I remember watching a show that was shot, I think, shortly after that. I forget who the guest was, some old drunken raconteur, I really forget who it was.
Anyway, this guy keeps saying: I feel awful, I feel like I could drop dead, blah blah, etc. (and he looked it, truly)
And Cavett’s saying to him: don’t say that, that exact thing happened a few days ago.
But you know, the old guy was really full of himself and he wouldn’t lay off it, Cavett was kind of freaking out, not that I blamed him! Once is enough and that’s too much as a great gal used to say.
Foster Brooks?
Your description leads me to posit Truman Capote. I’ve seen clips of NYC local interviews where he was dead drunk.