Last night, Craig Ferguson came out and offered a brilliant monologue about “why everything sucks — everything.” His thoughts were cast humorously, as always, but there was a serious, historically accurate analysis about how, since the 1950s, there’s been what he calls a “deification of youth” in mass culture. One result is that we now prize “the young and the stupid” in a way no other culture has “in the history of the world.” Check it out:
The subtext of Ferguson’s articulate rant could be interpreted as a veiled criticism of not just his late-night competition (was Jimmy Fallon fake-bowling again last night?), but it has a broader effect. You just don’t hear stuff like this from anyone else on TV, anywhere, at any time of day.
What do you think of Craig’s “young and stupid” versus smart-and-experienced argument?
Craig Ferguson is brilliant & under appreciated by CBS. The fact that he includes himself in “what’s wrong with TV” is brave as well. I like having 200 channels, but I must admit sometimes it feels less special than when it was only the Big 3 networks.
Craig Ferguson is neither (too) young nor stupid. He is an intelligent man with a very educated opinion cloaked under a veil of humor. I appreciate his view of the world.
Brilliant!
Craig Ferguson hit the nail on the head, with his usual brand of humor. Ferguson has always shown remarkable insight into the human condition, so its hardly a surprise that he gets the stupidity of “the deification of youth.”
I’m not a Craig Ferguson fan, but he makes a good point. Jimmy Fallon, on the other hand, needs to get kicked off late night. Ugh.
I saw this last night and was literally almost in tears because of its brilliance. Craig is truly wonderful and sadly underrated.
Brilliant! Craig Ferguson is fantastic!!! And I completely agree.
I can’t decide – is Craig Ferguson the funniest smart man on television, or the smartest funny man on television? Tough call.
He is brilliantly funny. Who else uses the French flag to cover their curse words? Who else uses a picture of Salvador Dali to comic effect? Who else uses puppets so well? Who is Jimmy Fallon? I prefer depth and intelligence in my comedy – thank goodness for Craig. (Plus he’s very very naughty!)
In one!
BTW, thank you Ken Tucker for consistently being a main stream journalistic fan of Craig’s.
I ADORE craig!!
I wish his show was in Hi-Def.
I love Craig and he makes an excellent point, but his audience here is pretty stupid themselves. Laughing before he’s made a point or even said ANYTHING.
Genius…..THE best on late nite, it’s a shame CBS doesn’t seem to realize what they have here…..