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The America250 Nose looks at the American Revolution in pop culture

Daveed Diggs as Marquis de Lafayette in the filmed version of ‘Hamilton.’
Disney
Daveed Diggs as Marquis de Lafayette in the filmed version of ‘Hamilton.’

As we were preparing for this show, we started to realize that there maybe just isn’t that much good pop culture stuff about the American Revolution.

There’s Hamilton, of course. The John Adams HBO miniseries. Maybe the musical and movie 1776?

And that’s maybe it?

There’s fun junk like The Patriot or National Treasure.

But what else?

Think about all the great movies and TV series and plays and whatever else there are about World War II. Or Vietnam. Or the American Civil War.

I mean, there’s a newish movie (based on a play) about THE WEATHER leading up to D-Day … and it’s pretty good!

So what is it about the story of the American Revolution that makes it especially hard to tell well on the stage or screen?

The Nose has thoughts.

GUESTS:

  • RS Benedict: A writer and bureaucrat whose fiction and non-fiction has been published in the New Haven Review, Fangoria, Current Affairs, and a bunch of other places
  • Jim Chapdelaine: An Emmy-winning musician and a patient advocate for people with rare cancers
  • Joanne Freeman: The Alan J. Boles Jr. Professor of History and American Studies at Yale and the host of two podcasts, History Matters (…& so does coffee) and A Few Thoughts for Those Who Can’t Sleep
  • Rich Hollant: Founder and principal of CO:LAB, a hall of fame designer, and a co-partner at CENTER
  • 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
  • Gene Seymour: A “writer, professional spectator, pop-culture maven, and jazz geek,” and he writes the That Gene Seymour Substack
  • Lindsay Lee Wallace: A writer and journalist covering culture, health, technology, bats, and anything else people will answer her questions about
  • Bill Yousman: Professor of media studies at Sacred Heart University

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 and Eugene Amatruda contributed to this show.

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Jonathan is a producer for ‘The Colin McEnroe Show.’ His work has been heard nationally on NPR and locally on Connecticut Public’s talk shows and news magazines. He’s as likely to host a podcast on minor league baseball as he is to cover a presidential debate almost by accident. Jonathan can be reached at jmcnicol@ctpublic.org.
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