The Colin McEnroe Show

The Colin McEnroe Show

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.

Episodes

November 20, 2025 50 mins

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 mean they’re mad at you?

This hour: punctuation and how we use it. We talk about the history of punctuation marks, timeless punctuation debates, and how writing for texts and emails has changed the way we use punctuation.

GUESTS:

  • RS Benedict: A writer and bureaucrat whose f...
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What's it like being a nun in 2025? Sister Monica Clare joins us to explain her path to the Community of St. John Baptist and why she is sharing her story on TikTok and in a new memoir.

Plus, scholars Ana Garriga and Carmen Urbita explore the lessons about friendship, money, work, and more that we can learn from Sixteenth-century nuns in their podcast and their new book. They join us to explain that "anything you are goin...

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It's been over 30 years since Bob Ross's The Joy of Painting went off the air, but the painter is still a household name.

This hour: a look at the undying force for permed hair and puffy little clouds and happy little trees that is Bob Ross.

Plus: Could we do a show about Bob Ross without also talking Thomas Kinkade? No we could not. And so no we do not.

GUESTS:

  • Nathan Badley: Cohost of the Nothing B...

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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. These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

This hour, the conversation winds around to a local landmark, stomping, poetry, firewood, music, sprickets, bibliographies. … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

MUSIC FEATURED (in order):

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This week’s Nose looks at the way Saturday Night Live is using its cold opens to deal with the never-ending firehose of news each week — and the way James Austin Johnson’s recurring impression of President Trump is central to that strategy.

Plus: Pope Leo XIV announced his four favorite movies this week ahead of a “World of Cinema” event at the Vatican this weekend.

And: Death by Lightning is a four-pa...

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This hour, it’s our show on the relationship and chemistry between Burt Bacharach and Dionne Warwick (and the lyricist Hal David) recorded live onstage at Watkinson School in Hartford.

It’s an hour of music, conversation, and demonstrations of how GPS can help you find the way to San Jose.

GUESTS:

  • Lou Bocciarelli: Bass
  • Atla DeChamplain: Vocals, Atla & Matt
  • Matt DeChamplain: Piano, Atla & Matt
  • Latanya F...
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In late October, thieves broke into the Louvre and stole priceless jewels. It’s a story that feels familiar in large part because of countless heist movies. This hour we look at heists, from real museums to our screens, and we discuss why they capture our attention.

GUESTS:

  • Leila Amineddoleh: Teaches Art Crime at New York University and Cultural Heritage Law at Fordham Law School. She is the chair of the Art Law Gro...
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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. These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

This hour, the conversation winds around to spiders, healthcare, conspiracy theories, walking, election results, and more spiders. … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

MUSIC FEATURED (in order)...

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Blue Moon is the ninth movie directed by Richard Linklater and starring Ethan Hawke. It is written by Robert Kaplow and “inspired by” the letters of Lorenz Hart and Elizabeth Weiland. Hawke plays Hart on the night that the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Oklahoma! opens on Broadway.

And: Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere is written and directed by Scott Cooper based on the book Deliver Me from Nowhere by Warren Zanes...

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November 6, 2025 50 mins

Why do we dance? The answer is more complicated than you might think. Dancing has served a multitude of functions for various cultures throughout history, and there is even evidence to suggest that we, as a species, are biologically hard-wired to dance.

Whether it’s for social, spiritual, or even psychological reasons (yes, dance therapy is a thing), humans have been dancing since the very beginning.

This hour, a look at all ...

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Revenge is as old as humanity itself. And new research shows that revenge functions in our brains like a type of addiction. This hour a look at revenge in politics, literature, and everyday life — and what it would mean if we treated revenge differently.

GUESTS:

  • James Kimmel Jr.: Lawyer, author, Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine, and the Founder and Co-Director of the Yale Col...
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Food is an important part of the campaign trail, from tamales to McDonald's. This hour is all about how food is used in politics, including in the White House. Plus, the delicious return of the election cake.

GUESTS: 

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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 and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to daylight saving time ending, Weapons and horror movies in general, the first Millennial saint, A House of Dynamite, our towels episode … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and the...

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A House of Dynamite is an apocalyptic political thriller directed by Kathryn Bigelow. It is Bigelow’s first movie in eight years, since Detroit in 2017. It stars an ensemble cast led by Idris Elba, Rebecca Ferguson, Gabriel Basso, Jared Harris, Tracy Letts, Anthony Ramos, and many more.

And: Task is a seven-part HBO limited series created by Brad Ingelsby. It is the second TV series created by Ingelsby, after Mare of Easttown...

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There are few monsters more iconic or enduring than Frankenstein’s.

From Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel to the 1931 Universal monster movie to Guillermo del Toro’s current adaptation to next year’s Bride of Frankenstein remake, Frankenstein continues to resonate with fans around the world.

This hour, a look at what exactly it is that makes Frankenstein such a lasting, terrifying work of fiction.

Plus: a look at t...

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One of the most mysterious texts in the world lives here in Connecticut. The Medieval Voynich Manuscript is at the Beinecke Library at Yale University. Scholars have been trying for over a century to decipher it. This hour, we look at the Voynich and at other examples of mysterious manuscripts from around the world.

GUESTS:

  • Lisa Fagin Davis: Professor of Practice in Manuscript Studies at the Simmons University School of Libra...
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This hour, a look at the path to sainthood and how it’s changed over time.

Plus: the local example of the Rev. Michael McGivney.

GUESTS:

  • Teresa Berger: Professor of Liturgical Studies and Catholic Theology at Yale Divinity School

  • Joseph Laycock: Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Texas State University and author of The Seer of Bayside: Veronica Lueken and the Struggle to Define Cath...

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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. These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we’re doing another one.

In other words: Give us a call during the 1 p.m. EDT hour about whatever you want to talk about. 888-720-9677.

Plus, now you can watch our calls shows YouTube! Come say (nice) things to us...

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Guest host comedian Shawn Murray returns! This week’s Nose looks at:

Mr. Scorsese is a five-part, more-than-four-hour documentary series about the life and work of the director of Goodfellas and Taxi Driver and The Departed (and many more). It’s directed by Rebecca Miller and streaming on Apple TV.

And: No Other Land won this year’s Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. It covers the destruction of a Palesti...

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October 23, 2025 50 mins

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 essentially pilot a missile. Skinner said pigeons could be trained to peck at a screen to adjust the trajectory of the missile toward its target. Project Pigeon was funded but never used.

In 2013, New York conceptual artist Duke Reilly trained half his flock of pigeons to carry contraband...

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