I Think It's a Mythic Truth.

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I am an imersive journalist. It's almost more george plimpton esk, where i'm trying to get into a world and experience it in good faith. The most recent stuff i've been doing is a series called forbidden america which wete looking for er to get out on American television. And alongside that, a there's been calling to account of various troubling figures like ron jeremy and a pawn agent called derrick hayo inflected by them. So i'm proud of the social setting of my programmes because i'm probvesly ogling those who are making their own content. I don't really believe it, but the effects are real

Shermer and Theroux discuss: how documentary films are made • religious fanaticism and why people believe • UFO cults, end-times sects, and cognitive dissonance • Scientology: religion or cult? • neo-Nazis and anti-Semitism • prisons, pornography, and prostitution • Jeffrey Epstein and Jimmy Savile • self-help movements and gurus • deception and self-deception • social proof and human conformity • are humans naturally rational, irrational, or both?

Louis Theroux is a genre-defining documentary filmmaker best known for his explorations of controversial and complex topics. Using a gentle questioning style and an informal approach, Louis has shone light on intriguing beliefs, behaviors, and institutions by getting to know the people at the heart of them — from the officers and inmates at San Quentin prison to the extreme believers of the Westboro Baptist Church; from male porn performers in California to young women with eating disorders in London.