We Can Be Weirdos

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 [https://www.instagram.com/schreiberland/?hl=en-gb] Guest: Ed Brooke Hitching [https://www.edwardbrookehitching.com/books/] Producer: Cassie Merritt [https://www.linkedin.com/in/cassie-merritt-b08175171/] 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 [https://www.instagram.com/schreiberland/?hl=en-gb] Guest: Sam Nicoresti [https://www.instagram.com/samnicoresti/?hl=en] Producer: Cassie Merritt [https://www.linkedin.com/in/cassie-merritt-b08175171/] 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 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDyl6I6ESSw&list=RDpDyl6I6ESSw&start_radio=1].) 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 [https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C5GCEM_enGB1172GB1172&cs=0&sca_esv=2264c0f8380590d1&sxsrf=AE3TifP7KyR4USiL8FKe5oCUL8Cznv-aQA%3A1759518292045&q=Penn+%26+Teller&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwip0vC13IiQAxUJUEEAHXtoFekQxccNegQIAxAC&mstk=AUtExfBMlsiJIAwqVVWmoBbpQn2BFDS6fKcPX9tzG7C_YDGefm7mCX8fCJh0R2ltRx1TDmkL08DxFjXWHTqFROtPRaOBmWc7iknGxlKljOZLp9jMKs0C0g_xWiKhvNN9U3xRxainyslNKBrMHTxSwpUMwy-tySISGb3Ou_0vhJkYPvEunVmx0g_pj9ekTA_CyUALKGdQwXdSwahFxm1unAe37vIIHxoZkVpIk9rfIS1HPsQm5Q_Ng5ADfZM6A51RF9Ab07BaohPLJLSrSCWTZ6CQj-II&csui=3], 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/