Customer Reviews

Cavett

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Being a rabid Cavett fan, I first read this terrific autobiography when it was newly published. I recentally rediscovered this treasure while dusting my bookcases. There it was way up on a top shelf untouched for many years. I began flipping through it, started reading, poured some coffee, and hours later original chore undone, had reaquainted myself with the joy of the Cavett years. How lucky was Dick Cavett to have known such amazing people? Please Mr Cavett, may we have another book covering the second chapter of your life?

Before there was Conan, Letterman and the like, there was Cavett, in his dandy gent haberdashery - an intellectual , suave snob- but so charming ! Completely polished and erudite, he was a farm boy who landed in the rarified midst of Yale on the mid to late fifties. Not quite young enough to be a Hippie but he was still young enough to be relevant across the board when his "prime time" arrived. He was "of the time" - had his own nightly talk show from 68-72 and then another series from 1975-82, and he could hold his own with any celebrity author artist or actor; he has a nice rapport with Janice Joplin from what I can recall. He was an original and super intelligent - this book is a set of conversations, and is readble and conveys the world view of this man. Written in 1974, I was delighted to find this book existed - it is a nice addition to the "seeker of Cavett knowledge" , I suggest one also checks out the tapes of the shows currently available. On page 333 it should be noted that Dick presciently describes modern day television... "The point is, there should be seventy-five channels of television, where you could watch, among other things, lessons in any language, a man doing card manipulation, a ballet rehearsing,pornographic films, a poker game with cameras behind the players,surgery in progress, home medical emergency instruction, a chess game, how to tie knots,live cameras on the main streets of the world capitals, lectures from major universities..." Cavett went on to describe fourteen other "high concepts" of what should be on television. This prediction is so eerily accurate and absolutely unique to Dick Cavett; this was written at a time when NO ONE could have made this prediction- proving that he is indeed a visionary and not just a guy that "looks and talks good"

Reading "Cavett" is almost as good as watching his show. I'm glad I didn't read the book on public transportation. Laughing out loud on subways is embarrassing to say the least. This book is a delight.

Imagine your worst high school reunion nightmare. No, not that one--this one: One of your graduating classmates is Dick Cavett. Unsurprisingly, at the reunion he is warm, witty and charming; however, he is writing a book. Afterward, he visits your home, and although you may not have known him all that well and his fame might make him a bit gentleman in the jungle, you reminisce and catch up. Later, Cavett's book comes out and in it you come across as something like one of the sadder bit players escaped from a Stephen King novel, or, more positively, you are portrayed as relatively normal, friendly and earnest, if hopelessly déclassé.

What makes many of us forever want to like Dick Cavett? Why not? He is charming, funny and erudite, and has some of that vulnerable self-conscious unpredictable Jack Parr quality that spices talk shows with a dash of potential danger. Cavett also possesses an admirable honesty, as when he describes in this book his perfervid anticipatory glee at attending his high school reunion as the celebrated Dick Cavett, which sounds a bit shallow until you start to consider how you might feel about showing up at your own high school reunion as a sparkling sought-after celebrity.

Naturally Cavett's book reflects his world view, a school of thought that always presents itself as championing the underdog, while remaining elitist to the core. Cavett mentions a classmate at the reunion who drolly refers to the seating around Cavett as "the chic table." Dick Cavett, as in this book, cannot resist playing to that table, but we, the many non-chic, appreciate him anyway, his intelligence, his wit, and this revealing book.

Dick Cavett may not be a household name today, and his television show was never as popular as Johnny Carson's, nor did his comedy rival that of Woody Allen, but Cavett scored a place in television history in the late 60s through the 80s for his conversational interview style.

Although he may not feel entirely comfortable being labeled an intellectual, these pages reveal Cavett to be an educated and thoughtful man whose playful and sporadic sense of humor seems to be a counter-balance to his moments of wisdom. These nuggets, combined with the comedy and entertaining stories, are more than worth the price of a used copy of this book. Although it is not a tell-all about life on the set of The Dick Cavett Show, it is better for going deeper behind the scenes. In a way, this book is set up the way the show was. Cavett's talk show was praised for getting details from his guests that other talk shows never even grazed. Here we don't get answers to surface questions like who was the best guest or who he wished he had on the show. These are conversations which reveal much more at the heart of the matter of having a television show and the road to getting there.

I was hoping for a more engaging book. I was working and living in NYC when Cavett did his show and it was exciting but the book doesn't really capture that spirit. A few chapters were excellent but I lost interest about a third of the way through and put the book aside.