The Colin McEnroe Show

The 2018 Song Of The Summer Is...

27 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

It's SUMMER! And every year around this time, we gather up a few music mavens who help us analyze and celebrate the kind of music that gets us dancing...

It's Just Another Dam Show!

26 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In 1955, Connecticut experienced catastrophic flooding that killed more than eighty people. Two back-to-back hurricanes  - Connie and Diane - dro...

The Tale Of The (Little) Red Hen: Do We Reap What We Sow?

25 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Today, we have no guests. Just a conversation between you and Colin about Stephanie Wilkinson's request that Sarah Huckabee Sanders leave the Red Hen...

The Nose On Melania's Jacket, 'Incredibles 2,' And Anthony Lane's Lascivious 'Incredibles 2' Review

22 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

There are three movies that deserve the credit (blame?) for the superhero/comic book movie renaissance/boom(/apocalypse?) that we've been living throu...

Two Of The Greats: Robin Williams And George Carlin

21 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

From his rapid-fire stand-up comedy riffs to his breakout role in Mork & Mindy and his Academy Award-winning performance in Good Will Hunting, Rob...

Breaking Up (With Your Phone) Is Hard To Do

20 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Nearly ninety-percent of Americans own a smartphone.On average, we spend more than four hours a day on our phones, which adds up to about 56 full days...

Referees: The Risks, Rewards, And Evolution Of Sports Officiating

19 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

From the first Olympic games in 776 B.C. to the 2018 World Cup currently underway, referees have always played an integral part in competitive sports....

Is It Time For A Radical Change In How The Media Reports On Trump?

18 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Despite First Amendment protections separating the press from unchecked presidential power, President Trump is pushing limits beyond any president bef...

The Nocean's 8, Starring Rebecca, Elizabeth, Vivian, Kate, and Wu, with Irene, and Colin

15 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Ocean's 8 is about as 2010s a movie as there's ever been. It's a reboot sequel of a series that started with a remake. The fun part, though, is that t...

A Big, Dumb Paean To Big, Dumb Action Movies

14 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

The Fast and Furious franchise includes eight feature films and two short films, and it looks like it's about to include a series of spinoff film...

No Use Crying Over Spilled Milk...Right? A Look At Regret

13 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

We all regret and we should not regret that we regret.  I regret buying that pair of pink sneakers that I'll never wear. I can't take the sneake...

Mark My Words: Larry Wilmore

12 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

You probably know Larry Wilmore as the host of the Black on the Air podcast or of Comedy Central's The Nightly Show. Or maybe you know him as The Dail...

Is President Trump Replicating His Loneliness In Our Foreign Policy?

11 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

It's lonely at the top.President Trump has a lot of acquaintances but not many close friends, according to those who know him best. Support the s...

The Nose On Anthony Bourdain and Kate Spade, Clemency Counselor Kim Kardashian, And 'In The Dark'

08 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Kim Kardashian rose to fame as a friend of Paris Hilton. She has a sex tape. She's been the subject of any number of reality TV shows. Kardashian is, ...

What If Tug-Of-War Were Still An Olympic Sport? And Other Crazy Crucial Questions With Mike Pesca

07 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Mike Pesca is one of our very favorite guests -- on any number of topics. And he's got a new book out: Upon Further Review: The Greatest What-Ifs in S...

A Non-Threatening Conversation About Jazz

06 Jun 2018

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 onstag...

The Shocking Truth Behind Tabloids Finally Revealed!!!

05 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

From the penny press, to yellow journalism, to supermarket tabloids and beyond, sensationalized news has been around for centuries. But while this sty...

How Many People Really Died After Hurricane Maria?

04 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

There has been a lot of confusion about how many people died in Puerto Rico as the result of Hurricane Maria and its aftermath. Several publications r...

The Nose On Roseanne Barr, Samantha Bee, And 'Solo'

01 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Solo is the tenth feature-length, live-action Star Wars film. It is the fifth Star Wars prequel. It is the second Star Wars anthology film (following ...

Colin's Constipation Contemplation And Cogitation

31 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

We've been trying to push this show out for quite a while now. It's been a bit of a strain, and we got kind of backed up.But, this hour, we let loose ...

The Secret Lives Of Numbers

30 May 2018

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 around us...

America Through The Looking Glass

29 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

I have traveled to three foreign countries since President Trump was elected. While I have always been proud to be American, even as I criticize much ...

Radiation: Maybe Not As Bad As You Think

28 May 2018

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, an...

The Amazons: Myth, Reality, And Modern Relevance

25 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Perhaps the most surprising thing about the Amazons of ancient Greek mythology is that they were not entirely mythical. While many of the deeds and de...

The Evolution Of Our Relationship To Machines

24 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Siri, Alexa, Cortana, Google Assistant, etc. These are just the beginning of what experts believe will be a future filled with verbally interactive, d...

An Up-Close Look Behind the Glass of… Dioramas

23 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

When I hear the word "diorama," the first thing I think of is Mr. Mack’s fifth grade class and painting hills and grass and clouds and a fence into ...

The Flap Over Flags

22 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Flags have been in the news a lot lately. South Carolina removed the Confederate flag from its Statehouse and one Missouri county threatened to l...

Exploring Prom Night In America

21 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

It's just a dance, right?Actually, maybe that's the last thing the prom is. Maybe the photo is even more important, because it freezes you. It's your ...

The Nose On Laurel Vs. Yanny, 'Cobra Kai,' And Some Big Wedding This Weekend Or Something

18 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

You remember the dress, right? In case you don't: Three years ago, a poorly-lit photograph of a dress pretty much tore the internet to pieces. Some pe...

An Hour With Sarah Kendzior

17 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Sarah Kendzior predicted that the conditions she witnessed in 2013 from her home in America's overlooked heartland would lead to the rise of a ca...

An Hour Of Music With Jill Sobule

16 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Singer/songwriter Jill Sobule is back in our Hartford studios to sing and play and talk and who knows what else!Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/...

What's Gravity Got To Do With It?

15 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

If there's one thing that unites us all (literally, ALL of us) it's gravity. Gravity attracts every bit of matter in the universe to every other bit o...

How Will You Choose Your Candidates In 2018?

14 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Connecticut's political parties are in the midst of choosing who they will endorse in this November's elections. How much do you trust that they've en...

The New Haven Nose On "This Is America," R. Kelly and Spotify, and Monica and Town & Country

11 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Donald Glover can do anything. He's an actor and a comedian, he's a singer and a songwriter, he's a rapper and a DJ. Mainstream audiences know him fro...

Anybody Got A Match?

10 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Lauren Bacall probably does have the most famous line about smoking in all of cinema. But there are other good ones too. "What are you gonna do? Charg...

Sloane Crosley and Andy Borowitz Are Really Funny. They Join Us.

09 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Comedy forces us to confront uncomfortable realities that we prefer to ignore. It also makes us laugh. Laughter is a powerful force. It can release ch...

The Rise Of Esports: From Internet Cafes To College Campuses And Beyond

08 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

From its humble, South Korean origins in the early 2000s to its current place as an international, cultural phenomenon, esports is certainly on the ri...

What Are We Not Talking About When We Talk About Trump?

07 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

We live in a big world and we're focused on one small speck in it named Donald Trump. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio....

Prog Rock: The Show That Never Ends

04 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

The bands Yes, Genesis, Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, Emerson Lake & Palmer, Rush, Asia, and Styx have sold, literally, hundreds of millions of albums....

Neither Snow Nor Rain Nor Heat...

03 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

When Alexis de Tocqueville toured America in the early 1830's to gather observations that he would later put on the pages of Democracy in America...

Should We Bring Back Asylums?

02 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Old asylums give us the creeps. The reality of asylums may pale in comparison to the horrors we conjure in our minds. Yet, they were awful. They were ...

Swamps: The Past, Present, And (Endangered?) Future Of America's Wetlands

01 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

As President Trump talks about draining the swamp in Washington D.C., we turn our attention to actual swamps. Associated with death and decay, while a...

The Scramble: Michelle Wolf; WHCD; Father Pat

30 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

A man kills women because he can't have them. An elected politician reacts harshly to speech he doesn't like. Supporters and critics of Wolf's monolog...

The Nose Is Dragon Energy

27 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

This week's Nose tackles Kanye's bromance with President Trump. And we've got an update on monkey selfies!Plus: Courtney Balaker's Little Pink House, ...

"Mark My Words" With Matt Taibbi

26 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Matt Taibbi is an American journalist, author, and iconoclast. He is a contributor to Rolling Stone and the author of nine books, the most recent of w...

Meet Your Gubernatorial Candidates! (the ones you don't know)

25 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Each election year, we invite candidates running for public office who are on the 'fringe' of voter consciousness to join our show. We like to talk to...

Is Beauty In The Eye Of The Beholder?

24 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

I find great joy in walking in the dead of winter along the river trail near my house. Everything leaves my mind as I watch the Canadian geese take fl...

The Scramble Takes Your Calls

23 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

We didn't book any guests today. We decided to take your calls for the entire hour so you could share what's on your mind.A lot happened this weekend...

The Nose Can't Hear You Over All The Noise In This Restaurant

20 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

The original Lost in Space, an Irwin Allen series that aired on CBS for three seasons in the 1960s, was a marginal ratings success with seemingly outs...

What Does It Mean To Be 'Too Old' or 'Too Young'?

18 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Joe Biden is seriously thinking about running for president in 2020. He's got a wealth of political experience and institutional knowledge. He's vibra...

Trump, Evangelicals, And The 2018 Midterms

18 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

With controversies swirling around President Trump and the midterm elections approaching, many are asking, how will Evangelicals vote? Some believe va...

Our Theme Today Is Theme Songs

17 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

So, when Prince died (which was two years ago), we announced that we were finally going to retire our theme song (which is a Prince song). And then we...

The Scramble: Are We Nearing The End Of The Trump Presidency?

16 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Does the investigation of Trump lawyer Michael Cohen signal the beginning of the end for the Trump presidency? Support the show: http://www....

The Nose Started Facebook In Its Dorm Room

13 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Wes Anderson is a... particular sort of filmmaker. With his typewriters and his pipe smoking. With his monochrome sets and props and costumes. With hi...

Fake News Feels Good (And Other Reasons Why Truth Is In Trouble)

12 Apr 2018

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...

Should Parents Need A License To Have Kids?

10 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Having babies is something we're supposed to do - even though few of us know anything about parenting until we're deep in the game. Support the s...

The $12 Potato Chip -- And Other Horrors

10 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In 2016, a Swedish brewery offered for sale artisanally-prepared potato chips. $59 for five chips in what looks like a jeweler's box. They sold out. C...

The Scramble: No (Legitimate) News Is Good News For Trump; Facebook Goes To Washington

09 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Conservative media giant Sinclair Broadcast Group will reach 72 percent of American homes with televisions if they're allowed to acquire Tribune Media...

The Nose Hates Doing The Dishes Too

06 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Ernest Cline's novel Ready Player One is a futuristic nostalgia bomb that lovingly apes Spielbergian 1970s and '80s pop culture. Steven Spielberg's fi...

Blind Injustice: A Look At Wrongful Convictions In America

05 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

For an American Sign Language-interpreted version click here.Since 1989, more than 2,000 people have been identified as victims of wrongful convi...

Redheads: From Stereotypes To Superpowers

04 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

They smell better, they're better at sensing temperature changes and they can handle more pain. These are just a few of the actual differences between...

Remembering H.M.: The Man Who Couldn't Remember

03 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

H.M. is one of the most important and studied human research subjects of all time. He revolutionized what we know about memory today because of the am...

The Scramble: Elizabeth Esty Says She Failed To Protect Her Staff

02 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

U.S. Congresswoman Elizabeth Esty apologized​ Thursday​ ​for failing to dismiss​ Tony Baker, her former Chief of Staff, after learn...

For The Nose, It's Always "Freaky Friday"

30 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Armando Iannucci is the creator of Veep and The Thick of It and the writer and director of In the Loop. Those, you'll note, are all contemporary polit...

The Power Of Christ Compels You (To Listen To This Show About Exorcism!)

29 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

As secular attitudes increase around the world and beliefs in the supernatural decline, how is it that the demand for exorcisms has never been higher...

Dying In Prison

27 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

"Compassionate release" of our sickest and oldest prisoners is a way to reduce the federal prison population. It's also meant to save on the high cost...

Sucking Up

27 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

At President Trump's first full cabinet meeting in June 2017, we watched with some amusement while each member expressed over-the-top gratitude for th...

The Scramble Takes Your Calls

26 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

A lot has happened in the recent days. The news is fast, complicated, disturbing and in some cases, hopeful.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/don...

A Nerding Out About Clouds

23 Mar 2018

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 thesi...

The Microbiome: Friend, Foe, or Both

22 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

For most of time, microbes ruled the planet alone. Microbes have been around for billions of years - long before people ever began to inhabit the...

A Salute to Accordions!

21 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Here are some songs from your life, "Backstreet Girl" by the Rolling Stones, "Joey" by Bob Dylan, "Road to Nowhere" by the Talking Heads, "Boy In The ...

A Show About Infomercials. Operators Are Standing By!

20 Mar 2018

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 w...

The Scramble: Trump And Facebook; Animal Abuse; The Return Of The Phone Booth

19 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Cambridge Analytica, a data company backed by Republican donor Robert Mercer and headed by Steve Bannon, harvested private information from almost 50 ...

The Nose Travels Through 'A Wrinkle In Time To Watch 'The Bachelor'

16 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

There was a lot of pressure on Ava Duvernay to bring Madeleine L'Engle's 1962 classic book, A Wrinkle In Time, to the screen. This is the first $100-m...

The Making Of Adolf Hitler

15 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

How did a figure like Hitler emerge so quickly and so forcefully onto the world stage? How, in what was thought to be an enlightened and civilized so...

Our Ninth* Annual March Madness Show

14 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Every year at this time, we invite an improv comic and an ex-politician-turned-political-pundit on to break down the NCAA tournament brackets and batt...

Human Guinea Pigs Are So Unappreciated

13 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Do you ever think about the people who make sure the medicine you're taking is safe for you to take? If your like most of us, probably not. Suppo...

One Leg At A Time: The History Of Women And Pants

12 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

According to mytho-historical accounts, the ancient Amazons wore pants while riding into battle. But the trend this tribe of warrior women set was sho...

The Nose Watches 'Seven Seconds'

09 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In this week's Ridiculous Moments in Late-Stage Capitalism: Pizza Hut's new shoes -- because there are Pizza Hut shoes, apparently; they're, of course...

An Hour With Martin Amis

08 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

The Times of London has said that Martin Amis "is as talented a journalist as he is a novelist." His latest collection of essays and reportage covers ...

Is Democracy Dying?

07 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Populism is on the rise from Europe to India to the United States.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy ...

Voodoo Unveiled

06 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Voodoo is more than just a misunderstood religion, its practice draws on age-old beliefs, cultural elements, and folk traditions from a multitude of n...

The Scramble: Dark Clouds Over The White House

05 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Like the Alexander of children's literature, President Trump had a "terrible, horrible, no good, very bad" week.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/...

It's The Nighttime Noscars!

01 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

It's The Nose's annual Academy Awards special, and this year we're doing it live at night.The Nose has covered 15 of this year's Oscar-nominated movie...

An Ode To Obituaries And Obituarists

01 Mar 2018

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...

Slime: From Spontaneous Generation To Internet Sensation

28 Feb 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Slime is not something we often think about. But there are plenty of reasons why that should probably change: From the theory that life on Earth may h...

An Hour With David Gelernter

27 Feb 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Consciousness has been an elusive enigma for philosophers and scientists alike for about as long as there've been philosophers and scientists.And, whi...

The Scramble: Mueller And Parkland Developments, Plus: Your Calls

26 Feb 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Grading on the post-2016 scale, it was a relatively earth shattering revelation-free weekend. And so we have some time to regroup and take a look at ...

The Nose Goes To 'Black Panther'

23 Feb 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Ryan Coogler's Black Panther is the eighteenth feature film entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It is the sixth movie in Phase Three, and it's mos...

The Rise And Fall Of The Hat

22 Feb 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Take a look at at any early 20th century photograph and you'll see them: Hats! From Beavers and Bowlers to bonnets and baseball caps, for hundreds of ...

How Soon Is Too Soon? (And Other Classic Questions And Conundrums About Comedy)

21 Feb 2018

Contributed by Lukas

humor = tragedy + timeOkay, but then the logical next question is: How much time?If it's okay, at this point, to joke about, say, The Spanish Inquisit...

The Scramble: Russia; Parkland; "The Greatest Showman"

20 Feb 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Robert Mueller on Friday indicted 13 Russian nationals and three organizations on charges related to interference in the 2016 U.S. electoral process.&...

Hartford Convention: 200 Years Since We Started the Fight Over States' Rights

19 Feb 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Legend holds that years after the the Hartford Convention, a visitor from the South was touring the Old State House and asked to be shown the room whe...

It's Expensive To Die In America

16 Feb 2018

Contributed by Lukas

It's expensive to die in America. We spend upwards of $3 trillion on medical care, a large percentage of those dollars concentrated in the last year o...

The History Of Hygiene: Humanity's Quest For Cleanliness

15 Feb 2018

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 c...

Love Is In The Nose

14 Feb 2018

Contributed by Lukas

During last week's Super Bowl, Netflix announced the surprise release of the third installment in the already-super-unconvential Cloverfield film fran...

Bastards! A Look At Illegitimacy From Game Of Thrones To Hamilton And Beyond

13 Feb 2018

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 ...

The Scramble: Will The Mueller Report Matter?

12 Feb 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Special counsel Robert Mueller has already charged several people associated with the Trump campaign with crimes uncovered in his investigation into R...

The Nose Is So Close To Being Ready For The Oscars

09 Feb 2018

Contributed by Lukas

There are nine movies nominated for Best Picture at this year's Academy Awards. And, as of this week, The Nose has seen eight of them. We saw Get Out ...

A Non-Threatening Conversation About Jazz

08 Feb 2018

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 onstag...