LOUIS THEROUX S/D

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I liked his latest, Louis and the Casino. Not so much a fan of When Louis Met, tho probably cos i'm not familiar with the personalities he's interviewing

― elleno, Sunday, 1 April 2007 00:08 (eighteen years ago)

I've only seen Weird Weekends. It was cool.

― marmotwolof, Sunday, 1 April 2007 00:13 (eighteen years ago)

He's met Fred Phelps and family for the new series. That should be interesting.

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Sunday, 1 April 2007 00:37 (eighteen years ago)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6507971.stm

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Sunday, 1 April 2007 00:37 (eighteen years ago)

We just finished watching a Weird Weekends DVD I bought second hand. The Gangsta Rap one was bust-a-gut hilarious all the way through. Much more subtle and actually a lot better than Borat.

― the next grozart, Sunday, 1 April 2007 03:31 (eighteen years ago)

I loved the Weird Weekends series. My husband and I watched the one about porn stars with my Dad... which was kind of uncomfortable, but it was definitely memorable.

― Sara R-C, Sunday, 1 April 2007 04:37 (eighteen years ago)

Ok this one last night was so surreal and fucked up I almost thought the whole thing was made up. Seriously. WTF ?!

― Ste, Monday, 2 April 2007 08:50 (eighteen years ago)

What went on?

― marmotwolof, Monday, 2 April 2007 08:56 (eighteen years ago)

I am a huge Louis Theroux fan... I was surprised when I moved to the UK and found that lots of people think he's cruel and that he misleads his subjects; I don't think that's the case at all.

It's good to see Theroux back (the gambling one from a few months ago was the perfect cocktail of depressing & hilarious, which is what he does so well), but it's kind of aggravating to see anyone give Phelps and his family the airtime that they are so desperate for. They will obviously say and do whatever it takes to get cameras there (they've gone on Howard Stern, for god's sake).

For search on Louis:

- The "Mail Order Brides" episode of "Weird Weekends," which had got to be the creepiest thing ever on television...

- Except for maybe the "Female Bodybuilders" episode, which still haunts my waking life.

- The "Self Help" episode, where he spends time with Ross Jeffries (Who tells him the trick to picking up chicks is to slip double entendre-ish phrases into conversation, i.e. "I think we're heading in a new direction in this relationship..." (Jeffries: "The chick will subliminaly hear "I think we're heading in a nude erection with this relationship...")!); he also hangs with Marshall Sylver, a Las Vegas-based self-help 'guru' who is obviously bilking people...

- ...and we find out in Louis' book, "The Call of the Weird," (where he drives across America and catches up with the people he interviewed years earlier) that Sylver has been in and out of legal trouble since the episode and has been publicly shamed, which is hugely satisfying.

Anyway, yeah - search all of it.

― Ben Boyerrr, Monday, 2 April 2007 09:18 (eighteen years ago)

>> Ok this one last night was so surreal and fucked up I almost thought the whole thing was made up. Seriously. WTF ?!

First time I saw godhatesfags.com I thought it was a parody. Just bizarre.

― Colonel Poo, Monday, 2 April 2007 09:43 (eighteen years ago)

xp2, it was about the 'phelps' family, the 'most hated family in America' or something.

Some fucked up group of 70 odd in-bred lunatics who go about protesting at soldiers funerals calling everybody under the sun (other than themselves) 'fags'

How Louis had the restraint not to crack one of them in the jaw at some point was amazing.

― Ste, Monday, 2 April 2007 09:47 (eighteen years ago)

I missed most of this but wandered in at one point:

to kid: "So, who's worse than fags?"
kid: "Um..."
to kid "The Swedish?"
kid: "The Swedish!"

I thought Louis was free-associating at that point...

― Mark G, Monday, 2 April 2007 09:50 (eighteen years ago)

well the kid obviously had no idea what was going on and Louis realised this, I think he just decided to make the question into a complete farce instead of putting any serious pressure on the poor kid.

― Ste, Monday, 2 April 2007 09:54 (eighteen years ago)

The Phelps one was incredible. I think Louis was going to crack at a few points, but as usual managed to keep his cool.

I didn't realise Ross Jeffries was a real person!

― the next grozart, Monday, 2 April 2007 09:59 (eighteen years ago)

There was a reason he said 'the Swedish' to the boy though. They were protesting outside a hardware store because they were selling Swedish vacuum cleaners. Their justification for this was that apparently the Swedes had arrested someone for preaching against homosexuality.

― cheasyweasel, Monday, 2 April 2007 10:06 (eighteen years ago)

Damn I wish I'd known about this. Louis Theroux is awesome, the one when he goes to the US and talks to this incredibly racist and homophobic dude, and he starts raving about how good Are You Being Served was? Louis starts asking him if he likes the John Inman character and he gets very uncomfortable indeed.

― Matt DC, Monday, 2 April 2007 10:20 (eighteen years ago)

I don't think most people think LT is cruel & misleading, doesn't seem a popular opinion, most people I know like him.

― Colonel Poo, Monday, 2 April 2007 10:25 (eighteen years ago)

last night's episode was excellent, particularly the stuff with the teenage daughters. theroux's a canny dude; it was really fascinating to watch him innocuously push his subjects to an uncomfortable point and then watch them try and maintain a cheery facade while shakily redirecting the conversation somewhere else.

― ^@^, Monday, 2 April 2007 11:01 (eighteen years ago)

I quite like him but in hindsight I cringe a little. Don't know why though. What about that swingers episode? The one that featured those Nazi twin girls?

― nathalie, Monday, 2 April 2007 11:07 (eighteen years ago)

the thing is, i wonder to what degree is his naivete put on? he's claimed in interviews that he is genuinely confused and wonderous of his subjects

― elleno, Monday, 2 April 2007 11:09 (eighteen years ago)

the thing is, i wonder to what degree is his naivete put on? he's claimed in interviews that he is genuinely confused and wonderous of his subjects

-- elleno, Monday, April 2, 2007 12:09 PM (3 minutes ago)

surely a lot of that naivete is put on, as a method of gleaning more from his subjects?

― stevie, Monday, 2 April 2007 11:14 (eighteen years ago)

dunno, he reminds me of me in a number of ways..

― Mark G, Monday, 2 April 2007 11:16 (eighteen years ago)

a television presenter adopting a persona??!? geddouddahere!

― That one guy that quit, Monday, 2 April 2007 11:18 (eighteen years ago)

ach, i missed this - anyone know if it will be repeated?

― jed_, Monday, 2 April 2007 11:21 (eighteen years ago)

or of a torrent?

― jed_, Monday, 2 April 2007 11:21 (eighteen years ago)

UKN0v4 has it.

― aldo, Monday, 2 April 2007 11:26 (eighteen years ago)

i'm not a member and i can never even seem to get to the sign up page of it, for some reason. anyway i'm sure it will materialise.

― jed_, Monday, 2 April 2007 11:34 (eighteen years ago)

It must be a bit of both really. He went to school with Adam and Joe who have a similar grasp of seemingly well-meant sardonic facetiousness. He wins people over by acting fascinated and innocuous but you can tell there really is a lot more going on in his head than he makes out.

― the next grozart, Monday, 2 April 2007 11:37 (eighteen years ago)

Yes, this is why I cringe because I was *misled* (just like his socalled victims). I think it's a bit too much but then again I think he does manage to make'em look ridiculous without making them realize it (at the time).

― nathalie, Monday, 2 April 2007 11:45 (eighteen years ago)

I thought his disarming 'faux-naive' manner (however much it is manufactured or not) worked well in this particular instance, especially with the daughters. But not with 'Gramps' though, of course, but he had been more confrontational Louis wouldn't have been humoured by the clan for as long as he was I don't think.

Louis did get wound up a bit. At the start, like when he was checking out those celebrity placards, he was all "oh this is so random. Oh no! Not Princess Diana! Don't you think ppl will be upset by this?" - to a few days later when to that former journo who had joined the family he snapped "for your information, brainiac, Jesus was a Jew!".

― DavidM, Monday, 2 April 2007 12:01 (eighteen years ago)

Thread Ends!

(Louis', I mean!)

― Mark G, Monday, 2 April 2007 12:03 (eighteen years ago)

"for your information, brainiac, Jesus was a Jew!".

god yes, that was amazing wasn't it. the first time i've seen Louis using name calling tactics.

― Ste, Monday, 2 April 2007 12:12 (eighteen years ago)

i don't think i could have made it that long

― secondhandnews, Monday, 2 April 2007 12:26 (eighteen years ago)

i'm looking forward to watching this. i've always been on the fence about theroux since i read "the great railway bazaar," which revealed some really fucking ugly attitudes towards the cultures he was travelling through.

― s1ocki, Monday, 2 April 2007 14:06 (eighteen years ago)

no no, that's his dad paul.

― That one guy that quit, Monday, 2 April 2007 14:17 (eighteen years ago)

who is a bit of a dick.

louis's prog on jimmy saville is solid fucking gold. i've missed the two this year tho.

― That one guy that quit, Monday, 2 April 2007 14:17 (eighteen years ago)

I always get him confused with Jon Ronson, I don't know why.

― Masonic Boom, Monday, 2 April 2007 14:21 (eighteen years ago)

They're quite similar, in a befuddled-man-talks-to-odd-people way.

― emil.y, Monday, 2 April 2007 14:24 (eighteen years ago)

The one with Keith Harris is kind of tragic, it's just like he's in an episode of Extras.

― Matt DC, Monday, 2 April 2007 14:27 (eighteen years ago)

no no, that's his dad paul.

-- That one guy that quit, Monday, April 2, 2007 10:17 AM (27 minutes ago)

oops!!!

― s1ocki, Monday, 2 April 2007 14:44 (eighteen years ago)

He was fantastic in "American Psycho"

― JTS, Monday, 2 April 2007 18:09 (eighteen years ago)

that was Justin!

who is hottttttttttttttttttt

― tokyo rosemary, Monday, 2 April 2007 18:44 (eighteen years ago)

co-sign

― That one guy that quit, Monday, 2 April 2007 18:47 (eighteen years ago)

um so like no one has linked to this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2fUyJQgRuM?

great stuff, alternatively horrifying/hilarious/sad

ive never seen any of this guys shit before but id love to see more.

― deeznuts, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 01:31 (eighteen years ago)

He's still got it. Why doesn't Bravo (or IFC, etc.) show this and his other stuff in the U.S.? Did Weird Weekends have really low ratings?

― marmotwolof, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 07:50 (eighteen years ago)

anyone got a link to this?

― Ronan, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 08:06 (eighteen years ago)

Fred Phelps

part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2fUyJQgRuM&mode=related&search=
part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kX5dVWzJgpU
part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phNz5SRvYy8&mode=related&search=
part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYqncRf3i04&mode=related&search=
part 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQ1Vpgus13c&mode=related&search=
part 6: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iy0s04qxDEs&mode=related&search=
part 7: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPLjL7q9XaY&mode=related&search=

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 08:16 (eighteen years ago)

The Phelps epispode is repeated tonight on BBC2 11:20 for anyone who's interested

― Ste, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 08:18 (eighteen years ago)

i'd just come on to say this is about to start but i guess ste covered it.

― jed_, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 22:17 (eighteen years ago)

Whenever I (accidentally) watch the Mercer Report, I want to take beat RM's face in with LT's foot. Canadians, and even RM, used to be so good at this kind of thing. Sigh.

― Dr. Superman, Thursday, 5 April 2007 16:25 (eighteen years ago)

Skipping 113 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

Favourite bit was the haggard cokefiend calling him "Louis Thorax"

― sktsh, Sunday, 17 June 2012 14:29 (twelve years ago)

Louis Thorax is not a bad pornstar name tbh

― Sisig Steve (stevie), Sunday, 17 June 2012 15:27 (twelve years ago)

Louis Shag-her

― Meet the G that Skrilled me... (snoball), Sunday, 17 June 2012 17:05 (twelve years ago)

six months pass...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGnws3TAkSw

Foods chimpanzees eat:

Mexican
Chinese
Ro-Tel dip
hot dip
spicy things
pork rinds
hot pork rinds
Doritos

― del griffith, Friday, 4 January 2013 21:31 (twelve years ago)

^^^ needs to be a poll

― earth of (snoball), Friday, 4 January 2013 21:33 (twelve years ago)

two years pass...

always loved louis but he's stepped it up massively with the more recent specials

some of tonight's was really difficult to watch

― sktsh, Sunday, 29 March 2015 22:11 (ten years ago)

What was the new one about?

― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 30 March 2015 12:41 (ten years ago)

BBC Two @BBCTwo · 29 mrt.
Louis Theroux continues his examination of the grey area between criminal actions & medical symptoms at 9pm tonight.
Saw the announcement, didn't see the episode :-/

― willem, Monday, 30 March 2015 14:20 (ten years ago)

Trevor MacDonald's definitely got into Louis' are(n)a thesedays, with his "Mafia" series, that's on tonight episode 2 btw.

― Mark G, Monday, 30 March 2015 14:23 (ten years ago)

Thought last night's one about transgender kids was really good, with the caveat that I know nothing about trans issues so maybe there were glaring problems with it that I missed. He was v good with the kids and parents I thought.

That surgeon's hair though...

― pandemic, Monday, 6 April 2015 09:44 (ten years ago)

Found the "By Reason of Insanity" two-parter to be simultaneously fascinating and maybe his most exploitative thing yet. Long, torturous discussions of shocking crimes as told by the perpetrators for no reason good enough to justify them.

There's a surprising, uncomfortably funny moment in the first part where a delusional schizophrenic describes some hallucination involving Martin Luther King and Obama and his role in their lives and it's so matter of fact and absurd that Louis openly laughs at the guy.

― Your Ribs are My Ladder, Monday, 6 April 2015 23:41 (ten years ago)

i had some issues with the transgender children one - how everyone seemed to happily accept a lot of aspects of gender normativity, the strong preoccupation with bodies, biology, surgery etc, that surgeon's hair - but i did think it was good, quite moving.

― cis-het shitlord (Merdeyeux), Monday, 6 April 2015 23:47 (ten years ago)

the part where louis coaxed the mother into describing what he son did, despite her seeming unwilling to talk about it, was pretty unpleasant

― NI, Tuesday, 7 April 2015 01:21 (ten years ago)

(in pt2 of the insanity docs)

― NI, Tuesday, 7 April 2015 01:22 (ten years ago)

one year passes...

A new difficult to watch episode today - this time covering alcoholism in South London.

― Half-baked profundities. Self-referential smirkiness (Bob Six), Sunday, 24 April 2016 22:36 (nine years ago)

I wish some of his stuff would make it to American streaming.

― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Monday, 25 April 2016 00:14 (nine years ago)

Think it made it to torrent sites last night.

― Stevolende, Monday, 25 April 2016 08:19 (nine years ago)

Available on Usenet too

― Elvis Telecom, Monday, 25 April 2016 09:32 (nine years ago)

Well worth hunting out wherever you find it. I thought it could have stood a longer treatment, like the multi-part prison ones, but even so it was very good. Difficult, emotional viewing, but not without some funny moments too.

― NWOFHM! Overlord (krakow), Monday, 25 April 2016 10:38 (nine years ago)

Difficult to watch, but at the same time compelling and emotionally involving and draining. (I should have said above)

― Half-baked profundities. Self-referential smirkiness (Bob Six), Monday, 25 April 2016 11:07 (nine years ago)

I watched about half of Rain In My Heart the other day, talk about harrowing.

― Just noise and screaming and no musical value at all. (Colonel Poo), Monday, 25 April 2016 11:57 (nine years ago)

after a whole weekend of drinking on a stag do, we got back to our canalboat, switched on the TV and this was playing.. I'm detoxing for at least a month.

― TARANTINO! (dog latin), Monday, 25 April 2016 11:59 (nine years ago)

Yes this was difficult. Really good. Joe's story was particularly affecting because he seemed like he might be one of us, like someone on here or be a friend. I drink far too much and I drink almost every night.

― Mr. Hathaway. (jed_), Tuesday, 26 April 2016 04:47 (nine years ago)

Yeah I read a review of this in the Graun and I'm not sure I want to see it, might be a little too close to home.

― Interesting. No, wait, the other thing: tedious. (Trayce), Tuesday, 26 April 2016 06:38 (nine years ago)

this was p harrowing.

― japanese mage (LocalGarda), Tuesday, 26 April 2016 19:28 (nine years ago)

particularly the relationship between aurelie and her bf.

― japanese mage (LocalGarda), Tuesday, 26 April 2016 19:29 (nine years ago)

That relationship was the most enlightening & original thing about the show. The medical effects of alcoholism have been covered many times before but that relationship is the sort of thing I've observed from a distance in park bench drunks dozens of times and wondered about what the dynamic might be like.

― everything, Tuesday, 26 April 2016 21:06 (nine years ago)

it is p weird and raw as far as the human condition goes

― japanese mage (LocalGarda), Tuesday, 26 April 2016 21:28 (nine years ago)

I like Louis a lot but I thought it was quite clumsy the way he brought up in the kitchen that the girlfriend was considering leaving her boyfriend.

― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 1 May 2016 23:05 (nine years ago)

I recognised one of the parks they were in in Brixton. Wondered if I'd ever passed by Aurelie on the street, most likely have at some point, been there so many times over the years.

― Just noise and screaming and no musical value at all. (Colonel Poo), Sunday, 1 May 2016 23:07 (nine years ago)

Also the way he asked the guy about his father dying seemed tactless. I really don't like to think he tries to provoke these emotional reactions in people. Especially towards someone whose anxiety is ruining their life.

― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 1 May 2016 23:31 (nine years ago)

Actually yeah I just remembered what you're talking about. I also felt that was overstepping a bit to tell the guy she was thinking of leaving him but I guess if he didn't mention it then she said it on camera so he'd see it eventually.

― Just noise and screaming and no musical value at all. (Colonel Poo), Sunday, 1 May 2016 23:33 (nine years ago)

Isn't that par for the course with Louis though - using a veneer of kindly naivety to say or ask something that most people wouldn't?

― NWOFHM! Overlord (krakow), Monday, 2 May 2016 11:06 (nine years ago)

I think this was a bit too much though.

― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 2 May 2016 11:21 (nine years ago)

Yes, thinking back to it a bit more, you're right that it felt clumsily done in that instance (about her thinking of leaving him).

― NWOFHM! Overlord (krakow), Monday, 2 May 2016 11:29 (nine years ago)

WAs this the first of a series of him or a complete one off? I'm not seeing any further programmes listed.

― Stevolende, Monday, 2 May 2016 23:54 (nine years ago)

There's another one on Brain Injuries coming up, but I don't think it's been scheduled yet

― sktsh, Tuesday, 3 May 2016 08:40 (nine years ago)

Tonight at 9. A Different Brain.

― koogs, Saturday, 14 May 2016 23:02 (nine years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIyJOp-tK0k

― Number None, Sunday, 15 May 2016 13:38 (nine years ago)

lol and also wow

― japanese mage (LocalGarda), Sunday, 15 May 2016 13:46 (nine years ago)

Wow the ending of the clip is awesome. Does it have a release date?

― Mr. Hathaway. (jed_), Sunday, 15 May 2016 18:45 (nine years ago)

No, but it just got US and UK Distribution

― Number None, Sunday, 15 May 2016 19:00 (nine years ago)

fantastic. i wonder why the trailer has dutch subtitles?

― pastoral fantasy (jed_), Sunday, 15 May 2016 19:10 (nine years ago)

four months pass...

http://entertainment.ie/cinema/news/It-looks-like-Louis-Therouxs-My-Scientology-Movie-wont-get-an-Irish-release-due-to-blasphemy-laws/385722.htm

― Number None, Sunday, 25 September 2016 21:23 (eight years ago)

two months pass...

Man, that Louis Theroux scientology documentation is some epic sensationalistic trash.

― Everything Moves Towards The Sun (Ross), Thursday, 8 December 2016 05:33 (eight years ago)

Yeah, I guess it was inevitable when a guy whose documentaries are always about himself investigates an organisation who never participate in documentaries. I thought the brief glimpses into the hollywood casting routine were as intriguing as an of the Scientology stuff. 'David Miscavige' was great, hope he gets more work off the back of this. 'Tom Cruise' had potential but was underused.

― the year of diving languorously (ledge), Thursday, 8 December 2016 13:56 (eight years ago)

I thought the Saville follow-up was awful, quite tone-deaf. I used to love his docs back in the day, too.

― Herpes Bizarre (stevie), Friday, 9 December 2016 12:27 (eight years ago)

loved the Scientology doc, personally

― Lennon, Elvis, Hendrix etc (dog latin), Friday, 9 December 2016 13:47 (eight years ago)

one year passes...

Going back to the 90s stuff. An odd feeling, people that wd have been on Weird Weekends in the 90s now in the white house and downing street

― Never changed username before (cardamon), Tuesday, 20 November 2018 04:03 (six years ago)

two years pass...

The Grounded Podcast has reappeared timed with the current UK lockdown.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0arolGdyR8wkSGaawcKHkD?si=lpw5TyQqQtyA2Nhnxw4CYw
is the first in teh 2nd series , Louis in conversation with Michaela Coel largely about I May Destroy You as well as her career to date.

The first series was all pretty good too. Pretty revealing interview with several people including lenny Henry on his time on teh black and White Minstrel show and rest of his early career. 10 in first series, 1 so far in teh new one. I think they all link to from the link I've given you.
May be available on other streaming services but I've been using Spotify since being on a radi ostation a coupl eof years ago.

― Stevolende, Monday, 30 November 2020 13:44 (four years ago)

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