From US talk show host to Glasgow stand up: Craig Ferguson on his homecoming
In Pants on Fire the comedian, author, TV host turns his wry humour onto his transatlantic life and career
Scottish comedian, author and TV host Craig Ferguson returns to live stand up comedy with a homecoming gig in Glasgow with his Pants on Fire world tour this month.
The host of the hugely popular US TV Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson on CBS from 2005-14 lives in New York with his wife, art dealer Megan Wallace Cunningham and family and has enjoyed a long TV career, much of it in America.
Born in Glasgow in 1962, Ferguson grew up in Cumbernauld and started out as a drummer in punk bands, then became an actor before landing his own BBC TV show, The Ferguson Theory and taking to the comedy circuit. Arriving in America in 1995 he soon began his long US TV and film career, which has seen him act, write, direct, and pick up a host of nominations and awards as well as continuing with a sell-out stand up comedy career.
Ferguson has also turned his talents to writing bestsellers, with his first novel Between the Bridge and the River, followed by the Grammy-nominated American on Purpose, inspired by his becoming a US citizen in 2008. His most recent book, Riding the Elephant - A Memoir of Altercations, Humiliations, Hallucinations & Observations (2019), is a series of linked biographical stories that throw light on his personal growth and finding sobriety, upbringing, career, fame, all told with eloquence, honesty and humour.
As well as performing live, he currently hosts Joy: A Podcast with Craig Ferguson, where he turns his wry observational humour on where life takes him. Taking to the stage in Glasgow to share his jokes, stories and observations, Ferguson is ready to tell the truth about his life and career. Or is he?
What's in the show, Pants on Fire and is the title from the rhyme, ‘liar, liar, pants on fire’?
The reason I called it Pants on Fire is a clue that it's true, but only about 80% of it. It’s an anecdotal show, stories and stuff that happened.
But what it is not, the only thing it is definitely not, is political. I made a decision about 10 or so years ago to set myself a stylistic challenge of not talking about politics. And I've kind of stuck to it because I kind of like it. It's tricky sometimes, because there's such a wealth of material there, but it forces you to do anecdotal stuff. So basically it's stuff that happened to me. And mostly stuff that is true.
Sometimes you sound like you're not sure what happened yourself?
If you go back far enough, that's absolutely true. I'm not that sure. I am the tricky source of these particular tales. And people remember stuff differently anyway. As her late Majesty the Queen said ‘ recollections may vary’.
Do you change it for a Scottish audience?
I change it for every audience. I mean it doesn't come out the same way every night. So if I'm doing a show in Chicago, I'm going to talk a bit about Chicago. Obviously, for a Scottish audience, it'll change a bit more because there's a shorthand. It's not like I'm from out of town when I'm doing Scotland.
Your Scottish date from the tour is in Glasgow, a homecoming. You grew up in Cumbernauld. Did you like growing up in a new town?
I did not. I do not have great memories of it. That's got me into trouble with the good folk in Cumbernauld in the past because some of them really like it. But I didn't love it. I've got a feeling it's probably much nicer now than it was then, but I didn't love it. It felt bleak to me. Whenever we would go into Glasgow, because my grandparents lived there, I always felt it was much more exciting. Glasgow felt like New York or something compared to Cumbernauld. It felt like a big city vibe and I loved that.
With Pants on Fire, why did you want to tour in the UK and Europe?
The truth is, I haven't played in Britain for 30 years. I'm doing two gigs in the UK, one in London and one in Glasgow, then we're doing some around Europe. I just haven't done it in such a long time, and the European tour came up and I said my family will kill me if I'm playing in Paris and I don't do Glasgow. And also I want to.
I tell a lie. I did the Edinburgh Festival in 2019, one show in The Playhouse and I loved it. But doing the Edinburgh Festival again doesn't work timewise, and I wanted to do Glasgow anyway.
Do you like doing live shows?
I like to do it. I kind of started in stand-up. It’s kind of like if I was a musician, if you learn to play the guitar when you're a teenager and you do well, you'll maybe play other instruments, join a band, conduct an orchestra, write a movie score, you'll do other things, but what you'd really like to do is play the guitar. And I feel like I've done a lot of other things, but what I really like to do is what I did when I started. It feels very comfortable to me. I know how to do it. And I feel confident doing it.
Have you always been able to talk easily? Did you talk a lot at school and growing up, were you a chatty family?
We were a chatty family at home, but at school keeping your head down was a better idea. So I wasn’t particularly chatty outside, but in the house, yes, we were always yelling at the telly. My mother always had something to say about who was on Top of the Pops and all that. But outside no, I was following the same rules as every other kid then, which was only say what you need to say and avoid trouble.
You live in New York. Are you going to go and see Scotland play in the football World Cup?
I’m thinking about it. I'm not too far away. The first couple of games are Boston. I'll probably turn up. It's pretty exciting. I’m in America, it'd be churlish not to.
You appreciate art and like to buy it occasionally. What's the last piece you bought?
It’s been a minute. But we got a couple of early Peter Howsons. I love them. I love Howson. It's funny, I used to think it was very kind of stylistic but if you think of Glasgow in the 1970s, you realise that Peter Howson is a super realist.
Your new CNN show, American On Purpose, when does that air?
It starts on May 22nd. We're still in post production now, putting it together. It’s five hour-long shows.
Is it about American places, or the people, or both?
We go to different places, but it's about Americans, who we are and how we see ourselves. Because it's such a huge subject. Sometimes you get these lazy passes about America, people say, ‘the thing about America’, and you go, ‘are you talking about the people there or the people over there?’ They're all Americans but it's so wildly diverse all in one country that you could make another 50 shows. It's fascinating.
You lived back in Scotland for a while.
Yeah, we came back about 2017, 2018, because we wanted to move out of LA and weren’t sure where to go, and we thought it'd be good if our youngest went to school in Scotland and he did.
But what happened was, I found my life is here. Our lives are here, and I found myself in an airplane day in, day out. Every time I had to go to work I was on a transatlantic flight. And so it was pretty hard to make work work, if you like. And then when it was time for him to go to high school, that's when we thought if we move now, he won’t be the new kid at a school. So we moved back.
So you're back in New York now?
Yeah. And right now I'm up in New England where my wife’s family is from. There's tons of them so we're up here. On her father's side, her grandfather was Wally Cunningham who was from Fleshmarket Close in Edinburgh. So we’ve been there and have photographs of the kids there. It's very different now than it was when Wally Cunningham was born there. But he's moved on a few years ago.
Looking back at your late night talk show The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson? Which guests stood out?
Well, there are a lot, because there are over 2,000 shows. Obviously you don't talk to Desmond Tutu every day, and that, of course, did stay with me. To talk to someone like that is amazing. There are people I remember with great fondness who were regular guests on the show - Robin Williams was such a lovely man and we became friendly off the show. Carrie Fisher was the same. You kind of remember the people that aren't around anymore, you know?
But there were so many people. Sometimes you just go, ‘wow, I can't believe that happened’. But you are busy, you know, you're moving around at the time.
Is that why you've written two memoirs, because so much has happened?
I think the first one, American On Purpose, that's a straight up kind of autobiography. Riding The Elephant is not an autobiography, more a collection of stories that kind of come together. After I finished The Late Late Show I wanted to reset myself in some odd way. Because when you're doing a show like that you feed the beast every day. And so writing something that's a wee bit more meditative is like changing your pants [trousers], taking a clean plate.
Have you ever been starstruck interviewing somebody?
Initially, a wee bit. The first or second week of the show, Little Richard was on and that was like meeting Elvis or something. Crazy. But if you do a show like that, very quickly fame, even extreme fame, becomes demystified and you get used to it, so very quickly that goes away. I do remember sitting across from Little Richard and going, ‘f*** me, Little Richard, I'm talking to him. It's crazy, you know?’ The 10 minutes I talked to him I thought he was f***ing wonderful. And that body of work and what he did. He changed music and he's amazing.
Does humour vary across America, is it different in the south to the north, New York to LA?
I kind of selfishly bring myself to it, go and tell my stories, do my thing and talk about it. If I do a gig in say Birmingham, Alabama, I can't talk about life in Birmingham, Alabama, because I'm only there for a night.
So do people laugh at the same parts of the show?
For the most part, because it is anecdotal. I think humour is a great kind of uniter of things. Obviously, it's very different for a hometown crowd. I'm not entirely sure I've ever played in Glasgow doing stand up solo. And I've been sober 34 years. We'll see how we go.
Where is home now to you?
I'm trying to think if it's New England or New York, but it's America. It’s where my kids are. And all my stuff. Does it make you less Scottish being here?’ I don't think so. I don't know how you measure that anyway. I just think home’s where your kids and family are. I don't question it too much.
It's funny, if I’m walking down Byres Road, that always feels very at home to me. I’'ve been doing it since I was a kid. There are certain places in the world where I feel very at home and one of them is New York City, no doubt about it, but also the West End of Glasgow. There's something about Ashton Lane, Byres Road, Great Western Road, all around there that I feel like I belong.
So are you still a UK citizen too?
I have both, yeah.
Is it a good time to be an American, with everything that's going on in the world?
It's my identity, part of who I am. Am I delighted about everything that's going on? Probably about as much as everybody else.
It’s a conscious decision to not put politics in your show…
I’m very, very clear about that. Of course, I have political opinions, political discussions, but I do not have them publicly and I don't have them on stage. I don't know about you but I'm sick of listening to people that I f***ing agree with. Let’s talk about something else for a minute.
And also I feel like it’s my job if I'm doing a show - and I think this comes from doing stand-up back in the day and meeting old Scottish comedians - to give people two hours where they don't have to f***ing worry about their lives. All the things that you're angry about and that are annoying you will still be there when you leave the theatre. It's my job to give you a couple hours break.
Who are your comedy heroes?
Oh, Billy [Connolly] of course. I adore him, and he's the man. Billy was the lighthouse. He's almost exactly 20 years older than me, so when he was in his early 30s and just breaking through I was 11, 12, 13 years old, and I'd listen to the albums when I shouldn't have been. He was on my late night show a bunch and I've run into him over the years and he doesn't disappoint, Billy. He's as nice a man as he is funny and that's a hell of a thing because he's pretty funny. He's into art as well.
If you could go back to speak to your childhood self, the young boy in Cumbernauld doing his milk round, what would you say?
Lighten up, son! Brighten up, and you're right, keep your head down. Maybe watch the bevvy. It’s not going to work for you. That's definitely what I'd say.
After all these years sober, is that the best decision you’ve ever made, or was it getting married to Megan? Or something else?
Well, there's no getting married to anybody if it wasn't sober. I think that getting sober is the linchpin, that's the load bearing beam in my life. If you look at the evidence, I don't get sober, none of this happens. None of it.
Craig Ferguson, Pants on Fire, Sunday 25 April, O2 Academy, Glasgow. Tickets are available now from www.thecraigfergusonshow.com/tour
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