I wish there are more shows like Dick Cavett's program around. I may be of the younger generation but this is some good stuff.I doubt any of the copycat shows will be as good as this show was though.
and PS Mailer actually included a transcript of this show in one of his collections. He admits he was drunk that night. But hey, this is a guy who learned early on the value of a scandalous reputation for his literary career. And it seems to have worked -- I guess there really is no such thing as bad publicity...
Norman Mailor shows himself to be such an arsehole here. Reading one of his books is so tediously draining.. When it came to metaphorically describing the human condition it took him 3 pages to do what Cormac Mccarthy can do in a paragraph. Americas biggest egomaniac yes, writer? Of course not. Cavett handles this with his usual brilliance. Thanks for the upload buddy!
@nelsano3 Charles Bukowski used to say there's a lot of writers, but then there's people who can write.
I've always thought that someone that can drag you into the story in spite of their shortcoming stylistically is a far superior writer than the Norman Mailer's of the world.
Mailer was appalling here, playing intellectual games that he actually wasn't smart enough to win. He just resorted to insult and childishness. His comments about being intellectually superior to the 'small' intellects on the show are hollow, demonstrated by his retreat into a frowning tantrum. I liked a lot of Mailer's work, but he was caned here, pure and simple.
Gore Vidal is such an acerbic wit and intellect that Mailer was manifestly intimidated and assumed the approach of "the best defense is a good offense." However, Gore was so poised and adroit at repartee that Mailer only made matters worse for himself and appeared oafish and an out-of-his-league boor.
Great comeback by Cavett. A couple of great whores. Don't make em like them no more. Trouble is, I think Mailer became the pretentious pit bull he was here because it sold books. Vidal is more accessible.
Not a great exchange, but I think that's Lilian Hellman to Cavett's right, and I do miss the popular culture of a generation ago or more, when non-fiction authors defended and debated their work and contentions in the broadcast media ... about things that mattered.
The rough equivalent today would be if Malcolm Gladwell, Patrick Buchanan, Naomi Klein, Tom Wolf (as then), and Christopher Hitchens were to square off on the Tonight Show or on Conan.
@9162vb48 this wasn't a quote from tolstoy. cavette's respond was ''do I have to tell you a quote from Tolstoy?'' in an interview with charlie rose he said that those words came to him out of nowhere and he hadn't prepare them or hear them before in his life.
Didn't Mailer wind up punching Vidal at a party. Maybe it was apocryphal. Apparently, as Vidal recovered, he said : " Once again words fail Norman Mailer".
@lordsalisbury1 A whole chair for Mailer's intellect, yet the other three need only tiny finger bowls to contain theirs. It was Mailer's jab at his intellectual "superiority" and the space needed to contain it.
1:14 - 1:35, 2:42 - 2:47, and 3:40 - 3:43 You tell him! Norman, you're in front of a live audience making a real joke of yourself. You're going to get them and yourself off the air if you continue in this manner! I'm suggesting that you do yourself a favor, swallow your pride, and show the public how "intelligent" you really are. We've already had TWO World Wars, let 's not start the THIRD one here tonight.
@JubalCalif You're welcome! I was going to ask you not to thank me, but to thank Wikipedia (that's where I got the information from), but I just found out that somebody else gave you that information long before I ever did, so thank them too.
Gore was out on a book reading tour in NYC and I remembered the incident and asked him about it. He seemed very embarrassed. So, don't be an asshole... the world has enough already...
There's the famous Woody Allen line from "Sleeper" (which was set 200 years in the future) about Norman Mailer donating his ego to Harvard Medical School when he died.
@tomloft2000 I am surprised SNL has not made a William Buckley spoof yet at this point, perhaps a "who wants a punch in the goddam face" game show. Then again, their direction has not exactly been promoting cultural literacy lately... Either way, no William Buckley=No threats of face punching, it puts a real damper on the equation.
Everybody knows that the children of Iraq are the most suicide-prone children on the planet. [Lesley Stahl on U.S. sanctions against Iraq: "We have heard that a half million children have died. I mean, that's more children than died in Hiroshima. And, you know, is the price worth it?"; Secretary of State Madeleine Albright: "I think this is a very hard choice, but the price--we think the price is worth it." — "60 Minutes" (5/12/96)]
@fromis111 -- come on, admit it, you mastur-debater, you either (1) want hot looking girls, or (2) you're a brown-dirt cowboy who putts from the rough.
If (1), let me make this clear to you: pretty girls / women think you're an ugly, grotesquely obese, bald smelly pig. Uh, news flash: hot girls aren't attracted to Buckwheat - Vidal - Chomsky - Mailer - etc obsessed "intellectuals."
If (2), well, just be sure to clean the fecal bits off the tip of your pickle when you're done.
Who can tell me in what movie did James Caan's character utter the hilarious line, "...but I will never, ever, take a pinch from a greasy motherfucker like you!!"
I will give a kiss to the person with the first correct answer--and if you're good looking, it might be a wet tongue kiss!!
I admire Gore Vidal and have read just about everything he's written with pleasure, but Mailer at his best was a pure genius The way they sort of gang up on him here in a cliquish fashion is repulsive. Cavett of course was nothing. And Janet Flanner, well, 40 years of hindsight later, who the fuck is she? Read Mailer's account of this event in the Prisoner of Sex.
I think the woman is Gore's mother. I say this, because I meant once on a plane -- she was sitting right next to me. This was over 30 years ago. The flight was about three hours and for 2 hours we talked about a thousand different things. Then 10 minutes into the last hour she says, "My father was a senator -- Senator Gore."
I thought about this and then it hit me. I said, "Wait a minute, you're not related to Al Gore, are you?"
That woman's comment winds me up. Her put down is so ignorant. Quietness and politeness is not useful and nor what the audience desires. She is out of her league and should not be on there.
imagine my surprise after hearing an edited version of this debate to discover that the FUNNIEST moment was actually made by Janet Flanner, who ironically is never added to the credits of this controversial interview - why is that??? Surely she was the star of this debate ;)
What Mailer was so ass-hurt over was a piece Vidal wrote about rampant misogyny in popular culture. He noted that the difference between Henry Miller (who beat his wife), Norman Mailer (who stabbed his wife) and Charles Manson (who butchered several women) was only a matter of degree. He referred to Miller/Mailer/Manson as the The Ms -or 3Ms.
@Jelperman I would like to know where you heard that Henry Miller beat his wife? I would appreciate it if you could answer this question without any more lying...
Gore vidal was insulting to Norman Mailer. He owes him an apology for that, pure and simple. Regardless of what you think about Norman Mailer, an apology does not depend on the feelings of the victim as Gore Vidal implies at :57 seconds. I fault Cavett for not noticing that, and actually contributing to the hurt. I also fault Flanner for the same.
@geglockn Vidal was doing what he does best: needling his victim until he lashes out in anger and makes a fool of himself (as he did to William Buckley). Vidal's insincere offer to apologize if he hurt Mailer's feelings was just another way to jab at him and make him look petty. It worked, since Mailer attacked not only Vidal, but Janet Flanner and Dick Cavett too.
To hell with anybody that calls a person a hack simply because they're a "lefty." Glenn Beck is one of the world's biggest hacks, and he's a "righty."
The funny thing about this: Vidal comes off elegant, smart, confident, balanced, etc and Mailer looks like a nutjob. In print, the exact reverse is true. Mailer's writing is infinitely more sophisticated.
JANET Flanner was a writer for the New Yorker, and at one point here she grows weary of being bullied by the insufferable Mailer. Vidal remains quite cool. Mailer was a bully- a fool- a pompous ass- and on occasion he could write well.. but his desire to create a public personnae for himself led to this kind of assinine posturing. Poor Norman, now dead.
It brings to mind the line in Woody Allen's "Sleeper," the premise of which is that Allen has been cryogenically frozen since 1972 and revived many years later into a new, Orwellian world. The shrinks are showing him photos of seventies personages whom they cannot identify. When shown Norman Mailer's photo, Allen responds, "That's Norman Mailer. He willed his ego to the Harvard Medical School for study."
LOL at the sparse couple of Mailer sycophants who gave him a "benefit of the doubt"-esque clap or two after his completely incomprehensible "finger bowls" comment. Some people will defend anybody at any time if they are so impassioned, regardless if understood a single word of it.
LOL at the sparse couple of Mailer sycophants who gave him a "benefit of the doubt"-esque clap or two after his completely incomprehensible "finger bowls" comment. Some people will defend anybody at any time if they are so impassioned, regardless if they even understand a word of it.
LOL at the sparse couple of Mailer sycophants who gave him a "benefit of the doubt"-esque clap or two after his completely incomprehensible "finger bowls" comment. Some people will defend anybody at any time if they are so impassioned, regardless if they even understand a word of it.
After this, Mailer should have been finished. Even though Cavett (who I normally like) shouldn't have lowered himself to this, Mailer's utter lack of any response beyond what one would expect from a twelve year old, demonstrates he was nothing but an inadequate bully who spewed little more than empty assed noise.
@Meganomics101 haha. you should see the video of Gore Vidal feuding with William F. Buckley. if Vidal & Mailer are like Tupac and Biggie, then Vidal & Buckley are like 50 Cent and Ja Rule.
Yeah...funny what he says about charles manson considering what he did to his pregnant wife adele...actually funny might be the wrong word. Inhuman springs to mind.
No one tells it like it is better than Dick Cavett....... Pure genius! What we have on television now is nothing but bad reality tv. I hate it! Have we grown less intelligent as a society? Where are our standards of what is acceptable to us? Just makes me sad that's all. Sad, sad, sad.........
@cutandpaste1 Phony? All accents are cultivated. They don't just spring forth. People gain and lose their accents from their environment. Mailer went to Harvard was by all means part of the upper-crust of the NE.
The lady is Janet Flanner. Originally from Indianapolis, she was a longtime columnist for the New Yorker magazine, under the pseudonym of Genet. She was in the same crowd as Hemingway and others during WWII.
From the time I started watching late-night talk (just about the time Paar walked off the Tonight Show) till the time I stopped watching it (just about the time Carson retired), this is, IMO, the single greatest segment of talkshow repartee ever aired.
(Note to X'rs, Y'rs, and Millennials: At one time, "Talk" shows were actually about...
He was saying, with typical lack of wit, that their intellects were so small they could fit in finger bowls (while his needed three chairs, remember).
@jb19691 of course he was.. surprised Cavett didn't pick up on this.. Mailer is still an asshole though.. tried to kill one of his wives and apparently raped another
two great lines by Cavett - "perhaps you would like two more chairs to contain your giant intellect" and "why don't you fold it 5 ways and stick it where the moon don't shine". Cavett was great.
God, what an egocentric douche. I suspected he was a douche after reading 'Miami and the Siege of Chicago'. Only a douche refers to himself in the third person.
wow Norman Mailer was combative, but crude and aggressive, Gore was, is kind of pompous but had some decorum, and the lady was right on, you boys think you are in private but behave yourselves you are on tv, Dick Cavett was smooth and perfect as usual, Mailer reminded me oddly of George Bush a bit of a bumbler in over his head, at least on television, better as a writer though.
I wish there are more shows like Dick Cavett's program around. I may be of the younger generation but this is some good stuff.I doubt any of the copycat shows will be as good as this show was though.
efan2011 3 days ago
Amazing what USED to be on television. Raw. Real.
dontcindyme 1 week ago
The last comment from Cavette was priceless. I watched this when it was aired and never forgot it.
davehorne 1 week ago
wish network TV was this bold today. . .
allenbroadway 2 weeks ago
and PS Mailer actually included a transcript of this show in one of his collections. He admits he was drunk that night. But hey, this is a guy who learned early on the value of a scandalous reputation for his literary career. And it seems to have worked -- I guess there really is no such thing as bad publicity...
ivelosthewilltolive 2 weeks ago
LMAO! Love it!!
89cz3ko 3 weeks ago
Norman Mailor shows himself to be such an arsehole here. Reading one of his books is so tediously draining.. When it came to metaphorically describing the human condition it took him 3 pages to do what Cormac Mccarthy can do in a paragraph. Americas biggest egomaniac yes, writer? Of course not. Cavett handles this with his usual brilliance. Thanks for the upload buddy!
nelsano3 3 weeks ago
@nelsano3 Charles Bukowski used to say there's a lot of writers, but then there's people who can write.
I've always thought that someone that can drag you into the story in spite of their shortcoming stylistically is a far superior writer than the Norman Mailer's of the world.
rrtodd95 3 weeks ago
Mailer was appalling here, playing intellectual games that he actually wasn't smart enough to win. He just resorted to insult and childishness. His comments about being intellectually superior to the 'small' intellects on the show are hollow, demonstrated by his retreat into a frowning tantrum. I liked a lot of Mailer's work, but he was caned here, pure and simple.
Pihasanddunes1 3 weeks ago
Gore Vidal is such an acerbic wit and intellect that Mailer was manifestly intimidated and assumed the approach of "the best defense is a good offense." However, Gore was so poised and adroit at repartee that Mailer only made matters worse for himself and appeared oafish and an out-of-his-league boor.
salahudeenabduladl 3 weeks ago
I didn't find that at all boring.
seans10 1 month ago 5
Great comeback by Cavett. A couple of great whores. Don't make em like them no more. Trouble is, I think Mailer became the pretentious pit bull he was here because it sold books. Vidal is more accessible.
Janet Flannery is the perfect foil.
ejsk100 1 month ago
Not a great exchange, but I think that's Lilian Hellman to Cavett's right, and I do miss the popular culture of a generation ago or more, when non-fiction authors defended and debated their work and contentions in the broadcast media ... about things that mattered.
The rough equivalent today would be if Malcolm Gladwell, Patrick Buchanan, Naomi Klein, Tom Wolf (as then), and Christopher Hitchens were to square off on the Tonight Show or on Conan.
Gosh, I'm sick of vapid actors, singers etc...
ProNorden 1 month ago
@ProNorden Not Lillian Hellman, it's Janet Flannery, who wrote for the New Yorker.
ivelosthewilltolive 1 month ago
@ivelosthewilltolive I think it's Janet Flanner, not Flannery.
spaceoreo 3 weeks ago
@spaceoreo I guess I was thinking of Flannery O'Connor...
ivelosthewilltolive 2 weeks ago
Man. Television was really different in the 70s.
mgk81 1 month ago
She says, "I'm becoming very very bored." Hahaha! Nice.
headstock48 1 month ago
Pip Pip
headstock48 1 month ago
CLASSIC piece of TV history :)
22Bluebells 1 month ago
Please tell me there's a "part two" coming!
kirbygene 1 month ago
This is reality TV way before reality TV became popular!
kirbygene 1 month ago
This clip left out the best part!
After Cavett said: "Why don't you fold it five ways and put it where the moon don't shine"
-- Mailer said: "Is that something you came up with yourself, Dick, or is that a canned line?"
-- and Cavett shot back: "Norman, I'm surprised you don't recognize a quote from Tolstoy."
-- Which is precisely what Cavett's line was -- a quote from Tolstoy.
In short, Mailer came off like the egomaniacal clown he invariably was.
9162vb48 2 months ago 2
@9162vb48 this wasn't a quote from tolstoy. cavette's respond was ''do I have to tell you a quote from Tolstoy?'' in an interview with charlie rose he said that those words came to him out of nowhere and he hadn't prepare them or hear them before in his life.
watch?v=BxfUu2uv2sQ&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL
constantine4711 1 month ago
This has been flagged as spam show
Well, both Vidal and Mailer both wrote some excellent books. This is but a small sample of that show. Mailer actually did very well.
RobynHode8 2 months ago
Intellectuals can be just as stupids! At least a guy with a low I.Q. has an excuse. Not these "intellectuals".
Bruno53ification 2 months ago
Both idiots, Vidal and Mailer, write boring books and are full of hot air! Who bothers with idiots like them?
Bruno53ification 2 months ago
@kingsatan Yes they do. Look up the James Frey/Oprah debacle...
bwall47 2 months ago
I don't care who you are, that's TV
cobrasvt347 2 months ago
i love the old lady!!! who is that?
scotfreak 2 months ago 2
@scotfreak Janet Flanner.
CoolerKing37 2 months ago
Love seeing Janet Flanner take Mailer down several pegs. Whatta classy lady.
chamisa77 2 months ago
It's simple. Mailer is an asshole.
MrHaircut1 3 months ago
"I'm the gentlest person here." ...says the guy who stabbed his wife.
Blacksun1942 3 months ago 7
@Blacksun1942 And almost bit of Rip Torns ear, don't forget that.
rrtodd95 3 weeks ago
I never get sick of watching clowns like Mailer & Vidal fighting. Got to get this on dvd.
jhop9898 3 months ago
Cavett should've said that FIRST, not last.
ferociousgumby 3 months ago
Wow, they don't make TV like that anymore.
.
kingsatan 3 months ago
Didn't Mailer wind up punching Vidal at a party. Maybe it was apocryphal. Apparently, as Vidal recovered, he said : " Once again words fail Norman Mailer".
mrdarcyme 3 months ago 2
terrific. I loved Dick cavett use to see him at my college all the time. he was handsome and polite and took the time to speak to all of us.
chopard4545 3 months ago
Mailer was a two bit Hemingway wannabe.
recubejim1 3 months ago 2
I love Gore Vidal's historical novels, I didn't know he was so handsome.
I don't get Mailer's crack about finger-bowls either.
lordsalisbury1 3 months ago
@lordsalisbury1 A whole chair for Mailer's intellect, yet the other three need only tiny finger bowls to contain theirs. It was Mailer's jab at his intellectual "superiority" and the space needed to contain it.
wolfwilliams 3 months ago
@lordsalisbury1 They're very small bowls. Mailer's saying they'd be big enough to hold their intellects whilst he needs 3 chairs
alanwhite 3 months ago
I wasn't bored at all - wish the old lady hadn't interrupted.
euclid901 3 months ago
1:14 - 1:35, 2:42 - 2:47, and 3:40 - 3:43 You tell him! Norman, you're in front of a live audience making a real joke of yourself. You're going to get them and yourself off the air if you continue in this manner! I'm suggesting that you do yourself a favor, swallow your pride, and show the public how "intelligent" you really are. We've already had TWO World Wars, let 's not start the THIRD one here tonight.
jeprice08 4 months ago
finger bowls is where everything got weird. C avett got straight and hit the breaks!
1968624 4 months ago
Norman Mailer couldn't stand to be around idiots which is the vast majority of people in the world.
JayGatsbyOdysseus 4 months ago
@JayGatsbyOdysseus That statement is bizarre and ironic.
MrGrevy 4 months ago
God lord there was something wrong with Norman Mailer.
RottenHippo 4 months ago
I'm pretty sure thats noted playwright Lillian Hellman onstage with these two fueding literay giants...but am not quite positive.
JubalCalif 4 months ago
@JubalCalif someone correctly identified the woman as writer and journalist Janet Flanner
CreamedCheesed 4 months ago
@CreamedCheesed
Many thanks, Creamed Cheesed !
:-)
JubalCalif 4 months ago
@JubalCalif The woman's name is Janet Flanner.
jeprice08 4 months ago
@jeprice08
Thanks a lot, jeprice08 !
:)
JubalCalif 4 months ago
@JubalCalif You're welcome! I was going to ask you not to thank me, but to thank Wikipedia (that's where I got the information from), but I just found out that somebody else gave you that information long before I ever did, so thank them too.
jeprice08 4 months ago
about 9 years ago I brought up this incident with Gore myself
DukeofConDao 4 months ago
@DukeofConDao Sure you did, moron.
MrGrevy 4 months ago
@MrGrevy
Gore was out on a book reading tour in NYC and I remembered the incident and asked him about it. He seemed very embarrassed. So, don't be an asshole... the world has enough already...
DukeofConDao 4 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
@DukeofConDao Any evidence of this being true?? Didn't think so.
MrGrevy 4 months ago
megadeth owns
idontseeynot9 5 months ago 2
Mailer was a full-of-shit egomaniac, but he was entertaining...
znarf541 5 months ago
@newt0830, when it comes to Gore, I wouldn't insult Hollywood Pimps.
XavierMarkus1 5 months ago
Is the full interview anywhere online?
Crosseyedpresident 6 months ago
For two fine writers, this sounds like two school kids saying "so is your mother!"
yahwhous 6 months ago
@yahwhous
Well said & well put. One would think these two literary giants would have a bit more maturity & restraint in regards to their tempers & emotions.
JubalCalif 4 months ago
gore is just a hollywood pimp who is given credit by the left wing media who accords him expert status as an intellectual.
and who is the old bag?
newt0830 6 months ago
@newt0830 I guess you could do better...
znarf541 5 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
@newt0830 I guess you could do better...
znarf541 5 months ago
There's the famous Woody Allen line from "Sleeper" (which was set 200 years in the future) about Norman Mailer donating his ego to Harvard Medical School when he died.
theburt83 6 months ago
I never imagined that Norman was such an A****hole!!
Magenta408 6 months ago
Did anyone hear the drum after that zinger at the end. badum ba bum
BizaroMustard100 6 months ago 2
Full episode anywhere?
NaviLight 6 months ago
all they need is William F, Buckley.
tomloft2000 6 months ago
@tomloft2000 I am surprised SNL has not made a William Buckley spoof yet at this point, perhaps a "who wants a punch in the goddam face" game show. Then again, their direction has not exactly been promoting cultural literacy lately... Either way, no William Buckley=No threats of face punching, it puts a real damper on the equation.
MasterEled 6 months ago
You don't get tv like this anymore. Mailer says the audience is snoring. I doubt it.
michaels7 6 months ago 2
Everybody knows that the children of Iraq are the most suicide-prone children on the planet. [Lesley Stahl on U.S. sanctions against Iraq: "We have heard that a half million children have died. I mean, that's more children than died in Hiroshima. And, you know, is the price worth it?"; Secretary of State Madeleine Albright: "I think this is a very hard choice, but the price--we think the price is worth it." — "60 Minutes" (5/12/96)]
TheManWithTVEyes 6 months ago
Who the hell are this pair of intellectual bores??
johnnycheck99 7 months ago
@fromis111 -- come on, admit it, you mastur-debater, you either (1) want hot looking girls, or (2) you're a brown-dirt cowboy who putts from the rough.
If (1), let me make this clear to you: pretty girls / women think you're an ugly, grotesquely obese, bald smelly pig. Uh, news flash: hot girls aren't attracted to Buckwheat - Vidal - Chomsky - Mailer - etc obsessed "intellectuals."
If (2), well, just be sure to clean the fecal bits off the tip of your pickle when you're done.
g17y5wb 7 months ago
Damn, that was a wonderful program. Dick Cavett really knew how to let his guests let loose. And he always had fabulous guests.
hamnose 7 months ago 10
Hi, buttholes!!
Wanna play movie trivia?
Who can tell me in what movie did James Caan's character utter the hilarious line, "...but I will never, ever, take a pinch from a greasy motherfucker like you!!"
I will give a kiss to the person with the first correct answer--and if you're good looking, it might be a wet tongue kiss!!
;-)
g17y5wb 7 months ago
@g17y5wb How about answering another trivia question?
Where was James Caan born, who is brother and what was the profession
of his father?
And the answer to your question, "The Sound of Music"?
fntime 7 months ago
Vidal is a pompous Elitist, Mailer is an arrogant fuck Elitist.
NoGuff 7 months ago 7
@NoGuff Real interesting comment.
hamnose 7 months ago
@NoGuff
Elitism is the theory that the better is preferable to the worse. Speak no evil of your betters.
PhilosopherSY 7 months ago
@PhilosopherSY
No, that's the ability to differentiate. An Elitist is someone who believes he's better than others.
NoGuff 6 months ago
@NoGuff I would prefer the pompous over the arrogant fuck.
isthatmycow100 1 month ago
I admire Gore Vidal and have read just about everything he's written with pleasure, but Mailer at his best was a pure genius The way they sort of gang up on him here in a cliquish fashion is repulsive. Cavett of course was nothing. And Janet Flanner, well, 40 years of hindsight later, who the fuck is she? Read Mailer's account of this event in the Prisoner of Sex.
seans10 7 months ago
Cavett owned the hell out of Mailer through the entire interview
efan2011 7 months ago
I think the woman is Gore's mother. I say this, because I meant once on a plane -- she was sitting right next to me. This was over 30 years ago. The flight was about three hours and for 2 hours we talked about a thousand different things. Then 10 minutes into the last hour she says, "My father was a senator -- Senator Gore."
I thought about this and then it hit me. I said, "Wait a minute, you're not related to Al Gore, are you?"
She said, "Yes, he's my son."
Mulatto Queen
ricland 7 months ago
"im here, and i'm becoming very, very bored." that's the best line of the whole thing.
SimAlex20000 7 months ago 3
Mailers fingerbowl comeback didn't work because his timing was all wrong, left it to late
EmceeKayR 7 months ago 4
Man, Mailer was out of control. Seriously hilarious stuff.
I'm amazed Vidal was able to sit quietly for that long.
keefriff99 7 months ago 2
wow, that was a seriously funny video. who's the woman? she rocks :))
rwtj01 7 months ago
@cinematicfanatic I don't hear it, but he did love the Irish and claimed to have Irish blood in his veins.
Kenmorfdublin 7 months ago
Comment removed
manconoo 7 months ago
Cavett pulls this off with class. Most impressive.
OneBigRetard 7 months ago
That woman's comment winds me up. Her put down is so ignorant. Quietness and politeness is not useful and nor what the audience desires. She is out of her league and should not be on there.
OneBigRetard 7 months ago
Norman Mailer may have been quite intelligent... but really, he was just a piece of shit.
yellingelk 7 months ago in playlist People
My vote goes to the lady. She is the winner.
gunchibaiyya 7 months ago
Cavett didn't get it no...
Cromag99 7 months ago
imagine my surprise after hearing an edited version of this debate to discover that the FUNNIEST moment was actually made by Janet Flanner, who ironically is never added to the credits of this controversial interview - why is that??? Surely she was the star of this debate ;)
becky0167 8 months ago
What Mailer was so ass-hurt over was a piece Vidal wrote about rampant misogyny in popular culture. He noted that the difference between Henry Miller (who beat his wife), Norman Mailer (who stabbed his wife) and Charles Manson (who butchered several women) was only a matter of degree. He referred to Miller/Mailer/Manson as the The Ms -or 3Ms.
Jelperman 8 months ago
@Jelperman I would like to know where you heard that Henry Miller beat his wife? I would appreciate it if you could answer this question without any more lying...
kp9952 8 months ago in playlist Writers
@kp9952 I read it on a feminist website a few years ago. Miller's misogyny is well-documented, so I'm inclined to believe it.
Jelperman 8 months ago
Gore vidal was insulting to Norman Mailer. He owes him an apology for that, pure and simple. Regardless of what you think about Norman Mailer, an apology does not depend on the feelings of the victim as Gore Vidal implies at :57 seconds. I fault Cavett for not noticing that, and actually contributing to the hurt. I also fault Flanner for the same.
geglockn 8 months ago
@geglockn
Funny, you're finding fault with everybody except the asshole.
shelton705 8 months ago
@shelton705 ... or so it would appear.
geglockn 8 months ago
@geglockn Vidal was doing what he does best: needling his victim until he lashes out in anger and makes a fool of himself (as he did to William Buckley). Vidal's insincere offer to apologize if he hurt Mailer's feelings was just another way to jab at him and make him look petty. It worked, since Mailer attacked not only Vidal, but Janet Flanner and Dick Cavett too.
Jelperman 8 months ago
Reminds me of Wooy Allen's remark that "Norman Mailer donated his ego to Harvard Medical School for study."
MrManFig 8 months ago 17
Mailer is an jackass.
coolmamac 8 months ago
This clip, which appears several times here at YouTube, leaves out what Mailer and Cavett subsequently said.
Mailer said: "Dick, did you make that up ("fold it 5 ways and put it where the moon don't shine"), or is that a canned (quotable) remark?"
To which Cavett replied, without missing a beat: "Norman, I'm surprised you don't recognize a quote from Tolstoy."
And, sure enough, that IS a quote from Tolstoy.
In total, Norman Mailer made a prime jackass of himself.
62easthar62 9 months ago
Two ego maniacal, overrated, lefty hacks tearing at each other. The hell with both of them.
NoGoodBoyo1000 9 months ago
@NoGoodBoyo1000
To hell with anybody that calls a person a hack simply because they're a "lefty." Glenn Beck is one of the world's biggest hacks, and he's a "righty."
shelton705 8 months ago
"Why don't you fold it five ways and put it where the moon don't shine." KA-POW CAVETT YOU FUCKING LEGEND
ilikevines 9 months ago
Janet Flanner is terrific. Take note.
lindaravenswood 9 months ago
I love how Dick Cavett clearly is saying "YOU'RE NOT FUNNY" after the fingerbowls
and Norman refuses, "No, I'm TOTALLY funny"
macmc24 9 months ago
Mailer was such an arrogant little snob.
crankylifter 9 months ago
If only Conrad and Henry James had done talk shows.
edmund184 9 months ago 2
haha Vidal is just so chill
GSW12345 9 months ago
The funny thing about this: Vidal comes off elegant, smart, confident, balanced, etc and Mailer looks like a nutjob. In print, the exact reverse is true. Mailer's writing is infinitely more sophisticated.
newyorkcat 9 months ago
JANET Flanner was a writer for the New Yorker, and at one point here she grows weary of being bullied by the insufferable Mailer. Vidal remains quite cool. Mailer was a bully- a fool- a pompous ass- and on occasion he could write well.. but his desire to create a public personnae for himself led to this kind of assinine posturing. Poor Norman, now dead.
ColdChicago 9 months ago
oh god, oh man, oh god, oh man, oh god, oh man Lol
kjackson2k1 9 months ago
Mailer was a tool.
Saying the 3 of them are intellectually smaller just proves who the smaller man on the panel was.
ApocalypsePlough 9 months ago 2
It brings to mind the line in Woody Allen's "Sleeper," the premise of which is that Allen has been cryogenically frozen since 1972 and revived many years later into a new, Orwellian world. The shrinks are showing him photos of seventies personages whom they cannot identify. When shown Norman Mailer's photo, Allen responds, "That's Norman Mailer. He willed his ego to the Harvard Medical School for study."
shaneu1 9 months ago 3
This has been flagged as spam show
LOL at the sparse couple of Mailer sycophants who gave him a "benefit of the doubt"-esque clap or two after his completely incomprehensible "finger bowls" comment. Some people will defend anybody at any time if they are so impassioned, regardless if understood a single word of it.
nspetrillo 9 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
LOL at the sparse couple of Mailer sycophants who gave him a "benefit of the doubt"-esque clap or two after his completely incomprehensible "finger bowls" comment. Some people will defend anybody at any time if they are so impassioned, regardless if they even understand a word of it.
SclafaniBagni 9 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
LOL at the sparse couple of Mailer sycophants who gave him a "benefit of the doubt"-esque clap or two after his completely incomprehensible "finger bowls" comment. Some people will defend anybody at any time if they are so impassioned, regardless if they even understand a word of it.
SclafaniBagni 9 months ago
Comment removed
SclafaniBagni 9 months ago
Where is the rest of it? Did Mailer have a comeback? A mute point perhaps, but I so enjoyed this that I was a little disappointed that it had ended.
poetaanonymous 9 months ago
Regardless of who you support in that argument, you have to marvel at the classy way they went at each other.
rdlively 10 months ago
Fucking Mailer. He had an ego the size of Manhattan. The man was a narcissistic, self-adoring, womanizer. Cavett had him finally by that one-liner.
Shubael1809 10 months ago
WHO IS THAT WOMAN?? She's the only one who made any proper sense!
Shubael1809 10 months ago
After this, Mailer should have been finished. Even though Cavett (who I normally like) shouldn't have lowered himself to this, Mailer's utter lack of any response beyond what one would expect from a twelve year old, demonstrates he was nothing but an inadequate bully who spewed little more than empty assed noise.
cremeofthereich 10 months ago 3
@cutandpaste1 Rofl I'm no dummy. I know my facts.
ColdCypher 10 months ago
@cutandpaste1 You could have simply said, "I have down-syndrome."
ColdCypher 10 months ago
@cutandpaste1 Just for the record George Bush went to Yale not Harvard.
ColdCypher 10 months ago
@ColdCypher He graduated from Yale in 1968 and received an MBA from Harvard in the mid-1970s.
jeffhiseley 10 months ago
@jeffhiseley True enough. Hes more famous for his membership in Yales Skull and Bones club though.
ColdCypher 10 months ago
who is the woman? she's such a boss!
rdjfan09 10 months ago
@rdjfan09 Janet Flanner, a writer with The New Yorker.
fishhead06 10 months ago
Mailer is an idiot loser....Cavett is marvelous..
RockyMissouri 10 months ago
lol they're like an uppity white version of Tupac and Biggie!
Meganomics101 10 months ago 2
@Meganomics101 haha. you should see the video of Gore Vidal feuding with William F. Buckley. if Vidal & Mailer are like Tupac and Biggie, then Vidal & Buckley are like 50 Cent and Ja Rule.
XD
tsartodd 10 months ago
"why don't you fold it 5 ways and stick it where the moon don't shine" -- jesus, dick cavett don't take no shit!
tsartodd 10 months ago 2
Yeah...funny what he says about charles manson considering what he did to his pregnant wife adele...actually funny might be the wrong word. Inhuman springs to mind.
cmmndrblu 10 months ago
mailer and vidal are both twats but mailer really takes the cake
SclafaniBagni 10 months ago
No one tells it like it is better than Dick Cavett....... Pure genius! What we have on television now is nothing but bad reality tv. I hate it! Have we grown less intelligent as a society? Where are our standards of what is acceptable to us? Just makes me sad that's all. Sad, sad, sad.........
talula2272 10 months ago 13
@talula2272 to be fair cavett was considered too intellectual for tv back then too.
taffysaur 4 months ago
@cutandpaste1 hahahahaha. You're writing under a bridge right? I'll send some billy goats your way. And a copy of Strunk and White-- you need it.
java81 10 months ago
@cutandpaste1 haha ok troll have fun with your lonely life.
java81 10 months ago
@cutandpaste1 Phony? All accents are cultivated. They don't just spring forth. People gain and lose their accents from their environment. Mailer went to Harvard was by all means part of the upper-crust of the NE.
java81 10 months ago
@cutandpaste1 A good question. He has a Mid-Atlantic accent, wikipedia it!
java81 10 months ago
Oh, god, I miss intelligent television SO much...
AbsentWithoutLeaving 11 months ago
does anyone have the full version of this show. this is awesome..thanks for the post
rory2066664415256 11 months ago
The last ten seconds was a BURN! in slow motion.
KakashiBallZ 11 months ago
The lady is Janet Flanner. Originally from Indianapolis, she was a longtime columnist for the New Yorker magazine, under the pseudonym of Genet. She was in the same crowd as Hemingway and others during WWII.
joegoalguy 11 months ago
From the time I started watching late-night talk (just about the time Paar walked off the Tonight Show) till the time I stopped watching it (just about the time Carson retired), this is, IMO, the single greatest segment of talkshow repartee ever aired.
(Note to X'rs, Y'rs, and Millennials: At one time, "Talk" shows were actually about...
...conversation.)
tuxguys 11 months ago
Dick Cavet was the shiznit back in the day! And the lady was awesome!
crazy4carolyn 11 months ago
dam US TV isn't like this any-more
RAMSEY1987 11 months ago 2
He was saying, with typical lack of wit, that their intellects were so small they could fit in finger bowls (while his needed three chairs, remember).
jb19691 11 months ago 15
@jb19691 haha i know, it was so simplistic, dick got confused, he was overthinking it
xtrmsprts 8 months ago
@jb19691 yeah he was pretty dumb not to get that
matchbox555 7 months ago
@jb19691 yea, Dick Cavett is such a dumbass he didn't get it
ben6killer 7 months ago
@jb19691 of course he was.. surprised Cavett didn't pick up on this.. Mailer is still an asshole though.. tried to kill one of his wives and apparently raped another
TheRimRider 6 months ago
Finger Bowls? I don't get it. Did ANYONE?
IbnFergus 11 months ago
'We all know that I stabbed my wife' could very well overshadow any good points you have in any type of debate.
Mrsilenciobackgammon 11 months ago 29
I like the old lady. She's on a whole other level. Ha
dirtynuke 11 months ago 2
two great lines by Cavett - "perhaps you would like two more chairs to contain your giant intellect" and "why don't you fold it 5 ways and stick it where the moon don't shine". Cavett was great.
pac401 11 months ago 7
Comment removed
cdphatty 1 year ago
Mailer embarrassed himself and didn't know how to gracefully recuperate his dignity. Tough spot.
Streamline09 1 year ago 8
@Streamline09 right on. made a total fool of himself—and vidal loved it
Journalst 11 months ago
I'd love to see the whole of this
elchrissinho 1 year ago
God, what an egocentric douche. I suspected he was a douche after reading 'Miami and the Siege of Chicago'. Only a douche refers to himself in the third person.
smedley 1 year ago 2
My sense of intellectual pollution! Thats quite a euphemism.
JamesPopaloaf 1 year ago
As an outsider , I'm not sure who is the greatest ever American . Neil Armstrong or Dick Cavatt.
dooombringerrr 1 year ago
wow Norman Mailer was combative, but crude and aggressive, Gore was, is kind of pompous but had some decorum, and the lady was right on, you boys think you are in private but behave yourselves you are on tv, Dick Cavett was smooth and perfect as usual, Mailer reminded me oddly of George Bush a bit of a bumbler in over his head, at least on television, better as a writer though.
Williamharold1000 1 year ago 4