He was sitting at a corner table at the Friars, where he has been a member for 45 years, across the main dining room in one direction from the writer Gay Talese and in another from the gossip columnist Cindy Adams. Earlier in the week, Matt Lauer had been fired from the “Today” show. Over the dining room din, men drinking martinis could be heard darkly muttering names: “Lauer … Weinstein … Spacey.”

Mr. Buchwald had started his day, he said, conferring with his company’s C.O.O. to check in on the systems that were in place to protect employees from harassment. “I said to him, ‘We’re unscathed at the moment, but it seems like scathing is the order of the day. And I want to make sure we set the record straight with our employees and clients,’” Mr. Buchwald said. He also wanted to find out of it was still appropriate for him to greet women clients and associates with his standard double cheek kiss. “Is it O.K. for me to bisou, bisou?” he asked. (The C.O.O. said he should use his best judgment.)

In fact, the company is not totally unscathed. On Glassdoor, a website where people can post anonymous comments about their current or past employers, an assortment of posts cite a difficult work culture at the Buchwald agency. “We have a zero-tolerance policy toward sexual harassment,” Julia Buchwald said in a phone interview. “Has there been a disgruntled employee or two in the past? Probably. But I really do care about every person within our walls.”

At the Friars, some men stopped by to say hello and pay homage to Mr. Buchwald, who was eating branzino, Caesar salad and steamed spinach. Two younger agents from his firm described Mr. Buchwald’s famous “milk and cookies” approach to agenting. (Anything, even cookies, to get you in the front door.)

The club manager came over to reminisce about the work he and Mr. Buchwald did together to organize the 2004 Friars Roast of Donald J. Trump. Another fella sauntered over with a “take my wife” Borscht Belt best-left-unshared joke about a woman named Laverne. Mr. Buchwald, who speaks frequently of his wife of 52 years, Maggie, winced.