LOUIS MEETS AUSTRALIA: 10 Things We Learnt From ‘Louis Theroux: Live On Stage’

Documentary pioneer Louis Theroux prides himself on being worldly. He travels into the unknown, fulfilling his fascinations throughout the United States, the United Kingdom, South Africa and even Lagos and Thailand. But he has never set foot in Australia. What’s up with that?!

Finally setting right a wrong, Louis has touched down in Oz and embarked on his highly anticipated speaking tour across Australia, hosted by the legendary Julia Zemiro.

We attended his Melbourne show, which provided a fascinating walk through his life, his career and experiences interviewing some of the world’s most curious people.

Here’s 10 things we learnt from Louis Theroux: Live on Stage:

1. He got his start by lying to Michael Moore in a job interview

Fresh from uni, Louis moved to the United States and started working in journalism, climbing up through writing for local papers and on to Spy Magazine, before he got a job with Michael Moore at TV Nation. However, in the job interview with the documentary-maker Louis lied to get across the line.

“It was a funny situation because I had friends that worked with him[Moore] on the pilot of TV Nation, and it was being co-funded by the BBC. Michael kept on saying “I need a British correspondent. The BBC is breathing down my neck. I need a British guy!”” he said.

“They[his friends] sort of set me up,” he goes on. His friends told him it’s important for Michael that Louis says his documentary Roger and Me was his favourite film, but the interview came before Louis had even seen the film.

“I went down there and thought, I’ll see what happens. It was all going well and then halfway through he says “Have you seen Roger and Me?”. I’m like, what do I say now? Do I lie? You’re not really supposed to lie but maybe this is one of those exceptions. So I said “Yes I’d seen it”. Then he said “What did you think of it?”. I said “I…I loved it, it’s my favourite film!!”. (Laughs)

“A little part of me died. But I got the job. I went and saw Roger and Me a couple of days later. In a way it wasn’t a lie because I made it true, in time.”

2. He learnt to deflect confusing questions by asking “what do you think?”

Theroux is known for his unrelenting curiosity, he’s a question-asker that always attempts to edge closer to his interviewees through information shared. But in the case of the Miami Mega Jail episode, which uncovers the brutality and hierachy of prison life, he decided to deflect a question out of confusion.

In the maximum security jail which holds 20 to a cell, cellmates fight constantly for status. When confronted by inmate Rodney ‘Hot Rod’ Pearson asking a confused Louie: “Are you a real n*gger?”. He quickly says back “What do you think?”. Louis explains the incident:

“Not a question I was expecting to be asked, that question he puts to me. I thought, I don’t really feel qualified to answer that so I tossed it back to him. A good little tip if you’re ever asked a question like that.”

3. When threatened by neo-Nazi Skip, he kept cameras rolling so he didn’t get beaten up

One of the tensest moments out of any of Theroux’s documentaries was in episode ‘Louis and the Nazis’ when neo-Nazi Skip questioned whether Louis was Jewish. He ends up getting very angry and demands, along with wife Heather, that Theroux verify his faith. In the end, Skip demands that they turn off the cameras. But the cameras keep rolling. Louis admits they were actually worried for their safety.

“We thought he wanted to beat us up off camera. I don’t know [otherwise]why he would say “turn the camera off” because, [for example]I wanna give you a present,” he said.

Louis said he had pre-planned his refusal to in fact say he was not Jewish.

“I decided early on that he was going to ask me if I was Jewish and that I wouldn’t answer. That it would be a way of creating tension. Once I’d decided, I couldn’t really go back on it. That would be quite cowardly. But I do love that clip because there’s a lot of grit and flavour and texture in the body language. The way I sit back, arms on the chair as if that’s gonna help me.”

4. He doesn’t practice “faux-naivety”- he’s legit just naturally naive

One of Theroux’s charms that attracts people to him is his boyish naivety. So much so that many people have questioned whether he fakes his lack of knowledge of the people he interviews. Louis says that he doesn’t fake it, but due to the nature of his interview process, it happens naturally.

“When i arrive [on set] it’s the first time I meet the subjects. It’s something i learnt from Michael Moore. He was all about keeping it real. You don’t arrive and light inside the house then come back and pretend we haven’t met,” he said.

“You have to ask questions that illicit answers for a viewing public. Having said that, I think I am authentically naive in a sense. A lot of the funniest scenes arise out of a genuine misunderstanding on my part.”

5. In the ‘Swingers’ episode, he was never tempted to join the swingers’ orgy

One episode of Weird Weekends ‘Swingers’ was particularly salacious. As Louis explored the popularity of partner-swapping among the middle-aged in Southern California, and even joined in on a swingers party. Julia asked: “Did you set yourself a boundary when you went into the room of swingers?” to which he answered:

“I was in a relationship at the time and I knew my girlfriend would be seeing the problem. But also I wasn’t really tempted to swing when I came to see what happened in the group room. There wasn’t major temptation when it came to saying ‘no’.” If you’ve seen the video, I don’t think you’d be keen to join either. *Shivers*

6. Louis still can’t rap, but he still tries

One of the greatest moments from any of the his series’ was from the ‘Gangsta Rap’ episode of Weird Weekends, when Louis live on radio gets into a rap battle and loses miserably.

Not to leave his rap game behind, on stage he attempted a rap battle with Julia. He did manage to rhyme ‘computers’ with ‘hooters’, and called himself ‘Louis T’. Admitting he was a big rap fan from a young age, he used to freestyle as a teenager in his “geek-club”. But sozzi Louis, you ain’t got it.

7. Despite what viewers say, he doesn’t think he’s impartial

Being an objective interviewer is something most would pride themselves on, but Louis thinks it’s not so simple.

“People often say, are you impartial? Because you know, you seem very non-judgmental. I think they mean it as a compliment, but I feel as though I am[partial].

I do make judgments. All the shows are in a way moral journeys. I’m attempting to evaluate the rights and wrongs of different situations,” he said.

Theroux goes on to say, it would be impossible for him to be completely balanced, as it’s just not something you can do when faced with people that don’t deserve an impartiality.

“The idea that I would go in to meet a Nazi, let’s say, that I’d be so open-minded that I’d say ‘”Okay, Nazism. I’ve heard a little bit about it. Don’t know what I think about it. Could go either way. Tell me about being a Nazi and I’ll decide what I think.”(Laughs) No, I’ve pretty much made up my mind. That neo-Nazism is not the way to go,” he said.

8. He didn’t see any signs with Jimmy Savile

Louis was one of few people to be granted an in-depth interview with Jimmy Savile later in his life- a TV presenter turned pedophile. After Savile’s death he was linked to hundreds of cases of sex offenses with children and teenagers, but when Louis interviewed him, Savile’s more sinister side was unknown.

“One of the first things I did when the revelations came out was to go back and watch it again. I was sort of bizarrely reassured, because I thought “God, what if I felt I let him off the hook in some way,”” he said.

“It was troubling to realise that someone I had spent so much time with and thought I knew reasonably well, could have done such terrible things. I thought back on the weeks we spent together looking for clues. I was tempted to see them everywhere, but the truth is I was struck by how normal – also likable – he seemed much of the time.

“It’s been said that monsters don’t get close to children, nice men do. Dangerous and deceptive people are very often likable, charismatic and very normal. To recognise that isn’t to soften them in any way, but to understand how they get away with their crimes.”

9. He was concerned he would be stuck doing Weird Weekends his whole career

Initially Louis’s documentary portfolio was focused on funny and weird subcultures. The early stages of the Weird Weekends series circulated around America’s oddballs from UFO enthusiast to survivialists and wrestlers. His early success with these kinds of stories did make Theroux concerned, he said he was worried he wouldn’t be able to take on serious subjects.

“I thought early on I was endangered of being pigeon-holed. That the stories I could tell were limited as to whether they were funny or not,” he said.

Louis broke out of his comedy cage, as he went on to tackle subjects as varied as South African seperatism, autism and the people struggling life-threatening sicknesses – yet he always managed to find a funny side.

“I’m really proud of these later shows, that were really about the intensity of these angst-filled moments in life.”

10. Doesn’t plan on doing a documentary on Donald Trump

One of the most popular questions of the evening, was would Louis do one of his docos about Donald Trump. Many of us think he’s be perfect, because he doesn’t let his subjects get away with much. However, he was unsure and had his hesitations

“It would be a tough one to do. He’s so media savvy. He’s been on TV so much. It’s almost like he can transcend to the normal snares of being on TV. He lies and lies and lies, and somehow people are charmed by it. I don’t flatter myself that I would be much better [at interviewing him]. I think you’d have to get investigative with it.”

There’s still hope.

…Still here? Here’s a little bonus for sticking around 😉