The Colin McEnroe Show

We take your calls

31 Jul 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...

‘You can be anything’: A look at Barbie and ‘Barbie’

29 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

According to Mattel, more than a billion Barbie dolls have been sold since they launched the toy in 1959. Barbie and Ken are said to be the two most p...

The Barbenheimer Nose looks at ‘Barbie’ and ‘Oppenheimer’

28 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

It looks like this beach was a little too much beach for this week’s Nose. The Barbenheimer Apocalypse is upon us. Barbie is the fourth film writte...

Unpacking the impact of J. Edgar Hoover on the FBI and 20th century America

27 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

J. Edgar Hoover served as the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation under eight presidents and made the FBI into the organization it is toda...

‘There is no substitute’: Tom Cruise’s impossible missions

26 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

It’s been more than a decade since Tom Cruise made a movie that did NOT make $100 million. The newest Mission: Impossible just opened at $235 millio...

Our second hour with Joyce Maynard

25 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This hour, novelist Joyce Maynard joins us again to talk about her latest novel, the blurring of life and fiction, and her new career running a hotel ...

From therapy-speak to armchair psychology, conversations around mental health are changing

24 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Terms that started out in the therapist’s office have moved into the public discourse. This hour we talk about therapy-speak, armchair psychology, a...

The Nose looks at ‘Showing Up’ and ‘The Whale’

21 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This week’s Nose wants its own water working. Showing Up is the eighth feature film directed by Kelly Reichardt, and it’s Reichardt’s fourth co...

Don’t hit snooze on this show: Breaking down the history and norms of sleep

20 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

What if our ideas about how sleep should look are getting in the way of a good night's rest? This hour we talk about how we came to develop ideas of h...

We take your calls

19 Jul 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 art of the recipe: Gravestones, fictional worlds, and cookbooks (of course)

18 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This hour: recipes. We talk with someone who makes recipes found on gravestones, and we consider what makes an effective recipe, the history of the mo...

The new normal of UFOs, UAPs, and the search for extraterrestrial life

17 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This hour we get an update on the latest in the American conversation about the search for extraterrestrial life. This includes a conversation with jo...

The Nose looks at the SAG strike, the Emmy noms, and ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’

14 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists has joined the Writers Guild of America on strike. It’s the first SAG st...

Finding humanity in humanism

13 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This hour we look at the philosophy of humanism. We survey the history and evolution of the humanist tradition, and discuss what it means to practice ...

What’s going on with loneliness?

12 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Loneliness: It’s often cited as an “epidemic” and can have a health impact comparable to smoking 15 cigarettes a day. This hour, we talk about w...

Beauty and the Butt: A look ‘back’ at our complicated relationship with butts

11 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Whether we love or loathe our butt is deeply influenced by race, gender, and whether the shape and size of our butt is in or out of style. This hour, ...

Is Twitter toppling? Can Threads sew salvation?

10 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This hour, a look at what’s going on with Twitter, and why it matters, even if you don’t use the platform. Plus, we discuss what this all means fo...

The Nose looks at ‘Asteroid City’ and continued OceanGate Titan fascination

07 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Asteroid City is Wes Anderson’s 11th feature film. It’s written and directed by Anderson from a story by Anderson and Roman Coppola. It’s a com...

What our tears can tell us

06 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Why do humans cry? This hour, we look at the science of crying and discuss what it does for us, emotionally and culturally. Plus: musician Dar William...

What’s spoken flies away: The history and art of reading aloud

05 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

There’s an old Latin saying from the early Middle Ages: Verba volant, scripta manent — What is written remains, what is spoken flies away. Essenti...

We take your calls

03 Jul 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...

Read after watching: How episode recaps became part of our TV experience

30 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The Nose is off this week. In its place: Why do we have so much trouble remembering all the TV we watch? This hour, a look at why episode recaps are s...

This show is so bad, it's good

29 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This hour, we’re celebrating things that are so bad, they’re good — the underdog ideas that fail so hard, they become successes. We’ll talk ab...

Has everything original been done?

28 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Has everything original been done? It’s a question that’s been asked about storytelling, music, fine art, movies, and so much more. This hour, we ...

Cross-examining the history and the future of the Supreme Court

27 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Ethics and the Supreme Court are back (still?) in the news and in question. This hour, we are revisiting a show we did just over a year ago around the...

From The New York Times’ ‘Spelling Bee’ to orthography, a look at all things spelling

26 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This hour: spelling — what it is, why it matters, and why some of us actually find it fun. There will be a test. GUESTS: Deb Amlen: Crossword colum...

The Nose looks at Marvel’s takeover of Hollywood, ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,’ and more

23 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is the second movie in the Spider-Verse film series and the 14th (not a typo) Spider-Man feature film. It has mad...

Humanity’s ongoing quest to end epidemics and escape contagion

22 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Before Covid, Most Americans couldn’t imagine the staggering loss of life that earlier generations experienced during epidemics of smallpox, diphth...

We take your calls

21 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This hour we take your calls about anything you want to talk about. You can reach us by calling 888-720-9677. Join the conversation on Facebook and ...

‘Everyone is involved’: Watergate in our popular culture

17 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The botched Watergate break-in happened 51 years ago today, on June 17, 1972. Over the decades since, the whole Watergate story has been processed thr...

The Nose looks at ‘The Binge Purge’ and ‘Turn Every Page’

16 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This week’s Nose thinks that a semicolon is worth fighting a civil war about. Turn Every Page: The Adventures of Robert Caro and Robert Gottlieb is...

Hippo ranching, a poop vault, and orcas sinking boats

15 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

We have so much on our minds that we couldn’t pick one topic for today — we’re going with three! Strap in. First: a failed bill from the 1900s t...

Our (maybe) 13th (almost) annual song of the summer show

15 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

We’ve done this show every year (except 2012) since 2011. (We maybe even did it in 2010. We probably did. I just can’t prove it.) So it’...

A look at the philosophy, ethics, science, and emotion of time travel

13 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Countless books, movies, and TV shows explore time travel. This hour, a look at the hold that time travel has on pop culture and the philosophy, ethic...

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...