The Colin McEnroe Show

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 Hospital, and the author of Killing Season: A Paramedic’s Dispatches from the Front Lines of the Opioid Epidemic Hannah Carlson: Senior lecturer in the Apparel Department at the Rhode Island School of Design and the author of Pockets: An Intimate History of How We Keep Things Close Mona Gohara: Private practice dermatologist, associate clinical professor of dermatology at the Yale School of Medicine, and an advocate around increasing inclusivity in dermatology Drew John Ladd: A writer 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! 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 Cat Pastor contributed to this show.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. 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.  Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show. Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sing Sing is a theater and prison drama directed by Greg Kwedar and written by Clint Bentley and Kwedar from a story by Bentley, Kwedar, Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin, and John “Divine G” Whitfield. It is nominated for three Academy Awards, including Best Actor for Colman Domingo and Best Adapted Screenplay. And: American Primeval is a Netflix limited series written and created by Mark L. Smith and directed by Peter Berg. It’s set in 1857 during the Utah War, and it stars Taylor Kitsch, Betty Gilpin, Dane DeHaan, Jai Courtney, Shea Whigham, and more. GUESTS: Rebecca Castellani: Co-founder of Quiet Corner Communications and a freelance writer Taneisha Duggan: Associate producer at Octopus Theatricals Bill Yousman: Professor of media studies at Sacred Heart University 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.

There’s a theory that people are drawn to work that fits their name. This hour, an exploration of nominative determinism. Plus, a look at the different ways your name impacts your life. GUESTS: David Bird: Emeritus professor of wildlife biology and director of the Avian Science and Conservation Centre of McGill University Brett Pelham: Professor of psychology at Montgomery College Tess Terrible: Senior producer of Where We Live on Connecticut Public Laura Wattenberg: Naming expert, author of The Baby Name Wizard, and the creator of Namerology 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.  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, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired February 16, 2023.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Most of the Western world is organized by alphabetical order, which is so much more than the 26 letters that make up the alphabet. Alphabetical order is an organizing principle that allows us to save, order, and access thousands of years of humankind’s most precious documents and ideas. Without it, we’d never know what came before us or how to pass on what’s with us. It’s ubiquitous, yet invisible in daily life. This hour, a conversation about how we order our world and why we do it. GUESTS: Nicholson Baker: A novelist and essayist; his most recent book is Finding a Likeness: How I Got Somewhat Better at Art Judith Flanders: Author of A Place for Everything: The Curious History of Alphabetical Order Peter Sokolowski: Editor-at-large at Merriam-Webster 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, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired January 21, 2021.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Just last week, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved the Doomsday Clock closer to midnight. The end of the world has been something humans have been preoccupied with for a very long time. This hour, we talk about how we imagine the world ending, and what it says about us. GUESTS:  Dorian Lynskey: Journalist and author of multiple books, most recently Everything Must Go: The Stories We Tell About the End of the World. He is also co-host of the Origin Story podcast.  Brian Slattery: Freelance writer and editor. He is the author of four novels. His latest short story is “Clouds” which appears in the anthology Shadow Lab Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 Hartford’s Grammy winners in the jazz categories, Peacock’s Ladies & Gentlemen … 50 Years of SNL Music documentary, international news reporting vs. domestic news reporting, a growing general sense of consternation … Anything. (Seemingly) everything. These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. 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. Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In his book From Hollywood with Love: The Rise and Fall (and Rise Again) of the Romantic Comedy, Scott Meslow lays out two ways to tell if a given movie is a rom-com. First, his own definition: “A romantic comedy is a movie where (1) the central plot is focused on at least one romantic love story; and (2) the goal is to make you laugh at least as much as the goal is to make you cry.” And then, The Donald Petrie Test, named for the director of some rom-coms, like Mystic Pizza and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, but also some edge cases, like Miss Congeniality and Grumpy Old Men: “If you removed the love story from this [comedy], would you still have a movie? If the answer is no, it’s a romantic comedy. […] If the answer is yes, it’s a comedy with a romantic subplot.” So those are the litmus tests. Now, does that make Broadcast News a rom-com, or no? What about Annie Hall? Or something like Grosse Pointe Blank? How about His Girl Friday? Or even, actually, Love Actually? This hour, a deconstruction — and celebration — of the romantic comedy. GUESTS: Illeana Douglas: The Official Movie Star of The Colin McEnroe Show David Edelstein: America’s Greatest Living Film Critic Scott Meslow: Author of From Hollywood with Love 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! 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 Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired August 24, 2022.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Occam’s razor states that “entities should not be multiplied beyond necessity.” This hour is all about Occam’s razor: where the principle came from, how it impacts science, its role in medicine, and how it shapes our daily lives. GUESTS: Kurt Andersen: Co-founder of Spy magazine, the host and co-creator of Studio 360, and the author of Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire — A 500-Year History Johnjoe McFadden: Author of Life Is Simple: How Occam’s Razor Set Science Free and Shapes the Universe Lisa Sanders: Clinician educator in the Primary Care Internal Medicine Residency Program at the Yale School of Medicine and the author of the Diagnosis column for The New York Times Magazine 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. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired November 17, 2021.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 Diets: How Gender and Power Collide in Food Media and Culture Todd Radom: A designer, sports branding expert, and writer Yasemin Saplakoglu: A staff writer covering biology for Quanta Magazine The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, SpotifyAmazon 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, Robyn Doyon-Aitken, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on November 20, 2024. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.