Taking Home the Hardware
It’s been an incredible year for Craig Ferguson. After announcing his plan to depart The Late Late Show following a ten-year run as host, we learned that he would host a new syndicated game show, Celebrity Name Game. The game show quickly rose up the charts to become the breakout hit of the season. The show has been renewed for season two and Craig has already begun taping new episodes. Then, to top it all off, Craig took home a Daytime Emmy Award as Outstanding Game Show Host, against veteran competition. Despite hand-wringing by some, Craig proved that not only is there life after late-night television, there are whole new worlds to explore.

Backstage Moments
As with any big Hollywood awards show, the press were lined up to see who won and interview them afterward. Among the outlets to talk about Craig were the trade publication Variety, Entertainment Weekly and the Associated Press, which also noted Betty White’s lifetime achievement award. The RSA’s @Whyterose713 found a short clip of Craig speaking backstage. Thanks to her, and we’ll add more if we find them.

Friends Chime In
Among those congratulating Craig on the win was his longtime friend from the UK, actor Anthony Head, who tweeted:

@CraigyFerg Congrats, dude x

Also on Twitter, game show fan @ChadMosher noted an interesting fact:

Fun @CraigyFerg fact: he’s the first man to win Game Show Host Emmy for first year work on a new show. The first person? His pal Betty White

Acceptance Speech
Chad was kind enough to post Craig’s acceptance speech on Sunday. When Craig accepted his award, his response was exactly what his fans have come to expect: Funny, irreverent, humble and demonstrating genuine gratitude.

Video courtesy: Chad Mosher

Meet the Emmy-Winning Craig Ferguson
Craig Ferguson has won a daytime Emmy Award in the category of Outstanding Game Show Host, for his work on the popular game show Celebrity Name Game. Congratulations, Craig! He tweeted a photo of the card:

Woo Hoo! #DaytimeEmmys

More to come in our next full post on Wednesday!

Craig to Present at Daytime Emmys
Not only is Craig Ferguson nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award, he’ll also be presenting at the show. Among the other presenters will be Regis Philbin, Steve Harvey, Marie Osmond and Alex Trebek. Craig is nominated in the Outstanding Game Show Host category for his work on Celebrity Name Game. The show airs live on Pop (which used to be called TV Guide Channel, so it’s probably on your cable/satellite system) on this coming Sunday, April 26 at 8pm ET/5pm PT.

The Best Medicine
The folks over at Bustle.com put together a string of video clips that prove laughter is a wonderful thing. Among the clips they chose is a great one of Craig laughing at all kinds of things, assembled by fan friskynixon. Thanks to the RSA’s @bgrhubarb for letting us know about the article.

Corden’s Instinct
If you haven’t checked out James Corden‘s parody of that famous scene from Basic Instinct, it’s worth a look. Entertainment Tonight and other outlets enjoyed the sketch, which featured bandleader Reggie Watts in the Wayne Knight part and guest Michael Douglas reprising his role.

Josh Channels Lucas
What has Josh Robert Thompson been up to during the impromptu break in the Hot and Grumpy Tour? He hung out at a Star Wars fan convention in Anaheim over the weekend, completely in character as George Lucas and had fun with the crowd. Mashable wrote about it, and you can see a bit of his performance in this clip from fan Nicole Wiseman:

Video courtesy: Nicole Wiseman

Craig Books New Tour Date
Craig Ferguson has added a new date to his Hot and Grumpy Tour: Walking The Earth, with a show on June 6th at Casino Rama in Ontario. Craig has performed at the resort before, which is less than two hours from Toronto. Tickets go on sale Wednesday, April 22 at noon ET. You can find all the details, including a link for tickets on our Live Comedy Tour page. The Rama show neatly fills an open date between two rescheduled shows in Nashville, Tennessee and Windsor, Ontario. Craig will be spending time over the next few weeks recording new episodes of Celebrity Name Game, before heading back out on the road in May and June.

Josh to Present at Awards Show
When the International Academy of Web Television (IAWTV) holds its awards ceremony on Wednesday evening in Las Vegas, one of the presenters on stage will be Josh Robert Thompson. The awards celebrate excellence in original online content in 34 categories from Best Drama to Best Sound to Best Microbudget Series. You can see a full list of nominees here.

Simon Says
Don’t forget to watch this week’s episode of Hot In Cleveland on TVLand, where Craig is scheduled to reprise his character of Simon.

Craig’s Site Sends First Newsletter
Craig’s website has been posting photos, videos and other material for the past few months as Craig, Josh and Secretariat make their way around the country performing live on stage. Last week, they sent out their first newsletter with a message from Craig.

Cut-Ups on the Bus
Several behind the scenes videos are posted on Craig’s site, including this one from the bus last month, in which Craig portrays that well-known film character, Eddy Bananahands.

Video courtesy: CraigFerguson

CNG Tapings to Resume
Tapings for season 2 of Celebrity Name Game are scheduled to get underway next week. Craig Ferguson returns as host of what has become that fastest-growing game show on television, complete with an Emmy nomination. What’s new this year? The show will be taped in a new location. Last year, shows were taped at Sunset Bronson Studios. This year, they’ve moved a few blocks south to Raleigh Studios Hollywood on Melrose, right across the street from Paramount. Also, as an added twist, audience members may be invited to come on stage to be paired with a celebrity contestant and play along. You can pre-order your tickets here. The first shows will be taped on April 15, and they’ll air starting in the fall. They usually tape a couple of episodes at a time, up to four a day. Thanks to the RSA’s @Colleen_Byrne for letting us know the new dates have been posted.

King for a Day
Meanwhile, shooting has wrapped up on the pilot episode of The King of 7B, starring Craig. The show has moved into the editing stage, and ABC will be evaluating it in the coming weeks to decide whether to add it to its lineup of sitcoms. After the final day of taping, Craig enjoyed an evening off by watching a Los Angeles Lakers basketball game from courtside seats.

Freeman Fools Day
Josh Robert Thompson spent part of his April Fools Day fooling sports radio host Rich Eisen. Josh called in using his dead-on Morgan Freeman impression, talking about major league baseball legend/outcast Pete Rose.

Craig’s Latest ‘View’
In case you missed Craig’s most recent appearance on ABC’s daytime show The View, they’ll be re-running the episode on April 9. Thanks to the RSA’s @bgrhubarb for spotting it.

Nerdist News
The @Nerdist Chris Hardwick will soon be producing a weekly half-hour version of the Nerdist News on the Syfy channel. Hardwick will not be hosting the show, but it will be developed by the Nerdist team.

Corden on a Roll
New Late Late Show host James Corden is coming up with new and different ways to make the show his own. The folks at Mediaite.com talk about how the first couple of weeks have been going. Some local CBS stations liked his bit about being on so many social media channels, the Huffington Post wrote about Katie Couric‘s April Fools Day prank on the show, and Entertainment Tonight raved about his experiment to move the show to a random strangers house for a night. Corden has also been named has host of this year’s Council of Fashion Designers of America Awards show on June 1st at Lincoln Center in New York.

Craig on ‘The Daily Show’
The RSA’s Natalie let us know that someone has finally posted Craig’s 2005 appearance on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, which was shortly after our fearless leader began as host of The Late Late Show. Craig’s portion begins at about 14:15. Enjoy!

Video courtesy: Rudolph D

Emmy Nomination
Craig Ferguson has been nominated for a daytime Emmy Award in the category of Outstanding Game Show Host. It marks the second Emmy nomination of his career. This is his first for daytime, as he wraps up his first season on the popular game show Celebrity Name Game. Craig was nominated for a prime time Emmy in 2006 for his work on The Late Late Show in the category of Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program. Memorably, Barry Manilow won the award that year. This year, the other nominees are Todd Newton, host of Family Game Night on the Discovery Family Channel, Steve Harvey, host of Family Feud, and Pat Sajak, host of Wheel of Fortune. The ceremony will be broadcast live on Pop on Sunday, April 26 at 8pm ET/5pm PT. Congratulations on the nomination, Craig! He tweeted, giving credit to the team:

Hurrah. I got an Emmy nom for best game show host – thanks to all the terrific crew at @CelebNameGame #theydoallthework

Yellow For Seth
It’s not every day you get to see Craig in a Pikachu outfit, but on the internet, anything can happen. Craig was inspired to don the brightly colored Pokémon garb in honor of 5-year-old Seth Lane, who has been hospitalized for severe combined immunodeficiency, in Newcastle in England. A #WearYellowforSeth campaign went viral after his parents posted a video where he asked if people could wear his favorite color to show their support. NBC News reported on the story.

Fit for a King
Actress Ione Skye has been tapped to play Craig’s character’s love interest in the ABC sitcom pilot The King of 7B, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The pilot is one of seven comedies being considered by the network for a possible future series.

Prime Time
Craig’s comedy special Does This Need To Be Said is coming to Amazon Prime on April 15. If you haven’t had a chance to see this great show recorded in Nashville in 2010, you’ll have a new way to enjoy it. The show, which is the second of Craig’s (so far) three (and soon to be four) stand up comedy specials, has been on Netflix and is also available on DVD.

Best Hosts
MSN offers a list of the 20 best late-night talk show hosts ever, and a familiar name comes in at number 8 on the list. Thanks to the RSA’s @bgrhubarb for spotting it.

New LLS Settles In
New Late Late Show host James Corden is getting settled in to his new role, as more reviews come in. The website bloguin.com is eager to see more. CBS-owned TV.com offers a range of ideas, while EntertainmentMonthly.com says he stands out. Esquire dubbed the new show “more Fallon-like,” and Hitfix.com came up with seven unexpected treats. The BBC talked about the positive response the show has received so far. And even Jimmy Fallon got into the act himself, by writing one of his patented “thank you notes” to Corden, thanking him for sticking with the name “James” rather than becoming yet another “Jimmy” in late-night. And many of the reviews have remarked that the show will make a mark with viral content. Proof of that: Corden’s sketch with Tom Hanks has received more than 11 million views on YouTube in a little more than a week.

Building The Set
The Late Late Show produced a time-lapse video of the new set being built, leading up to the show’s re-launch last week.

Video courtesy: Late Late Show

Doin’ TV Stuff
Craig Ferguson‘s Hot and Grumpy Tour: Walking the Earth resumes on May 23rd in Las Vegas. In the meantime, he’s doing TV things. His next scheduled appearance on our screens (apart from daily episodes of Celebrity Name Game) is planned for April 15th, when he’ll reprise his character of Simon as part of the final season of Hot In Cleveland. The episode was taped a while ago. He’s also been working on the pilot episode of The King of 7B for ABC. We don’t expect to hear about whether the show will be picked up until May, which is when the networks usually announce their fall lineups and planned winter replacements. While Craig’s touring company takes a break from the road, they tweeted out a picture of his hat.

Corden Debuts
James Corden made his debut as host of the Late Late Show on Monday night, to largely positive reviews. Some critics called his first outing a success, while others praised the show and promised to watch the new host grow into the job in the coming months. The Hollywood Reporter and the UK’s Telegraph provided summaries of what the critics have been saying. Some contrasted Craig Ferguson’s worldly-wise and subversive approach, to Corden’s geniality and understated British humor, including the witty lyrics to his closing musical number. Newsday called the first show a “strong start,” the Independent said Corden will win over American audiences, The Wrap called the show impressive, and the Winnipeg Free Press said although the early shows will be more about establishing Corden’s identity, he’ll soon become comfortable in the role. USA Today’s Robert Bianco summed it up this way: “…when he ended his show by thanking viewers for their time and asking them to return, it felt real. And real on TV is terribly rare. If for no other reason than that, you should wish Corden the best.” We agree.

Things to Know
The RSA’s @TheLaterShow spotted a story on Buzzfeed, with things everyone needs to know about the new Late Late Show with James Corden.

Lassally’s Retirement
As we mentioned in a previous post, as the new regime of The Late Late Show takes over at CBS Television City, a behind-the-scenes late-night legend has retired. Peter Lassally was profiled in Variety this past week, to honor his career and look back at the work he did to shape the television landscape.

Josh’s Film Wins Award
The feature film Nowhere Girl, starring Josh Robert Thompson, has been making the festival circuit and picked up an award over the weekend. It won the Bud Abbott Award for Best Comedy. Congratulations to Josh and everyone who worked on the movie!

Dirt Detective
The RSA’s @chandlersdame recently wrote about a television series Craig hosted in the UK in 1993 called The Dirt Detective. There are some clips on YouTube which we have posted here in the past. For a dose of Scottish history from your favorite Scot, be sure to take a look.

From Beginning to End
The RSA’s mirko miric put together a video with clips from Craig’s first and last Late Late Shows and several in between, to give you a sense of the show’s ten-year run. Thanks to the RSA’s @Colleen_Byrne for letting us know about it.

Video courtesy: mirko miric