The Colin McEnroe Show
Episodes
The Glory Of Everything: Reading Kids' Books As An Adult
09 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
My son, Simon, is a year old. His mother and his grandmother are both librarians. His father is, well, me. Simon is, predictably, obsessed with books....
You Are Your Safest Sex Partner: Sex and Coronavirus
08 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Your sex life doesn't have to suffer just because you're cooped up at home every day. Researchers say that sex is a healthy way to calm the anxiety of...
A Conversation With Ocean Vuong
06 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Ocean Vuong emigrated to Hartford from Vietnam when he was two years old. His family brought with them the trauma of an American-led war that ravaged ...
America's Leaderless Pandemic
06 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The pandemic is making us reflect on what we value as people and a country. We don't yet know how much COVID-19 will change life as we knew it before ...
The Nose Stayed Up Late Trying On Clothes It Already Owns
03 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The novel coronavirus has started to take its toll on figures from our popular culture. Adam Schlesinger, who founded Fountains of Wayne and wrot...
One Person's Boredom Is Another Person's Pleasure
02 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
You can find lots of advice about how to avoid feeling bored during this pandemic. There are virtual dance parties and&n...
The History Of Hygiene: Humanity's Quest For Cleanliness
01 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
From ancient mixtures of boiled goat fats and ashes to modern artisanal soaps with calendula and coffee grinds, humans have been inventing clever ways...
Trust Me, I'm A Scientist
31 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
For those who put their trust in science, it's hard to understand why anyone wouldn't. But in recent decades, the voices of skeptics have grown louder...
Prioritizing Public Health; Grieving Coronavirus; Blaming "Others"
30 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
William Wetmore Story sculpted The Angel of Grief for his wife's grave after her death in 1894. He wrote that it was the only way he could e...
The Nose Is Big Cat People
27 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Last Friday night, Disney released the #1 movie in the country -- Pixar's Onward -- for digital download on iTunes/Amazon/etc. It's saf...
A Little Bit Of Soap
26 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Humans have been using soap for literally millennia -- nearly five of them... at least. And while there's a run on alcohol-based hand sanitizers,...
Restaurants Cannot Live By Takeout Alone
25 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Restaurants around the country have closed their doors to in-dining service to help slow the spread of Coronavirus and prevent unnecessary deaths. Tha...
The Politics Of A Pandemic; Staying Healthy While Staying Home
23 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Trump administration is pursuing policies they say are necessary to fight the spread of coronavirus -- even though Congress and the cour...
The Nose Self-Isolates
20 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
As with all things, The Nose has never been a Nose quite like this week's Nose. First off, for almost every Nose ever, we've put four (sometimes more)...
Sports In The Time Of Corona
19 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The NBA, the NHL, and Major League Soccer have all suspended their seasons. Major League Baseball canceled spring training an...
They Say The City Never Sleeps. Neither Do We.
18 Mar 2020
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...
Isn't There A Little Doomsday Prepper In All Of Us?
16 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Reality TV shows like the Discovery Channel's Doomsday Bunkers and National Geographic Channel's Doomsday Preppers perpetuate a st...
Carrying On Amid The Confinement Of COVID-19
16 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
America got (more) serious last week about COVID-19. Schools and colleges closed, workers went remote, professional sports teams cancel...
An Hour With John McPhee
13 Mar 2020
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...
The Fine Art Of Taxidermy
12 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
When you think of taxidermy, you may imagine a trophy room in which mostly male hunters have mounted the heads of 12-point stags along wood-...
Bankers For The Stars: Deutsche Bank, Trump, and Jeffrey Epstein
11 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Is it safe to say that we're not yet ready to kiss and make up with the banks whose reckless behavior led to the 2008 financial crisis? A little contr...
Please Don't Take My Stuffed Animal Away!
09 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Take a few seconds to reminisce about your childhood "best friend." Maybe it was a boy, a girl, an imaginary friend, or perhaps a stuffed toy. This st...
Fear of Italian-Style Lockdowns Is Leading to Hamsterkäufe, Or: Panic Buying
09 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Italians fled northern Italy Sunday after Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte imposed a lockdown to slow the spread of coronavirus Covid-19, which has ...
The New Haven Nose Really Wants To Say 'I Do'
06 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Katy Perry dropped a new single and video (which we apparently call a "visual" now) on Wednesday night. The video ends with what's being cal...
Long Live The Movie Musical
05 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The movie musical died a long, slow death a long time ago. Right? Well, except that there's La La Land. And Moana. And The Gr...
How Are You? It's So Nice Outside Today! It's A Great Day For A Show On Small Talk.
04 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
It's nice to meet you! When did you move in? How do you like it here in Connecticut after leaving the beautiful weather in Hawaii? Small talk is both ...
Move Over Iowa. It's Time For Connecticut To Go First.
02 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Sanders won big in Nevada. Biden won big in South Carolina. Steyer and Buttigieg are out, Bloomberg is in, and...
The Nose Has A Regurgitative Reaction To Mistruthin'
28 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Quarantine culture is coming. Maybe. So we start with a look at the coronavirus in comedy, COVID in culture, etc. And then: Knives...
How To Secede From Belgium Without Really Trying
27 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Secession is in the air. Britain withdrew from the European Union, Scotland wants out of the UK, Catalonia from Spain, and, wait for it, Califor...
You Can Check Out Anytime You Like, But You Can Never Leave
26 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Most of the characteristics we associate with hotels - the welcoming yet alienating effect they have on our psyches - we absorbed from the a...
You're Such An Annoying Know-It-All!
25 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The recent Senate trial for President Trump's impeachment riveted the nation, but little consensus could be reached about the facts of the c...
Bernie On The Rise; COVID-19 Inches Closer To A Pandemic; Sports Cheating
24 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Bernie Sanders won a decisive victory in last week's Nevada caucuses after effectively tying with Pete Buttigieg in the less diverse states ...
Laura Nyro Was The Emily Dickinson Of American Pop Music
20 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Laura Nyro's most famous compositions -- "Stoned Soul Picnic," "Stoney End," "When I Die," "Wedding Bell Blues," "Eli's Coming" -- are jewels of mains...
Memories of Watergate
20 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
It's been over 40 years since former President Richard Nixon resigned the presidency over Watergate. But, the story of Watergate is almost impossible ...
How Creating A Color Created A Controversy
19 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Nyctophiliacs rejoice! The color you know and love (black) is now blacker than ever before. And nevermind that black is not technically a color....
Pardon Me: Episode 11 -- Hang On A Minute, Lads. I've Got A Great Idea.
17 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
On December 13, 2019, the House Judiciary Committee voted to recommend two articles of impeachment against President Trump, and the full House of Repr...
The Nose On Valentighting, Snoop v. Gayle, And HBO's 'The Outsider'
13 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Outsider is a planned 10-episode HBO miniseries based on the Stephen King novel of the same name. It airs on Sundays nights, and we're six ep...
Fake News Feels Good (And Other Reasons Why Truth Is In Trouble)
13 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What is real is no longer a question for philosophers alone. In today's world, it's a question we all contend with on a daily basis. Online, on televi...
New Hampshire Is Just The Warm Up. Are You Still Excited?
12 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Democratic primary season is just getting started. How have the results from the New Hampshire primary affected how you might vote? Bernie h...
Pardon Me: Episode 10 -- Acquitted! Or: Heading Down A Very, Very Dark Corridor
10 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Note: This episode contains strong language. This hour, we air an updated version of the most recent episode of our weekly impeachment show, Pard...
President Trump's Massive Disinformation Campaign; The Rise Of Michael Bloomberg
10 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Atlantic writer McKay Coppins says President Trump's reelection team is waging a massive disinformation campaign that uses the same...
It's The Somethingth Annual Noscars!
06 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We've done this show every year around this time for some number of years now. Unless we missed a year or two in there somewhere. But we've probably&n...
From Poverty To Incarceration To Redemption
06 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
William Outlaw is a natural leader. He's been a key figure in helping to lower New Haven's homicide rate over the last decade. He's a strategist and a...
A Tribute To The Proud And Peaceful Pigeon
05 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
B.F. Skinner thought pigeons were so smart they could be used to guide missiles during WWII. He proposed a system in which pigeons would essentially p...
Colin Is Taking Your Calls. We Miss You.
04 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Iowa caucuses descended into chaos after problems with a new app led to delays, mistrust, and renewed questions over whether Iowa should remain fi...
Colingram #4 — Monday, February 3, 2020: The Night They Drove Old Missouri Down
03 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This is a Colingram, a brief encounter with the host of The Colin McEnroe Show. We’re getting ready for an all-call-in show at 1 p.m. Tuesday di...
Colingram #3 — Friday, January 24, 2020: Requiem for a Legume and a Legend
24 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This is a Colingram, a brief encounter with the host of The Colin McEnroe Show, recorded on Friday while we all tried to figure out whether our stealt...
Colingram #2 — Wednesday, January 22, 2020
22 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Hello again! And by “Again,” we mean that this is the second in a possibly infinite chain of Colingrams, a new concept in which the host o...
Colingram #1 — Tuesday, January 21, 2020
21 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Behold the first-ever Colingram, in which host Colin McEnroe chats briefly and possibly even engagingly about something of interest (to him anyway). C...
The Nose On Brad and Jen Together Again (Maybe) And Sam Mendes's '1917'
17 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Sam Mendes's World War I drama, 1917, is currently the #1 movie in America. It won Golden Globe Awards for Best Director and Best Picture -- Dram...
Secret Government Mind Control Experiments (And Other Things Your Tax Dollars Paid For)
16 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Over the years, our government has been involved in some pretty shady affairs. After eugenics and internment camps but before Watergate and Iran-Contr...
Life After Death: Science, Speculation And Skepticism
15 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Life after death, in one form or another, has been examined by multiple disciplines for centuries: From theology, to physics, to philosophy, to ...
Pardon Me: Episode 6 -- One Nation, Under Insomnia
14 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This hour, we air an updated version of the most recent episode of our weekly impeachment show, Pardon Me, which normally airs Saturdays at noon....
It's An All-Call Monday
13 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We like to open the phones and hear what's on your minds. We never know what you're going to say but we love that you call us to say it. Colin w...
The Nose On Megxit, The Joys (Or Agonies) Of Winter, And 'The Rise of Skywalker'
10 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Rise of Skywalker is the third and final movie in the third (and final?) trilogy -- the sequel trilogy in the trilogy of trilogies -- in the main,...
Ram Dass: We're All Just Walking Each Other Home
08 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Ram Dass' 1971 book, "Be Here Now," was the gateway drug into spirituality for a lot of young people seeking answers in the era of Vietnam. Dass first...
Getting to Know Our Iranian-American Neighbors
08 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
America and Iran have not had an easy relationship since 1979, when 52 Americans were held hostage for 444 days by students supporting the Iranian Rev...
'Tis A Show About Castles, Me Lord
07 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
They're in the books we read, the shows we watch, and the art we hang on our walls. They conjure notions of might, magic, romance, and more. Castles, ...
Pardon Me Episode 5: Jim Jordan -- The Vice Principal Who Haunts Your Nightmares
05 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Last month, we launched a whole other show. It's a weekly show airing on Saturdays at noon and hitting your podcast feeds on Fridays most weeks hopefu...
The Nose On President Obama's Year-End Lists And Greta Gerwig's 'Little Women'
03 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
President Obama's lists of his favorite books, movies, and TV shows of 2019 are out. They include a number of titles that are showing up on prope...
The Reality, Controversy, And Efficacy Of Modern Homeschooling
02 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The stereotypes around homeschooling have existed for decades. Since the modern homeschooling movement began in the late 20th century, those who favor...
Celebrate The Best Jazz Of 2019!
31 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Since 2014, we've gathered some of our heaviest hitters in the jazz world to talk about the year in jazz. From concept albums to masked musicians to t...
We Take Your Calls
30 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
During this perineum week in-between Christmas and the New Year, we decided to take your calls. We thought about a lot of asking you to weigh in...
The Last Nose Of 2019 Is A Total 'Cats' astrophe (Not Unlike This Headline)
27 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Cats -- the new feature film based on the musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber and starring James Cordon, Judi Dench, Jennifer Hudson, Taylor Swift, an...
In Pods We Trust: How The Pod Prevails In Consumer- And Pop-Culture
27 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
We wake up to coffee from a pod, listen to music on our pod devices, drive to work in our Smart cars, Fiats, or other increasingly pod-shaped vehicles...
Our 2019 Yuletide Celebration With "Big Al" Anderson, Jim Chapdelaine, and Nekita Waller
23 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Don't miss -- for what might just be the seventh year we've done this (though it might also be some other number too) -- a very badly planned Christma...
Christianity Today Calls For Trump's Impeachment; Purity Tests and Wine Caves; Origins of Christmas
23 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Christianity Today, an evangelical Christian publication founded by Billy Graham in 1956, published an editorial Thursday by editor-in-chief Mark Gall...
The Serious, Subversive (And Sometimes Shocking) History Of Cartoons
20 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
It's been over 100 years since the first cartoons were drawn by hand. Since then, the genre has delved into everything from sex and drugs to racial in...
Live From Watkinson School: It's A Very Exciting Time To Be A Word!
19 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
When this forum was originally scheduled, it was intended as a conversation about how our language is changing. Example, the idiom "woke" or "#woke" h...
Why Are We So Fascinated By Scams?
17 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Fyre Festival, Theranos, Anna Delvey, the college admissions scandal... the list goes on. And whether explored on the news or as a book, podcast, docu...
Concerns Over Boris Johnson's Landslide Victory And Trump's Order Against Anti-Semitism
16 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Voters in favor of Brexit handed British Prime Minister Boris Johnson an electoral victory on Thursday in a landslide not seen since Margaret Thatcher...
America's Greatest Living Film Critic On The Year In Movies
12 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The Nose is off this week (because, on any given day, it's entirely possible that our whole show will be off with all this impeachment nonsense&n...
Our Interview With Dave Eggers For Our New Impeachment Show, 'Pardon Me'
12 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
We're preempted (again) today as the House Judiciary Committee debates its Articles of Impeachment. So, in lieu of a new episode of The Coli...
George Takei Discusses His Graphic Memoir And How America Must Learn From Its Past
11 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Today we speak with actor and human-rights activist George Takei, not about his role as Lieutenant Sulu on the original Star Trek, but about a fa...
Articles Of Impeachment And Your Calls
10 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
We had intended to run the debut episode of our new other show, Pardon Me (Another Damn Impeachment Show?), in our hour today. But then the ...
'The Plot's The Thing With Character Actor Harris Yulin And Playwright Will Eno
05 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The New York Times has called Harris Yulin "something of the character actor's character actor." You know him from, well... pretty much ever...
The Fine Art Of Taxidermy
04 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
When you think of taxidermy, you may imagine a trophy room in which mostly male hunters have mounted the heads of 12-point stags along wood-...
A Show About Psychics! But You Already Knew That
03 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
There is perhaps no figure more emblematic of the paranormal than the psychic. Able to predict the future, see into the past, and even communicate wit...
Privatizing Weather Data; Canada's Bagel Wars; The Apostrophe
02 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Private weather companies are cropping up to produce weather and climate models that has historically been provided by the government at taxpayer expe...
The Thanksgiving Eve Nose On Sacha Baron Cohen, Tesla's Cybertruck, And Disney+'s 'The Mandalorian'
27 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Last Thursday, Elon Musk unveiled Tesla's Cybertruck and Sacha Baron Cohen gave the keynote address at an Anti-Defamation League summit. Both performa...
America Loves Roadside Attractions. So We Talked To One.
26 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
If you ever drive across the country, you’ll notice there is a surprising amount of World’s Largest attractions. West Virginia has th...
The Navy Versus President Trump; Yale-Harvard Protest; Student Impeachment
25 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Defense Secretary Mark Esper demanded the resignation of Navy Secretary Richard Spencer on Sunday. Esper said he had lost confidence in Spencer. Esper...
The Nose On Martin Scorsese's 'The Irishman' And Canceling Gauguin
22 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The Irishman is Martin Scorsese's first gangster movie in thirteen years. It's his first feature-length film with Robert De Niro in 24 years and his f...
The Case Against Boeing; Myles Garrett Is Suspended Indefinitely; Return Of A Stradivarius
18 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Ralph Nader's niece died when Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 max 8 jet crashed in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, in March 2019. Since that...
From Poverty To Incarceration To Redemption
14 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
William Outlaw is a natural leader. He's been a key figure in helping to lower New Haven's homicide rate over the last decade. He's a strategist and a...
Live From A Forest: Discussing Hiking, Archaeology, Invasives & Connecticut's Trails
12 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
There are more than 800 miles of Blue-Blazed Hiking Trails in Connecticut. Today we're doing our show from one of them. Hiking those trails, you...
Former NSA John Bolton, Late Hartford Mayor Carrie Saxon Perry, And ESPN's 'The Spy Who Signed Me'
11 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
President Trump's former National Security Advisor John Bolton is a pretty interesting figure in the whole impeachment inquiry, right? On the one hand...
The Nose On Our Current Cancel Culture, Jane Fonda's Arrests, And 'Parasite'
08 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The news comes fast in the world of the canceled these days. Louis CK is back out on tour. President Obama has a "very boomer view" of ...
Eugene O'Neill Deserves A Closer Look
06 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Listen Wednesday at 1:00 pm Eugene O'Neill doesn't get enough credit. His plays are a form of therapy. O'Neill forces us to watch the raw pain of our ...
Harmonica Heroes Take Over WNPR
05 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Are there countries where harmonica players are BIG stars? Why don't more women play it? How many different musical styles can you squeeze out of one ...
The President Was Booed; Deadspin Staff Resigns; Obama And Cancel Culture
04 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
President Trump changed his primary address from New York to Florida. He says he'd been treated badly by political leaders. He was also&nbs...
The Nose Watches The 'Watchmen' And Says Goodbye To Mr. Dankosky
01 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Watchmen is a limited series of comic books that became a graphic novel in 1987 and a feature film in 2009. And now it's an HBO series from Damon...
Not Necessarily The Nose: The Year In Horror, 2019
31 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Every year around this time, we like to take a look at just what's frightening us in the present moment. This year, we start with our present take on ...
The Gaps In Connecticut's Second Chance Prison Reform
30 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Connecticut's "Second Chance Society" has reduced the number of people going into prison and better prepared offenders for a meaningful life when...
Predictions Of A Paperless Future
30 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Predictions of a paperless future go back to the 1800s. Yet, despite a dizzying array of technological alternatives to paper, those prediction have no...
President Trump's Press Conference; The Future Of ISIS
28 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
President Trump held a Sunday morning press conference to announce that the U.S. military conducted a targeted operation to kill ISIS leader Abu Bakr ...
The Nose On The 20 Defining Comedy Sketches Of The 2000s And Stephen King's 'The Institute'
25 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
This week, The Washington Post published "The 20 defining comedy sketches of the past 20 years" covering television sketch comedy of the 200...
Without TV, There's No Trump
24 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
That headline is just a direct quote from James Poniewozik's Audience of One: Donald Trump, Television, and the Fracturing of America. I was torn betw...
The Weird, Whimsical World Of Ventriloquism
23 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Love it or hate it, ventriloquism is hot these days. From Jeff Dunham's superstardom to three recent America's Got Talent winners, 'vents' are seeing ...
It Was A Dark Night In The City. Death Hung In The Air Like...
22 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
A hard-boiled private eye, a glamorous blond, and a hapless drifter all sit at a bar on the seamy side of town. It's night, the streets are wet, the s...