Craig Ferguson

For three years, Craig Ferguson has been the best kept secret of late night network television. That’s what it seemed like, anyway. Outside my small group of fellow talk show aficionados, I haven’t known anyone else who would agree that Ferguson — or “Fergie,” as my friend’s grandmother, the only other person hip to the scene, lovingly refers to him — regularly stomps his 12:30 a.m. competition over on NBC, Conan O’Brien, in all the categories that matter in a TV personality: likability, humor, interviewing skills, haircut, etc. But apparently, little by little, the Scottish actor-comedian has slowly been gaining on his translucent Ivy League nemesis, until last week, he finally scored his first ratings victory since he debuted as the host of CBS’ The Late Late Show three years ago.

What does this mean? For Craig, probably not much. After all, Jay Leno has consistently trounced Ferguson’s boss, David Letterman, in the ratings for more than a decade. Does that mean The Tonight Show is better than Late Night, or that Leno will be remembered as a greater pop-cultural figure than Letterman? Hell no. Ratings obviously don’t say anything about quality in the world of late night, and it’ll take more than a one-week victory in the Nielsens to convince the Conan faithful that Ferguson is worth watching.

Of course, for O’Brien — the heir to Leno’s position as host of The Tonight Show — the loss holds a lot more meaning. He is supposed to be moving to Burbank in two years to take over one of the most prestigious jobs in television, and now he is getting beaten by a guy who is really just beginning to hit his stride? NBC tried to cover by noting O’Brien still dominated in the 18-49 demographic — the age range where most of their advertising is targeted — which is a legitimate plea to cop, but what happens in 2010 when he’s on at 11:30 p.m. and has to win the allegiance of the 50-plus crowd, the audience that has made Leno a cash cow and doesn’t get Letterman’s absurdist humor, humor Conan has modeled his show after? And what happens if Jon Stewart, the rumored successor to Letterman, defects from The Daily Show sooner rather than later? Stewart might be polarizing politically, but the dude is too charming for even staunch conservatives to stay angry at for too long. I can’t see Middle America warming to a gangly, awkward-looking freak like Conan, especially if he is paired against a golden child such as Stewart. If he is slipping now with those outside his target viewership, imagine what it will be like by the time he gets to Los Angeles.

I can give him the benefit of the doubt: I haven’t watched Late Night regularly in a while, but I’m willing to bet he is on autopilot right now. That’s inevitable, considering he was publicly promised the Tonight Show gig years in advance. Because of that, maybe viewers are finally realizing, as I did a long time ago, how tired his “self-deprecating dork” shtick is — that it’s more obnoxious than engaging, and that the more he keeps doing it, the more it becomes apparent that it’s really a disguise for someone who is probably a bit of a dick in real life.

If it is that thinly-veiled dickishness that drove viewers to check out Ferguson, a lot of them might stay, then, because Fergie is the exact opposite: personable, honest, open — there is nothing disingenuous about him. Even guys like Letterman and Carson, hosts the audience feels it has a personal rapport with, are more or less playing characters, considering how private and aloof both were and are off-camera. Ferguson, though, has been extremely candid from the start of his run, discussing his battles with alcoholism, even using an entire show to eulogize his father the day after he passed away. These are things few — if any — hosts on late night ballsy enough to not be funny for an evening (on purpose) for the benefit of their own souls. But those are special moments: On typical nights, Ferguson has probably surpassed Letterman as the best interviewer, managing to control conversations without dominating them (as opposed to Conan, who always feels the need to rip the spotlight away and put it back on him when talking to lower-tier celebrities) and having them come across as natural and far less staged than a typically talk show chat. And he has by far the best monologues in the business, eschewing the usual topical punchlines after the first few minutes and instead going on totally improvised, freewheeling rants about whatever pops into his head.

Here are two examples, and they are both of a more serious nature, because I can find instances from Letterman, Conan, Leno or even Carson Daly (well, maybe not Carson Daly) that are funny, but what makes Craig stand out is his candor. The first two are his eulogy to his father; the second is from around the time of Britney Spears’ head-shaving incident, and he explains why, as a recovering alcoholic, he refuses to make fun of a kid who likely had a substance abuse problem herself.

Eulogy, Pt. 1:

Eulogy, Pt. 2:

Why Craig won’t ridicule Britney: