‘Late Late Show’ Finale: Craig Ferguson Gets Quirky Sendoff From Jay Leno

Craig Ferguson said goodbye to The Late Late Show with a little help from guest Jay Leno and a few dozen other stars.

Watch more ‘Colbert Report’ Gets All-Star Sendoff

The opening featured a star-filled video of Ferguson singing “Bang Your Drum” by Dead Man Falls, with a little help from Samuel L. Jackson, Jeff Daniels, Steve Carell, Quentin Tarantino, Lisa Kudrow, Marion Cotillard, Betty White, Regis Philbin and many more. 

But what will likely be talked about was what happened when the horse Secretariat took off his mask for the first time, revealing Bob Newhart was underneath. That led to a meta moment in which Ferguson channeled the controversial series finale of Newhart. Ferguson (as his Drew Carey Show character Mr. Wick) woke up in bed next to Drew Carey, to recount the horrible dream he’d had of being a talk show host.

In his final opening monologue, Ferguson — who became a U.S. citizen during his tenure as host — says becoming a member of a nation was the most “astonishing” thing that happened to him while working on the show.

“I wanted to do this show, and now we’ve done this show, and if you will indulge me in whatever I am doing now and come to whatever I do next, I’d be very grateful, because my kids are still young,” he said.

Leno has already shown he can really loosen up in his post-Tonight Show stage, admitting to not having any interest in the stories of one of his reality-star guests — so much so that when she approached him in the parking lot for a photo, he didn’t even realize he’d interviewed her earlier in the day.

Ferguson and Leno traded niceties, with Leno complimenting the Late Late Show host for not becoming embroiled in the late-night wars.

“You’ve always been fair. You didn’t join the late-night talk-show snippy club,” said Leno.

Ferguson began hosting Late Late in 2005. James Corden will take over the show in March, and CBS has tapped a series of guests hosts for the interim. Ferguson is the second late-night host in two days to sign off, with Stephen Colbert ending his Colbert Report run Thursday.

Email: Aaron.Couch@THR.com
Twitter: @AaronCouch