The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
| The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson | |
|---|---|
 The Late Late Show title card | |
| Created by | David Letterman |
| Starring | Craig Ferguson |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of episodes | 830 (on February 18, 2009) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer | David Letterman |
| Production locations | CBS Television City Los Angeles, California |
| Running time | 60 minutes per episode |
| Original release | |
| Network | CBS |
| Release | January 3, 2005 - Present |
| Related | |
| The Late Late Show | |
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The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson is an American late-night talk show hosted by Scottish-American comedian Craig Ferguson. Ferguson is the third regular host of The Late Late Show, which airs on CBS. The show's title is a variation of "Late Show with David Letterman", which precedes it in the CBS late-night lineup.
Show format
The show starts with a cold open introduction, sometimes with one or more, followed by a commercial break, then the opening credits. Craig almost always begins the show (after the first commercial break) by saying "Welcome to Los Angeles, California. Welcome to The Late Late Show. I'm your host, TV's Craig Ferguson". He then says to the camera "Hey! Look at you! Come on in", then begs his audience to stop applauding. He then usually begins the monologue by saying, "It's a great day for America, everybody." On days when an exceptionally negative news story is prominent, Ferguson will omit the line.
Craig's monologue is informal and largely improvised [citation needed] and often spills over into his first segment following a commercial break. Ferguson reads and responds to viewer e-mail almost every night. Other segments include loosely scripted comedy sketches which feature Ferguson in costume or performing in collaboration with any of a number of semi-regular guests including performers such as Dave Foley, Betty White, Tim Gunn, Jeffrey Tambor, Daniel McVicar, Kristen Bell, Henry Winkler, and Tim Meadows. Occasionally a guest will participate in a sketch, such as Ewan McGregor.[1]. Most shows include celebrity interviews and sometimes a musical guest and/or stand-up comedy act. Musical performances are often taped before the rest of a show.
Ferguson has used many running gags that span multiple shows and have colorful animated graphics. These have included themed weeks such as "Crab Week" and "Shark Week" (though Craig admits that the show's budget makes most of the themes limited mostly to graphics), a sound effects machine installed at his desk (which has been removed), "Dear Aquaman" (in which Craig dresses as the superhero and gives advice), and "Election Fever" during the run-up to the 2008 Presidential election. Another running gag is the "photo of Paul McCartney". When McCartney is mentioned in the monologue, Ferguson will call for a photo of McCartney, which is actually a photo of actress Angela Lansbury and vice versa. The show often uses variations of this gag featuring other pairs of look-alike celebrities.
The show ends with "What Did We Learn on the Show Tonight, Craig?" in which Craig summarizes the lessons of the evening.
Sports highlights delays
Since CBS holds the rights to several major professional golf tournaments, including The Masters and the PGA Championship, along with tennis' US Open, these events also include 15 minute-long late night highlights shows hosted by either Jim Nantz or another CBS Sports host summarizing the day's action. Previous to mid-2007, Ferguson's monologue would air as usual, followed by Ferguson asking viewers to stay tuned for the sports highlight show (which would air shortly after), followed by the guest and musical portion of the Late Late Show, splitting an episode into two separate 10 minute and 45 minute segments. After mid-2007 however, CBS decided to air the sports highlight shows between Letterman and Ferguson, allowing the Late Late Show to air its full hour beginning at 12:50am ET/PT on those nights.
Serious monologues
On a few occasions Ferguson's opening monologue has taken on a serious tone.
- On January 30, 2006, Ferguson eulogized his father, who had died the day before. Ferguson was nominated for his first Emmy Award for the episode.
- On February 19, 2007, Ferguson announced he would do "no Britney Spears jokes", saying "comedy should have a certain amount of joy in it" and that it shouldn't include "attacking the vulnerable." He references his 15 years of sobriety and the struggle he had with addiction, almost ending in suicide.[2]
- On September 10, 2008, Ferguson described his excitement about voting in his first U.S. Presidential election and ranted against American voter fatigue, stating, "If you don't vote, you're a moron!"[3]
- On December 8, 2008, Ferguson remembered his mother who died December 1, while his show was on break. He told stories about his mother and how he felt after he had returned back from his mother's funeral in Scotland. During the monologue, as he recounted his father's death nearly three years previously and spoke of his parents being back together in death, he became emotional to the verge of tears and cut to commercial. Prior to the break, Ferguson mentioned that his mother wanted the hymn called "Jesus Loves Me" sung at her funeral because that was the only hymn to which everyone knew the words. After the break, he showed a clip from a 2005 interview with his mother and a second clip with his mother and RZA from the Wu-Tang Clan.[4] Finally, he played his mother's favorite song to end the show, which was "Rivers of Babylon" by Boney M.[5] Ferguson laughed saying, "It's an awful song, but it's her favorite."
- On January 15, 2009, Ferguson complimented the pilot of the US Airways Flight 1549 and congratulated everybody involved for their hard work and dedication. He also named the pilot as a real American hero.
- On March 4, 2009, Ferguson dedicated the entire show to his guest, Archbishop Desmond Tutu.[6] The intro and monologue gave a very brief history of South Africa and apartheid. There was no musical guest and the only interview was Father Tutu. This show was during a week of unrest in late night with Jimmy Fallon opening his new show after Conan O'Brien's departure before replacing Jay Leno. Despite the goings on with other networks and shows, Ferguson's interview received critical praise from NPR's TV critic, David Bianculli.[7]
Production milestones
A new set debuted on the July 24, 2006 episode, after the previous one had been comically destroyed by Bob Barker and others from The Price is Right. It included a miniature CBS dirigible that floated along over the backdrop depicting Los Angeles. In the week starting with March 17, 2008, The Late Late Show debuted a new set featuring a desk/interview area on a raised platform. The backdrop was also changed to a more realistic and detailed representation of Los Angeles.
When the 2007-08 Writers Guild of America strike began, the show went into reruns. It resumed production on January 2, 2008 after Worldwide Pants and the WGA came to an agreement.[8][9]
In 2008 Worldwide Pants Incorporated signed a product placement deal with Ford to promote the Ford Flex during The Late Late Show. Eight episodes ("with one repeat") of the show included custom-written skits in which Ferguson played the leader of a band called the Highlanderz, riding in a Flex as they traveled from Los Angeles International Airport to the CBS Studio. The skits were shown on successive Thursdays starting on September 4.[10]
Ratings
In 2006, clips of The Late Late Show began appearing on the video sharing website YouTube. Subsequently, Ferguson's ratings "grew 7 percent (or by 100,000 viewers)."[11]
During the week ending March 31, 2006, The Late Late Show attracted an average of 1.9 million total viewers[12], a number that increased to 2.0 million a year later.[13]
During the week ending April 4, 2008, The Late Late Show attracted an average of 1.88 million total viewers; that week, for the first time since Ferguson began hosting, the show's "five-night week of original head-to-head broadcasts", which was later discovered to actually be four nights due to a difference in title[14], drew a larger audience than Late Night with Conan O'Brien.[15] Reuters noted that "Ferguson's bigger accomplishment seems to be that he has merely lost fewer viewers this season, with his total audience slipping 12 percent from a year ago, compared with a 24 percent drop for O'Brien"; the year-to-year decline in viewership was attributed[who?] to the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike.[15]
The Late Late Show encountered new competition on March 2, 2009, the first night of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. During Fallon's first week, the new show averaged 2.4 million viewers, a half million more viewers than Ferguson.[16] Fallon maintained his lead over Ferguson during the show's second week, but by March 16, The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson had attracted a larger audience.[17]
Show elements
It's hard to stay up
It's been a long, long day
And you've got the sandman at your door.
But hang on, leave the TV on
and let's do it anyway.
It's okay.
You can always sleep through work tomorrow
Okay! Hey hey!
Tomorrow's just your future yesterday.— Complete theme song from The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson[18]
Theme song
When Ferguson was hired as the full-time replacement for Craig Kilborn, he co-wrote and recorded a new theme song.
Beginning July 7, 2006, the show's theme featured only the ending of the original song, though by January 2, 2008 the full theme had returned, mostly intact.
Musical performances
At some point[specify] The Late Late Show began taping musical performances separately from the rest of the show. For example, the band No Age were videotaped on October 2, 2008 for an appearance scheduled to air October 27.[19] That performance was also the subject of an equal-time rule controversy in which Randy Randall was not allowed to wear a pro-Barack Obama T-shirt. Randall, not wanting to cancel the appearance, chose instead to turn the T-shirt inside out and write "Free Health Care" on the shirt with a Sharpie marker[19]
Impersonations and characters
Impersonations and skit characters frequently done by Ferguson on the show include Prince Charles, Sean Connery, Queen Elizabeth II, Andy Rooney, Aquaman, Michael Caine ["in Space", "in Spain," and now presenting "Michael Caine's Animal World"], and Bono. He claims that he developed his imitation of Caine after an eight hour long plane ride, in which he sat behind Caine who "gabbed" with his wife the entire trip.
Less frequent Ferguson impersonations include Dr. Phil, Simon Cowell, Kim Jong Il, Mick Jagger, Angela Lansbury, Jay Leno, Larry King ["of the Jungle"], and J. K. Rowling.
Occasionally one of Ferguson's crew members will dress up as and impersonate him, particularly while he is portraying someone else in a skit.
Bob Barker
A running gag during the summer of 2006 involved Ferguson going out of his way to pick on the recently retired CBS game show host Bob Barker who, Ferguson eventually concluded, was a vampire.
The climax was reached on July 15, 2006, when Bob, flanked by the rest of The Price is Right's staff, including announcer Rich Fields and some of Barker's Beauties, staged a "surprise" visit. This was the last show before a long-planned replacement of the set. Although Barker did not injure Ferguson, he did do some serious damage to his desk with a single blow. The desk was later totally destroyed by the models, and Ferguson returned, after the commercial break, with a card table covered by a checkered picnic cloth. The episode ended with Ferguson helping the episode's musical guests, Family Force 5, completely trash the set.
Barker appeared on his show a few months later, after announcing his retirement and presented a portrait of himself as a vampire to Ferguson as a gift.
Although Barker has retired, Ferguson continues to joke about him.
References
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (April 2008) |
- ^ Dirk Weems & Ewan McGregor
- ^ Craig Ferguson Refuses to Do Spears Jokes, Talk Show Host Who Battled Alcoholism Takes Heat Off of "Vulnerable" Pop Star from the CBS News website
- ^ My fellow Americans: Craig Ferguson tells viewers, "If you don't vote you're a moron"; read his monologue
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcJdVnpiKSg
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nm1g8FFRArc
- ^ http://www.cbs.com/late_late_show/video/video.php?cid=583362836&pid=k_z7DytZhHrjGBbOTSLVZ2lJpGAJeNs0&play=true&cc=
- ^ http://www.tvworthwatching.com/blog/2009/03/latenight-tv-chess-thanks-to-a.shtml
- ^ Finke, Nikki (2007-12-28). "WGA Agrees To Allow Dave's Late Night Shows To Return With Writers Jan. 2; Will This Divide The Guild?". Deadline Hollywood Daily. LA Weekly.
- ^ "Letterman to return with writers". BBC. 2007-12-29. Retrieved 2007-12-29.
- ^ "Innovative Marketing Campaign Puts Ford Flex in Front of Millions of Potential Customers". Ford press release. Reuters. 2008-09-03. Retrieved 2008-10-10.
- ^ For Google, the YouTube litigation threat was overblown. - Dec. 8, 2006 from CNN Money
- ^ Jay and Conan Collect Week 28 Wins, an NBC Universal press release
- ^ Jay and Conan dominate the Week of April 2-6, an NBC Universal press release
- ^ Craig Ferguson Takes The Lead In Late Late Night Ratings from The Huffington Post
- ^ a b Craig Ferguson claims rare win on late-night TV from Reuters
- ^ March 13, 2009 review of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon from The Huffington Post
- ^ Late Night Ratings: Craig Ferguson Tops Jimmy Fallon, a March 19, 2009 article from Broadcasting & Cable
- ^ YouTube - The Late, Late Show Theme Song from YouTube
- ^ a b "No Age's Randy Randall asked to take off Obama T-shirt for The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson". Soundboard: L.A. Times Music Blog. Los Angeles Times. 2008-10-09. Retrieved 2008-10-10.