Louis Theroux

The king of offbeat documentaries sets off across America in search of the weird and wacky. Cool. -- Mail on Sunday (England)

Travels in American Subcultures

The Call of the Weird

After a decade of making documentaries about offbeat characters on the fringes of US society, Louis had the urge to return to America and track down the people who most fascinated him. It would be a reunion tour, but this time without the cameras and the sense of performance being filmed inevitably brings. It would allow him to get closer to people, to discover what really motivated them, what they believed in, and what had happened to the assorted dreamers, outlaws and eccentrics since he last saw them.On a journey that took him to the porn sets of Los Angeles, among the UFO contactees of Arizona, and up to far Northern Idaho for a festive get-together of leading neo-Nazis, he asked what 'weird people' have to tell us about our own secret natures. Had he learned anything about himself by being among them? Do we choose our beliefs or do our beliefs choose us?Louis Theroux's first book is a hilarious, thought-provoking and at times surreal voyage into the heart of weirdness.

Caroline Oestergaard

I love Louis Theroux and I can’t believe how long it took for me to pick this up. Obviously, it was a great read. Having seen all his documentaries it was nice to hear more about the people on the screen and to get a more detailed description of their encounters. 

Also very much enjoyed his interview with himself at the end of the book.

Belle

Louis's American voices aren't the best but I like that he has a go. I wouldn't suggest reading this if you haven't seen all of Louis's documentaries, because part of the experience is remembering the people as he introduces them. I think it would be a lot less interesting if you couldn't relate to his retellings of how he met each person. Overall I didn't get a whole lot out of the book except frustration at how, as Louis says at the end, we care more about feeling alive than telling the truth. But if you're a true Louis fan it's not a bad way to pass some time.

Melody Izard

Louis Theroux is the host for television documentaries featuring people on the fringes of society: Pimps, hookers, white supremacists, porn stars. In The Call of the Weird he picks some of his favorites and tries to track them down to make sure they don’t hate him. As he covers their current life status he also questions his motives and wonders about his own weirdness. Mello T, a rapper/pimp from Memphis tells Louis that he ‘is a kind of a pimp, that [he] was pimping every time [he] went on TV’. He also loiters for a few days at the Wild Horse (a legal brothel in Las Vegas). He worries he was becoming a “professional trick”. The stories are thought provoking – but mostly in a disturbing sort of way. I mean those 12 year old olsen twinish white power pop singers! And the hypnotist who would take all your money insisting he was teaching you to be a millionaire. I need to see his documentaries. I guess I’ll be searching google video/you tube to see if I can find them.

Kattia

Ava Gibbins

Jan Miczaika

Guy Moorhouse

Rebecca Owen

Mirella Hetekivi

Sarah Ryan

maddison jade

Louis Theroux's hilarious and thought-provoking journey through weird AmericaFor ten years Louis Theroux has been making programmes about off-beat characters on the fringes of US society. Now he revisits America and the people who have most fascinated him to try to discover what motivates them, why they believe the things they believe, and to find out what has happened to them since he last saw them. Along the way Louis thinks about what drives him to spend so much time among weird people, and considers whether he's learned anything about himself in the course of ten years working with them. Has he manipulated the people he's interviewed, or have they manipulated him? From his Las Vegas base, Louis revisits the assorted dreamers and outlaws who have been his TV feeding ground. Attempting to understand a little about himself and the workings of his own mind, Louis considers questions such as: What is the difference between pathology and 'normal' weirdness? Is there something particularly weird about Americans? What does it mean to be weird, or 'to be yourself'? And do we choose our beliefs or do our beliefs choose us?

The Call of the Weird Travels in American Subcultures

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