Overview of Armchair Expert with Eric Goode
This episode is a wide-ranging conversation with documentary filmmaker, hotelier, nightclub founder, and conservationist Eric Goode, best known for Tiger King and Chimp Crazy, and now releasing HBO’s Monsters of God. Dax and Monica treat the interview less like a standard filmmaker chat and more like a deep dive into Goode’s many lives: New York nightlife, luxury hotels, animal conservation, addiction, art, and the strange, often dangerous ecosystems he’s spent decades documenting. The result is part Hollywood history, part wildlife-crime exposé, and part memoir of a deeply unconventional life.
Eric Goode’s Unlikely Career Path
From art school and nightlife to hotels
- Goode describes a youth shaped by:
- an eccentric, animal-loving mother
- an artist/professor father
- growing up around animals, new-age culture, and unconventional family dynamics
- He attended multiple art schools, including Parsons, but was eventually kicked out.
- Instead of following a traditional path, he entered New York nightlife and art culture in the late 1970s and 1980s.
- He helped create influential club spaces like Area, which blended nightlife and contemporary art.
- Collaborations there included Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Keith Haring.
- He later moved into the hotel business, becoming associated with iconic New York properties like:
- The Bowery Hotel
- The Maritime Hotel
- The Waverly Inn
- He also mentioned his Hotel El Roblar in Ojai and a tortoise-focused conservation facility there.
A life built on reinvention
- Goode frames his career as a series of chapters:
- clubs
- hotels
- music videos
- conservation
- documentaries
- He says he’s always been driven by curiosity and a need to move on after figuring something out.
Documentaries, Animals, and the “Monster” World
Why he makes these stories
- Goode says he’s drawn to people and subcultures that exist outside mainstream visibility.
- He’s especially interested in:
- animal collectors and traffickers
- fringe communities
- men driven by obsession, status, or addiction
- He emphasizes that his films are not meant to be preachy or sanctimonious.
- His goal is to reach people who are not already converted to the cause.
The new HBO series: Monsters of God
- The series follows the wildlife trade and the people who built lives around it.
- The conversation focuses on:
- reptile dealers
- exotic-animal smugglers
- the overlap between drugs, power, masculinity, and animal obsession
- Goode explains that the series exposes the moral gray areas of conservation, zoos, law enforcement, and the exotic-animal trade.
Conservation and the Big Picture
Goode’s conservation mission
- He became increasingly focused on conservation after recognizing the extinction crisis.
- He works heavily with turtles and tortoises, especially through the Turtle Conservancy.
- He explains that many species are under serious threat because of human impact and habitat loss.
- A major point of pride for him is breeding and reintroducing rare tortoises, including the plowshare tortoise.
Impact through documentary filmmaking
- Goode argues that documentaries can create change when they reach people who wouldn’t otherwise care.
- He points to Tiger King as an example:
- it helped bring attention to big-cat abuse
- it contributed to public pressure around the Big Cat Public Safety Act
- He also notes that major figures like Leonardo DiCaprio have helped support conservation work.
Notable Stories and Insights
New York, nightlife, and serendipity
- Goode shares stories about:
- the art scene in 1970s/80s New York
- operating clubs with little/no profit but huge cultural influence
- hotel life as a strange social ecosystem
- One memorable anecdote involves meeting a hotel operator at the Maritime who later became writer Leslie Arfin, illustrating how his businesses generated unexpected creative connections.
Music videos and art
- He directed two early-1990s Nine Inch Nails videos:
- “Pinion”
- “Help Me I’m in Hell”
- He describes them as short, weird films rather than conventional music videos.
- He also notes his long friendship with John Waters.
Addiction, danger, and perspective
- Goode speaks candidly about addiction, describing himself as still addicted “in a different way.”
- Dax connects this to the drug-heavy worlds Goode films.
- They discuss:
- meth, fentanyl, cocaine, heroin, and quaaludes
- the practical reality of addiction in the field
- the emotional toll of witnessing destruction repeatedly
- Goode says he can often “read” what’s happening in a scene or person because of his lived experience.
The moral complexity of his subjects
- He repeatedly argues that the people in his films are rarely simple villains.
- Many are:
- deeply damaged
- shaped by masculinity and identity issues
- pulled into illegal economies by money, access, or obsession
- He stresses that real-world exploitation often involves institutions too, including:
- zoos
- law enforcement
- regulators
- His broader point: the system is usually more complicated than a single bad guy.
Takeaways
What the episode is really about
- Eric Goode is more than a documentary director: he’s a nightlife architect, hotelier, conservationist, and chronic observer of human obsession.
- His work sits at the intersection of:
- entertainment
- exploitation
- conservation
- addiction
- power
- The episode underscores that his documentaries are not just about shocking behavior; they’re about how people create systems around desire, control, and identity.
Why it matters
- Goode’s stories suggest that:
- conservation messaging works better when it’s grounded in compelling human storytelling
- the line between fascination and critique is often thin
- real change comes from reaching people outside the usual echo chamber
Recommended Watch/Follow-Up
If you liked this conversation, check out:
- Tiger King
- Chimp Crazy
- HBO’s Monsters of God
- Goode’s conservation work through the Turtle Conservancy
- His New York properties and legacy in nightlife/hospitality, if you’re interested in the cultural backdrop behind his career