Craig Ferguson was THE WORST talk show host of all time

I enjoyed his show. He had two qualities that I like a lot a man: a good sense of humor and a big dick.

OP = Jay Leno

He wasn't the worst. Magic Johnson was

You have terrible taste, OP. Craig was great.

He certainly wasn't the worst in a genre that also included Chevy Chase, Pat Sajak, and many, many more.

Disagree. Check out his interviews with Robin Williams, Ewan McGregor and his sombre piece when Britney shaved her head. He is witty, charming and intelligent. I think he didnt have much patience for vapid, brain dead celebrities.

I found him charming.

[quote]Disagree. Check out his interviews with Robin Williams, Ewan McGregor and his sombre piece when Britney shaved her head.

I couldn't bear it. HARD pass.

I loved him, he was so much better than that fat little pig they replaced him with.

At first I was shocked as I was only familiar with his acting from sitcom The Drew Carey Show. Once I watched his show a few times, I found him to be the best of the late night hosts. He lead with intelligence and compassion. Check out his monologue during the Britney Spears breakdown. I remember being floored by his brutal honesty. I miss him

He was the best one. I loved his don't give a shit attitude and I would have fucked that robot.

He made the starlets blush because he revealed most of them as the whores they are. That's not sexist, because some of the starlets were men.

I couldn’t stand him either. I hated when he took over for Craig Kilborne.

Who???

Craig Kilborne was overgrown frat boy trash who failed every show he hosted.

R13 = Unfunny Ferg

OP = James Corden

Nope.

Trevor Noah is the worst.

He's absolutely horrible.

I don't think I've ever even cracked a smile during his show.

Are you sure, OP? I watched Jimmy Fallon interview Grace Jones. I had to call a suicide help line when I was done. Nobody should be able to deflate a healthy mind the way he does. No one.

Craig was great, especially his monologues.

Highly intelligent but always laughing at some inside joke. I hated that and tuned him out.

Craig was very funny, always made his guest feel relaxed and let it all hang out.

Another unfunny UK import trying to get on American television. Now if that fucker Corden would go away.

[quote]Another unfunny UK import trying to get on American television.

"Trying"?

The worst would either be Chevy Chase or Stephen Colbert.

Craig should've stayed on The Drew Carey Show.

Loved him. And r16 has it right.

Loved him. He got royally fucked over by Letterman because Letterman didn't want another succession debacle, i.e. someone to replace him when his ratings slipped, so he owned the 12:30 show. He sabotaged Ferguson, especially by not letting him have a sidekick or a band. (The robot shtick was a Craig's response.) Some of the sillier stuff wasn't my kind of humour, but I get where it came from.

IMHO, he was at his best when he was most himself. That manifested in his monologues eulogizing his parents, and the Britney monologue. Maybe because I'm mentally ill, this was my favourite-this took balls, and it was his decision.

You are completely insane, OP. He was the best late night talk show host and it's an absolute crime his show was cancelled.

No, it was fun. I genuinely LIKE Craig which I can't say about any of the rest of them. Well maybe Dave now that he's old and worked through his issues.

[quote]The worst would either be Chevy Chase or Stephen Colbert.

I don't think so. Stephen Colbert's interview with Bill O'Reilly is pure genius, especially when the latter starts promoting his book at the 3:20 mark.

He was a mean drunk and they made him step down. He's a pariah now.

Craig Ferguson's hilarious interview with Simon Amstell.

Michael Parkinson is a horrible interviewer. He makes it very much about himself. And it's obvious if he doesn't like the guest.

Who is Michael Parkinson?

If the guest is a dud, there's only so much the host can do.

He definitely wasn't the worst, not that there's much to compare him to these days. He had the potential to be one of the all time best and was sometimes, but he could be a bit jaded, leaned into a sort of vapid quirkiness too much, and that attitude kept him from being as good as he could have been, in my opinion.

He was the BEST of all time. Extremely underrated

Ferguson seemed to genuinely like his guests, whereas Letterman seemed to despise his.

He was the only night show host I have actually liked. The last two years or so of his show, whenever he re-upped his contract for the last time, he started phoning it in. You could tell he was over it and only there for money. Prior to that, he was very good.

Craig was great. Loved his charm. Letterman was a fantastic interviewer but I got the impression he was very arrogant and thought he was better than everyone else.

Conan's show was funny too but he is not really skilled as an interviewer. Another guy who got screwed over by Leno. Loved when Norm MacDonald went on his show to cheer him up.

[quote] Who is Michael Parkinson?

A British tv presenter, who is probably their most iconic celebrity tv interviewer.

[quote]A British tv presenter, who is probably their most iconic celebrity tv interviewer.

and even worse than Ferguson and giggly Graham Norton.

I loved Craig Ferguson's show. It was the rare show that actually was smart about interviews, and would occasionally have on writers, artists, etc. which almost every other show ignores now, because a network show has to always be cross-promoting.

I can see that his weird stream of consciousness opening comedy bits may not have been for everyone (though I loved his chats with the robot, and the Sid the Cussing Bunny bits always made me laugh.)

I wanted to sit in Lesbian Row.

He raised the bar as a talk show host! Never underestimate the power and importance of silly.

One of my first comments here on dear ol’ DL was something about how he was not funny and another poster rightly told me to piss off. So that night I did stay up to watch his show—I’d only seen it once or twice before and just did not get it—and that night he started off very serious. He said the night’s episode was supposed to be a repeat of a previous show but…they’d lost the videotape. So they were going to have to recreate the entire previous episode. It was so dumb and so funny. Became a fan then and there.

Michael Parkinson forgot people tuned in for the celebrity he interviewed not him (besides old biddies who liked the curmudgeon).

R34 nailed it for me. He used to do wild hand movements and put on a 'silly' voice too often and it would just fill minutes and minutes of the actual interview time with quirk and him smugly laughing at his own jokes. The robot side kick thing was IMMENSELY unfunny. I actually found those 'interactions' genuinely hard to watch. I generally him and like him on podcasts etc, but just not on his show where he would be so extra.

Still, we've had worse I think. Fallon's faux naiveté with every guest is weird and Michael Jackson-esque and very unwatchable.

He was the only one worthy to take Carson's mantle.

Letterman was always overrated.

R45 Letterman was too snarky, and sadly all the current ones took after him.

He was hilarious 😂😂😂

I always liked him. I didn’t like Craig Kilborn and I HATE Jimmy Fallon as a host.

I’ve only liked to talk show hosts.

Johnny Carson and Craig Ferguson

I hate them all.

I hate how they have a table and the guests don't.

The guests are obliged to display their groin while the hosts don't.

R51 hates groins.

R51 wins the NELLIE PRISSPOT 🔥🔥🔥 OF THE DAY award!

Hard disagree.

I was over late night hosts by the time I got into Craig's show. I just thought of him as, "the guy from Drew Carey."

After catching it a few times, I realized that I genuinely loved him.

I also liked Conan most of the time. (But that's someone who really dominates an interview and took a long time how to figure out when to pull back.)

R54 I like Conan and when he hits the mark it's brilliant. But yeah, I didn't always like his interviews as much as his comic riffs - his filmed bits were the best.

Conan once gave the sharpest monologues on television. And the rest of the show was superior as well. Then it all went south overnight (Lost the writers?) and the show became unwatchable.

He's the most likeable man on earth compared to that needy pig Corden.