The Colin McEnroe Show

This hour, a look at the path to sainthood and how it’s changed over time. Plus: the local example of the Rev. Michael McGivney. GUESTS: Teresa Berger: Professor of liturgical studies and Catholic theology at Yale Divinity School Joseph Laycock: Author of The Seer of Bayside: Veronica Lueken and the Struggle to Define Catholicism Rachel McCleary: Lecturer in the Economics Department at Harvard University and a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute James Sullivan: Rector of the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Waterbury, Connecticut 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! Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe, Sara Gasparotto, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired March 31, 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 a number of whys: Why do people speed? Why do cigarettes come in packs of 20? Why do we say “beyond the pale?” Why did the Hartford Courant leave the queen’s funeral off of today’s front page? Why do we still make pennies? 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! 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 watches two recent comic book television adaptations: She-Hulk: Attorney At Law, from Disney+, and the recently canceled Paper Girls, from Prime Video. GUESTS:  Rich Hollant: Principal at Co Lab, founder of Free Center, and Commissioner on Cultural Affairs for the city of Hartford Jacques Lamarre: Playwright, and Chief Communications Officer at Buzz Engine Tracy Wu Fastenberg: Development Officer at Connecticut Children’s Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jill Sobule is back in town and in our studio. This hour: songs, seventh grade, fanny packs, the power of sad music, and much more. These are the songs featured in the show: “A Good Life” “Island of Lost Things” “Jetpack” “Rainy Day Parade” “Strawberry Gloss” Jill Sobule performs at The Mark Twain House on Friday, September 16, 2022. GUEST: Jill Sobule: Award-winning singer, songwriter, and guitarist 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! Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Most of us have books that we just can’t finish, no matter how many times we try. This hour, a look at those books that we find unreadable, whether they’re too long, too difficult, too confusing, or too dated. What makes a book unreadable? Plus: The Voynich Manuscript, an unreadable and undeciphered book, housed at Yale University’s Beinecke Library. We asked our listeners for their list of unreadable books. Here are those responses: The Bible Mansfield Park by Jane Austen Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt Rim by Alexander Besher The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins Collapse by Jared Diamond Great Expectations by Charles Dickens A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens S. by JJ Abrams and Doug Dorst The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald anything by William Faulkner Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking Catch-22 by Joseph Heller Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas Hofstadter Les Misérables by Victor Hugo A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving 50 Shades of Grey by E.L. James The Dubliners by James Joyce Ulysses by James Joyce Wicked by Gregory Maguire One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez Moby Dick by Herman Melville Faithful by Stewart O’Nan and Stephen King Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon How to Write by Gertrude Stein Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace GUESTS: Ray Clemens: Curator of early books and manuscripts at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library Rand Richards Cooper: Fiction writer, contributing editor at Commonweal, and restaurant critic for The Hartford Courant Dennis Duncan: Lecturer in English at University College London and the author of Index, A History of the: A Bookish Adventure from Medieval Manuscripts to the Digital Age Juliet Lapidos: Ideas editor for The Atlantic and the author of Talent 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! 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, comedian and The New Yorker columnist Andy Borowitz on his new book, Profiles in Ignorance, which explains how our nation’s elected leaders have grown dumb — dumber. GUESTS: Andy Borowitz: Writes The Borowitz Report; his new book is Profiles in Ignorance: How America’s Politicians Got Dumb and Dumber 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! Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe, Cat Pastor, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show.  Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bumper stickers are everywhere. They range from funny to informative to political to provocative and beyond. This hour: bumper stickers — the philosophy of bumper stickers, the evolution of political bumper stickers, and so much more. GUESTS: Jack Bowen: Author of If You Can Read This: The Philosophy of Bumper Stickers Henry Hoke: Author of Sticker Claire Jerry: Curator of political history for the Smithsonian National Museum of American History 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! Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired March 16, 2022.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week’s Nose will not sit here and suffer crows that come to feast on their corpses. Game of Thrones: House of the Dragon is the second show in the Game of Thrones franchise and a prequel to the original series. It is based on parts of George R. R. Martin’s Fire & Blood, and it starts about 200 years before the events of the original series. Its first episode was the most-watched series premiere in the history of HBO, according to HBO. House of the Dragon has been renewed for a second season. And: The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is the first television series in the Lord of the Ringsfranchise. It is a prequel to The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings set thousands of years before them, during the Second Age of Middle-Earth. The Rings of Power is based mostly on the appendices of The Lord of the Rings. Amazon has made a five-season production commitment worth at least $1 billion. This would make it the most expensive television series ever made. Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take: Queen Elizabeth in Pop Culture: A History The long-reigning monarch has been referenced in everything from banned music videos and Beatles songs to Hannah Montana. 21 Unexpected And Surprising Twitter Accounts Paying Tribute To The Queen From Legoland to Crazy Frog. Explaining Olivia Wilde’s celebrity dumpster fire ‘Don’t Worry Darling’ SFGATE columnist Drew Magary parses the gossip of the day What on Earth Happened With Barack Obama’s White House Portrait? [Ed. note: I completely disagree with Dan Kois’ take here. Completely.] Kids Yell “Poop” At Alexa, And These Musicians Profit “Alexa, play ‘Poopy Stupid Butt’ again.” ‘Saturday Night Live’: Alex Moffat, Melissa Villaseñor & Aristotle Athari Not Returning For Season 48 If There’s Still Such a Thing as the ‘Song of Summer,’ This Year’s Would Be … How Sneakers Aged Better than Almost All Computer Thrillers GUESTS: Rebecca Castellani: Co-founder of Quiet Corner Communications and a freelance writer Sam Hadelman: Works in music public relations and hosts The Sam Hadelman Show at Radio Free Brooklyn Bill Yousman: Professor of Media Studies at Sacred Heart 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! 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 is all about 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. We also talk about 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:  Brad Keefer: Professor of history at Kent State University, who is also an active Civil War and colonial period living historian Metin Erin: Associate professor in the department of anthropology at Kent State University and co-director of The Kent State University Experimental Archaeology Laboratory  Michelle Bebber: Associate professor in the department of anthropology at Kent State University and co-director of The Kent State University Experimental Archaeology Laboratory  Ian Graves: Tailor and owner of Royal Blue Traders, who specializes 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 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, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Schadenfreude, the German idea for taking pleasure in others’ misfortune, seems like an ugly human emotion. But psychologists and philosophers argue that schadenfreude is baked into the human condition and actually is kind of good for us. This hour, we explore why it’s okay to laugh when someone slips on a banana peel. GUESTS: Scott Dikkers: Founding editor of The Onion and the author of How to Write Funny Lauren Ober: Hosted the Spectacular Failures podcast John Portmann: Professor of religious studies at the University of Virginia and the author of When Bad Things Happen to Other People 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! 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 March 7, 2022.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.