The Colin McEnroe Show

This hour, we look at the idea of the Western canon and those books that are considered “classics.” We talk about what’s in the canon, what isn’t and what should be, and how it evolves.

Plus, we talk about The Atlantic’s recent list of “The Great American Novels.” And we learn about a publishing company that is experimenting with artificial intelligence to bring classic books alive for a new audience.

GUESTS:

• Gal Beckerman: Se...

This hour, a look at refrigeration and how it’s shaped what we eat and how we live with Nicola Twilley, author of Frostbite: How Refrigeration Changed Our Food, Our Planet, and Ourselves. Plus, we’ll take a look at what we can learn about someone from the inside and outside of their refrigerator.

GUESTS: 

• Nicola Twilley: Co-host of the podcast “Gastropod,” and author of the new book, Frostbite: How R...

President John F. Kennedy was shot and killed on November 22, 1963.

It would be hard to argue that the modern American era, the era that we’re still living in more than 60 years later, didn’t begin on that Friday afternoon in Dallas. It would be hard to overstate the effect and influence of that event, that act on the American psyche.

This hour, a look at the shadow that the JFK assassination still casts over our news and politics,...

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'll discuss when it's time to give up.

GUESTS: 

• Joel Christensen: Professor of Classical Studies and Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs at Brandeis University. His newest book is The Many-Minded Man: The Odyssey, Psychology, and the Therapy of Epic
• Noah Baerman: Pianist, c...

Zero is considered by many mathematicians to maybe be humanity’s greatest achievement.

This hour, a look at the strange and essential concept of the number zero and how the human brain deals with it.

Plus: the trend toward zero-sugar and zero-calorie sodas.

And: 0 (and 00) as a uniform number in sports.

GUESTS:

• Emily Contois: Associate professor of media studies at The University of Tulsa and the author of Diners, Dudes, and D...

Some women in the United States are adopting the 4B Movement from South Korea: no marriage, no childbirth, no dating, and no sex. This hour we take stock of that movement globally, and the history of other similar movements, including one depicted in an ancient Greek play, Lysistrata.

GUESTS: 

• Min Joo Lee: Assistant Professor of Asian Studies at Occidental College
• Cécile Simmons: Researcher at the Institute for Strategic Dialo...

Note: This episode contains strong language.

Griffin Dunne is Jack Goodman in John Landis’ classic horror-comedy An American Werewolf in Londonand Paul Hackett in Martin Scorsese’s After Hours and Loudon Trout in the Madonna-starring screwball comedy Who’s That Girl. He’s Uncle Nicky on This Is Us and Professor Dudenoff on Only Murders in the Building and Dr. Alon Parfit on Succession and Sylvére on I Love Dick.

He produced After H...

You probably know Brian Reed from his hit award-winning series "S-Town." Now, Brian has a new podcast, "Question Everything," where he is re-examining everything about journalism. Today Brian Reed joins us for the full show to talk about what he's discovered.

GUEST: 

• Brian Reed: Host and producer of the new podcast “Question Everything” from KCRW and Placement Theory, which you can find wherever you get your podcasts. He also ...

Franz Kafka died 100 years ago, but his work is still very much alive today in literature classes and, surprisingly, on social media.

This hour, we look at Kafka’s life and legacy, discuss the “Kafkaesque,” and investigate why the author resonates so much today.

Plus, we revisit his most famous work, “The Metamorphosis,” and talk with a zoologist about the idea of turning into an insect.

GUESTS:

• Benjamin Balint: Author of Kafk...

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 tables, Keri Russell, how much you should disengage from politics, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari, stolen deliveries and mail theft … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, a...

We hear about algorithms all the time, but what is an algorithm exactly? This hour, we learn about how algorithms work, a bit about their history, and how they're impacting our culture.

GUESTS: 

• Ed Finn: Author of What Algorithms Want: Imagination in the Age of Computing, and founding director of the Center for Science and the Imagination at Arizona State University

• Bruce Gil: Reporter for Quartz

• ...

Roommates: can't live with them, can't (afford to) live without them. They're the people who use your dishes and don't wash them. They're the people who apparently have a huge influence on your career choice and drinking habits. This hour, we're getting to know them better!

GUESTS: 

• Ken Jennings: Colin’s college roommate

• Kelli María Korducki: Journalist who writes about work and the family

• Bruce ...

As I type this, four states remain uncalled, including two battlegrounds. It could take days or longer to determine the final popular vote tally. Control of the U.S. House of Representatives is still to be determined.

But that’s nothing like the uncertainty we were expecting to reign over the day and days after Election Day.

Put another way: Donald Trump is projected to have won the presidency. And pretty decisively.

In some ways, ...

On Election Day we do a show where we ask people across Connecticut to do a simple thing: Go vote in your town before 1 p.m. Then call us between 1 and 2 p.m. and tell us how it felt, what you saw, whom you spoke to. Say whatever you want to say about the experience of voting.

This hour we hear from Citizen Observers about their experiences at the polls.

GUESTS: 

• Lara Herscovitch: Singer-songwriter-poet, performer, advocate, f...

Four days left. Four (4!) days until Election Day. We’re feeling the stress, the anxiety. And we’re guessing you are too.

In one of our show meetings, we got to talking about the benefits of, uh, smoothing out your brain a bit in times like these.

So this hour, we gather a number of folks you know from The Nose and talk about ways to quiet your mind over these last few days, bits of culture you can consume — from The Great British ...

This hour we talk with experts in ballot design about how to put together a ballot that's accessible to everyone, and all of the things to keep in mind, from font size to the length of candidate's names. Plus, a look at the evolution of ballots throughout history.

GUESTS: 

• Whitney Quesenbery: Executive Director of the Center for Civic Design
• Alicia Cheng: Head of Design at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and author of This is W...

This hour, we look at how political campaigns use music, from the history of political jingles to how Harris and Trump are using music in the 2024 election.

GUESTS:

• Dana Gorzelany-Mostak: Associate professor of music at Georgia College; she is the founder of Trax on the Trail and the author of Tracks on the Trail: Popular Music, Race, and the US Presidency
• Charlie Harding: Music journalist, songwriter, producer, adjunct profes...