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

March 20, 2026 50 mins

Josephine Riesman, author of Ringmaster: Vince McMahon and the Unmaking of America, argues that understanding WWE can help us understand President Donald Trump and his politics. This hour, we learn about WWE and its impact on Trump, and discuss the experience and appeal of watching wrestling.

GUESTS: 

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How do we begin to understand the full economic, human, and environmental impacts of war? This hour we talk with someone who is doing that math.

Plus, a look at the opportunity costs of spending on war. And, the costs of The American Revolution.

GUESTS:

  • Neta Crawford: Professor of International Relations at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland and Co-Founder and Strategic Advisor at The Costs of War Project...
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March 18, 2026 50 mins

March Madness is here!

And so the only logical thing is to get improv comedian Julia Pistell and the actual Bill Curry together to talk basketball for an hour on the radio. For the 16th* time.

That may not be the only logical thing to do. It may be that that’s not a logical thing to do at all.

But we’re doing it anyway.

*It’s our 16th one of these, unless it isn’t. Our story is that we’ve done this eve...

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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. So we did another one.

This hour, the conversation winds around to America 250, Oasis, bird songs, the SAVE Act, Trump, natural lawns … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

Music Featured (in order):

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March 16, 2026 49 mins

The 98th Academy Awards were Sunday night. KPop Demon Hunters swept its two nominations. Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein cleaned up in the craft categories and won three awards.

But the big question going into the night was what would win the big awards. Would it be Sinners, with its record-setting 16 nominations, or the seemingly inevitable One Battle After Another?

Inevitability won out. ...

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Mike Pesca is one of our very favorite guests — on any number of topics.

His book, Upon Further Review: The Greatest What-Ifs in Sports History, is a whole series of earth-shattering, hypothetical, what-if questions (and posited answers to said earth-shattering, hypothetical, what-if questions):

What if a blimp full of money had exploded over world track headquarters in 1952? What if Nixon had been good at football? What if B...

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The Trump administration’s messaging around the war with Iran feels reminiscent of stuff like … cowboy movies. And video games. And the manosphere. This hour, a look at the rhetoric around the war and where it’s all coming from.

GUESTS:

  • Casey Ryan Kelly: Professor of Rhetoric and Public Culture in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He is also Editor of the Qua...
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From the Golden Globes, to global conflicts, to elections, prediction markets have moved into the mainstream. What happens when we can bet on anything? What are the cultural impacts of that? This hour, we take stock of the status of prediction markets, and look at what they might do to politics and polling. Plus, a look at the "Wisdom of Crowds".

GUESTS:

  • Kate Knibbs: Senior Writer at WIRED
  • Danny Funt: Reporter a...
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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 Anthropic, cataract surgery, the burrito vs. bowl debate, Saturday Night Live, the general unhappiness in the U.S., plastics … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they see...

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Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman premiered in 1949. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play. It’s been said that it’s “probably the most successful modern play ever published.”

This hour, with a new Broadway revival in previews, and with Peter Jacobson playing the title role in a new production at Hartford Stage, a look at Arthur Miller’s masterpiece of American dr...

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March 5, 2026 48 mins

How does reality television shape our politics and our opinions? This hour two reality TV scholars join us to discuss how reality TV helps us understand (or sometimes misunderstand) actual reality.

GUESTS: 

  • Danielle Lindemann: Professor of Sociology at Lehigh University and a Visiting Professor in Gender and Sexuality Studies at Princeton University. She is also the author of the book True Story...

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Do you know your neighbors? This hour, we take a look at the role of our neighbors in our lives. We explore the psychological and social benefits of neighbors, hear listener stories, and discuss the role of neighbors in times of crisis. Plus, a look at "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" and how he thought about neighbors and community building.

GUESTS:

  • Julie Beck: Staff writer at The Atlantic and the creator of &ldqu...
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This hour we convene a roundtable of faith leaders to ask: what is their role right now? How is it changing?

GUESTS:

  • A.J. Johnson: Pastor at the Urban Hope Refuge Church in Hartford. He is also Director for Neighborhood Organizing at the Center for Leadership and Justice, and Deputy Chaplain to the Connecticut House of Representatives
  • Sierra Fox: Cantor for Congregation Mishkan Israel in Hamden
  • Sister Mary Ellen Burn...
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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 Iran, the second Iraq war, Vietnam, would you rather be a cowboy or a pirate?, The Boston Dad, Little Bosses Everywhere: How the Pyramid Scheme Shaped America by Bridget Read, David Greenberg … Anything. (S...

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The Secret Agent (O agento secreto) is a neo-noir political thriller written and directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho. It’s set in Brazil in 1977, and it’s currently nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best International Feature Film, and Best Actor in a Leading Role for its star, Wagner Moura.

And: Network is a satirical comedy-drama written by Paddy Chayefsky and directed by S...

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February 26, 2026 49 mins

This year’s Academy Awards will include the first-ever Oscar for Achievement in Casting. It’s the first new category in 25 years, since Best Animated Feature was added in 2001 (which inaugural award was won by Shrek).

Casting, though, is seen as kind of an illusive, inscrutable art form. We feel like we can separate out the writing and the editing and the costuming and the directing from a thing. But the cast kind ...

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February 25, 2026 49 mins

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 sneezing, the state of the union address, losers and losing, consciousness, Michael Pollan, local radio, possible conflict with Iran, the A.I. Brad Pitt fighting Tom Cruise video … Anything. ...

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This hour, we look at what rights individuals and protesters have. And we ask: are our rights changing? And what can we do about that?

Plus, we take a look at what rights we have online, and what we should know about digital surveillance and privacy.

GUESTS:

  • Dan Barrett: American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut's legal director
  • Dahlia Lithwick: Writes about the courts and the law for Slate and hosts th...
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This hour, author and film critic Alissa Wilkinson joins us to talk about Joan Didion, Hollywood, and how we make sense of our politics.

GUEST: 

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple PodcastsSpotifyAmazon Musi...

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Is Wuthering Heights “the greatest love story of all time?” Or is it a tale of hate, violence, and vengeance? Or maybe a gothic satire?

This hour we look at Emily Brontë’s novel and how it was received when it was published in 1847.

Plus, a look at the highest-grossing movie of the year so far — Emerald Fennell’s loosely adapted “Wuthering Heights” — and how it stacks up against ...

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