Craig Ferguson Is Returning To Late Night TV With A New Show
Fellow insomniacs, our moment is here. Craig Ferguson, the hilarious former host of "The Late Late Show," is apparently getting back into the late-night game, per Deadline. The outlet is reporting that for the first time since he left the CBS show in 2014, Ferguson is working on a new syndicated late-night project, this time for Sony Pictures Television. The show, titled "Channel Surf with Craig Ferguson," reportedly shot a pilot episode in the UK earlier this month.
"Channel Surf" sounds like it'll take a different approach to the format that Ferguson so skillfully played around with during the last iteration of his late-night career. This time around, the show is set to be just 30 minutes long and will feature Ferguson and friends reviewing some of the biggest TV moments of the week. This may sound a bit like the now-ended E! Series "The Soup," but rest assured, Ferguson has something else in mind. In a statement shared by Deadline, he said:
"I wanted to do 'Channel Surf' because I think television is ready for the return of the silly/funny/occasional lip-synching puppet format. Also, it's a TV show which contains clips of questionable moments from other TV shows thus creating a spectacular visual turducken of stupid."
Secretariat will return (sort of)
"The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" wasn't a turducken of stupid, but it was one of the most irreverent and off-the-wall comedy shows around for the duration of its 11-season run. Flipping to the show for the first time, perhaps in a bleary late-night haze, was a memorable experience for anyone who expected something along the lines of a Jay Leno or David Letterman-like show. Always-off-script Ferguson flirted benignly (and reciprocally) with guests, had full conversations with his robot assistant Geoff (Josh Robert Thompson), sipped from a rattlesnake mug he then sometimes revealed to be empty, and ended up running entire segments of the show behind when his direct addresses to camera or riffs on the time-slot, CBS, or some other topic went overtime.
The show was inspired and uproarious leagues funnier than anything else on late night, and emotionally honest when it wanted to be. Joe Bolton, who worked on production for "The Late Late Show" and appeared as one-half of the costumed horse Secretariat, will return to work on the new series as a writer along with Richard Easter. Ferguson himself is set to executive produce, along with Tom McLennan. Potential buyers are set to see the pilot this week, so we'll keep you posted when we know exactly where "Channel Surf with Craig Ferguson" will land.