Look, when the dust settles and the whole NBC late night debacle concludes, no one at NBC is going to win. Jeff Zucker is going to continue to look like an idiot, Jay Leno is going to continue to look like the guy whose inability to be remotely funny or entertaining ruined primetime and perhaps The Tonight Show‘s legacy, and Conan O’Brien is going to be the poor sap who got screwed out of his dream job.
So while the folks over at NBC are handling this mess with all of the finesse of a drunk chimp attempting neurosurgery, there are a few winners in this whole thing. David Letterman gets to work out all of his aggression that he’s had toward Leno and NBC ever since he lost the Tonight Show gig, and that’s probably good for his heart. The real winner in this whole never-ending saga, however, is Host of The Late Late Show on CBS, Craig Ferguson.
On Monday night, Ferguson started off with a few softballs: a funny “Late Night Wars” graphic and a quick Leno impersonation. He says he feels sorry for both Jay and Conan, and jokes that “you know that the world is on its ass when David Letterman and I are the stable ones.”
Later on in his monologue though, Ferguson gets a few jabs in toward NBC and his competitor, Jimmy Fallon, while reminding people that at the end of the day, this really isn’t an important issue. Ferguson says, “It’s not Jay Leno’s fault, and it’s not Conan O’Brien’s fault. Let’s just call it what it is: this whole mess is a direct result of atrocious management by a once-great American network.” He continues with the real talk when he concludes his monologue with, “What I’m saying, I think, is it’s a bunch of middle-aged white guys arguing over who gets x million dollars. Who gives a…” at which point he’s bleeped, and we do not know which choice word he used to end that analysis.
Ferguson comes back on Tuesday night with both guns blazing toward NBC. He ends his monologue by first chastising them for not telling the truth to their performers, but then says this, “‘Craig, aren’t you burning your bridges there with NBC?’ Yes! ‘What do you mean? You don’t want to work for NBC ever in your career?’ No! They’re lying rat bastards; have I made it clear?” It is one of the single-most ballsiest moves I’ve seen on late night, and it made me fall in love with him. Watch this clip and tell me that you wouldn’t just want a 3-hour Craig Ferguson block on NBC instead of the nonsense they have going on now.
On Wednesday night, Ferguson perhaps realized that nothing could really top calling NBC “lying rat bastards,” so he doesn’t really talk about the Late Night Wars, other than to dismiss the whole issue saying, “Late night bores the ass off of me.” Ferguson knows how to milk something just long enough, and walk away before he reaches the tipping point.
On Thursday night, other than a quick reference to Leno, Ferguson didn’t mention the whole saga at all, content to focus on what keeps his job secure: Jokes about his penis.
Clacked by Kona Gallagher 
on Jan 15, 2010 @ 13:42 EST5EDT
I love Craig Ferguson. His is the only late night show I watch regularly. He’s always good for a laugh.
*applauds*
He has been my favorite late night host since he first aired. Looooove him. He’s genuinely funny. Go figure!
Great collection. You saved me checking out Youtube etc. All in one place. Craig is so funny!
Craig’s long since emerged as my favorite late night host, even surpassing Dave and Conan. Slapstick/clownish humor, backed up by intelligent monologues and actual conversations with guests, plus his wonderful musical numbers. But what’s surprising this week has been Jimmy Kimmel, whom I had never found particularly funny. When he did an entire show in the character of Jay Leno, complete with awful jokes whose punchlines were beaten into the ground by him, his sidekick, and his band, it was savage, brilliant, vicious, and entirely justified. To follow that up by appearing on Jay’s show and ripping right through the latter’s “nice guy” image and lambasting him right to his face was awe-inspiring. I had to say that Jimmy won the week.
From The Comedy Store strike to The Late Shift to whatever we call this latest debacle, it seem there aren’t a lot of comedians on Leno’s side any more. The only two I’ve seen are Paul Reiser and Jerry Seinfeld. It was grimly amusing to note that the latter, coincidentally, is going to be filling one of the five slots voided by Leno’s crash-and-burn at 10.
Watching Conan, Dave, Craig, and Jimmy every night has been exhausting, put me far behind on regular show viewings, and overloaded the DVR, but it has been gold. I suppose I can’t end this note without linking to I’m With Coco.
Craig Ferguson is the best thing for late night in 20 years, lying rat bastards is so right!
Love it when you post about Craig :-)
I totally agree. HE is the best one on TV these days.