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Louis theroux

245

Comments

  • #32
    nullzero
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 19,166 ✭✭✭✭nullzero
    °°°°°


    anna080 wrote: »
    The best line in the Saville one was where Louis questioned him on his earlier admission of tying up young girls when he ran a youth club. He said it when he didn't realise the camera was rolling, "oh that was just a figure of speech louis". What a nut job.
    The Max Clifford one is very revealing too right to the very end. Had I watched that ten years ago I would whole heartedly believe that Simon Cowell was gay.

    To be fair it was young lads in a night club, but he did deny it. Completely bonkers and used his eccentricity as a smoke screen and it worked.


  • #33
    retro:electro
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 21,039 ✭✭✭✭retro:electro


    The only one I think he failed at was the Paul Daniels and Debbie Mc Gee one. He tried his best to drive a rift between them and pit them against one another but he wasn't able. Paul still came out looking like an arse though.


  • #34
    buried
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,980 ✭✭✭buried


    nullzero wrote: »
    "I've got ye on the ropes, on the ropes. Next".

    Complete looper but he managed to take Louis and his crew in, a talented deceiver.

    A very telling part in that documentary was when Savile went to shake former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott's hand at some function and Prescott just looked at him in total disgust and turned away

    Bullet The Blue Shirts



  • #35
    retro:electro
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 21,039 ✭✭✭✭retro:electro


    nullzero wrote: »
    To be fair it was young lads in a night club, but he did deny it. Completely bonkers and used his eccentricity as a smoke screen and it worked.

    Oh was it? I thought it was some youth club he was involved with? Maybe I took it up wrong


  • #36
    tinpib
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,648 ✭✭✭tinpib


    nokia69 wrote: »

    Lake Palmer, an amazing man just amazing

    Yep, Lake and his toxic rage. Poor sod.


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  • #37
    briany
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 16,093 ✭✭✭✭briany


    My name is URL wrote: »
    Love his stuff but his newer material is a bit too serious for his style imo.

    I wish he'd do another series of Weird Weekends.

    Yes, he lost something when he dropped the quirky humour aspect of his presentation. These days he's not greatly different from a Panorama investigator, but I still enjoy his documentaries because he's built a caché, if you will, and am looking forward to the Scientology one.
    P4DDY2K11 wrote: »
    I think he's great at making a dick out of the people who deserve it like the westboro baptist church heads and and neo Nazis.

    Yeah, but you have to say they're two groups of people who need absolutely no help making dicks out of themselves.


  • #38
    RDM_83 again
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,116 ✭✭✭RDM_83 again


    Posted this before on a previous thread about him but I have came the conclusion though he's watchable and his shows are entertaining, he works far better with idiots or Americans, when he is dealing with somebody who is actually smart or understands the self-deprecating brit thing his approach doesn't work half as well.


  • #39
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 22,384 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    He is entertaining but the programmes are a bit heavy on anecdote, light on stats and science. Like the porn one, he'll just maybe interview a pornstar or two, a director, a fan...but there is no huge analysis of the industry etc. I guess it makes for more entertainment but less objective analysis. There is something engaging about him, like someone who would be interesting to have a pint with.


  • #40
    RomanKnows
    Closed Accounts Posts: 450 ✭✭RomanKnows


    He's probably in the position that he's ran out of subjects to make truly insightful documentaries about. It's not like he is unrecognisable or unknown.

    The Paul Daniels one was a case in point. Daniels may turn out to be a dreadful human being. The documentary itself just showed a small man who was bitter about no longer being on primetime TV. Theroux asked many leading questions, but they were answered in a taciturn style that just made the whole hour seem rather forced. Looking for an insight that wasn't there.


  • #41
    murpho999
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 28,956 ✭✭✭✭murpho999


    Deleted User wrote: »
    He is entertaining but the programmes are a bit heavy on anecdote, light on stats and science. Like the porn one, he'll just maybe interview a pornstar or two, a director, a fan...but there is no huge analysis of the industry etc. I guess it makes for more entertainment but less objective analysis. There is something engaging about him, like someone who would be interesting to have a pint with.

    Why does he have to analyse an industry? He's just showing what he experienced with the people he met.

    His recent shows about people who committed crimes whilst insane was very insightful. I found his questions got more out of the patients than some of the doctors could and he made me realise that these people are not "getting off" a charge as is the common perception, as happened here in the courts last week.


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  • #42
    nokia69
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,895 ✭✭✭nokia69


    RomanKnows wrote: »
    He's probably in the position that he's ran out of subjects to make truly insightful documentaries about. It's not like he is unrecognisable or unknown.

    I think thats why he does most of his work in the US now

    his last few programs have been just as good as the early stuff


  • #43
    Mechanical Clocktail
    Closed Accounts Posts: 255 ✭✭Mechanical Clocktail


    Deleted User wrote: »
    He is entertaining but the programmes are a bit heavy on anecdote, light on stats and science. Like the porn one, he'll just maybe interview a pornstar or two, a director, a fan...but there is no huge analysis of the industry etc. I guess it makes for more entertainment but less objective analysis. There is something engaging about him, like someone who would be interesting to have a pint with.

    He's not a scientist in fairness. He makes great docomentaries by focusing on the human angle, and that means talking to specific people and hearing their stories. Rather than rattling off statistics that could be summed up in an article or something. I think he has the right approach for the subjects he chooses and I enjoy his stuff whenever I see it.


  • #44
    KungPao
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,796 ✭✭✭KungPao


    Love his stuff.

    His very early docs were a little Ali G at times, playing a total wally and just looking for the subject to make a silly remark. But they were hilarious at times. I miss the early ones where he is laughing and messing around and clearly enjoying himself. But I suppose he's a good bit older now so is a fair bit more serious.

    His new ones are good, but not essential viewing...I think the Scientology one will be a hoot.


  • #45
    OneOfThem
    Closed Accounts Posts: 667 ✭✭✭OneOfThem


    Mechanical Clocktail wrote: »
    He's not a scientist in fairness. He makes great docomentaries by focusing on the human angle, and that means talking to specific people and hearing their stories. Rather than rattling off statistics that could be summed up in an article or something. I think he has the right approach for the subjects he chooses and I enjoy his stuff whenever I see it.

    It's really best to think of his docs as being about the specific individuals involved, rather than as an accurate representation of the overall subject matter. The porn one should be viewed as a documentary about those specific porn stars, rather than the porn industry, the body building one about those individual body builders, rather than body builders in general, etc. It can perhaps give you a glimpse into the thing that relates the people to each other, but the focus is the individual people, not the thing. They're documentaries about individuals with a specific thing in common, rather than one's about the thing it's self, for the most part. There's perhaps a criticism to be made that they pass themselves off as the latter rather than the former, and by doing so, mislead people. But I'm not sure how intentional that is.


  • #46
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 22,384 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    murpho999 wrote: »
    Why does he have to analyse an industry?

    Oh he doesn't have to. It's kinda light entertainment, and as I said it is entertaining.


  • #47
    brick tamland
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,652 ✭✭✭brick tamland


    He has a feature length doc ready to go on scientology apparently. Looks like it's gotten caught up in legal ****e though. Really looking forward to it

    Really like his stuff


  • #48
    Magnate
    Closed Accounts Posts: 877 ✭✭✭Magnate


    briany wrote: »
    Yes, he lost something when he dropped the quirky humour aspect of his presentation. These days he's not greatly different from a Panorama investigator, but I still enjoy his documentaries because he's built a caché, if you will, and am looking forward to the Scientology one.

    I can't wait to see the documentary on him by the scientologists, should be a laugh..


  • #49
    nokia69
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,895 ✭✭✭nokia69


    brick tamland wrote: »
    He has a feature length doc ready to go on scientology apparently. Looks like it's gotten caught up in legal ****e though. Really looking forward to it

    Really like his stuff

    and mind head are working on a doc about Louis, the clowns


  • #50
    Yurt2
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,381 ✭✭✭Yurt2


    brick tamland wrote: »
    He has a feature length doc ready to go on scientology apparently. Looks like it's gotten caught up in legal ****e though. Really looking forward to it

    Really like his stuff

    That should be well worth a watch. Although it'll hardly top the Panorama one where the Scientology spokesman who looked like Agent Smith from the Matrix pushed the BBC reporter until he flipped out.


  • #51
    QuinDixie
    Closed Accounts Posts: 843 ✭✭✭QuinDixie


    Links234 wrote: »
    Yeah, his stuff with the westboro Baptist was nuts, I've watched quite a few of his docs.

    The head man in that church, he gave one of the best lines ever to Louis.
    Question asked and answered in a strange US accent. Classic.


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  • #52
    RomanKnows
    Closed Accounts Posts: 450 ✭✭RomanKnows


    OneOfThem wrote: »
    It's really best to think of his docs as being about the specific individuals involved, rather than as an accurate representation of the overall subject matter. The porn one should be viewed as a documentary about those specific porn stars, rather than the porn industry, the body building one about those individual body builders, rather than body builders in general, etc. It can perhaps give you a glimpse into the thing that relates the people to each other, but the focus is the individual people, not the thing. They're documentaries about individuals with a specific thing in common, rather than one's about the thing it's self, for the most part. There's perhaps a criticism to be made that they pass themselves off as the later rather than the former, and by doing so, mislead people. But I'm not sure how intentional that is.

    I'm not so sure that is true. The two documentaries about the porn industry dealt with a myriad of people involved in the game. He wasn't dealing with specific edge cases. Just a couple of exemplars.

    He was early in bringing to light the seedy underbelly of what went on. The original doc must have been before the proliferation of easily available and increasingly grotesque pornography. There's a myriad of longform pieces and documentaries (and no, not from religious nutjobs) that show what this thing is all about. Young women from Russia being brutally sodomised on camera to appease audiences who want to watch this stuff on tube sites. Vice do a good doc on it.


  • #53
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    Yurt! wrote: »
    That should be well worth a watch. Although it'll hardly top the Panorama one where the Scientology spokesman who looked like Agent Smith from the Matrix pushed the BBC reporter until he flipped out.

    That documentary was bonkers...

    That chap from it was on Newstalk a while back - he was pretty much forced out of the BBC after twenty odd years of service after that

    He reckons a high ranking BBC Official has ties to Scientology and got him the sack...


  • #54
    OneOfThem
    Closed Accounts Posts: 667 ✭✭✭OneOfThem


    RomanKnows wrote: »
    I'm not so sure that is true. The two documentaries about the porn industry dealt with a myriad of people involved in the game. He wasn't dealing with specific edge cases. Just a couple of exemplars.

    He was early in bringing to light the seedy underbelly of what went on. The original doc must have been before the proliferation of easily available and increasingly grotesque pornography. There's a myriad of longform pieces and documentaries (and no, not from religious nutjobs) that show what this thing is all about. Young women from Russia being brutally sodomised on camera to appease audiences who want to watch this stuff on tube sites. Vice do a good doc on it.

    Just to clarify, I don't believe he (his team) necessarily seek out edge cases. Just that there isn't much focus on ensuring representivity (if that's a word?). The impression I get is it's more a "let's make a doc about people that like cats. Find 6 interesting people that like cats and lets get to know how they think" rather than "lets get a definitive sectional representation of people that like cats, so that we can accurately portray the cat liking public", if you know what I mean. I wouldn't expect to come away from one of his docs feeling like I understood people that like cats, but I would expect to come away having a bit of an understanding of why those 6 people that featured liked cats as much as they do. Which is interesting. People are interesting.


  • #55
    sonofenoch
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,925 ✭✭✭sonofenoch


    This ol boy was tuned in

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpUtUQ5YC-Q


    :D ....note the name Corton, scarily like new windows 10 cortana


  • #56
    retro:electro
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 21,039 ✭✭✭✭retro:electro


    http://youtu.be/J7oy7jEc0vI

    This always gives me a giggle


  • #57
    Chancer3001
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,480 ✭✭✭Chancer3001


    He cones across all chilled and weird but asks all the right questions. Manages to get access to All sorts of groups too.

    Very very good.


  • #58
    Yurt2
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,381 ✭✭✭Yurt2


    Fieldog wrote: »
    That documentary was bonkers...

    That chap from it was on Newstalk a while back - he was pretty much forced out of the BBC after twenty odd years of service after that

    He reckons a high ranking BBC Official has ties to Scientology and got him the sack...

    Really? Must dig out that Newstalk interview. Really sad but that outburst probably scuttled his career, a BBC/Scientology conspiracy sounds a bit fanciful. He was totally rattled by their bullying tactics and then had a meltdown. Not sure how many would hold up under that pressure.


  • #59
    The Pheasant2
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,699 ✭✭✭The Pheasant2


    Love Louis Theroux - he's the master of being just about subtle enough that the yanks he deals with don't at all realise he's taking the piss at times


  • #60
    nokia69
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,895 ✭✭✭nokia69


    The Pheasant2 wrote: »
    Love Louis Theroux - he's the master of being just about subtle enough that the yanks he deals with don't at all realise he's taking the piss at times

    I'm not sure if he ever really takes the piss out of people, he tends to ask simple enough questions, by far his best skill is knowing when to say nothing and let some fool hang himself, it can be a joy to watch

    people may have complaints about how a doc might be edited, but for the most part they make themselves look good or bad


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  • #61
    PandaPoo
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,978 ✭✭✭PandaPoo


    I love him. I'd watch anything he does, and even if I don't think its a subject I'll be interested in I always end up enjoying it.

    I thought by reason of insanity was very good. The one on transgender kids was really interesting too. It was a subject I knew nothing about and was really ignorant about until I watched it. It was so well explained and the kids on it were so mature and sure. I really felt for them.


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