Customer Reviews

The Dick Cavett Show - Comic Legends

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This collection is long overdue. Having seen the Groucho interview, I think that it alone is worth "the price of admission." Shout! lists the tracks as below.

Disc 1
1.  September 5, 1969 - Groucho Marx
2.  September 19, 1969 - Woody Allen, Ruth Gordon, Gina Lollobrigida
3.  October 4, 1972 - Bob Hope
4.  Bonus - June 10, 1968 Here's Dick Cavett - Groucho Marx, Bob Hope, Woody Allen, Pat McCormick, Jack Burns, Debbie Drake
5.  Bonus - Cavett Remembers The Comic Legends
6.  Bonus - Alternate Opening For The September 5, 1969, Groucho Marx Episode

Disc 2
1.  October 20, 1971 - Woody Allen
2.  April 6, 1970 - Mel Brooks, Rex Reed, Mark Frechette, Daria Halprin, Dr. Aaron Stern
3.  November 10, 1971 - Bill Cosby
4.  Bonus - Outtake Segment From October 20, 1971, Woody Allen Episode
5.  Bonus - August 6, 1968 - Joanne Carson Interview

Disc 3
1.  January 27, 1973 - Jerry Lewis
2.  May 25, 1971 - Groucho Marx, Truman Capote, Jim Fowler
3.  February 21, 1974 - Carol Burnett
4.  Bonus - November 20, 1966 - Dick Cavett on The Ed Sullivan Show
5.  Bonus - The Dick Cavett Show Promo - May 25, 1971

Disc 4
1.  February 21, 1973 - Jack Benny, Bill Cosby, Joe Frazier
2.  December 15, 1971 - George Burns, The Smothers Brothers, Adelle Davis
3.  March 7, 1974 - Lucille Ball
4.  Bonus - Cavett Backstage
5.  Bonus - The Dick Cavett Show Promo - February 21, 1973
6.  Bonus - The Dick Cavett Show Promo - December 15, 1971

But what you do get is a great example of the Cavett interview style. And yes, the results are mixed, but what he did that you almost don't see anymore, is to turn off the performer and try to get to the person behind the image, without trying to get them to emote. Entertainers, when they are not being entertaining, are surprisingly normal. Cavett can be a bit of a kiss up to his idols, but never doubt that his wheels are turning while the interviews go on. Some impressions:

1) His love of Groucho made him blind to his faults as a guest, the inability to share the spotlight and a hectoring personality in old age. But, when Groucho was on, he was gold and he was mostly on during the first interview in the set.
2) Woody Allen doesn't really talk to interviewers anymore, which is too bad, because his work with Cavett was awesome.
3) I loved the Bob Hope interview because he wasn't funny, but was just having a normal conversation.
4) Ditto the Jerry Lewis interview and as a general rule, I find Jerry Lewis pretty hard to take. Very smart guy, but you can tell that the critical drumming he received throughout his career really stung.
5) The Lucille Ball interview wasn't that good, but that wasn't Cavett's fault. Lucy looked like she wanted to be anyplace else but the Cavett show.
6) The Carol Burnett interview was nice, but not earth shattering.
7) It's almost worth the price of the DVD alone to see Bill Cosby make Jack Benny crack up during the story about jazz drumming.

Rumor has it that the next DVD's will be with Hollywood Stars and we can only hope that Cavett's incredible interviews with Katherine Hepburn and Orson Welles will be on that set

I ordered this as soon as I heard about it. And I haven't stopped watching since I got it. I remember watching Cavett as a kid (sometimes I'd go to a taping as I live in NY) and these shows are wonderful. Unlike today's talk shows where a 'celebrity' shows up only to plug something and leave, Cavett had conversations. And this set brings us the likes of many beloved comedians, Groucho, Bob Hope, Jack Benny, Woody Allen, and many more. The transfer is beautiful, Cavett intros each show, which are complete and uncut. This is a must have set for anyone interested in a) classic TV, b) smart talk, c) real stars being themselves. And the 4 disc set at these prices is a steal!

12 Episodes Featuring: Woody Allen + Lucille Ball + Jack Benny + Carol Burnett + Mel Brooks + George Burns + Bill Cosby + Bob Hope + Jerry Lewis + Groucho Marx + The Smothers Brothers

Bonus Material Includes:
* New show introductions by Dick Cavett
* New interviews with Dick Cavett, producer/director Bob Weide ("Curb Your Enthusiasm") and original Dick Cavett Show writer Tom Whedon ("Benson," "Alice")
* Classic footage of Dick Cavett doing his own stand-up routine on the "Ed Sullivan Show"
* Classic Outtake and Alternate Show Opening
* Classic, rare footage from Cavett's morning show.

Runtime: 14 hours

I'll go on record as saying that I was not an instant Cavett fan. He grew on me slowly, seeming more than a bit reserved, dry and very, very intellectual. There was a seeming distance there, although he was affable enough.

But as I watched his shows, I grew to enjoy them more. So it was intriguing to see that there was a collection focusing on his moments with comics, some of whom had the ability to draw Cavett out of his shell, to make his reserve less apparent. However, his session with Robin Williams was NOT one of those moments and that interview is still painful to watch, which probably explains why it isn't listed in this collection (Cavett actually appeared insulted by Williams, perhaps uneasy by the chaotic atmosphere that seemed to surround William when he was at his most impromptu).

If you are one of those people who adores comics - including Groucho Marx, Bob Hope, Lucille Ball, Jack Benny, and George Burns (all of them are interviewed in this collection) and have to see EVERYTHING they'd put on film, including appearances on talk shows, you might want to buy this. As a slice of tv history and culture, this is also revealing.

Otherwise, I wouldn't advise buying this. In most of the sequences, the comics were wooden or awkward, like a fish out of water (with a few notable exceptions).

Cavett had some wonderful shows but this collection doesn't show what I consider to be the best of them.

For decades I have wanted to return to the safe haven that was The Dick Cavett Show. When the Rock Icons collection came out, I grabbed it as soon as I could, but this was the one I was really waiting for.

The only one of these episodes that I saw when it originally aired was the one with Jerry Lewis. I still find it the most impressive, which is odd considering that I'm not much of a fan. When it first aired, I was in high school; now, with a long work history behind me, I hear Lewis dispensing many nuggets of wisdom that are true of any line of work and not just show business.

The featured comments concerning Groucho are unfortunately true, but people at the time already were aware that Groucho was beginning to lose it and had decided they loved him too much to care, and the shows need to be viewed in that context.

The Amazon staff reviewer (correction: the acerbic Amazon staff reviewer) is as opinionated as I am. And I don't like his opinions. I've watched both the actors and the comics on 2 of the Cavett sets. I preferred the actors (except for comic standouts) because I became glutted on the humor. And here's where Amazon and I part company. The comics set was hilarious. Hope (an older man) was subtle, with an infinite memory (for his own life), and got most of his zingers across with subtle expressions and gestures. He talked funny too. Groucho's interruptions of the Capote interview were negligible, particularly since Capote was given final billing and only on about 15 minutes. Also Groucho did not rail against nudity in films. He just said in his own way that too much exposure dulls your senses and he preferred the real thing. He was lascivious and salacious and delightful. Groucho a prude??? Lucy showed herself as she really is. She was not particularly funny, nor did she try to be. She cussed like a sailor and was arrogant and off-hand and insoucient and hard-knock wise and one of my favorite episodes. It seemed to me (could easily be wrong) that her real personality (sans "Lucy" and a real shock) lost her the audience. No great loss if so. Woody Allen was the truly funny one, he and Bill Cosby, though I get tired of Cosby after a while, and his conceit. Speaking of conceit. Allen had it in truck loads during his first episode, then made a conscious effort to counteract it in his second. I got the impression during his first episode that Cavett (who is witty himself) was actually competing with Allen for jokes, and it brought out the best in him, they were both funny as hell. I'm an Allen fan anyway. I don't like Jerry Lewis. Maybe a better way to say it is I don't like his humor. I can cross my eyes. That doesn't make me witty. But those who do like Jerry Lewis might like his episode because he becomes quite (maudlin) personal and revealing. I guess a little of his schtick punctuating an otherwise serious conversation is funny, relieves tension. Carol Burnett was just a baby and soft and vulnerable and hilarious, this before she became hard and raw in her later years. She and Cavett sang 2 duets. The Smothers Brothers I thought were smug and clannish, Dick seemed affected and conscious of his image, Tom made a few jokes typical of him, but I was disappointed in the brothers, speaking as a big former fan. Jack Benny was interesting, it was a shock to learn that Isaac Stern had asked him to take his place at a concert at the Met or somewhere equal. He really can play. (So can Woody Allen.) I don't remember whether Benny was funny or not, I just remember that I enjoyed listening to him talk. George Burns was a straight man, but still he got a lot of laughs, particularly (as on his radio show in the mid-forties) with his singing and with his jokes about his singing. It was a delight to see the man behind those movies, Mel Brooks (a "motor-mouth"? go eat a lemon), he was funny and creatve and as frenetic as a dozen Robin Williamses. Finally, I liked Bob Hope better without a script that I ever did with one, and why doesn't Amazon hire someone with some sympathy toward their products to review them? I sigh almost didn't buy this because of the Amazon staff reviewer's remarks. I thought it was a great set, funny, tiresomely so, and I expect like the set with actors it will appreciate as time goes by.

Time flies, the humour is timeless. The issues are still relevant. The jokes are still enjoyable. Cavett had a gift of making us feel it could be us up there asking the questions: a genuine fan. Groucho & Woody are favourites, but the Lewis interview is deep and entertaining.
You wont get to see Woody Allen play clarinet like that too often. Nor Cosby go into a solid routine, or direct an orchestra. Great.
When TV today contains so much drivel, thanks to DVDs like this for making the tube worth igniting.

Just great. Take a step back to yesteryear when talk shows were really talk shows. Cavett just had a way of making some very famous comdians talk freely and comfortably. So interesting.

Dick Cavett was a popular talk show host in the 1970s. His name has faded away through the years, but looking back on this DVD collection, one can see that his charm and personality have not faded through the changes in time. Although his guest were often classic stars, his interviews with them remain fresh and exciting to modern audiences. Here we have his vibrant and lovable style opposite such famous names as Woody Allen, Jack Benny, Bill Cosby, George Burns, The Smothers Brothers, and Jerry Lewis.

Some of the standout interviews deserve some note. There are two appearances by the wacky and opinionated Groucho Marx, a man who agrees to sing some of the classic songs and reflect on his life in show business. As with many classic stars, he expresses distaste with "modern" film and feels that their shock value makes them trashy. He sports a silly golf cap with three round characters on top, a true testament to his outlandish personality.

It is evident in Mel Brooks' appearance that the man loves to perform. It does not take much convincing to get him to get up and make a fool of himself. His bit on the show is rather short, but it is far from forgettable. At the end, he begins to get into an arguement with a censor which one wishes would have had more time.

Lucille Ball is interviewed. Her episode is peppered with film clips ranging from an early appearance in Roman Scandals to a bit in I Love Lucy. For such a beloved comic star, she seems a bit haughty and short with Cavett, an easy going interviewer.

Cavett was thrilled when Bob Hope appeared on the program. Hope was his idol as a young boy which is obvious by the way he is interviewed. Even for those who are not big Hope fans, it is hard not to enjoy this appearance. He is compliant, fun, informative, and interesting.

Perhaps the most fun interview is that with Carol Burnett. She and Cavett seem to be similar in their love for classic films, sense of humor, and overall personality. Their similarities make them an excellent team to watch whether they are singing songs or engaging in small talk.

Cavett opens each episode with a bit of commentary. It makes them all the more interesting to watch.