Best seen and not heard?

No of course I'm not referring to Isobel and her new cello.
Perhaps Tilly qualifies: she was getting a bit too stroppy because she wanted a go.
But really what I was thinking of was Gore Vidal who I heard on the radio today. I've never read anything he's written so have no opinion on his writing. But I did find him irritatingly pompous, glib, affected, dismissive and slightly grumpy with little of interest to say - and the audience sounded just a tad too sycophantic for Gore's and their own good.
Maybe I should read something by him. Maybe he's really good.