Hopper Book Available For Pre-Order
A book filled with short stories inspired by the paintings of Edward Hopper, edited by Lawrence Block and featuring a story by Craig Ferguson will go on sale December 6th. The book is already available for pre-order. Craig first told us back in February about the project, saying his story for the book is based on Hopper’s South Truro Church 1930. The book is being published by Pegasus Press. Other authors in the anthology include Michael Connelly, Joyce Carol Oates, Robert Owen Butler, Stephen King, Lee Child, Megan Abbott, Joe R. Lansdale, and Block himself, who wrote a piece about the painting called Automat. Thanks to the RSA’s @chandlersdame for spotting the pre-order listing and letting us know!
Craig on Kelly and Michael
Set those DVRs! The appearance Craig recorded a few weeks ago in New York on Live with Kelly and Michael will air Monday, March 28th. He’ll be talking about Join Or Die. The syndicated morning talk show airs in most markets across the country. Check your local listings for the time and channel “in your region.” Thanks to the RSA’s @bgrhubarb for spotting the listing.
It’s All Sparkly The folks at the Emmys are pleased that Craig keeps his statuette trophy on the set of Celebrity Name Game. They tweeted:
Corden Marks One Year James Corden is celebrating his first year as host of The Late Late Show. Entertainment Weekly talked with him about how it’s been going. Meanwhile, The Hollywood Reporter and Variety report a series might eventually result from his popular “carpool karaoke” segments. Now that it’s been a year, will Craig be a guest on The Late Late Show? In a recent interview, he says he’s been asked, and they are trying to work out a time to make it happen.
C’Mere A Second
Just like in the days when someone in The Late Late Show‘s opening segment would get in trouble, Craig still takes people aside for a private conversation on Celebrity Name Game.
Video courtesy: Celebrity Name Game
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One Minute Mentor
When Craig Ferguson was in New York last month to promote the debut of Join Or Die, he stopped by the Hearst Corporation’s office in Manhattan to be interviewed by Esquire’s Mark Warren about the show and lots of other things. And while he was there, he recorded a few “One Minute Mentor” videos for Hearst’s online series. They included Craig’s thoughts on Change, Fear and “If I Knew Then.” Thanks to the RSA’s @bgrhubarb for spotting them!
History’s Comedies Are No Tragedy Along with Join or Die, the History Channel is excited about its trio of comedy shows that follow Craig on Thursday nights, collectively known as Night Class. The website Tracking-Board.com takes a closer look at the shows and the channel’s hopes for their success.
Kimmel to Host Emmys
As Deadline.com reports, Jimmy Kimmel will host the prime time Emmy Awards ceremony on ABC September 18.
Corden Continues To Surprise The Wall Street Journal magazine recently published an extended profile of Late Late Show host James Corden, focusing on how a talented man previously little-known in the U.S. is redefining the show in new ways.
Backstage at ‘Name Game’
Comedian Frank Nicotero was turned loose backstage at Celebrity Name Game to give us a tour of what you might not see on TV. Take a look:
Video courtesy: Celebrity Name Game
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Craig to Star in NBC Comedy Pilot Craig Ferguson will star in a new sitcom pilot for NBC, reports the trade publication Variety. The half-hour show called Crunch Time will focus on an up-and-coming producer named Jake (played by Kyle Howard) trying to deal with the crazy host of a TV game show named Toby (played by Craig). Hmm. Remind you of anyone?
The pilot was written by Betsy Thomas of the TBS show My Boys, which starred Kyle Howard and Kellee Stewart, who has also been cast in the new show.
We’ve not heard about when the pilot episode will be recorded, but March and April are considered “pilot season” in Hollywood, so they’ll probably squeeze in a week of work between Craig’s tapings of Celebrity Name Game.
As always, we remind our fellow skellies that this is a pilot, so there is no guarantee it will get picked up as a series. Craig shot a pilot last year for ABC called The King of 7B that did not move forward. But imagine if this one does. Craig will be playing a game show host on one show, while being an actual game show host on another show… and all the while, he’ll be hosting a late-night talk show that’s not really a late night talk show, since he stopped doing his other late-night talk show. The mind boggles at the very thought.
As we hear more details about the new pilot episode, we’ll be sure to pass them along. Thanks to the RSA’s @bgrhubarb who was the first among a bunch of hobos to spot the news and pass it along!
Note:Our automated email program went bananas and sent two or sometimes three copies of the email alert that was sent out for this post. We’re not sure why, but we have a team of monkeys working on it, and it should be fixed in time for our regular post next week. Our apologies to anyone vexed by the extra copies.
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New ‘Name Game’ Tapings Craig Ferguson will be spending the next couple of months in Hollywood, recording dozens and dozens of new episodes of Celebrity Name Game. If you live in or are planning to visit the greater Los Angeles area in the next several weeks, you can get free tickets to see the show. Our friends at On Camera Audiences have posted links to order tickets on their website. So far, they’ve listed 12 shows, to be taped at 10:30am and 2:30pm PT March 13-18 and more are expected to be added soon.
Book of the Month Craig has been named Guest Judge in the month of March for the Book of the Month Club, and the book he’s recommending is The Moor’s Account by Laila Lalami, a Moroccan-American novelist and professor of creative writing at the University of California, Riverside. As you may remember, Craig told us last month he has optioned the novel and is hoping to make it into a multi-part television series. You can see lots of videos and comments from Craig on the club’s website. Lalami, who appeared as a guest on The Late Late Show in Craig’s last year on the show, will soon appear as a guest on Join Or Die on the History Channel.
Craig’s Tribeca Short List
In our most recent post, we told about you about how Craig was asked to recommend some films for a new online movie service called Tribeca Shortlist, and that the first movie on his list was Groundhog Day. The RSA’s @chandlersdame and @bgrhubarb have dug into it further and say two more films have made the list: The Fisher King starring Robin Williams and Jeff Bridges, and NEDS, a film about a young man’s life on the streets of Glasgow. The website Uproxx.com did a story featuring clips of Craig talking about films and acting. It’s well worth a look.
About The Moor’s Account
Craig talks about his choice for Book of the Month, and what attracts him to it:
Video courtesy: Book of the Month
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Looking Ahead The success of Craig Ferguson‘s television shows will be keeping him busy for the next few months. After shooting 22 episodes of Join Or Die, the History Channel has indicated they’ll probably want some more, which Craig told Larry King last week. And with the syndicated game show Celebrity Name Game renewed through the 2016-2017 season, a couple hundred new episodes will need to be taped in the coming months. Neither show has posted new taping dates yet, but we’ll alert you when we see them pop up. Then, if you happen to be living in or visiting the Los Angeles area, you can order ahead for free tickets.
Spring Stand Up Canceled
The four remaining shows on Craig’s stand up comedy schedule for the spring have been canceled, as the demands of his television projects grow. The shows in Chico, Turlock, Portland and Bellingham were taken off the schedule late last week. Refunds will be issued. During his recent interview with Larry King, Craig mentioned he would be gearing up for a new stand up comedy special later in the year. We anticipate he’ll schedule several dates in the fall, leading up to back-to-back shows in the same theater that will be recorded and edited into the special. If past years are any indication, the special will debut on a cable channel, move to Netflix, and then on to DVD. We’ll keep you posted on the show’s progress.
Craig’s Movie Tips There is a new subscription movie service called Tribeca Shortlist, which asks celebrities to curate a list of films and comment on them. To start off his list, Craig talks to the website Crave Online about his appreciation for the movie Groundhog Day, a film that Matthew Perry once described as his favorite film of all time. The service costs five bucks a month, but you can get a free trial. Thanks to the RSA’s @bgrhubarb who first spotted the service’s promotions that mentioned Craig, and @NancyInTampa, who found the interview and passed it along.
Appearance Roundup
The RSA’s @Fanny57 was among the many skellies who spotted Craig pop up on the Rachel Ray show on Thursday of last week. That appearance was last-minute, but turned out to be a fun one. We still have not seen any indication of when Craig’s taped appearance with Kelly and Michael will be broadcast, but they’ve been focusing mostly on the Oscars, and will probably schedule the segment soon. If you missed any of Craig’s appearances in the past few weeks promoting Join Or Die, check out our complete list in our most recent post.
Getting It Done
It isn’t easy to win the big prize on Celebrity Name Game, but when it happens, it’s fun to see:
Video courtesy: Celebrity Name Game
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‘Join Or Die’ To Anchor Comedy Block For the History Channel, it turns out Craig Ferguson‘s Join Or Die may be just the beginning when it comes to late-night comedy. They’re about to launch a string of shows in the time period on Thursdays. After Craig at 11pm ET, they’ll follow up at 11:30pm with one called Great Minds with Community‘s Dan Harmon. In the show, Harmon has a time machine which allows him to visit some of history’s greatest minds, and to turn them loose in the modern world. Next at midnight will be Crossroads of History, which highlights little-known moments in history that have changed the world. And at 12:30am, How to Lose the Presidency will feature real clips of embarrassing moments and mistakes in presidential campaigns. All three shows will debut this week on Thursday. Media coverage about the shows includes pieces in Uproxx.com, The Hollywood Reporter, TV.com, and CraveOnline.com. Deadline.com talks about several new shows moving into the time period.
Twitter Buzz
When Join Or Die debuted on Thursday night, Twitter was abuzz with fans talking about the show. So much so, the #JoinOrDie hashtag was a top ten trending topic. The RSA’s @thirty3anda3rd captured an image during the show.
Promotional Appearances Update
Craig has spent the past few weeks promoting the launch of Join Or Die. He’s done a bunch of interviews, so we’ve had plenty of chances to see him talking about the project. Here is the updated list of links to everything we’ve seen posted. Thanks to the RSA’s @bgrhubarb for tirelessly helping to track down all things Craig-related. In particular, if you haven’t had a chance to listen to his recent appearance on The Nerdist podcast, be sure to check it out for a great conversation, and enjoy an article about the Craig-Larry King “bromance.”
Craig also recorded an appearance on Live with Kelly and Michael, which will air soon. Twitter user @ZackTN got a photo of Craig on the Live set.
Backstage Among his many publicity stops in the past few weeks, Craig stopped by at Walrus, the firm in New York that built the commercials and promos for Join Or Die. The RSA’s @bgrhubarbfound a photo taken during a promo shoot. The RSA’s @chandlersdame found the Instagram account of professional photographer F. Scott Schafer, who took the promotional photos of Craig sitting on Abraham Lincoln’s lap. And thanks to the RSA’s @whyterose713 for spotting an interesting piece about how the amazing television promo for Join Or Die was created.
Cox On Fox Courteney Cox, who executive produces Celebrity Name Game, will be shooting a sitcom pilot for Fox called Charity Case. Cox will star as a woman who inherits her deceased billionaire husband’s charity, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The Monologue Returns
One of the most praised parts of the Join Or Die is Craig’s opening monologue, which longtime fans will appreciate. In case you missed it or just want to relive the moment, Craig’s opening monologue kicked off the series in style:
Video courtesy: History
If you missed our interview with Craig last week, be sure to check it out, because he tells us not only about Join Or Die, but some other projects he’s working on.
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Many Irons In The Fire
Craig Ferguson is busy with history, new TV projects and, to the delight of fans, writing.
We’ve been fans of Craig Ferguson for more than two decades and have been writing extensively about him for the past several years here on the rsanews.com website. Our main goal is to keep a close eye on the news about what Craig is doing and compile it all in one place for fans to read. We’re proud to say we’ve become one of the most complete sources on the web for news and information about Craig. We keep track of his television shows, his stand up comedy tour and other projects he’s working on. And we couldn’t do it without the help of our loyal readers, many of whom regularly send us links to stories they’ve seen, to make sure everyone has a chance to hear about them. We’re grateful for their ongoing support!
In recent years, we’ve been able to develop some good working relationships with people who work with Craig, who we could send a tweet to answer questions or to help us make sure we were getting the story straight. And we have also gained a fan in Craig himself. He tells us he regularly reads our posts, joking that he checks with us when he can’t remember what he’s supposed to be doing next! He’s been very kind to retweet some of our Twitter posts, as well as giving us a “Follow Friday” a few years ago which we still display on our front page. And now, with his new show Join Or Die debuting on the History Channel, he offered to talk with us directly about the show. Here’s what he had to say:
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RSANews: The new show looks great and there are some familiar faces on the guest list, many of whom have been favorite guests of yours on The Late Late Show. When booking the show, did you set out to find those guests who can have a great conversation?
Craig: Absolutely. When it comes to booking the show, we start with a recipe. We want to have one guest who is an expert in the subjects we’ll be talking about on that night’s show. We want a comedian, because they’re quick, they’re up on current events and they’re well-read, so they can talk about these issues. And for lack of a better term, we’ll have someone in the “celebrity” seat, many of whom were on the old show and I enjoy their company.
RSANews: Some in the press have said, ‘This is how the History Channel is getting into late-night.’ But it doesn’t necessarily feel that way.
Craig: I tried to underline it when I was on the old show that it was not really a late-night show, and neither is this. Because of the time slot and because it’s people talking on television, it might look like one, but it’s not really.
RSANews: It reminds us of some of the British panel shows, where witty people can talk about just about anything and show off a bit, no matter what the format.
Craig: Yes, for me, it’s like some of the long-running British Radio 4 panel shows, actually, like Just A Minute, I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue, or Loose Ends. It’s a form I like, that I’m familiar with, and that works. And just like it went with the old show, and with the game show, we’ll keep adding things as we go along. More will be revealed soon about how I’ll be working to make it even more fun and interesting.
RSANews: And while you’ll certainly have some people in the audience who have seen your previous shows, there will be new people checking it out as well.
Craig: We hope so, and it’s a show for a certain kind of person. We’re not re-inventing the wheel here; it’s people talking on TV. If you’re looking for a show that will affirm your existing beliefs, this may not be the show for you. On the other hand, if you are comfortable with having your beliefs challenged and can come into it with an open mind, you just might like it.
RSANews: Switching gears now: Celebrity Name Game has been picked up for a third season. You must be excited about that.
Craig: Yes, and we’ll be shooting a ton of episodes in March and pretty much all of April.
RSANews: You have all this television going on and you’re still touring doing stand up comedy. But you are first and foremost a writer. You’ve shared with us exclusively that you have optioned a novel by Laila Lalami called The Moor’s Account, a Pulitzer Prize finalist, Man Booker Prize nominee and winner of the American Book Award. It’s the imagined memoirs of the first black explorer of America, the slave of a Spanish conquistador. What is your plan for the project? A feature film?
Craig: No, it would be too hard to cram all of what’s in that book into just a couple of hours. Instead, we’re developing it for television, using a Game of Thrones model, as a series of one-hour episodes. We’re in discussions now to find it a home and if it does well, we think it could run for a while.
RSANews: Have you identified a channel where it might play? Maybe the History Channel since it’s a historic story and you have a presence there now with Join Or Die?
Craig: Maybe, but there are a lot of places it could work. We’re in discussions.
RSANews: We’ll look forward to hearing more. What else have you been writing?
Craig: Here’s another exclusive for you: My friend, the author Lawrence Block, is putting together a book filled with short stories, inspired by the paintings of Edward Hopper. He asked for submissions from a bunch of swanky writers, and me. My story for the book is based on Hopper’s South Truro Church 1930. Watch for that book to appear in your local bookstore sometime soon.
Editors note: The book, to be published in the fall by Pegasus Press, will be called “In Sunlight or Shadow.” Along with Craig, some of the authors included in the anthology are Michael Connelly, Joyce Carol Oates, Robert Owen Butler, Stephen King, Lee Child, Megan Abbott, Joe R. Lansdale, and Block himself, who wrote a piece about the painting called “Automat.” Block talks about his new project in a recent episode of a podcast called Modern Signed Books on BlogTalk Radio:
RSANews: We can’t wait to read it! One other writing question: Since your novel Between the Bridge and the River came out in 2006, people have been wondering about a sequel. When you wrote the book, you were working on The Drew Carey Show, writing the book between scenes. You had some things you wanted to say, and compared to how busy your schedule is today, it was a very different time.
Craig: And I was a very different man. But, get this: I’m about four chapters in, maybe. There is some stuffing knocking around in there. We’ll have to wait and see.
RSANews: Thank you for sharing all of this with us. We’re grateful for the opportunity to talk with you.
Craig: I’m grateful for all you do. Keep doing it!
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Promotional Appearances
Craig is everywhere this week, doing interviews to promote Join Or Die. Here are the appearances he has made so far:
He also recorded an interview last week with Larry King on Ora.tv, which will be posted Wednesday, February 24th, and recorded an appearance on Live with Kelly and Michael, which will likely appear next week. Here are Craig’s upcoming appearances, and we’ll add to the list if we hear about more:
Fri Feb 19 11:00pm/11:30pm ET Join Or Die repeated back-to-back Sun Feb 21 11:00pm/11:30pm ET Join Or Die repeated back-to-back Thu Feb 23 12am ET @Midnightwith Chris Hardwick Wed Feb 24 2pm ET Larry King Now on Ora.tv (recorded last week) Date TBA Time TBA Live with Kelly and Michael (recorded last Wednesday)
Press for ‘Join Or Die’ Craig has done more interviews about Join Or Die, including an extensive discussion with the Los Angeles Times, which says the new show will allow to him to take his skills as an interviewer in new directions. For Channel Guide Magazine, he explains more about the format of the show and what he likes about it. And he did a fun piece in US Magazine, 25 Things You Don’t Know About Me. He also did an extended interview with Salon.com.
Watch on Thursday Join Or Die debuts on the History Channel on Thursday, February 18 at 11pm ET.
Video courtesy: History
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The folks at the Emmys are pleased that Craig keeps his statuette trophy on the set of Celebrity Name Game. They tweeted:
