Late Show UK

Craig Ferguson has announced his wife Megan Wallace is pregnant.

The Late Late Show host said on Twitter “Holy crackers! Mrs F is pregnant. How did that happen? …oh yeah I know how. Another Ferguson arrives in 2011. The world tremble”.

Craig joked it would be “awesome” to call the baby Patrick Troughton after his favourite Doctor Who actor.

The Sun – “Craig Ferguson to name tot after Timelord Doctor Who”
Craig Ferguson on Twitter

Craig Ferguson has joined Twitter. The host of the Late Late Show started posting a few days ago. One of his first posts says “the fact that i am on twitter probably means its on the way out”. Follow him at www.twitter.com/craigyferg.

CBS are close to reaching a deal to keep David Letterman and Craig Ferguson with the network until at least 2012. The Live Feed reports Letterman and Craig “will have agreements that keep them on the air into 2012, CBS entertainment president Nina Tassler told reporters at press tour”.

The Live Feed – “Letterman, Ferguson close to contract renewals”
Digital Spy – “Letterman ‘to extend CBS contract to 2012′”

Craig Ferguson celebrated his 1000th edition of The Late Late Show last night with a special musical opening, a special monologue and another special musical number to close the show. Craig has been hosting The Late Late Show for almost 5 years.

The entire show was hosted by Wavy the puppet. Guests on the programme were Kristen Bell, Maria Bello, Jason Schwartzman, Jason Segel & his puppet Dracula, and The Broken West.

Click here to watch clips from the 1000th show

Late Show band leader Paul Shaffer was a guest on the Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson on Wednesday night. He discussed his new book – We’ll Be Here For The Rest Of Our Lives – and also talked about growing up in Canada & playing bagpipes as his hometown was twinned with Scotland. The introduction with bagpipes he did at the start of the show was pretty hilarious.

Click here to watch Paul Shaffer on the Late Late Show

Paul Shaffer will be a guest on the Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson next week. He’ll stop by on Wednesday 2nd December to talk about his new book – We’ll Be Here For The Rest Of Our Lives. The Late Show bandleader was previously a guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live to promote his memoirs.

The Barack Obama episode of the Late Show With David Letterman on Monday night received phenomenal ratings.

TV Guide says “Letterman topped The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien by a whopping 195 percent. The last time he had numbers that high was when Oprah Winfrey visited in 2005″ and The New York Times report “President Obama lifted David Letterman to his most-watched “Late Show” in four years, with a total of 7.218 million viewers… Mr. O’Brien wound up with 2.44 million viewers, his second-lowest total to date”.

The New York Times also say it helped the viewing figures for the Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson which followed on CBS after the Late Show episode – “Mr. Ferguson attracted his biggest audience ever, with 3.24 million viewers”.

TV Guide – “Take That, Conan! Obama Gives Letterman Huge Ratings Boost”
The New York Times – “Obama Leads Letterman to Ratings Win”

CBS Entertainment report the Late Show With David Letterman has topped the viewing figures for a tenth consecutive week in the latest Nielsen ratings (week ending the 11th September). They say the “Late Show With David Letterman delivered a 2.4/06 in households with an average of 3.28m viewers. Late Show beat “The Tonight Show” in viewers (3.28m vs. 2.93m, +12%)”. It’s also reported the Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson “posted a 1.2/04 in households with 1.56m viewers, its largest weekly average audience since the week ending July 10″.

CBS Press Express – “Dave’s Winning Streak Hits 10″
TV By The Numbers – “David Letterman’s Winning Streak Hits 10 weeks”

Since Monday, the Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson is now broadcast in HD and widescreen for the first time ever. They also have a brand new title sequence, which looks fantastic. On the first show back after the reruns break, Craig was very excited about the upgrades to the show – especially the “two new lights” they have. The feed we have on the Watch Online page for the Late Late Show now features the show in the new widescreen format.

Click here to see the brand new title sequence for the Late Late Show and to watch Craig Ferguson’s announcement of the show being in HD

Nice to see Craig Ferguson getting his picture on the front page of the BBC News UK website today for the “30 more famous Britons you’ve probably never heard of” list. He made it to number 3 in the list, made up of nominations from readers.

Jeremy Thompson of Lexington, Kentucky – who nominated Craig – says “Craig Ferguson is a very well known talk show host here in the US. Ferguson was born in Glasgow but moved to the US in 1994 where he appeared on the Drew Carey show. Since 2004 Ferguson has been presenting The Late, Late Show on CBS and is favourite to take over The Late Show from David Letterman”.

BBC News – Magazine – “30 more famous Britons you’ve probably never heard”

If you haven’t visited the Late Late Show’s brand new website yet, it’s well worth a regular visit. It replaces its very old looking website. The new website features full episode streaming (US only), video clips from the show and all the usual things that were there on the old site.

Today (3rd January) marks Craig Ferguson’s fourth anniversary hosting the Late Late Show – he started his first shows back in January 2005.

Unlike the new Late Show With David Letterman website that launched earlier this year, this Late Late Show website replaces the existing one, instead of having two sites (the Late Show has their normal website and this one primarily for full episode streaming).

All US talk shows return with new programmes next week following the Christmas & New Year break. On Monday’s shows;

The Late Show With David Letterman will welcome British comedian Ricky Gervais, actress Kate Hudson and Scottish band Glasvegas. The Tonight Show With Jay Leno will have Terry Bradshaw, Jack Witherspoon and music from Iron & Wine.

Late Night With Conan O’Brien will have guests Benicio Del Toro, actress Sarah Chalke and Doyle & Debbie. The Daily Show With Jon Stewart will have David Gregory as a guest, and John King will be the guest on The Colbert Report.

Richard Lewis and Tracie Thoms will be on the Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson.

Other guests to look out for next week include Jimmy Fallon (Late Show), Kate Winslet (Late Show), Kiefer Sutherland (Late Show), Anne Hathaway (The Tonight Show), Dustin Hoffman (The Tonight Show), Daniel Craig (The Tonight Show), Kate Hudson (Late Night), Kate Hudson (The Daily Show), William Shatner (Late Late Show) and Amy Sedaris (Late Late Show).

Guest listings in full for next week and beyond are available here.

Cherie Blair – wife of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair – will be interviewed on the Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson next week (Tuesday 21st October). Tony Blair recently appeared on The Daily Show With Jon Stewart.

Update: Cherie Blair wasn’t on the 21st October show. It’s not known if her appearance will be rescheduled for a later date.

There’s an interesting insight into the workings behind the Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson on E! Online and what happens in preparation for a guest appearance. In E! Online’s The Soup Blog, host of The Soup show Joel McHale’s appearance on Craig Ferguson is reported. It makes quite an interesting read. Check it out – click here.

The host of the Late Late Show – Craig Ferguson – is rumoured to be top of the list to replace David Letterman on the Late Show when he retires from the CBS talk show in a few years. The Late Late Show – which airs directly after the Late Show With David Letterman on CBS in America and is produced by Letterman’s own production company Worldwide Pants Inc – has been a favourite with late night TV viewers and he recently – briefly – overtook Conan O’Brien in the ratings, beating Late Night With Conan O’Brien’s viewing figures.

Craig Ferguson recently ‘gigged’ at a George W. Bush press event & dinner, which he impressed 3000 people at what The Times say is “the toughest dinner-club comedy gig in the world”. The Times also say “it has put Ferguson… into the front row of contenders to take over the chat show hosted by his CBS stablemate Letterman when the veteran compere bows out gracefully over the next few years”. Scotsman Craig started out as a standup comedian under his alter ego of ‘Bing Hitler’ before he got the Late Late Show gig.

Times Online – “Craig Ferguson ‘may be next Letterman’”

The New York Times reports that – last week – the Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson overtook Late Night With Conan O’Brien in the ratings. More people were watching Craig than Conan. The Late Late Show follows David Letterman on CBS at 12.35am – the same time Late Night comes on NBC. The New York Times says “In ratings measured last week, Mr. Ferguson had more viewers than Mr. O’Brien on four of five nights and for the week overall, averaging 1.88 million viewers to 1.77 million for Mr. O’Brien”. Conan remains ahead in the 18 to 49 age bracket though.

The New York Times – “Ferguson Outdraws O’Brien”