Did you catch The Late Late Show last night? Unless I am mistaken, Craig Ferguson did something unprecedented in late-night talk-show history: He did his opening monologue… in the middle of the show!
Ferguson had guest Eddie Izzard come out first. They were just ducky together, free-associating wit at its TV finest.
Then, Craig did his monologue, including a fine Susan Boyle joke:
Finally, Ferguson did a cooking segment with barbeque master Myron Mixon to make some “chicken balls.” They were great; as Craig said to the Georgia chef, “I don’t understand your accent, and you don’t understand mine.” (Mixon got off a good line: “I speak the King’s English… Elvis.”)
Boy, do I love a cook who uses a lot of butter:
Did you watch?
Follow me on Twitter @kentucker
Ferguson’s been the best late night host for a while now. Good thing with Conan gone and Leno trashed, Letterman in court and, well, Kimmel’s never been funny.
What if NBC wants to clean slate at The Tonight Show and decides to offer it to Craig Fergurson? Boy, would that create a big mess at CBS or what? How would Dave handle this scenario?
I, personally wouldn’t want Craig to go to The Tonight Show. The more popular your show, the less you can do with it creatively (in my opinion). Craig is awesome, because he does what he wants. When there’s a lot more people watching, you have to follow more rules and it goes down from there…
Craig has said publicly on more than one occasion that he’s not interested in 11:30. He likes where he is because he has more leeway to do whatever he wants. Despite his fake-snarky comments about “12:30 CBS” and the leaky roof.
Craig Ferguson is a late-night comedic genius. Seriously he can make anything funny.
Craig is the only good thing on late night anymore
Fantastic. Craig Furguson is hilarious. Did I spell that right? Who cares, he’s funny.
agree. Craig is so damn natural at this.
did you know he wrote a novel? i saw it in B&N today. can’t remember the title though
He wrote a novel (Between the Bridge and the River) and an autobiography (American on Purpose), both are fantastic.
It’s called “Between the bridge and the river” – available at all fine bookstores (LOL!!)
I love Craig. I feel like other late night hosts just do the tired “joke-laugh-joke-laugh” monologue. But Craig actually tells stories. Ah!! What a breath of fresh air!
Craig is the only late night host who makes absolutely EVERYTHING he says seem off-the-cuff. I know he must prepare stuff, but his monologues always SEEM like stream-of-consciousness riffs, and that’s what makes them fascinating. His interaction with his guests is also more relaxed than anyone else’s, and that loosens up his guests. But if there’s a guy who should NEVER be moved from 12:30 to 11:30, it’s Craig. I shudder to think of how they’d try to change him to make him “11:30-ready.”
If you read his book (“American On Purpose”), he talks about the evolution of his monologue and how it started out more or less scripted, but he didn’t like how it felt to perform it, so they eventually moved to the way it is now, and it’s just as it appears. He goes out with a couple of ideas about what to talk about, and beyond that it is all improvised as he’s there in front of the camera.
I wonder how much he owes his ability to ad-lib to the time he spent on The Drew Carey Show? Surprisingly we never saw him on Whose Line is it Anyway? because I imagine he would’ve been pretty funny.
I just discovered Craig’s LLS during the whole Conan/Jay mess and think it’s fantastic, in a bizarre f-ed up kind of way. Did you see how he opened last night’s show with dressed as one of the faux guitar players from Robert Palmer’s “Addicted to Love” video, with Rosie O’Donnell as the late great RP? He gives you the totally unexpected in the typically predictable world of TV and that’s what makes him so funny.
I hope that CBS is grooming him to take the Late Show away some day (when Dave is actually ready to leave…lol). I can never stay up to watch Craig but I do when I can and he is the best late show on tv right now!
Did I watch? Of course! I never miss it. He’s the most funny, clever, sincere, bawdy, sexy, intelligent…shall I go on? He’s reinventing the form and I love being along for the ride.
He’s been mixing up his show a lot lately though hasn’t he? He did the “What did we learn on the show tonight Craig?” bit at the beginning of the show the other night. I agree that he’s the best late night host out there right now.
I record it every night (no TiVo) but with the SOTU address last night it threw my program timing off.
It cut off the program right after his Monologue…That really S***S!!!
And then he, wait for it…tied his shoes on camera! Everyone else always waits for a commercial break before they tie their shoes, but he tied his ON CAMERA. OMG! EVERYTHING IN THE WORLD IS NOW DIFFERENT.
Yes, I watched it. I think Craig is brilliant but I like my monologue first, thank you very much. Both Izzard and the Barbecue Guy were delicious guests.
Craig is by far the best late night host on TV! I have him set to my DVR, so I never miss his greatness!
…Only a comedian as brilliant as Craig could do an entire monologue about Mozart and make it work.
Better than Conan, Leno and Letterman combined? …Yes.
I never miss his show! Ferguson is a comic geninue! I laugh so hard sometimes I cry!