Check out this clip of Gore Vidal and the recently late Norman Mailer going at it on the Dick Cavett show.
It’s kinda of sad, but I think that it does say something that pop culture used to be about two great writers getting into it and today all we can seem to talk about is whatever drug-addled celebrity most recently flashed her (or his) genitals.
Seriously—when was the last time that Leno or Letterman actually had writers of the stature of Vidal and Mailer on their shows? Beverly Sills used to appear on Carson; today we get manufactured pop tarts who can’t stay in tune even when they’re lipsynching….
And that is why anyone worth their salt watches Daily Show.