The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson is an American late-night talk show hosted by Scottish actor and comedian Craig Ferguson. This was the third iteration of the Late Late Show franchise, airing from January 3, 2005, to December 19, 2014. It followed the Late Show with David Letterman in the CBS late-night lineup, airing weekdays in the U.S. at 12:37 a.m. Taped in front of a live studio audience from Monday to Thursday (with two episodes taped on Thursdays) at CBS Television City in Los Angeles, California, directly above the Bob Barker Studio (Studio 33), it was produced by David Letterman's production company Worldwide Pants Incorporated and CBS Television Studios.
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
The Late Late Show
- Jonathan Morano
- Ted Mulkerin
- Lynn Ferguson
- Philip McGrade
- Joe O'Brien
- Bob Oschack
- John Reynolds
- Ben Stout
- Tom Straw
- Joe Strazzulo
- Craig Ferguson
- Tim Mancinelli
- Brian McAloon (2005–2012)
Geoff Peterson (voiced by Josh Robert Thompson)
United States
English
10
2,058 (list of episodes)
- David Letterman
- Peter Lassally
Michael Naidus
CBS Television City, Los Angeles, California
Various locations in Scotland (7 episodes only)
39 minutes
- Worldwide Pants Incorporated
- CBS Productions (2005–2006)
- CBS Paramount Television (2006–2009)
- CBS Television Studios (2009–2014)
January 3, 2005 –
December 19, 2014
The Late Late Show franchise had previously aired as The Late Late Show with Tom Snyder, then as The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn. During the late 2004 transition of guest hosts following Craig Kilborn's departure, Craig Ferguson hosted a series of shows in October and November 2004, culminating in being announced on December 7, 2004, as the pick for new host. After launching The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on January 3, 2005, Craig Ferguson achieved the highest ratings since the show's inception in 1995. While quirky comedy was emphasized in the majority of the episodes, Ferguson also addressed difficult subject matters, such as the deaths of his parents, his struggles with alcoholism, and commenting on national tragedies such as the September 11 attacks. Ferguson undertook serious interviews, such as one with Archbishop Desmond Tutu, which earned the show a 2009 Peabody Award.[1]
Despite not initially having a sidekick, comedian and voice actor Josh Robert Thompson joined the show on April 5, 2010, and voiced Craig's sidekick Geoff Peterson, a robotic human skeleton. Often Geoff is referred to as a "robot skeleton", "gay skeleton robot" or "gay robot skeleton". Geoff is a radio-controlled animatronic robotic puppet skeleton with a metallic Mohawk hairstyle; he was designed and built by Grant Imahara of the TV show MythBusters. Geoff stayed as Craig's sidekick until the show's finale, after which Craig took Geoff home. Once Thompson began voicing Geoff Peterson, the format of the Late Late Show shifted from a more traditional formula (albeit with Ferguson's subversive humor) to a more loose, stripped-down and semi-improvisational comedy style in which Ferguson and Peterson would riff on various topics, often discarding prepared material and going over time limits.
On April 28, 2014, Ferguson announced that he would step down as host at the end of the year. The last episode aired on December 19, 2014.[2] Afterwards, Late Late Show began a series of episodes with guest hosts;[3] then the new permanent host James Corden began his iteration of the franchise on March 23, 2015.
Ratings[edit]
In 2006, clips of The Late Late Show began appearing on the video sharing website YouTube. Subsequently, Ferguson's ratings "grew seven percent (or by 100,000 viewers)."[107]
During the week ending March 31, 2006, The Late Late Show attracted an average of 1.9 million total viewers,[108] a number that increased to 2.0 million a year later.[109]
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,[110] drew a larger audience than Late Night with Conan O'Brien.[111] 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% from a year ago, compared with a 24% drop for O'Brien"; the year-to-year decline in viewership was attributed to the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike.[111]
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson encountered new competition in March 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's show.[112] Fallon maintained his lead over Ferguson during the show's second week, but by March 16, The Late Late Show had attracted a larger audience.[113] In July 2009, Ferguson led Late Night in total viewers by a 25% margin.[114] On September 22, 2009, the night Ferguson followed the Letterman interview of President Obama, his audience reached 3.24 million, the show's biggest ever; Ferguson attracted two million viewers more than Jimmy Fallon and almost a million more than Conan O'Brien attracted an hour earlier.[115]
By the end of 2009, The Late Late Show topped Late Night with Jimmy Fallon in the ratings with a 1.8 rating/6 share and 1.6 rating/6 share, respectively.[116]
By May 2010, Late Late Show and Late Night were roughly tied in the ratings, with Ferguson leading in total viewers (1.7 million compared to 1.6 million for Fallon) and Fallon having a narrow edge in ratings.[117]
During November sweeps in 2011, The Late Late Show was third in late-late night broadcasting; its 1.7 million views were well ahead of Last Call with Carson Daly but behind the 2 million viewers of Jimmy Kimmel Live! and the 1.8 million viewers of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.[118]
The 2012 November sweeps saw Jimmy Kimmel Live! edge ahead of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and The Late Late Show with 2.1 million total viewers, compared to Fallon's 1.75 million and Ferguson's 1.6 million.[119]