The Colin McEnroe Show

We're preempted (again) today as  the House Judiciary Committee debates its Articles of Impeachment . So, in lieu of a new episode of  The Colin McEnroe Show , we thought you might enjoy this interview we did with Dave Eggers for our new, other show,   Pardon Me (Another Damn Impeachment Show?) .  Pardon Me  airs on Saturdays at noon on Connecticut Public Radio, and it's a...

Today we speak with actor and human-rights activist George Takei, not about his role as Lieutenant Sulu on the original  Star Trek , but about a far more troubling chapter in his life. In his new graphic memoir  They Called Us Enemy , George writes in detail about his childhood spent in an internment camp for Japanese-American citizens. It's a vivid account of one of the darkest times in...

We had intended to run the debut episode of our new other show,  Pardon Me (Another Damn Impeachment Show?) , in our hour today. But then  the Democrats unveiled two articles of impeachment against President Trump . And so suddenly airing a show from last weekend seemed like a bad idea. So instead, we take to the airwaves with you as our only guest. Call in and let Colin know what you're...

The New York Times   has called  Harris Yulin "something of the character actor's character actor." You know him from, well... pretty much everything:  Scarface ,  Ghostbusters II ,  Clear and Present Danger ,  Bean ,  The Hurricane ,  Rush Hour 2 ,  Training Day ,  The Place Beyond the Pines ,  24 ,  Veep ,  Unbreakable Kimmy Schmid...

When you think of taxidermy, you may imagine a  trophy room  in which mostly male hunters have mounted the heads of 12-point stags along wood-paneled walls. If so, your image would be incomplete. Taxidermy has gone through many interations since gentleman scientists turned to taxidermy to understand anatomy during the Enlightenment. Victorians added a touch of whimsy, decorating their ho...

There is perhaps no figure more emblematic of the paranormal than the psychic. Able to predict the future, see into the past, and even communicate with the dead, the psychic's awesome gifts are matched only by his or her ability to withstand skepticism and ridicule. But are our misgivings towards these intuitives justified? Is it merely smoke and mirrors which they've learned to master or are they...

Private weather companies are cropping up to produce weather and climate models that has historically been provided by the government at taxpayer expense. Private weather forecasting is a $7 billion industry that threatens the National Weather Services hold on the best data and could lead to a tiered system of access. Also this hour: Montrealers are united around their bagels . Until now, the bigg...

Last Thursday, Elon Musk unveiled Tesla's Cybertruck and Sacha Baron Cohen gave the keynote address at an Anti-Defamation League summit. Both performances have drawn mixed reactions. And: The Mandalorian is the big, new, original, launch title for Disney's new streaming service, Disney+. It's a half(ish)-hour western set in the Star Wars universe, and three episodes have dropped so far. Support th...

If you ever drive across the country, you’ll notice there is a surprising amount of World’s Largest  attractions. West Virginia has the world’s largest teapot, California has the world’s largest yo-yo and Arkansas, for whatever reason, has the world’s largest Spinach can. This hour we talk to the man who brought the world’s tallest Uncle Sam to Danbury, Con...

Defense Secretary Mark Esper demanded the resignation of Navy Secretary Richard Spencer on Sunday. Esper said he had lost confidence in Spencer. Esper's action follows Spencer publicly disagreeing with President Trump over the military's decision to demote one of three war criminals the president pardoned against military advice. What are the consequences of presidential interference in the milita...

The Irishman is Martin Scorsese's first gangster movie in thirteen years. It's his first feature-length film with Robert De Niro in 24 years and his first with Harvey Keitel in 31 years. It's Joe Pesci's first onscreen performance since 2010 and just his third since 1998. It's the first time any combination of Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, and/or Harvey Keitel has ever worked together, and it's the first...

Ralph Nader's niece died when Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 max 8 jet crashed in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, in March 2019.  Since that day, her family has been trying to prove that Boeing put profits before public safety when they failed to ground the plane when they recognized the danger it posed.  There is a poignancy in the notion that this family has to fight this battle a...

William Outlaw is a natural leader. He's been a key figure in helping to lower New Haven's homicide rate over the last decade. He's a strategist and an organizer who can size up a situation quickly. He can defuse a threatening situation with his charisma and charm. He can run a business.  As a street outreach worker in New Haven, he uses all the same skills today that he used when he co-ran N...

There are more than 800 miles of Blue-Blazed Hiking Trails in Connecticut. Today we're doing our show from one of them.  Hiking those trails, you can pass an old Tory hideout from the American revolution and, not terribly far away, the sprawling home owned by Mike Tyson and 50 Cent. There are things out in the woods that might surprise you, and one of the guys walking down the trail to visit...

President Trump's former National Security Advisor John Bolton is a pretty interesting figure in the whole impeachment inquiry, right? On the one hand, he's a pretty high-level official who is said to have characterized the whole Ukraine affair as a "drug deal." On the other hand, he's so far refused to testify at the same time as he's making it clear he's got lots of relevant information . On the...

The news comes fast in  the world of the canceled  these days. Louis CK is  back out on tour . President Obama has a " very boomer view " of the whole thing.  The New York Times   reports on teens' takes . Meanwhile, some celebrities, rather than getting themselves canceled, are getting themselves arrested.  Jane Fonda , for instance. And  Sam Waterston . And&nbs...

Listen Wednesday at 1:00 pm Eugene O'Neill doesn't get enough credit. His plays are a form of therapy. O'Neill forces us to watch the raw pain of our human condition, the disillusionment and existential fear that we push into the background. O'Neill's plays are dark but there's a catharsis in confronting our deepest fears and illusions.  Who is the man behind the works and what can they teach...

Are there countries where harmonica players are BIG stars? Why don't more women play it? How many different musical styles can you squeeze out of one of these things? Guests include a lot of the pros: Howard Levy, Don DeStefano and Chris DePino whose odd career arc has taken him from railroad conductor to chairman of the Connecticut Republican Party to professional harmonica player. Also, Wolfie g...

President Trump changed his primary address from  New York to Florida .  He says he'd been treated badly by political leaders. He was also booed twice last week, first at Game Five of the World Series match between the Washington Nationals and the Houston Astros, this past Saturday at a UFC mixed martial arts event at Madison Square Garden.  It does hightlight how infrequently...

Watchmen  is a limited series of comic books that became a graphic novel in 1987 and a feature film in 2009. And now it's an HBO series from Damon Lindelof that acts as a kind of sequel to the original comics, set 34 years later. And: Today is John Dankosky's last day at Connecticut Public after 25 years. There is just no denying that WNPR wouldn't be what it is -- and  The Colin McEnroe...

Every year around this time, we like to take a look at just what's frightening us in the present moment. This year, we start with our present take on a past horror classic, Ridley Scott's  Alien , which has its 40th anniversary this year. Plus: Ari Aster's  Hereditary  follow-up,  Midsommar , is set at a pagan retreat in rural Sweden. As such, it's seen as a bit of a reinvigora...

Connecticut's " Second Chance Society " has reduced the number of people going into prison and better prepared offenders for a meaningful life when they get out.  We've closed prisons, repealed the death penalty, and raised the age at which young people can be tried as adults. We've added reentry programs modeled loosely on the German prison system , where incarcerated men and women...

Predictions of a paperless future go back to the 1800s. Yet, despite a dizzying array of technological alternatives to paper, those prediction have not come true. Whether we're reading, writing, or working we just can't seem to part with paper. But how long will this last? Why are we so attached to paper? We talk with experts about our longstanding love for paper. Support the show: http://www.wnpr...

President Trump held a Sunday morning press conference to announce that the U.S. military conducted a targeted operation to kill ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi on Saturday. The operation was successful and important but still a somber and serious event.  The almost 50-minute question and answer period that followed the president's news was political, self-aggrandizing, undignified, and may...

This week,  The Washington Post  published " The 20 defining comedy sketches of the past 20 years " covering television sketch comedy of the 2000s. It includes a lot of what you'd expect it to include:  SNL 's " More Cowbell " and " Black Jeopardy with Tom Hanks ,"  Inside Amy Schumer 's " Last F---able Day ,"  Chappelle's Show 's " Frontline -- Clayton Bigsby ." And: For...