The Colin McEnroe Show

May 22 2024 1.2k

The Colin McEnroe Show Podcast artwork

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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How algorithms shape our world, for better and for worse

May 22 2024 48 mins

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: Rep

‘Books can be mirrors or books can be windows’: How to decide what kids should read

May 21 2024 50 mins

From book bans to comics and the strange origins of fairy tales, this hour we look at children’s literature and who decides what’s appropriate for kids to read. GUESTS: Adam Gidwitz: Author of A Tale Dark and Grimm and its companions and the creator of the podcast Grimm, Grimmer, Grimmest Carol St. George: Professor of teaching and curriculum and director of reading and litera

We take your calls

May 20 2024 49 mins

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 been interesting and surprising and amusing. This hour, the conversation winds around to the stock market, inflation and the real estate market, incidental music in theater, commercials and trailers and such at the movie theater, Woody

Those were the days: Nostalgia in our popular culture

May 17 2024 49 mins

We’ve been noticing a sort of backwards-looking bent lately in TV shows like Ripley, with its 1960s setting and its black-and-white aesthetic and its lush 1950s Italian pop soundtrack. Or Fallout, with its particular brand of retro-futurism and its Jazz Age-to-Space Age music. Or Sugar, with it classic movie-obsessed protagonist and its neo-noir tone. There’s a theory that ther

Is print dead or is it making a comeback?

May 16 2024 49 mins

Is print dead? Or will it make a comeback? This hour, we talk about the benefits and drawbacks of getting your news in print form. We learn about the print age, or the “Gutenberg Parenthesis,” and we talk about the business of printing. GUESTS: Kelsey Russell: A media literacy influencer and co-host of “First Stop News” Jeff Jarvis: Author of The Gutenberg Parenthesis: Th

Osculate me, you fool! A brief history of romantic kissing

May 15 2024 48 mins

This hour, Colin and his guests look at why humans touch others with their lips (and often their tongues!). Join us as we overthink the simple act of kissing. GUESTS: Marcel Danesi: Professor Emeritus of Linguistic Anthropology at The University of Toronto and author of The History of the Kiss! The Birth of Popular Culture Matthew Longcore: Director of Membership and Outreac

Everyday Carry: Unpacking what we carry with us and why

May 14 2024 50 mins

What’s in your pockets right now? Phone, wallet, keys … maybe some discarded receipts or old gum? This hour: what we carry with us every day, from flashlights the size of a lip balm to a life-saving medicine. GUESTS: Bernard Capulong: Founder and editor-in-chief of everydaycarry.com Peter Canning: A Hartford paramedic, an emergency medical services coordinator at John Dempsey

How ’bout them apples?

May 13 2024 50 mins

This hour, a look at the cultural significance of the apple, from Adam and Eve to keeping the doctor away. Plus: growing apples and the future of apples, and we compare apples and oranges. GUESTS: Martha Bayless: Director of folklore and public culture and a professor of English and folklore at the University of Oregon; she is also the founder of the Early English Bread Project, w

The Nose looks at ‘Baby Reindeer’ and our (maybe) era of mid TV

May 10 2024 49 mins

Baby Reindeer is a seven-episode half-hour limited series written and created by Richard Gadd and based on his autobiographical one-man play. According to Netflix, it “follows struggling comedian Donny Dunn’s warped relationship with his female stalker and the impact it has on him as he is ultimately forced to face a deeply buried trauma.” With its unique mix of black comedy,

The collective heartbreak in a dog’s death, from Kristi Noem to ‘Old Yeller’

May 09 2024 48 mins

The internet is up in arms over the revelation that South Dakota governor Kristi Noem once shot and killed her dog. This hour, we’ll get into it. From vice presidential contenders to “Old Yeller” and “Marley and Me” — what is it about dogs that brings us all together, and unites us in grief and uproar when they die? GUESTS: Li Zhou: Senior politics and society reporte