By Josh Siatkowski | Staff Writer
A couple weeks ago, Theo Von lined up the most impressive repertoire of interviews in America on his show, “This Past Weekend With Theo Von,” which is consistently at the top of Spotify’s podcast charts.
The comedian sat down with former President Donald Trump and Sen. Bernie Sanders within a week of each other. And somehow, the former-coke-addict-turned-TV-personality-turned-podcasting-star made the mouths of the nation’s best reporters drool in amazement — absolutely bizarre.
When Von was 19, he appeared on the TV show “Road Rules.” As the personalities of each contestant were uncovered throughout the show, young Von stuck out among his peers. His rough childhood and eccentric personality made him the subject of more than a few awkward moments, but with his lovable demeanor, Von carved out a soft spot for himself in the heart of every viewer.
Von reappeared on “Road Rules” for some years after and hosted a relatively unsuccessful game show in the 2010s. But as he faded from the public eye, Von became addicted to multiple substances, including alcohol and cocaine.
Six years ago, Von got into podcasting. It began as a solo operation, a platform where he could connect with a community of adults struggling with addiction.
What’s even more bizarre is Von did a better job on his interviews with Trump and Sanders than any journalist in America could. Toward the end of his Aug. 13 conversation with Sanders, even the senator himself was shocked. Von made a comment about the disillusionment of American communities, saying, “There’s no story… the thread just gets thin.”
Sanders replied, “That’s a very profound point you just made.”
How on earth does a 43-year-old man with a mullet and Louisiana drawl get a man like Bernie Sanders to call him “profound” on the online equivalent of a bachelor pad that’s sponsored by a men’s razor called “The Lawn Mower?” Was this just a one-time comment made by Von that caught the senator by surprise, or is Theo Von a legitimate journalist capable of generating relevant, thought-provoking and engaging discussion?
The answer is the latter. Here’s why.
1. Theo Von is smarter than you think.
Theo Von himself is a spectacle. He looks and sounds like he should be cutting through swampland on an airboat. His full name — Theodor Capitani Von Kurnatowski III — makes it seem like he should have died fighting for the Austro-Hungarian Empire. And then there are the stories.
From the time he went “looking for the Lord” by joining a cult in Los Angeles, when he got in a fistfight while holding a hamster in his sweatshirt pocket, some of the man’s stories don’t even feel like they could happen in a hallucination. And they probably didn’t happen. Even Von’s super fans know that the character behind the mic is just an exaggerated version of the real Theo Von. He may not be completely fabricating events, but he certainly takes creative liberty with any story he shares.
It’s easy to forget that Von isn’t really the character that he plays and that there is real substance behind the kaleidoscope of psychedelic stories.
One of the easiest places to find the “real Theo” is in his discussion of the opioid epidemic and addiction crisis. Here’s an excerpt from Von’s August 20 interview with Former President Trump:
“Alcoholism and addiction is something that’s really ramped up, even in the past 20 or 30 years in our country. And during the opioid epidemic, the estimate that, almost 600,000 people died. And that doesn’t even include the broken heart and the deaths of families and circles of trust. And so the ripple effect of that is huge.”
“There’s that Sackler family that pretty much got away with it. You know, they had a financial slap on the wrist. But we’re one of the only countries that allows… pharmaceutical companies to advertise on television. What do you think are things that you can do to help curtail that [problem] when you get into office?”
Von’s perceptiveness is glaring here. He clearly knows his stuff. It’s just that the stuff he knows about is not the stuff that’s being talked about on national news, which leads to the discussion of Von’s next strength.
2. Theo Von gets into topics that real people care about.
Theo Von is very charming, and he effortlessly builds a rapport with every guest he has on his show. But he hates billionaires. He even told Sanders that he doesn’t think they should exist.
In mainstream media, this sentiment — at least openly — is absent from both sides of the spectrum. Because most media is owned by billionaires themselves, these networks push second-tier issues that are meant to divide and boost ratings rather than the real issues caused by the billionaires themselves.
Von’s podcast, however, is devoid of the conflict of interest because his show is largely independent. (He did use production company Kast Media to place ads on his show, but that relationship ended poorly).
With this freedom, Von gives a platform to less-discussed, yet more relevant issues. One of these, of course, is America’s addiction crisis, which is very close to him. However, Von doesn’t stop there.
He talked in depth with both Sanders and Trump about how lobby organizations often have more power than voters and how real wages have stagnated in recent decades. He also discussed hidden pricing in the healthcare industry and asked both guests about their support of a bill that requires hospitals to reveal their prices to patients before treatment.
It’s issues like these that Americans should — and really do — care about. I’d even go far as to say that these are the most important topics in our country.
Instead of pushing divisive issues for attention, Von generates non-partisan, open discussion about topics that have a direct impact on the health, livelihood and freedom of almost every American.
3. Theo Von adds humanity to his interviews.
As I said before, Theo Von is a charmer; it’s probably his greatest strength. Even today, he’s still the lovable oddball he was on “Road Rules.” An exchange he had with Sanders highlights this brilliantly.
Sanders, talking about his home state of Vermont, said, “We had a lot of dairy farmers. People worked really hard being a dairy farmer.”
To which Von replied, “Oh yeah. I used to work at a Cold Stone Creamery for a while. So not the same, but I get it.”
This level of looseness and humor isn’t just there to please the audience. It plays an important role in getting a guest — like a highly media-trained politician — to open up about less discussed issues and even their personal lives.
You could probably exclusively credit Von’s personality for getting Trump to talk about his relationship with his older brother Fred, who died young due to addiction.
But why does it matter that Von can get personal with a guest? I’d argue that the listener is able to get the most authentic perception of what a guest believes and who a guest is.
Ultimately, Von creates a setting that ditches the representative-constituent dynamic and the journalist-celebrity dynamics, and replaces them with a simple person-to-person talk.
And as anyone knows, that’s where the real truth is.
