This hour we took your calls about anything you wanted to talk about.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You have probably encountered poet Robert Frost through his famous poems “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” or “The Road Not Taken.” But how much do you know about the man behind the poetry and the rest of his poems?

This hour, we learn about the life and poetry of Robert Frost and discover how he's helped to inspire other poets.

You can hear Adam Plunkett talk about his new book on Monday, February 24, at 7 p.m. EST at The University of Saint Joseph.

GUESTS: 

• Adam Plunkett: Literary critic and author of Love and Need: The Life of Robert Frost’s Poetry
• Sydney Lea: Former Poet Laureate of Vermont and a recipient of Vermont’s highest artistic distinction, The Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts; he is the author of 16 poetry collections, seven collections of personal essays, and two novels

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Dylan Reyes, and Kathy Wang contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This past weekend, Saturday Night Live celebrated its 50th anniversary with a concert and a special.

This hour, a look at the institution SNL has become over five decades on television.

Plus, a look at Jason Reitman’s movie, Saturday Night, which tells (a version of) the story of SNL’s inception in 1975.

GUESTS:

• Dave Itzkoff: A journalist and writer and the author of four books; his most recent is Robin

• Maureen Lee Lenker: A senior writer at Entertainment Weekly and the author of the novel It Happened One Fight

• Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Nobody Asked Shawn podcast

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on October 18, 2024.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

President Trump and his new administration have been dismantling the U.S. government's administrative state, what they call the "deep state." This hour, we take a look at what government bureaucrats do, the impact of Trump's actions, and how the reality of the administrative state differs from the rhetoric surrounding it.

Plus, we'll hear from the longtime congressional staffer who popularized the term "deep state" about how it's being used. And, a look at cultural depictions of the bureaucracy.

GUESTS: 

• Cristina Rodríguez: Professor of Law at Yale Law School
• Mike Lofgren: Worked in Congress for twenty-eight years. He is the author of The Party is Over: How Republicans Went Crazy, Democrats Became Useless, and the Middle Class Got Shafted, as well as The Deep State: The Fall of the Constitution and the Rise of a Shadow Government
• Jennifer Szalai: Nonfiction book critic for The New York Times

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode.

Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What else besides an egg can give us human life, culinary delight, life-saving vaccines, jarping, the Clowns International Egg Registry, and a satisfying bit of schadenfreude, all wrapped in one small package? Making a great omelet is the tip of the eggshell for the versatility of the egg.

This hour, a hard-boiled look at the ubiquitous, yet overlooked egg.

GUESTS:

• John Portmann: Taught moral philosophy and ethics at the University of Virginia for several decades; he’s the author of When Bad Things Happen To Other People
• Chris Prosperi: Chef and co-owner of Metro Bis in Simsbury, Connecticut, and a former recipe columnist for the Hartford Courant
• Lizzie Stark: The author of Egg: A Dozen Ovatures

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, Cat Pastor, Dylan Reyes, and Lily Tyson contributed to this show, which originally aired April 27, 2023.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This hour we take your calls about anything you want to talk about.

Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This hour is all about America’s 21st president, Chester A. Arthur, who took office after President James Garfield was assassinated.

We look at Arthur’s life and legacy and at what happens when someone unexpectedly takes over the highest office in the land.

GUESTS:

• David Edelstein: America’s Greatest Living Film Critic

• Scott S. Greenberger: Executive editor of Stateline and the author of The Unexpected President: The Life and Times of Chester A. Arthur

• Victoria Sample: Historic sites section chief for the state of Vermont

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode. 

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired March 6, 2024.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

State Sen. Martin Looney has proposed a bill in the Connecticut legislature that would require movie theaters to publish the actual start times of movies, rather than the time all the commercials and trailers and ads for concessions start.

This hour, a Nose-ish look at, well, that bill and the effects it would have on movie theaters and moviegoing.

Plus: the art and history of movie trailers, themselves.

GUESTS:

• Allan Arkush: A contributor to Trailers from Hell; he worked in the trailers department for Roger Corman
• Stephen Garrett: Founder of Jump Cut
• James Hanley: Co-founder of Cinestudio at Trinity College
• Sam Hatch: Co-hosts The Culture Dogs on WWUH
• Martin Looney: President pro tempore of the Connecticut Senate and the state senator serving Hamden and New Haven
• Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Nobody Asked Shawn podcast
• Kevin O’Toole: Co-hosts The Culture Dogs on WWUH
• Lindsay Lee Wallace: Writes about culture, health care and health equity, and other stuff, too

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Betsy Kaplan, Cat Pastor, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, parts of which originally aired July 2, 2014, in a different form.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Do you ever wish you could have a conversation with your pet, or the bird outside your window? This hour, we learn about how animals communicate with one another, how we communicate with them, and what this can teach us about human language.

Plus, some pet owners are turning to soundboards to communicate with their pets. We'll talk with a researcher who's exploring how effective that is, and what that can teach us about the future of animal and human communications.

GUESTS: 

• Arik Kershenbaum: Professor of Zoology at University of Cambridge, and author of Why Animals Talk: The New Science of Animal Communication
• Federico Rossano: Associate Professor of Cognitive Science at the University of California San Diego

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I’ve had some well-documented trouble with our neighborhood squirrels over the last few winters. It could be that most homeowners in the Northeast and beyond feel like they’ve had some sort of conflict with the local squirrels.

But we maybe misunderstand squirrels. Their seemingly scattershot behaviors actually suggest a fascinating intelligence and intentionality. And while we see squirrels as a nemesis of birds and bird feeders, squirrels actually plant a lot of the trees birds live and nest in.

At the same time, for some people, squirrels are nightmare fuel.

And if you happen to suffer from that so-called sciurophobia, don’t read this next thing: It would seem that the normally essentially vegetarian California ground squirrel has recently developed carnivorous hunting skills at the expense of the local vole population.

GUESTS:

• Nick Buckley: A freelance journalist and photographer
• Nancy Lawson: The author, most recently, of Wildscape: Trilling Chipmunks, Beckoning Blooms, Salty Butterflies, and other Sensory Wonders of Nature and the founder of The Humane Gardner
• Jennifer Smith: A behavioral ecologist and an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin—Eau Claire, where she leads the Behavioral Ecology of Social Mammals Lab

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.