Incurably affable Welsh actor, comedian and impressionist Rob Brydon is perhaps best known for The Trip TV series and movie where he and Steve Coogan explore the world and middle-age together. He and his eight piece band are coming to Aotearoa in March with A Night of Songs and Laughter which tells the story of Brydon's musical journey - from South Wales' school musicals to the West End. There's shows in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.

Listener Feedback for 4 February 2023.

Author and art writer Megan Dunn joins Kim to share the work of Otepoti based artists Joe L'Estrange and Nick Austin.

Last year eccentric English singer-songwriter John Otway celebrated his 5000th show. Yet it's taken till this month for him to tour New Zealand. Self-dubbed "rock n roll's greatest failure", in 1977 Otway shot to UK attention for his antics playing on the BBC's Old Grey Whistle Test.

In Fear: New Zealand's hostile underworld of extremists Christchurch activist Byron C Clark traces the roots of the occupation to the reemergence of the alt-right. A video essayist on Youtube, Clark began his "deep-web" research into extremist groups and the spread of misinformation after the mosque terrorist attacks in 2019.

Set in 1940s rural Trinidad, Kevin Jared Hosein's debut novel Hungry Ghosts reflects on the fractures left for the Southern Caribbean island by a complex colonial legacy.

Professor of quantum physics Michelle Simmons believes new worlds will open up to humanity if we better understand how nature works at an atomic scale. In June her team at Silicon Quantum Computing at the University of New South Wales announced they had built a quantum processor in silicon that simulates the behaviour of a small organic molecule - a major milestone towards the world's first quantum computer.

In Sarah Polley's new film Women Talking, a group of Mennonite women who've been sexually abused secretly gather in a barn to discuss their future. The Canadian actor-director says that despite the film's difficult subject matter, the "utopian experiment" of making it left her a more optimistic person. "I couldn't go through this experience and not come out with a whole lot more faith in people," she tells Kim Hill.

The world of tabletop roleplaying games such as Dungeons and Dragons has been shaken by a major fracas in its community. Tabletop gaming has experienced a major rise in popularity in recent years, thanks partly to TV shows such as Stranger Things and The Big Bang Theory. But proposed licensing changes by D&D publisher Hasbro put that at risk as fans swore off the game and threatened to boycott upcoming movies. Elsewhere the industry is facing problems of inclusivity. Morgan Davie, a Wellington tabletop enthusiast and gaming developer and author gives us the lowdown on what's going on.

An out-of-the-blue email claiming to be from a relative inspired funky blues artist Fantastic Negrito's acclaimed album White Jesus Black Problems. It saw him follow his family tree back seven generations to Elizabeth Gallimore, an indentured servant from Scotland, who was charged in Virginia, 1759 with unlawfully cohabitating with a Negro slave.