Louis Theroux on Inside the Manosphere and the misunderstandings that follow

After an awkward exchange on the pavement outside Netflix’s offices, the interviewer replayed the tape in a cafe, puzzling over whether Louis Theroux had been prickly. Theroux, 55, who can look like a north London dad in a grey T‑shirt and sneakers, is known for a solicitous, lightly ironic manner and for being both an immersive documentarian and a shrewd interviewer.

He has built a 30‑year television career, the son of writer Paul Theroux, embedding himself in American subcultures—from Nazis and gun enthusiasts to porn performers and apocalyptic cults—and later covering prisoners, opioid addicts and Scientology. His interviews have sometimes become defining moments, most notoriously his tentative question to Jimmy Savile about paedophilia.

More recently he reached a new audience when a 2000 rap he made, Jiggle Jiggle, went viral and was picked up by artists such as Shakira and Snoop Dogg. Theroux’s podcasting has not been without controversy.

United Kingdom, North London

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