Tom Snyder didn't like the Akroyd impersonations, because they focused on his ignorance. Snyder was the first male to succeed nationally in an information-based show who didn't have any information. He wasn't the first overall, however, as Barbara Walters holds that distinction.
In Snyder's Playboy interview, he let it be known that he didn't appreciate being denigrated for being ignorant or the fact that every time he was compared to Dick Cavett, the comparison was unflattering to him. He once said if Cavett interviewed Pavarotti, he ask him about opera, whereas if he interviewed Pavarotti, he'd ask him what he'd like on his pizza.
It was on Tom Snyder's radio show, when his guest was Ricardo Montalban, that I learned that there is no leather industry in Corinth, and therefore no such thing as "Corinthian Leather". The term was concocted simply to highlight Montalban's accent.
Did anyone besides me see Snyder's SECOND interview with Liv Ullman? It may be the greatest example of self humiliation in TV history. Does anyone out there besides me remember the story behind it?
