Overview of How Long Gone Episode 985: Jerry Stahl
This episode features a wide-ranging, funny, and often filthy conversation with writer Jerry Stahl, centered on his new book Gonzo Neurotic (a best-of collection out September 22). Before Jerry joins, Chris Black and Jason Stewart riff on wedding DJs, device addiction, current pop-culture absurdities, MTV’s “Best New Artist” nominees, and the general decline of old-school media, before shifting into a long interview about Stahl’s career, sobriety, magazine writing, celebrity profiles, and the lost art of spending real time with interesting people.
Main Topics Discussed
Opening banter and current media
- The hosts joke about:
- bad wedding music and the value of a great DJ
- their contrasting lifestyles: New York vs. Sea Ranch, California
- “TikTok consultants,” content creators, and the modern obsession with self-documentation
- They react to:
- Page Six’s “desperate celebs” framing
- MTV’s “Best New Artist” lineup, which they mostly don’t recognize
- the decline of traditional talk-show publicity and the rise of viral, user-generated formats
Jerry Stahl’s background and career
- Stahl talks through his history writing for:
- Hustler
- Playboy
- Esquire
- BlackBook
- other alt-weeklies and magazines from the era when publications paid for long, risky reporting
- He shares stories about:
- living in a YMCA in Columbus, Ohio while working at Hustler
- doing humor writing for the magazine’s “Bits and Pieces” section
- writing captions for absurd reader submissions like genitally shaped vegetables
- He reflects on how much the media world has changed:
- long-form celebrity profiles are now rare
- magazines no longer fund those kinds of immersion pieces
- social media has replaced a lot of the old “field reporting” energy
Writing, drugs, and sobriety
- Stahl discusses his long sobriety, saying he’s been sober for about 30 years
- The conversation touches on:
- heroin, oxy, fentanyl, and the shifting drug landscape
- how visible fentanyl addiction has become in public spaces
- the difference between older drug culture and today’s more dangerous, chemically altered supply
- He and the hosts also joke about:
- the romanticized danger of past drug eras
- how much of his writing came from being a mess in the middle of it
Celebrity profiles and the old magazine ecosystem
- Stahl recalls the lost style of old-school magazine journalism:
- following subjects for days or weeks
- deep immersion into a celebrity’s world
- profiles that captured the infrastructure around famous people, not just polished PR versions
- He mentions:
- Mickey Rourke
- Cindy Crawford
- Ben Stiller
- The hosts highlight how that kind of reporting is nearly extinct in the modern media economy
Podcasting, conversation, and “the line”
- A recurring theme is the value of:
- letting conversations breathe
- resisting the urge to force soundbites
- staying past awkward silences to get to something real
- They compare good podcasting to good magazine writing:
- both rely on patience, rapport, and a willingness to let people reveal themselves
- They also discuss:
- why some conversations “start bad and get better”
- how both interviewers and guests can break through a defensive script
Notable Takeaways
- The old magazine era is over, but Stahl’s work preserves its spirit: irreverent, heavily reported, and willing to go too far.
- Self-promotion is now part of the job for writers and creators, even if it still feels awkward.
- The best interviews come from real friction and time spent with subjects, not from checklist-style questioning.
- Stahl’s perspective is shaped by:
- addiction and recovery
- a long career across magazines, books, and Hollywood
- a skeptical but funny view of the modern media machine
Book and Guest Info
Jerry Stahl’s new book
- Title: Gonzo Neurotic: The Best and Not So Best of Jerry Stahl
- Release date: September 22
- The book is a collection of Stahl’s writing with new intros that contextualize the pieces and revisit what was happening in his life at the time
About Jerry Stahl
- Writer, essayist, novelist, and former magazine provocateur
- Known for sharp, darkly funny, often transgressive writing
- Longtime figure in alt-weekly and men’s magazine culture
- Widely recognized for his memoir and for being portrayed by Ben Stiller in Permanent Midnight
Closing Notes
- The episode ends on a warm note, with the hosts inviting Stahl to hang out in L.A. and joking about Chinese food and cashmere shopping in Arcadia.
- The overall tone is classic How Long Gone: funny, insider-y, media-savvy, and intentionally loose, with the guest proving especially well-suited to the hosts’ taste for chaos and great stories.