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Entertainment Weekly’s Ken Tucker, long a fan of the Late Late Show, includes the program in his list of the best shows of 2010, saying for Craig, “…silliness is a form of wit…”  We couldn’t agree more, Ken.

Randy Kagan, Craig’s opening act for the past four years, has started a new website:  RandyKagan.com which includes video clips and a new blog.

Could Jaques “Arthur” Essbag, host of the French late night show Ce Soir Avec Arthur, be profiting from his “homage” to the Late Late Show?  He’s not hurting for money, having just bought a seven million dollar condo in New York City, says the New York Post.

Thanks to the RSA’s @ScottishConan for spotting this:  Craig has added a new date to his 2011 live stand up comedy tour, at the Winstar Casino in Thackerville, Oklahoma along the Texas border.  The show will be on Saturday, February 5th.  He is also in Denver for four shows March 16-18.  We’ll continue to update you on new tour dates as they are announced.

San Francisco’s GLBT newspaper, the Bay Area Reporter names Craig its favorite late night talk show host of 2010.

TVSquad.com gets down with Michael Clarke Duncan.

Futurama Volume 5, which features Craig as a guest voice, is now available on DVD, reports Fancast.com.

CNN Entertainment mentions Craig’s tribute to Doctor Who as evidence of the show’s popularity.

Geoff Petersen appreciated Craig’s effort at giving him a gift Wednesday night, even if he can’t get them until Christmas:  Thanks, @CraigyFerg for giving me the gift that keeps on giving. Balls. // But a little awkward if he doesn’t give ’em back. “Say, um, Mr F, got a date tonight. Can I borrow my balls?”

Thursday on the show, Craig welcomes comedienne Kathy Griffin and singer/songwriter Ruth Gerson.  Craig tweeted:  Watch @kathygriffin on me tonight. Then on my show.

Note:  There will be no Late Late Show on Friday, December 24th due to holiday programming on your CBS station.

The re-run fairy will visit on the week of December 27-31.  On Monday the 27th, it’s the October 8th episode featuring actress Mary Lynn Raiskub and NASCAR driver Carl Edwards.  On Tuesday the 28th, it’ll be the show from November 8th with actor Tom Selleck and comedian Myq Kaplan.  The on Wednesday the 29th, watch for a rebroadcast of the October 26th LLS with actor Danny DeVito, actress Brie Larson and comedian Henry Cho. On Thursday the 30th, we’ll get another chance to see the November 4th show with actor Dick Van Dyke and actress Kerry Washington.  And on Friday the 31st, it’s the October 28th show featuring actor Michael Caine.

New episodes resume on January 3rd.  On the guest list for early January are actress/producer Lisa Kudrow, actor Matt Braunger, actress Julie Bowen, fashion expert Carson Kressley, actor Henry Winkler, chef Paula Deen, actor Gary Sinise, actress Alex Kingston, actress Mila Kunis, comedian Geechy Guy, actress/comedienne Roseanne Barr, football analyst Joe Theismann, comedian Dave Attell, TV personality Paula Abdul, actor David Duchovny, actor/comedian Denis Leary,  comedian Maz Jobrani and actress Emily Dechanel.  We’ll post specific dates for these guests as they are confirmed.

As for RSA News, we’re going to take a break for the holidays to spend time with family and friends and will resume daily publication on Sunday, January 2nd.  Of course, if any important Robot Skeleton Army, Late Late Show or Craig Ferguson-related news breaks between now and then, we will update this page as soon as possible and send out Facebook wall posts and tweets to let you know what’s new.

We wish everyone in the RSA and everyone you care about a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  We’ll see you in 2011!

First, Craig talks about Kafka.  Now, another bright spot amid all of the rain and flooding in LA.  Take a look at the picture captured outside of the CBS headquarters in Los Angeles today:  http://twitpic.com/3ijh23 Now that’s awesome.  Stay dry, Angelinos and stay safe.

Jane Fonda made a big impression on the Late Late Show drawing plenty of media attention.  TVSquad.com liked Craig’s revelation that he was familiar with her workout tape.  Some noticed Jane’s outfit like Examiner.com and Britain’s Daily Mail, while others including the Examiner and Monster and Critics, were intrigued by her declaration that she would not get married again.

BBC America has named its top five late night TV events of 2010 and included the Doctor Who themed Late Late Show episode featuring #11, Matt Smith.

The RSA’s @Malinky2Stoatir has been ill while still managing to post clips each day, so we send our thanks and good wishes.  Get well soon, Mal!

Novelist Jackie Collins tweeted:  My crush of the year… Geoff Peterson on Craig Ferguson

For his part, Geoff is excited about Wednesday’s show:  Excited about 2nite’s @CraigyFerg with guest @grantimahara. The 3 of us are like Moe, Larry, & Boney. Nyuk nyuk nyuk…in your pants!

A local TV weathercaster in Sacramento obsessed over Craig a few years ago, resulting in some funny stuff.  We’re not sure if they finally did get to meet.

Video courtesy: HeidiDeidiDei

On Wednesday’s Late Late Show, Craig welcomes actor Michael Clarke Duncan and the Mythbusters Grant Imahara, the man who built Craig’s robot skeleton sidekick, Geoff Petersen.  On Thursday, watch for comedienne Kathy Griffin and music from Ruth Gerson.

It must be the holidays because the volcano is buzzing with seasonal cheer and fun ideas, including a special version of the 12 Days of Christmas, written by several RSA members and posted by @Kelc0519 on her Twitpic page.  We hope your holiday plans are coming together and you’re staying ahead of the weather.

Geoff Petersen and his creator, the Mythbusters Grant Imahara along with Craig made one NPR blogger’s list of wonderful things of 2010.  Grant tweeted:  Hey @GeoffTheRobot, we made the list at #4! RT @nprmonkeysee: 50 Wonderful Things From 2010. Geoff added:  NPR honored @CraigyFerg & @grantimahara at #4 on its 50 Best Things of 2010 list for creating a boby sidekick! He then corrected his typo:  That wouod be “bony” I am so excited I can’t feel my buttons. Holy Guaca-bony! And he joked:  And no, I’m not blowing my own horn. My junk’s still in customs. This is a bony high 5 to Mr. F and Grant! Geoff also commented on LA’s rain:  All this LA rain and a leaky @CraigyFerg studio. Thank goodness @grantimahara waterproofed my nuts and coated my sockets. Oo la la Splash! //  This rain is relentless. Already balls floating in the @craigyferg studio. I should check the Christmas tree, too!

Dick Cavett was doing talk shows when Craig Ferguson was still growing up in Glasgow.  The folks at TVSquad chuckled at Cavett’s story of Johnny Carson‘s failing memory… and his own.

New York Magazine’s Vulture blog misidentifies the souvenir that had Kristin Davis a little squeamish.

A writer for the California Chronicle mentions Craig among some New Year’s resolutions.  Ignore the final resolution, though… Betty rules.

Magician Jamy Ian Swiss‘ recent appearance on the Late Late Show is among TVSquad‘s top magic performances of 2010.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports on a new DVD release of Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show and mentions Craig, not as a “young turk” like the Jimmy‘s but having “his share” of viewers.

One year ago, a blogger wrote a great piece about why he likes Craig.

Craig talks with actress Jane Fonda on Tuesday’s Late Late Show.  Then on Wednesday, it’s actor Michael Clarke Duncan, along with the creator of Geoff Petersen, Mythbusters Grant Imahara, who tweeted:  I will be appearing on the @CraigyFerg show on Wed 12/22. Harmonicas and Dr. Who may be involved.

As we approach the Christmas holiday, Craig-related tweets are getting few and far between as the Late Late Show team takes a well-deserved break.  The studio at CBS Television City in Los Angeles is dark this week but thanks to the LLS team’s hard work, we get to enjoy four more fresh episodes this week!

On Tuesday, December 21st, Craig and his wife Megan will celebrate their second wedding anniversary.  Congratulations and best wishes from the Robot Skeleton Army!

Back in 2007, Entertainment Weekly‘s Ken Tucker wrote about Craig and his growing visibility as the host of the Late Late Show.

The website Cracked.com has an extensive profile of Craig.

Back in 2006, Craig was doing lots of interviews for his book, Between the Bridge and the River. Here are two from the archives.

Video courtesy: HeidiDeidiDei

Video courtesy: HeidiDeidiDei

Monday on the show, Craig talks with a favorite guest, actress Kristin Davis and then welcomes legendary talk show host Dick Cavett.  We’re hoping to see a great discussion!  Then on Tuesday, Craig interviews actress Jane Fonda.

Many thanks to everyone for their kind words in the comment section and in many tweets over the past 24 hours.  There are plenty of critics out there, saying good, bad or indifferent things about Craig, most of which don’t really matter a whole lot.  But in the context in which yesterday’s post was presented, we felt strongly that it deserved a response.  We’ve had no reaction from Gary Susman.  There will be more positive and negative reviews in the future but in the end, Craig’s performance will speak for itself.  Keep in mind that TVSquad posts a few Craig-related stories a week, almost all positive.  Back in 2008, TVSquad’s Allison Waldman called Craig one of the five TV stars who have exceeded expectations.

Britain’s Sun newspaper is still laughing at Billy Connolly‘s inventive approach to the buffet.

Geoff Petersen is already enjoying his time off:  What I do in my downtime. Today it’s watching @FoodNetwork. Theme day is Pork! See, I’m not all about balls. His creator, Mythbusters Grant Imahara jumped in:  Seriously, man. I don know why you bother. The food just goes right through you… And Geoff repsonded:  @grantimahara is right, as usual. The food goes thru me and people say, “hey, is that pork in your…” // “…Or are you happy to see me?”

Dick Cavett

Leading into the holiday, there are four all-new episodes of the Late Late Show this week.  On Monday, Craig welcomes actress Kristin Davis and talk show host Dick Cavett.  Tuesday, it’s actress Jane Fonda. Then on Wednesday, Craig chats with actor Michael Clarke Duncan and the Mythbusters Grant Imahara, who shows off his harmonica skills.  Thursday’s show will feature comedienne Kathy Griffin and musician Ruth Gerson, rescheduled from last week.  Friday’s show will be pre-empted for holiday-related program on your CBS television station.

The re-run fairy will visit on the week of December 27-31.  On Monday the 27th, it’s the October 8th episode featuring actress Mary Lynn Raiskub and NASCAR driver Carl Edwards.  On Tuesday the 28th, it’ll be the show from November 8th with actor Tom Selleck and comedian Myq Kaplan.  The on Wednesday the 29th, watch for a rebroadcast of the October 26th LLS with actor Danny DeVito, actress Brie Larson and comedian Henry Cho. On Thursday the 30th, we’ll get another chance to see the November 4th show with actor Dick Van Dyke and actress Kerry Washington.  And on Friday the 31st, it’s the October 28th show featuring actor Michael Caine.  New episodes resume on January 3rd.

We disagree with TVSquad‘s assessment of Craig Ferguson‘s year for many reasons.  So we offer this rebuttal to writer Gary Susman (right) in which he says:


Craig Ferguson: Loser. Craig started the year with a classy gesture, laying off the Jay-vs.-Conan jokes because the battle between two multimillionaires seemed so trivial in light of the recent Haitian earthquake.

Indeed, Craig may be the brainiest host in late-night, he writes novels and screenplays, he’s capable of holding thoughtful discussions with literate guests (like Stephen Fry, whom he had on for a full hour) and he spins dazzling, seemingly stream-of-consciousness monologues that go on for 10 minutes or more, essentially writing nearly an hour’s worth of new jokes each week.

Yet he’s also the silliest host, never too proud to do bathroom humor and happy to experiment with seemingly juvenile gambits (the all-puppet show, the robot-skeleton sidekick, the opening song-and-dance numbers, the ‘Doctor Who’ tribute episode). ‘The Late Late Show’ is becoming the most innovative children’s show that’s on too late for actual children to watch.

Ferguson may have felt comfortable trying these shenanigans because he had a solid ratings lead over Jimmy Fallon, but now, they tend to tie. Still, Craig did enjoy some milestones in 2010: he had a big part in the hit cartoon feature ‘How to Train Your Dragon,’ and he got to host the Discovery Channel’s Shark Week.

Our reply:



Respectfully, we must disagree with your assessment of Craig Ferguson as a “loser” among this year’s late night hosts.  We do so not only because you disparage him for being silly (we happen to like silly) but also because of Ferguson’s growing recognition as a host of substance.  Consider that in 2010 alone, he performed a wildly successful stand up comedy tour to sold out houses across the country including Carnegie Hall, was nominated for a Grammy Award for the audio version of his autobiography and won the prestigious George Foster Peabody Award.

The Peabody in particular, which most often honors journalists, was clear recognition of his skill as an interviewer, recognizing his deft and touching interview with Archbishop Desmond Tutu.  And his hour-long interview with Stephen Fry in February was critically acclaimed by many, including Roger Ebert, who tweeted:  Everyone loved Craig Ferguson & Stephen Fry in conversation. Just talking! Revolutionary: Talk show with real conversation; Dana Stevens of Slate, Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly, Michael Giltz for the Huffington Post and TVSquad‘s own Danny Gallagher.

But importantly, the silliness you decry is merely a device; a buffer and a welcome release from the standard late night fare of celebrity guest interviews and guys in suits behind desks.  The show’s key strengths of a monologue based more on storytelling than punchline, frank interviews in which he ritually throws away the pre-written “blue cards”, and unabashed violations of the fourth wall create and endearing connection with his audience.  The puppets allow his inner subversive voice to speak more freely.  The musical numbers allow us to laugh at ourselves and the constraints we all sometimes feel in our lives.  And gimmicks like the robot skeleton sidekick and the Doctor Who episode are tweaks at convention that dare allow a television host to have geek-like passions including Nicolas Cage films with flaming skulls and science fiction shows that delighted part of what at times was a darker youth.  The silliness allows him to get away with in-depth conversations with archbishops, authors and philosophers.  Contrast has value; the serious stuff benefits from the humor.  Just as Craig himself credits David Letterman with lovingly deconstructing the late night genre, Craig is now taking that deconstructionist and thinly-veiled anarchist attitude to the next level, succeeding brilliantly.

In his suddenly high-profile circumstances, Conan O’Brien was clearly a winner this year and we can’t argue that Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon and David Letterman were each winners in their own way.  But Craig Ferguson was clearly a winner as well, as is his audience night after night.  The Late Late Show receives little in the way of promotion and those who have found the show on their own have found a gem.  We admit this rebuttal comes from the perspective of decidedly biased fans of Craig Ferguson. But we have earned that bias after years of watching a talented, thoughtful and creative man become a talk show host no one could have predicted.  Even an unbiased observer can see Craig is clearly a winner.

More proof of Craig’s popularity? The two stand up comedy performances he scheduled March 16 and 17 in Denver sold out in two days. He has added two more shows on Friday, March 18th.

The website Monsters and Critics enjoy Billy Connolly‘s gag Friday night about eating salad at parties.

Craig’s sister Lynn Ferguson is producing two new 30-minute presentations at the Stella Adler Theatre in Los Angeles on January 17, 18 and 19.  She is also reprising her on-woman show, Heart and Sole, at the Dezart One Gallery in Palm Springs, CA February 11 and 12.  Tickets for that show do not appear to be on sale quite yet.

LLS producer Michael Naidus likes to travel during his time off and this year will be no exception:  Breakfast today – bagels in NY Breakfast tomorrow – view of the pyramids of Giza. Please send pictures, Michael.

Saturday, December 18th  is United Nations International Migrants Day, Find a Friend/Be a Friend Day and Bake Cookies Day.  We know lots of people who are baking cookies this weekend.  Sunday, December 19th is Oatmeal Muffin Day, Look for an Evergreen Day (cutting it pretty close to Christmas isn’t it?) and “I’ve Fallen And I Can’t Get Up” Day, because the commercial for the medical alert device it advertised first aired in 1985 on that date.

A goodwill holiday gesture between Craig Ferguson and Jimmy Fallon had the blogosphere buzzing about the end of the late night wars. The two hosts chat on Twitter and have coordinated a stunt before back in the summer, waving to each other with (non Disney-specific for legal reasons) cartoon mouse hands. This time, it was Christmas presents and it seems like Jimmy got the better end of the deal.

In case you missed it, here are the segments from Late Night (complete with fake Secretariat and a nice dance from Jimmy:

Video courtesy: NBC

And the Late Late Show:
Video courtesy: TVsCraigFerguson

The gift exchange between the two hosts was covered by everyone from National Public Radio and the Washington Post to Entertainment Weekly, TVSquad.com, movieline.com,  Zap2It.com and many more.

Craig’s assistant, Rebecca Tucker tweeted about the kittens that Craig sent to Jimmy:  Jimmy’s xmas kitties were adopted from Bideawee in NYC. Make a donation and save other rescued animals http://tinyurl.com/3879skg Jimmy tweeted to Craig:  Did you get my Christmas gift? Does it fit? You will get special treatment from anyone who sees you wearing it. Try it! And Craig replied:  I got it buddy.it’s awesome.Thanks. Wearing it now to a big showbiz meeting. Do you like the kittens? They have magic powers. And Jimmy added in reply to a follower’s question:   Yes. They took off. But we got ’em. RT @ronaldferris @jimmyfallon Craig wore your sweater last night on his show. Did you catch the kittens?

Rebecca is already taking advantage of the low man on the totem pole:  Sent bridger down to get me breakfast http://twitpic.com/3gtbsg But perhaps she only did that because she was tired.  Check our her friend’s tweet:  Exhausted after being chased by a coyote. That’s not a metaphor. A real coyote actually chased me, @rebtuck, and our friend down a street. Our only question, Rebecca:  Was the coyote wearing an ACME jet pack?

Craig’s opening act for his stand up tour, Randy Kagan must be feeling the recession:  I am so non profit I’m changing my last name to .org He also sent a Craig picture from this year’s tour:  Proving I’m an AVATARD by spelling it wrong in previous Tweet. Here’s a pic. of CF. http://yfrog.com/h0sdnoj

And Geoff Petersen is getting in the holiday spirit:  Saturday fun starts a little early. #placestohangyourballs. Ho ho ho myyy!

Josh Robert Thompson, the voice of Geoff Petersen, had fun with the Twitter hoax about Morgan Freeman:  Morgan Freeman isn’t dead, he’s just been reincarnated: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QH3LiiG8cGg #CNN #MorganFreeman If you missed it, a Twitter user created a hoax tweet, designed to look like a retweet from CNN claiming Freeman had died.  CNN immediately denied it had reported such news and the Twitter user was discovered a few hours later.  And yes, that is Josh narrating the new Yogi Bear movie that opened nationwide Friday.

Fans of author/philosopher Cornel West will appreciate his tweet:  Delighted that I will join dear bro @CraigyFerg on his show again very soon. Watch our last chat on Faith/Spirituality. http://ow.ly/3r1tJ We’ll let you know when he is scheduled.  Meanwhile, actress/Director Lena Dunham enjoyed her appearance on the show Thursday:  Did Craig Ferguson. Eff, that man is charming. Tune in tonite to hear me confess a dark hole in my cinematic knowledge #onlyifyouwanna

It should be a wild and hilarious Late Late Show on Friday with actor/comedian Billy Connolly and comedienne Maria Bamford joining Craig.  Maria tweeted:  Tnite on CBS at 1235am/1135 central with Craig Ferguson for 4 min, 9 sec. Me & pals got free soda, chow and Town Car ride. I got lady-T.

The Late Late Show crew is off for the holiday break but thanks to the magic of television, we’ll get to see four all-new episodes next week.  We’ll have a guest update on Monday here on the site.