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Toronto Tickets On SaleCraig at JFL 2011 sl
Tickets for Craig Ferguson‘s stand up comedy show at the Just For Laughs festival in Toronto in October are now on sale. Previously, Craig has done short sets and has been a host at the festival for newer comedians making their mark. This year, he’s one of the event’s headline acts. You can check out details including the venue, show time and a link for tickets on our Live Comedy Tour page.

Past Tours
USO PosterDid you know we also list Craig’s past tour appearances on our Live Comedy Tour page? We’ve been trying to compile a list of every live performance Craig has done since he went back on the road in 2006, after taking a long break from standup comedy while he was on the Drew Carey Show. Comedian Matt Baetz, who has been an opening act for Craig several times, recently tweeted a poster from the time he, Craig and Kathy Kinney toured with the USO. If you have been to one of Craig’s live shows that isn’t on our list, please let us know. Please send along a photo of your ticket, or a link to a page on the web that confirms the date and location, by using our Contact Us form.

Josh May Offer Show OnlineJosh Show
Josh Robert Thompson, who has been hard at work developing his self-titled variety show, tweeted recently that he is considering offering the show online for a small charge:

Toying with the idea of making my new TV pilot available for $5 on my site. You into that?

Some actors and comedians have been experimenting with offering different kinds of shows online, bypassing traditional distributors in favor of providing material directly to their audience. The early Twitter reaction was positive, so we’ll keep you up to date if Josh decides to move ahead with the idea.

Nerdist On Demand
05 Chris HardwickA series of podcasts from the @Nerdist Chris Hardwick, which aired on BBC America from 2011-2013, are now available to Hulu Plus members. The show is also available from Google Play. The pilot episode from September of 2011 featured none other than our fearless leader, Craig Ferguson.

Betty Pranks James
Betty White prank called James Corden to make some “demands” for her appearance on The Late Late Show, and the results were hilarious:

Video courtesy: The Late Late Show

Tour Wraps Up
Craig in Windsor slCraig Ferguson‘s Hot and Grumpy Tour: Walking the Earth came to an end over the weekend, as Craig finished up the gigs he had to reschedule earlier in the year to film a TV pilot in April. Our fearless leader took the stage in Iowa City, Indianapolis (where he did a good radio interview) and Nashville, and then headed into Ontario for shows in Rama and Windsor.

Craig will take a break from touring for a while, before returning to the stage in September and October. On the calendar so far are shows in Philadelphia (rescheduled from March) and Toronto, where he’ll headline at the Just For Laughs festival. You can see the most current listings on our Live Comedy Tour page. He still has about half a season of Celebrity Name Game to record in Los Angeles, and will be working on other projects in the meantime. By the way, if you don’t have Celebrity Name Game on a local TV station near you (or just can’t get enough Craig), check out Pop TV (which used to be called the TV Guide Channel) on your cable or satellite. They run an episode of the show every weeknight at 6pm ET/PT, and two episodes every Saturday at 11:30am and 12:00pm ET/PT.

Josh’s ShowJosh Show
Josh Robert Thompson continues to edit and pitch his variety show The Josh Robert Thompson Show and recently tweeted a composite photo to show what he’s been working on. We’ll keep you posted as the project develops.

Doc Martin Travels Stateside
Doc MartinThe British TV series Doc Martin, the title character of which was based upon a character Craig created for his movie Saving Grace, will now have an American version. As DigitalSpy.com reports, Friends co-creator Marta Kaufman is developing a new spin on the series for American audiences. Thanks to the RSA’s @bgrhubarb for spotting it.

Late-Night LifeCorden remote show
James Corden recently talked with New York Magazine about why being a late-night talk show host is changing and how he’s been doing so far.

Scottish Word
As the crew gears up to start promoting the second season of Celebrity Name Game, they have posted some outtakes from the show where Craig got caught on camera being his swear-y self. There are no flags or “Tutsi Fruitsis” here, just your average, run-of-the-mill bleeps:

Video courtesy: Celebrity Name Game

Big Show in T.O.Craig Gesturing in Milwaukee sl
Craig Ferguson has made it a point to include Canada on his recent tours. He talks glowingly about the magical land of Cah-nah-dah, which can be accessed by crawling through a wardrobe in Minnesota. He has appeared in Canada nearly three dozen times in the past decade, including five times in Toronto. He’ll be in Ontario twice this month. And fear not, Torontonians. Craig must like you, because he’s coming back again. Just announced on Tuesday, Craig will headline this year’s Just For Laughs Comedy Festival in Toronto, with an all-new show on October 2nd. Just For Laughs, with its well-known events in Montreal, Toronto and Sydney, Australia has long been a place where comedians from the UK, the rest of Europe, South Africa, Australia and other parts of the world have found a place to build an audience in North America. Craig appeared at the Festival in Montreal before becoming Mr. Wick on The Drew Carey Show. So it’s no surprise they have asked him back several times to perform and serve as host, as up-and-coming comedians take the stage. Details, including ticket information can be found on our Live Comedy Tour page.

Roaming the Midwest
Craig at Riverside MilwaukeeMeanwhile, Craig & Co. continue to roam the Midwest this week, on the Hot and Grumpy Tour: Walking the Earth. Ahead this week are stand up comedy shows in Iowa City, Indianapolis, Nashville, Rama (Ontario) and Windsor (Ontario). Comedian Dave Stone opens for Craig on the remaining three shows in the U.S., Mark Forward will open in Rama and Michael Palascak opens in Windsor. Thanks to the RSA’s @bgrhubarb for tracking down the opening act details. She took the photo of the theater marquee in Milwaukee shown here, and wrote a great story about seeing Craig from the fourth row.

Craig Shadow PuppetEarlier, Craig tweeted about having fun with the spotlight:

My rude shadow puppet routine did very well in Indiana.

Also getting great photos of Craig on stage this past week were @aliatTheRave, @merphie and @Fansonism who captured two fantastic photos of Craig gesturing and pleading. Great work, all!

Craig on stage in Milwaukee Craig in Milwaukee Craig Gesturing in Milwaukee Craig Pleading in Milwaukee

Craig Meets the Press
H and G Tour slAs usual, Craig takes time to talk to some of the local media outlets in advance of his shows. He got some nice coverage from the Iowa City Press-Citizen and Milwaukee’s Shepard Express. He also did a great interview with an Iowa City radio station. Thanks to several Skellies for letting us know about this one!

Stand Up SpecialCraig at Town Hall sl
While combing the interwebs for all things Craigy, the RSA’s @bgrhubarb spotted a new page on IMDB that names Craig’s new stand up comedy special I’m Just Being Honest. A release date for the show has not yet been set. It was recorded March 6th and 7th at Town Hall in New York City and is expected to be available first as a television special and later on DVD. We’ll keep you posted.

Love Locks
Pont des Arts bridge locks slRemember on Craig’s trip to Paris, he showed us the Pont des Arts Bridge, where hundreds of people had left padlocks with their names on them as a symbol of love, including one placed there by former Late Late Show Executive Producer Peter Lassally? The City of Paris has taken down the locks because their sheer weight was threatening to collapse the bridge. The city has not announced what it plans to do with the locks.

Get Outta My Head
In this clip from Celebrity Name Game, two of the contestants seemed to bet getting the right answers pretty quickly:

Video courtesy: Celebrity Name Game

Midwest Bound
Craig at Cosmopolitan slAfter having fun with the crowd at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas on Saturday (with opening act Dave Stone – thanks to @colleen_byrne for the tip), Craig Ferguson takes his Hot and Grumpy Tour: Walking the Earth to the middle of the country for a week, with shows in Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Missouri and Iowa. He’ll then take a quick trip to Tennessee and wrap up the current leg of the tour in Ontario. Tickets are still available, so stop by our Live Comedy Tour page for all the details. After the next 11-day run, Craig’s next scheduled stand up comedy performance is scheduled for September. We’ll be watching for more shows and keeping you up to date. Thanks to @jenniferemil for the photo of Craig on stage, and to @bgrhubarb for finding a radio interview of Craig, talking about his upcoming appearances.

Update: Dave Stone will be opening for Craig June 1-5 and Michael Palascak will be opening for Craig May 28-31 and June 7. There’s still no word on who will open at the June 6th show in Rama, Ontario, but we’ll keep you posted. Thanks to @bgrhubarb for finding the details.

Dave DepartsLetterman sl
As David Letterman wrapped up his long career as a late-night television host, people across the entertainment industry talked about his impact on broadcasting and comedy, including Craig in an interview with Access Hollywood. James Corden also offered a tribute with the help of Sting.

Mar, Merv, Lou
Ted BaxterCraig was recently interviewed in the Chicago Tribune and likened his shift from late-night to daytime game shows to that of Ted Baxter on the Mary Tyler Moore Show, who gave game shows a try and found he enjoyed doing something a little different.

Craig Talks with RachelCraig with Rachel Ray
This week on the Rachel Ray show, they re-ran her most recent interview with Craig, which contained plenty of funny exchanges like this. Be sure to let it roll into the next clip, where Craig answers questions from the audience.

Scots Converse
Craig’s sister Lynn Ferguson hosts a podcast with a variety of interesting guests. Recently, she sat down with Scottish comedian Fred MacAulay, and the conversation between two longtime friends was delightful.

Video courtesy: This Day Today

Tour Resumes
03 Craig On Stage 008 slCraig Ferguson resumes his Hot and Grumpy: Walking the Earth tour on Saturday. He’ll start things out in Las Vegas, then next Thursday he’ll pick up an eleven-day run, with a few new shows and several shows that were rescheduled from March and April when he needed to take time out to film a sitcom pilot for ABC. You can see the complete listings, including dates, times, locations and links to tickets on our Live Comedy Tour page.

So Long, DaveLetterman sl
David Letterman ends his record-breaking run in late-night television Wednesday evening. Letterman is credited with cleverly and lovingly breaking the mold of late-night hosts set by Steve Allen and Jack Paar, and perfected by Johnny Carson. His off-beat humor entertained the country in a new way. USA Today was among the many publications offering a send-off.

Coming Attractions
Nowhere Girl scene slNowhere Girl, the feature film starring Josh Robert Thompson, has been making its way around the festival circuit and receiving good reviews. Now, we’re hearing word from the film’s producers that they have reached a distribution deal to make the film available on various video-on-demand and digital platforms sometime this fall. We’ll keep you posted here, as we learn more details about where you’ll be able to see it.

Through the LensJosh on Insta
Josh is not only a talented actor, voice-over artist, comedian and producer, but a still photographer as well. He recently tweeted that people can check out his Instagram account to see his work.

Dodgeball with 1D
If you were James Corden and your Late Late Show guests were members of one of the world’s most popular music acts, what would you do to have a little fun? Why not some dodgeball? Nearly two million YouTube views later, it looks like a good idea.

Video courtesy: The Late Late Show with James Corden

Fancy Suit
Craig blue suitEven Craig Ferguson had to admit, a suit he wore for a taping of Celebrity Name Game last week might have been drifting into Steve Harvey‘s territory. Along with his now-famous brightly colored socks (or perhaps they’re tights), the ‘Name Game’ team took it up a notch with a bright blue suit for the game show. We’ll have to see if it’s a sign of things to come, on a second season Craig says will be a bit looser than the first. He tweeted:

If you’re going to host a game show you’re going to need a suit. Something simple, classy and understated.

New Stand Up DatesCraig Stand Up
Craig has added a trio of stand up comedy dates to his calendar, including Springfield, Missouri on June 1st, Saint Louis on June 2nd, and Iowa City, Iowa on June 3rd. The new shows come in the midst of a run of dates rescheduled from earlier in the year. Craig will have a dozen live shows between May 23rd and June 7th. You can see the complete listings on our Live Comedy Tour page.

Long Live the King
King Of 7BABC held an “up front” presentation for advertisers on Tuesday to talk about its new fall season. Craig’s sitcom pilot The King of 7B was not selected by the network to become a series. It was one of seven situation comedies under consideration this spring. TV.com called it one of the comedies it hoped would get made. ABC did decide to debut a reboot of the Muppets, so there is some good news. Thanks to the RSA’s @bgrhubarb for updates, and to @Colleen_Byrne, who found a radio interview Craig did in Chicago. Craig’s part starts around 1:17 in the clip.

Josh ProfiledJoshin Around
A blogger going by the name of Bindz wrote a great piece about Josh Robert Thompson, which goes into detail about Josh’s work in television, film and stand up comedy.

Experimental Television
Remember when Craig appeared on Sesame Street? Appropriately, he talked about the word “experiment.”

Video courtesy: SesameStreet

Some Tweets Are AfootCraig Foot
Craig Ferguson had a bit of fun on Tuesday, tweeting directly with some fans.

I am all about comedy.

I quite like the CraigyFerg comedy, myself.

You remind me of a 10 years younger Billy Connolly.

Love when sends a reply back to ordinary people.

is replying to people and I really want him to reply to me.

I think the word she was looking for was- random.

Are you too busy for me as well?

Hello from Glasgow

He then finished with a tweet:

Letterman’s Swan Song
Letterman RetirementJournalist Dave Itzkoff profiled David Letterman in the New York Times this week, as the veteran late-night host prepares for his final shows this month.

Rules for DialogueCraig at Venetian
Christopher Ryan recently posted a piece with advice for writers on how to create better dialogue. His suggestion is to ask the three key questions Craig has asked in his stand up comedy.

Josh Interviewed
Recently, Josh Robert Thompson appeared at a Star Wars fan convention in character as George Lucas. He was interviewed as a cosplayer and the result was pretty funny:

Video courtesy: Schadenfreude Industries