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  • Brief Encounters

  • Conversations, Magic Moments, and Assorted Hijinks
  • By: Dick Cavett
  • Narrated by: Dick Cavett
  • Length: 8 hrs and 9 mins
  • 4.0 out of 5 stars (4 ratings)
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Brief Encounters

By: Dick Cavett
Narrated by: Dick Cavett
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Summary

A 2016 Grammy nominee for Best Spoken Word Album

Dick Cavett is back, sharing his reflections and reminiscences about Hollywood legends, American cultural icons, and the absurdities of everyday life.

In Brief Encounters, the legendary talk show host Dick Cavett introduces us to the fascinating characters who have crossed his path, from James Gandolfini and John Lennon to Mel Brooks and Nora Ephron, enhancing our appreciation of their talent, their personalities, and their places in the pantheon. We tag along as Cavett spends an afternoon with Stan Laurel at his modest apartment in Los Angeles, spars with Muhammad Ali at his training camp, and comes to know a young Steve Jobs - who woos him to be Apple's first celebrity pitchman. He also offers piquant commentary on contemporary politics, the indignities of travel, the nature of comedy writing, and the utter improbability of being alive at all.

On his talk show, Cavett welcomed the leading figures from film, music, theater, literature, comedy, sports, and politics and engaged them in conversation that made viewers feel that the discussion was taking place in their own living rooms. Jimmy Fallon, the new host of The Tonight Show, has called him "a legend and an inspiration" and has written a foreword that makes clear the debt that today's talk show hosts owe to Dick Cavett. Brief Encounters opens the door on how Cavett's mind works and what it is like to live in his world.

To spend a few minutes or an hour or even a whole evening with Dick Cavett is an experience not to be missed, and now there's no reason to deny yourself. Settle in, and enjoy the conversation!

©2014 Richard A. Cavett (P)2014 Macmillan Audio

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Retrospective of a suave raconteur

Perhaps not as well-known here as in the U.S., Cavett is a kind of American Michael Parkinson —famous for interviews with John Lennon and Yoko Ono and a host of other stars, including Muhammad Ali. A silky intellectual with an easy, light-hearted style, Cavett is well-placed to offer celebrity insights. This is a collection of columns Cavett wrote, rather than a memoir, but it does contain some fascinating gems - the best is about his encounter with Stan Laurel, living out his final years in an LA apartment when Cavett goes to pay homage. Cavett’s discussion of his origins as a gag-writer for The Tonight Show is also fascinating. Here and there, he embarks on tangents featuring American comedians or entertainers I’d never heard of. But it’s testament to his gently self-deprecating tone that I was never tempted to abandon the book, after the first half-hour or so. My edition didn’t contain the Jimmy Fallon foreword. That aside, it’s a pleasant listen, and recommended for anyone with an interest in fame and the entertainment industry, and particularly the darker side of celebrity. It’s striking how many of those mentioned, from Richard Burton to Groucho Marx, had what might be described euphemistically as troubled personal lives.

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