We Can Be Weirdos

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 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 Schreiber

Guest: Adam Riches

Producer: Cassie Merritt

Head 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 Schreiber

Guest: Ben Machell

Producer: Cassie Merritt

Senior Producer: Ben Tulloh

Head of Podcasts: Al Riddell

For this month's Lazy Code bonus episode, 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 Schreiber

Guest: Alex Lowe

Producer: Cassie Merritt

Senior Producer: Ben Tulloh

Head 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 Schreiber

Guest: Edd Hedges

Producer: Cassie Merritt

Senior Producer: Ben Tulloh

Head 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 Schreiber

Guest: Nigel Planer

Producer: Cassie Merritt

Senior Producer: Ben Tulloh

Head 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 Schreiber

Guest: Ed Brooke Hitching

Producer: Cassie Merritt

Senior Producer: Ben Tulloh

Head 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 Schreiber

Guest: Sam Nicoresti

Producer: Cassie Merritt

Senior Producer: Ben Tulloh

Head of Factual Podcasts: Al Riddell

For this month's Lazy Code bonus episode 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.