reCAP :: Craig Ferguson :: 2014.05.09
It’s not surprising to read that Craig Ferguson started his career as a punk rock drummer. From the moment the comedian and Late Late Show host came onto the stage of The Capitol Theater Friday night, he was a force you couldn’t take your eyes off of and his often anti-establishment rants scored belly laughs where raised fists might’ve been for him back in the day. The man's delivery is better than any pitching stud in the big leagues today. With a stage presence much like he displays on his talk show (more on that later), the Scot animatedly moved his way through bits with his trademark randomness, off-beat humility, and humor. The only difference – and he stressed this many, many times throughout his roughly hour-and-a-half set – between Ferguson the host and Ferguson the comedian was cursing and sexually-charged humor. He consistently warned the audience if they were expecting a network-friendly show, they might as well leave. Of course, no one did. How could they?
Throughout his set, Ferguson comedian burst from one side of the stage to the other unleashing tangents ranging from his hatred of hipsters who wear shoes shaped like feet to his adolescence love of melon (I won’t explain it here but it’s pretty R-rated.) Other hilarious bits included a story about how for six months in the 1990s attempted to a film with his childhood idol Mick Jagger, his utter hatred for Dr. Phil, a run-in with a homosexual German, and the presumed sexual exploits of one – Kenny G. I should mention a running bit on the Rolling Stones’ frontman’s raptor-like arms killed. Moves like Jagger? Indeed. Sadly, the Scot who reinvented late night TV will be stepping down from The Late Late Show leaving behind a legacy of robot skeletons, off-the-cuff interviews, and arguably the strangest and funniest monologues in TV history. Luckily, Ferguson will likely stay on the road, probably write a few books and films, and stay in the public eye – right where he deserves. Whoever replaces this rock star of a comedian better have large weird and wacky shoes.