Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/01/10/you-can-watch-over-270-episode.html
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He was a talk show host unlike any other, with a gentle, intelligent demeanor free of snark, smugness, or sarcasm.
He also knew how to sit back and listen to his guests, unlike hosts like Charlie Rose who are in love with the sound of their own voices.
An elegant talk show host for a more civilised age.
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A few interviews from this show have been suggested to me by youtube and I don’t know, they sort of rub me the wrong way. I found more than hints of arrogance in his demeanor as well as subtle racism. But maybe I am just being overly sensitive.
ETA: I don’t know maybe i need to watch more, I am too young to have seen it when it first aired. At least he talks about hard topics openly…i guess i am on the fence:
I recommend the Phil Silvers double episode.
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The intellectual sniping between Gore Vidal and Norma Mailer, while not super entertaining, is unlike anything you’ll see on TV anywhere else.
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Cavett’s interview with James Baldwin is incredibly powerful
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No,
no your not.
I don’t know what the criteria for judging our ancestors, bu this was racist as f*ck.
How do I know that?
When the audience laughed at the idea of James Earl Jones playing Bethoven, Cavett did not bat an eyelash.
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Maybe you can watch 270 episodes online, but the links provided seem to only lead to clips, rather than complete episodes.
Howard Stern was a “guest” once and completely destroyed Cavett. Has this ever been posted on YouTube?
Dick Cavett,was an intellectual,who was not intimidating.He used his mid west charm to disarm his guests and get them to disclose previously unexplored areas of their personalities.His program was one of genuine talk and ideas,not just silliness and promotion of products.He had on many artists,who weren:t regular talk show guests.And,the results were often thrilling.He was not a racist.The reason he did not respond to audience laughter about James Earl Jones playing Beethoven,is because Jones was making a joke about himself.The show with Norman Mailer and Gore Vidal demonstrates that Mailer was one of the biggest literary asses of all time.He was a loud mouthed bully;the Donald Trump of letters.
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Kind of obvious, but I would like to suggest his first episode with John Lennon and Yoko Ono, where they were the only guests. They also returned on a subsequent show, and played I think two songs. I saw those (with some extra footage) on this DVD set:
Tom
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