We Can Be Weirdos

Donald Robertson is a psychotherapist and writer whose book 'How to Think Like Socrates' brings ancient wisdom into the modern world. Today, he shows us the strange habits, mental experiments, and street philosophy of Socrates (one of history’s original weirdos.) Plus, some of the most fascinating ancient myths and mysteries that still endure today. Host: Dan Schreiber Guest: Donald Robertson Producer: Cassie Merritt Head of Podcasts: Al Riddell

As we all know, death means game over...or does it? Join Dan and the Lazy Code team, Halina Brooke and Leon 'Buttons' Kirkbeck as they explore the mind boggling mysteries of near-death experiences and what that could mean for a simulated afterlife. Beware: This episode may leave you feeling strangely excited about dying.

Dr. Helen Scales is a marine biologist and writer fascinated by how little we truly know about the ocean. In her book 'What the Wild Sea Can Be' she explores deep-sea mysteries, the world's weirdest creatures, and what’s at stake as humans push further into the deep. Host: Dan Schreiber Guest: Helen Scales Producer: Cassie Merritt Head of Podcasts: Al Riddell

Dr. Suzie Sheehy is a renowned physicist who spends her life exploring the parts of the universe we can’t see. In this episode, she takes us from dark matter and black holes to her work on the world’s most powerful particle accelerator, and explains why everything we know makes up just 5% of the universe. Plus, we discus her book 'The Matter of Everything: Twelve Experiments that Changed Our World.' Host: Dan Schreiber Guests: Dr Suzie Sheehy Producer: Cassie Merritt Head of Podcasts: Al Riddell

Alice Vernon’s new book 'Ghosted: A History of Ghost Hunting and Why We Keep Looking' is a social and historical journey through the world of paranormal investigation. From Victorian séances to modern haunted hotspots, it explores why we’re irresistibly drawn to ghosts and why the hunt for the unexplained is far from over. Host: Dan Schreiber Guests: Alice Vernon Producer: Cassie Merritt Head of Podcasts: Al Riddell

Lazy Coders! Nothing says festive like an existential crisis. This month, join Dan, Leon, and Halina as they take you on a tour through brains bigger than their own, diving into breakthrough thought experiments, full-on quantum particle weirdness, and the increasingly obvious proof that humanity is already speed-walking along the simulation track.

Mary Roach is a bestselling science writer and explorer of the the odd corners of science that most people wouldn’t dare to investigate. Cadavers, sex labs, space junk, you name it. Her new book, Replaceable You, takes that curiosity inside the body itself, exploring the world of prosthetics, organ printing, regenerative medicine, and the scientists trying to rebuild (or upgrade) the human parts we lose. From stem-cell “hair nurseries” to xeno-pig organ farms, Roach uncovers the strange, brilliant future of becoming a “new” you. Host: Dan Schreiber Guests: Mary Roach Producer: Cassie Merritt Head of Podcasts: Al Riddell

Today’s episode is a two-for-one feast of mystery. First, the curious gems that keep washing up on the river Thames. What are they? Who put them there? And why? Historian Ellery Weil joins Café del Weirdo to dig into the leading theories and the world of Thames mudlarks. Next, we slip into the shadowy woods to visit Baba Yaga, the legendary Slavic witch-grandmother who may help you, may eat you, and definitely lives in a house with chicken legs. Author Kris Spisak tells us why this ancient figure still hooks us today. Host: Dan Schreiber Guests: Ellery Weil and Kris Spisak Producer: Cassie Merritt Head of Podcasts: Al Riddel

Adam Riches is an award-winning comedian and actor known for his wild characters and brilliantly unhinged live shows. You’ll have seen him popping up in Detectorists, Horrible Histories, and 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown doing his beloved Sean Bean character. His brand new tour 'The Twelve Beans of Christmas' is on now, get tickets here. Host: Dan Schreiber Guest: Adam Riches Producer: Cassie Merritt Head of Podcasts: Al Riddel

Ben Machell is a journalist-turned-literary explorer of the uncanny. After writing 'The Unusual Suspect' a true-crime story about a modern Robin Hood-style bank robber, he’s returned with 'Chasing the Dark: Encounters With The Supernatural.' The new book is a complete history of psychic and paranormal phenomena. Through forgotten case files, firsthand accounts, and long-buried investigations, Ben explores ghostly encounters, psychic mysteries, and the people who devoted their entire lives to chasing proof of the impossible. Host: Dan Schreiber Guest: Ben Machell Producer: Cassie Merritt Senior Producer: Ben Tulloh Head of Podcasts: Al Riddel

This month on Lazy Code, Dan teams up with Helena Brook and Leon “Buttons” Kirkbeck to swap eerie doppelganger encounters, and wonder whether look-alike humans are just copy-pasted assets from a lazy cosmic developer. Leon does his best to keep the quantum-adjacent nonsense from imploding into metaphysical spaghetti, while Dan and Helena chase down the big question: are doppelgangers evidence of a glitch in the Matrix…or just proof that humans come in dangerously similar templates?

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 Schreiber Guest: Alex Lowe Producer: Cassie Merritt Senior Producer: Ben Tulloh Head 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 Schreiber Guest: Edd Hedges Producer: Cassie Merritt Senior Producer: Ben Tulloh Head 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 Schreiber Guest: Nigel Planer Producer: Cassie Merritt Senior Producer: Ben Tulloh Head 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 Schreiber Guest: Ed Brooke Hitching Producer: Cassie Merritt Senior Producer: Ben Tulloh Head 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 Schreiber Guest: Sam Nicoresti Producer: Cassie Merritt Senior Producer: Ben Tulloh Head 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 Schreiber Guest: Chris Hadfield Senior Producer: Ben Tulloh Production Support: Cassie Merritt Head 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 Piff https://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.