UPDATED: Stand Up Special Coming to Netflix March 15
If you follow Craig Ferguson on Twitter, you saw his tweet officially announcing the release of his new stand up comedy special I’m Here To Help on Netflix March 15th. We reported a couple of days ago that DigitalSpy.com said the special would appear on March 1st, but they had incorrect information. The 15th is the official release date. If you don’t already have Netflix, note that they do offer a free trial, so you can try out the service.

Stand Up Stories
All this week, we’ve been featuring stories from Craig’s fans who took a road trip to see him perform on stage in Wisconsin and Michigan last weekend. The RSA’s @pmtetk006 sent along this account of the show in Michigan, which does contain spoilers, so only click on the arrow below if you don’t mind details of the show:

[stextbox id=”custom” caption=”Craig in Michigan”]It’s only 5 p.m. and the show hasn’t begun yet.

First of all, he’s got a dreary Michigan day. If he indeed flew into Grand Rapids, he had a little over an hour drive through a lot of farm country (if they drove up 131 to 46). At least he had a fresh coat of snow to look at out the window!

One bright note, those of you who have read my travel posts before know that I love oddly-named businesses or signs. I saw a business with a sign out front that said “I Have Worms.” Gee, maybe you should have a doctor look at that! Actually, it was for a bait shop. Still, it made me chuckle.

The amount of snow they expected to hit didn’t occur yesterday. We got three to four inches the night before, and that was it. The sun came out a couple of times today and then disappeared. We’ve had light, fluffy snow flurries off and on all day.

The casino: I drove over to get the lay of the land, so to speak. I’ve been to a couple of casinos, but smaller ones. Comparatively, this sucker is a beast! I walked around, and there are so many slots, I don’t know what I’m going to do; very little gambling for me! All of the machines emit a tone — I don’t know what note or key — so that they all blend together into one chord. That had to be intentional. I have no idea where the card rooms are.

The ballroom: The seats are set up like a theater, but the seats are just chairs. The room looks like it’s set up for a big motivational speech, with a small podium stage and colored lights behind. I’ve got decent seats, about a third of the way back, mid-range price, so no meet and greet with Craig after. I’ve been told by someone that knows, that only those in VIP seats in the first two rows get to do that. As far as the show, I suspect that the material is what was taped earlier in Washington. That recorded show will probably be broadcast in the next month or so.

The venue and crowd: First of all, it was nicer inside than it looked through the window; kinda plain, but totally effective. I got there about 7:15 for an 8 o’clock show. I love to people watch!

When I first saw Craig, it was in Milwaukee and he was still single. The audience was made up of predominately women, most of them with lots of cleavage (not judging). Today’s show was more men than women, just slightly. It was either baby boomers or twenty- to thirty-somethings. There was one elderly woman, somewhere between 80 and 90. Knowing Craig’s act (generally), I thought the poor woman would have a heart attack after hearing Craig’s swearing.

There was some discussion near me about whether Secretariat was going to be there, and I told them no, and Geoff wouldn’t be there either, but that Josh, the human provider of Geoff’s banter, would. One of the ladies was a bit uncomfortable with Secretariat. The other liked him and the former stated that she was really creeped out by Sid, the bunny. Most people were jeans and sweatshirts; basic casino wear. The most strangely-dressed were four young men in black suits, white shirts and ties. One did have a nod to non-comformity with bright red shoes. As I was speaking to the women, I heard some clicking from three seats away. The guy had his nail clippers out and was trimming his nails. The whole time people were filing in, we were treated to the greatest hits of Led Zepplin. I wondered if it was Craig’s idea.

The show: WARNING! SPOILERS!

Josh, the voice of Geoff, was out first. He and Craig both introduced themselves from behind the curtain.

Josh introduced himself as “…the voice of Geoff Peterson…” and the crowd responded quite enthusiastically. I’m not going to give everything away, but Josh did what he does best: Voices. And he was funny! I enjoyed him more than Craig’s previous opener (no digs at Randy, I just preferred Josh). I laughed and the crowd laughed. His story about Morgan Freeman contacting him was hilarious. It seems Josh had something on the Internet where he read, as Morgan Freeman, portions of “Fifty Shades of Grey”. Some people thought it WAS Mr. Freeman, hence the phone call. You’ll have to see the show to get the details.

When Craig took the stage, he complained about the cold. “It’s *beeping* cold here! Don’t tell me it isn’t! ‘If you think this is cold, you should have been here in 1947!’ *Beep* that! It’s cold NOW!” (I guess he didn’t get my post about bringing his long johns!) Today’s high reached 32 degrees.

He was wearing jeans, a dark shirt with the tails out and a suit coat over top. As he is famous for doing, he stalked the stage. There were big screens on either side of the stage, and the cameraman did his best to keep up with Craig. Mostly, he did a good job. His act ranged from the weather, to not knowing the name of the casino, to stories about Hollyweird, including an egg story. For those of you that have heard it, I’ll bet she makes a helluva omlet! If you haven’t, you will soon. For those that say he’s not telling stories like he used to, you really need to catch him live. There are lots of stories. His mom and dad came up, his baby son, children’s TV shows, and more.

I hung around for a while afterward, to see if he did a meet and greet, but no such luck! Everyone just left. I didn’t see him leave the venue, so I don’t know if they drove out right away, or if they spent the night. All I know is, Craig’s ready for California sunshine and their “frigid temperatures” of 70. It was a great show and great time![/stextbox]

Will you be seeing Craig in person sometime soon, either at a stand up comedy performance or a taping of the Late Late Show in Los Angeles? We always like to hear your stories and share them with the rest of the Robot Skeleton Army. It doesn’t have to be long or elaborate… just tell us about your adventure. Thanks to all who have sent in their stories and we look forward to many more!

Work with Neil

Would you like to work with author Neil Gaiman on his new project? Thanks to a contest from Blackberry.com, you could win a chance to collaborate with the award-winning writer. Gaiman has created a dozen new stories and is looking for help in two ways: An illustrator for the printed version of the stories, and a filmmaker to create videos to go along with his spoken word versions of the stories.

Duchovny’s Drama

The New York Observer previews the new dramatic film Phantom, which stars Late Late Show guest David Duchovny.





Madekwe Moving Up
LLS guest Ashley Madekwe recently told HauteLiving.com about what defines her style.

Walking and Coughing
Craig displays sympathy for a would-be medical condition.

Video courtesy: le starkky

Tonight’s Guests

Thursday on the Late Late Show, Craig’s guests are actor David Duchovny and actress Ashley Madewke. On Friday, Craig chats with musician Trace Adkins and actress Naya Rivera.

Guest Update

More names have been added to the list of guests for future tapings, including Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Chi McBride, Laurie Holden, Windell Middlebrooks, Monica Potter, Sarah Chalke and Julia Louis Dreyfus. You can see the most current listings on our Guests page.

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