--- description: The television legend drops by his old stomping grounds title: Dick Cavett Brief Encounters Book: Video Visit to TIME Magazine image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdbc549cbf7b7d6bc/6987686635ba6fec91c05480/114238413_thumb.jpg?branch=production&width=640&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [History](/section/history/) ## History Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Media](/tag/media/) ## Media Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Watch Dick Cavett Revisit the Office Where He Got His Start by [Francesca Trianni](/author/francesca-trianni/) and [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/) Nov 13, 2014 3:00 PM CUT  TIME Video by [Francesca Trianni](/author/francesca-trianni/) and [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/) Nov 13, 2014 3:00 PM CUT The story of how Dick Cavett got his start isn’t a secret: as recounted in the 1971 TIME cover story about the star, he was working at this magazine as a copy boy — a now-obsolete gofer gig — when he wrote a few jokes meant for Jack Paar, brought them across the street to bring to the _Tonight Show_ host, had them read on the show and eventually got hired as a writer. And the TIME-comedy links didn’t stop there. As Cavett tells it in his new book, _Brief Encounters_, he also used his access to the magazine’s files to track down entertainment icon Stan Laurel. Much of _Brief Encounters_ is devoted to Cavett’s observations about how the world has changed — so, on the occasion of his book’s release, Cavett came back to visit the place where he got his start. And, he discovered, even when it comes to office space, time refuses to stand still. **_Read the Dick Cavett cover story, here in the TIME Vault:_** [The Art of Show and Tell](http://time.com/vault/issue/1971-06-07/page/70/ "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3580806/dick-cavett-video/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3580806/dick-cavett-video/"},"headline":"Watch Dick Cavett Revisit the Office Where He Got His Start","datePublished":"2014-11-13T15:00:27.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-30T11:38:38.072Z","description":"The television legend drops by his old stomping grounds","url":"https://time.com/3580806/dick-cavett-video/","keywords":["Media","Television","Comedy"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdbc549cbf7b7d6bc/6987686635ba6fec91c05480/114238413_thumb.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Francesca Trianni","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/francesca-trianni/"},{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdbc549cbf7b7d6bc/6987686635ba6fec91c05480/114238413_thumb.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Dick Cavett thumbnail","caption":"Dick Cavett thumbnail","creditText":"TIME Video","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/media/","name":"Media"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3580806/dick-cavett-video/","name":"Watch Dick Cavett Revisit the Office Where He Got His Start"}}]}] ```