On September 26, 2025, last year’s Best Picture Oscar winner, One Battle After Another, a loose adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s novel Vineland, hit wide release in theaters. And then 11 days later, on October 7, Pynchon published what might be his final novel, Shadow Ticket.

Not a bad year for an 88-year-old writer.

This hour, a look at the (maybe) reclusive Pynchon and the novels and stories he’s published, from Gravity’s Rainbow to Mason & Dixon and more.

Plus: a look at the two Paul Thomas Anderson movies that Pynchon’s work has inspired, Inherent Vice and One Battle After Another.

GUESTS:

• David Cowart: Distinguished professor emeritus of English language and literature at the University of South Carolina and the author of a number of books, including Thomas Pynchon: The Art of Allusion and Thomas Pynchon and the Dark Passages of History
• Ana Gavrilovska: A writer; you can find her work in Current Affairs, Uncut Magazine, Maggot Brain, and her Substack, Sick Sad Motherslug
• Leonardo Goi: A journalist and film critic
• Brian Slattery: A writer and musician

Music featured (in order):

• Don Giovanni, K. 527: Overture – W.A. Mozart as performed by Claudio Abbado and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe (The most referenced piece of music in Pynchon’s catalogue)
• Gravity’s Angel – Laurie Anderson
• The Royal Scam – Steely Dan (mentioned in Bleeding Edge)
• Run Straight Down – Warren Zevon (Zevon attributed this song to overdosing on Pynchon – the opening words are just carcinogenic chemicals)
• Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down) – Bonzo Dog Band (Pynchon put out his own playlist for Inherent Vice. This was on it.)
• The Revolution Will Not Be Televised – Gil Scott-Heron

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What is the relationship between consciousness and the divine? How are poetry and faith connected? Why write poetry? We present an hour with Colin and poet Christian Wiman live from Yale Divinity School, where they discuss poetry, consciousness, faith, awe, and whatever else is on their minds.

GUEST:

• Christian Wiman: Author, editor, and translator of many books including, most recently, Glimmerings: Letters on Faith Between a Poet and a Theologian. He is Clement-Muehl Professor of Communication Arts at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music and Yale Divinity School

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!

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Colin McEnroe, Maegn Boone, Jonathan McNicol, Robyn Doyon-Aitken, Katrice Kemble, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show. Special thanks to Yale Divinity School and Dean Gregory Sterling, Tom Krattenmaker, Sachin Ramabhadran, Kit Heeley, and Campbell Harmon.

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We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

This hour, the conversation winds around to meditation and the sounds of flowing water, people who listen to NPR but don’t donate, the rough weekend the president and vice president both had altering old movies, the gender fluidity (or not) of the Statue of Liberty, the Trump-as-Jesus image the Stop & Shop voice robots (and the return of Marty), unhoused veterans, the CT Lottery voice robots … Anything. (Seemingly) everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one.

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.

Colin McEnroe, Eugene Amatruda, Meg Fitzgerald, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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We did our usual all-calls show earlier this week. Except that our phones didn’t work. And our computers were messed up. And there probably wasn’t any running water.

But the point is, we couldn’t actually take your calls during our all-calls call-in show this week.

So we decided to try again.

This hour, the conversation winds around to Trump signs around the neighborhood, cheeses, grilled cheeses, Victor Orban’s re-election hopes, Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat on Prime Video, Tucker Carlson … anything. Seemingly everything.‌

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A new study shows that AI chatbots often engage in sycophantic behavior. Just like some humans. This hour, we take a look at sycophants in literature and in politics. And we talk about sycophancy and artificial intelligence.

GUESTS:

• Mark Parker: Professor Emeritus of English at James Madison University and co-author of Sucking Up: A Brief Consideration of Sycophancy
• Virginia Heffernan: Writes a regular column for The New Republic and the Substack “Magic + Loss.” She is co-host of the podcast “Omnishambles”
• Malihe Alikhani: Assistant Professor at Northeastern University’s Khoury College of Computer Sciences, and a resident Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institution with a focus on AI policy

Music featured (in order):

• Overture to Rigoletto – Giuseppi Verdi, Herbert von Karajan, Berlin Philharmoniker
• I Believe in You – Peggy Lee
• Don’t Cry – Seal
• You Fascinate Me So – Mabel Mercer
• What You Want To Hear – Sub-Radio
• Flattery – Rosemary Clooney, Jose Ferrer

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See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing. These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we did another one. Except the phones didn't work. Topics included dogs, Neanderthals, candy, and more.

Music featured (in order):

• That Moon Song – Gregory Alan Isakov
• In the Sea – Alyssa Allgood
• Doctrine of Love – Jalen Ngonda
• Mutual – PJ Morton
• Happier Times Ahead. – RAYE
• Flying Things – Tyler Ramsey, Carl Broemel (ft. the Secret Sisters)
• When the Flowers Started – Caity Gyorgy

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Rust is all around us. It’s in our cars, our homes, our infrastructure. It’s also the subject of Jonathan Waldman’s book Rust: The Longest War, which introduces us to the people who fight it.

This hour, Waldman joins us. Plus: a visual artist who has found a way to incorporate rust into her work.

GUESTS:

• Esther Solondz: A Rhode Island-based visual artist
• Jonathan Waldman: Author of Rust

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, Greg Hill, Jonathan McNicol, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired March 25, 2015.

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Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie is the fourth feature film written and directed by Matt Johnson. It is cowritten and scored by Jay McCarrol, and it is an adaptation of and spiritual sequel to the 2017 television series Nirvanna the Band the Show, which is an adaptation of and spiritual sequel to the 2007 web series Nirvana the Band the Show. Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie stars Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol as Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol. Here is Neon’s synopsis: “When their plan to book a show at the Rivoli goes horribly wrong, Matt and Jay accidentally travel back to the year 2008. Blah blah blah blah blah.”

And: Louis Theroux: Inside the Manosphere is a Netflix documentary produced and presented by Theroux. It explores how social media figures like HSTikkyTokky, Myron Gaines, Sneako, Justin Waller, and Ed Matthews “are helping to reshape young men’s ideas about masculinity and fueling a resurgent global men’s rights movement.”

GUESTS:

• Shawn Murray: A stand-up comedian, writer, and the host of the Fantasy Filmballpodcast
• Carolyn Paine: An actress and comedian; she’s the founder and director of CONNetic Dance and the creative producer and choreographer for The Bushnell’s Digital Institute
• Lindsay Lee Wallace: A writer and journalist covering culture, health, technology, bats, and anything else people will answer her questions about

Music featured (in order):

• The Waters of March – Susannah McCorkle
• Back in Time – Huey Lewis and The News
• It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World – Seal
• Macho Man – The Village People
• See You On The Radio – Grayson Hugh

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.

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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.