The Colin McEnroe Show

If I say “cult classic,” what do you think of? Probably an underground movie that built up an intense following over time, like The Rocky Horror Picture Show or The Room, right? Or maybe even something a bit more mainstream like The Big Lebowski? But where’s the limit here, if there is one? Is Blade Runner a cult movie? Or Pulp Fiction? Monty Python and the Holy Grail? Office Space? Slap Shot? (I mean: Slap Shot?!?) This hour, a look at a genre, a cross section of cinema history that seems to include everything from all-time classics like A Clockwork Orange to all-time terribles like Plan 9 from Outer Space and many, many weird and not-even-so-weird things in between: the cult classic. GUESTS: Millie De Chirico: Co-author of TCM Underground: 50 Must-See Films from the World of Classic Cult and Late-Night Cinema and co-host of the I Saw What You Did podcast David Edelstein: America’s Greatest Living Film Critic Sam Hatch: Co-hosts The Culture Dogs on WWUH Kevin O’Toole: Co-hosts The Culture Dogs on WWUH This show was produced with Sajina Shrestha. 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, Yale Dean Tamar Gendler joins us to discuss her course “Public Plato: Ancient Wisdom in the Digital Age.” We'll talk about how to make ancient philosophy relevant for a modern audience, questions of framing and form, and what we can all learn from concepts like alief, phronesis, and eudaimonia. GUEST:  Tamar Gendler: Professor of Philosophy, Psychology and Cognitive Science, and the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, at Yale University 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 October 5, 2023.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This hour, we’re talking about lotteries. How did this massive money redistribution game come to be? And we know that lotteries can randomly allocate cash prizes to ticket buyers – but could they also pick our political officials? Or the victims of our human sacrifice rituals to ensure that “corn be heavy soon”? GUESTS: Jonathan D. Cohen: Historian and author of For a Dollar and a Dream: State Lotteries in Modern America Alex Guerrero: Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers University and author of the forthcoming book, “Lottocracy: The Case for Democracy without Elections” Ruth Franklin: Book critic and author of the award-winning biography Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life 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, Stacey Addo, Lily Tyson, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired on August 23, 2023. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This legislative session, local students lobbied Connecticut lawmakers to change our state insect, which is currently the praying mantis. This hour we are focused on the praying mantis. We'll learn about the insect, why students think it should not represent the state, and what praying mantises of the future could look like. GUESTS:  Katherine Dugas: Entomologist and research technician at The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station  Liz Alter: Professor of Evolutionary Biology at California State University Monterey Bay 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 Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Larry David’s Curb Your Enthusiasm has been on HBO for going on 24 years. As the show comes to a close, we take a Nose-ish look at it and its impact on cringe comedy and the role of cringiness and awkwardness in our lives. GUESTS:  Katie Baker: Senior Staff Writer at The Ringer  Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Nobody Asked Shawn podcast Carolyn Paine: Actress, comedian, and dancer. She is founder, director, and choreographer of Connetic Dance Ty Tashiro: Psychologist by training and author of the book Awkward: The Science of Why We’re Socially Awkward and Why That’s Awesome  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, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On Monday, the contiguous U.S. will see a total solar eclipse for the last time until 2044. Online, the excitement is also giving way to fears — will communities in the eclipse’s path have enough food and gas to support all the travelers? Will it interrupt our power grid? This hour, we’re talking about the dark side of the eclipse — from doomsday predictions to ancient omens. GUESTS:  Vahé Peroomian: Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Southern California’s Dornsife College of Arts, Letters, and Sciences Rebecca Boyle : Science journalist and author of the book, “Our Moon: How Earth's Celestial Companion Transformed the Planet, Guided Evolution, and Made Us Who We Are” Leah Hudson Leva: Writer who researched conspiracy theories about this year's total eclipse 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! Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show. Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bestselling author Don Winslow joins us to discuss his new novel, City in Ruins, which he says is the last of his career. GUEST:  Don Winslow: Bestselling author, whose new book, City in Ruins, is out this week 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.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today “Luddite” is used as a derogatory term for someone who doesn’t understand technology. But the original Luddites weren’t behind. They were technical workers who were concerned about the impact that technology would have on people. This hour, we look at the history of Luddites, how their philosophy applies today, and ask what our present would look like if they had won. Could we all gain something from thinking more like a Luddite? GUESTS: Miriam A. Cherry: Professor of law at St. John’s University and the author of Work in the Digital Age: A Coursebook on Labor, Technology, and Regulation Brian Merchant: Technology columnist at the Los Angeles Times and the author of Blood in the Machine: the Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech Gavin Mueller: Assistant professor of new media and digital culture at the University of Amsterdam and the author of Breaking Things at Work: The Luddites Are Right About Why You Hate Your Job 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, Eugene Amatruda, and Jonathan McNicol contributed to this show, which originally aired August 21, 2023.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 — calls about grammar, gardening, long-distance dialing, autotune. Anything. Everything. These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we’re doing another one. In other words: Give us a call during the 1 p.m. EDT hour about whatever you want to talk about. 888-720-9677.‌ Or 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 Cat Pastor contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week’s Nose has crazy substitute teacher energy. 3 Body Problem is a Netflix series created by David Benioff, D. B. Weiss, and Alexander Woo and loosely based on the 2008 novel The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin, the first novel in the Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy. 3 Body Problem is the first television series created by Benioff and Weiss since Game of Thrones. And: More Feelings is the second HBO comedy special from Ramy Youssef. GUESTS: Rebecca Castellani: Co-founder of Quiet Corner Communications and a freelance writer Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Nobody Asked Shawn podcast 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 Cat Pastor contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.