The Colin McEnroe Show

The Thighmaster, the Chop-O-Matic, the George Foreman Grill and the Clapper: Products which are all part of American consumer culture and which were all introduced through infomercials. But as online shopping increases and traditional television watching decreases, are we beginning to see the end of these high-energy, late-night shows? Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate See omn...

Steve Almond says he's rooting for Donald Trump to win the nomination, even though he doesn't want him to be our next president. He says the GOP has been riling up their base voters for so long, it's no surprise that Trump is now overtly channeling all the "racist and nativist rhetoric" that has been covertly promoted by the party for decades.   Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate Se...

One of the first things I did with the money I made from my part-time job as a teenager was to buy the next album on my wish list of new music. All my friends did the same, knowing that our growing collection was as much about  who we were and what we wanted to be as it was about the music.  Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informa...

It goes by many names: the sharing economy, the collaborative economy, the peer economy, just to name a few. Whatever you want to call it, one thing's for sure: this new way of doing business -- where idle assets equal big profits, and the hard-earned currency of trust comes through user reviews -- is changing the economic landscape of our country. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate See...

Vin Baker was an Olympic basketball player and four-time NBA All Star. The journey from University of Hartford to professional basketball got him rich quick, but it was a lifestyle he couldn't keep up with. Baker's struggle with alcoholism is well-documented, as is the fact he blew through $100 million. He lost his home and restaurant. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate See omnystud...

This hour, a panel of experts and historians gives us an in-depth look at the life and legacy of Beatrice Fox Auerbach, owner and CEO of Connecticut's most beloved department store, G. Fox and Co.  Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When I hear the word "diorama," the first thing I think of is Mr. Mack’s fifth grade class and painting hills and grass and clouds and a fence into a shoebox and making little cardboard cut outs of Lassie and the boy she loved. God, I hated that stuff. The second thing I think of is a place like the Peabody Museum in New Haven and their incredibly, obsessively, over-the-toply detailed dioramas of...

The show moves to the Elm City for its annual snort of/at The Oscars, this time from the lobby of The Study at Yale in front of a live audience numbering in the dozens! Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's Friday night and I want to go to the movies. But, I don't know how to choose from fifteen or so movies before me. I can quickly knock out a few I don't want to see, leaving me with the final gems. How to decide? I check the reviews of my favorite critics. Not everyone feels that way.  Actor Samuel L. Jackson of "Avengers: Age of Ultron" once took issue with New York Times film critic A.O...

Jules Feiffer wrote that in the early days the fans of either Superman and Batman could be separated out in terms of how neurotic or secure they felt. If you felt downtrodden and insecure, you liked Superman, the realization of all your hopes and dreams.  If you were a little more sure of your place in the world, you'd root for Batman, who took his lumps but typically bounced back. Suppo...

Since its discovery in 1900, adrenaline and pop-culture have gone hand-in-hand. From extreme sports, to the latest energy drinks, to pulse pounding Hollywood blockbusters, the rush of this hormone is portrayed in countless ways. But these portrayals seldom tell the whole story. So what exactly is adrenaline, and why does our society seem so keen on celebrating it? Support the show: http://www.wnpr...

Donald Trump's win in this weekend's South Carolina primary was bigger than most establishment Republicans, and the media, want to admit. It comes after a week that would have sunk the other candidates; he tangled with the Pope, said the Bush administration didn't protect us from 9/11, and almost supported Obamacare's health care mandate, before he took it back. Are his supporters irrational, or d...

If there is a through line to this week's Nose, I would have to call it trespass. In the remarkable third episode of Louis C.K.'s from-out-of-nowhere filmed theater web series thing "Horace and Pete,"  the two characters (and there are very nearly only two) played by Laurie Metcalf and C.K. are working out the nature of trespass, as it appears in the Lord's Prayer. As adulterers, they are eac...

Hartford Stage's current production is maybe Shakespeare's most popular play. This hour, Artistic Director Darko Tresnjak joins us to talk about his neorealist version of "Romeo and Juliet." Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Heart disease is still the biggest killer in the United States , even though fewer people die from from heart attack and cardiac arrest than ever before. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The 2016 presidential election took a dramatic turn this weekend with the sudden death of Antonin Scalia, the Supreme Court's most divisive, yet colorful justice. Revered for his brilliance, quick wit, and lively writing, he was equally reviled for a mean streak and his refusal to recognize the subjectivity in his objectivity in adhering to the original intent of the constitution.  Suppo...

This week, the universe chirped... and we heard it ! Samantha Bee's new politics-lampooning late-night show debuted to a ton of buzz . The primary debates continued, and debate Twitter was watching . Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Paula Poundstone and I started out with a plan for a short chat about her upcoming appearance in Connecticut, and then the conversation sprawled all over the place: from the comedy records of our nerdy youths, to the time she lived in Timothy Leary's guest room. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sherlock Holmes is the most recognizable character in the world . According to the Sherlock Holmes Society, the famous detective has been portrayed by seventy-five actors in more than 260 films, making him the most portrayed character on film. This could explain why a significant percentage of the British think Sherlock Holmes was a real person who lived at 221B Baker Street - a view supported by...

Ficre Ghebreyesus and Elizabeth Alexander were born two months apart in 1962, he in Eritrea, she in Harlem. They didn’t meet until 1996. He was an artist and a chef at a New Haven Eritrean restaurant he owned with his brothers. She was a poet and professor. She had been teaching at the University of Chicago, where she had also met a senior lecturer named Barack Obama. She married Ghebreyesus. She...

You may have heard there was some big football game on Sunday . You may have heard that the Denver Broncos won, 24 to 10 . You may have heard that Beyoncé upstaged Coldplay's halftime show  or that Lady Gaga’s national anthem was "fabulous." But our guess is you've also probably now heard of something called a, um, puppymonkeybaby . Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate See omnyst...

The CDC this week recommended women between the ages of 15 and 44 not drink alcohol unless they're on birth control.  Why run the risk to the baby if there's a chance you could be pregnant and not yet know it? Some question whether the caution against any alcohol instills a fear that outweighs the risk , while others chafe at the condescension that targets only women, and not the men who get...

While basketball didn’t take up residence in the White House in January 2009, the game nonetheless played an outsized role in forming the man who did, according to Sports Illustrated ’s Alexander Wolff, author of The Audacity of Hoop: Basketball and the Age of Obama . Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our deepest convictions shape how we see the world from a very young age. Our parents, community, and religion deeply influence our beliefs and ultimately, the political identity we choose to adopt. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Recently, a group of us gathered on stage at Watkinson School for a conversation about humor and comedy. The conversation had two fields on inquiry. The first was the very strange business of trying to be funny as a way of putting food on the table. It's a weird job. It's not so much a matter of trying to be funny as it is of trying to figure out what's funny about the thing sitting in front of yo...