Talk Show

August 30, 2010
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.

Writer and stand-up comedian Dick Cavett recycles old material from columns he has written and comments about some of his memorable television shows. Much of his humor relies on our knowledge and memories of such personalities as Groucho Marx, Norman Mailer, Gore Vidal, and Richard Nixon. The loose transitions from one story to another make no attempt to be a book but rather serve as something to entertain on-the-go listeners stuck in heavy traffic or having a root canal. Cavett slurs his speech and mumbles the last word or three of most sentences, often discarding the words most necessary to understand a joke. Still no one but Cavett could narrate this material because his familiar personality makes it all work. J.A.H. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine

Starred review from March 1, 2011

Listeners fond of the great TV talk shows of the late 1960s to early 1980s will be delighted to hear Cavett read his own observations about some of the more memorable entertainers and cultural figures who have appeared on his eponymous show, from Groucho Marx and Katharine Hepburn to Norman Mailer and Gore Vidal. He also talks openly about his personal experience with depression and with wonderful warmth recollects his childhood growing up in Nebraska. Now a blogger for the New York Times, Cavett further provides political and social commentary on the pivotal moments that defined his generation, e.g., Vietnam, the Cold War, and Watergate. Highly recommended for fans of this living legend and for public libraries' humor and popular culture collections.--Barbara Valle, El Paso P.L., TX

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