The Colin McEnroe Show

The Colin McEnroe Show

The Colin McEnroe Show is public radio’s most eclectic, eccentric weekday program. The best way to understand us is through the subjects we tackle: Neanderthals, tambourines, handshakes, the Iliad, snacks, ringtones, punk rock, Occam’s razor, Rasputin, houseflies, zippers. Are you sensing a pattern? If so, you should probably be in treatment. On Fridays, we try to stop thinking about what kind of ringtones Neanderthals would want to have and convene a panel called The Nose for an informal roundtable about the week in culture.

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Episode's summary

Typos and misprints are as old as writing and printing. This hour, we take a look at them from the "Wicked Bible" to National Park signs and your email inbox. And: the changing status of human typos in the age of AI. GUESTS: Rachel Churner: Art critic, editor, and professor. She is a co-curator with Geoff Kaplan of the exhibit “Beauties of My Style: Errata and the Printed Mistake” at Yale’s Sterling Memorial Library. She is the co-founder of no place press and currently serves as the director of the Carolee Schneemann Foundation Jeff Deck: Writer, writing coach and co-author with Benjamin D. Herson of The Great Typo Hunt: Two Friends Changing the World, One Correction at a Time Katie Notopoulos: Senior correspondent at Business Insider who writes about technology, business, and culture Music featured (in order): The Typewriter – Leroy Anderson and “His” Orchestra Typos – The Incredible Casuals Oops!... I Did It Again – Britney Spears Apostrophe – The Doubleclicks S-E-X-X-Y – They Might Be Giants To Make a…

Episodes

4952-

Long live teh typo! The history and future of mistakes and misprints

Typos and misprints are as old as writing and printing. This hour, we take a look at them from the "Wicked Bible" to National Park signs and your email inbox. And: the changing status of human typos in the age of AI. GUESTS: Rachel Churner: Art critic, editor, and professor. She is a co-curator with Geoff Kaplan of the exhibit “Beauties of My Style: Errata and the Printed Mistake” at Yale’s Sterling Memorial Library. She is the co-founder of no place press and currently serves as the director of the Carolee Schneemann Foundation Jeff Deck: Writer, writing coach and co-author with Benjamin D. Herson of The Great Typo Hunt: Two Friends Changing the World, One Correction at a Time Katie Notopoulos: Senior correspondent at Business Insider who writes about technology, business, and culture Music featured (in order): The Typewriter – Leroy Anderson and “His” Orchestra Typos – The Incredible Casuals Oops!... I Did It Again – Britney Spears Apostrophe – The Doubleclicks S-E-X-X-Y – They Might Be Giants To Make a…

10 Nov 2026
4951-

Who wants to live forever? A look at the quest for immortality

Is it possible to live forever? And if so, should we even want to? This hour, we discuss the search for immortality, from ancient philosophers to the elixir of life. Plus, a look at immortalizing public figures through obituaries. GUESTS: Tushar Irani is a Professor of Philosophy at Wesleyan University studying Ancient Greek and Roman Philosophy Philip Ball is a freelance science writer and the author of Alchemy: An Illustrated History of Elixirs, Experiments, and the Birth of Modern Science William McDonald recently retired as the obituaries editor for The New York Times, a position that he held for the past 20 years Music featured (in order): Galahad – Aoife O’Donovan You Only Live Twice – Nancy Sinatra If We Were Vampires – Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit Alchemy – Cam Everybody Wants To Go To Heaven (But Nobody Wants to Die) – Ellen McIlwaine Fame – Irene Cara The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts.…

09 Nov 2026
4950-

The Nose looks at ‘Primetime’ and ‘Phony’

Primetime is the fourth feature film — and the first narrative feature film — directed by Lance Oppenheim. It is the second feature directed by Oppenheim that The Nose has covered in the last 15 days (and the other one is currently the No. 1 movie in the country). It stars Robert Pattinson as a heightened version of Chris Hansen during the production of To Catch a Predator. And: Phony is a high school comedy-mystery series from Hulu. It stars Sam Nivola as a teenager who is convinced that his mother, played by Connie Britton, has been replaced by an impostor. GUESTS: Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian and writer; he claims to be the rightful heir to the Murray’s Hair Pomade fortune Irene Papoulis: Taught writing for a long time at Trinity College Lindsay Lee Wallace: A writer and a noted chiropterology journalist, among other things Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

06 Nov 2026
4949-

What is a revolution anyways? What the history of an idea can teach us

Today, revolution is a catch-all term used by people across the political spectrum. There's a sense that revolutions are transformational, and even improving. But people haven't always thought that way. This hour, we trace the history of the idea from ancient Rome to the present, and look at what it can tell us about the revolutions of the past. GUESTS: Dan Edelstein: Professor of French, History and Political Science at Stanford University. His most recent book is The Revolution to Come: A History of an Idea from Thucydides to Lenin Alan Williams: Writer, musician, singer, and professor emeritus of Music at UMass Lowell 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, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode! Colin McEnroe, Katie Servas,…

05 Nov 2026
4948-

The blue tsunami has made landfall

The state of Texas went more than 11,000 days without a Democrat winning statewide elected office. And then it went a full no days between electing a Dem to the U.S. Senate and another Dem as its governor. In other words, last night was a good night for Democrats — nationwide. When all the counting is done, Democrats are expected to control 54 or 55 seats in the Senate and 255 or more seats in the House of Representatives, where they seem to have won the popular vote by 13 or 14 points. So this hour, we take a moment to catch our breath, to reflect, to ponder what this new future might bring. And then the 2028 presidential primary season starts in — checks calendar — T-minus zero days, give or take. GUESTS: Bill Curry: Playing the part of Bill Curry David Folkenflik: Media correspondent for NPR News Music featured (in order): Blue Rondo à la Turk – Dave Brubeck Love’s In Need of Love Today – Stevie Wonder Brand New Day – Sting Ring Dem Bells – Jubilant Sykes Burn the Hard Drive – Jade Bird, Mura Masa Am I…

04 Nov 2026