No, they’re not assembling to play a doubles match.
Before 2008 is consigned to deep confinement (with instructions to double lock the door and throw away the keys, please), consider spending three minutes with two Charlie Roses in one of last year’s best YouTube videos, found here.
Have you ever noticed how even Charlie Rose sometimes fails to listen to, or at least fully process, his guest’s answers, because he’s formulating the next question or his own bon mot ? Among the talk show host elite, the most watchable interviewers are the ones who consistently elicit memorable guest talk while sparingly injecting just the right measure of their own personal seasoning. It’s a fiendishly difficult balancing act. For my money, no one has done it better than Dick Cavett. My favorite “wow” moment is available here.
Ask me to draw up a list of Persons I Wouldn’t Mind Sitting Next To On A Coast-to-Coast Flight Even Though They Want To Talk The Entire Flight (PIWMSNTOACTCFETTWTTTEF for short), and Mr. Cavett’s on the list. Although his public output is now sparse (occasional pieces in the NY Times), he recently reminded us of how easily his Nebraska wits win the day, this time hosing down a dust-up with a temporarily tone-deaf Camille Paglia (they were fighting over Sarah Palin).
Reading and watching Ms. Paglia has been a guilty pleasure of mine ever since I sat slack-jawed for three uninterrupted hours a few years ago watching her energize an amazing Book TV (C-SPAN2) “In Depth” interview. That entire program is available online now, here. My advice: take a bathroom break before you launch into what’s best experienced as a non-stop roller coaster ride. Unfortunately, I’m finding that her current crop of monthly Salon columns is suffering from a temporary decline in quality. Too often the ricocheting ideas she’s usually able to juggle into jazzy coherence lay inert instead. Some arguments are recyclings and some new ones are goofily off-kilter. Then again I may just be reacting adversely to some of her recent political likes and dislikes. There’s no denying hers is a high-wire act not to be missed, so I’m not about to give up my seat.
Tags: Camille Paglia, Charlie Rose, Dick Cavett, Salon, YouTube