Louis Theroux likes weird people, which is just as
well. The gangly presenter or "weirdo correspondent", as he calls himself, is
returning to TV screens with a second series of his Weird Weekends.
In his
last series Theroux scoured the American fringe for oddballs, meeting porn
stars, UFO-watchers and obsessed survivalists. Most interviewees seem to melt in
the presence of his polite and sincere questioning but it is often hard to see
how he keeps a straight face.
"Sometimes I do laugh," he admits. "My
favourite characters are the ones who are who are weird but can laugh at
themselves as well. They are fun to be around and you can have a chuckle.
"There are a few characters who are weird and if you laugh they can't handle
it. A good example of this was a Guy called Thor Templar who was first in the
UFO show."
"He claimed to have killed 10 aliens. He described shooting them
with a ray-gun and then using a sharp edged instrument to chop their heads off.
At that point I started giggling and he didn't really like it."
But despite
the fact that Thor couldn't see the funny side, Theroux still keeps in touch
with him. "He's still really weird," says Theroux.
Beyond weirdness
The
line between weird and plainly certifiable is a fine one. Theroux says it is an
important distinction when searching for subjects for the series.
"If
someone was so weird that they couldn't function in the real world then at that
point they go beyond weirdness and go into mental illness.
"We found a guy
in the mid-west who was living with his parents and working in a petrol station
who said he was the Prince of Darkness.
"Come August, hell was going to rise
up from underground, Satan was going to become king on Earth and he, this guy,
would be sitting at his left hand, or on his right hand, I can't remember which,
and governing the world with Satan.
"Now that's all very interesting - but
what can you do? You can't really have a conversation at that point because all
you can say is 'No you're not.'"
The second series changes the Weird Weekend
formula slightly. Instead of just observing people with extreme beliefs, this
time around Theroux rolls his sleeves up and gets involved with people who have
weird jobs and hobbies.
. . . snip . . .
Theroux is set to continue on
the trail of the weird into another series. What has to be the most significant
date for any weirdo - the millennium - is likely to provide some good material.
"I'd like to do something about the millennium and how it all goes down in
Jerusalem. There are so many people who have gone there expecting the world to
end and are already camping out. "It will be really interesting to see how they
rationalise it when it doesn't happen. Or maybe it will happen, you never know."