“Las Vegas is hard to capture in art without leaning on cliche. The movie Casino doesn't lean on cliche because it created the cliche. The Hangover created the cliche for this next generation. Culture is is causing people to act a certain way when they get to Las Vegas.” – Tod Goldberg

In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Tod talk about how movies can "totalize" places like Las Vegas, depicting "The Strip" at the expense of other parts of the city (3:00); the way that the real Las Vegas is full of deeply weird places and people, while still being an amalgamation of American culture in general (8:00); bygone hotels and attractions and the "lack institutional memory" in Las Vegas, as well as what social classes of people are attracted to the city (16:00); the kinds of movies that have been made about Las Vegas, the cliches they entail, and what they imply about how (and where) the city should be experienced (25:00); what Las Vegas is like outside of (and in tandem with) the narrative cliches that have come to define it (39:00); how major league sports teams and Formula One racing have changed Las Vegas, and what movies about the city might look like in the future (46:00).

Novelist Tod Goldberg is the New York Times bestselling author of over a dozen books, most notably the Gangsterland series of crime novels. He is also the producer, along with Martin Scorsese and Brian Koppelman, for The Roman, an upcoming Las Vegas casino drama series at Netflix.

Notable Links:

• Kansas Never Plays Itself (video essay)
• Souvenir, by Rolf Potts (book)
• The joys of Jane’s Addiction (Deviate episode)
• Las Vegas Strip (tourist gambling area)
• The Last Showgirl (2024 movie)
• Leaving Las Vegas (1995 movie)
• The Godfather Part II (1974 movie)
• Casino (1995 movie)
• About Sunny (2011 movie)
• Dave Hickey (art critic)
• The Hangover (2009 movie)
• Las Vegas Chinatown (district)
• What Happens Here, Stays Here (2003 Las Vegas ad campaign)
• Swingers (1996 movie)
• Star Trek: The Experience (former attraction in Las Vegas)
• SEMA auto show (annual car accessory show in Las Vegas)
• Odyssey: Driving Around the World (auto expedition Rolf wrote about)

“That first day in Mumbai, there was the slum to the side of us, there were sports cars that would have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars next to people walking with no feet next to 200 people crammed into a bus. Separating those layers in a nuanced way lifts the writing that shows that you've gone there and been respectful of the people who live here.” – Luke Richardson

In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Luke talk about Rolf's earliest travel adventures, why going slowly and spontaneously is the best way to travel, and what it's like to travel during times of natural disaster (2:00); how to write travel stories that are both interesting to the home audience and respectful of local communities, and how some of the best travel narratives are quest narratives (9:00); the tension between truth and possibility in storytelling, Rolf's "stranger than fiction" moments on the road, and narratives that inspired Rolf's early travels (17:30); Luke's adventure novels, and the travels that informed them (28:30); how Luke takes notes and records his adventures on the road, and how he writes about places he's never been (35:00); and Luke's advice for people wanting to write fictional adventure novels (41:00).

Luke Richardson is a traveler, author, and DJ based in England. His adventure novels include The Ark Files, The Atlantis Agenda, and The Giza Protocol. He hosts the Adventure Story Podcast.

Notable Links:

• Paris Writing Workshops (Rolf's annual creative writing classes)
• Jumping freight trains in the Pacific NW (Deviate episode)
• Alexander Supertramp (Into the Wild protagonist Chris McCandless)
• Van Life before #VanLife (Deviate episode)
• Vagabonding, by Rolf Potts (2003 book)
• The WEIRDest People in the World, by Joseph Henrich (2020 book)
• Toura Incognita, by Rolf Potts (2001 article that mentions spirit possession in Laos)
• Brentwood, Los Angeles (wealthy suburb in California)
• Marco Polo Didn't Go There, Rolf Potts (2008 book)
• Martin and Osa Johnson (1920s adventurers and filmmakers)
• Lake Paradise (wilderness area in northern Kenta)
• On the Trans-Siberian Express, by Rolf Potts (1999 essay)
• No Baggage Challenge (Rolf's 2010 round the world journey)
• Apocalypse Not: One Month on the Mekong, by Rolf Potts (1999 essay)
• In medias res (literary device)
• Malekula (island in V...

"All writing is trying to destroy a stereotype, and the individual that you're writing about -- the figure in the landscape -- is actually the ideal." —Paul Theroux

Paul Theroux's highly acclaimed novels include Blinding Light, My Other Life, and The Mosquito Coast. His 1975 book The Great Railway Bazaar is credited with revitalizing the genre of literary travel writing, and his more recent travel books include Ghost Train to the Eastern Star, Dark Star Safari, and The Last Train to Zona Verde.

In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Paul talk about Theroux's book Figures in a Landscape, and strategies for writing about the "human architecture of a place" (5:30); the attitude and time-investment required for meaningful travel reportage (20:30); the qualities that determine successful travel writing (25:50); the essential discomforts and obstacles of travel (32:45); the uses and shortcomings of paper maps in developing countries (40:15); and where Paul is traveling next (46:00).

Media mentioned in the 2026 intro

• Deviate Mini-Essays: Creative Free-Writes for Life's Journey (Substack newsletter)
• 6 Travel Podcasts to Inspire Your Next Trip (New York Times article)
• Kansas Never Plays Itself (non-travel Deviate episode)
• 2024 Deviate Super Bowl Special (non-travel Deviate episode)
• A mixtape (of sorts) about mixtapes (non-travel Deviate episode)
• The most 1980s underdog story of the 1980s (non-travel Deviate episode)
• A personal history of my grunge-bandwagon band (non-travel Deviate episode)
• Nine lessons from my failed van-life memoir (non-travel Deviate episode)

Books, articles, and films mentioned

• "Paul Theroux on Blogging, Travel Writing, and 'Three Cups of Tea'" (2011 Atlantic interview)
• The Great Railway Bazaar, by Paul Theroux
• The Mosquito Coast, by Paul Theroux
• The Tao of Travel, by Paul Theroux
• Deep South, by Paul Theroux
• American Notes, by Charles Dickens
• Barbary Shore, by Norman Mailer
• Journey Without Maps, by Graham Greene
• Sea and Sardinia, by D.H. Lawrence
• Travels, by Ibn Battuta
• Travels, by Marco Polo
• Lafcadio Hearn's Japan: An Ant...