Day 08 - A show everyone should watch
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson - I think this show embodies the ethos I respond to with TV - non-flashy, low-budget, but burning with delightful ideas and fearlessness in experimenting with accepted formulas.
The Late Late Show is almost laughably low-budget: dark studio, no band, no sidekick apart from a robot skeleton donated by Grant Imahara from Mythbusters, cussing handpuppets, and deliberately low-rent skits. It is also, far and away, the most creatively daring late-night talk show on TV. He also has fantastic rapport with fellow Brits and other Europeans, with Michael Sheen, Ewan McGregor, Billy Connolly, Gerard Butler and Marion Cotillard standing out as favorites. He's also phenomenal with Old Hollywood - Carl Reiner and Jackie Collins are frequent guests and fans (Carl actually TiVos it for Mel Brooks) and Craig anticipated the whole Betty White craze by five years, casting her in regular, recurring skits right from the very beginning of his show.
Moreover, Craig isn't one to shy away from thoughtful, heartfelt conversations or monologues. Witness his celebrated decision not to make any more Britney Spears jokes during her very public breakdown, his Peabody award-winning interview with Bishop Desmond Tutu, and this clip, an excerpt from another "experiment" with the late-night formula, where he had only one guest, Stephen Fry, and no audience.
Come to think about it, crap production values were also the hallmark of The Daily Show in its funniest late-90s incarnation. And that produced Carell, Colbert, Helms, the Corddry brothers and Riggle. It's still hilarious now, but they were unbeatable when nobody knew who they were and they had to think their way into getting memorable skits, such as the one where Carell flummoxed McCain by running down his voting record. The Daily Show's still funny as hell, but they were magical when they were all nobodies.
BTW, I talked to one of SKYCable's heads about putting Late Late Show in their lineup, and apparently, running Letterman, TDS and TCR back-to-back-to-back is really expensive, and the rerun rights are really limited. So that's that.
The Late Late Show is almost laughably low-budget: dark studio, no band, no sidekick apart from a robot skeleton donated by Grant Imahara from Mythbusters, cussing handpuppets, and deliberately low-rent skits. It is also, far and away, the most creatively daring late-night talk show on TV. He also has fantastic rapport with fellow Brits and other Europeans, with Michael Sheen, Ewan McGregor, Billy Connolly, Gerard Butler and Marion Cotillard standing out as favorites. He's also phenomenal with Old Hollywood - Carl Reiner and Jackie Collins are frequent guests and fans (Carl actually TiVos it for Mel Brooks) and Craig anticipated the whole Betty White craze by five years, casting her in regular, recurring skits right from the very beginning of his show.
Moreover, Craig isn't one to shy away from thoughtful, heartfelt conversations or monologues. Witness his celebrated decision not to make any more Britney Spears jokes during her very public breakdown, his Peabody award-winning interview with Bishop Desmond Tutu, and this clip, an excerpt from another "experiment" with the late-night formula, where he had only one guest, Stephen Fry, and no audience.
Click to viewCome to think about it, crap production values were also the hallmark of The Daily Show in its funniest late-90s incarnation. And that produced Carell, Colbert, Helms, the Corddry brothers and Riggle. It's still hilarious now, but they were unbeatable when nobody knew who they were and they had to think their way into getting memorable skits, such as the one where Carell flummoxed McCain by running down his voting record. The Daily Show's still funny as hell, but they were magical when they were all nobodies.
BTW, I talked to one of SKYCable's heads about putting Late Late Show in their lineup, and apparently, running Letterman, TDS and TCR back-to-back-to-back is really expensive, and the rerun rights are really limited. So that's that.