When Tempers Flare: Mailer's Clash with Vidal | The Dick Cavett Show

Dick Cavett welcomes American novelist Norman Mailer to the show where he clarifies his previous arguments with Gore Vidal on the Dick Cavett Show and how he head-butted him when in the dressing rooms.
Date aired - September 28th 1972 - Norman Mailer and Valerie Harper
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Dick Cavett has been nominated for eleven Emmy awards (the most recent in 2012 for the HBO special, Mel Brooks and Dick Cavett Together Again), and won three. Spanning five decades, Dick Cavett’s television career has defined excellence in the interview format. He started at ABC in 1968, and also enjoyed success on PBS, USA, and CNBC.

His most recent television successes were the September 2014 PBS special, Dick Cavett’s Watergate, followed April 2015 by Dick Cavett’s Vietnam. He has appeared in movies, tv specials, tv commercials, and several Broadway plays. He starred in an off-Broadway production ofHellman v. McCarthy in 2014 and reprised the role at Theatre 40 in LA February 2015.

Cavett has published four books beginning with Cavett (1974) and Eye on Cavett (1983), co-authored with Christopher Porterfield. His two recent books -- Talk Show: Confrontations, Pointed Commentary, and Off-Screen Secrets (2010) and Brief Encounters: Conversations, Magic moments, and Assorted Hijinks(October 2014) are both collections of his online opinion column, written for The New York Times since 2007. Additionally, he has written for The New Yorker, TV Guide, Vanity Fair, and elsewhere.
#thedickcavettshow #NormanMailer #GoreVidal #ValerieHarper #DickCavett

[@ChopinClassics]

More Mailer, Vidal, and Capote, please!

[@me67226]

Capote love listening to his stories.

[@me67226]

@@nd.nowwhat Thanks ☮️😀

[@anothertime1282]

Mailer was always a brilliant entertainer, on paper and in life.

[@StacheBigote]

I love how Mailer was so “hurt” by Cavett’s “moon don’t shine” remark. That remark, rightfully so, came in response to Mailer having declared his intellectual superiority over Cavett in response to something he didn’t even say.

[@danielwardin4688]

@Moo Actually, at an impasse Mailer -- in a taunting voice -- said to Cavett "Why don't you ask another question from your sheet?" implying that Cavett couldn't carry a conversation without notes.

[@StacheBigote]

@@danielwardin4688 And what does that imply?

[@danielwardin4688]

@@StacheBigote No implication. Cavett's famous "Why don't you fold it" line was prompted by Mailer saying to Cavett "Why don't you ask another question from your sheet." Regards.

[@StacheBigote]

@@danielwardin4688 Seems you need a refresher. Had to go back and watch it because I couldn’t remember exactly what preceded the exchange. Mailer: “I guarantee I wouldn’t hit any of the people here because they’re smaller” Cavett: “In what ways?” Mailer: “Intellectually” Cavett: “Perhaps you’d like 2 more chairs to contain your giant intellect?” Mailer: “Why don’t you look at your question sheet and ask a question?” Cavett: “Why don’t you fold it five ways and put it where the moon don’t shine?” Why don’t you go back and watch it before trying to tell me I’m wrong?

[@danielwardin4688]

@@StacheBigote I'll refer you to Mailer's lengthy "Of A Small And Modest Malignancy, Colorful And Bristling With Dots" (Esquire) which quotes the full exchange. What is seen here on this KZbin clip was heavily edited. Seen yet a third time, you'll see the cut. Regards.

[@faith2461]

Yay, a new upload! Not related but I’ve heard that Cavett also did an interview with Peter O’Toole. That’d be interesting to see.

[@DarkIllusionsxX]

I would be very interested to see that O'Toole interview, Peter is a fantastic interviewee

[@damiankrauza3752]

Mein geliebter Norman, ich weiß gar nicht mehr, ob ich "Die Nackten und die Toten" gelesen habe, so sehr hat mich "Kaltblütig" gefesselt und erschüttert! Dieses Buch hat sich womöglich davor geschoben. Es war so prägend für mich wie auf der filmischen Seite der berühmte Film mit Robert Mitchum, dessen Filmtitel mir gerade nicht auf die Zunge rutscht. Beide Kunstwerke - der Film und das Buch - lösten meine erste plutonische Transformation aus. Meine erste - denn es folgten später weitere. Eine davon waren die Erinnerungen Deiner Frau Adele. Ihre Erinnerungen sollten für muslimische Frauen zu Pflichtlektüre werden, Damit sie erfahren, Was wir hier im Westen längst wissen: Auch bei uns gibt es Gewalt in der Ehe! GOTT hat Dir schon damals durch JESUS alles vergeben! Und ich habe Dir natürlich auch längst vergeben, dass Adele so leiden musste!

[@tomross1499]

The film, I believe, was The Night of the Hunter.

[@charleswinokoor6023]

I wish someone could finally tell me the name of the closing song that Bobby Rosengarden plays with the house band. It’s a great tune.

[@ronmackinnon9374]

The best Mailer imitation that I recall seeing was by Eugene Levy of SCTV, in the early '80s. There may be clips of it online (hope so).

[@sheiladineen9483]

The best damn detergent!

[@neaituppi7306]

Norman seemed to be that kind of person that never sees his own part in anything. He was hurt by what the other person did. Why did you say that to me? why did you take Gore's side when you didn't know I had just head butted him over a disagreement, because I was so angry at him." Not mentioning that he was drunk and very intent on insulting the intelligence of the others.

[@billd3356]

And I have read somewhere that Vidal's answer to the head butt was that "once more, words failed Norman Mailer".

[@anthonythorne8708]

Mailer wrote an extremely funny self deprecating essay about the incident, reprinted in one of his essay books, where he 100% owns up to the incident mainly being his fault. He was a Hemingway fan and a boxing fan and there was a certain bull-headed deliberate exaggerated sense of performance in his public appearances, but in the book version he totally accepts that he dug his own grave. It’s written in the third person - “Mailer began to suspect he was developing a headache. Perhaps another approach would win the crowd back after the previous disaster.” etc. It’s worth reading.

[@glen1ster]

:42--Valerie Harper

[@annmcdonough5625]

Yes it's Rhoda!

[@jadezee6316]

he sure aint no Truman Capote.....

[@dianahohimer1107]

Damn straight. I wish we could have heard Capotes thoughts.

[@misterE-1989]

Dude stabbed up his wife and got away with it. Regardless, he is one of the greatest authors that America has ever produced.

[@robertortiz-wilson1588]

What?!

[@Dr_Mel]

Well, that's certainly one interpretation of the events between Vidal and Buckley that Mailer presents. I think instead of Vidal losing his cool and assaulting Buckley, Vidal played his hand perfectly. He pushed his opponent over the edge into a verbal threat. For someone like Buckley that would have been felt as a mistake. He lost his cool. Vidal sat back and let him sit in it. I'm not a "fan" of either person, nor Mailer, but I think whether intentionally or unintentionally, Mailer is reading that encounter pretty backwards.

[@WintersWar]

You are correct, WFB regretted that moment, he said as much. For me I loved all of these personalities, vidal, buckley and mailer were huge figures.

[@IDontLikePplPlayinOnMyPhone]

Mailer and Vidal hardly had a conversation. Mailer was just whining the entire show and caused me to cringe a little by how thin his skin was. And on the absolute opposite of the spectrum, when it came to Vidal and Buckley, that might be the very best confrontation in tv history, and I don’t believe even the most conservative of conservatives could disagree that Vidal absolutely won by TKO when he used his one-two punch of throwing smooth but hyperbolic barbs and then being patient enough to let his opponent run themselves into the ground.

[@dougtaylor2803]

The ultimate arbiter of any dispute is the use of force; to throw down the gauntlet is to acknowledge as much. Buckley may have committed a faux pas by jumping ahead, but his warning did not go unheeded by Vidal.

[@krisscanlon4051]

Mailer enjoyed himself here...Dick and Normy are purring at each other lol

[@lucianopavarotti2843]

Mailer's suggestion that Vidal kept touching his head in the interview due to having been headbutted is another form of his self-flattery. If you look at Vidal's interviews he always does it -- it's just a tick of his. I'm not sure Mailer's headbutt ever really landed....and It's not as if a huge bruise had swelled up on Vidal's head. Vidal was right in saying Mailer had a Hemingwayesque tough-guy complex. Just look at those boots....

[@DJ-bj8ku]

I noticed Vidal touching his head too and not knowing that it was a tic, I just thought he was nervous.

[@annmcdonough5625]

Isn't the other guest Valerie Harper from The Mary Tyler show?

[@DerekNorthcutt]

Sharing to stage with .... Valerie Harper?!

[@blablableh724]

He is way more likeable here.

[@user-fy9fr3bc7v]

I love how he goes from the heights of Apollo 17 to the place where the 'moon doesn't shine'...such is man, such is life

[@kp9952]

Mailer's next appearance on the Cavett show was a year later for the Marilyn book, and they acted like Mailer hadn't been on since the Vidal episode ~ Mailer even raising Cavett's arm at the outset like Cavett was the true winner from the Vidal night. They then addressed the Vidal night like it was the first time, as though the interview for St George & The Godfather never happened. Confusing.....

[@Billkwando]

Groucho Marx came on at least 3 times, and told the same stories/jokes every time. Nobody ever expected the episodes to be seen again, much less compared.

[@kp9952]

@@Billkwando I've seen the Groucho episodes and no jokes were repeated, not from him nor from anyone else. Plus they were meant to be seen again: syndication.

[@kp9952]

@@Billkwando Plus it's not a case of seeing them again ~ who brought that up?: one sees them in the order they were released, and then notices or doesn't notice a continuity problem....

[@ronmackinnon9374]

And here, they talk about the episode with Vidal as if was the year prior, but I think it had been two years, from 1970.

[@Fatherofheroesandheroines]

There were some serious nuts on this show lol

[@krisscanlon4051]

Hahaha absolutely 💯

[@dianahohimer1107]

" The Norman Mailer walk". 💯

[@Sangria]

8:24 "Waste my writing hand on that skull?" Go Norman!

[@johnpcomposer]

I used to see Mailer waddle with two canes on Commercial Street in Provincetown when he was in his later years. He had bad hips or knees...Privately we called him Norman Maalox.

[@sheiladineen9483]

Very witty.

[@asielnorton345]

Gore absolutely destroyed Mailer on Cavett. I mean Mailer just looked like a complete vulgarian, and Vidall was much more quick and clever. Talk about selective memory.

[@NuisanceMan]

Yeah, but Mailer DID damage Gore's forehead a bit.

[@stevenyourke7901]

Mailer was drunk and boorish. His efforts at machismo were pitiful. He was a publicity hound but he did have talent and he could be insightful and entertaining.

[@pmnh]

Mailer was a preposterous human being, and i'm surprised Cavett had him back after his behavior toward Vidal. Also rather surprised by the tone of both Cavett and his guest after Mailer's boast of assaulting Vidal back-stage. It is disgusting that Mailer did it (if he actually did, nothing about this guy would surprise me), disgusting that he bragged about it, and equally disgusting that they all had a good laugh over it on the show.

[@TvDaddyAndTheTabloidArmy]

?

[@andrewhill4986]

Very Kaufman(esque)

[@Gannooch]

I do have nothing against the other celebs that were on this show but is this channel ever going to show the Dick Cavett shows where he interviews Jackie Gleason or Art Carney? How about any Honeymooners actors that were part of the main cast? These are rarities much like all the other Dick Cavett interviews

[@ncg4132]

One year later, do you still stand by this post?

[@Gannooch]

@@ncg4132 yes and I am no longer looking for footage

[@ncg4132]

@@Gannooch Are you no longer looking for footage on this channel because you have lost hope of ever finding any? Or have you stopped looking for footage on this channel because you found footage on another channel, social media platform, medium?

[@Gannooch]

@@ncg4132 I have found footage from a person who supplied me the footage from the Art Carney interview (which has since then shown up on this channel.) I subscribed to Fryndly TV streaming service last year because I found out that the future Catchy Comedy Chsnnel showed the episode where Dick Cavett interviewed Jackie Gleason (Catchy Comedy has never been available on my local stations where I live.)

[@IDontLikePplPlayinOnMyPhone]

Wtf!?!? Gore Vidal walked away from the Buckley incident looking like Muhammad Ali! Even if you disagreed with Vidal, he certainly was very good at prize fighting with his mouth and his patience to let others ruin themselves.

[@Gottenhimfella]

"Even if you disagreed with x, he certainly was very good at y" Oh, how I long for bygone days, when that sort of observation was still unexceptional!

[@dougtaylor2803]

It is at times useful to acknowledge a strength of an opponent, but only as a means of mitigating that strength.

[@flyy1006]

No he lost

[@alamudesky1959]

Nasty Drunk with a attitude Vs. nasty opinionated guy with an attitude >

[@ronmackinnon9374]

And a thin skin.

[@bennyhillschineseblokechar3689]

Which one's which?

[@clorofilaazul]

I didn't know Bilbo Baggins was a writer!

[@WORLD8NSH5KNIGHT1]

6:28 Ironic that Mailer was offended because Cavett's response only came after Mailer undermined and insulted his abilities as the host

[@henrirousseau9541]

Golly, Norman seems so normal here.

[@macker8017]

Good shager

[@johngibson6758]

A self absorbed narcissistic animation of a human being , disgusted at his fame should be a lesson on how a human being shouldn't be

[@kamandi1362]

Sometimes the “worth” of the celebrity is to be an example of what not to be. Not that they realise this.

[@justinmathewson3692]

Why did they play The Godfather music for Norman's entrance ? 🤣

[@tiagoribeiro885]

Yet Dick invited him back. And not Gore. But Vidal was a cool guy PS- he did had a funny walk

[@ronmackinnon9374]

Mailer describes himself as 'unendurably vain' here. So he wasn't without self-awareness, anyway.

[@nickybutt9733]

Why did Mailer think he could fight? He was a little weakling

[@peternagy-im4be]

That's why he won nearly all of his fights. Try again.

[@09rja]

I normally don't approve of violence.....but Vidal was such a jerk.....all I got to say is: nice shot Mr. Mailer. :)

[@Rufus..Calhoun]

Team Gore....

[@robertortiz-wilson1588]

Gross... Both of them... Gore's just more gross.

[@DJL78]

Such a horrible human being. Mailer’s misogyny and other problematic attributes-and the fact that he stabbed his then-wife in 1960 are the things history should remember. Mailer was a faux-radical who used the taboo-breaking atmosphere of the 60s as cover for a career of lifelong self-promotion.

[@robertortiz-wilson1588]

What's "faux-radical" mean?

[@Norsilca]

Pretty much. He's an interesting figure but I'm personally glad that we're starting to say hey, you might make some cool things but so do other people and they don't stab their wives in a drunken rage. Why work with such a horribly toxic person?

[@somethingyousaid5059]

It's hard to be a human being.

[@andrewhill4986]

Laugh track, empty theatre And wtf Rhoda!!?

[@ZacD]

What's funny about this is Norman Mailer is invited on this, and often presents himself, as an intellect, and Dick Cavett is far and above him in all interactions, and the he whines his feelings are hurt

[@KPC-123]

I call BS!! Norman didn't do it.

[@evo5dave]

Yeah. He had to come up with some kind of 'victory' over Vidal.

[@jhlfsc]

Ladies & Gentlemen, the original Jordan Peterson...

[@robertortiz-wilson1588]

Stupid comment is stupid.

[@jackjohnhameld6401]

Donald Trump in the White House again ? Where is Norman Mailer when we need him ?

[@thefakenewsnetwork8072]

Long live communism and freedom

[@breathefree4056]

🤣

[@Fatherofheroesandheroines]

Please tell me your joking...

[@robertortiz-wilson1588]

Get help...

[@pronemanoldbutyoung5548]

Norman, Norman, you were so wrong. Nobody has been to the moon since the Apollo 17 crew in 1972. 49 years ago, and counting. Will perhaps a Chinese crew be the next to walk on the moon 🌝

[@ronmackinnon9374]

Yeah, Mailer thought there'd be another landing 10, 15, maybe 20 years from then. Not so. He probably wasn't the only one to get that wrong, though.

[@coupdegras107]

People thought this clown was intellectual?😆 He's as intellectual as Homer Simpson. No one wants to here the nonsensical ravings of a loud mouth malcontent.

[@DJ-bj8ku]

Have you read him? He has a brilliant mind.

[@robertortiz-wilson1588]

​@@DJ-bj8kuRecommendations?!

[@LordGreystoke]

Mr. intellectual pollution!

[@CWDG]

Mailer is such a bore!