"Don't steal from *this* show! That's like taking pants from a hobo!"

July 11, 2011 3:42 PM

After Kad & Olivier sign off and the Satisfaction production logo fades, viewing audiences are oftentimes treated to a cold open of an empty talk show set... one that quickly becomes the impromptu dance floor for a shameless Frenchman making an absolute giddy fool of himself while lip-syncing pop songs alongside a menagerie of... wait, *what*?! That's right. The Late Late Show's Craig Ferguson appears to have a not-so-secret French admirer -- one who's not above ripping off both his opening titles and his signature dance sequences (including the iconic animal puppets): "ABC" by The Jackson 5, "Flashdance" by Irene Cara, "On the Floor" by Jennifer Lopez and Pitbull, "Waka Waka" by Shakira, "Men in Black" by Will Smith, "Let's All Chant" by the Michael Zager Band, "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" by Wham!, "It's Raining Men" by The Weather Girls, and "Vive Le Vent (Jingle Bells)" by Tino Rossi. Luckily, Ferguson's sense of showmanship is more prodigious than litigious -- he responded to Arthur's "homáge" by booking a pair of translatlantic crossover shows, with Arthur visiting LA that week and Ferguson flying out to Paris just last month. Video of both shows (plus lots more) inside!

Arthur visits The Late Late Show:

Monologue - Tweetymail - Michael Sheen interview - Casablanca outro - post-mortem

Later: Craig chats with Conan about the crossover

Unfortunately, there's no comparable coverage of Craig's visit to Ce Soir Avec Arthur... but there is one whopper of a trailer. See also Craig's take on the trip.

More dancing intros!

- "I Melt with You" (featuring the Mythbusters) by Modern English (previously)

- The infamous Doctor Who cold open, initially blocked due to copyright (previously). Also: Craig shows off a Dalek

Others:
"Monster Mash" by Bobby "Boris" Pickett
"Look Out, There's a Monster Coming" by The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band
"Chant of the Wanderer" by The Sons of the Pioneers
"Dracula's Lament" by (and featuring!) Jason Segel
"You've Got a Friend" by James Taylor
"Honky Tonk Badonkadonk" by Trace Adkins

Lots more previously (broken links fixed in this comment, except for "I'm Yours" here)

Miscellaneous bits

The saga of Geoff Peterson, the robot skeleton sidekick built by Mythbuster's Grant Imahara:

Construction montage - introduced with (what else?) a musical open - interviewing Grant - bonding time - a trip to Vegas - a vocal upgrade

The show's increasingly bizarre Twitter/email jingles:

Techno - Hair Metal - Eurotrash - 80s Pop - Western - Retro Sci-fi - Bollywood - Keytar

*ding dong* Who's that at the door? The story of Secretariat! (An idea also borrowed by Arthur)

Wavey and Nadine reunite - Raffling Chris the Leatherboy - Corky the Recession Puppet - HD Wavey vs. Crap-o-vision Wavey - "Sid the Rabbit" rants about the censors - Jimmy Fallon's Friendship Sweater

A fun interview round-up from kmz - The Late Late Show on TVTropes - Every episode opening segment in (rough) chronological order

posted by Rhaomi (12 comments total)

I was gonna say this is a double, but then you posted the original that I was thinking about.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 3:55 PM on July 11, 2011

Oh yeah: previously.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 3:56 PM on July 11, 2011

!!!
posted by radiosilents at 3:58 PM on July 11, 2011

I can't wait to see the Paris shows, OMG. Craig + Kristen on a French road trip? With Eddie Izzard somewhere in there? I AM EXCITE.
posted by kmz at 4:00 PM on July 11, 2011

Avec une douche. (With a spider.)
posted by maryr at 4:08 PM on July 11, 2011 [2 favorites]

The Doctor Who cold open is one of my favorite things ever. It's the triumph of intellect and romance over brute force and cynicism!
posted by jbickers at 4:28 PM on July 11, 2011 [1 favorite]

Man, that Dr. Who entry is great. Damn it, those hand puppets! I lurv hand puppets.
posted by jadepearl at 4:38 PM on July 11, 2011 [1 favorite]

Craig's show airs at 10:30 here, which is pretty awesome. I was having a bad day recently and the Neil Gaiman episode cheered me right up with geeky goodness.
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 9:57 PM on July 11, 2011 [1 favorite]

That this show doesn't get the attention it deserves from the mainstream press is a joke. Ferguson is willing to take chances that other would never, ever risk. Interviewing Bishop Desmond Tutu? Peabody-worthy episode. Bringing back the original Late Late Show's format-no audience, one-on-one interview-not only did Tom Snyder proud, watching two men (Ferguson and Stephen Fry) who are articulate and intelligent together was great. Or Ferguson starting Black History Month with an episode with Cornell West where he openly admitted he didn't know much about racism in America-and then listened to West. And how many hosts would let a guest-Larry King-take over the show willingly and by the end of the episode you're looking forward to a return shot.

Ferguson is a geek at heart. He loves Doctor Who-enough to do an entire hour dedicated to the show. He's had Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and Alex Kingston as guests (get Arthur Darvil and he'd have the set). His interview with Neil Gaiman was funny and intelligent. Getting Grant Imahara to build a robot sidekick? Geeky.

Ferguson doesn't do too well with the "traditional" interview. Give him a guest who can think on their feet and isn't wedded to their talking points and it's fun. When they can't, you can feel the embarrassment on his part.

What I hope is that nobody tries to move Ferguson to the Late Show slot when David Letterman finally retires. He's perfect in a latter time slot, where you do believe that they're just messing about while CBS isn't paying attention.

CBS Cares.
posted by Not The Stig at 4:42 AM on July 12, 2011 [2 favorites]

I love talk shows once again, thanks to Craig Ferguson. And possibly my DVR. His great love for Doctor Who and Scottish accent only make me love everything else about him more.
posted by allpaws at 7:12 AM on July 12, 2011

Interviewing Bishop Desmond Tutu? Peabody-worthy episode.

Peabody-winning episode.
posted by kmz at 8:44 AM on July 12, 2011

Watching the French versions is surreal. It's an uncanny valley, because they are so similar to the Ferguson intros, but off in subtle ways.

The Jackson 5 one doubly so, because of the message that scrolls twice saying not to try this at home for your own safety (as far as my admittedly poor French can determine.) Is this a common problem in French? Is the choreographer's name actually a dirty pun that I can't discern because of aforementioned poor French? Is it some sort of referential joke that makes sense if you follow French news, but is totally lost on Americans?
posted by kagredon at 9:46 PM on July 12, 2011