Le Late Late Show avec Craig Ferguson
All this week, the Late Late Show comes to us from the City of Lights. The result of an intense week of taping all across Paris and the surrounding area will be a fast-paced tour of its most prominent landmarks as only Craig Ferguson can show us.  Earlier on Monday, Late Late Show producer Michael Naidus tweeted:

Tonight from Paris: New city, new language, new opening, new theme song, new bus, and the most delightful book shop owner in the world.

Monday’s show features the Eiffel Tower, perhaps the city’s most iconic symbol, and later moves to a famous bookshop.  The RSA’s @MissGraoully was able to follow Craig & Company throughout the week and took many behind the scenes pictures:

She will be sending more pictures through the week. Our thanks to her! And the RSA’s @003lili was at the bookstore for the taping, captured two moments here and here on her video camera. She also sent us three of her favorite pictures of the day. She promises more pictures to come this week, too. Thanks to lili!

Vacation in Scotland
As Craig mentioned last week during his talk show appearances, he’ll be spending at least part of his vacation in Scotland.  His sister Lynn and her husband are traveling there as well.  As he prepared to take off for London on Sunday night, he tweeted a picture:

Sgt. Nicholas McGehee. US Army. Vet of 2 tours in Iraq and my seat buddy on the flight to London. // http://yfrog.com/kl8s5dj Sgt McGehee. US Army. Purple Heart recipient.

Thanks to Craig for sending the picture and our thanks to Sgt. McGehee for his service!  Upon landing at London’s Heathrow Airport, Craig tweeted:

Landed. London. Been a while. Crikey, blimey guvnor better get some petrol for my lorry etc. // Changing planes at LHR is a nightmare but the next one goes to Glasgow. #worthit.

As a parting gift from Canada, the Montreal Gazette declared the Craig was “on fire” as a host and could have done an entire show on his own. They also credited him with the best joke of the week, which they include at the end of the article.
Press Coverage Swells
With this week’s shows coming from Paris, media coverage has been building to a fever pitch. Monday’s New York Magazine Vulture blog includes a list of eight things Craig learned in Paris.  Examiner.com talks about the upcoming shows.  MILD SPOILERS:  Entertainment Tonight offers a preview of Craig’s travels with Kristen Bell at the palace of Versailles.  We’ll see more of the palace on Thursday’s show. If we can obtain a copy of ET’s full story, we’ll post it here.

Video courtesy: Entertainment Tonight

Craig as a Doctor Who Villain?
On Friday’s Late Late Show, guest Matt Smith claimed that he had the producers of Doctor Who backstage and offered to give Craig a guest starring role on a future episode. Who knows if it will happen but we think Craig would make a great villain, as do the people at Anglotopia.net.  The website flickfilosopher.com also covered Smith’s appearance.  And Friday’s other guest, fashion designer Tim Gunn (Tim Gunn) was mentioned by DigitalSpy.com for his comments about Lady Gaga’s meat dress.


Bone Patrol
The RSA’s @doxieone1 wondered what the promotional poster for the show Bone Patrol would look like.  GP and the Fergs take the streets.  Is there a battery in the sidecar to plug in Geoff?



UPDATED – Full Interview Craig on The Talk
Craig appeared in a pre-taped segment on the CBS daytime talk show The Talk on Monday. Here is the complete interview provided by CBS, including the definition of the word “Fergasm”. Does it get any better than that?

Video courtesy: CBS

Tonight’s Show
Monday on “Le Late Late Show”, Craig tours the Eiffel Tower, chats with bookstore owner Sylvia Beach Whitman and more.  Tuesday’s show features actress Kristen Bell, comedian Eddie Izzard and French actor Jean Reno.

Paris, Here We Come!
It’s been a long and interesting wait.  First, Craig Ferguson learned that a French comedian was doing an “homage” to the Late Late Show for French television.  He  invited Jacques “Arthur” Essebag to be a guest on his show in Los Angeles and Arthur invited Craig to return the favor.  Six months later, Craig did more than that… not only taping an appearance on Arthur’s show (to air in France in September) but bringing a crew to Paris to tape a week’s worth of episodes of the Late Late Show.  And now, after Craig & Company’s hard work, we’ll see the fruits of their labors August 1st through the 5th on CBS.  Robot skeletons have been bouncing off the walls of the hollowed out volcano in anticipation!  The Paris guest list is below, along with some hints of what we’ll be seeing.  The media have been buzzing all week about Craig’s show, including brief mentions Sunday in the Orlando Sentinel and the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

UPDATE:  LLS Producer Michael Naidus tweeted:

Tonight from Paris: New city, new language, new opening, new theme song, new bus, and the most delightful book shop owner in the world.

[stextbox id=”custom”]In case you missed in over the weekend, CBS sent out a preview video for Craig’s week of shows in Paris. It contains a few spoilers about locations and guests, as well as a couple of “insider” video clips. If you’d rather wait until next week to be surprised, do not click the arrow.
For those outside the US, the clip should now work for you!
SPOILER ALERT!
[stb id=”custom” caption=”Paris Preview Video”]

Video courtesy: CBS

[/stb]
Spoilers End Here
[/stextbox]

Craig Charms Boston
Craig Ferguson has made Boston a regular stand for his live comedy tour and he returned Sunday night to charm a sellout crowd at the Wilbur Theatre, along with his opening act, Boston comedian Dan Bulger. The show wraps up a fantastically busy week for the Late Late Show host, who is now on a well-deserved summer break for the next three weeks.  Craig tweeted from the theater before the show:

http://yfrog.com/h378476359j Dressing room at the Wilbur theater in Boston. Notice hole in door for tall slanted voyeurs.

The both tall and slanted Bob Saget replied:

I made that hole.

And Craig added:

http://yfrog.com/gycdpgzj. Bathroom backstage at Wilbur Theater in Boston. All the greats of Vaudeville went here. #showbizglamorstories

We have seen some wonderful pictures from fans as well, including @pibbles8‘s great look at the marquee outside the theater.

The Wilbur Theatre posted some photos of Craig on stage:

We also enjoyed @ProperAmtOfSuck‘s view from her seats before the show.   Remember, if you attended the shows in Toronto, Montreal or Boston, we’d like to hear your stories.  Please use our Contact form or tweet us a link to @RSA_News.  Linda from the RSA was at the show in Toronto on Friday night and sent us this story:

[stextbox id=”custom”]This was Craig’s fourth time appearing at Massey Hall (first as host of a Just For Laughs gala, and then three standup performances), and I’ve been lucky enough to be there each time. He totally made himself at home on Friday with a very Canadian-themed show, and he even made an encore appearance when his standing ovation kept going after the house lights were turned on. It ended on a perfect note with someone calling out “We love you, Craig!” and he answered “I love you, too!” We hope we’ll continue to be blessed and that he’ll come back to Toronto often in the years to come. He’s a great talent and a great person.
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Montreal Digs Craig
[pullquote] “Ferguson was on fire and could have likely done 90 minutes of stand-up all on his own.”
–Montreal Gazette [/pullquote]Check out the outstanding review of Craig’s performance at the Just For Laughs Comedy Festival in Sunday’s Montreal Gazette.  It looks like they’re learning what the robot skeleton army has known for a long time!  And on laughspin.com, the editors of Punchline Magazine were blown away by Saturday’s lineup.  Thanks to the RSA’s @bgrhubarb for the latter link.

Craig on The Talk
The appearance was pre-recorded late last week but we’ll get to see it Monday as Craig returns to mix things up with the ladies of the CBS daytime chat-fest The Talk. Here is a preview:

Video courtesy: CBS

This Week’s Guests
It’s the Paris episodes of the Late Late Show all this week! On Monday, Craig tours the Eiffel Tower and chats with bookstore owner Sylvia Beach Whitman.  On Tuesday, Craig talks with actress Kristen Bell, comedian Eddie Izzard and French actor Jean Reno.  Wednesday, Craig visits the Louvre and visits with Jean-Michel Cousteau.  Craig tours the Palace of Versailles on Thursday.  And on Friday, the week ends with a bang as Craig performs at the Moulin Rouge.  Other guests confirmed to be on the show and scattered through the week are shoe designer Christian Louboutin, TV presenter and French royalty expert Stéphane Berne, cheesemaker Marie-Anne Cantin and TV host/comedian Jacques “Arthur” Essebag plus other surprises.  Don’t miss it!