THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
UK Tour
With the exception perhaps of True Crime as a genre, you have to have been a hermit hidden under a rock miles away from the patchiest fiber optic cable in the world to be far enough away from the shadow of the internet since at least 1998 to have missed the popularity of the paranormal podcast as a genre.
Whatever that says about our collective global society leaves plenty of material for a longer, different thought piece for another day. What is beyond dispute is that Danny Robins has perfected the art of ghost chasing content creation, racking up four million downloads with the story of The Battersea Poltergeist and his more recent series, Uncanny becoming one of the most listened to podcasts in the UK. He has been dubbed ‘The UK’s go-to-ghost-guy’ by the Evening Standard. That is not to mention a hit West End adaptation – 2:22 A Ghost Story, based on his podcasts and starring Lily Allen – and his status as an emerging start stateside with Poltergeist winning the best serialized podcast award at the New York Festival Radio Awards.
All this fame and excitement is bound to generate some buzz and some hunger for some IRL live action entertainment in which we share the same space with the man himself. Enter Danny Robins’ stage show tour: Uncanny: Fear of The Dark.
Cards on the table. My wife is the paranormal podcast obsessive. Not me. She is the one who has put me on to Danny Robins’ oeuvre, and while I wasn’t a regular listener I am keen on storytelling and there is an abundance of that in the stage show. What I didn’t expect was the masterful spectacle! We are treated to a massive split-screen audio visual entry sequence showing Robins peering curiously through archives of old cases with stuck on labels – clearly recognizable to diehard members of the Uncanny community, based on the crowd’s enthusiastic reaction. Then on comes the man himself, to the haunting theme music, out from the darkness and lankily stepping out of billowing plumes of dry ice, dubbing himself the ‘Beyoncé’ of paranormal podcasts to much roaring and emphatic applause!
Robins was once upon a time a comedian. You can tell that from the way he can work a crowd and his adept timing, easily and seamlessly making pop culture allusions aplenty, and genuinely and affectionately ramping up his loyal fans.
What we get is similar to an episode of Uncanny, but on stage. If you haven’t listened before, Robins and his team, skeptic psychologist Dr. Ciarán O'Keeffe, and true believing parapsychologist Evelyn Hollow, investigate potential hauntings and cases of the paranormal, strange, unexplainable and phenomena. Not just ghosts, but cryptids (mythical, potentially undiscovered specifies like yeti and bigfoot), UFOs and timeslips come under scrutiny and are subject to joyous and witty interplay between Robins, Hollow and O’Keeffe (the latter formerly of Most Haunted, with Derek Akora, whose on and offscreen tension Robins dubs the Biggie and Tupac beef of the paranormal world), even at points illustrating how ghost stories can provide a sense of comfort to those who are grieving.
For those expecting three podcasters sitting and chatting (which would have been entertaining enough), expect again. This show involves smoothly incorporated video footage showing field work, special effects, screams and flying toilet tissue, truly a rock show of a podcast and well worth it for Robins fans and newcomers alike.
The tour continues at:
Grand Opera House York, March 16
New Theatre Oxford, March 19
Mayflower Theatre, Southampton, March 22
Soho Theatre Walthamstow, London, May 5 & 6
Tickets: www.uncannylive.com
UncannyCon 2026, a day long fan convention devoted to Danny Robin’s podcast and TV show that will culminate in a special live recording of an episode of the podcast, will be held at ICC Birmingham on November 21.
Tickets: www.dannyrobins.com/uncannycon26
