This is from a gentleman (I assume he's a gentleman, as opposed to a boor) named Jeff Clem…

I had the extreme pleasure of meeting Mr. Dick Cavett in 1986, while I was a Graduate Student/Assistant at a small, liberal-arts college in Nebraska.

He was scheduled to give a presentation at one of our on-campus auditoriums, and once it was announced that he was coming, months before the event, the tickets sold out in a matter of minutes (I think Cavett was from Nebraska, so a large part of that was the "local boy does good and returns to visit his roots" charm, as well as the simple fact that people liked and enjoyed him). Needless to say, I failed to buy any tickets before the sell-out.

I lived in the Faculty apartments on the 2nd floor of one of the classroom buildings, and across the hall from me was the VIP suite where visiting VIPS were put up. A buddy of mine I hadn't seen in awhile was coming to visit me on the day of the night that Cavett was supposed to perform, and for some reason we were standing out in the hallway talking. Down the hallway comes a sweaty, tired Dick Cavett in running shorts, running shoes and tee-shirt; he'd obviously been out jogging. We said "hi" and he said "hi" back and asked us if we'd be at the show that night. I explained about my not being able to buy tickets and he said there'd be no problem; if we'd wait for him to clean up and then walk him over to the auditorium, he'd let us watch the show from the side of the stage, and that is what we did.

We chatted backstage for awhile before the show (he was extremely flattered by Rick Moranis' imitation of him from SCTV — I had to ask, what with me being an SCTV fan). I even helped him put his necktie on! His presentation, as you could guess, was a smashing success. He went to shake hands and sign autographs for his adoring fans after the show and me and my buddy went to the local cocktail lounge to talk about our great fortune of being in the right place at the right time. So, there we are in a dark, cozy lounge, nursing our drinks, when in walks Dick with a couple of the college's "handlers." He sees us, steers towards our table and joins us for drinks (he insisted on paying!). The handlers had no idea who he even was and got frozen out of the extremely fascinating conversation we continued to have with Mr. Cavett into the wee hours before closing hour. Dick was casual, nice, patient, interesting, friendly, etc….

I treasure that experience to this very day and whenever me and my buddy get together, we immediately reminisce about that unexpectedly wonderful evening. I've met other famous people and have had both good and bad experiences doing so, but meeting Dick Cavett is one of the best times I've ever had.

Just thought I'd share this little tidbit with you and your readers. Keep up the good work, Mark, and thanks for letting me share this with you.

We love stories like that. And speaking of impressions of Dick Cavett: Rick Moranis does a great one but the best is done by my pal Frank Welker, who in addition to being the most prolific cartoon voice actor of all time (yes, more than Mel or Daws or even June…) is also by some measures the Number One Box Office Champ of the Nineties in motion pictures — and not far down the list for the decades before or after. I mention this honor so you can get some idea that he's pretty good at what he does.

Back when Frank was a largely-unknown impressionist, he decided to try and get on The Dick Cavett Show during one of its weeks taping in Hollywood. He found out where the local office was and called the producer there, impersonating Cavett. The producer thought it was the star and Frank engaged him in conversation for a minute or so before saying, "Hey, there's this great impressionist I want to book for the show while we're out here. His name is…let me look at this piece of paper I have here…oh. It's Frank Welker."

The producer was making a note to book Frank Welker when Frank decided to drop the impression and say, "Hi, I'm Frank Welker and that was me doing Dick Cavett!" Whereupon the producer yelled, "I knew it was you all the time!" and slammed down the phone.

A day or two later, Frank was in a gas station when he spotted Mr. Cavett. Nervously — because Frank's a pretty shy person as proven by the fact that I can't coerce him into coming down to Comic-Con and making an appearance — he approached Cavett and said, "I do an impression of you." Cavett asked to hear it. Frank did the impression which of course sounds exactly like Dick Cavett. Cavett said, "I think my voice is a little lower" and drove off.

Frank never did the Cavett program. He's since done pretty well for himself in spite of it.