The Colin McEnroe Show

Everything's canceled, more or less. The movie The Hunt was canceled before anybody got to see it. People talked about canceling the movie Adam before anybody got to see it. Sarah Silverman was canceled, from a movie anyway, for something she did -- on television -- 12 years ago. The OA was canceled, but people maybe don't believe that it was canceled? And we're apparently on a path toward canceling... the Dewey decimal system? And: Amazon Prime's new superhero series, The Boys, imagines a world where something like the Marvel Cinematic Universe is real... and something like the Marvel corporation exists too. Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take: The 25 Most Important Characters of the Past 25 Years What Is the Greatest Movie Quote of All Time? Gwyneth Paltrow excited to find out Samuel L. Jackson was also in all those Marvel movies she did J.D. Salinger, E-Book Holdout, Joins the Digital Revolution Lemon, a 30 Rock Spinoff Was So Close to Happening A Novel Concept: Silent Book Clubs Offer Introverts A Space To Socialize Marvel source claims X-Men character Wolverine will join Avengers in new MCU film Eating At A Pizza Hut Restaurant May Be A Thing of the Past AP: Women accuse opera legend Domingo of sexual harassment Taylor & Kanye: How two superstars, four words, and 15 seconds of TV influenced a decade of pop culture GUESTS: Lucy Gellman - Editor of The Arts Paper and host of WNHH radio's Kitchen Sync Mercy Quaye - Founder and principal consultant for The Narrative Project and a columnist with Hearst Connecticut Media Group Brian Slattery - Arts editor for the New Haven Independent and a producer at WNHH radio Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Shakespeare in the Park starts tonight in New Haven. Shakespeare & Company in the Berkshires has a new workshop production of Coriolanus opening next week. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens didn't think Shakespeare wrote Shakespeare's works. The BBC has a multi-camera, filmed-in-front-of-a-live-studio-audience Shakespeare sitcom. This hour: lots of little looks at this summer's best Shakespeare stuff. GUESTS: Allyn Burrows - Artistic director of Shakespeare and Company in Lenox, Mass. Benjamin Curns - Plays Dromio of Syracuse in Elm Shakespeare's production of The Comedy of Errors Tyler Foggatt - An editor of the Talk of the Town section of The New Yorker Rebecca Goodheart - Producing artistic director for Elm Shakespeare Company Tina Packer - Founding artistic director of Shakespeare and Company KP Powell - Plays Antipholus of Syracuse in Elm Shakespeare's production of The Comedy of Errors Rob Weinert-Kendt - An arts journalist and editor of American Theatre magazine Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Chion Wolf contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The 18th century Parisian cafe was an incubator for the liberal tradition as it was before liberalism became a politically-loaded and dirty word. The cafe brought people together to exchange ideas, talk, connect, argue, debate, and learn about humanity, empathy, and humility outside the control of the state; a place where civil society trumped tribal impulse.  We are a far more humane people today compared to what we've been, despite the astounding level of cruelty in the headlines every day. Laws still rule the day.  Yet, many question whether liberalism can survive the rise of nationalist leaders from Hungary to the United States and the illiberal ideas they promote; some 2020 presidential candidates are calling for revolution. Can the long history of the liberal tradition teach us something about this current moment?  Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Populism is on the rise from Europe to India to the United States. Americans elected Donald Trump on his promise to "Drain the swamp" of a political elite no longer responsive to their needs. Populists almost took control of Germany, France, and the Netherlands in 2017. Former prime minister of Italy Silvio Berlusconi regained power seven short years after being ousted from office for corruption.  In America, tension between popular will and the ruling elite has existed since our founding. Yet, we've always believed democracy would persist in this nation that was founded on democratic ideals of individual rights and the rule of law.  Today, we're losing our allegiance to democracy - especially in the minds of young people increasingly open to forms of government outside of democracy.  Is it too late to regain our democratic footing and stem the current tide of populism? If not, how do we do it?Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The FBI, the Justice Department's inspector general and the New York City medical examiner will investigate how billionaire and convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein was found dead in his jail cell at Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan early Saturday morning.  Conspiracy theories have taken root in the vacuum of unanswered questions and missteps. Many are unsubstantiated, others are based on credible suspicion.  The bigger problem is that the conspiracy theories have gone mainstream. The belief that some kind of conspiracy might exist reflects a growing distrust in government that has been nurtured and encouraged by President Trump.  Also this hour: The president and first lady posed for a photo with Paul Anchando last week on their visit to El Paso, Texas to visit with survivors and families of victims killed in last week's mass shooting. Paul is the orphaned son of two parents who died protecting him. So, why are the president and first lady smiling in the photo?  Lastly, Connecticut's oldest continuously operating independent cinema is for sale. We'll talk about why. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Two things arrived this week that the world probably didn't previously know it needed: The Impossible Whopper and "the definitive Nicolas Cage interview." The Nose taste tests one of them live on the air and discusses both. I'll leave it a mystery which is which. Plus, a look at two movies: the Charlize Theron-Seth Rogen rom-com Long Shot (now available on iTunes/Amazon/DVD/Blu-ray/etc.) and the Cambridge Analytica documentary The Great Hack (out now on Netflix).Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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, Connecticut.  We also speak with the only person in history who claims to have built two full-size replicas of Stonehenge, and a cartoonist that is very well-traveled. Lastly, we speak to someone who is the attraction. He's gone viral for knitting sweaters of roadside attractions, then taking selfies in front of them. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Constantin Mutu was four-months-old when he was separated from his father, Vasily. The elder Mutu was arrested while seeking asylum at the southern border. So far, Constantin is the youngest child to be separated from his family. What distinguishes Constantin and Vasily Mutu from the majority of asylum seekers at the southern border is that they are a family of Roma people, two of the roughly 12 million people who make up Europe’s largest, yet hidden minority and one of the world’s most persecuted people.  Caitlin Dickerson's story of the Mutu family is an introduction to a people suffering from centuries of persecution. In a broader sense, it's a story of the power of discriminatory immigration policy to destroy vibrant cultures and opportunities for them to contribute to society. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dr. Joseph Cyr, a surgeon with the Royal Canadian Navy, had to think quick when his ship came upon a rickety boat with mangled and bloody bodies at the height of the Korean War in 1951. As the only doctor on board, he quickly moved to operate on 19 men, all of them his enemies in this war. All survived, making the young doctor a hero. Except he wasn't really a doctor.  His real name was Ferdinando Waldo Demara, and he never graduated high school, let alone medical school. At different times in his life, he was also a prison warden, a teacher for disabled children, and a civil engineer.  We're fascinated by the art of the con, yet few of us think it can happen to us. We imagine psychics, card sharks, and Nigerian princes effortlessly lifting hundreds of thousands of dollars from easy marks. We can spot the scam a mile away. Right? Think again.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Marianne Williamson was Googled more than any other candidate after last week's Democratic debate. Voters liked her call for "some deep truth-telling" and a "politics that speaks to the heart." But to understand Williamson's words, we need to first understand A Course in Miracles, the almost 1,300 page spiritual text she has built a career on interpreting.  Williamson has become a self-appointed guru of a text that claims no hierarchy, organizational structure, or leader. Its authority comes directly from Jesus, channeled through a clinical psychologist who heard the words in her dreams. Course hit a cultural nerve in the counterculture of the 1960's, especially among intellectuals and celebrities looking to find more love and empathy in their lives. Williamson promotes love and kindness in a world that feels increasingly hostile. Can she ride it to the presidency? Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.