199. Gonzo: Fear, Loathing, & New Journalism

Seth drives straight through bat country with Kyle, Emily, and the Lexiconicon this week to dive headfirst into the dubious history of the word ‘gonzo’. Old journalism made new and New Journalism made gonzo, the gang enters the chaotic world of Hunter S. Thompson.

With excess and subjectivity, the word reveals its murky origins. Italian? Bostonite slang? A jazz song? A prank?! The search turns into a perfect reflection of gonzo itself: unreliable narrators, conflicting stories, blurred truth, and a refusal to be pinned down.

From journalism and documentaries to internet culture and the Muppets, gonzo has long outlived its creator. What started as a label for one writer’s “decadent and depraved” style becomes a way to describe storytelling that throws objectivity out the window and drags the audience directly into the madness.