jerry springer for intellectuals

From a Daily Beast rundown of seven chat show car crashes, here's an episode of the Dick Cavett Show featuring those literary pugilists Norman Mailer and Gore Vidal going at it - though it's Cavett that wins the bout:

Comments

[Lyle]

'Would you like two more chairs to contain your giant intellect?' Classic!

The sassy old girl comes in a close second. (Who is she?)

This clip makes me realise how rotten most (U.S., at least) chat shows are these days. So rushed, so edited, so micromanaged. So few moments of genuine spontaneity or surprise. Maybe that's what Joaquin Phoenix was aiming for during that mysterious recent Letterman appearance -- to do the exact opposite of what most 'entertainers' are told to do out there by their handlers.