Craig’s Tour
Since 2006, in addition to his work hosting The Late Late Show and his many other projects, Craig Ferguson has been touring the U.S. and Canada as a stand up comedian. To date, by our estimate, he has appeared on stage in 36 states, plus Washington, DC. So that got us to thinking: Where has Craig been and where could he go to expand his horizons? Here are some ideas:

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Where has Craig performed from 2006-2014?
CANADA

Craig has made a big commitment to Canada in the past couple of years, performing in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and Nova Scotia. Craig makes regular appearances in Montreal and Toronto and his shows north of the border routinely sell out.

NORTHEAST
He has done several shows in and around New York, including Carnegie Hall and Radio City Music Hall, plus venues in nearby New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Delaware and Rhode Island. He has appeared in Boston several times, once in New Hampshire (he’ll be back this month) and will add Maine as well.

MID ATLANTIC
Craig has done shows in Virginia, North Carolina and Washington, DC which attracted audience members from Maryland, West Virginia and South Carolina.

SOUTHEAST
In the Southeast, he has performed in Mississippi, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, and has done multiple shows across Florida. He is also fond of Nashville, Tennessee that brought in fans from Kentucky and Arkansas.

MIDWEST
In the Midwest, he has appeared in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Missouri, along with Iowa, Nebraska Missouri and Kansas, performing in a wide variety of venues and drawing great crowds.


SOUTHERN PLAINS
In the South Central region, he makes regular appearances in Oklahoma, and last year made sure he reached Austin and Dallas in Texas. He’s very likely to include them in future tours, with nice venues and appreciative audiences.


MOUNTAIN WEST
The Mountain West gets a treat from time to time when Craig is working up new material and spends some time in Denver, which brings in fans from all over the country to see him perform in a small venue. He also appears each year in Las Vegas, and recently appeared in Arizona and New Mexico.

WEST COAST
And in the West, Craig has appeared in several cities across California from San Diego to Sacramento, plus stops in Oregon and Washington.


Craig has performed in the states in blue at least once in the past few years.

Where Could He Go Next?

While we understand it is less likely the Craig would appear in states with lower populations, we still believe he can draw fans to fill a mid-sized auditorium. By focusing on regional centers, the shows would do well and it would give Craig reason to visit more of the heartland of his adopted country. We think there are a handful of ideas that would make sense:

1. Fargo, ND
Although we’d advise going in the summer, Fargo is a bustling regional center that would deliver a full house of Craig fans. There are several colleges in the area and Craig would draw an audience from across North Dakota and northern Minnesota.

2. Sioux Falls, SD
Another northern plains college town, Sioux Falls would have no trouble providing a nice crowd to see Craig if he made the trip. People from South Dakota, Nebraska and western Iowa frequently visit “The Sioux” to shop and find entertainment, so they’d be lining up around the block.

3. Louisville, KY
He could spend a half hour on stage trying to pronounce the name of the town like the locals, and then he could do a show. Craig enjoys the audiences in the area, and it’s high time he poked fun at Kentucky’s largest city in person.

4. Little Rock, AR
People would travel from Missouri, Tennessee and Louisiana to see Craig if he appeared in Arkansas. Another big college town, with an Air Force base and more, there are lots of late-night fans in the Rock.

5. Salt Lake City, UT
Craig had to cancel a planned stop in SLC in 2011 due to a scheduling conflict with the premiere of Winnie The Pooh in LA. It would be great to see that date back on the calendar and bring in fans not only from Utah but from Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.

6. Anchorage/Honolulu
Crowds in Alaska and Hawaii would be thrilled to have a big name like Craig appearing at a theater near them. And if Craig brought along a camera crew, they could have fun recording segments for future Late Late Show episodes. Imagine an Ariel Tweto interview in Alaska or an Evangeline Lilly interview in Hawaii. It’s a stretch but we think he’d enjoy it!

Have we missed an obvious choice for a future live stand up show? Let us know in the comments section below.

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Late-Night’s Dark Horse

Back in 2008, W Magazine did a feature story about Craig, whom they described as the “dark horse of late-night TV,” and that was even before he had “not a real horse” on the show every night.


Pictures and Writing
In this monologue from 2006, Craig talks about early-career pictures and writing, including a mention of his then-new novel, Between The Bridge And The River.

Video courtesy: FrankGerbertson

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