Hunter S. Thompson Interview on Gonzo Journalism (April 16, 1975) 

"I'm a word freak. I treat words like music."

This could be the best Hunter interview I've seen. He's thoughtful, lucid, not defensive and clearly respects his interviewer.

My recent interest is watching interviews from the 60-80s. They are so interesting and captivating. They are normally very composed conversations and it is amazing to see legends in their younger days.

This is a great conversation. Hunters not in “performance” mode, so is fairly relaxed. It seems he’s got respect for the interviewer and Salisbury credits Hunter by asking thoughtful questions. Gold standard interview

What makes this interview so great is that Salisbury asks questions that really engage and put Hunter to the test.. and his answers are revelatory and more down to earth and direct than I've ever heard.

That terror and tension when he wrote about drugs was from actual experience with those drugs. He didn't glorify or make it seem mystical, he showed you a more realistic side of drug abuse. Its not always unicorns and rainbows. Sometimes it's waking up in a trashed hotel room, with no clear memory of what had happened the past 24 hours.

One of the best interviews I have ever seen. 2 professionals. Not a wasted word. So much better than the vapid clickbait trash we have to put up with today.

This is an absolute treat. None of the questions are straightforward, I love how they allow Hunter to explore his thoughts. Probably the best interview I've seen with him

I haven't seen this one before, thank you for uploading.

These sort of informed and intelligent conversations don't seem to happen anymore. The dumbing down has been sad.

Hunter Thompson was like the Lennon or Hendrix of journalism. He was a raw and intelligent man that screamed honesty and humanity. He wore his flaws without shame or pride and did enough drugs to kill several bull elephants.

Awh this is gold. He always sounds like Elvis after a visit to the dentists.

A man who chose to live life to the fullest extreme without guilt or shame. RIP Hunter

The world has lost the Hunter Thompson breed of human and its a real dull place because of it. It was a very rare breed indeed. The man was a philosopher.

This is the most lucid I have seen Hunter in an interview.

I think hunter is so composed in this interview bc the interviewer is obviously knowledgeable on his work and treats him with respect. He is asking questions that arent the usual gibble gabble

"I made ten thousand dollars off that thing" *scratches his nose*

I love the smile he gets on his face the first time the phrase "gonzo journalism" comes up.

The interviewer, Harrison Salisbury, is excellent. I didn't expect such good questions and that much of an open mind from a guy that was quite a bit older than HST in the mid-1970s. I'll have to find out more about him.

Did anyone notice Jonny Depps persona changed after meeting Thomson ? The way he spoke , manorisms etc

they don't make interviews like this anymore.

I understand what he means when he says he hates writing. I make jewelry out of wire, I structure it, I weave it, and making the coils is a horrible chore. It's an extremely tedious and sometimes downright frustrating art. But then when I learn something new in my own style, or I actually complete a piece, the torture is over, and I can't stop looking at my creation with a smile on my face.

I can’t tell what has changed more. Political parties or journalistic integrity.

“Sometimes you can go a bit too far. And then there’s real terror.” NO ONE stomped on the terra like HST. DEAR GOD I MISS HIM.

I hope people know journalism is almost dead in mainstream media.

“The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side.”

This must be one of very few individuals at his age who had recognized hunters talent without any prejudices.

When you watch these interviews it's sad. It strikes you as two properly formed intelligent adults having a conversation that actually means something, that's actually at least a little bit important. Their lives feel actualized. Today, it's so much more degraded. You have to assume that what people talk about is meaningless, that they're not particularly adept at what they do, and that it all doesn't really matter. I don't know if it's a perspective shift or just something everyone thinks, but the world now really feels like a far more inane place

Johnny Depp was spot-fucking on...

Hunter Thompson was an American treasure, unappreciated, underrated, and terribly misunderstood. He was honest, at least. And most "journalists" now, can't even remotely maintain honesty.

This guy is a great interviewer; informed and thoughtful. He impressed me as much as Hunter.

He could never, and was never sucked into being a diluted version of himself. I think honesty is/was the sticking point and that’s why we still love him.

Hearing the real Thompson makes me appreciate Depps performance.

As I watched this interview, it came to mind how well Johnny Depp did portraying this man in Fear and Loathing. He nailed it

Vivid memories of a time in history. We need to pick up on the legacy of ledgens like Hunter. The critical and gentle voice of a reporter floating between the lines of history fueled on central stimulants, cigarettes and cold whiskey. When the going gets weird, the weird turn professional.

As a student of journalism I really admire the structure and contol of this interview. Salisbury clearly did his homework and dutifully asked the right questions. If there's any period that I could've interviewed Hunter Thompson, it would have been after the 72 election. Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail is, in my opinion, his best work and most provocative.

Back when smoking was good for you.

Average smoker: let's have a smoke Hunter: let's smoke ten cigs/minute

This is a very good interview, many good questions were asked and answered.

“Campaign Trail ‘72” is the best book about American politics I’ve ever read. You read that, Hell Angels and Fear and Loathing LV… a portrait emerges of a person who REALLY understood what makes America tick, and it’s troubling. He saw our current predicament coming decades ago, it’s all the way back in Hells Angels. I miss him as a writer, for all his faults as a man. Hope you found peace HST. Thank you for the comfort of your work and it’s unwavering truth back in my own young moment of great disillusionment.

“As your attorney, I advise you to hand over the mescaline!” 😄 Love the Gonzo Journo...R.I.P. Hunter ❤️

This Hunter interview seems so different from all the rest. I don't quite know why, but it's amazing. Maybe it's the mutual respect, maybe something else. But this is such a fantastic piece of history. Thank you for uploading!

"If they make a 12 million dollar typewriter, I'll write a bad check and have one for a while." 😆

Some of his best writing collected in ´´A Generation of Swine´; columns in the the SF Examiner ´86-´88.

Shits fucking melting man, it’s not safe to enter

such a lovely mutual respect for each other's profession. I love interviews like this.

Im impressed with Harrison's work in this interview. Well done to keep everything on pace, and engaging HST with every question.

He’s certainly the original hipster

Todays journalists don't ask questions like Harrison Salisbury did. Great, in depth interview.

This may be the best interviewer I've ever seen. He seems almost a fan but in a peer kind of way. This is more conversational than a standard interview. Perfection.

I’m infinitely impressed by this man. This interview in particular is impressive when you consider the fact that that he most likely had consumed a considerable amount of alcohol, cocaine and weed by this point in the day. Maybe I’m wrong about that, but the man did have a regular routine from what I understand.

Bill Murry captured his smooth slow talk, His intellectual perspective better than Johnny.. check out the movie Where the Buffalo roam. Great movie.

Johnny depp did him justice

Watching this interview made me realize Johnny Depp was the most perfect choice for his role

It's amazing how much Johnny Depp really became Hunter Thompson for Fear and Loathing It's honestly both incredibly freaky and amazing at the same time just shows how incredible Thompson is and how great of an actor Depp is

My father was a free lance investigative journalist. Hunter worshipped him and ripped his style. Lionel Olay was THE OG originator of “gonzo” journalism. For him it was simply journalism. He was just balls to the wall. His integrity was immutable and incontrovertible. He wanted to interview Fidel Castro and did. Had to go thru Europe to get there but he did. Hunter was a punk and charlatan at best. He used to come to our place in Topanga to shoot guns and be with Lionel. My Mother could not stand him. She said he was a fraud. Lionel lost his life mysteriously at 42; shortly after he got his hands on the Warren report and proceeded to tell everyone he knew “they killed Kennedy”. Hunter did write an obit for Lionel in his work the Great White Shark Hunt called “The Ultimate Free Lancer” but that piece and his proximity to Lionel is actually what gained him entrance and legitamacy to the “cool” kid scene as documented in Rolling Stone. I met him and spent some time when I was 22. He was a coke fried sociopath no question. Also, disturbingly amoral.

So glad that I stumbled into this, such an amazing interview. The breadth & depth achieved is rarely achieved with our current attention-deficit culture.

Intensify the experience......best quote I've ever heard. Just realised when he did this interview that cell phones, internet and social media are not even dreamt of. How things have changed. I was only 1 year old.

Top notch interview. I miss you Hunter 🙌

"I treat words like music" - Gonzo or not, HST wrote with a love of the craft.

We are all familiar with Hunter's drawl, but despite that, he is a lucid thinker. Clear, direct, honest. Fillers are almost non-existent: ums, ahs...they don't feature in his speech much. It's all pauses, and what a master of pauses he is.

This is probably the best interview I have seen with the man, and I have seen as many as can be found. Salisbury did a fantastic job of causing Hunter to open up immediately. Hunter is notoriously frustrated by shitty interview technique and that didn't happen here at all.

This has to be one of the most interesting interviews ever conducted, how Hunter describes his experiences with drugs and what they do to a person, the reason why you're taking them. With substances it's very much an abusive relationship, the way experiencing emotions becomes so unfiltered and yet you know you're probably frying your brain at this very moment. Salisbury should've asked more questions pertaining to writing and words in general, Hunter's insight on those subjects is fascinating. This video is full of invaluable writing advice if you listen to it carefully. BIG Thumbs up, this needs to be preserved for ever.

For all the fan-fare he got, lets not forget he was a deeply troubled man. I get the impression his existence was not very fun. Go through one coke-binge come-down and you’ll get it.

Sad to say but this is Hunter at his peak. His best writing days were already just about over at this point. After this it was the start of a long slow descent. I just watched as live show he did in '87 and the difference is noticeable. I saw him at a show in '89 and it was different still. He became a victim of his own success as someone once said. After a while he felt he had to keep up the act. Or couldn't stop it.

Interviewer: "This has been one of your problems, hasn't it? People don't understand when you're putting them on [in your articles]?" Hunter: "That's been a problem a lot longer than most people realize. Maybe even longer than I realize -- I'm not even sure myself anymore."

Harrison Salisbury was a great writer himself. I have his and Hunter's books, nearly all of them read, sitting proudly in my home library.

This guy is a weirdo

I read somewhere Hunter didn't care for "Where the Buffalo Roam". I really liked the movie, I thought Bill Murray did a good impression of him. It seems Hunter got more gonzo the older he got, some of his interviews are pretty out there. Definitely one in a billion.

Fantastic writer. Never met him or spent time with him so cannot attest to his character. He ruined reading for me , I can say of most writers that they are not him. I relate to his stories in a profound way. I have imitated some of his mannerisms and enjoy carrying a piece of his charm in my backpack. Was he a great journalist? Unsure , I am not a journalist. Does that matter ? Not to me. I have taken with me a piece of what I believe he had to say. He has written some wonderful sentences.

Interesting fact. Johnny Depp has that watch now

7:50 I love this interview but I didn't understand why sports reporters are usef to being lied to. I thought reporting about sports is just facts. Who won, who lost etc.

Johnny Depp got his way of speaking down perfectly

I've read the man, I've seen the man, and I've heard about his exploits. I'm just going to say this. He seems like a guy who tries very very hard to be cool, but is not quite as cool in real life as he wants to come off. It's like he's an actor stuck in a role.

Hunter Thompson and Neal Cassidy both athletically gifted man's man that could handle their booze and drugs. they took the *Proverbial* edges jock strap and stayed there man yeah T.Y. Zaproda $

man,i can see now where depp got his speaking experiences ,he talks like hunter in many movies.they were good friends and did alot of drugs together,alot.that woould be a movie. Hunter & Depp ,trippin.

There will never be another Hunter, this man is pure genius.

The scene in Where the Buffalo Roam, when he's in the bathroom with Nixon, and Nixon says "fuck the doomed". Encapsulates so much of his administration, and Hunters hatred for the man.

I know. I hadn't seen it either. This is great.

"Theres a high in covering politics thats a combination of power and adrenaline which beats any drug I've found yet" -Hunter S Thompson

this interviewer really killed it. most interviewers dont know wherethis dudes coming from but he really got hunter to open up

LOVE HUNTER S THOMPSON!! LOVE JOHNNY DEPP!! AMAZING!! ALL I NEED IN THIS PIC IS MANSON 🍷❤️‍🔥💀💯💋😝WE ARE GONZO!!!

A man who loved to film snuff films great guy

I would have loved to have sat for one day and talked to this guy. He had a great mind and killer sense of humor.

I have that same houseplant they have in the background. It’s very hard to kill, actually. I only remember to water it like once a month.

Awesome a 1960's podcast

Did anyone really know the real hunter thompson ? So very dark things going on with THAT GUY..

I started reading Hunter in 1980, and got to see him lecture at UCDavis. I have most of his books and have seen most of the interviews. In my opinion, this is the best one I've ever seen.

There was a movie about his life Called Where The Buffalo Roam (1980) and 1998’s Fear and loathing in Las Vegas

What a great video. Hunter seems relaxed, and the interviewer is asking some great questions. The chemistry is great between them. I can't believe I've never seen this before.

GONZO alright

Would love to hear Hunter's take on today's political climate

Sad to think that at 67 he felt life was too boring to go on, but I suppose that after a life of hedonism, being disabled with a hip replacement would have certainly been insufferable.

This is the best interview with Thompson that I’ve heard or watched. He seems completely lucid and not intoxicated, which makes all the difference. And the interviewer is excellent. I’ve always thought “Hell’s Angels” was the best thing he wrote, despite the fact that I went nuts for “Fear and Loathing” when it came out. He acknowledges that “Angels” was straight journalism and that “Fear” (his personal favorite) was an exercise in journalism and his big dance routine so to speak. Those two books will always be two of my favorite literary works. I didn’t much like his subsequent stuff.

Straight journalism doesn't exist anymore, unfortunately 😕 we have let the machine take over here in the future like Hunter S. Thompson said he feared. Your laptop is your enemy and tab button etc.

LEGEND! A. Rare American that could hold his drink and drugs and still be an artist author

Always thought gonzo was when you mix whiskey with cocaine

Wow! That's rare, thx for uploading this

Now the new journalism is complicit fiction.

When you hear him more or less chemistry free, calm, and in a reflective head space, you see how well Bill Murray captured him in those same moments in, Where The Buffalo Roam.