681. How to Host a Talk Show, with Dick Cavett
A Freakonomics Radio episode from July 2026 in which Stephen Dubner visits talk show host Dick Cavett, who inspired Dubner's new YouTube show Better in Person. Dubner opens with why he wanted a more intimate kind of conversation, then talks with Cavett about hosting, preparation, the Mailer and Vidal show, his early career, Groucho Marx and Jack Paar, networks that cancelled him, and, in one segment, his own experience of depression and treatment, which is his personal account and not medical advice. The caption text covers the whole episode, including archival clips. Anecdotes and recollections are the speakers' own statements, not independently checked. Captions are automatic with errors. Topics are untimed; metadata follows YouTube. Source: https://youtubetotranscript.com/transcript?v=kv70urMGXaU
Executive Summary (TL;DR)
A Freakonomics Radio episode from July 2026 in which Stephen Dubner visits talk show host Dick Cavett, who inspired Dubner's new YouTube show Better in Person. Dubner opens with why he wanted a more intimate kind of conversation, then talks with Cavett about hosting, preparation, the Mailer and Vidal show, his early career, Groucho Marx and Jack Paar, networks that cancelled him, and, in one segment, his own experience of depression and treatment, which is his personal account and not medical advice. The caption text covers the whole episode, including archival clips. Anecdotes and recollections are the speakers' own statements, not independently checked. Captions are automatic with errors. Topics are untimed; metadata follows YouTube. Source: https://youtubetotranscript.com/transcript?v=kv70urMGXaU