richard alva cavett (born november 19, 1936) is an american comedian and talk-show host. he was hired as a talent coordinator on the tonight show with jack paar, stayed on as a writer after johnny carson took over as host, and was carson's original head writer. he began performing stand-up in 1964 at the bitter end in greenwich village and played chicago's mr. kelly's and san francisco's hungry i; in 1969 he guest-hosted several editions of the tonight show starring johnny carson.
abc hired cavett to host a daytime show, this morning, which premiered on march 4, 1968 and was soon retitled the dick cavett show. after a summer prime-time run in 1969 the network gave him the late-night slot previously held by the joey bishop show; that version ran from december 29, 1969 to january 1, 1975, opposing carson, with bobby rosengarden as bandleader. from january 1973 it aired about one week a month as part of abc's wide world of entertainment. a short cbs series followed in 1975.
from 1977 to 1982 wnet/thirteen produced a pbs version, built around a single guest in a half-hour format and produced by christopher porterfield. cavett later hosted versions on the usa network (1985-86), a brief return to abc late night in 1986, and cnbc from 1989 to 1996. for hbo he narrated the documentary series time was and hosted the series "remember when...".
his guests ranged from groucho marx and katharine hepburn to muhammad ali, jimi hendrix, janis joplin, david bowie, john lennon with yoko ono, and gore vidal with norman mailer. in june 1971 the program carried a vietnam war debate between john kerry and john o'neill.
related profiles; Leonard H. Goldenson, Jerry Seinfeld, Dave Chappelle
sources; wikipedia: dick cavett, wikipedia: the dick cavett show, pbs american masters: cavett and groucho timeline, television academy interview: dick cavett, wikipedia: tonight show episodes (1969), wikipedia: the tonight show starring johnny carson
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