The Dick Cavett Show

The Dick Cavett Show
Dick Cavett in 2008
Production
Running time	90 minutes
Release
Original release	March 4, 1968 – December 30, 1986

The Dick Cavett Show was the title of several talk shows hosted by Dick Cavett on various television networks, including:

Cavett taped his programs in New York City.

The Dick Cavett Show most often refers to the shows on ABC-TV that Dick Cavett hosted between 1968 and 1975 in New York. The first daytime show featured Gore Vidal, Muhammad Ali, and Angela Lansbury. ABC pressured Cavett to "get big names," although subsequent shows without them got higher ratings and more critical acclaim.

The late-night talk show that ran from December 29, 1969 to January 1, 1975 ran opposite NBC's The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Cavett took the time slot over from The Joey Bishop Show. In addition to the 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 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.

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, being used as the introduction to his later PBS series, and was played by the house band on his various talk show appearances over the last 30 years.