The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson

The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
Logo used from 2009 to 2014
Also known as	The Late Late Show
Genre	Late-night talk show Variety show Sketch comedy
Created by	David Letterman Peter Lassally Craig Ferguson
Written by	Jonathan Morano Ted Mulkerin Lynn Ferguson Philip McGrade Joe O'Brien Bob Oschack John Reynolds Ben Stout Tom Straw Joe Strazzulo Craig Ferguson
Directed by	Tim Mancinelli Brian McAloon (2005–2012)
Presented by	Craig Ferguson
Starring	Geoff Peterson (voiced by Josh Robert Thompson)
Narrated by	Shadoe Stevens
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	10
No. of episodes	2,058 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	David Letterman Peter Lassally
Producer	Michael Naidus
Production locations	CBS Television City, Los Angeles, California Various locations in Scotland (7 episodes only)
Running time	39 minutes
Production companies	Worldwide Pants Incorporated CBS Productions (2005–2006) CBS Paramount Television (2006–2009) CBS Television Studios (2009–2014)
Original release
Network	CBS
Release	January 3, 2005 (2005-01-03) – December 19, 2014 (2014-12-19)
Related
The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn The Late Late Show with James Corden
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The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson is an American late-night talk show hosted by Scottish actor and comedian Craig Ferguson. This was the third iteration of the Late Late Show franchise, airing from January 3, 2005, to December 19, 2014. It followed the Late Show with David Letterman in the CBS late-night lineup, airing weekdays in the U.S. at 12:37 a.m. Taped in front of a live studio audience from Monday to Thursday (with two episodes taped on Thursdays) at CBS Television City in Los Angeles, California, directly above the Bob Barker Studio (Studio 33), it was produced by David Letterman's production company Worldwide Pants Incorporated and CBS Television Studios.

The Late Late Show franchise had previously aired as The Late Late Show with Tom Snyder, then as The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn. During the late 2004 transition of guest hosts following Craig Kilborn's departure, Craig Ferguson hosted a series of shows in October and November 2004, culminating in being announced on December 7, 2004, as the pick for new host. After launching The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on January 3, 2005, Craig Ferguson achieved the highest ratings since the show's inception in 1995. While quirky comedy was emphasized in the majority of the episodes, Ferguson also addressed difficult subject matters, such as the deaths of his parents, his struggles with alcoholism, and commenting on national tragedies such as the September 11 attacks. Ferguson undertook serious interviews, such as one with Archbishop Desmond Tutu, which earned the show a 2009 Peabody Award.^[1]

Despite not initially having a sidekick, comedian and voice actor Josh Robert Thompson joined the show on April 5, 2010, and voiced Craig's sidekick Geoff Peterson, a robotic human skeleton. Often Geoff is referred to as a "robot skeleton", "gay skeleton robot" or "gay robot skeleton". Geoff is a radio-controlled animatronic robotic puppet skeleton with a metallic Mohawk hairstyle; he was designed and built by Grant Imahara of the TV show MythBusters. Geoff stayed as Craig's sidekick until the show's finale, after which Craig took Geoff home. Once Thompson began voicing Geoff Peterson, the format of the Late Late Show shifted from a more traditional formula (albeit with Ferguson's subversive humor) to a more loose, stripped-down and semi-improvisational comedy style in which Ferguson and Peterson would riff on various topics, often discarding prepared material and going over time limits.

On April 28, 2014, Ferguson announced that he would step down as host at the end of the year. The last episode aired on December 19, 2014.^[2] Afterwards, Late Late Show began a series of episodes with guest hosts;^[3] then the new permanent host James Corden began his iteration of the franchise on March 23, 2015.