Have you ever orgied, Louis?

I’ve been listening to a lot of audiobooks lately. First up was Louis Theroux’s ‘The Call of the Weird’. Newer readers should know I’m a big Louis fan and have written about him on these pages quite a bit in the past. The book is a sort of “Where are they now?” for many of the most vivid characters from his Weird Weekends TV show – including the plucky young porn actor, the call girl from Nevada, the international Godfather Gangsta pimp Mellow T, the survivalist in rural Idaho, the UFO summoner, and Ike Turner, the documentary about whom was never completed.

It’s read by Louis himself, so it sounds more personal and natural, and it really is a joy to hear him attempt various accents with various degrees of accuracy. Having followed the documentaries closely, I was interested to see what became of all the subjects, although I imagine it wouldn’t be especially riveting if you hadn’t seen the TV shows beforehand. There was one subject whose episode I hadn’t seen, and I was a little bored during that segment, although to his credit, he tries well to fill in listeners who aren’t familiar with the episode in question.

Overall, it’s really funny and interesting, but I think you have to be a pretty big fan of his shows to begin with. If you haven’t seen any episodes, what are you waiting for? Here’s a little snippet, when he’s talking about his time with Ike Turner.

[download Louis Theroux talks to Ike Turner]

[buy 'The Call of the Weird' (book)]