Studio 56 Debuts Monday Night

After an extended August break, all-new episodes of the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson return on Monday, August 27th, from Studio 56 at CBS Television City in Los Angeles. Both the set and audience section will be significantly larger and include a new entrance for Craig and his guests, new furniture, a stable for Secretariat and a few surprises! Craig tweeted:

Back in LA.Nice to be in the old smoggy dirt bucket again. Btw Old Smoggy Dirtbucket was the 1st folk/gangsta rap mashup act. #trueornottrue

The RSA’s @melaniejade_, who is a regular audience member at the Late Late Show, had a chance to attend one of the test tapings of the show last week and told us what she saw of the new stage. Note: There are some mild spoilers in her story, so if you’d rather wait to see Monday’s show, just skip this part. Otherwise, click on the arrow below and read on. We thank her for sending us her story!

[stextbox id=”custom” caption=”First impressions of Studio 56″]First Impressions of Studio 56

Around 3 p.m. they started letting us in and go through security and sit down which normally doesn’t happen until 3:30, so I was stoked. Not that many people came and there were a few people from out of town that did that were upset because they didn’t realize Craig wasn’t going to be there. Mostly, though, it was regulars and some friends of Ben Dukes, who he even brought on to interview.

The chairs were new and “squeaky” and it really amused Ryan [from the show’s audience services company]. They weren’t that squeaky though; I tried to make them squeak.

The new studio seats about 140 people and the old one held about 96 so that’s not a big upgrade if you think about it but it’s substantial enough where it was SUPER exciting. And it’s not as cold as the old one which made me happy.

The studio itself is just beautiful. Wood-looking floors and walls, a picture of Los Angeles not Reno, a barn/stable for Secretariat, a fake fire behind Geoff (who doesn’t have a wire anymore), and a center entrance for Craig to come out of like Leno. There will be no more moving the desk around because the stage is actually big enough to let everything sit! Honestly, my descriptions can’t do it justice. And there are lights! Sorta. I think it was too dark around Secretariat; it looked fine in person but on the monitor it looked really dark and bad, making Josh [the voice of Geoff Peterson, Josh Robert Thompson] say “He looks like a serial killer.”

Ben Dukes [who played the role of host for the test shows] looked nervous but he nailed everything and gave it 110%. Josh was very supportive and encouraged him to shine. I think Ben is normally a very funny guy but you could see he was kinda nervous but he really nailed it in my opinion.

Since there was a lot of down time in between each segment, one of the writers did trivia questions to give away mugs and t-shirts and acted as the warm up guy (I missed Chunky B., though to be honest). There were only 33 of us in the audience, plus all the crew. It was super intimate and exciting. Since most people were regulars or friends of people on stage it was a very forgiving, welcoming and friendly audience. I met the guy who made the Sid with the glowing eyes… he said it was a thank you gift to one of the production members for something or other.

After I went to say “Hi” to Josh. It’s harder to talk to him at the new studio because the audience is higher up and it’s just awkward to shout over the exit music.

Anyway, since it was a test show and not a real show it wasn’t really filmed for air but I kinda wish they would air it or put it online because it was just so bizarre and full of small things I think super fans would enjoy, even if they did use an old monologue.

It was my 37th taping, though that wasn’t exactly a taping I still want to count it or at least half count it, and I think it was easily a top five even if it wasn’t a real show.[/stextbox]

Sid’s Eyes
Do you remember Sid with the glowing eyes? We do:

Video courtesy: DrPinch2190

Craig’s Mentor Interviewed
Craig is one of many, many people in television who owe at least some part of the success to Peter Lassally. He is the Executive Producer of the Late Late Show and before he took that job, he had already led what could be considered several remarkable lifetimes. National Public Radio’s Scott Simon interviewed Lassally for Weekend Edition Saturday. Thanks to @michaelnaidus, @mark_ca and many others for passing this along!

This Week’s Guests

Hooray and huzzah!  All-new episodes of the Late Late Show have returned, from the all-new Studio 56 at CBS Television City.  The week kicks off with a tour of the new studio and one of Craig’s favorite guests, actress Kristen Bell.  Tuesday, Craig talks with TV/radio host Larry King and we’ll see a performance on the new stage by comedienne Michelle Buteau.  Wednesday, actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan and actress Fiona Gubelmann will be on the show, and Craig chats with actress Lisa Kudrow on Thursday.  Then on Friday, Craig welcomes back actor Seth Green and Broadway actress Sutton Foster whose upcoming appearance was mentioned by BroadwayWorld.com, which also talked about the show’s new home in Studio 56.

Guest Update

With several weeks of new episodes on tap, the guest listings have been updated to include Kathy Griffin, Tedeschi Trucks Band, actor Jeremy Irons, actress Monica Potter, Nick Griffin, Marc Maron, Angela Kinsey, The Heavy, Jeff Goldblum, Heather Graham and Dr. Sanjay Gupta. You can see the most up-to-date listings any time on our Guests page.

[stextbox id=”custom”]Programming Reminder: Because CBS has the rights to the NFL’s American Football Conference games throughout the fall season, there will be times that games delay the Late Late Show “in your region.” Most of the games fall on Sundays but for those that happen during the week, we don’t always hear about delays in specific markets. Whenever we are notified, we’ll be sure to pass along news of any delays.[/stextbox]

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