There should be more talk show hosts like Dick Cavett. Alas, he's of a passing breed of educated and erudite conversationalists and public intellectuals. Second only, in my opinion, to Steve Allen, Dick Cavett brought out the best in his guests in engaging them in thoughtful dialogue presented to an appreciative audience. This book contains many memories of his experiences on his various talk shows and with various guests. It also shares many thoughts and memories on life, contemporary and otherwise. While it's essentially just a collection of his NY Times columns, it's a volume of thoughtful consideration by a master composer. You will not be sorry for having picked this up.And as further proof of its five-star rating, the length of the individual essays make it a perfect book for the bathroom. I'm just saying. I listened to Cavett read this while on a long distance car trip. If you're a show biz or pop culture junkie, there are lots of historic goodies from a guy who got in on television's ground floor, first as a writer for Paar, Carson etc, and then as an interviewer of pop icons like John Lennon, Ayn Rand, and Alfred Hitchcock. This book is actually a collection of his NY Times columns, and hearing Cavett read them is probably a good way to go. He has a unique, upper crust Yalie voice, which some readers may have a hard time dealing with, but his recall of detail (verified by the preservation of most of his recorded interviews) is amazing and amusing.
What do You think about Talk Show: Confrontations, Pointed Commentary, And Off-Screen Secrets (2010)?
Added 4/26/14. Audio book. Interesting commentary about various people and topics.
—Roman
