The Dick Cavett Show refers to television programs on the ABC, PBS, USA and CNBC networks hosted by comedian, comedy writer and author
Dick Cavett between 1968 and 1995 in New York. The first
daytime show featured
Gore Vidal,
Muhammad Ali and
Angela Lansbury. ABC pressured Cavett to get prominent celebrities on the show, although subsequent shows without them got higher ratings and more critical acclaim. (1971) A well-received summer replacement prime-time series that aired three times per week led to the memorable
late-night talk show that ran from December 29, 1969, to January 1, 1975, opposite
NBC's
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Cavett took the time slot over from
The Joey Bishop Show. In addition to his usual monologue, Cavett opened each show reading selected questions written by audience members, to which he would respond with witty rejoinders. ("What makes New York so crummy these days?" "Tourists.") While Cavett and Carson shared many of the same guests, Cavett was receptive to
rock and roll artists to a degree unusual at the time, as well as to authors, politicians and other personalities outside the entertainment field. The wide variety of guests, combined with Cavett's literate and intelligent approach to comedy, appealed to a significant enough number of viewers to keep the show running for several years despite the competition from Carson's show. Carson's move to southern California in the early 1970s to focus on
Hollywood celebrities also helped to minimize guest overlap. The late-night show's 45-minute midpoint would always be signaled by the musical piece "Glitter and Be Gay" from
Leonard Bernstein's
Candide. The
Candide snippet became Cavett's theme song and was used as the introduction to his later PBS series, and was played by the house band on his various talk show appearances. Typically each show had several guests, but occasionally Cavett would devote an entire show to a single guest. Among those receiving such special treatment (some more than once) were
Groucho Marx,
July 7, 1969: Jimi Hendrix In the July 7, 1969, interview, rock star
Jimi Hendrix modestly downplayed his abilities and displayed his sense of humor. Perhaps most importantly, he revealed some of his aesthetic ideals and the purpose of his music when he discussed his concept of the "Electric Church": Hendrix then performed "
Hear My Train A Comin'" with the house band and played the guitar with his teeth at the end of the song.
August 19, 1969: The Woodstock Show On Tuesday, August 19, 1969,
Jefferson Airplane,
Joni Mitchell,
David Crosby and
Stephen Stills (of
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young) all appeared on the show. The episode is now often referred to as "The
Woodstock Show", as many of the performers, and Cavett's audience, came directly from the concert for the taping the afternoon before the show aired. Stills pointed out the mud from the concert venue still on his pants. Jefferson Airplane's performance of "
We Can Be Together" marked the first time the word "fuck" was uttered on television in the US (the actual line is "In order to survive we steal, cheat, lie, forge, fuck, hide and deal". Another line with the forbidden word was "Up against the wall,
Up against the wall, motherfucker".). Mitchell sang "
Chelsea Morning", "Willy" and "For Free".
Grace Slick purposefully called Cavett "Jim" and briefly talked about her school days at
Finch College. Stephen Stills performed "4 + 20". Joni Mitchell sang "
The Fiddle and the Drum"
a cappella. Jefferson Airplane (with Crosby) then launched into "
Somebody to Love". The credits rolled as the musicians, without Mitchell, engaged in an instrumental jam as the audience danced. Jimi Hendrix was scheduled to join the others, but was unable to appear at the afternoon taping that occurred only a few hours after he had performed at the late-running festival. Mitchell's manager, apparently fearing a similar situation that may have prevented her from appearing on the show, did not allow her to perform at Woodstock. He considered the
Dick Cavett Show too important for her career for her to risk missing the taping. Mitchell wrote the song "
Woodstock" based on descriptions by
Graham Nash and from the images she saw on television, as she could not be there in person. The most famous version of the song is by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, who recorded it for their
Déjà Vu album (1970). It appears in the film
Woodstock during the closing credits. Mitchell recorded it for
Ladies of the Canyon (1970).
September 5, 1969: Groucho Marx Groucho Marx remarked about the Musical theatre musical
Hair, which had just opened and was notorious for its ground-breaking use of explicit nudity: "I was going to go, but I saw myself in the mirror one morning, and I figured, why waste five and a half dollars?"
September 9, 1969: Jimi Hendrix In an interview with Jimi Hendrix, Cavett spoke about Hendrix's performance of the "
Star Spangled Banner" at Woodstock, and called the style "unorthodox". Jimi commented that the song was "not unorthodox" and that what he played was beautiful. The audience clapped, and Dick blushed. Hendrix performed "Izabella" & "
Machine Gun" with his band,
Billy Cox,
Mitch Mitchell and
Juma Sultan.
1970s February 4, 1970: Judy Collins During an interview with singer
Judy Collins in which Cavett and Collins discussed her experiences as a defense witness at the
Chicago Seven trial, several of Collins' comments were censored at the direction of the ABC legal department. Collins wrote a protest letter to the
Federal Communications Commission (FCC), claiming a violation of her free-speech rights and the network license granted to ABC by the FCC. Her protest was denied, with the FCC ruling that a television network could, at its discretion, delete or edit remarks on its programs.
Elton Rule, president of ABC Television, noted that in the network's judgment, "her remarks ... were not within the bounds of fair comment."
February 5, 1970: Eric Clapton Blues guitarist
Eric Clapton appeared on the show with a new group called
Delaney & Bonnie & Friends, which was Clapton's first attempt to break from his lead role and operate as an anonymous sideman. This was also possibly the first time Clapton had appeared on American television with a
Fender Stratocaster; up to that time, he was famous for only playing
Gibson guitars. Cavett briefly interviewed the band but the shy Clapton did not have much to say.
February 19, 1970: Noël Coward, Alfred Lunt, Lynn Fontanne, Tammy Grimes and Brian Bedford To honor
Noël Coward on the occasion of his knighthood, Cavett interviewed Coward and his close friends, the Lunts. Tammy Grimes and Brian Bedford, who were appearing on Broadway in a revival of Coward's classic play
Private Lives, performed a medley of Coward's most popular songs. At one point during the interview, Cavett asked Coward, "What is the word for when one has terrific, prolific qualities?" to which Coward answered in a deadpan manner, "Talent", drawing a great amount of laughter.
April 6, 1970: Mark Frechette and Daria Halprin Actors
Mark Frechette and
Daria Halprin appeared together with movie producer
Mel Brooks and movie critic
Rex Reed. The interview went poorly from the outset, with Frechette giving abrupt, non-conversational answers and Halprin staying silent. Cavett apparently believed that they lived in a
commune, when they in fact were followers of guru
Mel Lyman. When Cavett asked about the "commune" where they lived, Frechette denied that it was a commune and said that "The community is for one purpose, and that's to serve Mel Lyman, who's the leader and founder of that community." At that point, Halprin finally tried to speak, but Cavett went to commercial. When the show returned, the next guest, Dr. Aaron Stern, a Beverly Hills psychiatrist and director of the
MPAA's
code and rating administration, was brought out, and Frechette and Halprin were not interviewed further.
July 27, 1970: Orson Welles Around halfway through Cavett's
Orson Welles interview, Welles reversed the roles and began asking Cavett questions about his life and career. This impromptu interview was well received by the audience and, among other things, humorously acknowledged Cavett's talk-show competitors such as
Johnny Carson and
Merv Griffin.
September 18, 1970: John Cassavetes, Peter Falk and Ben Gazzara Director
John Cassavetes and actors
Peter Falk and
Ben Gazzara appeared on the show to promote the movie
Husbands. All three guests were highly intoxicated, and "for thirty-five minutes they smoked, flopped around on the floor, and generally tormented Cavett, whose questions they'd planned to ignore." Dick Cavett pronounced it "one of the most interesting evenings of my life." Maddox later returned for another appearance, and this time Cavett walked off as a joke. Left alone on stage, Maddox cued the band and began singing "I Don't Know Why I Love You Like I Do" as Cavett reappeared in the wings to join in. The walk-off incident is mentioned at the beginning of the
Randy Newman song "
Rednecks".
February 11, 1971: Salvador Dalí, Lillian Gish and Satchel Paige Surrealist artist
Salvador Dalí appeared on the show with silent-screen star
Lillian Gish and baseball legend
Satchel Paige. Dalí brought an anteater on a leash with him when he came on stage, and he tossed it in Gish's lap, much to her consternation. Cavett asked Dalí why he had once arrived to give a lecture at the
Sorbonne in an open limousine filled with heads of cauliflower. Dalí responded with a barely coherent discourse regarding the similarity of the cauliflower head to the "mathematical problem discovered by
Michelangelo in the rhinoceros' horn." Cavett interrupted him by waving his hands in Dalí's face, exclaiming "Boogie boogie!" (imitating
Groucho Marx in the film
A Night at the Opera). The audience broke up, and Dalí appeared at a loss.
April 29, 1971: Robert Mitchum interview Actor
Robert Mitchum, known for avoiding public appearances, gave a rare interview as the sole guest. Mitchum talked about his childhood, Hollywood, his disdain for politics and politicians and his 1948 arrest. The show featured film clips from ''
Ryan's Daughter (1970) and The Night of the Hunter'' (1955).
June 7, 1971: J. I. Rodale's on-stage death On June 7, 1971, publisher
J. I. Rodale, founder of
Rodale, Inc., a health and wellness publishing conglomerate headquartered in
Emmaus, Pennsylvania, died of a heart attack during the taping of a segment for the show. Cavett was speaking with journalist
Pete Hamill when Rodale began to make a snoring noise. Cavett's reaction to this is contested: he claims that both he and Hamill realized immediately that something was wrong, while other accounts have him addressing the unconscious man with "Are we boring you, Mr. Rodale?" The audience did not realize anything was seriously wrong until Cavett asked if there were any medical doctors present. The program was never aired and a rerun was shown in its place. On the following night's program, Cavett discussed the previous night's event in depth. He has said that he is often approached by people wanting to discuss the incident, mistakenly convinced that they saw it on television. He would usually ask if the person was in the studio audience, which was the only way to witness it since the episode was never broadcast.
June 1971: Vietnam War debate with John Kerry During a debate about the Vietnam War, Cavett had two veterans debating on the show. The anti-war side was led by a young
John Kerry and the pro-war side by
John E. O'Neill, later the founder of
Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. It was later revealed through then-President
Richard Nixon's secret
White House tapes that Nixon wanted to "get rid" of Cavett because of this debate.
August 2, 1971: Ingmar Bergman Director
Ingmar Bergman appeared for the first time on a US talk show, one of the few television interviews he ever granted.
November 24, 1971: Danny Kaye Actor/singer
Danny Kaye appeared for the entire show with film clips, performing and promoting
UNICEF.
December 15, 1971: Norman Mailer vs. Gore Vidal Moments before the episode with
Gore Vidal,
Norman Mailer and
Janet Flanner, Mailer, annoyed with Vidal's less-than-stellar review of
Prisoner of Sex, headbutted Vidal and traded insults with him backstage. As the show began taping, a visibly belligerent Mailer, who admitted he had been drinking, Mailer replied "I'll take the two chairs if you'll all accept
finger bowls." As Cavett professed to not understand Mailer's "finger bowl" comment and made further jokes, Mailer stated "Why don't you look at your question sheet and ask your question?", to which Cavett responded "Why don't you fold it five ways and put it where the moon don't shine?" Cavett noted that Mailer said that he received more mail about this episode than for anything else in his career.
1971: John Simon vs. Mort Sahl Critic
John Simon revealed on the air that during the most recent commercial break, fellow guest
Mort Sahl had threatened to punch him in the mouth.
1971: The pornography episodes Cavett did a two-part show on pornography; both parts were taped the same day and shown on two nights. During the first part, he discussed the depiction of oral sex in movies and made a parenthetical utterance: "oral-genital sex...mouth on sex organs." A flap ensued when executives demanded that the censor cut the second phrase. An angry Cavett described the ongoing situation at the beginning of the second part, reusing the phrase. One of the guests, legal scholar
Alexander Bickel, sided with Cavett. The result was that the show aired with the phrase cut the first night but intact for the second night. =====1972–1974 and beyond:
Watergate===== During and following the Watergate scandal, which resulted in the resignation of President
Richard Nixon, Cavett's guests included: •
Barry Goldwater, senior Republican Senator from Arizona •
G. Gordon Liddy, former FBI agent, one of the head
White House Plumbers one of the original
Watergate Seven •
Richard Kleindienst, Attorney General succeeding
John N. Mitchell and followed by
Elliot Richardson •
Bob Woodward and
Carl Bernstein,
Washington Post metropolitan writers and Watergate investigative reporters •
Walter Cronkite,
CBS Evening News anchor who aired segments on Watergate using Woodward and Bernstein's
Washington Post coverage •
John Ehrlichman, Nixon chief domestic policy advisor and one of the later
Watergate Seven •
Jeb Magruder, CRP coordinator turned witness •
John Dean, Nixon White House counsel and cover-up coordinator turned star witness • Members of the
Senate Watergate Committee in charge of the
Watergate hearings • Chairman
Sam Ervin (D-NC) • Vice chairman
Howard Baker (R-TN) and members
Lowell Weicker (R-CT),
Daniel Inouye (D-HI) and
Herman Talmadge (D-GA) in the Senate Caucus Room with an audience •
Gore Vidal •
Gerald Ford, House Minority Leader, Vice President following
Spiro Agnew's resignation and President following Nixon's resignation •
Henry Kissinger, National Security Advisor and Secretary of State It later emerged from the
Nixon White House tapes that Cavett was viewed as an enemy by Nixon and thus had staff who had taxes audited in retaliation. Cavett's Watergate coverage and interviews were later spotlighted in a PBS documentary called ''Dick Cavett's Watergate'' featuring Cavett, Woodward, Bernstein, Dean and former Nixon Presidential Library director
Timothy Naftali.
March 31, 1972: Chad Everett vs. Lily Tomlin During the taping of this episode, actor
Chad Everett upset
feminist actress/comedian
Lily Tomlin. Tomlin became so enraged when Everett referred to his wife as "my property" that she stormed off the set and refused to return.
June 27, 1972: Angela Davis Angela Davis, an activist who was associated with the
Black Panther Party in the 1960s and 1970s, cancelled a scheduled appearance on June 27, 1972. The basis for the controversy was the continuing debate over the SST (
supersonic transport) system. ABC had insisted on inviting either
William F. Buckley, Jr. or
William Rusher of the conservative
National Review magazine to have a balanced viewpoint, but Davis declined.
1972: Rogers Morton A show with
Secretary of the Interior Rogers Morton resulted in nine animals being added to the endangered species list after Cavett commented on them.
June 12, 1973: Marlon Brando Marlon Brando, who just months earlier had rejected his Academy Award for
The Godfather to protest the plight of
American Indians, appeared on the show with representatives of the
Cheyenne,
Paiute and
Lummi tribes to promote his views. After the program ended, Brando assaulted photographer
Ron Galella, who ended up in the hospital after being punched in the face.
October 1973: Katharine Hepburn two-hour interview Having previously never appeared on television,
Katharine Hepburn—for reasons still unknown—decided to visit Cavett's studio for a tour. After critiquing the carpet and rearranging the set, Hepburn suggested they "go ahead and do it now." During her two-part interview, Hepburn got up and left at the end of the first half of the interview, thinking her job was done. Cavett apologized to the audience, promising that she would be back the next evening (she was). However, this was actually staged by Cavett and Hepburn as a joke.
February 21, 1974: Carol Burnett interview Actress Carol Burnett appeared and was interviewed for the entire 90-minute program.
1979: Oscar Peterson Pianist
Oscar Peterson expertly demonstrated the styles of
Art Tatum,
Erroll Garner,
Nat King Cole and
George Shearing. The show began with Peterson playing a solo piece and he then discussed his debut and his view on critics.
1980s October 1980: Jean-Luc Godard Filmmaker
Jean-Luc Godard appeared in two 1980 episodes promoting the film
Every Man for Himself and discussing his philosophy of filmmaking. These are included as supplements on the
Criterion Collection's DVD and Blu-ray releases of the film. ==Home media==