Late Night Ramblings

All this news of late night television tore open a long-forgotten wound, which had since scabbed over ages ago. Luckily for me, the reason this scar was ripped open was because I found a way to heal it.

When Conan O'Brien left the 12:35am timeslot for 11:35pm, I wasn't sure how to fill that void. His replacement, Jimmy Fallon, has long been seen in my eyes as an incompetent entertainer with no comedic timing or any semblance of a stage presence to keep me from changing the channel. The Roots, who he hired to be his late-night band, are one of my favorite acts and I respect the fact that Fallon introduced the greatest band of all time, Guns N' Roses, at the VMAs with genuine enthusiasm, but the man's musical taste can never make up for his inability to flawlessly deliver a truly funny joke.

My schedule for TV viewing was pretty set for awhile. 11pm-12am I'd watch the Daily Show and the Colbert Report before tuning to CBS where I could watch Letterman interview his guests. Then at 12:35pm, the show I'd been waiting for all along would come on, and the night would be set. When Conan moved to 11:35pm, I had to change my viewing habits, which of course I did for him. Even though I have nothing but respect and admiration for Colbert and Letterman, they'd have to be viewed as either reruns or on DVR.

But what would I watch at 12:35am?

Jimmy Fallon? No.

What about Craig Ferguson? I loved him on the Drew Carey show, but I'd never watched him before, and it didn't occur to start now.

Eventually, I forgot about how comforting it was to have Conan there at 12:35am to keep me company in bed, and stopped looking for a daily replacement. But recently, upon recommendation from a friend, I gave Craig Ferguson a shot. And you know what? He was hilarious. His jokes were great, his improvisations when things didn't go according to plan were priceless, and his interviews were honest, relaxed, and thoroughly entertaining. So I started asking myself, Why haven't I given this guy a chance before?

I began to think about it, and came up with one major issue.

• His Set

The reason I always changed the channel was because the man's studio is so small. It looks like the crowd has to hunch over if they ever think of standing up. Ferguson is also forced to do his monologue standing directly in front of the camera, which is probably psychologically threatening in some way. Not to mention the claustrophobia invoked by the whole combination. And then there's the lighting situation. With everything so dim it borders on depressing, not something a late night comedy show wants to convey.

But regardless, now that I realize how enjoyable his program is I have no choice but to apologize to Mr. Ferguson for never giving him a chance, and make-up for it by giving him my dedicated viewership. I'll just have to hope his success will bring him a studio bigger and brighter than a closet of unused clothes.

And hopefully you'll watch too.

-- Steve Creswick
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