The Colin McEnroe Show
Episodes
We take your calls
12 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This hour we take your calls about anything you want to talk about. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. The Colin McEnroe Show is availa...
The Nose looks at ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’ and ‘The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’
09 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Colin is off this week, so we decided to do a Nose without him — and a Nose all about stuff Colin doesn’t care about: video games and things video...
It’s a vibe! A look at what makes a vibe a vibe
08 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
You must have heard the term “vibe” by now, right? We’ve heard about the vibe of the economy, the vibe of a music playlist, the vibe of a season...
Why a show about fog? We haven’t the foggiest
07 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
From San Francisco’s iconic fog and COVID-related brain fog to a location-tracking program called Fog Reveal, this hour, we lift the fog on all kind...
It’s no mystery why we’re drawn to crime fiction
06 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Mysteries have been popular for centuries. This hour we ask: Why are we drawn to this genre? Plus, a look at television detectives and true crime podc...
‘Our national pageant of stupidity’: Andy Borowitz on American politicians today
05 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This hour, humorist and The New Yorker columnist Andy Borowitz on his book Profiles in Ignorance, which explains how our nation’s elected leaders ha...
The Nose looks at all the prestige TV shows ending at once, plus ‘White House Plumbers’
02 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
There’s been a changing of the guard, a succession, if you will, in prestige TV (or whatever). In the span of five days, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel ...
We ❤️ romance novels
01 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Romance novels have long had a reputation for being flimsy, sexist, trashy bodice-rippers. But there’s lots more to the genre than meets the eye. Th...
Invisibility fascinates and frightens us. But will it ever become reality?
31 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This hour: invisibility. We learn about the science of invisibility and whether we’re getting close to having the technology to turn invisible. We a...
How two Connecticut outsiders transformed treatment for traumatic blood loss and fought Army insiders
30 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This hour, an invention that transformed care for traumatic injuries. Charles Barber’s new book, In The Blood: How Two Outsiders Solved a Centuries...
The Nose looks at the Supreme Court, Andy Warhol, Prince, and ‘Jury Duty’
26 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
For this week’s Nose, the straightness is the difficulty of the lack of a bend. Last week, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled against the ...
An irreverent reimagining of US history’s most revered (and reviled) idols
25 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
There’s currently a debate in America about what students should be learning about U.S. history. Some say we don’t revere American exceptionalism ...
Remembering Martin Amis
24 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The writer and public intellectual Martin Amis died May 19. He was 73. Amis broke into the literary scene in the 1970s, and by the time his London tri...
Why you like the music you like
23 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In record producer and neuroscientist Susan Rogers’s This Is What It Sounds Like: What the Music You Love Says About You, she writes, “The music t...
We take your calls
22 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve been doing these shows a couple times a month where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have be...
‘It’s OK with me’: The Nose rewatches ‘The Long Goodbye’ at 50
19 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This week’s Nose got a couple other cans, ya know, and came back and switched the labels and the cans around. The Long Goodbye is a satirical neo-no...
Back from the dead: Exploring the cutting edge of de-extinction
18 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
At the beginning of the year, the company behind the public effort to de-extinct the wooly mammoth announced it will also be de-extincting the dodo. T...
The art of the ending
17 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
With Succession, Ted Lasso, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and Barry all coming to a close within the span of a week, it’s time for an hour on endings. ...
Incarcerated content producers challenge the myth of prison reform
16 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The purpose of incarceration in America is supposed to be a balance between punishment and reform, with the scales tipping toward reforms that can lea...
What does it mean to treat something as sacred?
15 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This hour, we look at the idea of sacredness — in both religious and secular spaces — and ask how we can identify and make places for the sacred i...
The Nose looks at ‘Liz’ Holmes and ‘Bupkis’
12 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
You don’t have to worry about this week’s Nose taking your phone and putting it in the bottom of a root beer float. On Sunday, The New York Times ...
Let’s go down a rabbit hole about rabbit holes
11 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
If you've spent time on the internet, you've probably experienced the feeling of going down a rabbit hole. This hour, we talk about that feeling, how ...
The art of the dial: Why we like hotlines and phone calls with strangers
10 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Hotlines: whether you realize it or not, you’ve likely used one before. From emergency services to customer service and crisis lines, they often fly...
First come, first served: There is an art, and an etiquette, of queues
09 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Well designed queues give you hope and feel fair, while poorly designed ones can ruin your day. Queues are everywhere around us, and not all are desig...
We take your calls
08 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This hour, we take your calls about whatever you want to talk about. Call us: 888-720-9677. Join the conversation onFacebook and Twitter. The Colin ...
The Nose looks at the writers’ strike and ‘Mrs. Davis’
05 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This week’s Nose force feeds hero’s journey to its network. The Writers Guild of America is on strike for the first time in 15 years. The film and...
Who gets the part? There are no small actors or roles
04 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Note: This episode contains strong language. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we all recognize the big names or fall in love with a brand-new star — but what about...
Don’t sleep on bedtime stories: What we can all learn from these nighttime tales
03 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This hour: bedtime stories. What can we learn from people who write and tell them? How can we all be more intentional and magical about the last thing...
Meet Connie Converse, the haunting songwriter whose work stayed hidden for decades
02 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Have you heard the music of Connie Converse? She was a singer-songwriter in New York City in the middle of the 20th century, who, in her lifetime, nev...
The Artist Formerly Known as The Colin McEnroe Show: Conversations about rebranding
01 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
According to a cursory search of my email archive, we started working on rebranding The Colin McEnroe Show in the fall of 2021. It was probably actual...
The Nose looks at ‘The Diplomat’ and ‘John Mulaney: Baby J’
28 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This week’s Nose traded one fatted goose for ten radishes. The Diplomat is an eight-episode political thriller romantic-comedy (sort of?) Netflix li...
Shell we talk about eggs?
27 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What else besides an egg can give us human life, culinary delight, life-saving vaccines, jarping, the Clowns International Egg Registry, and a satisfy...
Wisdom can save us from bad thinking
26 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We all do some bad thinking sometimes, whether in relatively minor ways or relatively major ones. This hour, we look at why bad thinking happens, how ...
You tried, you did not conquer: When a book becomes unreadable
25 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Most of us have books that we just can’t finish, no matter how many times we try. This hour, a look at those books that we find unreadable, whether ...
We take your calls
24 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve been doing these shows a couple times a month where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have be...
The Nose says goodbye to its blue check mark and looks at ‘Beef’
21 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This week’s Nose is gonna make three 10X trades: 1K to 10K, 10K to a hundred, hundred to a million. Boom. On April 20, Twitter stripped its blue che...
Everything you know has an expiration date
20 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In April, 2010 — 13 years ago this month — we did a segment on the concept of the “mesofact,” a certain kind of data point that feels fixed ...
Digging into the roots of our food with Mark Bittman
19 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We have a complicated relationship with our food. We need food to live, yet we’ve become removed from the food we eat and how it’s grown and proce...
How emoji have changed how we communicate and why we ❤️ them
18 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This hour, our new favorite way to communicate: emoji. We look at how emoji are created and how they change meaning and talk to the creator of Emojila...
Life is hard. This philosopher wants to help us deal with that
17 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This hour, a conversation about handling life’s hardships with philosopher Kieran Setiya, the author of Life Is Hard: How Philosophy Can Help Us Fin...
The Nose looks at the COVID pop culture canon and ‘The Power’
14 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This week’s Nose could be some genetic switch that flipped. Something that was there, dormant, and it just… On April 8, The New York Times Opini...
Exploring astrology: Do stars really impact us?
13 Apr 2023
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...
Exploring the divide between ‘brokenists’ and ‘status-quoists’
12 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Alana Newhouse, editor-in-chief of Tablet Magazine, recently wrote an article where she argued that the real divide currently is between those who...
FOMO? Rage? Pleasure? How and why we hate-watch
11 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Sometimes, we just love to hate. From reality TV shows like The Bachelor and The Real Housewives franchise to movies like The Room and Twilight...
We take your calls
10 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve been doing these shows a couple times a month where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have be...
The Nose looks at ‘The Night Agent’ and ‘Rabbit Hole’
07 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This week’s Nose is a redundancy in case the FBI needs to contact the president and other methods are compromised. The Night Agent is an espionage c...
‘Megafauna mania’: Our obsession with mountain lions and other large predators
06 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Bears, bobcats, coyotes, and deer are repopulating Connecticut, despite being hunted to near extinction by early settlers. Is the mountain lion among ...
What does it mean to be a good citizen today?
05 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This hour, we investigate what it means to be a good citizen today. What are our responsibilities? What do we owe each other? GUESTS: Tamar Gendler: ...
Our Trump pre-arraignment show
04 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ahead of NPR’s special coverage of the arraignment of former President Donald Trump, we look at the possible legal case and its broader implications...
The psychology of fandom: Why we care so much about fictional characters
03 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This hour is about the psychology of fandom. We look at how the mind of a fan operates. We talk with experts about the mental attachments and connecti...
The Nose looks at ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ and ‘Daisy Jones & the Six’
31 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We believe this week’s Nose will be perceived as indigenous and will not trigger the immune response. Avatar: The Way of Water is the first of four ...
Emily St. John Mandel talks with us about how we treat one another, the simulation hypothesis, autofiction, and more
30 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This hour: a conversation with novelist Emily St. John Mandel, about time travel, the simulation hypothesis, adapting her work to television, art and ...
I've Got Two Chickens to Paralyze: A celebration of mondegreens, malapropisms, and more
29 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This hour we look at mis-speaks, mis-hearings and mis-understandings, like malapropisms, mondegreens, eggcorns, and spoonerisms. We'll share our favor...
Historical reenactments can deepen our relationship to history
28 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This hour: historical reenactments. We look at the role reenactments play in helping us understand or experience history. We talk with reenactors abou...
We take your calls
27 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve been doing these shows a couple times a month where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have be...
From ‘Ninotchka’ to ‘Love Actually’: A celebration of the romantic comedy
24 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In his book From Hollywood with Love: The Rise and Fall (and Rise Again) of the Romantic Comedy, Scott Meslow lays out two ways to tell if a given mov...
Put your hands together for a show about clapping
23 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This hour, we wrap our heads around clapping — its history, its varied permutations, and the kinds of occasions on which people applaud. GUESTS: Er...
Please don’t give this show on the art of the online review one star
22 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It could be that you’ve used online reviews to try new restaurants, dry cleaners, hotels or even movies. But what makes us trust the opinions of str...
Tuberculosis has shaped history, art, and architecture — and it’s still here today
21 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Tuberculosis has been around for thousands of years, and it still infects millions per year. This hour, we look back at how tuberculosis has shaped hi...
Stop, drop, and stay there: A look at leisure
20 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
How do you like to relax? Do you read a book? Go for a hike, maybe? How about grabbing dinner with friends? The list goes on, and we consider these ac...
The Nose looks at Adam Sandler’s Mark Twain Prize, ‘Star Trek: Picard,’ and more
17 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This week’s Nose is being institutionally told that its personal expression is bad. This weekend, Adam Sandler receives the Mark Twain Prize for Ame...
Our 13th* (almost) annual March Madness show
16 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
March Madness is upon us! And so the only logical thing to do is to get improv comedian Julia Pistell and the actual Bill Curry together to talk baske...
Lost in my mind: What happens when we daydream
15 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Do you daydream? What do you daydream about? This hour is all about the art of daydreaming. We'll reflect on the value of daydreaming, and why it can ...
Why our food looks different from grandma’s
14 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Food isn’t just a way to cure hunger. In food, we find identity, history, politics, and more. This hour, a look at the evolution of food and how our...
We take your calls
13 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve been doing these shows a couple times a month where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have be...
The Nose’s guide to the 95th Academy Awards
10 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Over the last year, The Nose has covered 14 of this year’s Academy Award-nominated movies, encompassing 64 nominations. So on this special edition o...
Listen! Now!! Don’t miss!!! our show about the exclamation point.
09 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
I’m so excited!!! The exclamation point is the only punctuation mark that can express (and evoke) strong emotion. You either love them or hate them....
‘Betcha can’t eat just one’: The science and art of snacking
08 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Snacking on snacks, savory or sweet, has become a way of life. This hour, we sink our teeth into our snack-food obsessions. GUESTS: Andrea Hernández...
Why Jane Austen’s work endures, on the page and screen
07 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Jane Austen completed six full-length novels. And today, more than two centuries later, those novels are all still present in our culture. This hour, ...
Why do AI voice assistants default to female voices?
06 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Have you noticed that voice assistants like Alexa and Siri default to female voices? This hour, we talk about how artificial intelligence is reinforci...
The Nose looks at ‘Women Talking’ and ‘The Consultant’
03 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This week’s Nose has never asked the men for anything. Not a single thing. Women Talking is an adaptation of Miriam Toews’s 2018 novel written and...
Raising consciousness about lowering height
02 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This hour, the full measure of short stature, from personal health, professional discrimination, and environmental impact to Humphrey Bogart’s strap...
The state of COVID, three years into the pandemic
01 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We’re now three years into the COVID-19 pandemic. This hour we look back at the past few years, and how we attempt to make sense of them. We’ll ta...
From mall music to dead malls: The past, present, and future of American malls
28 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Malls are an important gathering place for people of all ages to shop, eat, be entertained, walk, and enjoy the controlled temperature. This hour, the...
We take your calls
27 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve been doing these shows a couple times a month where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have be...
The Nose looks at Best Animated Feature Oscar nominees
24 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This week’s Nose has every right to be consulted about your schemes and machinations regarding its property. To this point, The Nose has covered exa...
There’s always a reason to celebrate: A look at the world of unusual holidays
23 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Today is Curling is Cool Day, Digital Learning Day, Single-Tasking Day, National Chili Day, and Introduce a Girl To Engineering Day. And these are jus...
Our relationship to UFOs is changing
22 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
UFOs are in the news again. This hour we look at how a once fringe interest in UFOs became mainstream. We discuss why so many Americans believe in ext...
Anger, politics, death: Revisiting ‘The Iliad’ through a modern lens
21 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Homer’s The Iliad is a literary classic. This hour, we look at some of the many ways the epic applies to life today, in our understanding of plague,...
‘A very particular set of skills’: A look at late-career Liam Neeson movies
17 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
If I say “Liam Neeson movie,” you picture, at this point, a pretty specific thing, right? It’s kind of an action-thriller. Neeson is avenging so...
“I once had a dentist named Dr. Fillmore”: Stories of nominative determinism
16 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
There’s a theory that people are drawn to work that fits their name. This hour, an exploration of nominative determinism. Plus, a look at the differ...
We take your calls
15 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve been doing these shows a couple times a month where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have be...
First dates and lockdown love stories: a look at romance during COVID
14 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This hour, a look at how the pandemic shaped dating, long-term relationships, and love over its first two years. GUESTS: Philippa Found: An artist an...
Hey, Burt, these folks are in love with you
13 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Burt Bacharach was, simply put, one of the most important figures in popular music in the 20th century. He wrote 73 Top 40 hits, including songs like ...
The Nose looks at ‘The Last of Us’ and ‘Triangle of Sadness’
10 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This week’s Nose needs food to live, so it begins to devour its host from within. The Last of Us is a post-apocalyptic TV series adapted for HBO fro...
Out of tune: The challenges of keeping a band together
09 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Everyone loves a good band breakup story. But it’s far more unusual to find bands that manage to stay together for the long haul. This hour we explo...
What our monsters say about us
08 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This hour, a look at misunderstood monsters, why humans create monsters in the first place, and the benefits of hearing a monster’s perspective. Plu...
How robots, and our attitudes toward them, have evolved
07 Feb 2023
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...
The fungus among us
06 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The HBO television adaptation of the video game The Last of Us takes place after a global pandemic caused by a fungal infection. Which sparked the que...
The Nose looks at ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ and ‘Poker Face’
03 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This week’s Nose thanks you for your underwear concern. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is a sequel to 2018’s Black Panther. It is the seventh and ...
Pizza boxes, expiration dates, and donkeys
02 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This hour we discuss the problem with pizza boxes and food expiration dates. Plus we look at the history of the donkey and what it can tell us about h...
We take your calls
01 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve been doing these shows a couple times a month where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have be...
Redheads: From stereotypes to superpowers
31 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Redheads. They smell better. They’re better at sensing temperature changes. They can handle more pain. (Those things are apparently all true.) But. ...
Classified documents, font controversies, and the connection between exercise and spirituality
30 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This hour: are too many documents classified in the U.S.? Plus, why the State Department is changing its default font. And, we'll look at the connecti...
The Nose looks at the Oscar noms and ‘The Menu’
27 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This week’s Nose never burns anything unless by design — to make delicious. This year’s Academy Award nominations were announced Tuesday morning...
Narcissists, we bet you think this show is about you. You’re right, it is
26 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
There’s more to narcissism than meets the eye. This hour, we reflect on narcissism — our misunderstandings about it, its pervasiveness in our cult...
Exploring the myth and metaphor of Cassandra and the price of foresight
25 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
You’ve likely heard the Greek myth of Cassandra, a woman given the gift of prophecy who was cursed never to be believed. This hour, a look at the Ca...
‘Monuments aren’t history lessons’: A look at the present and future of monuments
24 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This hour we look at the landscape of monuments across the United States and explore how new monuments are created and how old ones are decommissioned...
Now we’re cooking with gas! But should we be?
23 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Talk of regulating gas stoves in the United States recently ignited a firestorm. This hour we talk about what sparked the debate, the health impacts o...
The artful todger: The Nose looks at ‘Spare’ and the present Prince Harry moment
20 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This week’s Nose has no prince autopilot button that you can press and it just takes you away. The English-language edition of Prince Harry, The Duk...