Louis The Roux's new series

[touchingcloth]

This was on last night with an interview with Anthony Joshua.

I knew nothing about him other than that he punches people in the face and gets punched in the face for a living.

Having seen the When Louis Met... episode with Chris Eubank I was expecting this to be all about him chuntering around town in a cement mixer throwing hamsters out of the window as gifts for people, but all that seems to make him a worthy interview subject is being Norfolk's maddest Britain's most boring man.

"You make a lot of money, but your brain is probably a mess, like physically a mess."

"Spose."

I see an upcoming episode is with Bear Grylls. Back in the day Louis would have cheekily pointed out the kayfabe surrounding his supposedly dangerous survival antics, but I expect based on episode one it will all be "hey, do you remember how annoying it was at school when the fags hadn't made the water bottles hot enough?"

[Bad Ambassador]

Hopefully he'll ask him about writing a regular column for Sorted, in which he said women are to silly to make decisions about their bodies, which is why abortion should be illegal.

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

Joshua was bland but personable I suppose. I'd much rather see Louis interview Tyson Fury, if only for Fury to get wound up and call Louis a dosser. I'm looking forward to the fat Paul Merton Pete Doherty one though.

[sevendaughters]

his recent Uncle Louis Hangs With Slebs stuff is, and I am laughing as I write this, worthy of jihad.

[touchingcloth]

Ironically, his Louis Hangs With Jihadis was worthy of celebrity.

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

He even done a rap again in last night's episode. Just knock it off Theroux you plank. It was slightly amusing 20 years ago when you first did it, but to try and make it some sort of meme about yourself is proper cringe.

[touchingcloth]

Better than Tony's rap, though.

[PlanktonSideburns]

Louis 'the sauce' needs to pack this shit in

[Twonty Gostelow]

I see an upcoming episode is with Bear Grylls.

That's been and gone in series 1.

I'm looking forward to the fat Paul Merton Pete Doherty one though.

15 years later: "Looking back on my interview with him in 2023 I can see that I should have pressed him harder when I asked him if he was in any way involved with the [REDACTED] of [REDACTED]."

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

Theroux should refer to Bare Grillz as Edward throughout the entire program, because that is his name.

[thenoise]

"Looking back on my interview with him in 2023 I can see that I should have pressed him harder when I asked him if he was in any way involved with the [REDACTED] of [REDACTED]."

We had no way of knowing for sure. Apart from the CCTV footage, personal confession of his dodgy bouncer pal, music video filmed outside alluding to it rather explictly ...

[boki]

Theroux should refer to Bare Grillz as Edward throughout the entire program, because that is his name.

Ed Bearylls

[touchingcloth]

I'd like him to say "Hey, Ed. I've been out rapping with the mandem a lot lately, and the weather is just so nice that we've been barbecuing a lot. We've had bare grills. Can I just ask if you're in any way involved with Robert Baden-Powell's island of [redacted] and [redacted]?"

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

Doherty was a lot more of an entertaining interviewee. I kept thinking he was keeping his hat on because of bald, but there was a bit where he took it off, revealing a full head of messy hair. He seems to have replaced heroin with alcohol and food. I liked the bit where he wrestled Theroux into the sea.

[non capisco]

I liked the bit where Louis was in the crowd at the Libertines gig and his voiceover basically said "they were a bit shit, tbh" but in nice charitable words.

This year I'd be throwing stones at glass houses talking about Pete Doherty's altered body shape but fuck it, I'll have my cake and eat it, there were a few shots when he looked exactly like Bob Carolgees. Nice to see the horrors of heartburn finally represented on a high profile BBC documentary, anyway.

[Noodle Lizard]

Enjoyed the Pete Doherty one. Like many middle class British teenagers in the 00s, I got intermittently caught up in the romance of all that. I remember seeing an interview with Doherty where he's in what looks like a dealer's squat, writing all over the walls, all fags and weird vodka concoctions and thinking to myself "that's what I want to be like". Fortunately, the actual quality of his artistic output speedran its way to awful, so my overall admiration for the man was short lived.

It's weird to see where it's all led. Rather than the usual trajectory of cleaning up and getting into yoga or, more likely, "dying before his time", he's ended up in this weird limbo where he's ostensibly clean, ostensibly back in his band, ostensibly married with a child, but it all feels borrowed and nobody around him seems especially convinced.

[checkoutgirl]

Why did he choose Joshua? Presumably they pre-interview and double check the interviewee is interesting enough to hang a programme on? Eubank raised the bar for eccentricity in English boxers.

[checkoutgirl]

but it all feels borrowed and nobody around him seems especially convinced.

There's a well worn trajectory to these things, starting with being a musical genius megastar and ending dead or in rehab. Pete Doherty forgot to do the first bit.

[sevendaughters]

Why did he choose Joshua? Presumably they pre-interview and double check the interviewee is interesting enough to hang a programme on? Eubank raised the bar for eccentricity in English boxers.

this has totally been the issue with many of these shows, they are just not about interesting people - the Rita Ora one last series relied on Taika Waititi randomly turning up to make it interesting. There's a fairly fascinating aspect (to me at least) where he's clearly trying to do what the Hot Ones and the Chicken Shop Dates* people are doing in trying to craft little moments that can be sliced up for TikTok or whatever, so the need for 60 minutes of wall-to-wall excitement aren't strictly necessary, but for old cunts like me who want a bit of shape to telly, it's excruciating to see a guy like this fall so far. Think how much was in the porn episode of Weird Weekends? Now think what we got from Anthony Joshua? Bollocks.

*I note he has now done both shows, too, flattering them a bit

[touchingcloth]

Why did he choose Joshua? Presumably they pre-interview and double check the interviewee is interesting enough to hang a programme on? Eubank raised the bar for eccentricity in English boxers.

Like I mentioned in the OP, knowing nothing about him I was expecting him to be a Eubank-style nutcase thanks in equal parts to the kind of personality that leads to someone wanting to be socked in the nutcase for a living, and the ensuing CTE that results. But he was just...bland.

Doherty was much more of an interesting subject. I wasn't into The Libertines or Babychambles so really all I knew about him was being a messy smackhead and a fan of massive breakfasts, so when he first appeared on screen my immediate thought was that those breakfasts have really caught up with him now. I enjoyed him David Brenting his way through his Kate Moss memorabilia - "oh, did I leave that lying around?" - and I had missed the possibility that he'd murdered a man, but now that I've seen it he's definitely murdered a man.

[touchingcloth]

I just went to go and listen to some Libertines to see what I was missing out on, but I aborted before listening because Up the Bracket IS A FUCKING SHIT TITLE.

[checkoutgirl]

I've just realised Babychambles is a portmanteau of shambles and Babycham.

That Hot Ones is crap, as are most interviews. Most famous people are just not that interesting. A good interview for Louis would be Joe Exotic or Conor McGregor or even Lizzie. People who are technically current but have stuff to answer for.

Joshua is squeaky clean and has never entertained in a pre fight press conference. It seems Louis has a deadline to hit and picks the best he can get at the time.

[touchingcloth]

Did anyone else get the impression that Anthony Joshua might be in the closet? There was a line of questioning that Louis didn't get too far along with where he was prompting for goss on his relationship status, with AJ being a bit coy on the subject. His "personal life" section on Wikipedia doesn't have much in the way of details about his relationships. Not to judge him or anything, but I did wonder if that was what drew him to Joshua as a subject in the first place only for them to kill that direct question for some reason.

[beanheadmcginty]

The presenter of Hot Ones weirds me out. He looks and speaks like a not-quite-human automaton.

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

I'd never heard Carl Barat speak before, but he seems to have this rather clipped, terse way of speaking that I found immediately annoying. Has he always been like that? Maybe that's why he usually shuts up. Good to see The Drummer and The Bass Player got plenty of airtime though.

[sevendaughters]

Hot Ones is a funny idea but any interview show directly tied in with promotion is just dead on arrival for me. Like compare it with Ian McKellen on Dick Cavett in the early 80s just talking without interruption about what acting is, just throwing out ideas like an academic, it's a different world.

Christ I'm old.

[Red82]

Love this drink soddened piss head. I am also a fan of Peter Doherty.

[touchingcloth]

When Adam Buxton interviewed Kayvan Novak, he was doing impressions of Louis Theroux which was mainly him putting on the vocal equivalent of a brow furrowed in concern and saying "are you OK?"

I counted it twice in last night's episode - once when Peter struggled with his heartburn, and a second time to his infant child.

Are you OK?

[Captain Z]

I'm quite shocked to read that Pete Doherty is still alive, could have sworn he was swept in the great celebrity cull a few years ago.

[non capisco]

I'd never heard Carl Barat speak before, but he seems to have this rather clipped, terse way of speaking that I found immediately annoying. Has he always been like that?

I was at university with him and this is the first time I think I've seen footage of him speaking since then. Despite having lived the torrid life of an indie rock hearthrob in the intervening years he seemed exactly the same as he was then in terms of mannerisms. He was actually a decent guy from what I remember, although I did read an interview with him where he said something to the effect that everyone he went to uni with apart from Pete's sister was a brainless knob. Bit rude, mate!