We feature another great short story by Alice Munro titled “Axis,” first published in The New Yorker in 2011. As in many of Alice Munro’s short stories, the characters aren’t like anyone I know, but they never seem contrived or invented. I would say that she loves creating characters and then observing them as they go their own way.

This week we return to an early classic episode, an exploration of the impact of passionate and well-crafted speech. Effective rhetoric can rouse supporters and sway opponents, and aptly chosen words have the ability to pierce and persuade like little else. Featuring some of the greatest masters of the craft — Churchill, Shakespeare, Sorkin, and of course, Jack Handey — we will show how great writers have an exceptional ability to inspire, enrage, and enliven their audiences. We will hear Kenneth Branagh’s rendition of the St. Crispin’s Day speech from Henry V, Winston Churchill delivering his own rousing speech discussing the drumbeat of war building in Germany in 1934, one of Jack Nicholson’s most memorable film speeches of all time from “A Few Good Men,” and Jack Handey’s discovery of Attila the Hun’s least known speech.

In 1954, Frank Sinatra won an Oscar for his performance as a scrappy soldier named Angelo Maggio in the film “From Here to Eternity.”  In our Winter Doldrums podcast, we play an audio clip from Francis Ford Coppola’s first Godfather film that details how that role went to Sinatra over the intense objection of Columbia Pictures head of production Harry Cohn.  We also have an audio clip from Francois Truffaut’s film “Fahrenheit 451,” adapted from Ray Bradbury’s novel of the same name.

A new year brings with it a new episode, with lots to keep you warm during this cold and rainy season. We feature two classic comedy segments, one of which is comedy duo Bob & Ray’s “Two Faces West,” a sketch which might have been based on film heavy Jack Palance’s inability to get on a horse without looking funny. Indeed, the only way he could be convincingly shown mounting one for the famous Western “Shane” was through a bit of movie magic: he’d be assisted onto the horse first, then filmed getting off solo so that the editors could reverse the footage and make it look like he had effortless command of the move.

Is it humanly possible to have too much cowbell? I mean is it physically, psychologically, emotionally, and morally possible to have too much cowbell?

“What I mean is, this kind of music? Concerts and the like? They ever pay money to sit down for a couple of hours and wear their bottoms out listening to something they wouldn’t recognize half a day later? Pay money simply to perpetrate a fraud? You ever know them to do that?”

We return this week with another early episode which highlights the life and times of New Orleans musician Sidney Bechet, the legendary jazz saxophonist and clarinetist, and his relationship with Bessie Smith, who he describes as “…the damnedest singer…that would really have the public going.” Featuring bits from his autobiography, we learn of his knack for finding trouble, his stint in prison, and of course his musical journeys with Bessie and others. Full of great songs and wonderful pieces of Bechet history, this is one of our classic episodes.

Among his many talents, Irish writer Frank O’Connor had a particular gift for showing the world through the eyes of young, precocious, often naive protagonists, like Larry Delaney of his 1957 story “The Genius.” Larry wants to be the town’s first proper genius and win the affections of Una Dwyer — first, he just has to find out where babies come from. We revisit this timeless story, originally featured in an early episode of the podcast, along with musings from Jack Handey, poetry by Richard Wilbur, and lots of great music.

Continuing with the theme of our last episode, we present another one of Flannery O’Connor’s great short stories, “A Late Encounter with the Enemy.” In this 1953 story, elderly former Civil War veteran George Poker Sash attends his 62-year-old granddaughter’s fateful college graduation, and the occasion leads to ruminations on memory, aging, and mortality. Host Joe Weber leads off the show with some of his own musings on the realities of aging, and as always, music guides the way.