69 Facts About Craig Ferguson

1.

Craig Ferguson was born on 17 May 1962 and is a Scottish-American comedian, actor, writer, and television host.

2.

Craig Ferguson is best known for hosting the CBS late-night talk show The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, for which he won a Peabody Award in 2009 for his interview with South African archbishop Desmond Tutu that year.

3.

Craig Ferguson hosted the syndicated game show Celebrity Name Game, for which he won two Daytime Emmy Awards, and Join or Die with Craig Ferguson on History.

4.

Craig Ferguson has written and starred in three films, directing one of them, and has appeared in several others.

5.

Craig Ferguson was born in Stobhill Hospital in the Springburn community district of Glasgow, to Robert, a post office worker and Scottish Nationalist and Janet Craig Ferguson, a primary school teacher on 17 May 1962.

6.

At age 16, Craig Ferguson left high school and began an apprenticeship to be an electronics technician at a local factory of American company Burroughs Corporation.

7.

Craig Ferguson's first visit to the United States was in 1975, when he was 13, to visit an uncle who lived on Long Island, near New York City.

8.

Craig Ferguson was later a bouncer at the nightclub Save the Robots before returning to Scotland.

9.

Craig Ferguson then had a brief stint as a drummer for the post-punk band Ana Hausen, who released a single for Human Records in 1981.

10.

Craig Ferguson then joined a punk band called The Bastards from Hell.

11.

Craig Ferguson first performed as the character in Glasgow, and was a hit at the 1986 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

12.

However, by the end of the year, Craig Ferguson was already discussing his intention to retire Bing.

13.

In 1990, a pilot of The Craig Ferguson Show, a one-off comedy pilot for Granada Television, was broadcast, co-starring Paul Whitehouse and Helen Atkinson-Wood.

14.

In 2022, an adaptation of Craig Ferguson's film Saving Grace was announced as a stage musical aimed for a 2023 run in West End, in which Craig Ferguson will portray a "villainous banker".

15.

Craig Ferguson moved to Los Angeles in November 1994, after his soon-to-be agent Rick Siegel saw Craig Ferguson during the Edinburgh Festival and suggested that he come to America.

16.

Craig Ferguson wrote and starred in three films: The Big Tease, Saving Grace, and I'll Be There; he directed the latter, for which he won the Audience Award for Best Film at the Aspen, Dallas, and Valencia film festivals.

17.

Craig Ferguson was named Best New Director at the Napa Valley Film Festival.

18.

Craig Ferguson's other acting credits in films include Niagara Motel, Lenny the Wonder Dog, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, Chain of Fools, Born Romantic, The Ugly Truth, Kick-Ass, and, as a voice-over actor, How to Train Your Dragon, How to Train Your Dragon 2, Brave, and Winnie the Pooh.

19.

Craig Ferguson has been touring the United States and Canada with a comedy show since the late 2000s, including a performance at Carnegie Hall on 23 October 2010 and a performance at Radio City Music Hall on 6 October 2012.

20.

Craig Ferguson was awarded the Peter Ustinov Comedy Award by the Banff World Media Festival on 11 June 2013.

21.

In December 2004, it was announced that Ferguson would succeed Craig Kilborn on CBS's The Late Late Show.

22.

Craig Ferguson's first show as the regular host aired on 3 January 2005.

23.

Craig Ferguson had a remotely operated robot skeleton named Geoff Peterson and two silent performers in a pantomime horse costume that were added in 2010.

24.

Craig Ferguson's monologues were conducted within a few feet of the camera versus the long distance Johnny Carson kept from the camera and audience.

25.

On 28 April 2014, Craig Ferguson announced he would leave The Late Late Show at the end of 2014, with the final episode airing on 19 December.

26.

Craig Ferguson's contract was set to expire in June 2014, but a six-month extension was agreed on to provide a more graceful exit and give CBS more time to find a replacement host.

27.

Craig Ferguson reportedly received as part of his contract because he was not selected as the replacement for David Letterman's Late Show.

28.

Craig Ferguson made the decision prior to Letterman's announcement but agreed to delay making his own decision public until the reaction to Letterman's decision had died down.

29.

Craig Ferguson has made guest appearances on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Late Show with David Letterman, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Rachael Ray, Countdown with Keith Olbermann, The Howard Stern Show, The Daily Show, The View, Loveline, Real Time with Bill Maher, The Soup, The Talk, The Price Is Right, Kevin Pollak's Chat Show, The Dennis Miller Show and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

30.

In 2009, Craig Ferguson made a cameo live-action appearance in the episode "We Love You, Conrad" on Family Guy.

31.

Craig Ferguson hosted the 32nd annual People's Choice Awards on 10 January 2006.

32.

From 2007 to 2010, Craig Ferguson hosted the Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular on 4 July, broadcast nationally by CBS.

33.

Craig Ferguson was the featured entertainer at 26 April 2008 White House Correspondents' Association dinner in Washington, DC.

34.

Craig Ferguson co-presented the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama with Brooke Shields in 2008.

35.

Craig Ferguson was the voice of Susan the boil on Futurama, which was a parody of Scottish singer Susan Boyle.

36.

Craig Ferguson makes stand-up appearances in Las Vegas and New York City.

37.

Craig Ferguson headlined in the Just for Laughs festival in Montreal and in October 2008 Ferguson taped his stand-up show in Boston for a Comedy Central special entitled A Wee Bit o' Revolution, which aired on 22 March 2009.

38.

On 6 November 2009, Craig Ferguson appeared as himself in a SpongeBob SquarePants special titled SpongeBob's Truth or Square.

39.

Craig Ferguson hosted Discovery Channel's 23rd season of Shark Week in 2010.

40.

Craig Ferguson briefly appeared in Toby Keith's "Red Solo Cup" music video released on 10 October 2011.

41.

Craig Ferguson reprised the role for several episodes when the show returned in March 2014.

42.

Channel Surf with Craig Ferguson will be produced by Whisper North and will be distributed by SPT.

43.

Craig Ferguson won Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Game Show Host for Celebrity Name Game in 2015 and 2016.

44.

Craig Ferguson signed in 2015 to play Prentiss Porter in The King of 7B, a comedy pilot for ABC.

45.

Since January 2021, Craig Ferguson has hosted the American game show The Hustler, which airs on ABC.

46.

On 27 February 2017, Ferguson launched The Craig Ferguson Show, a two-hour talk radio show on the Comedy Greats channel and Faction Talk on SiriusXM Satellite Radio.

47.

Craig Ferguson appeared at the Los Angeles Festival of Books, as well as other author literary events.

48.

Craig Ferguson revealed in an interview that he is writing a sequel to the book, to be titled The Sphynx of the Mississippi.

49.

Craig Ferguson stated in a 2006 interview with David Letterman that he intends the book to be the first in a trilogy.

50.

Craig Ferguson signed a deal with HarperCollins to publish his memoirs.

51.

Craig Ferguson wrote a short story for In Sunlight or in Shadow, an anthology edited by Lawrence Block and featuring works inspired by the paintings of Edward Hopper.

52.

Block is a favorite writer of Craig Ferguson's and appeared multiple times on The Late Late Show.

53.

On 10 October 2018, Craig Ferguson announced his third book via Twitter, Riding the Elephant: A Memoir of Altercations, Humiliations, Hallucinations, and Observations which released 7 May 2019.

54.

Craig Ferguson is a fan of Scottish football team Partick Thistle FC as well as the television show Doctor Who.

55.

Craig Ferguson holds an FAA private pilot certificate, issued in 2009.

56.

Craig Ferguson has five tattoos which include the Join, or Die political cartoon on his right forearm; a Ferguson family crest with the Latin motto Dulcius ex asperis on his upper right arm in honour of his father; and a Celtic cross with the Ingram clan motto Magnanimus esto on his upper left arm in honour of his mother.

57.

Craig Ferguson has often said that his Join, or Die tattoo represents his American patriotism.

58.

Craig Ferguson has stated that his comedy influences include Monty Python, Marx Brothers, The Three Stooges, Laurel and Hardy and David Letterman.

59.

Craig Ferguson eulogised his father Robert on an episode of The Late Late Show in January 2006.

60.

Craig Ferguson has two sisters and one older brother.

61.

Craig Ferguson's younger sister, Lynn Ferguson Tweddle, is a comedian, presenter and actress, who voiced Mac in the 2000 stop-motion animation film Chicken Run.

62.

Craig Ferguson was a writer on The Late Late Show until July 2011.

63.

Craig Ferguson was in a relationship with the actress Helen Atkinson-Wood for 5 years.

64.

Craig Ferguson's second marriage was to Sascha Corwin, with whom he has one child, born in 2001.

65.

Craig Ferguson married art dealer Megan Wallace-Cunningham in a private ceremony on her family's farm in Chester, Vermont in 2008.

66.

Craig Ferguson received honorary citizenship from Alaska, Arkansas, Indiana, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Wyoming, and was "commissioned" as an admiral in the tongue-in-cheek Nebraska Navy.

67.

Craig Ferguson received similar honours from various towns and cities, including Ozark, Arkansas; Hazard, Kentucky; and Greensburg, Pennsylvania.

68.

Craig Ferguson became an American citizen on 1 February 2008 and broadcast the taking of his citizenship test as well as his swearing in on The Late Late Show.

69.

Craig Ferguson moved back to his native Scotland in 2019 and has been trying to sell his Los Angeles home.