1,804 episodes
The Colin McEnroe Show Connecticut Public Radio
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- Society & Culture
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4.5 • 161 Ratings
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The Colin McEnroe Show is public radio’s most eclectic, eccentric weekday program. The best way to understand us is through the subjects we tackle: Neanderthals, tambourines, handshakes, the Iliad, snacks, ringtones, punk rock, Occam’s razor, Rasputin, houseflies, zippers. Are you sensing a pattern? If so, you should probably be in treatment. On Fridays, we try to stop thinking about what kind of ringtones Neanderthals would want to have and convene a panel called The Nose for an informal roundtable about the week in culture.
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Put your hands together for a show about clapping
This hour, we wrap our heads around clapping — its history, its varied permutations, and the kinds of occasions on which people applaud.
GUESTS:
Erin Elstner: Percussionist and professor of percussion at Webster University
Frank Rizzo: Theater critic for Variety and other publications
Gavin Witt: Professor of theater history at Towson University
The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!
Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.
Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.
Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, Cat Pastor, Dylan Reyes, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show, which originally aired August 30, 2022.
Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. -
Please don’t give this show on the art of the online review one star
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 strangers on the internet?
This hour, a look at the art and the etiquette of the online review.
GUESTS:
Tyler Anderson: Owner of Tanda Hospitality
Lauren Dragan: Senior staff writer at Wirecutter
Xandy Schiefer: Co-host of the podcast Beach Too Sandy, Water Too Wet
Camilla Vásquez: Author of The Discourse of Online Consumer Reviews
The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!
Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.
Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.
Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, and Jonathan McNicol contributed to this show, which originally aired August 25, 2022.
Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. -
Tuberculosis has shaped history, art, and architecture — and it’s still here today
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 history and how it is still impacting health today.
Plus, a look at the history of tuberculosis treatment, how tuberculosis has shaped modern architecture, and the impact of tuberculosis on art and artists.
GUESTS:
Heran Darwin: Professor in the Department of Microbiology at New York University
Beatriz Colomina: Author of X-Ray Architecture
Carolyn Day: Author of Consumptive Chic: A History of Beauty, Fashion and Disease
Kyle Harper: Author of Plagues Upon the Earth: Disease and the Course of Human History
Tara Knapp: Vice president of external affairs at Gaylord Specialty Healthcare
Elizabeth Lee: Author of The Medicine of Art: Disease and the Aesthetic Object in Gilded Age America
The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!
Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.
Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.
Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired September 1, 2022.
Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. -
Stop, drop, and stay there: A look at leisure
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 activities leisure.
This hour, we learn what leisure is and how to master it. We take a look at the importance of leisure for health, how the concept differs around the world, and what it means to value your free time. Finally, we examine what the future holds for leisure.
In case you find some inspiration in this hour, here’s a list of leisure activities from our guests and The Colin McEnroe Show staff:
Gardening.
Finishing that old show you’ve been meaning to finish.
Drawing yourself.
Counting clouds.
Staring at the wall.
Laying down.
Playing the closest instrument.
Going bug collecting.
Trying your hand at claymation.
Trying to get the hiccups.
Buying clay pigeons (biodegradable) and smashing them.
Exploring the forest behind your home.
Throwing rocks into the mysterious well you find in the forest.
Summoning (accidentally) an eons-old forest spirit.
Visiting a national park.
GUESTS:
Tom Hodgkinson: Founder of Idler magazine and the author How to Be Idle: A Loafer’s Manifestoand An Idler’s Manual, among other books
Selin Malkoc: Behavioral scientist at the Fisher College of Business at The Ohio State University
Ken Roberts: Professor of sociology, social policy, and criminology at The University of Liverpool
The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!
Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.
Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.
Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, Jonathan McNicol, Cat Pastor, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show, which originally aired August 11, 2022.
Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. -
The Nose looks at Adam Sandler’s Mark Twain Prize, ‘Star Trek: Picard,’ and more
This week’s Nose is being institutionally told that its personal expression is bad.
This weekend, Adam Sandler receives the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. Colin says it’s the end of Western civilization, or something like that. But is it?
And: Seth Rogen has gone on the record about how “devastating” critiques of his work can be. It’s a topic this week’s Nose, which includes America’s Greatest Living Film Critic, couldn’t resist.
And finally: Star Trek: Picard is the eighth Star Trek television series and the second series in the expanded Star Trek universe (I don’t really know what that is). It’s a sequel to the third Star Trek television series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and it starts 20 years after the last Next Generation movie, Star Trek: Nemesis (2002). Its third and final season is streaming now.
David Edelstein’s endorsements:
the 26th season of South Park on Comedy Central
Unscripted: The Epic Battle for a Media Empire and the Redstone Family Legacy by James B. Stewart and Rachel Abrams
Mercy Quaye’s endorsements:
Daniel and Jorge Explain the Universe
Houston, We Have a Podcast’s Mars miniseries
StarTalk
Carolyn Paine’s endorsement:
You Season 4 on Netflix
Colin’s endorsements:
the music of Declan O’Rourke and Solas
Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take:
Bobby Caldwell, ‘Blue-Eyed Soul’ Singer, Dead at 71
Al Jaffee, Now 102, Is Ready to Be Added to Mount Rushmore MAD’s longest-serving contributor on comedy, art, and the origins of the “Fold-in.”
Marvel Is Looking For The Person Behind The Alleged Quantumania Script Leaks
Warner Bros. Discovery Worried That ‘HBO’ Name Turns Off New Subscribers CEO David Zaslav is considering ”Max“ as the name for the service which combines the company’s flagship streamer and Discovery+
Sesame Street to Launch First NFTs With VeVe, Starting With Cookie Monster Digital Collectibles at $60 Each
Netflix Pulls Plug On Nancy Meyers’ New Project Over Budget Issue
The Fabulist in the Woods In Northampton with Kelly Link and her community of like-minded writers.
The Cure tried to circumvent Ticketmaster’s price gouging. It didn’t work. While tickets went for as low as $20, Ticketmaster’s fees easily doubled the price
Bad Projection Is Ruining the Movie Theater Experience Multiplexes are failing at their most basic function: delivering a bright, sharp image.
Peak TV Is Over. Welcome to Trough TV. Streaming’s golden age has been ending for a while, but it’s only now become clear what’s replacing it.
34 Things That Happened Almost Exactly 3 Years Ago Before The Pandemic That Will Make You Question Reality The world really was such a different place, and I just hope Charlotte Awbery is slaying a subway platform somewhere again.
20 Cringey And 9 Funny Things Celebrities Did At The Beginning Of The Pandemic That Are Wild To Look Back On Now It’s weird looking back three years later, but I think all celebrities learned it’s just sometimes better not to post.
It’s Time to Kill the Multiverse (at Least in This Timeline) Don’t let ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ and its Oscar front-runner status fool you: The supposedly limitless storytelling device has been pushed to its narrative limits. Just look to ‘Quantumania’ for proof.
How Please Stopped Being Polite The phrase if it please you has been shortened and shortened over time—until it’s become more brusque than courteous.
If You’re Reading This, Your Favorite Show Is Canceled
Ben Affleck on ‘Air,’ New CEO Gig and Those Memes: “I Am Who I Am” The actor, filmmaker and budding mogul on the disruptive production company he launched with Matt Damon, why he’s done with D.C., getting Michael Jordan’s blessing for his new film and the advice wife Jennifer Lopez gave him for this interview.
We Spoke To The NYU Student Who Did Not Have Fun Studying Abroad In Florence And She Doesn’t Care That -
Our 13th* (almost) annual March Madness show
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 basketball for an hour on the radio.
That may not be the only logical thing to do. It may be that that’s not actually a logical thing to do at all.
But we’re doing it anyway.
*It’s our 13th one of these unless it isn’t. Our thinking is that we’ve done this show every year from 2010 on, but for 2020. There’s a mention, in our 2013 edition of this show, of our having done a 2010 edition of this show. But no evidence of the 2010 edition of the show survives on the internet. And yet we’re still fairly confident it’s a thing that we did.
GUESTS:
Bill Curry: Playing the part of Bill Curry
Frankie Graziano: Host of The Wheelhouse on Connecticut Public
Andrew Hsu: President of the College of Charleston in South Carolina
Julia Pistell: A founding member of Sea Tea Improv, a contributing producer on this show, and a number of other things
The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!
Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.
Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.
Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.
Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Customer Reviews
One of a Kind
Hyper verbose…but…host displays a vast intellectual curiosity…some excellent programs…some silly (pajamas?)…overall prefer Colin’s show to:
Fresh Air -which has come to rely way too much on streaming series that I DON’T HAVE AND CANT AFFORD. (Why does she feel compelled to go for the dirty laundry…or as Keith Richards said regarding intimate Mick Jagger details he wouldn’t reveal: “nice try, Terry”.)
Musical interludes and introductions from jokey sidekick (think Ed McMann’s nightly “here’s Johnny”…sometimes almost funny but more often lame…nevertheless give the show a certain flavor/identity I suppose.
He can be presumptuous…(what ya expect from a Yalie)…and opinionated but not afraid of the off beat or prosaic…well read, probing, questioning, blazing verbal gymnastics, and a solid grasp of too many aspects of western culture to be aired on any radio network outside an Ivy League university.
Bottom line: Tune in or miss out. You never know what’s coming next.
Episode 7?! Surprise!
I was just about to re-listen to series & #7 dropped. Serendipitous even if it is an interview with the cell-of-origin. While not a fan, always believed Newt to be highly intelligent & agreed with a few of his insights early in interview. But his arrogance & lack of humility bleed through & am reminded, imo, his perennial emergence from behind scenes to spotlight isn’t driven by altruistic compulsion to serve, but ambition for power, relevance, & control how history will be inaccurately recorded. Pretty rich for him to point at “elite media” (he’s apparently looking at you, Steve) for inciting rage in “fascist left” when he introduced this, literally “wrote the playbook” & handed out study guides. The OG of gaslighters, Gingrich disdainfully refers to “woke culture” like Hannity & Tucker do, as if they feel like they’re using the N-word & getting away with it. Kornacki is so respectful & diplomatic (& NG was gracious/egotistical enough to sit down post-production to give his perspective/“make corrections”) but I wished he had pushed back a little when Newt was trying to heat-up rhetoric & false narrative under “how liberals ruining education” & “teaching gender selection in grade school” pots. I can’t with the hypocrisy that democratIC party will ram their partisan agenda through and “destroy everyone in their way” to get there. Kinda cute, coming from the newt who, as Speaker, SAID he would torch the place, SET the bonfire, & even now can’t help gloating a little admitting he did it. PLEASE, Steve Kornacki, drop Episode 8, “Director’s Cut”, it can’t end like that…. Oh I know, you won’t see this TLDR rant…
Regular shows: moderately interesting
I could absolutely live without the goofy skits at the beginnings of episodes. The weekly "Nose" round table tends to feature wildly racist guest(s), and is unlistentoable.
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