Craig Ferguson, former host of CBS’s “The Late Late Show,” recently said on “Obsessed: The Podcast” that he was glad he got out of the late-night game before Donald Trump became president.
“I don’t know how I would have handled it. To be honest, I’m glad I didn’t have to do that,” Ferguson admitted. “I’ve thought about it before, but it just doesn’t feel right to say it.”
He added: “I’d like to think I could have gotten through it, but I don’t know if I would have.”
President Trump waged an all-out war on late-night TV during his second term, often using Truth Social to bring in chief hosts such as Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel. More than any other name in this space, Colbert and Kimmel have essentially turned their show into a political soapbox, relentlessly attacking Trump and his administration.
Ferguson left The Late Late Show in December 2014 and was replaced by James Corden as host. Trump was elected president two years later in 2016. Ferguson said he had originally planned to leave the show sooner, but CBS offered to sweeten his contract if he stayed on the show longer.
“Just like everything else in life, comedy is really about timing,” he explained. “I was going to quit three years or so before I actually quit. But, you know, they throw you a little bit of money and you stay a little longer and then you’re like, ‘Okay, enough is enough.’ But I really don’t know how I would have handled it.”
While late-night TV personalities like Colbert and Kimmel have become symbols of resistance to the Trump administration in the media, Ferguson said he never went in that direction with his show or tried to connect with other late-night hosts.
“I remember saying at the time, ‘I’m not in this,'” Ferguson recalled. “I used to say on the show, ‘This is not a late night talk show. I’m not a late night talk show host.'”
He added that during his time as host, he never felt like his “Late Late Show” was “typical of other shows.”
“It may have started out that way, but I don’t think it lasted,” Ferguson added. “And I don’t think my trajectory during that period provides any insight into what’s going on now or what’s happened before.”
