Is your boss a psychopath in disguise? Jon Ronson can help you find out. He talks to Jane McGowan before his touring show reveals all...
Watch out, Guildford and Richmond. Psychopath Night is upon us, courtesy of journalist, filmmaker and author Jon Ronson.
The show, which enjoyed a sell-out run last year, delves back into one of Jon’s favourite preoccupations, which he originally explored 14 years ago in his bestselling book The Psychopath Test. It’s a timely, fresh glance. For the world of 2025 is a very different place from the one in which his curious fascination was born.
“We’re living in increasingly psychopathic times,” he says. “The corridors of political and business power are replete with those traits, and they’re widely encouraged on social media too.”
It was Robert Hare, the Canadian forensic psychologist, who provided the premise for the book. Back in the 1980s, Hare had compiled a 20-point checklist designed to determine whether someone was a psychopath or not. Obviously, it was fun to check one’s own status, but also instructive as to whether friends and family were harbouring the relevant traits.
“I was really interested in the whole idea of psychopathy,” explains Jon. “People who are described as psychopaths are almost like another species.
“But then came this second idea that psychopaths actually rule the world; that we as a society have decided to reward psychopathic values. We make these people our bosses, our CEOs. How startling to be living in a world that rewards the worst mental disorder of all, with its grandiosity, lack of empathy and pathological lying.”
At the time, Ronson’s readers were intrigued to find out who these psychopathic masters were. Now it is all too clear.
“Those thoughts formed the original basis for the book, but social media has changed everything since then. Pathological lying, which is one of the main tick boxes on the test, is now almost a religion. People lie all the time, and no one is criticised for doing it. On social media, there is no empathy. And it’s this change in attitude which is one of the reasons I wanted to return to the story.”
Born in Cardiff in 1967, Jon first gained recognition with a column in Time Out in which he undertook personal challenges, often showcasing the quirky and the absurd along the way. This led to BBC TV series The Ronson Mission and a succession of popular books, such as Them: Adventures with Extremists (2001) and The Men Who Stare at Goats (2004), loosely adapted into a Hollywood movie starring George Clooney.
His 2015 book, So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed, is frequently cited as having kick-started the conversation about the evils of social media trolling, while his multi-award-winning podcast Things Fell Apart turns the spotlight on another of today’s social blights: the so-called culture wars. All contested life is here, from gay liberation to legal abortion.
And while some of Jon’s human subjects were once regarded as slightly beyond the fringe, over the past decade, as social media has really taken hold, a good many of them have acquired a powerful global voice.
“What we are seeing now is enormous dissatisfaction within society – with our institutions, with our politics and even with the whole idea of a liberal society itself. People are actively taking a contrary view of everything – of science and facts,” he asserts.
Jon Ronson
“In the 1990s, when I was writing about Alex Jones [now a hugely influential US broadcaster and prominent conspiracy theorist], I was in charge. The only way that he and others like him would make it into mainstream media was if someone came along and did a story about them.
“But clearly Alex Jones doesn’t want simply to be chronicled by someone like me. As soon as anyone in that mould has the opportunity to control their own media life, they seize it.”
And the trend towards the consumption of news and information in isolated settings, says Jon, only adds to the fractured nature of society.
“Many observers are still surprised by the prominence of people like Jones and Andrew Tate. They still don’t see them as mainstream. But when Tate began to appear in the news, it wasn’t a surprise to the millions of teenage boys who knew of him or followed him, because what he embodies is their reality.
“We are living in a very fractured world, where everyone exists in their own bubble, and people outside that bubble have no idea what’s going on. The days of everyone sitting down to watch Morecambe and Wise on Christmas Day are over. We all exist in groups, but separately.”
Which is what makes coming together to share a live theatrical experience especially important – even if the experience in question is all about how to spot a psychopath.
“In the live show, I am able to bring out surprise guests and hear the audience gasp as they tell their extraordinary stories, which you obviously can’t do in a book.
“It’s also fun to experiment a bit. I have never enjoyed going to see authors give talks, as mostly they are pretty boring. They may just read from their books. I want to do a little bit better than that, so I have film clips and make it much more of a performance.”
According to Jon, one in every 100 people is considered to have psychopathic tendencies. So there is a pretty good chance that – in some of the bigger venues, at least – you could be sitting next to one.
“And if psychopaths enjoy going to shows about psychopaths, as I think they probably do, that figure could be even higher. I’d estimate that there are usually about 50 in there,” laughs Jon.
“It has never ended in carnage, though, so the ones who come to see me are obviously very polite.”
But what exactly is it that attracts Jon to the shadier side of human nature in the first place?
“I spend my life online going down rabbit holes,” he says. “Trying to find something that intrigues me. Usually, when people tell me that they have ‘an amazing story’, they absolutely haven’t. Nine times out of ten, it’s that the government is using microwave beams to control their thoughts.
“Occasionally, someone will get in touch, and I just have to find out more. In 2023, I made a documentary for Audible called The Debutante [about a socialite who became a neo-Nazi and then a US government informant]. I thought the story was over, but a couple of months ago, I got a message completely out of the blue from someone saying she was the woman’s neighbour.
“I don’t want to give anything away, but this person was genuine, and so I had to record an epilogue. It was a real twist and was pretty amazing, and that just came out of a DM [direct message] on Instagram.”
Still, with the internet and social media at everyone’s disposal, is there really much out there with which writers like Jon can surprise us? Wait till next year and find out.
“2026 is shaping up to be a pretty big year for me. I have a new book coming out, and another series of Things Fell Apart for the BBC. In the meantime, ending 2025 with Psychopath Night is going to be really good fun.”
Psychopath Night is at G Live, Guildford (trafalgartickets.com) on Nov 10 and at Richmond Theatre (atgtickets.com) on Nov 23.
