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The Colin McEnroe Show
Weekdays 1 p.m. & 9 p.m., Saturdays 12 p.m., available as a podcast

Public radio’s most eclectic, eccentric program.

Tackling subjects like Neanderthals, tambourines, handshakes, the Iliad, snacks, ringtones, punk rock, Occam’s razor — you get the idea. Plus, on Fridays, we convene an informal roundtable about the week in culture.

  • It’s our annual Halloween special, a look at the year in horror! We delve into the economic- and artistic wherewithal of the genre surrounded by a larger Hollywood in flux, with particular looks at breakouts like Osgood Perkins’ Longlegs, Jane Schoenbrun’s I Saw the TV Glow, Damien Leone’s Terrifier 3, and maybe the most divisive movie of the year, Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance. Plus, for its 25th anniversary, an appreciation of The Sixth Sense and the long shadow its twist ending still seems to cast over the career of filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan. GUESTS: Miriam Balanescu: A culture writer and editor Tim Grierson: Senior U.S. critic for Screen Daily, the author of This Is How You Make a Movie, and co-host of the Grierson & Leitch podcast Lindsay Lee Wallace: Writes about culture, health care and health equity, and other stuff, too Christian Zilko: Staff editor at IndieWire The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, 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 Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
  • Some Americans are considering whether this country is a place where they want to live in the future. This hour is all about leaving the United States. We talk to someone who made the move about what inspired her and her new life in Portugal. Plus, we learn more about the process of actually moving out of the country. And we talk to someone who has considered leaving, but ultimately decided to stay here, for now at least. GUESTS: Wajahat Ali: The Daily Beast columnist, public speaker, and author of Go Back To Where You Came From: And Other Helpful Recommendations on Becoming American; he wrote “Is It Time for Me to Leave America?” DeNeen Brown: Local enterprise reporter at The Washington Post and an associate professor at the University of Maryland; she wrote “The Case for Leaving America to Escape Racism” Caryl Hallberg: Moved from the United States to Portugal in 2020 Jennifer Stevens: Executive editor of International Living Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. 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! Colin McEnroe, Jacob Gannon, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired on November 7, 2022.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
  • Going into November, we’ll be doing some shows where we talk with one guest, for the hour, who knows a lot about the election. This hour, we talk with Ruth Ben-Ghiat about authoritarianism and democracy. GUEST: Ruth Ben-Ghiat: Professor of History and Italian Studies at New York University. Her latest book is Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present. She also writes the Substack newsletter “Lucid.” Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
  • This hour we took your calls about anything you wanted to talk about. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
  • Saturday Night Live started its 50th season in September. This hour, a look at the institution SNL has become over five decades on television. Plus: Jason Reitman’s new movie, Saturday Night, which tells (a version of) the story of SNL’s inception in 1975. GUESTS: Dave Itzkoff: A journalist and writer and the author of four books; his most recent is Robin Maureen Lee Lenker: A senior writer at Entertainment Weekly and the author of the novel It Happened One Fight Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Nobody Asked Shawn podcast Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
  • From Saturday Night Live to the cover of The Atlantic, George Washington is having a bit of a moment. This hour is about our first president and his legacy. Plus, is he funny? GUESTS: Joanne Freeman: The Class of 1954 Professor of History & American Studies at Yale University. Her most recent book is The Field of Blood: Violence in Congress and the Road to Civil War Tom Nichols: Staff writer at The Atlantic and an author of the Atlantic daily newsletter. He is also a professor emeritus of national-security affairs at the U.S. Naval War College, and a five-time undefeated Jeopardy champion Sara Ruberg: A member of the 2024-25 class of Times Fellows at The New York Times Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
  • 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: The Age of Print and Its Lessons for the Age of the Internet. His new book is The Web We Weave. He co-hosts the “This Week in Google” and “AI Inside” podcasts John Garrett: Founder and CEO of “Community Impact,” a privately owned chain of 40 community newspapers in Texas, which also includes its own printing facilities Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show. The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode. Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired on May 16, 2024.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
  • Going into November, we’ll be doing some shows where we talk with one guest, for the hour, who knows a lot about the election. This hour, we talk with Brad Onishi about Christian nationalism and its impact on U.S. politics. GUEST: Brad Onishi: Co-host of the “Straight White American Jesus” podcast and author of Preparing for War: The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism -- And What Comes Next Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
  • This hour, the conversation winds around to Columbus Day, Colin’s favorite joke, textures, J.R.R. Tolkien, the movie The Apprentice, food allergies, our fundraising drives … Anything. (Seemingly) everything. These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
  • Jeffrey Lieber was one of the Emmy-nominated creators of the TV series Lost. He has been a showrunner on series like NCIS: New Orleans and Charmed and the new reboot of Matlock starring Kathy Bates. And his play Fever Dreams (of animals on the verge of extinction) is currently running at TheaterWorks Hartford. This hour, screenwriter, television producer, and playwright Jeffrey Lieber joins us in studio. GUEST: Jeffrey Lieber: A screenwriter, showrunner, and playwright The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, 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 Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
  • This hour is all about notebooks. We'll talk about the history and evolution of notebooks, favorite examples, and celebrate the joy of writing things down. Plus, a look at the Notes App. GUESTS: Roland Allen: Book publisher and author of The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper Charley Locke: Journalist, and contributing writer to The New York Times Magazine, who recently wrote “Keep Your Notes App Under Lock and Key” for The Atlantic Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
  • This hour we take your calls about anything you want to talk about.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.