V I D E O • A G E AP R I L 2 0 1 1 10 Dick Cavett first entered Americans’ living rooms through their television sets as the host of his late-night talk show, The Dick Cavett Show, which ran from 19681975 (ABC) and 1977-1982 (PBS). However, since 2007, he has entered Americans’ homes via an online opinion column he pens for the New York Times. Cavett’s book Talk Show: Confrontations, Pointed Commentary, and Off-Screen Secrets (Times Books, Henry Holt and Company, 279 pages, $25.00) is a compilation of those opinion columns that revives episodes of Cavett’s talk show, various key current events and even his childhood memories growing up in Lincoln, Nebraska. Cavett reenacts some of his most memorable talk show episodes with some of his most intriguing guests. He even presents the most arresting confrontations in script format, quickening the pace and offering his humorous commentary in parentheses. He recreates the debacle that resulted when Norman Mailer, Gore Vidal and Janet Flanner appeared together on one episode of his late-night talk show that aired on ABC in 1971. Mailer and Vidal’s differing viewpoints, along with Mailer’s quick temper, made for an unforgettable program, and an entertaining set of columns. Cavett also shares fond memories of his conversations (he prides himself on following mentor and former boss Jack Parr’s advice: “Don’t do interviews”) with the likes of Groucho Marx and Richard Burton, who made four television appearances seated beside Cavett. This book is not the U.S. talk show host’s first venture into the written word, or the publishing world: He was a comedy writer for Jack Paar, Merv Griffin, Johnny Carson and Groucho Marx, and the author ofCavett (Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich 1974) andEye on Cavett (Arbor House 1983), both of which he wrote with Christopher Porterfield. When theNew York Times approached Cavett about writing an online opinion column for the month of February 2007, he accepted the offer, not wanting “to appear gutless (to myself).” After four years, Cavett is still at it. Theopinioncolumns translateperfectly into book format, with each column functioning as a short chapter that features stories and themes — anecdotes fromThe Dick Cavett Show, tales from his childhood, his commentary on current affairs — that are woven throughout the individual columns. Cavett often concludes his columns with cliffhangers, dangling a carrot in front of his weekly Times readers to keep them coming back for more. And those cliffhangers work equally well to encourage those who read his book to continue reading. His intellect and his ability to reproduce almost any situation in a humorous light intertwine, making for an exciting read, and those who pick up Talk Show will only grudgingly put it down. Readers are even invited into his childhood, when a young Dickie Cavett and his friend Jimmy McConnell took turns sneaking each other into the movie theater through the alley exit to watch John Wayne star in Sands of Iwo Jima (A Republic Production, Universal Studios 1949). Cavett takes readers back to a time when he and his friends used to “play out,” as they called the time after dinner during the summer months when the boys from the neighborhood gathered together to play. His propensity for providing entertainment was evident in his childhood activities. Although Cavett states that he is unsure of who first thought of this, part of “playing out” became stringing a dark thread from one side of the road to the other and draping a sheet of newspaper over the thread in the center of the road, causing the occasional night driver to slam on his or her brakes and chase after little Dickie and Jimmy, serenading them with choice words. Of course, the drivers likely missed the humor in this trick, and were not as entertained as Dickie Cavett, or the grown-up Dick Cavett’s readers. His childhood obsession with fireworks, and not “the stuff that girls and sissies liked…I mean the big stuff. The heavy ordnance. Cherry bombs, torpedoes, aerial bombs, two-, three-, and even six-inchers (jumbo firecrackers),” is perhaps telling of his later drive as a comedy writer and a talk show host to get the “big laugh.” One Fourth of July, Cavett and McConnell lit a one-pound aerial bomb in the playground of their elementary school, cracking “a modest yet gratifying number of school windows.” Another of the young Cavett’s entertainmentrelated interests was magic. While he was in high school, “Magic became [his] life,” and he earned money by performing magic shows for birthday parties, relishing his ability to make folks question, “How did he do that?” Cavett continues to marvel audiences with his wit. He took his passion for fun and entertainment and translated it into his talent for entertaining people with words, be they spoken, on his TV talk show or written, in this Talk Show. While the adult Cavett still holds an interest in magic, he exchanged a magic wand for a ballpoint pen (or computer keyboard), as paper and the written word became his new props. The author’s humor often takes the form of direct addresses to the reader; “dear reader” — as in, “I feel almost heroic being able to bring this gem to you, dear reader” — being one of his most frequently used phrases. After openingStrange, Dear, but True, Dear, Cavett addresses the reader: “I hope you are arrested.” And we are arrested, eager to read more. Cavett interacts with his Times readers, calling on them to comment on his columns, and he rewards active readers by responding to their comments in subsequent entries, sometimes basing entire columns on them, as he did in With Readers Like Y’all…. In this column, Cavett states, “You might not guess that at least half the fun of doing this column is getting to read your ‘comments,’” and the reader gets the sense that he truly means it. By interacting with his readers, Cavett demonstrates that he enjoys communicating with those who read his column, and by extension, his book. Cavett’s direct interaction with his Times readers leads those reading the book to feel involved as well, as it makes the events about which he writes come alive, bringing back the fire and controversy that surrounded the issues at the time they occurred. Although some of Cavett’s criticisms of the Bush Administration felt as though they had lost their urgency, readers were reminded of significant events in U.S. popular culture, including the 2008 Presidential election, radio host Don Imus catching fire for his on-air racial comment about black players on the Rutgers women’s basketball team, and the Jay Leno/Conan O’Brien scheduling fiasco on NBC. Talk Show is brilliantly written and lively. It is a treasure not just for those who have seen Cavett’s shows and wish to relive his magic, but also for those who were too young to have had the opportunity to end their days watching Cavett converse with stars on the small screen. As the son of two English teachers, his writing is an English lesson in itself. Indeed, Cavett writes of his disappointment, even disgust, at the way many Americans butcher the English language in columns such as, It’s Only LanguageandTheWildWordsmith ofWasilla, in which Cavett examines 2008 U.S. Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s “continuing assaults on the English language” and her tendency to ignore syntax altogether. Talk Showmanages to be both funny and intellectual. Cavett offers wellreasoned, well-thought out opinions on the topics he explores, and his evaluation of reader comments is pointed and fair. The book reminds older readers of important legends — Groucho, Burton, Wayne and Cheever to name a few — and peaks the curiosity of younger readers. Cavett’s humor is intelligent, and readers must apply themselves to fully appreciate his wit, although those who don’t can still get a laugh, and a lesson in history and great writing. SA Talk Ain’t Cheap, But Can Be Fun: Talk Shows With Cavett B o o k R e v i e w
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