Great Scot! Craig Ferguson on Being an Alcoholic
April 1st, 2007, by Hilko
My favorite comedy is usually the deadpan, verbal kind, filled with non-sequitars, satire, one-liners, understatement, irony, and so on. The most common form of this is stand-up comedy; people like Mitch Hedberg, and Richard Pryor. My absolute favorite comedian, though, is Craig Ferguson. Let me explain.
Craig Ferguson hosts the ‘Late Late Show’ on CBS, and usually starts with a 10-15 minute monologue on the latest news, followed by other funny segments (like the David Rumsfeld remembrance), and some great interviews.
The monologues are generally hilarous, and made even funnier because of his deadpan Scottish delivery. He makes most of it up as he goes, weaving current events into one narrative, all the while ridiculing of himself, famous people and Bob Barker (who retaliated by smashing his desk, on-air).
Recently, he had a bit of a change of heart regarding his ridiculing of others. After treating Kevin Costner to some verbal abuse, he bumped into him at a party. After noticing that Costner had seen the clip, and wasn’t happy about it, he suddenly realized what he was doing; the objects of ridicule were real people, who could be hurt by his words.
And so, to make amends, he devotes an entire monologue to his earlier ridiculing of Britney Spears, and her apparent personal problems. He apologizes for making fun of ‘weak people’, and speaks openly about his own weakness, his struggle with alcoholism. How he’s still an alcoholic, despite not having had a drop of alcohol for fiteen years. It’s powerful, enlightening, and very honest. See for yourself:
In another episode of the Late Late Show, he eulogises his recently deceased father. Again, very open and honest.
It’s this quality that makes him my favorite comedian. Sure, he gets paid to be funny, so he does that most of the time. But because of the freedom he has on the show, he sometimes takes his time to be honest about things, and as far as I know, he’s the first talk show host / comedian with the guts to do that. The fact that he manages to be funny even then, is a nice bonus.
So there, my person, gushing tribute to Craig Ferguson. I’d marry him if it was possible and not frowned upon by my parents. Look him up on youtube for more free, unique hilarity…
Technorati Tags: artist, comedy, video