Dick Cavett/Jimmy Cliff

This is one of the weaker episodes of the first season. Not that there is anything wrong with it in total, but after watching it, this fell into a trap of trying to let the host Dick Cavett dominate the show. Cavett has a very dry sense of humor & it is on display here very much.

That is the problem here too. What should have been done is Cavett should have been written in as a straight man for Belushi, Morris, & the other players more, with a smaller dose of his humor. To make a direct comparison, when Desi Arnez is host, he plays a straight man to John Belushi in one sequence that is now a classic that makes you wish the two of them had done more. Desi is a more experienced straight man than Cavett having done a lot of it with Lucy.

I feel though that if Cavett had been used as a straight man more often, this episode could have been much better. This one is more for big fans of Dick trying to do comedy though at least the Week End Update is good as Chase is getting more in the groove with each episode.