Robot skeleton sidekick Geoff Petersen’s new voice has caused quite a stir this week, bringing some Star Trek fans to the edge of their seats. The voice sounds like actor George Takei, who portrayed Ensign Sulu. But the man behind Geoff is actually voice actor Josh Robert Thompson, who has supplied other voices to the Late Late Show, including a spot-on Morgan Freeman. Coincidentally, the real Morgan Freeman will be a guest on the LLS in early May.

Craig tweeted to the sidekick’s builder Grant Imahara: Geoff has developed the ability to mimic human voices. Right now he is obsessed with revered gay actors but who isn’t To which Grant responded: Oh my! And after some brief confusion that perhaps Takei himself might have been involved, Thompson tweeted the definitive answer: #RSA If anyone asks who does Geoff Petersen’s voice, just send ’em my way. 😉

Craig also sent out a tour-related tweet: Hey Torontonians. Don’t freak about the Massey hall gig being sold out on Sat There’s a late show @ 10. I think there’s still tickets. And then he quickly corrected himself: Oops. I’m in Toronto on Friday not Saturday. I guess I’m jes too purdy to remember stuff right

After Craig and crew pre-record tonight and tomorrow night’s new shows (shh! Shut up!), they will hit the road for tomorrow night’s standup appearance in Toronto. Randy Kagan, the comic who warms up for Craig, tweeted last night: The one two punch tour starts in the morning. I’m looking forward to tweeting cool road pics! When he sends some, we’ll be sure to pass them along.

Meanwhile, Craig’s assistant Rebecca Tucker apparently got a tattoo last night… we’ll have to ask her what she got. Her tweet: Dean Berton, tattoo master. He looks mean but is a cuddly bear (not really) http://twitpic.com/1hfj8a

It is Earth Day and in that spirit, Craig himself talked about tonight’s show: In honor of the day the show will be partcularly earthy tonight & all material recycled vaudville routines. Kinda the usual old compost For what’s worth, it’s also National Jelly Bean Day.

Tonight on the Late Late Show, Craig welcomes Grey’s Anatomy/Supernatural/Weeds actor Jeffery Dean Morgan and Cougar Town actress Busy Phillips.

It’s been a great couple of weeks for RSA members getting their tweets (und also e-mails) read on the Late Late Show! In just the past ten days, Craig has read questions from members Fergasm, Malinky2Stoatir, ZombieLoveChild and Fanny57. And as our friend @bgrhubarb reminded us, member GretchenSke had Monday’s entire opening segment dedicated to the book report she did on Craig. She got noticed by the Des Moines Register and the local news at an Iowa TV station. Go #RSA !

Craig is already looking forward to his latest standup comedy tour, which kicks off Friday in Toronto. He tweeted: I’m going to Canada at the weekend. Hooray for freaky delicious bacon.

While Craig is on the road, the Late Late Show on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday will feature “best of” episodes including the March 24th show with Jonah Hill and Emily Procter, the March 23rd show with Jay Baruchel and a song from Regis and Joy Philbin, and the March 9th show with Lisa Kudrow and Adhir Kalyan. But on Thursday and Friday of next week, the May television ratings “sweeps” period begins, which means CBS wants a pair of all new episodes (“live”, of course). So, on Thursday when Craig is in Milwaukee, actor Tom Selleck and magician Lance Burton will be featured and on Friday as Craig visits Minneapolis, actress Lauren Graham and author/radio host Peter Sagal will join Craig on the show. Ah, the magic of television.

Craig’s guests on tonight’s Late Late Show are actress Brooke Shields (with whom Craig shared a special moment during the 2008 Emmy Awards), comedian George Wallace and English singer/songwriter Corinne Bailey Rae.

Washington Post TV critic Tom Shales took part in an online question and answer session with readers today on a wide range of topics.  One reader from Montana praised Craig and asked if the Scottish-American host might take over for Letterman.  Shales apparently doesn’t think so.  Here is the exchange:

Montana: …Craig Ferguson has really started to grow on me, when I can stay up late enough to watch him. Very clever. Funny without getting too mean as Letterman seems to do increasingly. (I notice Letterman’s audience hardly responds to some of his “jokes” these days). And Leno is fine but bland. Does Ferguson have a shot at moving into a better time slot?
Tom Shales: I do not think Ferguson would be much of a candidate for Dave’s slot should Dave do the unthinkable and retire; some other comic would likely be “tapped.” One good thing about Dave leaving is that he will take that irritating freak Paul Shaffer with him. Ferguson certainly has a constituency but I don’t think it’s broad enough – OR YOUNG ENOUGH – to keep a network happy at 11:35 p.m., When you consider that even Leno attracts too old audience, Ferguson would be a self-defeating choice.  Shales reference probably is to the figures released recently that show the median age of Letterman’s audience as 54 and Ferguson’s as 52, which is not a big difference as far as many advertisers are concerned.  The complete Shales Q&A article is on WashingtonPost.com.

A blog post on today’s USAToday.com site mentions that television’s Emmy Awards are eliminating the category for best theme song (as reported Monday in the trade paper Variety) and laments that among others, the Late Late Show theme would have been a great candidate.  Agreed.  If you’ve never seen the full version, enjoy:

Craig’s assistant Rebecca Tucker had a great tweet today:  Discovered this morning that it is possible to fall asleep while running.  Been there, done that.

Craig’s guests on the Late Late Show tonight will be English actress Emily Mortimer (who can forget her in Notting Hill?), the writer/creator of the HBO series The Wire, David Simon and Craig’s standup comedy warmup man Randy Kagan, who tweeted this afternoon:  I’m on The Late Late Show tonight!!!!  We’ll be watching.

Craig is gearing up for another standup comedy tour that will begin in Canada and then focus on the north-central United States.  Tickets are still available in some cities.  Check out Ticketmaster or the local box office in each city for the latest information.  Here is the tour schedule, which begins on Friday:

Friday, April 23 Massey Hall, Toronto, ON
Saturday, April 24 The Palace Theatre, Greensburg, PA
Sunday, April 25 Ohio Theatre, Cleveland, OH
Monday, April 26 Royal Oak Music Theatre, Royal Oak, MI
Tuesday, April 27 Taft Theatre, Cincinnati, OH
Wednesday, April 28 Embassy Theatre, Ft. Wayne, IND
Thursday, April 29 Pabst Theatre, Milwaukee, WI
Friday, April 30 State Theatre, Minneapolis, MN
Saturday, May 1 Chicago Theatre, Chicago, IL

Craig will also be performing in Las Vegas in May and June, several venues in the northeast in July, northern California in September and Carnegie Hall in New York City in October.

Along with his key role in How To Train Your Dragon, Craig also has a great cameo appearance in Kick Ass.  He took a moment on Twitter to enjoy being part of the top two movies at the box office this past weekend:  I’m in the 1st & 2nd placed movies in the USA. Can a coldsore be far away. Ah oral herpes. Karma’s tickling stick.

Rich Keller from TVSquad makes an interesting point not only about the value of Conan O’Brien moving to cable television but the changing tastes of audiences.  At the end of the fifth paragraph, he makes an argument that sounds very much like the formula of the Late Late Show.

Actor/comedian Brian Scott McFadden has been added to tonight’s list of guests on the Late Late Show, along with actor Brendan Fraser and actress Amanda Righetti.

Before heading out for the weekend, Craig tweeted a little “everybody in Hollywood likes each other” message: Good Luck to Kick Arse( as Mathew Vaughn insists on calling it) this weekend. I hope the Dragons also kick arse. It’s been all quiet from Señor Craig since then.  As it happens, How To Train Your Dragon appears to have edged out Kick Ass at the box office this weekend, according to The U.S. Daily.

Why did Craig go out of his way to wish success to Kick Ass?  It turns out that Craig is in the movie, too!  RSA members quoguegrl and Pantherlilykat tell us that Craig appears as himself on the Late Late Show doing a monologue about the movie’s hero.  Craig is in the top two movies in theaters?  It’s a great day for America, everybody.

Smilin’ Stan Lee has also softened his recent tweets. Since Craig asked roboskellies to follow Stan, the Generalissimo of the POW! Brigade graciously responded in kind: And congratulations to the gallant CraigyFerg militia who chose the path to peace rather than plunder. We Brigadiers salute thee! But most of all, congratulations to thy lustrous leader, the charismatic CraigyFerg,whose wisdom and wit are an inspiration to us all. The first order of the day, my brave Brigadiers, is: Follow CraigyFerg! He and his bony battalions have proved worthy of our largess! And a special battlefield commendation to thee, my brave Brigadiers. Though facing overwhelming odds, not a single one hath faltered! Now, as thou sleepeth the sleep of the brave and the just, know that thou hath gladdened the heart of thy beloved Generalissimo! Excelsior! Both men saw their twitter followings grow by several thousand over the past few days.

Craig’s hard-working, behind-the-scenes dynamic duo of Andrea Wayland and Rebecca Tucker are enjoying themselves at California’s Coahchella Music Festival this weekend.  They tweeted a picture as they headed out:  Work week done, off to Coachella! Rebtuck and @andreawayland just hope nobody mocks their mad dance skills. http://twitpic.com/1fwhuv

RSA member DJPheonyx has added a link to the Real World Hero website (a site set up by City of Heroes players to build support their favorite charities), which directs people to the Lollipop Theater Network.

On Monday’s Late Late Show, Craig welcomes Canadian-American actor Brendan Fraser and from The Mentalist, actress Amanda Righetti.

Craig’s entertaining, hour-long interview of the delightful Stephen Fry received critical praise from many corners back in February along with several pleas for the experiment to be repeated. One of the best reviews came from Danny Gallagher at TVSquad.com. In case you missed it, enjoy.

One of Craig’s most challenging appearances in recent years was before the White House Correspondent’s Association dinner. The guest speaker is invited to address the crowd which contains not only the reporters who cover the business of government but many members of the government itself, including the President, Vice President, members of the House and Senate and the Supreme Court. Craig handled the occasion with skill and charm.

Video courtesy: C-Span

British newspaper The Independent used the occasion of Craig’s speech to the Correspondent’s Association to talk about his growing popularity in America.

The fascination surrounding Geoff Petersen, Craig’s robot skeleton sidekick continues to grow. In its science and technology blog, CNN muses about robots and mentions Geoff.

Craig played a number of roles in the UK before moving to the United States. In the BBC cult favorite comedy show Red Dwarf, he portrayed a personification of the confidence of another character. Enjoy this look at his scenes.

Video courtesy: teynrodae

 
On the eve of Craig’s speech before the 2008 White House Correspondent’s Association dinner in Washington, DC Newsweek magazine ran a short profile article. We’ll have more on Craig’s speech and the favorable reaction to it tomorrow.

Singing/songwriting legend Willie Nelson appears on the Late Late Show tonight, along with The Office actress Ellie Kemper.