gonzo

comparative more gonzo · superlative most gonzo

1. journalismUsing an unconventional, exaggerated, and highly subjective style, often when the reporter takes part in the events of the story.

   1 more example

   I ask Hunter to explain ... Just what is Gonzo Journalism? ... “Gonzo all started with Bill Cardosa ^([sic]), ... after I wrote the Kentucky Derby piece for Scanlan's ... the first time I realized you could write different. And ... I got this note from Cardosa saying, ‘That was pure gonzo journalism!’ ... Some Boston word for weird, bizarre.”

   1972, Richard Pollack, chapter VI, in Stop the Presses, I Want to Get Off!

2. Unconventional, bizarre, crazy.

   Nicholson’s Torrance is an evil clown ... Appropriately, pop culture has embraced him as a gonzo antihero: Ads for T-shirts emblazoned with the “Here’s Johnny” Nicholson

   2007, Mark Dery, The Pyrotechnic Insanitarium: American culture on the brink, page 121

plural gonzos

1. countableuncountableGonzo journalism or a journalist who produces such journalism.

   “Unstable” indeed! Those swine: Next year we should demand a gonzo category – or maybe R S should give it. Of course: “The first annual Rolling Stone award for the year's finest example of pure gonzo journalism.”

   2000, Hunter S. Thompson, Douglas Brinkley, Fear and Loathing in America: The brutal odyssey of an outlaw Journalist, 1968–1976

2. countableA wild or crazy person.