Of all the talk show hosts of the past, which one would you like to see a modern equivalent of?

I remember Dick Cavett having Robin Wiilams as a guest and suggesting they speak as Shakespearean characters. Williams made mincemeat of him...

I always liked Merv Griffin. He seemed to have an eye for spotting new talent, such as Ryan Seacrest and Deney Terrio. Loved his interviews with Hermione Gingold and Tallulah Bankhead.

Steve Allen.

Jack Paar

Viginia Graham

[quote]Viginia Graham

Who?

Tom Snyder when hw wouldn't laugh.

I’d like a female equivalent of Joan Rivers during her run as guest host for the Tonight Show.

[quote]I’d like a female equivalent of Joan Rivers during her run as guest host for the Tonight Show.

Yes, me too.

Or even when she got her own evening show she was good.

Gypsy Rose Lee. She had a nice bosom.

I have a newfound appreciation for Dick Cavett. I knew of him first through SCTV parodies, with Rick Moranis as Cavett, but I am grateful for Cavett's repeat appearances on the Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast. He's still lucid, has lots of stories and anecdotes from shows that one can see on YouTube, and he doesn't need much prompting or coaxing to get a full podcast's worth.

Another vote for Dick Cavett, but not sure if it could work now. He had conversations with people like Muhammad Ali, Woody Allen, Louis Armstrong, Fred Astaire, Lauren Bacall, James Baldwin, Marlon Brando, Ingrid Bergman, Mel Brooks, Truman Capote, Noel Coward, Duke Ellington, Helen Hayes, Jim Henson, Katharine Hepburn, Alfred Hitchcock, Myrna Loy, Norman Mailer, Mickey Mantle, Groucho Marx, Arthur Miller, Toni Morrison, Paul Newman, Laurence Olivier, Anthony Perkins, Ronald Reagan, Jackie Robinson, Mort Sahl, Charles M. Schulz, Steven Spielberg, Gloria Swanson, Gore Vidal, Orson Welles, Tennessee Williams, David Bowie, Cher, Judy Collins, David Crosby, Jimi Hendrix, Mick Jagger, Janis Joplin, John Lennon (and Yoko Ono), Stephen Stills, Joni Mitchell, etc. Who could top that?

Cavett had the best guests and the most intelligent conversations. His downside was that he was a huge namedropper (which people made fun of him for doing constantly).

Jack Paar was the wittiest, and the best at engaging his guests. Carson was usually pretty good at that too, although I never liked his monologues (they were too old-fashioned for me--he was aiming at my dad's generation).

Viviene Della Chiesa

Viv was a slut of major proportions, unknown to the world outside the little world of Cincinnati, Ohio. A staunch Republican and pretty talent-free.

One of my favorite moments on a talk show. And, no, I am not so old that I remember watching this when it first broadcast.

R16 - my mom was from Cincinnati and talked endlessly about this woman. I never saw the tv show but saying the name out loud has alway brought me joy.

I miss Rosie O'Donnell, just for her beautiful singing!

Phil Donahue.

Does anyone remember David Susskind? Or Joe Franklin? I used to stay up way past my bedtime to watch them. They had amazing guests, serious conversation. Some of it went over my head - I was just a little kid then - but those were my favorite programs.

Plus, and this is weird, I had a crush on Susskind, before I really got that I was into boys. I mean, I must have been five or six at the time, but I remember how I liked looking at his face, listening to his voice.

Chevy Chase

Magic Johnson

Brian Linehan. He did celebrity interviews and always kept them off-guard because he knew things about them that no one else did - but he never spilled personal stuff, it was always work-related. People like Barbra Streisand would always say - "how did you know that?"

Cavett. Absolutely Cavett. He was usually very good, but he could get in his own way. Usually when he did, the guest put him in his place. He distinguished himself by conducting thoughtful interviews. Most of the competitors were really focused on entertaining the audience. Cavett focused on engaging the audience with interesting discussion. He also had the good sense to keep it to one guest, when the guest warranted the entire hour.

He conducted outstanding interviews and this format was the best. So it is Cavett for whom we most need a modern version.

I liked Jack Paar. He had interesting guests and he was a great raconteur. My favorite guest of his was Oscar Levant. Oscar was probably the greatest wit of the 20th century. I liked Dick Cavett too. He was intelligent and had some guests who wouldn't do other interview shows. Even the notoriously temperamental Bobby Fischer liked Dick Cavett.

Janis Joplin and Gloria Swanson. Together. On Cavett. Great stuff.

r26 Dick Cavett was a talent booker/writer for the Jack Paar show. I like to think Cavett wrote "for every pearl that comes out of his mouth, a pill goes in" for Jack Paar to introduce Oscar Levant.

No Mike Douglas please. Can’t take another bad crooner covering Danny Boy when not sucking up to Zsa Zsa Gabor as guest host.

R21- Another vote for Joe Franklin. One of the most engaging and interesting people I’ve ever met. We lived in the same apartment building in Chelsea, NYC until his death in 2015.

Cavett took too long to ask a question.

Cavett flames from space.

I'm certainly not a right winger but just for sheer entertainment value I liked the Joe Pyne TV show in the late 1960s. He was a conservative right wing TV and radio talk show host and as far as I know was the very first of that breed. He was the original. But what made him much different from today's right wing talk show hosts was he actually sat and listened to his guests and let them say all they had to say before telling them what he thought of them. He was actually rather respectful, in a backhanded sort of way. He was a tough old ex-Marine who lost a leg in World War II and he kept his doberman pinscher attack dog near his desk during interviews (maybe to intimidate guests?) Even though he was a right winger he had a good sense of humor and only got violently angry if a guest deliberately provoked him. He was usually rather calm. He kept his shows interesting and entertaining and he had a lot of kooks, real whackos with outrageous platforms. One of the best was when he interviewed Anton LaVey, the high priest of the Church of Satan. Joe Pyne subtly mocks and ridicules Anton's ridiculous attire and beliefs to great humorous effect. Pyne was old school conservative. Not like the horrible right wing talk show hosts of today.