The Colin McEnroe Show

“Schadenfreude,” the German word 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...

This week’s Nose May come cannonballing down through the sky, Gleam in its eye, Bright as a rose! Who knows? As of Wednesday, Kim Kardashian is legally single  and officially no longer named West. Meanwhile, Kanye West (who is also officially no longer named West, nor Kanye — he legally changed his named to just Ye last year) dropped a new video — also on Wednesday — i...

Mike Pesca’s The Gist — with more than 1,700 episodes dating back to 2014 — is said to be the longest-running daily news podcast. After a controversial split from Slate , Pesca relaunched The Gist as an independent podcast this January. Mike Pesca joins Colin for the hour. GUEST: Mike Pesca:  Host of  The Gist The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on App...

Chances are you’ve probably used an index at the back of the book at some point in your life. But how much thought have you given to their creation, their function, and their history? Our guest this hour has written a whole book on the topic. Dennis Duncan, author of Index, A History of the: A Bookish Adventure from Medieval Manuscripts to the Digital Age , joins us, along with a professiona...

Treasure hunts are prolific across literature, film, and history. This hour we talk about treasure hunts, including what happens when you drop one in the present day. GUESTS: Dan Barbarisi - Author of Chasing The Thrill: Obsession, Death and Glory In America’s Most Extraordinary Treasure Hunt Marcellus Cadd - Writes the blog  Geocaching While Black Join the conversation on Facebook and...

We’ve been doing these shows a lot of weeks where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. We don’t even, anymore, start with the suggestion of a topic that your calls might, potentially, be about. We’ve had fun with these shows, and you seem to like them too. So we’re doing that again. In other words: Give us a call during the 1 p.m. EST hour...

This week’s Nose wants to be found out, same as everybody else. Guillermo del Toro’s sideshow noir, Nightmare Alley , is nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture. It stars Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, Toni Collette, Willem Dafoe, and Richard Jenkins, among others. It’s based on the 1946 novel, of which it’s the second film adaptation, after...

Nobody ever died of a broken heart, right? Not true. A condition known as broken heart syndrome can be brought on by a sudden shock, such as grief from the death of a loved one or a divorce. You may not die of a broken heart but it can alter your biology in ways that can increase your risk for disease. The good news is that it can be reversed if you can begin to mend your heart. Also this hour: We...

What makes something tacky? This hour is a celebration of all things "tacky" with Rax King, author of the new book, "Tacky: Love Letters to the Worst Culture We Have to Offer." Plus, we look at why reality tv is sometimes tacky, and discuss the tackiest home décor. GUESTS: Rax King  - Author of “Tacky: Love Letters to the Worst Culture We Have to Offer,” and co-host of the...

This week’s Nose is concerned with problematic male comedians born in the mid-1930s. Showtime describes We Need To Talk About Cosby as “writer/director W. Kamau Bell’s exploration of Bill Cosby’s descent from ‘America’s Dad’ to alleged sexual predator. Comedians, journalists and Cosby survivors have a candid, first of its kind conversation about the man, h...

Stickiness: we know it when we see it-- or when we feel it under our feet at the movie theater. But what is stickiness, scientifically speaking? How do geckos climb? Why don't post-it notes ruin our books? On today's show we'll ask scientist Laurie Winkless about her new book, "Sticky," and figure out what holds it all together. GUESTS: Laurie Winkless  - A science writer, physicist, and auth...

Why is dieting such an enduring idea when it has such mixed results? This hour we investigate that question by looking back at diets through history, talking about the latest science, and discussing portrayals of dieting through pop culture. GUESTS: Virginia Sole-Smith  - Author of “The Eating Instinct” and a journalist who covers diet culture and weight stigma, and who writes the...

Scrolling through online real estate listings, a practice known as “Zillow surfing,” has become a popular pastime . And it’s not just for people who are actually looking to buy houses… It’s also for snooping on the value of other people’s homes, imagining different lives for yourself, or just finding unusual houses to make fun of and share with friends. This ho...

This hour, we look at how the pandemic shaped dating, long-term relationships, and love over the past two years. GUESTS: Laura Kipnis: Author of Love in the Time of Contagion: A Diagnosis , among other books Hiwote Getaneh: A producer on the This Is Dating podcast Philippa Found: An artist and writer and the creator of Lockdownlovestories Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter . Colin McEnr...

This week’s Nose discusses “ The Power of a Good Cry ,” watches Super Bowl ads, and talks about HBO’s new comedy Somebody Somewhere . GUESTS: Sam Hadelman - Works in music public relations and hosts The Sam Hadelman Show at Radio Free Brooklyn Rich Hollant - Principal at CO:LAB, founder of Free Center, and commissioner on cultural affairs for the city of Hartford Irene Papo...

Several high-profile NPR hosts recently left the station to work in other media organizations. Why? Some think NPR has become less innovative and unaware of the competitive opportunities that are now available for talented journalists and producers. Others dislike NPR’s recent hyperfocus on  race and gender  or blame its “ woke ideology ” as too inhospitable to its empl...

More than half a century after they first came walking down the street, we’re still bananas for The Monkees. This hour, Colin and his guests help us figure out why. GUESTS: Mark Rozzo  - Contributing editor at Vanity Fair and author of the August 2021 Vanity Fair story “The Most Influential Pop-Rock Band Ever? The Monkees!” Brian Williams  - Former MSNBC anchor, lifelon...

This hour, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of A Clockwork Orange — the 50th anniversary of its wide release in the U.S., that is, on February 2, 1972 — our first full, show-length look at the work of filmmaker Stanley Kubrick. Our original go at this, about six months into the pandemic, was my worst experience producing live radio remotely, with Colin hosting from home and Zoom guest...

This hour, an assortment of topics. First up: why future COVID-19 boosters may be administered through the nose. Next, we learn all about masks. Finally: we get up to speed on the Winter Olympics. GUESTS: Dr. Akiko Iwasaki  - The Waldemar Von Zedtwitz Professor of Immunobiology at Yale University, and an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Dr. Iwasaki is on a team studying na...

This week’s Nose believes that everything happens for a reason. Call it luck. Call it fate. Call it karma. On the Billboard Hot 100 chart dated February 5 , “We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” from Lin-Manuel Miranda’s song score for Encanto , becomes the No. 1 song in the country. It’s the second song ever from a Disney animated movie to get to No. 1, after “A W...

You know Michael Schur from the shows he’s created, like The Good Place , Parks and Recreation and Brooklyn Nine-Nine This hour we talk with Schur about his latest project: his new book How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question . Through the conversation we discuss moral philosophy, and big moral questions like “should you return your shopping cart to the cart corra...

History is filled with men who were mistaken for gods around the world. This hour, we talk with the author of a new book on that topic: Anna Della Subin, author of Accidental Gods: On Men Unwittingly Turned Divine . She takes us through some notable examples of men mistaken for gods, and discusses why people look for gods on earth. GUESTS: Anna Della Subin - Author of Accidental Gods: On Men Unwit...

Nat Love was born a slave but died a free cowboy and a legend of the Old West. After the Civil War freed Love from slavery, he walked to Dodge City, Kansas, and got a job breaking horses — after he could prove that he could rope a bucking horse, climb on its back without a saddle, and ride him without falling off. Thus began Nat’s life as a cowboy. We don’t typically include Blac...

We’ve been doing these shows a lot of weeks where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. We don’t even, anymore, start with the suggestion of a topic that your calls might, potentially, be about. We’ve had fun with these shows, and you seem to like them too. So we’re doing that again. In other words: Give us a call during the 1 p.m. EST hour...

This week’s Nose isn’t going to point out our houses, landmarks, or major highways during takeoff. It’s not every ad campaign that can boast its own group of devoted fans, but Progressive’s Un-Becoming Your Parents television commercials seem to have staked out their own space in the popular culture. And: Neil Young gave Spotify an ultimatum — you “can have [Joe...