The Colin McEnroe Show

We hear about algorithms all the time, but what is an algorithm exactly? This hour, we learn about how algorithms work, a bit about their history, and how they're impacting our culture. GUESTS:  Ed Finn:  Author of  What Algorithms Want: Imagination in the Age of Computing , and founding director of the Center for Science and the Imagination at Arizona State University Bruce Gil:  Reporter for  Qu...

From book bans to comics and the strange origins of fairy tales, this hour we look at children’s literature and who decides what’s appropriate for kids to read. GUESTS: Adam Gidwitz: Author of  A Tale Dark and Grimm  and its companions and the creator of the podcast  Grimm, Grimmer, Grimmest Carol St. George: Professor of teaching and curriculum and director of reading and literacy at the Warner S...

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 the stock market, inflation and the real estate market, incidental music in theater, commercials and trailers and such at the movie theater, Woody Harrelson and Robert...

We’ve been noticing a sort of backwards-looking bent lately in TV shows like  Ripley , with its 1960s setting and its black-and-white aesthetic and its lush 1950s Italian pop soundtrack. Or  Fallout , with its particular brand of retro-futurism and its Jazz Age-to-Space Age music. Or  Sugar , with it classic movie-obsessed protagonist and its neo-noir tone. There’s a theory that there’s more of an...

Is print dead? Or will it make a comeback? This hour, we talk about the benefits and drawbacks of getting your news in print form. We learn about the print age, or the “Gutenberg Parenthesis,” and we talk about the business of printing. GUESTS:  Kelsey Russell:  A media literacy influencer and co-host of “First Stop News” Jeff Jarvis : Author of  The Gutenberg Parenthesis: The Age of Print and Its...

This hour, a look at why humans touch others with their lips (and often their tongues!). Join us as we overthink the simple act of kissing. GUESTS:  Marcel Danesi:  Professor Emeritus of Linguistic Anthropology at The University of Toronto and author of  The History of the Kiss! The Birth of Popular Culture Matthew Longcore:  Director of Membership and Outreach for the Human Relations Area Files a...

What’s in your pockets right now? Phone, wallet, keys … maybe some discarded receipts or old gum? This hour: what we carry with us every day, from flashlights the size of a lip balm to a life-saving medicine. GUESTS: Bernard Capulong: Founder and editor-in-chief of  everydaycarry.com Peter Canning: A Hartford paramedic, an emergency medical services coordinator at John Dempsey Hospital, and the au...

This hour, a look at the cultural significance of the apple, from Adam and Eve to keeping the doctor away. Plus: growing apples and the future of apples, and we compare apples and oranges. GUESTS: Martha Bayless: Director of folklore and public culture and a professor of English and folklore at the University of Oregon; she is also the founder of the Early English Bread Project, which studies the...

Baby Reindeer  is a seven-episode half-hour limited series written and created by Richard Gadd and based on his autobiographical one-man play. According to Netflix, it “follows struggling comedian Donny Dunn’s warped relationship with his female stalker and the impact it has on him as he is ultimately forced to face a deeply buried trauma.” With its unique mix of black comedy, drama, and thriller,...

The internet is up in arms over the revelation that South Dakota governor Kristi Noem once shot and killed her dog. This hour, we’ll get into it. From vice presidential contenders to “Old Yeller” and “Marley and Me” — what is it about dogs that brings us all together, and unites us in grief and uproar when they die? GUESTS:  Li Zhou:  Senior politics and society reporter at Vox.  David Edelstein:...

It has been 25 years since the deal between the state of Connecticut and Robert Kraft’s New England Patriots — the deal that would’ve brought the Patriots to a brand new publicly funded stadium in Hartford — fell through. Over the two-and-a-half decades since, the Patriots hired coach Bill Belichick and drafted quarterback Tom Brady, and they won 17 division titles, nine conference championships,...

In A.J. Jacobs' new book, The Year of Living Constitutionally: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Constitution’s Original Meaning , he details his experience living by the Constitution for a year. Jacobs joins us for the hour to tell us about the experiment and what he learned. GUESTS:  A.J. Jacobs: Author of The Year of Living Constitutionally: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Constitution’...

What exactly is charisma? You know it when you see it, but is it possible to measure? Is it something you can learn, or just something you’re born with? This hour we look at the impact of charisma, especially in politics. Plus, in the world of wildlife conservation there’s a term for those animals everyone cares about: “charismatic megafauna.” What are the impacts of decisions about conservation o...

Adrian McKinty is a Northern Irish writer of thrillers and mysteries probably best known for The Chain and the Sean Duffy series. On a dark and stormy night in September, McKinty talked to Colin on stage at The Mark Twain House and Museum in Hartford. It’s the first show we’ve done in front of a live audience since the before times. This hour, a lightly edited version of that conversation. GUEST:...

It's hard to stay on top of everything happening in the Supreme Court lately — a case about whether governments can criminalize sleeping outside when you're homeless, a different decision that headlines tell us "effectively abolishes the right to mass protest in three US states." Today, we're getting caught up with three of the most important cases you might have missed!   GUESTS:  Mark Joseph Ste...

It’s been reported that Donald Trump has been sleeping during his Manhattan trial. This hour, a look at the storied history of people sleeping through things. We talk with a sleep doctor. Plus: an actor on what it’s like when an audience member nods off during your stage performance. GUESTS:  Maura Judkis:  Features Reporter for  The Washington Post Michael Greaney:  Professor of English Literatur...

Journalist Lisa Belkin spent 10 years retracing the ancestry of three families, over four generations, to understand how a series of random encounters between three men led to the 1960 murder of a Stamford, Connecticut, police officer. Genealogy of a Murder looks at how family “truths” passed down through the generations can influence the choices of the descendants that follow. How do family stori...

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 people backing into parking spaces, incorrect (maybe) pronunciations, spoon theory, the movie  Civil War , Gov. Kristi Noem’s puppy … Anything. (Seemingly) everything....

Fallout  is a post-apocalyptic TV series developed for Amazon MGM Studios by Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, who co-created  Westworld  for HBO. It is the first screen adaptation of the game franchise, which comprises four main series video games, seven spinoff video games, and six tabletop games. It stars Ella Purnell (from  Yellowjackets ), Aaron Morten, Kyle MacLachlan, and Walton Goggins. And:  C...

The Supreme Court recently started hearing oral arguments about whether the Jan. 6 attacks constitute obstruction of an official proceeding. Thursday, they’ll hear arguments on Trump’s claim of presidential immunity. This hour, a status update on the confusing, monumental, and democracy-defining goings-on in the Supreme Court. GUESTS:  Melissa Murray: Professor of law at New York University, a hos...

Daniel Dennett was one of the most famous philosophers in the world, one of the so-called “ Four Horsemen of the New Atheism .” Dennett died April 19 at age 82. This hour, our 2015 conversation with Daniel Dennett, as recorded onstage at the Mark Twain House and Museum in Hartford. GUEST: Daniel Dennett: Was a philosopher, writer and and the co-director of the Center for Cognitive Studies at Tufts...

It took almost a week to select the jurors and alternates for the Manhattan trial of former President Donald Trump. This hour is all about juries. We'll talk about jury selection, how to root out potential bias, and the process of choosing an impartial jury in this day and age. Plus, we'll look at depictions of juries in popular culture. And, some of the jury selection questions have to do with wh...

Rupert Holmes won two Tony Awards for his musical The Mystery of Edwin Drood . His single “ Escape (The Piña Colada Song) ” went to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. His dramedy Remember WENN was AMC’s first original scripted series. And his newest novel, Murder Your Employer , was a New York Times bestseller. This hour: Rupert Holmes. GUEST: Rupert Holmes: Playwright, composer, singer-songwriter, a...

In January, we did a show that wondered both how much the American Civil War speaks to the present American moment and how likely a new American Civil War might be. Well, movies and television have now, finally caught up with us. Civil War is the fourth film written and directed by Alex Garland. It tells the story of the end of a future second American Civil War as four journalists — played by Kir...

This hour, we've got one show with three topics. First, the Trump 'hush money' trial; next, the history of slouch-shaming; and finally, the Golden Bachelor's divorce news. GUESTS:  Mark Joseph Stern: Senior writer at Slate covering courts and the law Beth Linker: Professor and Chair of History and Sociology of Science at the University of Pennsylvania. Her recently-released book is called “Slouch:...