Dick Cavett

It's hard to go wrong with Dick Cavett's wry wit, style and love of a good joke (on himself or anyone else). This book, scheduled for publication in November, 2014, is a compilation of some of Cavett's New York Times columns from recent days, consisting primarily of delightful anecdotes about people he met in his comedy writing days, or his much too brief career as a talk show host. (Why don't we have anyone doing what he did anymore? Why isnt HE doing it? As Dick might say....you tell me.) show more When he and a guest hit it off, the exchanges were so often sharp-witted and funny; even better, when he didn't cotton to someone's remarks or behavior, the flint in his tongue could send sparks into the flies and someone might have to yell "Fire" in the crowded theater, as when he famously got tired of Norman Mailer's supercilious attitude and suggested that Mailer take Cavett's question sheet, "fold it sideways and stick it where the moon don't shine". Despite his cool Yalie demeanor, Cavett has never lost his boy-from-the-Midwest awe at being in the presence of what he considers greatness, whether in the person of Muhammad Ali, John Lennon, Marlene Dietrich or Stan Laurel. His tributes to the loss of such talents make some of the best reading in Brief Encounters. But the prize selections, in my opinion, are two on the subject sex and young people in today's world. Never one for political correctness, Cavett makes some potentially unpopular suggestions on the subject. You can read them by googling "Dick Cavett NYTimes", which will take you to his columns. But don't do that. Buy the book instead. show less

Long time Cavett fan here, so I was very happy to receive this book! (Thank you, ER.) Husband and I were in the vast TV audience for his famous disposal of the obnoxious Norman Mailer: "Why don't you fold it 5 ways and put it where the moon don't shine?) and earlier offer of an extra 2 chairs to accommodate his giant intellect. These columns are pure Cavett. Nobody else could have written them, and I was hoping to begin my review with a tribute to his voice when I read his own tribute to show more Groucho's writing. Certainly Cavett isn't Groucho, but the words are equally true for these columns: "As you read them, it's almost like having him present. So tone-perfect are these pieces that you can't help hearing the famous voice and its witty inflections in your mind's ear. It's a wonder." He alludes to his own voice again in a piece about speaking to Muhammad Ali when he was long lost in Parkinson's. "I kept talking in hopes of some sign.... But then... my mixed-blessingly recognizable voice seemed suddenly to have gotten through. It was not to be. But I honestly think - or maybe I just need to think - that a bell rang."
That's Cavett. I'd advise reading only one or two at a time so that the mix of sophisticated Yale-educated wit combined with the Nebraska-reared outrageous bad boy doesn't pall. I'll also note in passing his comments about giving offense in this suddenly PC, offense-taking world.
"Brief dialogue:
Network executive: 'We're afraid some viewers might be offended.'
D.C. 'So?'"
There follows an incisive column.
And finally, when the network fellow told him he'd have to do another first Dick Cavett Show because "Nobody gives a goddamn what Muhammad Ali and Gore Vidal think about the Vietnam War, Cavett replied in "as polite a tone as I could muster, 'And at what point will you stop being chickenshit?'"
That's Cavett too. Read and enjoy. show less

This is a fine collection of columns that Dick Cavett wrote for the New York Times from 2007 to 2010. As erudite, witty, and urbane as ever, his writing focuses largely on his nostalgic and humorous reminiscences of his Nebraska boyhood, college days at Yale, working as a copy boy at Time magazine, his early years in show business as a comedy writer for Johnny Carson, and, of course, his years as a talk show host. The classic stories of his talk show guests - Paul Newman, Groucho Marx, John show more Lennon, Richard Burton, Bette Davis, William F. Buckley, Gore Vidal, Norman Mailer, Katharine Hepburn, and on and on - are particularly entertaining. Of decidedly less interest are the occasional columns on political events, mostly concerning the 2008 presidential campaign and the aftermath of the ill-fated Iraq War, stories whose time has now passed. But all the rest are indeed timeless stories - some of great good humor, and some of touching poignancy - that will never lose their appeal. show less

A collection of columns and memoirs by Dick Cavett, who was the host of the most witty and intelligent talk show of the 1960s and 1970s. Here we see reminiscences of John Lennon, Mel Brooks, Nora Ephron, James Gandolfini, Muhammad Ali, and most dear to my heart, Stan Laurel and Groucho Marx and Jonathon Winters. The whole book is a treasure trove of humorous memories and bits on current politics, but my favorite laugh-out-loud bit was when Cavett describes Jack Paar's challenge of Jonathon show more Winters' legendary improv skills in 1962 on the Tonight Show, when he handed him a polished stick and asked what he could do with this prop. After a rapid fire series of bits of ever-increasing inventiveness and wit, "suddenly it flies into his chest and, gripping the (now) spear that has fatally impaled him, he utters in a strangled voice, "The United Nations recognizes the delegate from Zambezi." show less