Late-night talk shows are some of the most coveted gigs in all of television, and as anybody who followed the bruising “Tonight Show” succession wars knows, hosts will go to great lengths to hold onto them. Craig Ferguson, however, had no qualms about ending his run on CBS’s “The Late Late Show” this winter after 10 years and more than 2,000 episodes. In advance of his performance Saturday, May 30 at the Riverside Theater, Ferguson spoke with the Shepherd about why he was eager to leave his cozy late-night gig and how he’s adjusting to his new job hosting the syndicated game show “Celebrity Name Game.”
When did you realize that you were ready to move on from “The Late Late Show”?
I think right about my 50th birthday I thought, “I think I’m done here,” and that was in 2012. So I kind of knew then that 10 years was enough, or at that time I think it was eight. CBS asked me to stay on a bit longer, and I did, but I think right around my 50th birthday I thought, “I’ve had enough.” The job was a slightly different thing for me than it is for most of the people who do it, I think. It wasn’t an aspirational position for me. It was like a job that I loved doing, and I’m very grateful and happy that I did it, but it wasn’t a career goal for me to host a late night show. I don’t really have career goals; that’s not how I operate.
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It does seem like for most late-night hosts, the job is a holy grail of sorts, and also the end of the line. Most seem content to hold on to it until they retire.
Yeah, that’s not for me. I don’t really want to do that. I never got into show business to have a regular job. I’m a carny! I can’t be doing that.
Most late-show hosts remain enigmas, even though they’re on screen every night, but you revealed a lot about yourself during the gig. Were you ever surprised by how personal the show got?
I wouldn’t say I was surprised. I did the show the way I did because I felt like that’s the only way I could do it. I couldn’t say the same thing every night, and I couldn’t ignore the world or what’s going on in it. My instincts are a stand-up comedian’s, so I’m not going to ignore what’s going on in the room because it doesn’t fit my agenda. I think if anything, sometimes with the format of the show itself, I felt like I couldn’t make it any more personal. It’s kind of restrictive in a lot of ways, because you have to do the same thing each night. You do the monologue, you do the guest, you do the other guest, you wrap it up, you do a desk bit. You know, you have your dancing horse and your gay robot skeleton, but you’re just doing the same thing over and over. I felt like I had gone as far with the format as would be allowed.
Do you feel you’ve been able to leave a personal mark on “Celebrity Name Game”?
I think so, or we’re getting there. I’m halfway through shooting the second season, and it’s beginning to crumble and fall apart quite well. So I’m encouraged. It’s getting very fucking loose and mad, and all the producers seem quite nervous, so that’s when you know it’s working.
When you were first pitched on the show, were you immediately sold on the concept?
Not right away. I think what I wanted to do was to find a format, like late night, that was rigid and so well known by everybody else that you could mess with the conventions of it and people would understand what was going on. But in order to do that, you have to learn how to do the job first. So the first season, I was learning to do the show, and now I feel like I’m learning how to undo it a little bit.
Do you have any plans for other projects now that you’ve finished “The Late Late Show” and presumably have a little more time?
Well, I haven’t noticed me having any more time. So I’m fine with what I’m doing right now. I haven’t got any grand plan. I don’t have a grand plan because I don’t see my work as a corporate structure. It’s an art at its best, so you have to approach it like an art, and do it when the muse hits you and not turn out because there’s a balance sheet to be addressed. I’m not interested in that. That’s not how my brain works.
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It seems like there’s a significant portion of comedians who won’t turn down a job because they feel the need to work every second of every day, as if they’re afraid of disappearing if they turn down an opportunity.
Yeah; that’s not my thing [laughs]. Look, anybody who has young kids like I do would relish the idea of disappearing for at least 10 minutes a day. I think that’s a way to make yourself crazy. So I don’t do this to keep current, or because I’m afraid I’ll disappear. We’re all going to disappear someday. I’m not afraid of that.
I think people could read that motivation into you, though, because you are so visible. You’re on buses. You’re on billboards. You’re on television every day.
[Laughs] Maybe that’s true. I have to say, though, I didn’t watch the late night show. I don’t watch the game show. In my house nobody sits down and watches me on TV, so I’m not really aware of my own kind of visibility. I think that’s a way to make yourself unhappy, if it matters that much. I think visibility is a byproduct of doing a job that you love doing. But if visibility is the be all and end all, then you might as well just be on a fucking reality show, and I don’t want to do that.
Craig Ferguson headlines the Riverside Theater on Saturday, May 30 at 8 p.m. For tickets, visit pabsttheater.org.
