One of the things that most people don't understand about jokes is that they're all grievances. Every joke is a grievance. [...] These grievance jokes are always getting rid of animus, and when jokes stop, then people are not getting rid of their grievances.
—Marshall McLuhan on The Dick Cavett Show in 1970 [via the "deeply linked" box.net widget, which ironically does not permit deeplinking to files it contains]
See, this is exactly what I was trying to say. Jokes are the cure to (or, as McLuhan would have it, the exorcist of) all life's ills.
The last bit from McLuhan is interesting as well after spending some time on YouTube: "Movies get retrieved — old movies come surging up — with the new surround of TV, and movies are now accepted seriously as art form. Stuff that had been considered trash in its day is now taken very seriously. [...] Now what will surround TV to turn TV into an art form?"
As Truman Capote said (listen again, it's *definitely* Capote): "I'm afraid to look!"
And YouTube is kind of scary. And wonderful.
Hate to be a stickler, but that quote is properly attributed to Mr. Cavett, speaking at an entirely different frequency than Mr. Capote.
A poll may have to be taken.
It is so Capote!
Right after "I'm afraid to look" Cavett picks up with asking McLuhan if he can have a friendly convo with folks on the subway in a voice oh-so-distinct from the "afraid to look" voice.
I declare a poll. Right here. Surely my many readers will back me up. Too bad I can't *cough* deep link them straight to the audio file.
I believe you underestimate Dick Cavett's vocal range and self-deprecating interviewing style, and overestimate that of the unmistakable Truman Capote. Luckily YouTube offers plenty of clips from The Dick Cavett Show's early-'70s heyday to support my case.
Why of course it was me saying "I'm afraid to look!" Who else would make such a witty and technophobic remark?
Why don't you write Dick and ask him about it? He's still alive and surely he'll remember such a remarkable interview.
[...] See also: Getting Rid of Animus [...]