Craig Ferguson to perform at Academy of Music Sept. 7

Date: 8/29/2023

Craig Ferguson is a TV star, writer, actor and film director but what he loves best is stand-up comedy. As he told Reminder Publishing, he appreciates the energy of a live audience and the fact that every performance is different.

He is currently traveling around the country with his “Fancy Rascal Tour,” and will be performing at the Academy of Music in Northampton at 8 p.m. on Sept. 7.

He was the host of “The Late Late Show” on CBS from 2005 to 2014. His decade-long stint on the show earned him not only a loyal audience but also a Peabody Award for his interview with Bishop Desmond Tutu. During his run, he was also nominated for an Emmy as well.

His show was known for not just bending the conventions of late-night talk shows, but actually breaking them and poking fun at them. For instance, initially he didn’t have a sidekick but eventually added a “robot skeleton” — actually a large puppet operated and voiced by comic Josh Robert Thomson. Hand puppets, props and a “horse” — actually two people in a very unrealistic horse costume — were among the features of the show.

A decade later, clips from the show are still popular videos on YouTube.

He has written three books, and has hosted “The Celebrity Name Game,” a historical talk show “Join or Die with Craig Ferguso,” and starred on “The Hustler.” Ferguson has also acted in films and before his talk show and had a long run on “The Drew Carey Show” as the villainous Mr. Wick.

It has been announced, before the SAG-AFTRA strike, that he was returning to TV with a syndicated daily half hour show.

Calling from Colorado where he was appearing, Ferguson recalled a recent incident that sums up the nature of performing live. He said an older woman approached the stage while he was performing and handed him a photo of his dog she had printed from the internet. “That became the running gag for the show. It’s indicative of what happens every time you do a show. That’s the attraction to me,” he said.

Despite the fact he has had stand-up comedy specials, he thinks that like watching a band perform, it’s better to see the performance live rather than on film or tape. “It’s an essential component to it [live performance],” he added.

Ferguson didn’t start out in show business as a comedian. At age 18 in the early 1980s in his native Scotland, he was a member of a punk rock band along with his friend Peter Capaldi, who is now a celebrated actor and one of the long line of people who have played Dr. Who. He described the punk rock scene in Glasgow, Scotland as more than just music. “It was a fashion thing,” he said.

Ferguson had grown up watching the stand-up comedy of the legendary Billy Connelly, who he said “was kind of like Elvis.” Connelly’s comedy was a “whole sea change” in comedy in that country and Ferguson called Connelly “a huge deal.”

He wasn’t really conscious of American stand-up until Capaldi shared some comedy albums which featured American comics, such as Richard Pryor. “Peter knew a lot, a lot about American stand-up comedy … It was fascinating to me,” he recalled.

Also, an influence was that Capaldi was attending the Glasgow School of Art. “I was fascinated by their world. It was very evocative,” he said.

There were no comedy venues in Scotland at that time he said, and gradually he would perform comedy in-between the band performing at bars and clubs. “It was an organic process,” he said.

Speaking of his writing process, Ferguson explained it’s “ongoing thing.” He doesn’t write a script for his stand-up performances, but rather assembles a list of bullet points of stories he wants to tell. “I do re-writes on stage all the time,” he said.

Although some comics have told this reporter that political correctness in their material is a concern, Furguson said it is and it isn’t. “It’s always been the main criteria [to comedy] is to be funny. Don’t be cruel to people,” he said.

He described being selected for “The Late Late Show” was “a miracle.” Because of the Screen Actors strike, Ferguson did not discuss the content of his late-night television show, but he said he was able to do what he did because David Letterman owned that time slot and protected him. Ferguson said he felt he worked for Letterman as well as CBS. “They [CBS management] weren’t around,” he noted.

Despite his success in many endeavors in show business, Furguson said, “It’s much more pure to do live stand-up. That’s always been the standard.”