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It's probably the closest I've ever got to a rock n roll gig, walking out onto the stage of the Black Box tonight to introduce journalist and writer Jon Ronson. It's a Sunday night in Belfast, in deepest, darkest January.It's cold outside, we could allÌýbe sitting at home watching the last episode of Sherlock but nearly 200 people areÌýin the Black Box on Belfast's Hill Street to listen to a small, bespectacled writer. talk about psychopaths, staring at goats andÌýstaying in Robbie Williams' house in LA for a weekÌýto talk about alien abductions. This is literary rock n roll and it feels good. Jon Ronson is in great form. He's here as part of the Out to Lunch Festival and he's got a new book,ÌýThe Psychopath Test, which is so popular especially in the US that his American publishers want him to write a new book as fast as possible. He's not so sure. He likes to ruminate and get under the skin of a topic. The tougher it is to get a hold of, the more he pursues it. In fact, he's as much Sherlock as Benedict Cumberbatch. He riffsÌýa monologue/comedy routine for about 20 minutes, reading from the book but really giving the audience anecdote after anecdote. Since writing the book, he is now a trained "psychopath spotter". He took a 3 day course in a marquee in Wales, he says. He could now be called upon in a court of law.We all laugh, but we know he's serious.

He's drawn to extremes. Larger than life characters. As he's in Belfast, I ask him about the time he spent withÌýthe Rev Ian Paisley. It was 13 years ago, he says,Ìýfor a television documentaryÌýin which he followed Paisley on a missionary trip to Africa.ÌýHe hasn't followed him since, saying he hadn't seen Paisley in his more recent incarnation as one half of "The Chuckle Brothers" with Martin McGuinness.

There weren't many laughs for him whenÌýrecently he was in Seattle, following Phoenix Jones, a real life superhero complete with cape who fights crime.ÌýHe ended upÌýin one of the most dangerous parts of the city facing a crack cocaine gang. While the superhero and his friends were wearing bullet proof vests, Ronson was just wearing a cardigan.

His journalism is a rare thing. At the edges of society, funny, irreverent, insightful and without a bullet proof vest. And Belfast came out for him tonight. A great booking from Sean Kelly and the team at the Out to Lunch Festival. A great gig. I left him signing books and chatting to fans. The queue stretched the length of the bar! He's probably still there, using his new found psychopath check list to suss out his readers.