We Can Be Weirdos

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.

Welcome to Bloomin’ Legends, the podcast where we uncover the wildest, most legendary, and unbelievable true stories from history!In this episode, Johnny Vaughan, and Gavin "The Woodman" Woods unravel the insane life of Grigori Rasputin, the Siberian peasant-turned-mystic who mesmerized Russian royalty, dodged death multiple times, and inspired a disco hit.What You’ll Hear in This Episode:⚡ Rasputin’s Wild Origins – From a wandering Siberian peasant to a feared mystic💀 His Infamous Assassination – Poisoned, shot, beaten, drowned… yet he STILL wouldn’t die🏰 How He Seduced the Russian Royal Court – And why the Tsarina thought he was sent by God🎶 The Boney M Factor – How Rasputin became a disco legend centuries later

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 SchreiberGuests: Mary RoachProducer: Cassie MerrittHead 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 SchreiberGuests: Ellery Weil and Kris SpisakProducer: Cassie MerrittHead of Podcasts: Al Riddell

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 SchreiberGuest: Adam RichesProducer: Cassie MerrittHead of Podcasts: Al Riddell

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 SchreiberGuest: Ben MachellProducer: Cassie MerrittSenior Producer: Ben TullohHead of Podcasts: Al Riddell

This month on Lazy Code, Dan teams up with Halina Brooke 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 SchreiberGuest: Alex LoweProducer: Cassie MerrittSenior Producer: Ben TullohHead of Podcasts: Al Riddell

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 Riddell

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 Riddell

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 Riddell

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 Riddell

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 Podcasts: Al Riddell

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?

Sam Moran is an Australian entertainer born on April 4, 1978, in Sydney. He is best known as the Yellow Wiggle in the children's music group The Wiggles, a role he held from 2006 to 2012. Before joining the group full-time, he was an understudy for original member Greg Page and performed over 150 times in his place.Moran studied classical voice and music education at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, originally intending to become a high school music teacher. His background in musical theatre brought a new dynamic to The Wiggles, influencing their sound and performance style.After leaving The Wiggles, he launched a solo career with albums like Colour of Love and hosted the children's TV show Play Along with Sam on Nick Jr. from 2013 to 2021. He has won multiple ARIA Awards and was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame with The Wiggles in 2011

Dylan Jones OBE (born 1960) is a British journalist, author, and former long-time editor of GQ (1999–2021). He previously held senior roles at i-D, Arena, and The Face, later serving briefly as editor-in-chief of the Evening Standard. Author of books including David Bowie: A Life and his memoir These Foolish Things, he has won multiple editor of the year awards and remains an influential voice in culture, fashion, and media.

Rhys James is a British stand-up comedian, writer, and podcaster known for his sharp wit, slick delivery, and clever wordplay. Born in 1991, he studied politics and international relations at the University of Manchester before establishing himself on the UK comedy circuit. He has performed multiple acclaimed solo shows at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, including Begins, Remains, Forgives, and Snitch, and has appeared on TV programmes such as Mock the Week and Live at the Apollo.