The Colin McEnroe Show

In 2025, Stevie Wonder turned 75, and our friend the jazz pianist Noah Baerman put out an album of covers of Wonder’s “message music.” This hour, a look at Stevie Wonder as musical icon, as important civil rights figure, as utterly timeless songsmith. Plus: some in-studio performances of Stevie Wonder classics. GUESTS: Noah Baerman: A pianist, composer, and educator; his newest a...

How often are you bored nowadays? This hour we take a look at the psychology of boredom to learn what's happening in our minds when we're bored, and if there's any benefit to it. Plus, a look at boredom through history and literature. And, what makes a movie boring? GUESTS: James Danckert: A Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Waterloo. He is co-author of Out of My...

Is it possible to live forever? And if so, should we even want to? This hour, we discuss the search for immortality, from ancient philosophers to the elixir of life. Plus, a look at immortalizing public figures through obituaries. Guests: Tushar Irani is a Professor of Philosophy at Wesleyan University studying Ancient Greek and Roman Philosophy. Philip Ball is a freelance science writer and the a...

The term "classical music" includes a wide variety of music and artists. This hour we take a look at what that category really means. We celebrate the form and help you figure out how to start listening to the genre. Plus, how video game music is bringing new listeners to classical music and live orchestras. GUESTS: Matthew Aucoin: American composer, conductor, writer, pianist, and a 2018 MacArthu...

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 humanoid foodstuffs, The World Cup, climate change, cheese … Anything. (Seemingly) everything. These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did...

As we were preparing for this show, we started to realize that there maybe just isn’t that much good pop culture stuff about the American Revolution. There’s Hamilton, of course. The John Adams HBO miniseries. Maybe the musical and movie 1776? And that’s maybe it? There’s fun junk like The Patriot or National Treasure. But what else? Think about all the great movies and TV...

Today, revolution is a catch-all term used by people across the political spectrum. There's a sense that revolutions are transformational, and even improving. But people haven't always thought that way. This hour, we trace the history of the idea from ancient Rome to the present, and look at what it can tell us about the revolutions of the past. GUESTS: Dan Edelstein: Professor of French, His...

When you "pull a Benedict Arnold," you sell out your side to join the stronger side of a situation out of fear, not honor. Needless to say, that's not a compliment. More than 230 years after America secured independence from Britain, this skilled warrior and confidante of George Washington is remembered as a traitor and coward for defecting to the British side. But it's not that easy. The Revoluti...

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 baby Muppets, the far side of the moon, frogs, reusable bags, primary elections, new words … Anything. (Seemingly) everything. These shows are fun for us, and they seem to...

Apple TV’s new limited series version of Cape Fear is the third screen adaptation of the John D. MacDonald novel The Executioners. It is the second remake of the 1962 movie directed by J. Lee Thompson and written by James R. Webb. And it’s the first remake of the 1991 movie directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Wesley Strick. It’s executive produced by Scorses...

Stephen Sondheim was the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer and lyricist who wrote Into the Woods, West Side Story, Sunday in the Park with George, Company, Assassins, and more. This hour, a look at the life and music of Sondheim. And, on the occasion of the new Hartford Stage/TheaterWorks Hartford co-production, we dig into the story and music of Sweeney Todd: The Demon...

What's it like being a nun today? Sister Monica Clare joins us to explain her path to the Community of St. John Baptist and why she is sharing her story on TikTok and in a new memoir. Plus, scholars Ana Garriga and Carmen Urbita explore the lessons about friendship, money, work, and more that we can learn from Sixteenth-century nuns in their podcast and their new book. They join us to explain that...

Painter Frederic E. Church was born in 1926 on Temple Street, Hartford. In the 200 years since then, his paintings have travelled the world and helped define American art. This hour, we'll speak with Victoria Johnson, author of a new biography all about Church. Plus, we’ll be joined by Betsy Kornhauser, former curator at the Wadsworth Atheneum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, to explore C...

Are we as a population getting dumber? How would we know if we were? This hour: stupidity. We’ll look at the history and philosophy of stupidity, and explore how it shows up in our daily lives and politics. GUESTS: Lane Brown: Features writer for New York Magazine, who recently wrote "A Theory of Dumb" Stuart Jeffries: Journalist and author. His new book is A Short History of Stupidity Shann...

We have done a version of this show every single year since 2013. And we did it in 2011. We probably even did one in 2010. (We just can’t prove it.) So it’s a bit of a tradition. It’s a tradition that … makes some people angry, we realize. And that has a lot to do with how we define the term “song of the summer.” We use the Amanda Dobbins definition: Let’...

Millions of Americans speak English, so why do we all sound so different? And what might accents of the future sound like? This hour, we explore the past, present, and future of regional accents–from Carter to Colin. Plus, we discuss why hearing different regional accents might make us feel a certain way, and hear how international actors learn how to speak like Americans. GUESTS:  Marg...

COVID has caused more than 7 million confirmed deaths (and estimates of the actual total go well past 20 million). Here’s the even worse news: It wasn’t the truly devastating pandemic epidemiologists have feared for decades. But here’s the good news: We learned every possible lesson from COVID, and now we’re utterly prepared for the next big pandemic that’s inevitably...

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 — helmed this time by our old pal Chion Wolf! — winds around to the Connecticut Theatre Exchange, Chion’s mom, talking to strangers, America250, Theo of Golden b...

Disclosure Day is the 35th commercially released feature film directed by Steven Spielberg. It’s his 10th sci-fi movie and his fifth specifically about alien encounters. It is written by David Koepp from a story by Spielberg, and it stars Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor, Colman Domingo, and Colin Firth. And then: We did a whole show about Steven Spielberg when he turned 70. W...

Revenge is as old as humanity itself. And new research shows that revenge functions in our brains like a type of addiction. This hour a look at revenge in politics, literature, and everyday life — and what it would mean if we treated revenge differently. GUESTS: James Kimmel Jr.: Lawyer, author, Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine, and the Founder and Co...

One of the most mysterious texts in the world lives here in Connecticut. The Medieval Voynich Manuscript is at the Beinecke Library at Yale University. Scholars have been trying for over a century to decipher it. This hour, we look at the Voynich and at other examples of mysterious manuscripts from around the world. GUESTS: Lisa Fagin Davis: Professor of Practice in Manuscript Studies at the Simmo...

Sophocles' play Antigone was originally performed around 441 B.C.E., but the themes in the play still resonate today. This hour, we revisit the story of Antigone, and ask what it can teach us about compromise, wisdom, extremism, grief, and more. Plus, a look at how modern productions are exploring new ways for audiences to engage with the ancient Greek tragedy. GUESTS: Elizabeth Bobrick: A Vi...

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 The 79th Tony Awards, central casting, The Knicks, “Strike Force Five”, wildflowers, vampires, “60 Minutes”, unidentified aerial phenomenon … Anyth...

The soap opera began on the radio in the 1930s, and since then it's evolved quite a bit. This hour, we take a look at soaps and soapiness, from daytime dramas to reality TV. GUESTS: Charlotte Druckman: Journalist and the co-author of Love in the Afternoon, and Evening: Essays and Conversations on Soap Operas Mayukh Sen: Co-author of Love in the Afternoon, and Evening: Essays an...

It's been over one hundred years since J. M. Barrie first told the story of Peter Pan, Wendy, and Neverland. Since then, Peter Pan has been adapted countless times, and become a constant reference point in popular culture. This hour, a look at the lasting cultural and psychological impact of Peter Pan.   GUESTS: Maria Tatar: Professor emerita of folklore and mythology at Harvard University; h...