
02 Mar 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, infinitely many yo...
Voter Suppression Bills; COVID-19; Deb Haaland
01 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The theme of election fraud ran through this weekend's Conservative Political Action Conference. We talk about how "The Big Lie" is becoming...
The Nose Has Always Been Gender Neutral: Potato Head, New Mail Trucks, 'Nomadland'
26 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On Thursday, Hasbro announced that its Mr. Potato Head brand would drop the "Mr." in a move toward inclusiveness. But they also made clear,&...
Ghostwriting: What Happens In The Pages, Stays In the Pages
25 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Ghostwriting evokes an image of the writer who toils away in obscurity, secretly penning books credited to another. In reality, ghostwriters are just ...
Something Is Eternal: A Look At 'Our Town'
24 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Thornton Wilder's Our Town debuted more than 80 years ago. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and, over the decades since, it has continuo...
Are You Smarter Than An Octopus?
23 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The octopus has always been the stuff of spine-tingling legend, like that of the kraken, the many-armed sea monster believed to drag ships to the...
COVID; Polarizing Politicians; And The Cloning Of Elizabeth Ann
22 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The U.S. is about to surpass 500,000 deaths from COVID-19. That said, new cases are declining, hospitalizations and deaths&nb...
The Nose Has Always Been Much More Than Content: 'Judas And The Black Messiah,' Scorsese, More
19 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In a new essay for Harper's, filmmaker Martin Scorsese criticizes the current state of the movie business and all these new fangled streamin...
Finding Humanity At The Sideshow
17 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Cartoonist Bill Griffith based his legendary character Zippy the Pinhead on Schlitzie, a real life sideshow 'pinhead' who appeared in T...
Our Show Today Is Really Five Short, Little Shows
17 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We live in an "Everything Should Take Twenty Minutes" world. Movies are too long. SundanceTV has a show that airs in 10-minute episodes. Tie...
Our Collective Post-Impeachment Hangover
16 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Senate voted to aquit Donald Trump Saturday after falling shy of the two-thirds majority required to convict him. Fifty-seven senators, including&...
Impeachment 2.0; Fox Under Fire; The Lightness Of This Year's Super Bowl Ads
08 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As of Monday morning, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell are still working out the details for the Senate...
The Nose Was Filmed Before A Live Studio Audience: 'WandaVision,' More
05 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
WandaVision is a Disney+ miniseries that's part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and that's set, like, inside the history of television...
A Non-Threatening Conversation About Jazz
04 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Who's afraid of the Bix bad Beiderbecke? Hartford has an amazing jazz history, and Colin has a lot of jazz musician friends. This hour, a little onsta...
Digging Into The Roots Of Our Food
03 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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 processe...
Beyond Mark Twain: A Conversation With Hal Holbrook
02 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Colin interviewed Hal Holbrook on February 3, 2015, in advance of Holbrook's performance of Mark Twain Tonight in Hartford on his 90th birth...
How To Report On The Behavior Of The GOP; Trump's Evolving Defense Team
01 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Some say the press continues to portray the Republican Party as a "mainstream, center-right entity," long after their words and deeds reflec...
The Nose Drives Alone Past Your Street: 'Pretend It's A City' And 'How To With John Wilson'
29 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Olivia Rodrigo's "drivers license" is in its second week as the No. 1 song in the country, having debuted there last week. It is the first debut ...
Running Toward The Fire
28 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Applications to nursing schools spiked during the pandemic from those who wanted to help. They chose to be nurses at a time when the risk to...
Our Lunchtime With André
27 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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&...
Coronavirus Variants; A Very Catholic Inauguration; An Ode
25 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Moderna announced today they were making new versions of their vaccine that can be used as boosters against variants seen in South Africa, B...
Pardon Me: Season 2, Episode 2 -- It's Been A Good Week
22 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The House will transmit its Article of Impeachment charging former President Trump with "incitement of insurrection" to the Senate on Monday...
It's Time To Talk About The Alphabet In The Room
21 Jan 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 Legacy Of COVID-19
19 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Yale University's Dr. Nicholas Christakis explores what it means to live in a time of pandemic. He looks at historical epidemics and current medi...
The Nose Can Cut, Soothe, Delight, Frighten, Insult, And Seduce: Tom Cruise's COVID Robots, 'History Of Swear Words,' And More
15 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Tom Cruise's seventh Mission: Impossible installment has been one of the few huge Hollywood productions trying to to figure out how to film ...
Pardon Me's Season Two Premiere: We Love You. You're Very Special. Go Home.
14 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Previously on Pardon Me (Another Damn Impeachment Show?): House Democrats voted to impeach President Trump on two Articles of Impeachment: "abuse...
Go Ahead And Talk To Yourself. It's Good For You.
12 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Do you talk to yourself? Is it a silent inter-narrative or do you talk aloud? What form of address to you use to yourself? When I'm mad at myself I so...
Is This The End Of Trumpism Or The Beginning?
11 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Wednesday's insurrection by Trump supporters at the Capitol was the culmination of months of Trump perpetuating the lie that the election was stolen f...
The Nose Is Preparing To Divorce Kanye West (Plus: #BeanDad And 'Bridgerton')
08 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Last weekend, a little girl asked her father for help opening a can of beans. Rather than help her, Bean Dad left his daughter to figure it out f...
Insurrection At The U.S. Capitol
07 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
President Trump has gotten away with bad behavior since long before he was elected to the presidency. When faced with an election loss that he couldn'...
Congress Counts The Electoral College Votes, And We Take Your Calls
06 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As our show starts today, the U.S. Congress will begin the process of officially tallying the Electoral College votes in the 2020 elections for presid...
The New Yorker's Alex Ross On 'Wagnerism'
05 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Nietzsche called Richard Wagner "a volcanic eruption of the total undivided artistic capacity of nature itself," and Thomas Mann said he was "probably...
Finding The Soul Of The Republican Party; And, Politics In 2021
04 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
President Trump kept Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on the phone for an hour Saturday, using a combination of cajoling, lies, and threa...
The Best Jazz Of 2020
31 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
The Nose Says Goodbye To 2020
30 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
2020 was … not great. But, from a pop culture point of view, it wasn't so bad either. I mean, we got the Hamilton movie, Th...
The Battle For Butter
27 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Our 2020 Holiday Spectacular With 'Big Al' Anderson, Jim Chapdelaine, And Friends
24 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Toward the end of every year since 2014, we've picked a day and put "Big Al" Anderson, Jim Chapdelaine, and Colin in a room together, sung some songs,...
The Nose Hasn't Happened Yet: 'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom' And 'Tenet'
23 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Primary tabs View(active tab) Edit The Nose Hasn't Happened Yet: 'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom' And 'Tenet'By JONATHAN MCNICOL •&n...
Kurt Andersen On The Unmaking Of America
22 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Kurt Andersen's last book, Fantasyland, looks at America's "centuries-old weakness for the untrue and irrational, and its spontaneous and dangero...
America's Defenses Are Being Tested By Cyberattacks and Electoral Dysfunction
21 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
It could be months or years before the US government knows the full extent of last week's sophisticated cyberattack that targeted ...