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"There's never been a talk show to equal Dick Cavett's... It's a pleasure to relive much of it in this wonderful book."―Woody Allen
For years, Dick Cavett played host to the nation's most famous personalities on his late-night talk show. In this humorous and evocative book, we get to hear Cavett's best tales, as he recounts great moments with the legendary entertainers who crossed his path and offers his own trenchant commentary on contemporary American culture and politics. Pull up a chair and listen to Cavett's stories about one-upping Bette Davis, testifying on behalf of John Lennon, confronting Richard Nixon, scheming with John Updike, befriending William F. Buckley, and palling around with Groucho Marx. Sprinkled in are tales of his childhood in Nebraska in the 1940s and 1950s, where he honed his sense of comic timing and his love of magic.
Cavett is also a wry cultural observer, looking at America today and pointing out the foibles that we so often fail to notice about ourselves. And don't even get him started on politicians. A generation of Americans ended their evenings in Dick Cavett's company; Talk Show is a way to welcome him back.
- Sales Rank: #596646 in Books
- Published on: 2011-11-22
- Released on: 2011-11-22
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.50" h x .68" w x 5.50" l, .59 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 304 pages
From Publishers Weekly
The erstwhile host of The Dick Cavett Show unburdens himself in this collection of rambling though piquant essays from his New York Times online column. It' s an eclectic and sometimes surprising lineup: on- and off-set celebrity anecdotes; meditations on the art of the comic insult; jaundiced assessments of the 2008 presidential contenders; not one but two apologias for radio DJ Don Imus; scenes from a Nebraska boyhood, with minor hooliganism and encounters with a movie-house pervert. Cavett occasionally lets his affable host' s persona slip to voice idiosyncratic passions, in his plea to ban fat actors from TV commercials, for example, and his snipes at public figures for language mistakes and mispronunciations (he reviles George W. Bush almost as much for saying nucular as for starting the Iraq War). Some pieces misfire, especially when Cavett overuses transcripts from his shows; even the celebrated trash talk showdown between guests Gore Vidal and Norman Mailer lies flat on the printed page. But in his beguiling profiles of celebrities--the deft magician Slydini; the humbled gossip columnist Walter Winchell; an aging John Wayne, who reveals an unheralded appreciation for Noël Coward plays--Cavett proves himself a solid writer as well as a talker.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
Cavett’s talk shows on ABC and later PBS were the perfect format for a former comedy writer who was also the son of English teachers. He was erudite and amusing and a great conversation partner to an array of guests, from Katharine Hepburn and Richard Burton to William F. Buckley and Norman Mailer. Drawing on his recollections from show business as well as his years growing up in Nebraska, Cavett offers a collection of his columns for the online New York Times. He revels in misuses and mispronunciations of words by the famous and those who should know better, comments on both political silliness and serious issues, and talks about political celebrities such as Sarah Palin and Rod Blagojevich. He recalls friendships with famously taciturn celebrities Johnny Carson and Bobby Fischer, testifying on behalf of John Lennon, sparring with Bette Davis, and hosting John Updike and John Cheever on the same show. Cavett is also personally revealing, recounting his bouts with depression, ego-bruising encounters with famous comedians, and career ups and downs. An enormously amusing and well-written collection. --Vanessa Bush
Review
“Breezy, incisive and amusing--nice to have you back, Dick.” ―Kirkus Reviews
“In his beguiling profiles of celebrities . . . Cavett proves himself a solid writer as well as a talker.” ―Publishers Weekly
“Do you know that age-old question, If you could have dinner with anyone in the world, living or dead, who would it be? Well, assuming Santa Claus is unavailable, my answer would be Dick Cavett. After reading Talk Show, you could just imagine what a conversation with him would be like: pleasant, insightful, and oddly erotic. Dick Cavett is a legend and an inspiration to me.” ―Jimmy Fallon
“There's never been a talk show to equal Dick Cavett's. His guest list was miraculous, the conversations dazzling, and it's a pleasure to relive much of it in this wonderful book.” ―Woody Allen
Most helpful customer reviews
81 of 89 people found the following review helpful.
This collection of Cavett's columns is almost as good as his TV interviews --- which were classics.
By Jesse Kornbluth
Dick Cavett is, for me, like that cliché about the 1960s: If you remember him, you weren't there. I know I wasn't --- he launched his first talk show on 1968, when I didn't own a TV set, and he was pretty much finished with a regular show by 1987, when I finally bought one. So I never had the pleasure of watching him.
But I know about Dick Cavett. He was the smart one. Pretty much, the only smart one.
He was from Nebraska, and blond, and boyish to a fault. He was a gymnast and a magician, and then he went to Yale, where he read a book. But he was obsessed with show business, and, as quickly as he could, became a joke writer for Jack Paar and, later, Johnny Carson.
Then he got his own show --- and reinvented the form. Clive James, who knows a thing or two about talk shows, isolated his genius: "The idea that one man could be both playful and serious was never deemed to be quite natural on American television, and Cavett was regarded as something of a freak even at the time.... Cavett never mugged, never whooped it up for the audience, rarely told a formally constructed joke, and listened to the guest. To put it briefly, his style did not suit a mass audience..."
That's not exactly a knock --- I worked at America Online for a while, where we courted the mass audience as if it held the secret of life. (It doesn't.) In the years since, the Internet has taught us that "niches are riches." Despite this, no one has managed to come up with a way to lure Cavett back to TV.
On the other hand, why should Cavett do TV? It would be almost impossible to top his past. He's 74. And, more to the point, he's got a New York Times column that's won him the devotion of literate grownups --- in my view, the dream demographic.
You can read all of his Times columns online. Or you can buy "Talk Show," which arranges them slightly differently and doesn't excise the "dirty" words. Ordinarily, the tightwad in me would recommend clicking and scrolling. But the thing is, Cavett's columns --- unlike, say, the Times columns of Thomas Friedman and David Brooks --- hold up quote nicely in print.
Cavett started this column before the 2008 election, about which he had a few thoughts. Then his former guests started dying, which fueled a batch of columns. Then there was his personal drama, which took any number of readers by surprise. Finally, there were the show-biz stories, which, are, for some reason, extravagantly satisfying --- very little is more delightful than a star talking like a human.
In 2008, Cavett wrote often about politics. You may not agree with his views. [Richard Nixon didn't. After Cavett testified that John Lennon should be permitted to stay in the United States, his entire staff was audited by the IRS, right down to the lowest secretary. Though maybe that was a coincidence.] But however much you may disagree, I think you have to admire his elegance and timing. Here he is, days after we met Sarah Palin at the Republican convention:
"Performance is the mot juste for what she did at the convention. And I admit that even my own jaded and cynical showbiz heart leapt up as she wowed the adoring crowd with a show-stopper display of charm and personality. I even laughed at two or three of the two or three too many insults directed at Obama. Don Rickles could not have snapped them out better.
Watching a woman, slight of build and full of pizazz so thoroughly bedazzle a vast audience is entertaining. Something chimed in my memory when she brought that crowd to its feet with frantic and worshipful cheering.
Ah, yes. I had seen it all before.
It was Judy Garland at The Palace.
And yet no one offered her the vice-presidency. (Fact-checker: Am I right on this?)"
As a former talk show host, he's a quipster, master of the one-liner. And it shows. About McCain: "I feel a little sorry for John. He aimed low and missed." About Mitt Romney: "There is one question I have not seen Romney asked. It's the one a friend dared me to put to John Wayne when he appeared on a show of mine: Sir, how is it that neither you nor any of your multiple strapping sons have ever served a day in the armed forces?" Bush, however, inspired no wry amusement. He was, simply, "the capering loon who does soft-shoe in the White House while young Americans are dismembered and splattered in Iraq."
His piece on Norman Mailer ends with a great kicker: "I know someone who sure as hell hates being dead." And he consistently has the knack of delivering a jaw-dropper: "Wouldn't it be fun to know if some of the jurors who freed O.J. actually thought he was innocent? (I've decided that if I chance to meet the Juice at a party, I will chat amiably and then say, `If you'll excuse me, I feel the need to talk to someone who hasn't murdered anybody.')"
Like a blogger, he enjoys give-and-take: "Years ago, having just had someone like, say, Jane Fonda on my late-night show, I received the following masterpiece from Waco, Texas, crayoned in block letters on a Western Union telegram blank: `Dear Dick Cavett: YOU LITTLE SAWED OFF [.....] COMMUNIST SHRIMP.' I wrote back, I am not sawed off!'"
Droll. But the price --- and there is one --- was high. For Cavett, it was a bottomless depression: "There were times when I longed for my ancient .22 single-shot squirrel-hunting rifle." In 1973, shock therapy brought him back. Now he seems good for a long, long run.
Lucky for us. There are a few writers running hard behind Cavett, eager for his gig. On any given day, several could be his equal. But not --- as Cavett does in "Talk Show" --- 68 times in a row.
22 of 23 people found the following review helpful.
Enjoyable; Cavett's Wry Narrative Brings Back the Memories
By Elisa 20
I was pretty young during Cavett's run on nighttime television, but I always watched. It was a great education--much better interviews with writers and movie people than what we see today where it's usually strained chit-chat trying to be funny, mixed with promotions for one's latest movie. He really did talk with "everyone who was anyone".
I have listened to all 8 CDs and really enjoyed every minute of ithemI haven't read the book (Cavett's NYT online columns), but I will take exception to the Publisher Weekly review (above) that this is "rambling". As spoken, it is not the least bit rambling. Actually, these little essays are very well structured throughout. I know Cavett is a skillful interviewer/conversationalist with celebrities, but his anecdotal writing here is very good and made even better, I think, by having him reading it.
If you have ever thought, "I wonder what it would be like to sit with Dick Cavett and have him tell me about memorable famous people he's met" this would be it. He's a good raconteur and his stories unfold enjoyably, often seeming as if hie's talking directly to you, and giving you some real insights into the many famous people he's met and/or become friends with.
Cavett's columns combine personal reminiscence (his Nebraska childhood, some Yale, being a comedy writer for some of the top names on television--Paar, Carson--and remaining friends with them) with famous people he's met along the way (some that stand out for me are Nixon, Carson, Slydini, Basil Rathbone, his fascination with Richard Burton. Groucho Marx, ever-present, like a Muse).
He talks about the on-camera death of a guest (a health expert), and the most famous/infamous show of all with Norman Mailer (including Cavett reading from the transcript, taking all parts. This is on CD #3, by the way.) Women are very peripheral here--a mention of Jane Fonda at Yale, an aside about Sophia Loren there--but the focus is really on the men he has known--even the men who are his good friends (famous ones like Chris Porterfield, Marshall Brickman, Woody Allen). No mention of his famous wife, Carrie Nye, or much about his personal life (other than an aside about Tick Hall). The only woman who gets much mention (since much was written in an election year) is Sarah Palin--and Cavett's comments about her won't surprise anyone but her fans.
He -does- get personal about his battle with depression, sharing some of his experiences with groups and "even getting laughs" from them. I liked that part quite a bit as it showed a bit of the personal character--some courage and compassion--beneath that smooth and glib hometown-boy-makes-good facade. (His comments about battling depression are on CD #5)
I like his writer's "voice", his wry humor, cleverness, and the many humorous anecdotes and witty remarks of other famous people (literary and otherwise) that are interwoven here. . Recommended, most definitely for any fan of his show, of famous personalities of the time, or just of good writing. (Plus, it's always a treat to hear any good writer reading his own work).
40 of 45 people found the following review helpful.
Tell me more...
By Michelle R
Growing up, I remember a different breed of talk show from the type now popular. Even when I wasn't actively watching them, they were soaking in to my impressionable gray matter. "This is what it means to be adult. This is how adults talk." Well, I'm an adult now and most adults now prefer to talk like kids. I'm not exempt from that charge.
Dick Cavett was one of those talk show hosts. Also one of those guys who seemed to be either always canceled or hired. I could be hallucinating that. Maybe the only guy doing a Cavett type show currently,, sans the hiring and firing, is Charlie Rose. Tom Snyder is gone. In the Detroit area, there was a man named Lou Gordon, very dimly remembered.
I went to YouTube and looked at a couple old interviews. Still good stuff. The comments though show that people who were raised with the hooting-audience-keep-it-moving-don't-delve-too-deeply pace of talk show gave Dick Cavett rather low marks, confused glitter with gold in thinking this interviewer -- many called him The Interviewer -- didn't really know how to do the job. No one ever seems to say anything real anymore and whippersnappers like it that way. (I type whippersnappers with a smile -- I'm still at least a full decade from using it non-ironically.)
Anyhow, the book in question contains reprints of Cavett's New York Times column. Many of the included anecdotes involve guests on his various shows. Many of these guests would be utterly unknown to a younger audience, because fame is all fleeting and stuff, like that. ;) Groucho Marx, John Wayne, Richard Burton, Norman Mailer, Gore Vidal, Katharine Hepburn are some of the people covered. He told a ghost story involving Basil Rathbone that's still messing with my head. There's a name I doubt many people still know. Cavett is a name-dropper, but that is why we sought admission. His tone is quite infectious and he takes much delight in having known these folks.
The series of columns which appeared during the last presidential campaign were particularly interesting. Reading them over a few days instead of months was a bit like time lapse photography. The evolution of one man's opinion and increasing amazement at the selection of a VP nominee who you can't make up.
The author also discusses his battle with depression. Anyone who has been there can relate to how it can hit you when you should be most happy and when the world will least grant you the right to those feelings. People, famous and otherwise, speaking out is always helpful.
When deciding a rating, I keep coming back to three stars. I know some people see it as a negative rating. Even Amazon seems to categorize it that way. I don't see it that way. Three, depending on the nitty-gritty of a review, is a recommendation if you're interested in the subject matter. I enjoyed this book. Dick Cavett is witty and funny and I wish there were a lot more people like him on and off the air, in and out of the media. When asking myself why 3 stars, it seems to be that the book seems short of another great moment or two. It's an intangible thing really, but 3 feels right, and any other rating would feel wrong. I enjoyed the time spent here, will read more if Mr. Cavett pens or compiles another one, but I'm also eager to move on to other books. There's not that regret I feel when I end a book I truly adored. I'm also confused as to how I had a NYT subscription on my Kindle before they really raised the prices and had failed to notice DICK CAVETT.
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