William Buckley Interviews Norman Mailer on Firing Line (1968) Part 1

[@robertmounsey4682]

Surprised the stage didn't collapse under the weight of these two colossal egos

[@Jon.A.Scholt]

Or a collosal, galaxy consuming black hole generated by the sheer mass of their egos.

[@mikef2813]

I had a colossal ego for breakfast. It barely fit in the toaster.

[@B42ification]

Not a fan of his politics, but I could listen to Mr Buckley's voice every day of the year.

[@reno11558]

We sure need his politics now.

[@MsLilyhorse]

I brought an original first printing copy of "The Naked and the Dead" to one of his book signings in the late 80's. I took it up to him to sign saying to him, "This is your best work". He looked at me right in the eye and paused. I expected him to tell me to F-off. But he said, "You are probably right"...and he signed it.

[@steveconn]

That's amazing because I brought a 1st printing of Naked and The Dead to an appearance of his in Boston in 2005 (later traded it for a signed Hemingway check, but interesting coincidence!).

[@briancollins1296]

And to think he wrote that when he was 25.

[@georgestoya1435]

His best was Presidential Papers & Some Honorable Men. Superman Comes to the Supermarket is a work of unparalleled genius.

[@Khodorchan]

What a loser

[@Balin93]

Nothing like telling a man with a 40 year career that he peaked with his first novel! LOL Good for you. NM was a pretentious jerk

[@tommyboyindy1157]

Buckley takes so long to ask a question that by the time he finishes I’ve forgotten how it started and have no idea what he’s asking.

[@stevenpoole7235]

Buckley is his own special guest in every interview, the actual guest is just a necessary prop.

[@JCO2002]

The very embodiment of long-winded.

[@LordZontar]

It takes about eight minutes before Buckley is listing at his customary 8° angle in his chair.

[@AdamWelch]

One of the most underrated comments I've ever read...literally sat here and chuckled.

[@DONDOUGPHIL1979]

I would like to have heard a debate between Norman Mailer and Hunter S. Tompson. The banter between those two would have been priceless!

[@Kevo216666]

Really? These people when writing are brilliant - in conversation they're borish.

[@cartrellpayne646]

I would have loved to see the debate between hunter sthompson and William f buckley.

[@ricardocantoral7672]

Cartrell Payne The following is an article Buckley wrote when Hunter Thompson passed away. This was a bit of revenge for the Nixon hit piece Thompson wrote when the former President died in 1994. www.nationalreview.com/article/213800/death-comic-william-f-buckley-jr

[@steveconn]

Thompson would just ramble and mutter on all his pills and it wouldn't be that thrilling.

[@jeffstone2136]

Thompson would not have tolerated Mailer's grotesque egotism for ten seconds.

[@dnggitg]

Many commenters here have been wondering about Buckley's accent. An old book called The Official Preppy Handbook calls it the "New England nasal nip." Someone who talks this way will often pause and "ahhh" in an attempt to sound offhand, to seem to be groping for words. But the pause will be followed by an astonishing flow of polysyllabic Latinate words like "animadversion," all gracefully deployed in a sentence so syntactically complicated that most contemporary Americans would get lost in it.

[@bobbarkeriii2597]

These two got along well despite their political differences. Buckley appreciated his unorthodoxy.

[@dazpatreg]

They were both chauvinist arsehole American exceptionalists with egos the size of Shaquille O'Neal's jockstrap, that's why they got along

[@crazyhead74]

How did Buckley not end up in the theater? He's from New York but he has this Savannah via Stoke-on-Trent syrupy delivery that seems entirely created by and unique to him.

[@Valkonnen]

People have no way about them today. He was a more common type than you'd think at the time.

[@Abdulhakeembennette]

He has what's called a "transatlantic" or "mid-atlantic" accent. The name supposedly refers to a symbolic area between England and America, to represent the influence of both in the artificially created accent, and is not a reference to any particular states in the US. It was taught in elite schools in America up until around the 1940s. It's not exactly an affectation, but certainly not a natural, regional accent either.

[@dazpatreg]

@@Abdulhakeembennette mailer talked the same way. It's extremely annoying

[@mikef2813]

He was in the theater for every Martin-Lewis film with an extra large popcorn.

[@mikef2813]

@@dazpatreg don’t say that. It’s only annoying to the intellectually inferior.

[@jeffstone2136]

I can see why Rip Torn tried to beat Mailer's brains in with a hammer, frankly.

[@frankgarrett242]

Rip is sitting at the right hand of the Lord.

[@lightbulb8587]

Guys, we need to appreciate those chairs bro. My mind is blown, this is some next level stuff. Look at the background, they crazy. I don't think I can recover from their magical style in furniture design.

[@bathroomsexmurder]

your mind was built by a cowboy

[@orangewarm1]

Was he the best writer in America? I can think of a few who were just as good if not better. Capote, Harper Lee, Sallinger, Nabokov, Baldwin, Styron, Dick, Heinlen.

[@mccarthyken]

An era before an era. Back then TV was about showing real debates between age-defining giants who didn't leave their brains at home.

[@andymartin2571]

I can tell from reading some comments below that the art of conversation, dialog, debate, and the life of the mind completely escapes many people.

[@michaelneel4828]

And with your comment it truly escapes yours !!!

[@ratso69ful81]

It's a dying, or dead art Andy, smh... :-(

[@race9359]

It must be nice being so clever

[@modusartsgroup]

Norman Mailer is the greatest American writer who ever lived. God thank You so much for Norman Mailer! He is the best and he got there by reminding himself of that fact every moment. What a great writer! Hats forever.

[@chairmanmeow3693]

What a difference between this host and the hacks we have to endure on late night shows now

[@mizzury54]

This wasn't a late night comedy talk show so your comparison is pointless

[@c.a.g.3130]

The enormity of these two men's affection for each other and respect for one another's mind is so refreshing and edifying and makes for a truly delightful dialogue. Ah, to recall a world so unmindful of political correctness that champions of both left and right could confront one another, and actually be able to discern such, on the basis of substantive argument and not 'tone' or some other nauseating superficiality wholly distinct from truth. We are much poorer for each of them having passed.

[@dukadarodear2176]

For all our progress now America was more free back then. TV is now a freak show replete with self-identifyers strutting their gayness, their biness, their feminismness, and other stuff while all the while seeking to be offended.

[@Bigbaz86]

Compare this to today's talk shows. My god. Vidal, mailer , Buckley et al. Today they'd never get on a show.

[@acr08807]

Of course they wouldn't. They're dead.

[@Bigbaz86]

@@acr08807 captain obvious

[@acr08807]

I guess I just got tired of reading the "tv was so much better back then" comment made at least 20 times on every single classic tv video ever posted on youtube. My apologies.

[@Jantonov1]

Nobody reads anymore.

[@Bigbaz86]

@@acr08807 cool. I just feel free speech is under threat. These cats just said it bro

[@bethvirginiaphillips4583]

They were very good friends.........excellent book out now on Buckley goes into the friendship, a very unlikely one. ..Buckley and Mailer: The Unlikely Friendship That Shaped the Sixties..........fantastic book. Recommend!

[@Resenbrink]

Mailer would have to be one of the most self-important fools to ever walk this planet.

[@Zeldarw104]

I approve this comment, narcissism to the extreme! 😟 Norman Mailer.🗣️

[@iamcreepindeath]

Thank you for posting this video.

[@lynnturman8157]

What the hell is this? When do they start yelling at each other? I don't get it.

[@tommythevenot7617]

Lynn Turman Go watch Norman Mailer and Gore Vidal on Dick Cavett. it got pretty ugly that time.

[@0pieamii]

they're both wankers

[@michaelpuglisi1647]

Lynn Turman lol

[@thereseember2800]

tommy thevenot: Mailer physically attacked Vidal backstage after the Cavett show.

[@tinapatton7346]

@@0pieamii WAY better than today's ONE-PARTY $ub$cum Corporate MAFIA Repug$lug$ & DemRat$!!

[@agapeiron]

The lipless grin of Buckley. The facial gestures of his reactions. The precise point at which his hair is parted across his skull. The widening of his eyes as he accentuates a hollow witticism. The endless black behind his superfluous person, in which one feels he is being broadcasted to us from the void-- Without taste, without warmth, without the slightest concern for our existence on this earth. He is here, an absurd monster. He is here to chew off the skin from our faces.

[@OnePost909]

Overstated by 20 or 30 percent but useful.

[@draganbanic5381]

He might have had a mild turoutes

[@bethvirginiaphillips4583]

I always loved Buckley. His intellect was off the charts and his dry wit a pleasure to behold, especially when he inserted his stiletto into the back of a very unsuspecting "victim"...and always with a smile. Glorious. His "God and Man at Yale" is highly recommended.. It is a full on criticism of the secularism and Darwinian thought that infected Yale when Buckley was an undergraduate there in the early fifties. He was a very strong believer in God and a staunch Catholic.

[@DonAlex63]

Wow, this is great, thanks for posting it!

[@duncefunce1513]

I love a comment section full of literature fans. Every one of them tries their hand

[@jackbicknell4711]

Every one of them...

[@mccarthyken]

These remarkable men shook the very foundations of society by virtue of their intellect alone. Where are the Buckleys and Mailers of today?

[@TreeCurtis84]

We have them, but they don't speak with mid-Atlantic accents.

[@zootsoot2006]

In the KZbin comment section.

[@limehouseblues]

Buckley is NOT an intellectual

[@mccarthyken]

Lime House Blues so you think the only true intellectual is one who engages in boring displays of critical thinking?

[@limehouseblues]

​@@mccarthyken Strange to make such a inference---but if you don't value critical-thinking---perhaps you would regard Buckley as an intellectual.

[@-GRAVESITE-]

Back then, people like these two are the reason why LSD would somehow get slipped into drinks

[@mikef2813]

Slipped then sipped.

[@men_of_god7]

WFB was such a class act.

[@charlesashurst997]

Anybody with that much hubris has to be a genius.

[@TheMrBennito]

I personally like the older Norman mailer better. The Executioner's Song is one of my favorite books.

[@Portugal2025]

I miss Buckley. I am not a conservative, but I truly admire his gifts -- I think his son Christopher is enormously talented so we at least have traces of the old man

[@BobLoblawbob]

A time when respect for the rights of others mattered; when political and philosophical open-mindedness and curiosity was seen as a virtue; before we knew everything; when we still had questions and learning was hip.

[@nickl9603]

Both Buckley and Mailer did great interviews with the Rauschmonstrum.

[@mstalcup]

He stabbed his wife twice and told someone not to help her, saying "Let the bitch die." I think if his fame had had any effect, it was to procure Mailer a more lenient judgement, even if the judge claimed the opposite.

[@nudesoftheworld]

7:24 "no i meant mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm"

[@dnggitg]

Well, I'm a Midwesterner, so you'd know more about Eastern accents than I would. Buckley grew up in New York and Connecticut, among other places (in Europe), and those could be considered mid-Atlantic states, I suppose.

[@lmaka1]

Is there a reason why a Jew from Jersey has an Irish accent?

[@breathefree4056]

🤣

[@colinwhitfield8627]

Same reason Billy Boy sounds like an Ambassador to the Raj. Pretensions.

[@mikef2813]

There are the Irish and everyone else who wishes they were.

[@rooneye]

Soon with the way deepfakes and technology and shit are going we'll all be able to have William F. Buckley's voice reading our audio books! How fucking amazing will that be?! His voice is just enchanting. He could make Golidlocks and the Three Little Bears sound intellectual af.

[@haupper]

"His technique is one of unalloyed narcissism mitigated by a recognition of, not to say a devotion to, his own shortcomings." Mmm, savor that.

[@ronserps8489]

your words are made of letters that are in the alphabet...inhale that for a while

[@wiffleone]

ron serps hahaha -a rarer Breed today-conservative snob-talkin bout Buckley

[@notaclerk1]

Are you still a mook after 8 years? Or does one grow weary of such...over time?

[@modusartsgroup]

I had read most of Mailer's complete works by the time I ever saw him in a video. I remember the hair standing up on the back of my neck as the camera closed in on his hands and fingers for a moment.

[@SamuelDaram]

What a gem of an interview. How did you get it? Thank you CE HITCHENS for posting this.

[@DonAlex63]

LOL .. the comment by Buckley in the opening moments about "two hammer blows on the head" is a reference to an infamous scene from his film, Maidstone, in which he got into an on-camera brawl with Rip Torn, after Rip hit him on the head with a hammer and he responded by nearly chewing off his ear. Ive made that scene available to YT viewers, check it out. Thanks again for posting this classic vintage interview, Christopher.

[@christinelarock6249]

I loved Mr. Buckley

[@MattSingh1]

christine larock I didn't- his support for fascist Franco, and his absurd stance in abortion were shameful.

[@antonk6359]

Abortion is still controversial, and of course Franco was no saint - but he kept Spain out of WW2 and boosted the economy in what was termed "The Spanish Miracle."

[@MattSingh1]

Anton K 1. Abortion is controversial because of crackpots like Buckley and Claire Luce Booth. 2. Franco was no saint? A staggering understatement about an explicitly fascist regime/leader.

[@petestevens3970]

Such affect.

[@ronserps8489]

two great intellects

[@thicccorgi6187]

Nah

[@sahrabuable]

If I didn’t see Norman Mailers face, I would think it was Martin Scorsese talking.😃

[@frankullmann3423]

You're right I just noticed he does sound a lot like Scorcese

[@georgeanderson7499]

FYI: There's a new edition of Firing Line on PBS. Margaret Hoover is the host.

[@jobu88]

Why oh why can't we have talk shows like this today?? Agree or disagree with Buckley's views, THIS is a serious show for serious people -- unlike the idiotic shout-fests we have today.

[@Jim54_]

Don’t forget, this is the same Norman Mailer that tried to kill his wife with a pen knife, punched out Gore Vidal at a party and had a violent on camera fight with RIP Torn. The man was prone to violent outbursts, and at best could be described as dangerous. That hardly qualifies him to lecture people about much, seeing as he was so mentally unstable

[@pearlsammo1638]

Tortured genius.

[@Jim54_]

@@pearlsammo1638 unhinged thug

[@joblow696]

@halfmace Read it yourself. Never mind what Kenner wrote about it.

[@karmartdave]

yes yes yes yes -Will Buckley

[@somethingyousaid5059]

I don't have to agree with either of them to miss both of them. I miss them. And I miss the earlier era that I grew up in.

[@henrirousseau9541]

What a time it was, with Vidal and Baldwin and J Jones and Hoffman/Rubin looming on the horizon and Huey Newton not yet gone crazy.

[@jammin6816]

@5:58 “...with vast deference to your ability to misremember facts “ 😂

[@modusartsgroup]

Vonnegut was my favorite writer all the way through the tenth grade and then I grew up...

[@wraithby]

@halfmace Ravi S owns several Vorticist paintings that were produced out of Lewis' Rebel Art Centre. Good call.

[@nelsano3]

Norman Mailors ego was massive. Hes comical to listen to.

[@TheSealOfTheRose]

No he just acts like that. I think most people who brag don't really believe it. People who are genuinely satisfied with their lives and their talents keep it to themselves.

[@Valkonnen]

He's a Jew...Where have you been living?

[@balerjohnson3099]

Really ? I was thinking I had never seen a more arrogant ,narcissistic poser than Bill Buckley . I saw some of Buckley's shows back in these days as a kid ..Buckley always seemed more interested in himself and trying to prove his " intellectualism " rather than making honest and and valid points ...but to each his own

[@TheSealOfTheRose]

@L B lol imagine that. No I really don't. I'm not even a fan let alone his biggest fan. He is a very flawed character, but he is a good writer and even though an unbalanced and at times maniacal drunk he was no where near as bad and that smiley shit Vidal.

[@vladdrakul7851]

This was WIT Old School when they still knew what it was (see Monty Python, as well)

[@BrianKishreviews]

i don't see the comparison. buckley and mailer seem poised to broadcast how learned they are, while monty python were secure enough in their intelligence to be witty in a completely silly and altruistic way.

[@lanser87]

I love how Buckley's eyes pop when he shoots his questions. It must be kinda un-nerving to guests that can't handle such a strong presence.

[@spiderwebs7215]

@dnggitg Just trying to clarify, but isn't it a mid-atlantic accent? The internet says it is. I am from New England and do hear this accent in various locations so that's why I'm confused. New England commonly gets stereotyped with the Boston accent but you'd be surprised to frequently hear this accent.

[@BaronEvola123]

Mailer was castigated for calling out all of the societal destroying consequences of feminism. He was right 100%.

[@blaggard9]

Because , sadly, civility hasn't really been taught or extolled in public schools, and you have a LOT of people so invested in their mindset they will become vicious if challenged in the slightest - more so on the Left, but still fairly prevalent on the right. Every clip I've seen of this show is amazing.

[@billfletcher7602]

Ed Asner should have played him in a movie

[@micheledeidda2565]

Why europe do not talk or air a writer as Mr Mailer as it should? Total unknown to me up to now....

[@michaelwalsh2498]

Hugh Kenner, the great literary critic, demolished that exercise in agitprop way back when. But holding on to illusions is comforting.

[@noralofts]

Technically why are some letters lighter white than others in the auto generated captions?

[@exile103]

How the hell does he write like an 'angel'?

[@macco360]

Such witty and smilingly abusive banter. They seem to love the tet-a-tet and yet want to continue the intellectual battle to the death. Fascinating minds.

[@michaeldoyle6702]

A mutual enemy of Gore Vidal. Would have been fun to see the 3 of them in the ring. I would put my money on the Irishman. Buckley had principles and would fight to the death.

[@Vingul]

@Wally Banter Mailer did put on a bit of an Irish accent for some reason so he did. New Jersey Jew larping as an Irishman it sounds like so it does.

[@Vingul]

@Rip Torn I didn't say he was "Jew larping", if that's what you thought. That would mean the opposite of what I did say. He was a jew larping as an Irishman.

I almost never agree with Buckley but I enjoy dry wit and intellectual banter. It’s sorely missing in today’s world. Though in many things we’ve come a long way. If that’s the case why are we so dumbed down And subservient to accepted morals and values. Walmart culture

[@oldnick4707]

build him up, brake em down. luv this

[@squitzy]

Just love Mailer. Loved how he pigeonholed the entire Irish race. And this self serving little bully was considered an intellectual?? He was nothing but a racist.

[@atwarwithdust]

@rinwardstaling thank you very much.

[@michaelwalsh2498]

@pinkjammies666 correction, Mailer is readable, to an extent. If you are looking for tips about how to smack women around, he's your guy. Likewise, if you are a murderer on death row and need to sucker an "intellectual" into going to bat for you and generating publicity, Norman is also your guy. He wrote the handbook on the subject.

[@contacter]

Buckley was the consummate conservative polemicist. Still, it would be grand if todays right had someone so glib as he.

[@ListenToBigFace]

What an introduction

[@gnab123]

nice accent, Norman.

[@wraithby]

@joblow696 Is this the locust? Actually I brought bug repellent.

[@atwarwithdust]

who is the ring-wing writer mailer mentions @6:29?

[@jackgarcia5531]

atwarwithdust did you ever find out who the writer is?

[@atwarwithdust]

Jack Garcia Evelyn Waugh, I believe. English, not American, and he died 2 years before taping.

[@gregorylammers8024]

One can find "enjoyment" is anything....

[@CapcomPlease]

@SclafaniBagni take it you are a member as well

[@allanmiller6897]

What kind of accent is that? He sounds like he lived in Ireland.

[@cjwright79]

Norman is positively charming and polite compared to his appearance on The Dick Cavett Show.

[@chdosi]

Chris Wright he’s closer to sober here

[@VichoRPG]

Lol vranak

[@frankmachin5438]

What sort of accent did Mailer have? - seems to have a slight touch of almost Australian/Irish. Doesn’t sound like a feller from Jersey.

[@LachlanMadsen]

Frank Machin Isn’t it a New England upper class accent?

[@frankmachin5438]

Lachlan Madsen Well Buckley’s is, but not sure about Mailer - will have to ask mr google

[@LachlanMadsen]

Frank Machin yes sorry I misread I was referring to Buckley

[@peterb2325]

Lachlan Madsen You got it right.

[@frankmachin5438]

Conan B ii think that is what they call a ‘mid Atlantic’ accent?

[@xxcrysad3000xx]

Striking resemblance to George W. Bush.

[@steveconn]

If W. weren't mentally-handicapped.

[@oppothumbs1]

@@steveconn Who's conn-ing who? dumbass? Bushes SAT scores were 1206. So he fumbled with words, you libtards never let up. I don't happen to think he was very bright or a good president but I'm not arguing that point. Just that you think you are funny and you aren't on your site. Let's see who's bright on your side (I assume you are Left leaning) The socialists who bring you free college, the bankrupting new green deal, free health care for illegals that will come from middle class blood sweat and tears, day care, a weak military. If they deliver on their promises that will sink our economy. All the Dem candidates are bad. Bernie is the craziest and a know it all, Warren is dislike-able know-it-all , Biden just knows not so much. Yeah like the rich will pay for it .. some is gonna hit the middle class and redistribute income in major ways. It will ruin millions of jobs, lives, and make our enemies smile. And on top let's pay for reparations! Let Hollywood pay for the reparations. You know this will divide the races even more. Obama bought ocean front property .. doesn't he know Martha's Vineyard will be under water in 10 years? Trump never said there were fine Nazis. The left-wing assertion is a lie. Video proves the president never said Nazis were fine people. When Trump said there were "very fine people on both sides," he was referring to people demonstrating in Charlottesville for and against tearing down a statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee, not to Nazis and Antifa. Economic viability is important for a superpower who needs to show strength against the power-hungry Chinese, corrupt Russians and crazed Muslims leaders. They want to destroy us, slow or fast. The Left doesn't even consider this of much interest. Actually Bernie will be happy if anything helps China, Putin, Kim or Mullahs. He can renew his wedding vows in any of those countries and fold it five ways and stick it where the sun don't shine.

[@RCAFTailWind]

Erm... He still looks like Bush.. Regardless of all the two sided political bullshit responces....

[@cupris]

@@oppothumbs1 gwb was playing a character. its all an act. professional wrestling in suits

[@lackofeffortfpv7412]

@@cupris "fuzzy math" is probability clouds

[@JudgeJulieLit]

Have you ever READ The Naked and the Dead?

[@DasGoldenBoy]

Everyone who encounters Lyle: "Yeah, but aren't you gay?" Lyle: " WHAT!!!!"

[@qdogg290]

Is it just me or does Mailer hold a passing resemblance to Dubyah?

[@jeffwads]

Norman looks so much like Ed Asner.

[@OKandNOWwhat]

Usually Buckley verbally intimidates or physically threatens those who stand up to him. Evidently, he knows better than to mess with Norman.

[@janelasdedeus]

Unalloyed narcissism... both!

[@wehaveasituation]

Mailer is actually the more insane of these two very insane individuals. And he's making his case as the tape ends..("I''m the bull looney!")

[@tmac8892]

actually I'm the greatest lover in the world

[@mattspeakes2282]

Two people representing opposing sides having a discussion. This was normal behavior before cancel culture.

[@wingtips123]

Mailer dodges the question about whether an artist should be above the law, but that is surely what he thought--when he helped Jack Abbott out of prison early, based on the "genius" of his book, In the Belly of the Beast, rather than on his ability to live in the outside word. And shortly afterward, Abbott knifed and killed a waiter, who was a playwright. Although horrified, Mailer was unable, at last, to exculpate himself completely, when it was about someone's life, and not his ego...

[@spb7883]

Avery True, but the same should be said of Buckley vis-a-vis Edgar Smith. Self-assurance - ego, really - has a way of rivaling the eyelids.

[@agapeiron]

Yes, he is the best writer ever in the whole world and language and species. He makes Melville, Faulkner and Pynchon look like Ayn Rands. He is the strongest, the roughtest, and his pen knows neither colostomy or tumescence, no venal reservoir of cant, no cauldron of buxom slander and depraved romp-- No, Mailer wholeheartedly eschewed the dactylic hexameter and its Homeric phallogocentuplets, destining himself for feminist strap-ons and graduate student anguipedes.

[@exile103]

Opinions are like assholes, everybody has one. Mailer is the best to you, but you are certainly very much in the minority there. There are several I'd take over him. He's like a violent, vulgar and even more egotistical and arrogant Henry Miller without the eloquence and subtlety that Miller had in him but chose to not show enough.

[@jonjones1553]

Best writer in America is like saying the tallest dwarf.

[@bruinflight1]

Ah, New Jersey. That explains it.

[@joblow696]

@halfmace You must be Ravi Shankar.

[@virgiljjacas3955]

We don't have those public exchange anymore. Just one side or else...