Hunter S. Thompson Wants To Settle The Score | Letterman

my next guest is one of the most controversial  writers in america and the inventor of gonzo   journalism we're delighted that he could be with  us tonight welcome please dr hunter thompson nice to see you sir how are you oh i am terrible  what's the matter you don't   i've been going to court every morning for uh  two weeks at seven o'clock yeah and uh for me   to go anywhere at seven o'clock is real  hard so i uh i tend to stay up all night   yeah so i've never stayed up all night for two  weeks that makes it sure you don't sleep at all   do you that's about the 188th hour yeah so i i  want to prove something you know i uh i don't even   i'm not sure what but you feel like you're now in  the middle of a mission and you will have proven   something uh i probably will have yeah before  this is over yeah all right well that's good   that wasn't well i came here but yeah i remember  something i couldn't i couldn't talk this morning   at all my voice was gone when i called to  say i can't make it i couldn't say anything   also originally you call you called you called  here to cancel yeah do you have a microphone on   or is this something a sandbag trip or you have a  microphone and i don't that's right i'm the only   one in the building with a mic on nobody hears  anything against chicago oops chicago politics   uh now when you're not miked at all right no  no really you've taken everything under this   thing oh i'd say okay they're hearing  every word you say paranoia yeah uh so you're uh uh dr hunter thompson can i ask you what that  what the the wait i thought we read not to   discuss these you don't want to discuss the doctor  i could discuss your childhood and you know your   teeth and stuff like that but uh really i i i  just really i'm we're not into a uh an academic   uh credential thing well no i didn't i i just  assumed that if i insist on the use of the term   doctor yeah at certain times but uh in fact i'm  a doctor of chemotherapy of journalism and of uh comes to me what's that word   divinity yes stupidity divinity  sure well i would have guessed that let me ask you about uh what's embarrassing  i've had many doctorates it's like being rich   yeah well no i mean if you went to school and  there you shouldn't be embarrassed by it i bet   i've worked all my life for these things  yeah wealth and doctorates why shouldn't   i be a little sensitive about displaying  them in some kind of sleazy you know tv i just want to have a little fun i know i know  and you're just that's what we're doing here   trying to have a little fun uh now tell me about  the the goings-on in palm beach let's talk about   something else for a second here what you brought  your uh you brought is this a gift hunter or is   this innocence yeah that's a gift uh-huh that's a  bomb uh-huh we have here uh two or three thousand   firecrackers huh well no uh not that many really  it's a it's a light thing i earlier i brought it   out to set it off no you're not gonna be setting  these off in here would you well yeah no no we'll   just maybe do the same thing maybe later at  the buffet upstairs well we'll set those up   go put it back over here no no you get  it you get it close to that cigarette   i know that would happen i said don't worry let's  go out there and put it down in front of him   tell me about you your correspondence with the  american express company but what did you have   in mind for those folks i got offended frankly  that the american express was offering the uh   the gold card uh to the rebel uh yeah and what  i considered a fairly uh a loose-minded sort of   greedy kind of way and you have a goal card  no i know say that's what i mean that's the uh but uh it's being offered in a way i  consider the greater the gold card do   you have one yeah yeah now what is that  what is that supposed to represent if you   have one of those what does that mean it tells  me that i can go anywhere i want and get money   yeah i can well there are limits to this and there  are certain dark aspects of that uh that contract   but basically if i uh like i i left  the red chrysler convertibles all over   palm beach and hotels and beach houses i can just  you know it's like for you the card that's right   and i had it i didn't even have to register in  the hotel just wave the card they call me doctor   yeah they call you whatever you want really with  the old car but i didn't feel she'd be offered   uh to uh do the masses yeah this is a poem i've  been trying to i've been uh educating myself to   think like the palm beach life and uh i've come to  surprise some surprising life stances in this i've   taken a driving up and down the beach and i read  chrysler convertible with lesbians at night and uh naked people and the drugs this is the power  of the gold card that's what you have to do but i i thought that i uh palm beat i mean uh  the american express image was kind of sully   by the idea that anyone could  uh wander around like this   can rent convertibles buy lesbians  all that trumpets with a gold card   so uh i wrote them a letter saying  that look i think i have a better idea   and uh what that is is that i should do your ads  from now on for the gold cards not the green cards   and i put it down in a very uh forceful  and i think persuasive style and it was uh   rejected by the swine that i wrote  it to his name was johnson no no it would be an effective campaign i think you are  for the american express card yeah yeah whatever   uh yeah that's what that's that's i'm sure you  have people here can work on that yeah oh sure we   do we have a full staff of folks who are looking  to get you commercial work that's all they do in the morning i i really work in the  courthouses and stuff yeah i'm a reporter   yeah let me uh now speaking of reporters  is it true that you one time were a   bowling reporter for a puerto rican newspaper  oh that's a logo yeah all the things i've done   to bring that fellow is that the truth though it  is true yeah uh how does one get that position i was writing a novel uh at the time about  san juan and i decided that uh no actually   reverse it i went to san juan and  decided to write a novel about it   and uh what i wanted to do was work on this uh  new english language paper the same one star and   uh i presented my credentials and got immediately  just horribly rejected all my several friends of   mine were hired so i wrote the editor a letter  saying uh you're a a swine a fool and a uh and a   doomed man pretty much the same letter you wrote  to the american express guy no that was worse   and i said i'm gonna find somebody to come in here  and get your boots and lo and behold and the uh   like way back in the personals they had you  know columns of the new york times on a sunday   was a like a three-line ad that said uh famous  international puerto rican sports magazine seeks a   chic editor you know something like that i  thought well i'll call that and it was some   uh swine really that's what it comes down to  who was starting a uh what do you call the the   sports illustrated of the caribbean that  sounded real good and plus it gave me a   i'm into vengeance i like to i like to settle  these scores uh to the best of my ability when you live this this life yeah  you want to settle the scores   yeah people will get sloppy  otherwise so i went down there uh   to work on this magazine which i really thought  was going to be a slick sportsman turned out to   be a bowling sheet a horrible thing where uh  i had to hang around bullying allies at night   and report the scores of the like the federal  league yeah you know uh harold's uh real estate   sales and uh hernandez uh construction how long  did you was that fun for you no ensued the man   pseudo good good as long as you got the vengeance  yeah yeah yeah yeah it's still going on listen   uh i want to ask you if you can come back and see  us again uh i'm sorry that we're running short on   time i'd like to continue this discussion and  there's no i don't think that you don't think   you'd be back okay well that saves us making  phone calls tomorrow yeah all right uh thank you   very much hunter pleasure to meet you dr hunter  thompson we'll be right back with marjorie gross you

Channel: Letterman

Views: 509,735

Keywords: letterman, david letterman, dave letterman, interview, letterman interview, letterman official, letterman late show, letterman late night, late night, stupid pet tricks, stupid human tricks, top ten, late show, top ten list

Id: 0y8-rFO4P78

Length: 8min 56sec (536 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 30 2022