The Colin McEnroe Show

This hour: a conversation with novelist Emily St. John Mandel, about time travel, the simulation hypothesis, adapting her work to television, art and culture during times of crisis, autofiction, Wikipedia, and much more. GUESTS:  Emily St. John Mandel: Novelist, whose books include Sea of Tranquility, The Glass Hotel, and Station Eleven 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, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This hour we look at mis-speaks, mis-hearings and mis-understandings, like malapropisms, mondegreens, eggcorns, and spoonerisms. We'll share our favorite examples and learn about what they can tell us about the English language, and how our brains process language. And we'll celebrate the joy of playing with language. GUESTS:  Emily Brewster: Senior Editor and lexicographer at Merriam-Webster, and host of the “Word Matters” podcast   Melissa Baese-Berk: Professor of language teaching studies and linguistics at the University of Oregon, where she is also director of the Speech Perception and Production Lab  Ben Zimmer: Linguist, lexicographer, and the “Word on the Street” columnist for The Wall Street Journal Join the conversation onFacebook and Twitter.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This hour: historical reenactments. We look at the role reenactments play in helping us understand or experience history. We talk with reenactors about what draws them to this and what their experiences are like. Plus, reenactments aren’t just about the acting but the costumes and the props. We hear from a tailor who creates custom clothing using traditional materials and methods to create true-to-history costuming. And: a look at experimental archeology and the stone-aged tools used by our predecessors. How were those tools made? And by recreating them, what can we learn about history, evolution, and psychology? GUESTS: Michelle Bebber: Co-director of The Kent State University Experimental Archaeology Laboratory Metin Erin: Co-director of The Kent State University Experimental Archaeology Laboratory Ian Graves: Tailor and owner of Royal Blue Traders, specializing in American Revolutionary War clothing J.R. Hardman: Associate producer at PBS Utah and a Civil War reenactor who is directing and producing the documentary Reenactress Brad Keefer: Professor of history at Kent State University and an active Civil War and colonial period living historian 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. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired September 8, 2022.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. This hour, the conversation winds around to John Donne and William Shakespeare, the age-old dilemma: to pay someone to plow your driveway or not to pay someone to plow your driveway, layoffs at NPR, a long-ago tabloid takedown of Burt Reynolds … 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, 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.

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? The Nose is off this week. In its stead, a Not Necessarily The Nose-style deconstruction — and celebration — of the romantic comedy. Some favorite rom-coms from some of the people on this show: Illeana DouglasTheodora Goes Wild (1936)Bringing Up Baby (1938)Ninotchka (1939)Too Many Husbands (1940)The More the Merrier (1943)Christmas in Connecticut (1945)Cluny Brown (1946)Pillow Talk (1959)The Apartment (1960)What’s Up, Doc? (1972)Foul Play (1978)Arthur (1981) David EdelsteinTrouble in Paradise (1932)The Awful Truth (1937)Ninotchka (1939)Midnight (1939)The Lady Eve (1941)His Girl Friday (1940)The Philadelphia Story (1940)The Shop Around the Corner (1940)Cluny Brown (1946) Scott Meslow’s five recommended under-seen rom-coms from the past decade Populaire (2012)A zippy, ultra-stylish French rom-com about the romance between a dapper boss and his secretary, set amid the long-forgotten craze for competitive speed typing. Sleeping with Other People (2015)Alison Brie and Jason Sudeikis are at the peak of their charms in this witty rom-com about two friends who reunite years after losing their virginities to each other — the rare rom-com to get the balance of raunchy and sweet just right. Man Up (2015)Ignore the lame title — this rom-com, in which Lake Bell plays an unlucky-in-love woman who pretends to be a man’s blind date, is pure, fizzy fun (and is also the only rom-com I’ve seen to borrow a plot point from The Silence of the Lambs). Destination Wedding (2018)Other critics weren’t as high on this extremely stripped down rom-com, in which Winona Ryder and Keanu Reeves snark their way through a wedding they’d both prefer not to be attending — but in a genre in which so many characters have “negative” qualities that are actually just adorable, I appreciated this movie’s deliberately sour tone. Plus One (2019)A delightfully unapologetic throwback to the genre’s ’90s heyday, but with a modern touch, as two platonic friends (Jack Quaid and Maya Erskine) agree to be each other’s plus-ones for a packed wedding season before realizing they may actually have a spark after all. Colin’s 5 (or 6) favorite rom-coms Heaven Can Wait (1978)I realize this is assailable on the basis of Julie Christie not being an especially memorable character and getting less screen time than, say, Jack Warden. Warren Beatty is so vain, he probably thinks this movie is about him, and he’s sort of right. But it is very nearly perfect and enriched by an amazing ensemble of supporting players. Silver Linings Playbook (2012)I surprised myself by ranking SLP this high, but I love the frank and funny handling of mental illness and its indistinguishability from being an Eagles fan. I’ve seen it quite a few times, and I invariably cry at the end. I love what J-Law does with her part, and Chris Tucker and John Ortiz are standouts among the fine supporting cast. Shout out to Kevin Lowry for his work as dolly grip on the “A” camera. The Lady Eve (1941) / Intolerable Cruelty (2003)These are both “rom-cons” involving grifts by a femme fatale who is usually a few steps ahead of the male lead. Barbara Stanwyck actually generates more sexual heat than the smoldering Catherine Zeta-Jones. She was still doing that 42 years later, hitting on a rain-streaked, bare-chested priest played by Richard Chamberlain in The Thorn Birds. But I do love Intolerable Cruelty. I think it’s the only Coen brothers rom-com and definitely an homage to the ’30s and ’40s. Say Anything (1989)I loved John Cusack during this period. A few years later, I was seeing a psychotherapist who looked exactly like him. It was distracting. I’ve learned that Cusack didn’t really see himself as a rom-com person and even pushed back against the iconic boombox scene. That has something to do with why this movie works so well. Bringing Up Baby (1938)Grant. Hepburn. Two leopards. Thirty pounds of sirloin. What’s not to love? Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take: And Now Let’s Review … A.O. Scott conducts his own exit interview as he moves to a new post after more than two decades of reviewing films. What if ‘The Daily Show’ Used Guest Hosts Permanently? Fill-ins for Trevor Noah have shown how exciting the lack of a permanent replacement could be. It’s an option with an illustrious history in television. David Letterman’s Retirement Beard Just Keeps Getting Better And more from the week in celebrity grooming. The Oscars Aren’t Where Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans And West Side Story Needed To Win Apple to Spend $1 Billion a Year on Films to Break Into Cinemas Paramount Sets Remake Of Hitchcock’s ‘Vertigo’ As Potential Robert Downey Jr-Starrer; Steven Knight To Write Script & Davis Entertainment To Produce With Team Downey The Movies Of The DCEU, Ranked The Rise of Gender-Neutral Names Isn’t What It Seems The desire of parents to be truly original has had a perhaps unintended effect. 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 Rise and Fall (and Rise Again) of the Romantic Comedy 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. 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.

This hour, we wrap our heads around clapping — its history, its varied permutations, and the kinds of occasions on which people applaud. GUESTS: Erin Elstner: Percussionist and professor of percussion at Webster University Frank Rizzo: Theater critic for Variety and other publications Gavin Witt: Professor of theater history at Towson University 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. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, Cat Pastor, Dylan Reyes, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show, which originally aired August 30, 2022.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It could be that you’ve used online reviews to try new restaurants, dry cleaners, hotels or even movies. But what makes us trust the opinions of strangers on the internet? This hour, a look at the art and the etiquette of the online review. GUESTS: Tyler Anderson: Owner of Tanda Hospitality Lauren Dragan: Senior staff writer at Wirecutter Xandy Schiefer: Co-host of the podcast Beach Too Sandy, Water Too Wet Camilla Vásquez: Author of The Discourse of Online Consumer Reviews 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. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, and Jonathan McNicol contributed to this show, which originally aired August 25, 2022.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tuberculosis has been around for thousands of years, and it still infects millions per year. This hour, we look back at how tuberculosis has shaped history and how it is still impacting health today. Plus, a look at the history of tuberculosis treatment, how tuberculosis has shaped modern architecture, and the impact of tuberculosis on art and artists. GUESTS: Heran Darwin: Professor in the Department of Microbiology at New York University Beatriz Colomina: Author of X-Ray Architecture Carolyn Day: Author of Consumptive Chic: A History of Beauty, Fashion and Disease Kyle Harper: Author of Plagues Upon the Earth: Disease and the Course of Human History Tara Knapp: Vice president of external affairs at Gaylord Specialty Healthcare Elizabeth Lee: Author of The Medicine of Art: Disease and the Aesthetic Object in Gilded Age America 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. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired September 1, 2022.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How do you like to relax? Do you read a book? Go for a hike, maybe? How about grabbing dinner with friends? The list goes on, and we consider these activities leisure. This hour, we learn what leisure is and how to master it. We take a look at the importance of leisure for health, how the concept differs around the world, and what it means to value your free time. Finally, we examine what the future holds for leisure. In case you find some inspiration in this hour, here’s a list of leisure activities from our guests and The Colin McEnroe Show staff: Gardening. Finishing that old show you’ve been meaning to finish. Drawing yourself. Counting clouds. Staring at the wall. Laying down. Playing the closest instrument. Going bug collecting. Trying your hand at claymation. Trying to get the hiccups. Buying clay pigeons (biodegradable) and smashing them. Exploring the forest behind your home. Throwing rocks into the mysterious well you find in the forest. Summoning (accidentally) an eons-old forest spirit. Visiting a national park. GUESTS: Tom Hodgkinson: Founder of Idler magazine and the author How to Be Idle: A Loafer’s Manifestoand An Idler’s Manual, among other books Selin Malkoc: Behavioral scientist at the Fisher College of Business at The Ohio State University Ken Roberts: Professor of sociology, social policy, and criminology at The University of Liverpool 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. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, Jonathan McNicol, Cat Pastor, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show, which originally aired August 11, 2022.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week’s Nose is being institutionally told that its personal expression is bad. This weekend, Adam Sandler receives the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. Colin says it’s the end of Western civilization, or something like that. But is it? And: Seth Rogen has gone on the record about how “devastating” critiques of his work can be. It’s a topic this week’s Nose, which includes America’s Greatest Living Film Critic, couldn’t resist. And finally: Star Trek: Picard is the eighth Star Trek television series and the second series in the expanded Star Trek universe (I don’t really know what that is). It’s a sequel to the third Star Trek television series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and it starts 20 years after the last Next Generation movie, Star Trek: Nemesis (2002). Its third and final season is streaming now. David Edelstein’s endorsements: the 26th season of South Park on Comedy Central Unscripted: The Epic Battle for a Media Empire and the Redstone Family Legacy by James B. Stewart and Rachel Abrams Mercy Quaye’s endorsements: Daniel and Jorge Explain the Universe Houston, We Have a Podcast’s Mars miniseries StarTalk Carolyn Paine’s endorsement: You Season 4 on Netflix Colin’s endorsements: the music of Declan O’Rourke and Solas Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take: Bobby Caldwell, ‘Blue-Eyed Soul’ Singer, Dead at 71 Al Jaffee, Now 102, Is Ready to Be Added to Mount Rushmore MAD’s longest-serving contributor on comedy, art, and the origins of the “Fold-in.” Marvel Is Looking For The Person Behind The Alleged Quantumania Script Leaks Warner Bros. Discovery Worried That ‘HBO’ Name Turns Off New Subscribers CEO David Zaslav is considering ”Max“ as the name for the service which combines the company’s flagship streamer and Discovery+ Sesame Street to Launch First NFTs With VeVe, Starting With Cookie Monster Digital Collectibles at $60 Each Netflix Pulls Plug On Nancy Meyers’ New Project Over Budget Issue The Fabulist in the Woods In Northampton with Kelly Link and her community of like-minded writers. The Cure tried to circumvent Ticketmaster’s price gouging. It didn’t work. While tickets went for as low as $20, Ticketmaster’s fees easily doubled the price Bad Projection Is Ruining the Movie Theater Experience Multiplexes are failing at their most basic function: delivering a bright, sharp image. Peak TV Is Over. Welcome to Trough TV. Streaming’s golden age has been ending for a while, but it’s only now become clear what’s replacing it. 34 Things That Happened Almost Exactly 3 Years Ago Before The Pandemic That Will Make You Question Reality The world really was such a different place, and I just hope Charlotte Awbery is slaying a subway platform somewhere again. 20 Cringey And 9 Funny Things Celebrities Did At The Beginning Of The Pandemic That Are Wild To Look Back On Now It’s weird looking back three years later, but I think all celebrities learned it’s just sometimes better not to post. It’s Time to Kill the Multiverse (at Least in This Timeline) Don’t let ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ and its Oscar front-runner status fool you: The supposedly limitless storytelling device has been pushed to its narrative limits. Just look to ‘Quantumania’ for proof. How Please Stopped Being Polite The phrase if it please you has been shortened and shortened over time—until it’s become more brusque than courteous. If You’re Reading This, Your Favorite Show Is Canceled Ben Affleck on ‘Air,’ New CEO Gig and Those Memes: “I Am Who I Am” The actor, filmmaker and budding mogul on the disruptive production company he launched with Matt Damon, why he’s done with D.C., getting Michael Jordan’s blessing for his new film and the advice wife Jennifer Lopez gave him for this interview. We Spoke To The NYU Student Who Did Not Have Fun Studying Abroad In Florence And She Doesn’t Care That You’re Mad Emily in Paris has nothing on Stacia in Florence. Why Are So Many People Rewatching ‘Girls’? Viewership of Lena Dunham’s HBO dramedy is surging as many millennials reassess their 20s and a show that defined them. Meg White’s Drumming Chops Are the Hot Topic of the Day, and Yes, It’s 2023 GUESTS: David Edelstein: America’s Greatest Living Film Critic Carolyn Paine: An actress, comedian, and dancer, and she is founder, director, and choreographer of CONNetic Dance Mercy Quaye: Founder and president of The Narrative Project and a columnist and editor at The Connecticut Mirror 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. 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.