Cavett

Dick Cavett, renowned for his droll, acerbic wit, hosted various TV talk shows from 1968 to 1996, most notably on ABC from 1969 to 1974; a show that attracted top-notch guests, often a hipper cadre than appeared on the rival The Tonight Show hosted by Johnny Carson on NBC. DVDs available of selected Cavett shows from the late '60s and early '70s are time capsules of the arts, entertainment and politics of the era. Before that, Cavett was a writer for The Tonight Show and a stand-up comic. This 1974 book of self-reflections takes both the form of an interview (conducted by long-time friend and colleague, Christoper Porterfield) and biographical narratives written by Porterfield with Cavett's input. Nothing is sacred in Cavett; the talk ranges boldly and freely, as talk between friends often does, from the silly to the satirical and from the serious to the scatological.