The Colin McEnroe Show

The Nose Walks Into a Bar and Sees Louis CK

19 Feb 2016

Contributed by Lukas

If there is a through line to this week's Nose, I would have to call it trespass.In the remarkable third episode of Louis C.K.'s from-out-of-nowhere f...

Juliet and Shakespeare's Women

18 Feb 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Hartford Stage's current production is maybe Shakespeare's most popular play. This hour, Artistic Director Darko Tresnjak joins us to talk about his n...

Do You Think Your Heart Is Healthy?

17 Feb 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Heart disease is still the biggest killer in the United States, even though fewer people die from from heart attack and cardiac arrest than ever befor...

The Scramble: Scalia and the Future of SCOTUS

16 Feb 2016

Contributed by Lukas

The 2016 presidential election took a dramatic turn this weekend with the sudden death of Antonin Scalia, the Supreme Court's most divisive, yet color...

The Nose Keeps Hot Sauce in Its WNPR Tote Bag

12 Feb 2016

Contributed by Lukas

This week, the universe chirped... and we heard it! Samantha Bee's new politics-lampooning late-night show debuted to a ton of buzz. The primary debat...

Wait, Wait! It's Paula Poundstone!

11 Feb 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Paula Poundstone and I started out with a plan for a short chat about her upcoming appearance in Connecticut, and then the conversation sprawled all o...

It's Elementary, My Dear Watson That I Owe My Life To William Gillette

10 Feb 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Sherlock Holmes is the most recognizable character in the world. According to the Sherlock Holmes Society, the famous detective has been portrayed by ...

A Conversation With Elizabeth Alexander

09 Feb 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Ficre Ghebreyesus and Elizabeth Alexander were born two months apart in 1962, he in Eritrea, she in Harlem. They didn’t meet until 1996. He was an a...

We Just Watch for the Commercials

08 Feb 2016

Contributed by Lukas

You may have heard there was some big football game on Sunday. You may have heard that the Denver Broncos won, 24 to 10. You may have heard that Beyon...

The Nose Cautions Women Not to Drink or SHOUT in the Presence of Men

05 Feb 2016

Contributed by Lukas

The CDC this week recommended women between the ages of 15 and 44 not drink alcohol unless they're on birth control. Why run the risk to the baby...

The Audacity of Hoop

04 Feb 2016

Contributed by Lukas

While basketball didn’t take up residence in the White House in January 2009, the game nonetheless played an outsized role in forming the man who di...

It's My (Political) Party and I'll Switch If I Want to

03 Feb 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Our deepest convictions shape how we see the world from a very young age. Our parents, community, and religion deeply influence our beliefs and ultima...

Live From Watkinson: What's So Funny About Connecticut?

02 Feb 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Recently, a group of us gathered on stage at Watkinson School for a conversation about humor and comedy. The conversation had two fields on inquiry. T...

The Scramble on Politics: Presidential, UConn, Conard High School

01 Feb 2016

Contributed by Lukas

The eyes of the nation turn to Iowa. But, why? The caucus process doesn't really resemble voting as we do it the rest of the time in this nation. And,...

The Nose "Likes" Michael Jackson and #FlatEarth

29 Jan 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Joseph Fiennes will play Michael Jackson in a new British made-for-TV movie about a fictional road trip taken by Elizabeth Taylor, Mich...

A Tribute to Cereal: Kid Tested, Mother Approved

28 Jan 2016

Contributed by Lukas

We once did a show about beer jingles, which is a great example of how a product becomes a culture. Cereal as a culture, is off the charts. There's th...

Surviving Unbearable Heartache

27 Jan 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Dr. Bill Petit spent Sunday, July 23, 2007 playing golf with his father. The day was sunny and hot and a great day to be outside. His wife and two dau...

The Unreliability of the Unreliable Narrator

26 Jan 2016

Contributed by Lukas

At this year's Golden Globes, the top TV honor, Best Television Series -- Drama, went to USA's hacker technothriller series "Mr. Robot." Last year, th...

The Scramble: Trump, X-Files, We Love Phil Collins!

25 Jan 2016

Contributed by Lukas

The Republican establishment is wringing its hands over the rise of Donald Trump. On Friday, National Review, one of the leading and oldest voices for...

The Nose Ain't Right Wingin' and Bitter Clingin'

22 Jan 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Warning to listeners: the audio contains some information about "The Revenant" that slipped out of one of the guests during the discussion. It could b...

Daniel Dennett on Free Will and Consciousness

21 Jan 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Quick! Name a living philosopher. Chances are if you can do it at all, you're going to say Peter Singer, Martha Nussbaum, Shelly Kagan, or Daniel Denn...

Barbra Streisand: The Last Great American Showwoman

20 Jan 2016

Contributed by Lukas

One thing we can all agree on regarding Barbra Streisand; she provokes strong reactions. Or, she used to. I don't think Millennials or Generation X an...

Marching in Mississippi for Dr. King

19 Jan 2016

Contributed by Lukas

This all started with a scratchy phone message from a guy named Bobby Duley. He had been making regular visits to his mother convalescing at a rehab f...

And The Nose Goes to... Sean Penn in Gringada

15 Jan 2016

Contributed by Lukas

The Academy is supposed to nominate the best actors, directors and writers for Hollywood's most prestigious Oscar awards; instead, they see only white...

Can a Con Artist Con You?

14 Jan 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Dr. Joseph Cyr, a surgeon with the Royal Canadian Navy, had to think quick when his ship came upon a rickety boat with mangled and bloody bodies. at t...

Gregg Easterbrook: In Defense of Football

13 Jan 2016

Contributed by Lukas

How disgraceful was last weekend's Cincinnati Bengals/Pittsburgh Steelers game? Well, Boomer Esiason, a former Bengals quarterback, used that word - d...

Illeana Douglas Blames Dennis Hopper

12 Jan 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Life changed dramatically for Illeana Douglas in 1969 when her parents fell in love with the two Harley-riding hippies in the Dennis Hopper - Peter Fo...

Remembering David Bowie

11 Jan 2016

Contributed by Lukas

In "A Knight's Tale," Heath Ledger is invited to a dance among the nobles. He is a peasant, impersonating a noble and is anxious because he doesn't re...

An X-Chromosome Nose Takes on "Making a Murderer" and Gender

08 Jan 2016

Contributed by Lukas

People can't get enough of the new Netflix story "Making a Murderer," a depressing story about Steven Avery, the son of troublesome auto-salvage deale...

You Want Me To Eat What?!

07 Jan 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Okay, this show comes with a trigger warning.We're going to talk about things people eat, and some of those things are not for the squeamish. This is ...

That's Shocking!!

06 Jan 2016

Contributed by Lukas

When the photographs of Robert Mapplethorpe were exhibited at the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford in 1989, there were protesters on the street and line...

The Truth About Ugliness (It Ain't Pretty)

04 Jan 2016

Contributed by Lukas

What does it mean to say that someone, or something is ugly? For a label that gets tossed around so often, its meaning is hard to pin down. Perhaps th...

The Scramble: Natalie Cole, George R.R. Martin, Oregon

04 Jan 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Natalie Cole struggled to step out of the shadows of R&B icon Aretha Franklin and the longer shadow of her father, singer Nat King Cole. But she d...

The Nose Reminisces on 2015

31 Dec 2015

Contributed by Lukas

I assembled seven Nose panelists and asked them to pick a topic we used during 2015 from my list of twelve.  Of the five left over, four of them ...

Historical Fiction Is Not All Made Up

30 Dec 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Many of our ideas about history are drawn from historical fiction. Who, for example, is Thomas More? Is he the tragic hero of the play and movie,...

The Sharing Economy: From Idle Assets to Billion-Dollar Businesses

28 Dec 2015

Contributed by Lukas

It goes by many names: the sharing economy, the collaborative economy, the peer economy, just to name a few. Whatever you want to call it, one thing's...

The Scramble: Steve Collins on Resigning from Bristol Press and the Mysterious "Edward Clarkin"

28 Dec 2015

Contributed by Lukas

On the surface of things, there would seem to be little connection among the following: two small daily newspapers in central Connecticut, the wealthy...

Why Coincidences Happen: The Psychology and Mathematics Behind Rare Events

24 Dec 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Coincidences happen to everyon, wwhether it's hearing a song you've been thinking about all day on the radio, or running into an old acquaintance whos...

Technological Unemployment: The Facts, Fears, and Future

22 Dec 2015

Contributed by Lukas

To the list of things you can't avoid -- death and taxes -- we now add losing your job to a machine. A worry typically reserved for those in manufactu...

A Look Back at the Best Jazz of 2015

22 Dec 2015

Contributed by Lukas

It's a yearly tradition: Jazz critic Gene Seymour releases his list of the best jazz albums of the year, and musicians Jen Allen and Noah Baerman gath...

Wrapping Up 2015 With "Big Al" Anderson and Jim Chapdelaine

21 Dec 2015

Contributed by Lukas

For the second year, we welcome singer/songwriter extraordinaire "Big Al" Anderson and Emmy Award-winning producer and musician Jim Chapdelaine i...

The Force Is With The Nose

18 Dec 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Fans are flocking to J.J. Abrams's "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" in droves. The film is set to break box office records. It drew $14.1 mill...

Vin Baker's Journey from Basketball to Barista

17 Dec 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Vin Baker was an Olympic basketball player and four-time NBA All Star. The journey from University of Hartford to professional basketball got him...

The Problem of Evil

16 Dec 2015

Contributed by Lukas

For most shows, I’d use these first paragraphs to explain why we’ve chosen to spend an hour on its particular topic. I’d remind you of events in...

What About Bill? Author Robert Schnakenberg Discusses Actor Bill Murray

14 Dec 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Bill Murray has been involved with some of our favorite movies of all time: Caddyshack, Ghostbusters, Moonrise Kingdom. He doesn't like managers or ag...

The Scramble: Serial, SCOTUS, and Jesus

13 Dec 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Last week, the Supreme Court heard arguments on whether the University of Texas at Austin can consider race when deciding who can come to their school...

The Nose's Person of the Year is Mx...

11 Dec 2015

Contributed by Lukas

The New York Times  and Washington Post are adding new forms of address and pronouns for people who haven't chosen a single gender. Res...

A Love Letter (and Tomatoes) to the Usual Gang of Idiots

10 Dec 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Before Stephen Colbert and John Oliver, before Jon Stewart and Conan O’Brien, before "The Simpsons," before David Letterman, before "Saturday Night ...

Walking With Dante

09 Dec 2015

Contributed by Lukas

"Dante's Inferno" is the most famous section of "The Divine Comedy," poet Dante Aligheri's, 14,000 line epic poem. It's where Dante must face his...

A Conversation About Russia, the Cold War, and Espionage With a Once Aspiring Spy

08 Dec 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Justin Lifflander wanted nothing more than to become a spy for the CIA. Growing up during the Cold War, he practiced spying on friends, family, and sc...

The Scramble Reacts to Terror

07 Dec 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Dozens of reporters rushed the apartment of the San Bernardino shooters on Friday. They live-streamed their tour through the home for 15 minutes,...

The Nose Prays for Sensible Gun Policy

04 Dec 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Two married shooters with a six-month-old baby rushed a social service agency this week in San Bernardino, California. They killed 14 people and injur...

A Cartoonist's Mother's Love Affair With a Cartoonist

03 Dec 2015

Contributed by Lukas

I first met cartoonist Bill Griffith back in the 1980s. I arranged for us to tour a Boston-area Hostess Twinkie plant, which sounds like a weird first...

Can Evangelicalism Be Progressive?

02 Dec 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Long before evangelicalism became associated with the mostly white, conservative followers aligned with the Republican Party, a long line of progressi...

The Placebo Effect

01 Dec 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Placebo treatments have been making people feel better for a long time. They've been working since long before Franz Mesmer was run out of 18th-centur...

The Scramble Is Fundamentally Indistinguishable From All Other Scrambles

30 Nov 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Here’s a question: If the things we’re made of — the particles, the fundamental elemental irreducible bits, the most basic littlest chunks of us...

The Trouble With Changing Your Mind

25 Nov 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Changing our mind on an issue is something we're all free to do. But that doesn't mean it comes without a cost. What would it cost a lifelong liberal ...

An Up-Close Look Behind the Glass of… Dioramas

24 Nov 2015

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 Scramble: Lawrence Lessig, Peanuts, and Adele's 25

23 Nov 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Lawrence Lessig recently ended his pursuit of running for president as a Democrat. But his mission to take money out of politics and fix corruption is...

The Nose: A Word is a Word is... an Emoji?!

20 Nov 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Speaking on NBC's "Today" show Tuesday, actor Charlie Sheen revealed he is HIV-positive and has spent millions trying to hide it. This hour, we take a...

New Book Examines Muslim-American Life and "War on Terror Culture"

19 Nov 2015

Contributed by Lukas

In his latest book, author and scholar Moustafa Bayoumi takes a critical look at what it means to be Muslim-American in post-9/11 society.Support the ...

The Re-Emergence of Socialism in America

18 Nov 2015

Contributed by Lukas

After decades of being dismissed as a radical movement, socialism in America is back in the spotlight. What's fueling the newfound attention? Some poi...

Obsolescence: Novelty Versus Nostalgia in the Age of Mass Production

17 Nov 2015

Contributed by Lukas

In an era awash in the rollout of brand new gadgets, gizmos, fashions, and fads, it's easy to think of obsolescence as part of the natural order: Reme...

The Scramble: Moving Forward After the Paris Attacks

16 Nov 2015

Contributed by Lukas

The Paris bombings and shootings are the latest in a string of attacks by the Islamic State. Mourners around the world have gathered to show support f...

The Nose Weighs in on Yale

13 Nov 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Events this past week at Yale and the University of Missouri have sparked intense debate about the boundaries of free speech, and whether that debate ...

What Do You Really Know About Prosthetics?

12 Nov 2015

Contributed by Lukas

It's not uncommon to see someone wearing a prosthesis, especially after wars in Iraq and Afghanistan sent many veterans home minus a limb. While losin...

To Speak or Not to Speak: What Philosophers Have to Say About the Day's Top Stories

11 Nov 2015

Contributed by Lukas

According to Yale Philosophy Professor Shelly Kagan, many of today's political issues are actually philosophical ones. Kagan says no one ever asks phi...

A New Look Through "Rear Window" at Hartford Stage

10 Nov 2015

Contributed by Lukas

In 1954, Alfred Hitchcock directed two movies. They both star Grace Kelly. They’re both murder mysteries involving a married couple and a boyfriend ...

The Scramble: Ana Gasteyer Sings; Recognizing a Hero; Demands on Campus

09 Nov 2015

Contributed by Lukas

You may best remember Ana Gasteyer eating Alec Baldwin's Schweddy Balls as Margaret Jo, the NPR co-host of The Delicious Dish on "Saturday Night Live....

It's an All-Star "Star Wars" Nose

06 Nov 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Star Wars fans are anxiously awaiting the release of "Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens," the seventh film in the Star Wars franchise, and fi...

Two Great Authors Share Their Latest Works

05 Nov 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Colum McCann was assaulted in New Haven last summer while attending a conference on empathy. He was knocked unconscious and suffered physical and emot...

Why Coincidences Happen: The Psychology and Mathematics Behind Rare Events

03 Nov 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Coincidences happen to everyone -- whether it's hearing a song you've been thinking about all day on the radio or running into an old acquaintance who...

Protest Music: Then and Now

03 Nov 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Music can be a powerful, transformative tool in the quest for social change. Protest songs are the songs associated with a particular movement.Earlier...

Storytelling With Matthew Dicks

02 Nov 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Caroline Jacobs is a grown woman with children of her own. But by all accounts, she's a wimp. She would prefer to suffer in silence than stand up for ...

The World According to Atlas Obscura

30 Oct 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Atlas Obscura considers itself a "friendly tour-guide to the world's most wondrous places" -- a number of which can be found right here in C...

The Other Connecticut: The Southeastern Region

29 Oct 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Connecticut might mean clapboard homes, leafy suburbs, and town centers that show off their roots to our colonial past. Unless you're thinking of sout...

Is It Time to Take Chinese Medicine More Seriously?

28 Oct 2015

Contributed by Lukas

This year's Nobel Prize went to three Chinese scientists. It was the first time China won a Nobel in science. The committee emphasized it wa...

As Another World Series Starts, How is Baseball Changing?

27 Oct 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Tonight the Kansas City Royals and the New York Mets face off in game one of the 2015 World Series. A lot has changed in the 29 years since either of ...

Sloane Crosley Pays Homage to Guy de Maupassant

26 Oct 2015

Contributed by Lukas

We had a great show planned for you today with two great authors. But, sometimes life is crazier than the fiction we talk about and today, we ended up...

The Nose Is Making a Trailer For Today's Show

23 Oct 2015

Contributed by Lukas

This week, movie trailers lost their way when someone advocated boycotting Star Wars VII because they believe the trailer advocated white genocide. Wh...

Don't Let The Bed Bugs Bite!

22 Oct 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Humans are used to being the predator, not the prey. But when it comes to our relationship with bed bugs - well, these little critters have been makin...

Celebrating 100 Years of Arthur Miller

20 Oct 2015

Contributed by Lukas

More than a decade after his death, Arthur Miller’s plays continue to resonate with readers and audiences across the world. This October marks ...

The Not-So-Secret Book Club: Purity

20 Oct 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Jonathan Franzen has become that rare American author whose life and moods and sulks make news. From his friendship with David Foster Wallace to his f...

All The Scramble's Men

19 Oct 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Bob Woodward thought he knew everything about Watergate. Then Alexander Butterfield, now in his late 80's, told him there were other stories never spo...

The Nose Says Lincoln Chafee Won the Democratic Debate

16 Oct 2015

Contributed by Lukas

This past week brought us the long-awaited first of six Democratic candidate debates, held at the Wynn Casino in Las Vegas. The tone was substantive, ...

Are You Prepared for Disaster?

15 Oct 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Three years ago, Hurricane Sandy hit the shores of Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey, killing 71 people and causing damages worth $50 billion. We ...

Is College Worth the Cost?

14 Oct 2015

Contributed by Lukas

There's a debate over whether college should prepare kids with specific skills that will prepare them for jobs, or give them a wide-ranging but more g...

A Poet of a Certain Age and Playwright Paula Vogel

12 Oct 2015

Contributed by Lukas

I could have called myself a Stradivarius, for though I, of course, was just an ordinary violin, waiting, ready to be held for the first time in a mus...

The Scramble: Hard Slides and Fantasy Sports

12 Oct 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Public radio is one of the few places where you can avoid ads for daily fantasy football companies like DraftKings and FanDuel. If you go anywhere els...

The Nose Just Wants Some Mac 'n Cheese

09 Oct 2015

Contributed by Lukas

In 24 hours, UConn freshman Luke Gatti became a viral video sensation. By now, millions have turned on their computers to watch the apparently-intoxic...

A Conversation About Russia, the Cold War, and Espionage With a Once Aspiring Spy

07 Oct 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Justin Lifflander wanted nothing more than to become a spy for the CIA. Growing up during the Cold War, he practiced spying on friends, family, and sc...

Philippe Petit's "Perfect Crime"

07 Oct 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Philippe Petit made his walk between the towers of the World Trade Center over 40 years ago. He stayed up on that wire for 45 minutes, made 8 passes b...

What's In a Title?

06 Oct 2015

Contributed by Lukas

The opening credits of your favorite movies and television shows set the mood, tone, and characters for what's to come, and allow you to relax and get...

The Scramble: Changing the Gun Conversation

05 Oct 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Our weekly Monday afternoon "Scramble" continues the conversation arising from last week’s school shooting in Oregon. As the number of mass shooting...

Shhh... The Nose Met Secretly With the Pope

02 Oct 2015

Contributed by Lukas

This week, Pope Francis was the biggest thing to hit America since the British Invasion. You could buy Pope-themed dolls, cookies with the Pope's...

Alan Doyle: From Small Town to Great Big Sea... and Beyond

01 Oct 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Alan Doyle is best known as lead singer of the Canadian band Great Big Sea. Recently, however, he's been touring with a different act: Alan Doyle...

U.S. Intelligence Dabbles in Forecasting the Future

29 Sep 2015

Contributed by Lukas

The participants are average citizens: school teachers, waiters, pharmacists, perhaps even your neighbor. By day they work and pay their bills, but wh...

What Does It Mean to Be a Man?

29 Sep 2015

Contributed by Lukas

We've been talking a lot over this last year about problems like misogyny and violence in football, rape on college campuses, mass shootings, and incr...

Walking With Dante

28 Sep 2015

Contributed by Lukas

"Dante's Inferno" is the most famous section of Dante Aligheri's 14,000 line epic poem, The Divine Comedy. But it's only the first part of Dante'...

The Nose Doesn't Cheat On Emissions Tests

25 Sep 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Volkswagen is having a moment. Not a good moment, but it's certainly a moment. VW owners are glaring at their vehicles with suspicion after it was rev...