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The Cryptid Factor

The Cryptid Factor

The Cryptid Factor

110 episodesEN

Show overview

The Cryptid Factor has been publishing since 2008, and across the 17 years since has built a catalogue of 110 episodes. That works out to roughly 110 hours of audio in total. Releases follow a roughly quarterly cadence.

Episodes typically run thirty-five to sixty minutes — most land between 53 min and 1h 8m — and the run-time is fairly consistent across the catalogue. None of the episodes are flagged explicit by the publisher. It is catalogued as a EN-language Comedy show.

There hasn’t been a new episode in the last ninety days; the most recent episode landed 5 months ago. The busiest year was 2024, with 14 episodes published.

Episodes
110
Running
2008–2025 · 17y
Median length
59 min
Cadence
Quarterly-ish

From the publisher

Three best buddies - Rhys Darby, Dan Schreiber, and Leon 'Buttons' Kirkbeck bring you The Cryptid Factor - a podcast dedicated to all things weird that are yet to be defined by science.Since 2008 they have passionately (and often awkwardly) been discussing 'cryptids' and monsters like Yeti, Chupacabra, Bigfoot and Nessie - as well as weird news of the world, UFO's, Time travellers, robots and space stuff.Though they take these pseudosciences as seriously as they can, they struggle to take themselves seriously at all.Hosted by comedian and actor Rhys Darby, star of top rating podcast 'No Such Thing as a Fish' Dan Schreiber - and Pulling it all together is their best friend, 'Buttons'. If anything goes wrong, it is probably his fault. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Latest Episodes

View all 110 episodes

#112 EdFringe LIVE Night Three Issue

“If doesn’t go wrong, you haven’t seen us”Welcome back to the Cryptid Factor Live in Edinburgh - Night 3!In this show you will find a man who has LITERALLY taken his life into his hands, plants evolving into musicians on San Pellegrino diets, eye ball yoga, stereotypical evil villains bringing giant birds back to life (Jurassic Park style), Rhys sounding fish that refuse to die, and whale threesomes to finish us off…  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dec 1, 202533 min

#111 EdFringe LIVE Night Two Issue

Night two of the Edinburgh Fringe and the boys put whole jail house of stories behind bars.  In this rebellious issue we have backstage gatecrashing, psychic attacks, deceitful leggy leaves, cryptid impersonators, historically resentful house pets, a poorly pulled-off coattail theory theft and the tiniest noisiest cat-erpillar to ever be eye-witnessed. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sep 26, 202531 min

#110 EdFringe LIVE Night One Issue

The Edinburgh Fringe couldn't keep us out if they tried! And trust us...they did.Kicking their second run off with a wobbly blast, the trio find their feet with tales of swampy airport crotches, poles flipping out on Santa, UAPs coming to scope out Earth, High School teachers leaving their special marks, and a thief busted by book too good to run away from. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sep 4, 202541 min

#109 The Heavy Lifting Issue

With Rhys exhausted from his seemingly endless UK standup tour - Buttons and Dan gallantly decide to do the heavy lifting this episode, and although a wonderful offer, it's not long before the weight becomes too much to bear... for us all!In issue you’ll find giant courting caves, dead dog clouds (and pizza), endangered hotel wake up calls, black icebergs complete with lazy code, an old man walks with lions, revenge of the birds... and stinky skin rust. Naturally. Enjoy the weight Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jul 6, 20251h 12m

#108 The Animal Adjacent Issue

After the tangent filled 107 episode, It’s time for some top-tier tangent-free animal news! (With the disclaimer that 'tangent-free' excludes animal tangents - of which there are MANY!)In this issue, we get answers to the burning questions that we never wanted the answers to, like which host is the funniest? Which host is most likely to survive in the wild? Who is most likely to tame a wild moose whist riding an ancient Moa? Obvious!And, if you wade through this swamp of tangents long enough, you might just spot something that resembles content - such as a neck egg-laying giant snail, fresh Moose sightings in New Zealand, Mermaid’s purses spotted beneath an underwater volcano, Mouse Deer and Flying Squirrels going from extinct to extant as well as a Bigfoot eyewitness account thats fresh off the page!Last and certainly least, theres a dog pushing their owner off a cliff, which leads to the world’s first ever live animal reenactment on a podcast! You don’t want to miss this one!If you want to support Peach and Orion in their efforts in environmental education:https://givebutter.com/NAAEE5KChallenge2025/peachandorion Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jun 19, 20251h 13m

#107 The Stopped Pod Issue

STOP THE POD! But seriously, you should stop this pod before you even start it if any of the below applies:•You don’t enjoy 1 hour long advertisements •You do enjoy Cryptid content... or any content at all really•You prefer your Weekly World Weird News to have occured within the past three years.However, do get this pod going if you enjoy: •Confirmation that Buttons is a human mushroom•Rhys' Personal Memorable Moments•Your podcasts infused with Dans Sexual Energy •or container ships ringing door bells, fungi chatting or tea-leaf reading, divorce causing AI.*NB for advertising requests please email… Halina. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jun 6, 20251h 13m

#106 The P.S.A Issue

THIS IS A PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT:Please take note of the following warnings before proceeding into this issue.TRIPPING HAZARD! Legendary 'Kappa' Hunter's flustered, loosey-goosey balls are rolling around freely in the streets of Japan.BEWARE of Schreiber's Animal Husbandry! In light of animals now being able to talk to humans, please refrain from placing any hands on Dan's new LITERAL chick.And REMINDER to check your call sheet number on today's episode of The Darby Truman Show (proudly brought to you by Name Brand cereal).Also, in this disturbed issue, we have: murderous colleagues stranded in Antarctica, very quiet sounds in a Sasquatch hotspot (audiobook available now... please!), freshly generated footage of the morally questionable Mexican 'Chaneques' goblins, and a new three-day Bigfoot festival in Oregon—which hasn't even happened yet! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mar 31, 20251h 5m

#105 The Robot Host Issue

Well well well, let’s all give a warm virtual welcome to TCF's newest host! He’s so switched on, it’s almost like he’s made for it.Although, we have enough host action going on to keep us entertained with just our regular three: We have a time travelling child host coming back to cosplay as other hosts, a normal travelling host on a mission to coat tail another host, and a celebrity host and a not-so celebrity host meeting celebrity non-hosts, giving celeb-envy to another host…host hosty hosts! In this flotilla of information you will sail past the first Loch Ness Monster sighting of 2025, adorable wooly mice created by a whole company of genetically engineered employees, national cheesy naan crazes, and World-Record breaking vegetables making some oddly familiar noises.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mar 20, 20251h 9m

#104 The Gardening Angel Issue

In this flourishing issue, take a gander into the Great Glasshouse, wear a sash in the Seat-less Storeroom and dive deep into a Devalued Diary! At long last, Buttons reveals the tease of his personal proof of the afterlife and Darbs may actually be one of many Darbs. We have kayakers being swallowed by whales, celebrities and side kicks being harassed by ghost children in haunted ships, and Bigfoot hunts with ex-girlfriends causing dramas in divorce courts.Turns out the FBI might be tapping into your phone line from the comfort of your mothers bedroom, and for the first time ever, we have animals doing perfectly normal things in places they should be...you don’t want to miss this one! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Feb 27, 20251h 4m

#103 The Or-Fish Issue

Many say Oarfish are an omen for disaster about to strike - Well consider yourself warned! In this chaotic episode we have Dan battling with psychic abilities, crocodiles mimicking drowning humans, overwhelming feelings of being a mermaid and AI (quite rudely) requesting all humans to die...promptly followed by AI romance! A fresh new book idea is brewing which is fitting as it turns out we are in the midst of the World Smartest Man AND the Stephen Fry of New Zealand and to top it all off, who doesn't love a good cliff hanger? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Feb 4, 20251h 4m

#102 The Unprecedented Issue

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jan 18, 20251h 3m

#101 The Broken Curse Issue

We're Back!! Which in essence means the 'Buttons in the titles curse' is broken! (as long as you can actually hear this, that is). In this Xmas issue you'll find Hillary's backpack going on a lazy code expedition, ocean song curses continue, Bears do insurance fraud, a yellow brick road found at the bottom of the sea, spooky digital cryptids,Thai chickens eaten by baby-eating Krasue's, Darby discloses the Drone/UFO situation - and some other wonderful tit-bits! All this, as well as a very special guest - Steve Wriggly! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dec 24, 20241h 9m

#100 The LIVE 100 Issue

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Oct 17, 20241h 2m

#099 The X Issue

99!! At LAST!! it's the penultimate to the ultimate 100 issue - and as per usual it's full of epic craziness. In here the AI bot team wreak havoc in the background producing fake news, there's Kings in UFOs, bees in showers, secret sightings of an old Oasis, copyright threats from Bono and 99 bottles of Bigfoot casts on the wall. Also get ready for a super exciting revival of the age old segment 'Expedition Update' with the team from the hit TV show Expedition X. Jessica and Phil fill us in on their expedition to Loch Ness - as well as deal out some heart felt appreciation for the Cryptid Factor team's Nessie inspiration.Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Oct 3, 20241h 28m

#098 The Guerrilla Issue

Here we go again! In here you'll find a GI hunting for a costume, dead rockers in finger tattoos, vampire and bogeyman warfare, and monoliths found in the wild (yet again) Also you'll hear of self cloning mutant crayfish become old news and an eyewitness account of bad parenting. Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Aug 2, 202449 min

#097 The Name Song Issue

This episode is for all the aliens and wave-chasing, space-travelling future Cryptid Knights out there! In here Dan has Druid news for Buttons and at last Rhys gets his very own (and very noisey) museum piece. There's news of a time-travelling Simpson, an elaborate intestine restaurant ruse, and a freaky human skinned robot face. There's also fish gazing at stars and alligators missing and found... oh, and some lovely sing-songs to remember peoples names by. Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jul 16, 20241h 0m

#096 The Trisand Effect Issue

In this episode - Rhys is ahead of his time, Dan is listening to the band 'The Lip Slitsticks' and Buttons employs the 'Trisand' effect - making it highly likely that this will be the most listened episode ever! Also In here there's old men failing at reminiscing, Goonies Tridems, buried Mash, banned books on banned books, cheap top-secret Chinese military cartoons, free bee heaters, juvenile 'not-so-big' Bigfoot foot prints found, Turing test gets a pass, and the scariest sound of all time goes up against the loveliest sound of all time... and a Sasquatch caller!P.S - An important message from Rhys' publicist "DO NOT LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE!!" Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jul 7, 202458 min

#095 The Magic Bank Issue

This episode has the team in their usual places... that is if you can count Buttons being somewhere unusual as usual. You'll find news of hidden microphones and camouflaged cigars, Ray Jay getting busy changing the fabric of time, Magical Banks getting full of tellers, underground dino-aliens from Harvard... along with lots of family Cameos! We also cover fake thylacines and yet another Nessie hunt! Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jun 20, 20241h 0m

#094 The 'This Paranormal Life' Special Issue

**SPECIAL ISSUE** Rhys and Dan are in London - and take the opportunity to storm the secret studio of podcast cousins Rory and Kit from 'This Paranormal Life'. With Buttons dialed in, they catch up and cover off a great deal of usual weirdness, along with the unusual addition of some ghost stories! There's also time-traveling Albert Einstein and restaurants, dream-crashing men, Steven Speilberg stealing movie ideas, oh, and LOADS of Lazy Code!www.thisparanormallife.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jun 4, 202450 min

#093 The Heavenly Issue

In this epic episode we gain the second ever entry into the Cryptid Factor museum... a 135 million year old mystery! Also in here there's UFO wreckage being 'drug' out, a pigeon spy being detained, delayed phone calls being made from the dead, lemonade lazy code, a Thylacine musical, some OK ABC DNA proof and screen-shares within screen-shares! Also, speaking of ancient, we bring back the age old segment 'Noticeboard', only to promote a competitive cryptid museum... fail! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jun 1, 20241h 10m
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