The Colin McEnroe Show

humor = tragedy + time OK, but then the logical next question is: How much time? If it's OK, at this point, to joke about, say, The Spanish Inquisition... what about, for instance, the Holocaust? Or AIDS? September 11th? The #MeToo movement? ...Derek Chauvin? There's a line there somewhere, right? Or are some topics just never going to be funny? GUESTS: Mike Bent - Teaches writing in the Comedic Arts program at Emerson College, and he’s a performing comedian and magician Shawn Murray - A stand up comedian and writer and a host of Fantasy Filmball Carolyn Paine - An actress, comedian, and dancer Ferne Pearlstein - A documentary filmmaker who directed The Last Laugh Caleb Warren - Assistant professor of marketing at the University of Arizona Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe, Catie Talarski, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired February 21, 2018.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We'll be taking your calls during this hour -- and during more of our Monday shows moving forward. We'll still invite guests when we think it's important. Otherwise, we want to talk to you. Call us today at 888-720-9677 between 1 and 2 p.m. EDT. I'm not sure what you want to talk about today, but consider this: Nicholas Kristof, opinion writer for The New York Times, complained that "America Is Not Made for People Who Pee." It's great that President Biden wants to rebuild highways, fix aging schools, and upgrade our electrical grid, but what about public toilets? Have you had to search for a public toilet, especially during the pandemic? If so, you're not alone. Talk to you soon. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

So celebrities and their giant water bottles: It's a thing, I guess. And then there's the ABC Carpet couches email thread. Plus: Netflix's dwindling, dying DVD library. And then: Godzilla vs. Kong is the fourth movie in Legendary's MonsterVerse. It's a direct sequel to both Kong: Skull Island and Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019), and it's the 12th King Kong movie and the 36th Godzilla movie, overall. Godzilla vs. Kong's theatrical opening (both internationally and domestically) has been the largest of any movie's during the pandemic. Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take: Lil Nas X, Clapback ChampThe rapper's new single, video and sneaker were merely the prelude to a brilliantly orchestrated main event: a virtuosic performance on Twitter. Unpacking Chet Hanks' Complex 'White Boy Summer' TaxonomyHe calls out prejudicial beliefs against anyone from a different background than you, while encouraging his viewers to "keep suck-a-duckin." G. Gordon Liddy, undercover operative convicted in Watergate scandal, dies at 90 'Game of Thrones' Play in the Works for Broadway, Will Revive Iconic CharactersGeorge R.R. Martin is developing a live stage spectacular for Broadway, West End and Australia that will bring fan-favorites like Ned Stark and Jaime Lannister back to life while dramatizing a legendary event in Westeros history Volkswagen of America lied about rebranding to 'Voltswagen'From the company that brought you Dieselgate... The Timeless Fantasy of Stanley Tucci Eating Italian FoodIn CNN's culinary travel series, Italy is beautiful and the food of Italy is beautiful. Not insignificantly, Tucci is beautiful, too. Comic-Con Unveils Fall Dates For In-Person Convention; Confab Returns To San Diego For First Time Since 2019 I Like That The Boat Is StuckIt's bad that the boat is stuck. It's bad for lots of people and for lots of reasons. I know that. Please don't think that me liking the stuck boat is an ideological stance. This is not an opinion I have about boats, or about canals, or about things generally being stuck. How "A Drive Into Deep Left Field by Castellanos" Became the Perfect Meme for These Strange TimesThe infamous on-air apology derailed by a Nick Castellanos home run has found life beyond Weird Baseball Twitter -- and it may be here to stay A new energy drink will debut in New Haven. It was developed by 3 Yale students. I Am Obsessed With Anthony Hopkins' Truly Bizarre Social Media PresenceI love him? Nickelodeon Removes SpongeBob Panty-Raid Episode for Being Too Horny for Kids GUESTS: Rebecca Castellani - Handles social media marketing and event planning for Quiet Corner Communications Sam Hatch - Co-hosts The Culture Dogs on Sunday nights on WWUH Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

John Dunton started the first advice column in 1690. He called it the Athenian Mercury. John, a bookseller, and his four "experts" wanted to answer "all the most Nice and Curious Questions proposed by the Ingenious of Either Sex." One person wondered why they would trouble themselves "and the world with answering so many silly questions." But it was a hit. People have always been drawn to advice columns. They're a public forum for private thoughts; they're communal, yet anonymous; they reveal human strength, yet vulnerability. Despite their popularity, until recently, most readers in the recent decades have been white women. That's changing. Are you an advice junkie? Join us. GUESTS: Jamie Fisher - A writer and researcher with The New York Times Danny M. Lavery - Slate's Dear Prudence, co-founder of The Toast, and the author of Texts From Jane Eyre, The Merry Spinster, and Something That May Shock and Discredit You Christine Pride - A writer, book editor, and content consultant; her advice column, Race Matters, is on A Cup of Jo, and her debut novel, We Are Not Like Them, is available for preorder Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Did you get enough sleep last night? If you're like most Americans, probably not. You might feel pretty good after six hours of sleep and a strong cup of coffee, but the physical and mental toll of sleep deprivation is high. We become more impulsive and less mentally agile, and we make more mistakes. Long term, lack of sleep (six hours or less per night) can mess with mood, hormones, and immune systems, and it can increase our risk for diabetes and cardiovascular disease. There are lots of things we can't control that keep us up too late, such as crying babies and shift work. But there are lots of things we can control, like how much caffeine we consume and whether we take our phone to bed. But somewhere along the way, our culture made less sleep a matter of personal virtue and moral judgement. Even naps are frowned upon for all but the youngest and the oldest among us. GUESTS: Maria Konnikova - A journalist, professional poker player, and the author of The Confidence Game and Mastermind: How To Think Like Sherlock Holmes Dan McNally - A doctor with the Sleep Disorders Center at UConn Health Todd Pitock - Journalist Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe, Cat Pastor, and Catie Talarski contributed to this show, which originally aired March 18, 2020.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For a period of about 50 years, many of America's top cartoonists and illustrators lived within a stone's throw of one another in the southwestern corner of Connecticut. Comic strips and gag cartoons read by hundreds of millions were created in this tight-knit group -- Prince Valiant, Superman, Beetle Bailey, Hägar the Horrible, Hi and Lois, Nancy, The Wizard of Id, Family Circus... I could keep going. This hour, a look at the funny pages, and at Connecticut's cartoon county. GUESTS: Bill Griffith - The creator and author of the daily comic strip Zippy Henry McNulty - A writer and editor who worked for the Hartford Courant for more than 25 years Cullen Murphy - Editor-at-large for Vanity Fair and the author of Cartoon County: My Father and His Friends in the Golden Age of Make-Believe Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe, Kevin MacDermott, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired January 11, 2018.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A number of media critics gave poor grades to reporters questioning President Biden at his first formal press conference last week. Is there a disconnect between what the media cares about, such as the filibuster and the 2024 election, and what people care about? Also this hour: An Amazon executive set off a firestorm after boasting on Twitter that Amazon was the "Bernie Sanders of employers." Workers weighed in on whether a company was progressive if workers felt they had to urinate in a bottle in order to meet production quotas. How will all this attention influence whether workers at an Alabama Amazon warehouse decide to unionize? Lastly, the first dogs are home, sweet home. GUESTS: Dan Froomkin - The editor of Press Watch Ken Klippenstein - An investigative reporter for The Intercept focusing on national security Rachel Treisman - A production assistant on NPR's Digital News Desk Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As with all weeks, it's been a strange week. First there were the Cinnamon Toast Crunch shrimp tails. And then an enormous container ship got stuck in the Suez Canal. And now there might be another toilet paper shortage. Which would be bad for the Amazon drivers who have to poop in their trucks. Maybe it's been an especially strange week. Separate from all that: For All Mankind is Ronald D. Moore's alternate history of a world where the space race never ended. It's six episodes into Season Two on AppleTV+. Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take: George Segal, Veteran of Drama and TV Comedy, Is Dead at 87He is best remembered for his Oscar-nominated dramatic role in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" and was later a familiar comic actor. "Arrested Development" Star Jessica Walter Has Died At 80Walter was best known for playing Lucille Bluth on Arrested Development and voicing Malory Archer in Archer. R.I.P. Talladega Nights actor Houston Tumlin Ronnee Sass, Veteran Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Publicist, Dies at 72 The Extended Universe: What the Snyder Cut Means for the Future of FandomThe campaign demanding the release of Zack Snyder's 'Justice League' got its payoff with the release of the four-hour movie last weekend. Does it mean anything for similar movements for 'Suicide Squad' and 'Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker'? Justice League's Epilogue Is Its Messiest, Most Dangerous Indulgence 5 widescreen videos to watch instead of the 4:3 Snyder Cut of Justice League'That's no moon' High school baseball: How Juab beat Provo 29-28 in the highest-scoring game in state history Dr. Oz is hosting Jeopardy! and everyone hates it Every DC Comics Movie, Ranked How Beeple Crashed the Art WorldAn N.F.T., or "non-fungible token," of the digital artist's work sold for sixty-nine million dollars in a Christie's auction. It's good news for crypto-optimists, but what about for art? 'Black Widow' Will Hit Disney+ and Theaters on July 9, 'Shang-Chi' Delayed, and More Disney Release Date Changes An Interview With Mike Birbiglia About Pizza And Only Pizza 'Superstore' Was the Perfect Comedy for Less-Than-Funny TimesThis week's series finale closes out a delightful sitcom that didn't shy from the challenges faced by America's low-wage workers, including the current pandemic. Dave Chappelle to perform at Foxwoods with rapid COVID testing at the door The Definitive Ranking of Ducks Beyond Peak TVIt's no longer enough to flood the zone with new television in general. Now, the zone is flooded with specific individual brands -- over and over again. Oscar Producers Facing Backlash And Logistical Headaches After Requiring Nominees To Attend Ceremony In Person, Not On Zoom Not-So-Special Characters: The Biggest Grifters, Frauds, and Outright Nobodies on Today's Typographical Scene Johnny Depp denied appeal in case that found 'wife beater' article about him 'substantially true' Here's Why Taylor Swift Is Re-Releasing Her Old Albums Is the guitar solo dead in the 21st century? GUESTS: Carolyn Paine - An actress, comedian, and dancer; founder, director, and choreographer of CONNetic Dance Pedro Soto - President and CEO of Hygrade Precision Technologies Coach Catie Talarski - Senior director of storytelling for Connecticut Public Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On March 6, Lou Ottens died in Duizel in the Netherlands. He was 94. I don't think I had ever heard of Ottens before, but the news of his death quickly filled my social media feeds. Ottens, you see, invented the compact cassette in the 1960s. There's a certain romance to the cassette tape, right? They're more fun than mp3s, for sure. And it turns out they're having a little mini resurgence right now. Last year, cassette sales hit their highest mark since 2003. Some old, hard to find tapes sell for crazy prices. Blank tapes still sell well. There are cassette-only record labels. There are even podcast episodes out on tape. This hour, a look at the long past and surprising present of the cassette tape. GUESTS: Joe Carlough - Runs This And That Tapes Lory Gil - A writer in the tech industry Sommer McCoy - Founder of The Mixtape Museum Zack Taylor - Director of Cassette: A Documentary Mixtape Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After a year of pandemic, we're all itching to break from the restrictions of the pandemic. We want to travel and explore. It makes sense; we're hard-wired to explore. Our ancestors would not have survived absent the drive to seek food and safety from the dangers of the day. Safe and satiated, they later sought new lands to conquer and later still, to escape the constraints and cruelties of rapid industrialization. If the recent pandemic left you yearning to explore, you might be inspired by this show we first aired in 2017.  GUESTS: David Grann - Staff writer for The New Yorker, author of The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon and most recently, Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI Hugh Thomson - Writer, filmmaker and author of many books including The White Rock: An Exploration of the Inca Heartland and A Sacred Landscape: The Search for Ancient Peru Kathryn Schulz - Staff writer for The New Yorker and author of Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.