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For a while, Cavett played an active role in the selection of guests for his show, but he has now given that responsibility largely to his executive producer, John Gilroy. A staff of 29 people—many of whom seem to be merely decorative, but very decorative, young women—put the show together. Gilroy meets with his staff each morning to discuss the booking of guests. In his office there is a huge display of file cards listing the guests' names; the cards are shuffled constantly to produce the best mix ("A good dinner party," says one staffer). "Talent coordinators" are then assigned to prepare brief dossiers on the guests. At one time, Dick demanded considerable solid research, but he found that it worked against him: he was referring too often to his notes while the conversation got ponderous. He now requires less material and feels that this helps make for spontaneity. It also produces awkward silences when a subject runs dry unexpectedly.
Cavett arrives at his office in the late morning and consults with Gilroy and others. If an author is scheduled to appear, Cavett will have made an attempt to read his latest book. His four writers have been working on Cavett's standard six-minute opening comedy monologue; in midafternoon, Cavett edits their material and types notes for cue cards. These monologues are frequently less than successful, since the best of Cavett's humor is sparked by verbal confrontation with his guests. Taping before an audience begins at 6 o'clock, but the show does not go on the air until 11:30 p.m. Eastern and Pacific time (10:30 Central). By then, Cavett's limousine has long since deposited him at home, where he can relax and watch the show just as his fans do.
Questions, Questions
Cavett and his wife, Actress Carrie Nye, live in a handsome six-room East Side apartment. Carrie Nye, now 33, is a willowy Mississippian who met Cavett when both were at Yale and married him in 1964 after a sporadic court ship. She says: "Dick thought I was Zelda Fitzgerald, and I thought he was the squarest person I ever met. I remember thinking that he was attractive but what a pity he was such a bore." She pauses, then adds in a voice as sultry as a hot night on the old plantation: "In the intervening years he became more interesting and I became a bore. We sort of dwindled together."
Wandering Among the Dunes
Contrasting their personalities, Carrie Nye says: "I honestly don't think Dick has an insecure bone in his body. He's a balanced man. I do things to excess. I am volatile and temperamental, and Dick is not. He's reasonable. It bothers him and me the way people always have to categorize. They see him walking around with long hair and in dungarees and they think he's a hippie. Or they see him on TV in those J. Press suits and think he's Ivy League, they find out he went to Yale and immediately assume he thinks a certain way. But he is a genuinely witty man. He is a questioner, really. You ask him a simple question and he employs the Socratic method for 45 minutes. It drives me absolutely crazy."