The Writers Guild of America, East has announced that comedian and writer, Dick Cavett will receive the Evelyn F. Burkey Award at the 2022 Writers Guild Awards on Sunday, March 20 and will be hosted by Ashley Nicole Black.
Seth Meyers will present the award to Cavett during the joint virtual ceremony.
Cavett, a guild member since 1961, got his start writing for Jack Parr and The Tonight Show. Cavett continued to write for Johnny Carson when he became host and eventually would go on to write for The Jerry Lewis Show.
In 1968, Cavett was hired by ABC to host This Morning which was renamed to The Dick Cavett Show where it ran on prime time before being moved to late night, opposite The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.
Dick Cavett had many guests featured on The Dick Cavett Show including Jefferson Airplane, Joni Mitchell, David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Judy Collins where she discussed being a defense witness during the Chicago Seven trial. He also used his show to speak out against the Vietnam War and brought future Senator John Kerry on as a guest.
“Thank you to the Writers Guild of America, East for honoring me with the Evelyn F. Burkey Award,” wrote Cavett. “I am very grateful to receive this distinguished award from my union and want to thank all the people, throughout my career, who have helped me create television that we aimed to make socially relevant, conversationally enlightening, and eye-opening fun.” ■
