Dick Cavett’s Worst Show

November 2, 2014 9:03 PM

Promoting his new book Brief Encounters, talkshow host Dick Cavett appears on CBC's Sunday Edition with Michael Enright. Cavett recounts to Michael Enright about a legendary on-air donnybrook between Gore Vidal and Norman Mailer in 1971 on his show, a frank discussion with Richard Burton about alcoholism, being singled out by Richard Nixon for revenge, and Dick Cavett's worst show.
posted by Nevin (20 comments total)

Dick Cavett is great, such a smart and classy guy-- thanks for these links! Although I would have thought his "worst show" was the one where one of his guests (organic gardener and publisher J.I. Rodale) died during the taping.
posted by seasparrow at 9:28 PM on November 2, 2014 [3 favorites]

Oh yeah, that's right! He mentions that on Enright too. Such a warm, wonderful interview that had me laughing out loud several times!
posted by Nevin at 9:33 PM on November 2, 2014

that show was pretty great and he always had the best guests, and best mix of guests. the difference in caliber of celebrity from then vs. now is astounding.
posted by Conrad-Casserole at 9:38 PM on November 2, 2014 [3 favorites]

A previous Cavett thread with some other remembrances.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 9:50 PM on November 2, 2014 [2 favorites]

ouch. that Kirkus review is so bitchy.
posted by Conrad-Casserole at 9:52 PM on November 2, 2014 [2 favorites]

Cavett is elegant and witty and I am grateful to have been present at the taping of one of his shows in the early 70s. He had some guests of little interest to my teenage self, but he also had Madeline Kahn.

One of my favorite pieces of Cavett writing is his account of meeting John Wayne.
posted by kinnakeet at 3:28 AM on November 3, 2014 [7 favorites]

The British equivalent would have been Michael Parkinson's talk show of the 1970s. It's impossible to imagine celebrities of equal wattage today speaking with a fraction of the candour, intelligence and insight people like Burton displayed on either Cavett or Parkinson's show in those days. To paraphrase Norma Desmond, they were big - it's the chat show's ambition that got small.
posted by Paul Slade at 4:55 AM on November 3, 2014 [2 favorites]

Dick Cavett might actually be a real-life Kermit the Frog.
posted by Jon_Evil at 6:04 AM on November 3, 2014 [2 favorites]

I cannot help but think "Dick Cravat" whenever I hear his name. It also seems like something that could have existed in the seventies.
posted by srboisvert at 6:18 AM on November 3, 2014 [2 favorites]

When I try and watch "The Worst Show" video, I'm told it's "private."
posted by Obscure Reference at 6:33 AM on November 3, 2014

I just watched the PBS show on his coverage of Watergate. It was kind of like seeing the scandal through his eyes and it was fascinating. I was about 10 at the time and remember my parents, relatives and other adults talk about it. I remember some neighbors defending Nixon to the end - which is now quite disturbing, in light of the tapes coming out and what Nixon said on them (like asking first if Cavett was Jewish, for example). I watch a lot of clips of him on YouTube because I suspect, not being a frequent TV watcher now, there isn't really anything like him left on TV, except maybe Charlie Rose. In other news, I hear the Kardashians have been on for seven years now. I just read an article in Rolling Stone about these ladies. It's subtitled - 'Will our long national Kardashian nightmare ever come to an end?' - which is cool because I never saw the link between Watergate and the Kardashians, but now I see it clearly.
posted by McMillan's Other Wife at 6:59 AM on November 3, 2014

Dick Cavett's best show. You don't see TV like that anymore.
posted by swift at 7:11 AM on November 3, 2014 [1 favorite]

Perhaps celebrities are no longer as erudite or intelligent as they used to be is because today's erudite and intelligent celebrities wouldn't go within a thousand miles of a chat show. Because of the way all those erudite and intelligent celebrities from the past were treated.

How many interviews do Morgan Freeman or Jodie Foster give?
I assume it's the minimum amount stipulated in their contract.
posted by fullerine at 8:10 AM on November 3, 2014

When I try and watch "The Worst Show" video, I'm told it's "private."

Working video for Dick Cavett's worst show is here.
posted by flug at 8:11 AM on November 3, 2014 [1 favorite]

Perhaps celebrities are no longer as erudite or intelligent as they used to be is because today's erudite and intelligent celebrities wouldn't go within a thousand miles of a chat show. Because of the way all those erudite and intelligent celebrities from the past were treated.

It's one of the reasons why I like radio.
posted by Nevin at 8:18 AM on November 3, 2014 [1 favorite]

today's erudite and intelligent celebrities wouldn't go within a thousand miles of a chat show

Marc Maron's WTF podcast is the closest I can come, in modern terms, to a Cavett-style interview. Not erudite, but one on one and candid.
posted by zippy at 10:03 AM on November 3, 2014

Wow, that Norman Mailer appearance is truly awful. Here's a little more backstory on it from Wikipedia (he headbutted Gore Vidal?!); apparently the linked video cuts off before one more zinger from Cavett.
posted by glhaynes at 12:32 PM on November 3, 2014

... and that person would be me.

Not all with the success of Orson Welles or Woody Allen...
posted by juiceCake at 10:20 PM on November 3, 2014

I remember watching one of his shows in 1970 with Hugh Hefner, Dr. Mary Calderone, Diane Crothers, and Holly Tannen. A few members of the audience became so unruly that Cavett first had to warn them, then had to have security escort them out.

He was one of the only interviewers who could bring in celebrities like Katharine Hepburn for a straight one-on-one talk (also loved that interview).

Sorry if this is a little clumsy. This is my first post in MeFi, although I've been a non-member lurker for many years.
posted by Woodowl at 1:46 PM on November 4, 2014

Not all with the success of Orson Welles or Woody Allen .

Rick Moranis just nails him in the intro.
posted by Nevin at 2:29 PM on November 4, 2014 [1 favorite]