TORONTO - Craig Ferguson is on fire.
Okay not literally, but in his current, take-no-prisoners, mode, just try and keep up with him.
Call it The Prime of Mr. Craig Ferguson.
In a fast, funny, furious and quite often foul-mouthed hour-and-10-minute standup appearance at Massey Hall on Friday night, the Glasgow-born, L.A.-based Ferguson, 48, was clearly in his element as he took a night off from his duties as the host of CBS' The Late, Late Show (debuting on Global in Canada on Aug. 22).
Or did he?
Ultimately, his smart, hilarious, stream of consciousness, barrage was reminiscent of the opening monologue on his nightly chat show, which he's hosted since 2005 and is usually the best part of the program. (And don't forget to watch episodes of next week's show, as they were all taped in Paris with his Mohawked, suit-wearing skeleton sidekick Geoff Peterson).
Taking the stage in a white dress shirt, black blazer, jeans and black, dress shoes, Ferguson opened with the familiar: "It's a great day for Canada, everybody!," before announcing he was happy to be in town for "Banana weekend," a.k.a. Caribana.
"What the HELL is going on?" he said in an exaggerated voice, his big, blue eyes as wide as saucers and his mouth in a horror filled grimace.
"There are people playing with puppets on the street."
For the next 70 minutes, the twice-divorced Ferguson covered a wide range of targets - his "pooping, screaming" six-month-old son with his third wife, witnessing childbirth "I've got to come back to that area later on with a completely different agenda," sleep depravation, his 15 years as drug-taking alcoholic, The Kardashians, fine behinds ("I've lost all my stuff twice to a fantastic a--s!"), the Nazis, how Hitler was a vegetarian ("They don't tell you THAT at Whole Foods!"), his Scottish father and mother, the Brad-Angelina-Jennifer triangle, American tabloids, Mel Gibson blaming his troubles on booze and not actually being a Jew-hating Nazi ("Maybe I was just a tequila shot away from The Third Reich") and the Middle Ages, somehow making them flow effortlessly from one subject to the next.
There were also mentions of sexual and chocolate addiction, panic attacks, flakey California behavior from aura massages to putting a hen's egg in one's female nether regions to get rid of negative energy - perfectly timed with a feather floating out from above - swimming with sharks in the Bahamas for the Discovery Channel, Jacques Cousteau and the Calypso, and nature documentaries narrated by David Attenborough.
"They were beautiful, gentle creatures, kind of like the Osmonds," he said, imitating the teeth-baring fish and making a strange "haaaaaaa" sound.
And whenever his humour went below the belt, as it did often, he would wave over to his "Uncle Ron and Aunt Lorna" in the audience, acknowledging the inappropriateness of what he was saying in the presence of family members.
"I did drugs, I didn't experiment with drugs, scientists experiment with drugs," he insisted. "It's not science to blow a dealer for crack. That's an art. Not science."
He also praised Canada in a backhanded way for its universal health care - "F-- off, you healthy communists!", but not for giving the world Celine Dion.
"What is this?" he asked doing her chest banging hand gesture. "Is that a gang thing?"
He also said Canadians suddenly become violent people when you put a hockey stick in their hands.
All the while, he managed to be charming and engaging and, well, funny, even if it felt like he left us wanting more.
As Ferguson explained when he came back on briefly for an encore appearance, he had to get on a plane for Montreal, which drew a chorus of boos.
"They're still Canadian!" he insisted. "Even though they try not to be!"
Entertainment Plaza - TV, Movies, Sports, Music
http://members.shaw.ca/almosthuman99
Babe Of The Month
http://members.shaw.ca/almosthuman99/babeofthemonth.html
Hunk Of The Month
http://members.shaw.ca/almosthuman99/babeofthemonthman.html
No comments:
Post a Comment