{"id":36120,"date":"2014-12-22T14:45:12","date_gmt":"2014-12-22T06:45:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=36120"},"modified":"2014-12-22T13:40:46","modified_gmt":"2014-12-22T05:40:46","slug":"craig-fergusons-last-late-late-show-complete-with-music-jay-leno-and-a-bob-newhart-cameo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2014\/12\/22\/craig-fergusons-last-late-late-show-complete-with-music-jay-leno-and-a-bob-newhart-cameo\/","title":{"rendered":"Craig Ferguson\u2019s last \u2018Late Late Show\u2019 complete with music, Jay Leno and a Bob Newhart cameo"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Craig<\/a>
Craig Ferguson. Gage Skidmore \/ Flickr<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NEW YORK\u2014Scottish-born comedian Craig Ferguson has enjoyed his last hoorah after a decade as host of \u201cThe Late Late Show\u201d on CBS.<\/p>\n

And what did we learn (as Ferguson was fond of posing at the end of each hour)? Maybe that it was Bob Newhart all those years disguised as Secretariat the Pantomime Horse?<\/p>\n

Secretariat has long been a popular member of the \u201cLate Late Show\u201d stable, but proper credit was never given to the people who brought him to life. That mystery was answered\u2014well, sort of\u2014on Friday\u2019s final episode.<\/p>\n

As Ferguson chatted with his robot sidekick, Geoff, he pondered who it might be inside the horse costume.<\/p>\n

\u201cLift up your head, let\u2019s see who you really are,\u201d he called across to Secretariat, who was watching from his stall, stage left. Off came the head of the costume to reveal Bob Newhart.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are you doing here?\u201d the astonished Ferguson asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cHey, guy, it\u2019s YOUR dream,\u201d replied the comedy legend, spoofing the classic final scene from his sitcom, \u201cNewhart,\u201d a quarter-century ago.<\/p>\n

In this case, Ferguson woke up from his dream in bed beside Drew Carey. Had his entire 10 years on \u201cThe Late Late Show\u201d all been imagined?<\/p>\n

Ferguson\u2019s going-away party also featured former \u201cTonight Show\u201d host Jay Leno as his sole guest.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust two guys with nothing to do,\u201d summed up Ferguson.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey may take our talk shows,\u201d Leno chimed in parodying Mel Gibson\u2019s line as a Scottish rebel in \u201cBraveheart,\u201d \u201cbut they will never take our freedom!\u201d<\/p>\n

The show kicked off with a pre-taped rendition of \u201cBang Your Drum,\u201d a song by the Scottish band Dead Man Fall, with Ferguson accompanied by dozens of celebs (many of them former guests) including Matthew McConaughey, Betty White, Samuel L. Jackson, Larry King, Regis Philbin, Jane Lynch, Quentin Tarantino, Jimmy Kimmel, William Shatner and even Archbishop Desmond Tutu.<\/p>\n

It then transitioned into the studio for a full production number with Ferguson backed by a rock band and choir.<\/p>\n

Ferguson\u2019s send-off followed by a day the splashy exit of Stephen Colbert and his series \u201cThe Colbert Report\u201d from Comedy Central after nine years on the air. Colbert is headed to CBS to take over \u201cLate Show\u201d from David Letterman, who retires May 20.<\/p>\n

Taking Ferguson\u2019s place as host of \u201cThe Late Late Show\u201d: British actor-writer-comedian James Corden, who debuts March 23.<\/p>\n

Now 52, Ferguson came to \u201cThe Late Late Show\u201d in January 2005 with a varied resume including punk-rock drummer, author, standup comic and actor. He had appeared in several films and written and starred in three, including the 2003 comedy \u201cI\u2019ll Be There,\u201d which he also directed. At the time, he was best known as Nigel Wick, the imperious British boss on Carey\u2019s long-running ABC sitcom.<\/p>\n

Carey will be among those filling in on \u201cLate Late Show\u201d before Corden arrives. Other scheduled guest hosts include Will Arnett, Wayne Brady, Jim Gaffigan, Billy Gardell and Sean Hayes.<\/p>\n

But even though absent from late night in the future, Ferguson won\u2019t be absent from the airwaves. He continues as host of \u201cCelebrity Name Game,\u201d a weekday syndicated game show launched this fall.<\/p>\n

Allowing that \u201cart is a very grand word,\u201d Ferguson said what he\u2019s tried to do with \u201cThe Late Late Show\u201d is \u201cmake something that wasn\u2019t here before. So in that sense, maybe it IS a piece of art.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cReally, the show belongs to you,\u201d he told his audience, then cracked, \u201cI hope you keep it, because I\u2019m done with it!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK\u2014Scottish-born comedian Craig Ferguson has enjoyed his last hoorah after a decade as host of \u201cThe Late Late Show\u201d …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":36133,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[106],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-hollywood","mauthors-frazier-moore","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36120"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36120\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}