The Colin McEnroe Show
Episodes
All calls: You probably bought a Joni Mitchell Toaster
28 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting ...
What if tug of war were still an Olympic sport? And other questions with Mike Pesca
25 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Mike Pesca is one of our very favorite guests — on any number of topics. His book, Upon Further Review: The Greatest What-Ifs in Sports History,...
How reality TV shapes our politics
24 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How does reality television shape our politics and our opinions? This hour two reality TV scholars join us to discuss how reality TV helps us understa...
‘Sing, O muse!’ A look at muses and how we evoke them
23 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Dating back to Homer and Hesiod, artists have been calling on muses for inspiration. This hour, we look at the mythology of the muses, real-life muses...
The wonder of termites
22 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Nobody likes termites. They get into the wood in our homes and can lead to infuriating and expensive repairs. What’s to like? It turns out, ther...
All calls: Do you mind if I borrow your linen closet?
21 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting ...
The Nose looks at ‘Superman’ and Stephen Colbert
18 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Thursday night, CBS announced that it is cancelling its flagship late night show, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, after next season, in May, 2026....
‘Murder in the Dollhouse’: Jennifer Dulos and our fascination with true crime
17 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On the morning of May 24, 2019, Jennifer Dulos dropped her kids off at New Canaan Country School. And then minutes later, she vanished. Her presumed m...
The secret language of animals and how we're learning to understand it
17 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Do you ever wish you could have a conversation with your pet, or the bird outside your window? This hour, we learn about how animals communicate with ...
Eventually the world will end. Why can't we stop imagining it?
15 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Earlier this year, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved the Doomsday Clock closer to midnight. The end of the world has been something humans h...
All calls: The first rule about invisible rabbits is you do not talk about invisible rabbits
14 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting ...
Alive and well in our imaginations: Dinosaurs in pop culture
11 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We think of dinosaurs as figures from science, from history, from the fossil record. But if I say “Tyrannosaurus rex,” do you picture bone...
Alissa Wilkinson on Joan Didion, Hollywood, and American mythmaking
10 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This hour, author and film critic Alissa Wilkinson joins us to talk about Joan Didion, Hollywood, and how we make sense of our politics. GUEST: Aliss...
Nothing lasts forever, except maybe Stoicism
09 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Lately the ancient philosophy of Stoicism is having a bit of a resurgence. This hour we learn about the philosophy, why people are drawn to it, and ho...
An appreciation of squirrels
08 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
I’ve had some well-documented trouble with our neighborhood squirrels over the last few winters. It could be that most homeowners in the Northea...
All calls: Bug poop and happy elks hold the world together
07 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting ...
The Nose looks at ‘Ironheart’ and The New York Times’ best 100 movies of the century list
03 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Ironheart is a new miniseries from Marvel Television. It is the 28th (not a typo) TV series in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and it concludes Ph...
The story of book chapters, one page at a time
02 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This hour we take a look at the history and evolution of chapters, and discuss how they impact our reading experiences. GUESTS: Nicholas Dames...
All calls: Are you car shopping in an animated movie?
01 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting ...
Socrates' lessons on life, death, and conversation with Agnes Callard
30 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This hour, philosopher Agnes Callard joins us to talk about her latest book, Open Socrates: The Case for a Philosophical Life. GUEST: Agnes Ca...
‘A kind of musical Mark Twain’: A look at Randy Newman
27 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Randy Newman has been nominated for 22 Academy Awards (he’s won twice), for 23 Grammy Awards (seven wins), and for three Primetime Emmy Awards (...
The real lives of the Vikings
26 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When you think of the Vikings, you probably picture a bearded man wearing a horned hat, pillaging on a Viking ship. But that's far from the whole stor...
Our relationship with rest is changing, and it’s about time
25 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This hour is all about the importance of rest, and how to rest well. Plus, we'll talk about the role of rest in religion, and look at the history of "...
Who are epigraphs for?
24 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This hour: the art of the epigraph. We talk with writers about how they pick the quotes that open their books, what epigraphs can do well, how the bus...
All calls: Why don’t people say ‘you’re welcome’ anymore? Good question
23 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting ...
Live from Watkinson: The legacy of Brian Wilson
20 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Brian Wilson was a singer, songwriter, record producer, and a founding member of The Beach Boys. He’s thought of as one of the great geniuses of...
Exploring astrology: Do stars really impact us?
18 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Humans have always been interested in the sky, and astrology has been used as a tool for people in power for a long time. During times of stress, inte...
You want me to eat what?! An examination of disgust
17 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Okay, this show comes with a trigger warning. We talk about things people eat, and some of those things are not for the squeamish. This hour, a look a...
The toll of perfectionism
16 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Perfectionism is on the rise among young people. This hour, we look at the impact of perfectionism on mental health and how to deal with perfectionist...
The Nose says goodbye to Brian Wilson and looks at ‘The Phoenician Scheme’
13 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The pop music genius Brian Wilson, a founding member of The Beach Boys, died on June 11. The Nose says goodbye. And: Wes Anderson has written and dire...
Song of the summer, 2025
12 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Listen live Thursday at 1 p.m. We’ve done a version of this show every single year since ...
The animating power of rivers with writer Robert Macfarlane
11 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What would it mean if we treated rivers as alive? That's the question that nature writer Robert Macfarlane wrestles with in his new book. What would h...
We're reading fewer books. That's not good
10 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This hour, we take stock of what it's like to read as an adult, and discuss why some Americans, including college students, are reading fewer books. W...
All calls: Sometimes the goo gets out
09 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting ...
The Nose looks at ‘Dept. Q’ and ‘Pee-wee as Himself’
06 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Dept. Q is a new Scottish detective mystery series on Netflix and created by Scott Frank and Chandi Lakhani based on the book series by Jussi Adl...
This show isn’t waterproof, but your raincoat might be: The history of waterproofing our tech and everyday products
05 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Have you ever broken your phone or computer by dropping it in water or spilling a drink on it? This hour, we discuss the relationship between the ever...
From totes to Birkins, handbags hold the keys to the world (along with your wallet and phone)
04 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
For many of us, handbags are an essential part of our lives. They allow us to leave the house with everything we need, and they also can be another pl...
Two thumbs up: A show all about fingers
03 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Touch, grip, read, dance, gesture — what can’t they do? Our fingers are so vital to our everyday life, sometimes it seems they have minds ...
All calls: This is your host on ketamine
02 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting ...
An hour with Griffin Dunne
30 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Note: This episode contains strong language. Griffin Dunne is Jack Goodman in John Landis’ classic horror-comedy An American Werewolf in London ...
The humble fly
29 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
There are thought to be about 17 million living flies for every human alive on Earth. They’re predators and parasites and pests, but they’...
How robots, and our attitudes toward them, have evolved
28 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What counts as a robot? This hour, a look at what robots are and the latest in robot technology. Plus, how robots were used and thought about in medie...
Building utopia
27 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Over 500 years ago, Sir Thomas More wrote about utopia. Since then, countless communities around the world have worked to create their own versions of...
We can never escape The Rock: A look at Alcatraz
23 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
President Trump has instructed his administration to work toward rebuilding and reopening the notorious maximum security prison on Alcatraz Islan...
The value of expertise in a world where everybody knows everything
22 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What is the status of expertise in our world? This hour we look at the so called "death of expertise." We talk about the role of experts throughout so...
All calls: Just because you’re exhausted doesn’t mean you have to turn into a Ringwraith
21 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting ...
From zeppelins to dirigibles to the Goodyear Blimp, airships capture our imagination
20 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
There’s something almost romantic about airships. The image of a giant, floating aircraft feels both nostalgic and futuristic. In the early 20th...
Why ticks are on the rise and how humans are fighting back
19 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
You may have heard that tick borne diseases are on the rise. But don’t worry — we’ve got you covered. This hour, we’re taking ...
Is this just the worst era of American pop culture … ever?
16 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Writer and critic Spencer Kornhaber just published a similarly-titled piece in The Atlantic: “Is This the Worst-Ever Era of American Pop Culture...
A salute to accordions
15 May 2025
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 ...
What Wikipedia can teach us about truth, information, and random trivia
14 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Wikipedia has lately been under attack, accused of bias and spreading propaganda. And for years students have been told not to trust the source. But a...
All calls: Which is worse, translating Cicero or laughing to death?
12 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting ...
Our tribute to Jill Sobule
09 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Our friend, the singer, songwriter, and performer Jill Sobule, died May 1 in a house fire in Woodbury, Minnesota, near Minneapolis. She was 66. Jill a...
Fashion Critic Vanessa Friedman discusses Trump's (second) first hundred days in fashion, clothes and politics, and more
08 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The New York Times’ Chief Fashion Critic, Vanessa Friedman, joins us for the hour to discuss fashion in President Donald Trump's second administ...
Are you still the you that you used to be? And other questions of self-continuity
07 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Are you the same person, today, that you were when you were a little kid? Are you the same person, right now, that you will be in the last years of yo...
O Romeo (and Juliet): The lasting appeal of Shakespeare’s tragedy
06 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Shakespeare’s tragedy about two star-crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet, has appealed to audiences for centuries. It’s been adapted countles...
All calls: Are we living in a simulation? Are you thinking of leaving the U.S.? Book bans, gaslighting, the economy, and more
05 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This hour we take your calls about anything you want to talk about. You can now watch our calls shows on Connecticut Public’s YouTube. Subs...
The Nose looks at ‘Sinners’ and our culture consumption in anxious times
02 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Sinners is the fifth feature film written and directed by Ryan Coogler and starring Michael B. Jordan. (Coogler has never made a feature without Jorda...
From boredom to handwriting: Christine Rosen on the embodied experiences we lose to technology
01 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This hour we talk with Christine Rosen about her book, The Extinction of Experience: Being Human in a Disembodied World. We talk about how technology ...
There are rules for punctuation, but we don’t always agree on them
30 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Should people use the Oxford comma? Is there a correct number of exclamation points per email? If someone ends a casual text with a period, does that ...
We're still pushing the boulder on the meaning of Sisyphus
29 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This hour, a look at the myth of Sisyphus, and how we invoke it today. Plus, we'll hear from a musician who has found inspiration in the story, and we...
All calls: Temporary tattoos, Americans emigrating, ‘MobLand,’ and more
28 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting ...
Cut for time: More from our Bacharach / Warwick show at Watkinson
26 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Note: This episode contains strong language. Easily the hardest part of turning something like our live event celebrating the chemistry between Burt B...
The Nose looks at ‘Conclave’ and ‘MobLand’
25 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
With rare exceptions, The Nose doesn’t usually cover movies from the previous Oscar season once the actual Oscars have happened. But major world...
What the world needs now: The chemistry of Burt Bacharach and Dionne Warwick
24 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This hour, it’s our show on the relationship and chemistry between Burt Bacharach and Dionne Warwick (and the lyricist Hal David) recorded live ...
Nothing to see here: Erasure in history, art and more
23 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This hour, we look at the political erasure of history, and its impacts. Plus, we talk about why artists destroy their own work or the works of others...
The fungus among us
22 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Since we just spent a number of years thinking about viruses, here’s a question: Should we be pretty worried about funguses, too? This hour, a l...
All calls: Remembering Pope Francis, grammar complaints, face touching, and more
21 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This hour we took your calls about anything you wanted to talk about. You can now watch our calls shows on Connecticut Public’s YouTube. Su...
Long live the movie musical
18 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The movie musical died a long, slow death a long time ago. Right? Well, except that there’s Wicked. And Spielberg’s West Side Story. And H...
Why both the American dream and tragedy of 'The Great Gatsby' still resonate today
17 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This year marks 100 years since F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby was first published. And it turns out that it took a whil...
Where have all the public toilets gone?
16 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof wrote a column proclaiming that "America Is Not Made for People Who Pee." It hit a nerve. People responded w...
The echoes of the Red Scare can be heard today
15 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This hour we talk about the history of the Second Red Scare, a period also known as McCarthyism. We learn about why the Scare took off in the United S...
All calls: Protests, comedy, universities, bees, and more
14 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This hour we took your calls about anything you wanted to talk about. Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.Suppor...
Wild and crazy guys: A look at ’80s comedies
11 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Bill Murray, Eddie Murphy, Chevy Chase, Steve Martin, John Belushi, John Candy, Rick Moranis. Animal House, The Blues Brothers, Beverly Hills Cop, Cad...
‘The Good Place’ creator Michael Schur explains how to be a good person
10 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
You know Michael Schur from the shows he’s created, like The Good Place, Parks and Recreation and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. This hour we talk with Sch...
Why Jane Austen’s work endures, on the page and screen
09 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Jane Austen completed six full-length novels. And today, 250 years after her birth, those novels are all still present in our culture. This hour, a lo...
Damn the torpedo (bats): Baseball is back!
08 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Finally, baseball is back! This hour, a look at all the fun, weird, interesting storylines in this new season — including, yes, the so-called to...
All calls: Rhododendrons, the economy, pickleball, and more
07 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This hour we took your calls about anything you wanted to talk about. Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.Suppor...
The joy of bad movies
04 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
There’s something kind of special about the experience of a really great, really bad movie. Think Red Dawn or Under Siege. Snakes on a Plane or ...
Shall we dance?
03 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Why do we dance? The answer is more complicated than you might think. Dancing has served a multitude of functions for various cultures throughout hist...
We’re still bananas for The Monkees
02 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This hour, a look at why, more than half a century after they first came walking down the street, we’re still bananas for The Monkees. GUESTS: ...
A look at cultural manias from Liszt and orchids to the Beatles and beyond
01 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
From fueling some of mankind's most violent events to inspiring your daughter's latest pop star obsession, mania has become an indispensable force in ...
All calls: Sen. Chris Murphy, John Donne, rooting for blowouts (or not), and more
31 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting ...
The Nose looks at ‘Adolescence’ and ‘Long Bright River’
28 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Adolescence is a four-part Netflix limited series crime drama. It is written and created by Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham, who also stars. Adolescenc...
A tribute to the proud and peaceful pigeon
27 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
B. F. Skinner thought pigeons were so smart they could be used to guide missiles during World War II. He proposed a system in which pigeons would esse...
Historian Timothy Snyder helps us understand this current moment through the lessons of history
26 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Historian Timothy Snyder is the author of the books On Freedom and On Tyranny. He joins us this hour to talk about the latest in our co...
From hot mics to mic drops, a celebration of the microphone
25 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The microphone makes everything we do on the radio possible. This hour we celebrate the invention and look at the role of microphones in music. Plus h...
All calls: The zipper merge, ‘American Pie,’ music streaming services, and more
24 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This hour, the conversation winds around to the zipper merge, Don McLean’s “American Pie,” our 15th anniversary party, model trains ...
From The Bad Ideas Dept.: Today’s show is not about tapirs
21 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we’re celebrating the show’s 15th anniversary (which was last year, but never mind about that part). Over those 15+ years, we&r...
Live from a forest: Discussing hiking, archaeology, invasives, and Connecticut's trails
20 Mar 2025
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. There are things out in the wo...
March Madness 2025
19 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
March Madness is here! And for the 15th* time, the only logical thing to do is to get improv comedian Julia Pistell and the actual Bill Curry together...
What the history of the McKinley era, tariffs, and the Gilded Age can teach us about the present
18 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
President Donald Trump has found inspiration for tariffs and more in the 25th President of the United States: William McKinley. This hour, we look at ...
All calls: Will we ever get back to The Shire? Is Colin ok? Is anyone? And more
17 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls, calls about anything, everything. The...
The Nose looks at ‘I’m Still Here’ and the dearth of old movies on Netflix
14 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
I’m Still Here (Ainda Estou Aqui) is a Brazilian, Portuguese-language political biographical drama based on the memoir by Marcelo Rubens Paiva. ...
An unusually strange event: Nikolai Gogol, ‘The Inspector,’ and ‘The Nose’
13 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
“The Nose” may be Nikolai Gogol’s most famous short story. It’s a surrealist — and self-consciously, self-awarely surrea...
Necks: More than just something we have a pain in
12 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How do you feel about your neck? Maybe you only think about it when you’re sore from sleeping wrong or from sitting at a desk all day. But for c...
Bring back the beaver!
11 Mar 2025
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 ...
All calls: Dissent, Adam and Eve, therapy, and more
10 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls, calls about anything, everything. And...
How WWE got a chokehold on U.S. politics
07 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In January, World Wrestling Entertainment's (WWE) Monday night show, Raw, moved to Netflix. The move comes around the time that a known WWE fan and Ha...
Turns out common sense isn’t all that common
06 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
President Donald Trump has been using the phrase “common sense” a lot. But it turns out that this is nothing new for politicians. This hou...