American on Purpose

I love Craig Ferguson.  There, it's out in the open, and if anyone wants to pass this along to Craig, feel free!

Craig is from Glasgow and now has a late (very late) show on television, following David Letterman.  Unfortunately, I can rarely stay awake through Craig's show, which begins at about 12:35am.  For some reason, I am opposed to taping the show and watching it later.  It's not the same as watching it at the original time.  Call me a weirdo, but I don't want to watch it the next day.  Therefore, I miss quite a lot of Craig's show.

Some people in my circle would probably watch Craig and then look at me with utter amazement and confusion.  Admittedly, the guy is plain goofy.  He employs hand puppets, does weird skits, makes me laugh hysterically with his lip syncing acts, seems to love Twitter, and has a sidekick that is a skeleton robot named Geoff Petersen.  Craig complains that his show is cheap crap.  He doesn't have a band, and, because they wouldn't pay the proper money for him to have his own Ed McMahon, he found a team to build this skeleton robot who, quite eerily, has the voice of George Takei (Sulu from the old Star Trek).

And so, on my recent trip to Kansas City, I picked up Craig's book "American on Purpose."  Craig, with his very thick Glasgow accent cannot hide the fact that he hails from Scotland; however, he has had a love affair with our country for many years and, upon finally receiving his U.S. citizenship, wrote a sort of autobiography.  For me it was a good read, but I'm biased because I love the guy.  He could have written it like Dr. Seuss and I would have proclaimed it an epic.

Craig became enamored with America when, as a child in Glasgow, he determined that he was going to be the first Scottish astronaut.  He wrote to NASA, who responded by sending him a huge poster about space and a big book.  Given NASA's budget of today, I doubt they can afford the postage for a letter.  It seems as if his developing idea of America was way over the top.  However, given the fact that a guy with a self admitted "creepy laugh" and a nearly indecipherable Scottish brogue, can be a rising star with his own late night talk show, makes one think that maybe he is right about America--for him it truly is the land of opportunity.

Actually, the guy has had an interesting, and in many ways, tragic life.  His biggest demon was addiction, and, having been part of a band in his earlier years, one can imagine that alcohol and drugs were readily available.  Much of his life was an utter mess.  But, throughout the book, you can see him inching ever closer to his new home in the United States.

In the end, I think this is why I really like him.  I have become sort of disillusioned with my one-time hero, Dave Letterman.  Dave has sold out.  At one time, all politicians were fair game for Dave, and that was fine, because that is what talk show hosts do.  But at some point, Dave became a front man for Barack, and two years later, is still making tired jokes about Bush and Cheney.  I have yet to hear one derogatory comment about the present administration.  Regardless of my personal preference in politicians (I didn't prefer any of the above), I don't want my late night talk show host taking sides.  Plus, he has become so one-sided that it's no longer funny.  Truthfully, I enjoyed his segments on George Bush's eloquent moments (which, in truth were snippets of George's least eloquent moments).  They were hysterical.  But Dave has become too partisan, and with his partisanship has become somewhat grumpy and not nearly as funny.

Craig, however, still seems to hold a healthy respect for what America has to offer, even in our messed up political world.  He isn't overly derogatory towards any one person, although he had a few healthy pokes at Leno and the NBC talk show debacle.  In the end, everything is fair game, but in moderation.  I'm sure this has to do with his newly acquired citizenship, which, it is clear, is something very precious to him.  Despite his tendency to want to curse frequently on the show (he loves making the editors censor him), he has found the healthy middle road between good comedy and respect.  Craig's whole show does not center specifically on the politics of the country, although he won't turn down a good opportunity for a laugh if one presents itself.  I am relieved that he finds other topics to make fun of in our world.  There certainly isn't a shortage of material.

So, yes, I am recommending his book, American on Purpose.  I read it in a day.  It's well written, enjoyable, and not at all self-indulgent.  How one can pull of writing an autobiography without being self-indulgent is beyond me, but I think he achieved it.  You rock Craig!  I am a hobo in your robot skeleton army!

Listen/Watch the Theme to Craig's show, which he wrote himself (extended version)