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This week we meet friend of Hack Circus, science comedian Helen Keen! You may know her from her Radio 4 series It Is Rocket Science. As well as being an established comedy writer and performer on the circuit, Helen is the author of The Science of Game of Thrones, which is out today. Helen is a highly experienced writer and performer. We chat about performing, audiences, comedy influences, the Edinburgh festival, the challenges of writing a book and more, in this half-hour episode recorded on the fly between meetings. Hope you enjoy it!

This week I chat to Dr Sean Power, a philosopher based in Ireland. Sean has a keen interest in the study of time, and how it relates to presentism and eternalism. He often collaborates with artists, scientists and hackers, and knows a lot about sci-fi movies too! 

Sean is on Twitter @jdepaor and you can find out more about him and read some of his essays on his blog or his academic webpage on the Trinity College site.

Sean has also contributed regularly to the magazine version of Hack Circus, which you can peruse or buy from hackcircus.com.

This week we catch up with Welsh-Iraqi comedian, actor, writer and all-round supercreative Nadia Kamil who is now living and working in LA. She's known for her double act with Luke Roberts, 'The Behemoth', a string of hit Edinburgh shows, and 'The Alternative Comedy Memorial Society'. In 2014, Nadia played the petulant flight attendant in Starship Hack Circus, a live Hack Circus event in which we sent the audience into space to investigate an alien signal... and left them there.

Check out Nadia's website and twitter for a sense of the many arenas in which she has come to excel. 

We discuss international differences in the comedy scene, tactics for auditioning, whether women are ever recognised as polymaths, and more.

This is the second half of an in-depth two-part chat with Steve Punt. A well-known British comedy writer and performer, Steve is a regular on BBC Radio (especially The Now Show), and known for his comedy partnership with Hugh Dennis and work on phenomenally popular topical satire TV show, The Mary Whitehouse Experience, which he also starred in, back in the early 90s. 

The chat covers everything from how stand-ups translate to television, to crafting documentaries, to what makes a great sitcom.

Remember to subscribe and rate the show to ensure you don't miss many other equally interesting episodes, which will be uploaded weekly from now on.

Hack Circus is also a magazine and an event series. See hackcircuspodcast.com for more about the show, hackcircus.com for the magazine, and @hackcircus on Twitter. We're also on Facebook.

This is the first of an in-depth two-part chat with Steve Punt. A well-known British comedy writer and performer, Steve is a regular on BBC Radio (especially The Now Show), and known for his comedy partnership with Hugh Dennis and work on phenomenally popular topical satire TV show, The Mary Whitehouse Experience, which he also starred in, back in the early 90s. 

The chat covers everything from how technology has affected performance styles, to Mary Whitehouse memories, to Steve's feelings about Big Brother.

Remember to subscribe and rate the show to ensure you don't miss Part 2, and many other equally interesting episodes which will be uploaded weekly from now on.

Hack Circus is also a magazine and an event series. See hackcircus.com for more about the project, and @hackcircus on Twitter. We're also on Facebook.

In this episode, Leila talks to archivist and writer Arike Oke. Arike looks after the archive at Rambert, one of the UK's leading contemporary dance companies, where Leila completed a residency earlier this year. They talk storytelling, dance and the challenges of acting as the custodian of the invisible, and plumb some of the fascinating and unexpected depths of archive theory.

Earlier this year, your host was the first digital artist in residence at Rambert, one of the UK's leading contemporary dance companies. In this episode, Leila talks technology, learning, mastery, driving, injuries and more with two of the world class dancers she's been working with: Liam Francis and Hannah Rudd. Look out for more episodes featuring Rambert people as the season progresses. Hack Circus is also a magazine and an event series all about 'Fantasy technology and everyday magic'. See Hackcircus.com for more about the project.

Currently in residence at Sheffield's Site Gallery, artists Anna Chrystal Stephens and Glen Stoker are interested in survival and empowerment. Their residency began with a 60 mile walk across town and country, living off the land and slowing down their thinking, before arriving at the door of the gallery full of inspiration and in need of a shower. In this first in this year's series of Hack Circus podcasts, we discuss building shelters, foraging, starting fires, using networks, birds nests, trees, fear and uncertainty...

An interview with the artists based on this podcast also features in the forthcoming issue of Hack Circus (hackcircus.com) which is all themed on Survival.