Gore Vidal on Letterman, September 25, 1992

Gore Vidal guests to promote his new book Live from Golgotha but instead talks about his uncredited screenwriting "Ben Hur" and his feud with Norman Mailer.
Then a short promo for SNL.
Full racetrack segments here: • At the Racetrack & Vie...

[@DA-tj9fb]

Ah, Vidal. A national treasure and such an astute social critic.

[@Triumph2024.]

And a child predator!

[@SobersRajakumar]

The wise man loved the camera and lights. He came out in full force always

[@Chris-jp2qf]

I’m a huge Vidal fan, thanks for posting!

[@steveconn]

Missed seeing him speak in Santa Fe a few months before he died. Always regretted it. His collection of essays The United States a must-read.

[@ukrandr]

I've been pleasuring myself with that brilliant collection as of late. That is to say I enjoy READING the essays.

[@jamesanthony5681]

Yes they are. I read which might have been his first collection in the book, 'Rocking the Boat,' which came out in the early '60's, and they're all good.

[@GeneBurnett]

I used to love Paul's selection of tunes as the guest walked in. Here he plays "You've Got To Have Friends" in response to Vidal's quote about something inside him dying when a friend succeeds. Nice! The last video you posted with a 15 year-old Natalie Portman, Paul played "Little Child" as she came on. ;~)

[@jamesanthony5681]

"Chuck looks pretty... racey. He was wearing a yachting cap. I realized it was a toupee. It looked like it could eat a child."

[@juliav707]

WWG1WGA

[@harrisonhighland7416]

thanks for including that bit at the end!

[@tgore276]

thank you for posting this

[@gilwood7530]

I ALWAYS LIKED GORE VIDAL ...He just never looked like I thought he would have before I ever saw him ...Kinda CONGRESSIONAL !!!

[@ifigeniaesprella7909]

Thank you so much for posting the video.

[@audiebavington8789]

Wonderful. Thanks for posting!

[@JulianEaton]

Thanks so much for posting.

[@wowmachineradio]

Thank you!

[@CesarClouds]

I wish I could go back to the 90s.

[@charleswinokoor6023]

Vidal, especially as he aged, could be very unpleasant in just about every way. But his Letterman appearance shows how savagely witty he could be.

[@BemkyWatchesBuffy]

as do many

[@giusmaximus3541]

As to you're " very unpleasant " seems tuh me that would depend from which direction...east or west...you were observing.

[@imbluz]

He's got a great, but biting sense of humor.

[@giusmaximus3541]

You mean...AND!! a biting sense of humor...don' t ya?

[@jrpipik]

Gore Vidal was always a great talk show guest. Genuinely funny and quick. Is that the episode where Patty Smythe covered Zeppelin? I heard about it, but never saw it.

[@dongiller]

On this show she performed "Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough." She sang "Whole Lotta Love" on the December 16, 1987, show.

[@danrose]

Highly recommend Vidal's amazing memoir Palimpsest, just finishing it now from library.

[@leonardstilwell1894]

It's like Norm MacDonald said to Larry King, "Nobody likes a guy smarter than them. That's the worst thing you could be ... they're gonna hate you."

[@steveconn]

Please don't put Norm MacDonald in the same range of intellect at Gore Vidal.

[@notWaldont]

@@steveconn they're both virulent anti-semites

[@mikegooch8525]

@@notWaldont they're not, they're anti-zionist, like Noam Chomsky

[@steveconn]

@@notWaldont He imagines nothing; he was a great novelist and essayist and observer of American life. He was blacklisted by The NY Times for issues unrelated to Judaism.

[@louduva9849]

@@notWaldont 'they're both virulent anti-semites'. With good reason!

[@jeffs1546]

Is the crowd dead?

[@mrmike743]

Hey Don giller,I was wondering if you could do me a big favor sir. I am very interested in in seeing again the interview that Dave did with Mark fainaru wada and Lance Williams,2 journalists from the San Francisco chronicle in March 2006 about their book game of shadows related to the Barry bonds steroids scandal. I know that the show aired sometime between March 20th and 29th 2006. If you could do this for me I would greatly appreciate if as it's the playoff season so I'm kinda interested in seeing that again.

[@dongiller]

March 27. The videotape is within a huge batch of tapes that's currently behind immovable "stuff," and it would take days to extract it. Unless I can acquire it from another source, it'll have to wait.

[@mrmike743]

@@dongiller thanks don,no problem my friend.

[@gilwood7530]

You wouldn't happen to have the 10th anniversary show at radio city ...I was there and never got to see it !

[@dongiller]

I do, but others have put it up. Just search YT for "Letterman 10th Anniversary."

[@Wills_Duffy]

Brill.

[@lucianopavarotti2843]

Gore was quite shy and nervous. He fiddles with his glasses -- cleaning them, using them as a prop -- to help himself calm down. See here for the same tactic. kzbin.info/www/bejne/gIKvenl_lLtml7s

[@BC99]

Incredibly witty person.

[@julianmarsh1378]

He appears to be our last Man of Letters....

[@tonirose6776]

Christopher Hitchens

[@crystalglass7106]

Gore Vidal's favorite subject is but of course Gore Vidal

[@freejazzandcheese1]

Well you've had what I've had....a very boring life. His is fascinating! Read him too. He is very important.

[@Matt-pt6rl]

He’d annihilate fake plants 🪴 today

[@uwusmolbean]

Todays word is; Effulgent

[@brainsareus]

82% of that studio audience, is still in the dark.

[@Eusantdac]

It's gonna be a struggle remembering this one. Came back here the second time today 'cause I forgot the word lol

[@cz2165]

That’s Keith Olberman at the end?

[@dongiller]

Bill Scheft.

[@12artman]

I saw that 1968 confrontation between Buckley and Vidal live. I was 17 yo. Saw it for a second time only a few years ago. Both behaved like children during and afterwards (in their mutual lawsuits). Though, Vidal was the one that started it by calling Buckley a neo fascist, then, Buckley outed Vidal as 'queer' on air. In '68 that was a major no-no. In fact, it was only a couple/few years after this that Vidal made no bones about it in an interview with Dick Cavett when he said, [para] "I am bisexual". I wonder if he would have said so quite so openly had he not been outed, so to speak, in '68? Maybe Buckley played a part in that frank revelation? Don't misunderstand, Vidal's sexuality was known, or better said, assumed long before that. After all, it was the topic of his first novel which produced quite a buzz at the time it was published soon after WW2. Vidal's arrogance was charming but also vicious.

[@mikebordeaux8218]

Not neo fascist what he actually called him a a crypto Nazi.

[@cz2165]

Buckley was a foolish tool. Big vocabulary, big ego, small mind and smaller soul.

[@winonafrog]

@@mikebordeaux8218😅

[@Nicolas-uu3jr]

so the atheists has made, or helped make one of the best Christ film of all time...🙂

[@ZootSuitSanta]

When was the last time a novelist and social critic was on late night? America is becoming more and more anti-intellectual decade by decade.

[@user-ff4lr2jj5r]

I am afraid you are right....they practically bask in their ignorance.

[@Matt-pt6rl]

When was the last time an intelligent conversation was broadcast on television?

[@user-ff4lr2jj5r]

Absolutely true.