Day Fourteen - Craig Ferguson: Does This Need To Be Said? or, "Yes. Yes, it does."

I haven't watched broadcast television, let alone late-night broadcast television in several years.

Now, that's not to say that I don't watch any first-run shows and just wait for Netflix. While that is true most of the time, in the case of The Daily Show/Colbert Report, Community, and Castle... my internet (or, rather, my work's internet while I'm on lunch break) does a pretty good job of bringing me the shows I need in a prompt and relatively commercial free environ.

Still, I remember the days when I was living in that little studio cottage in Aztec, where the only channel I got on the only television I could afford was the fuzzy translator of our local CBS affiliate. It, of course, brought me the Late Late Show. Now, I generally wouldn't stay for the guests, just the opening monologue, but what I did stay for was funny and topical (something I could rarely say for Leno and Letterman at the time).

This comedy special was a little dated, what with it's Tiger Woods and Fabio vs. Goose jokes, but it was definitely funny.

Sure, he's a little bit silly and some of his physical comedy didn't connect with me, but any time he wasn't dancing about I was actually laughing quite a bit. And that's a rarity with me and standup. You have to be pretty darn good to get more than a few grins and chortles out of me. Here, there were at least two or three times that I felt genuine tears forming at the crinkles of my eyes, squinting as I was in laughter.

I'm being completely serious when I say that's a rarity for me. There are very few comedians who can bring me to that level of enjoyment. Off the top of my head, the only one I can think of is Eddie Izzard.

Whether it's his jabs at celebrities, alcoholism, or sex, Ferguson is at the top of his game here, I think, with my only criticism being that he relies too much on being topical. It's also nice to hear him curse, which is a key point in his opening jokes. He's censored too much by necessity of being on the airwaves... even on a late, late show like he is. I wish we were to a place in society where we weren't so worried about words, but we aren't it seems.

I'd definitely recommend this special. Great stuff for me... and hopefully you.

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~