We Can Be Weirdos

Today we are joined by actor, comedian, and impressionist extraordinaire Alex Lowe. Alex is best known as the man who summoned Clinton Baptiste into existence on Phoenix Nights and unleashed Barry from Watford onto the airwaves. He’s written for some of the UK’s funniest humans, and built a cult following through characters that feel like they’ve stepped in from another dimension.Clinton Baptiste’s UK Tour 'Spectral Intercourse' will kick off next year on the 13th of February in Basingstoke and head all over the country through Summer 2026.Host: Dan SchreiberGuest: Alex LoweProducer: Cassie MerrittSenior Producer: Ben TullohHead of Podcasts: Al Riddel

Edd Hedges is a British comedian and co-creator of Wisecrack - the viral horror-meets-comedy podcast that’s racked up millions of downloads just two months after launch. Blending true crime with stand-up, Wisecrack turns the most terrifying night of Edd's life into something darkly hilarious and utterly addictive.You can listen to Wisecrack on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.Host: Dan SchreiberGuest: Edd HedgesProducer: Cassie MerrittSenior Producer: Ben TullohHead of Podcasts: Al Riddel

Nigel Planer has been a towering figure in British comedy since the late 1970s. From his anarchic exploits with The Comic Strip to his portrayal of the hapless student Neil in The Young Ones. Today Nigel takes us on a journey through comedy, literature, and the wonderfully weird corners of his life. He reveals the surprising real-life inspirations behind his most iconic characters, shares tales from the golden age of music and comedy, and gives us an insider’s look at his new book, Young Once.Host: Dan SchreiberGuest: Nigel PlanerProducer: Cassie MerrittSenior Producer: Ben TullohHead of Factual Podcasts: Al Riddel

Welcome to Café del Weirdo. This week’s guest is an explorer of the extraordinary. It's author, researcher, and professional curiosity collector Edward Brooke-Hitching.Ed is the bestselling author behind The Phantom Atlas, The Madman’s Library, and his brand-new book The Madman’s Orchestra, an illustrated dive into the oddest stories from the history of music. From cat organs and pig pianos to musical hoaxes, devilish tritones, and lost symphonies, Ed reveals the weird rhythms of history. Expect wild anecdotes, obscure facts, and a few Spotify playlists to soundtrack the madness.If you're ready to find out which composer wrote music for the Devil, or how a black hole might sing, step into Café del Weirdo and find out. Host: Dan SchreiberGuest: Ed Brooke HitchingProducer: Cassie MerrittSenior Producer: Ben TullohHead of Factual Podcasts: Al Riddel

Sam Nicoresti is a comedian, writer, and surreal storyteller whose work blurs the line between the hilarious and the unsettling. Winner of the 2025 Edinburgh Comedy Award for Best Show, Sam has become one of the most original voices in British comedy. Moving between sharp social satire and the beautifully absurd, Sam’s work embraces the weirdness of being human in all its contradictions.Sam's show Baby Doomer tours the UK in Feb–Mar 2026, followed by a full run at the Melbourne Comedy Festival in Apr–May. More dates will be announced later in the year. Tickets and details at samnicoresti.com or via Sam’s newsletter on their website and Instagram.Host: Dan SchreiberGuest: Sam NicorestiProducer: Cassie MerrittSenior Producer: Ben TullohHead of Factual Podcasts: Al Riddel

This month on Lazy Code, Dan, Leon “Buttons” Kirkbeck, and Halina Brooke dive into the dream world, that weird nightly sandbox where logic crashes and reality reboots. Are dreams just lazy coding from the simulation? Are they glimpses of the future? From lucid dreaming to shared dream theories, we explore what our sleeping minds might reveal about the code behind consciousness, and whether the simulation ever truly logs off.

Chris Hadfield is the astronaut who turned the void of space into his stage. A farm kid from rural Canada who climbed his way into the stratosphere, first as a fighter pilot, then as a test pilot, and eventually as commander of the International Space Station. Hadfield has lived a life that hovers somewhere between science fiction and sheer nerve. He’s flown more than seventy types of aircraft, stared down mechanical failures mid-flight, even blacked out in the cockpit and somehow lived to tell the tale.And then came the moment that made him a legend: drifting through the ISS with a guitar in hand, recording a zero-gravity cover of David Bowie’s Space Oddity (the first music video ever filmed in space.) It was haunting, poetic, and a little bit absurd, exactly like Hadfield himself.His newest book, Final Orbit a high-tension space thriller and the third instalment in his Apollo Murders series has just launched into the world and is available everywhere.Host: Dan SchreiberGuest: Chris Hadfield Senior Producer: Ben TullohProduction Support: Cassie MerrittHead of Factual Podcasts: Al Riddel

Penn Jillette is an American magician, author, and performer best known as one half of the magic duo Penn & Teller, a Las Vegas headliner and television personality. He is also an advocate for atheism and scientific skepticism, a former libertarian who disavowed the political stance, and the author of several books, including God, No!. Jillette is recognized for his intellectual approach to magic, emphasizing honesty and scientific principles within the performance.  Tickets for Penn and Piffhttps://www.aegpresents.co.uk/event/piff-and-pop/

Doug Naylor is an Emmy award winning script-writer, novelist and director.He co-created the long running hugely successful sci-fi comedy Red Dwarf, has written or co-written every episode across thirteen series and has directed over twenty episodes. Doug also co-founded Grant Naylor Productions in 1991 which made series IV to X of Red Dwarf. Doug has also written three best selling novels, and a few non-best selling ones too. He co-wrote a number one single which shall remain nameless, but has the words Song and Chicken in the title. Doug also co-created the Carlton TV series The 10 Percenters, for which his script Table 11 won a British Comedy award. Formerly he was Head writer and Script editor on the original run of the hugely popular satirical puppet show Spitting Image and he has also written a number of award winning radio shows. His alma mater was Liverpool University where he claims he was thrown out, at the end of his second year, for drinking too slowly.Upcoming Doug dates:Monday 29th Sept - appearance at the Bath Children's Literature Festival. Thursday 9th October - at Liverpool Waterstones in conversation with the UK Children's Laureate Frank Cottrell-Boyce. 

In this intro to our new monthly bonus show Lazy Code, Dan welcomes longtime weird-theory believer Leon ‘Buttons’ Kirkbeck and Halina Brooke back and his daughter Halina Brooke. We explain simulation theory, meet the hosts, tease the kinds of glitches and guests to expect (from UFOs to scientific perspectives), and explore what it’s like growing up with a dad who thinks the universe might be broken. Decide for yourself: fascinating deep dive, or evidence the Matrix is leaking?