The Future's Open Wide

October 6, 2010 10:00 PM

Craig Ferguson and the Mythbusters want to stop the world and melt with you.
posted by swift (66 comments total)

Love, love, love those openers. Previously, a big collection of them.
posted by bewilderbeast at 10:03 PM on October 6, 2010 [1 favorite]

YAY! That made me happy. I love the mythbusters.
posted by poe at 10:10 PM on October 6, 2010

How could I miss the 265-favorite (now 266) Craig Ferguson post? Oh well.
posted by swift at 10:10 PM on October 6, 2010

Thanks for the link back to my post, bewilderbeast! And good timing, too -- the unofficial (but blessed by CBS) fan-run YouTube account for the show, malinky2stoatir, was removed from YouTube recently, so a lot of those videos no longer work. There's a replacement account up now, but the post is still half-broken. Luckily, I noticed the problem a few days ago and found replacements for most of it; here's an updated (and slightly corrected) version of the post with working links:

After David Letterman signs off and the Worldwide Pants 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 Scot making an absolute giddy fool of himself while lip-syncing pop songs alongside a menagerie of puppets (and a couple of scantily-costumed stagehands). Now on YouTube for your viewing pleasure, the complete collection of Craig Ferguson's Late Late Show musical numbers: "Say Hey (I Love You)" by Michael Franti and Spearhead - "White Lines" by Duran Duran - "Wonderful Night" by Fatboy Slim - "Istanbul" by They Might Be Giants - "Oops!...I Did It Again" by Britney Spears - "MMMBop" by Hanson - "In the Navy" by Village People - "Fireball" by Don Spencer - "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz - "The Lonely Goatherd" from The Sound of Music - "She Taught Me How To Yodel" by Frank Ifield - "Fire" by The Crazy World of Arthur Brown - "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head"

More (non-musical) Late Late Show puppet intros: Dragon (and the world's worst ventriloquist) - Shark - Giraffe - Pig - Unicorn - Snail - Craig (don't watch this one if you want to sleep tonight.)

See also "Wavy the Waving Alligator", the show's signature puppet: Accent - Joe Wilson - Wavy and Charles - Wavy and Lauren Graham (as Nadine the Kitten) - Interviewing Kristen Bell on the 1000th episode

Like the puppets? You can buy some of your own from Folkmanis Puppets (scroll down), the show's official supplier.

Other interesting moments: "If you don't vote, you're a moron." - The history of apartheid in South Africa (followed by an interview with Desmond Tutu [1, 2, 3] -- Ferguson's favorite guest) - Bastille Day - Bob Barker and his posse destroy the set - The show's full theme song (written and recorded by Ferguson himself)

Craig Ferguson previously on Mefi: Eulogizing his father - Discussing the poisonousness of celebrity voyeurism and his own battle with alcoholism - Hosting the 2008 White House Correspondents Dinner - Explaining the logic behind the Jonas Brothers - Calling out a Mefite for suggesting his audience was a laugh track (original video)

Lots more at the surprisingly comprehensive Craig Ferguson portal at the Huffington Post.

posted by Rhaomi at 10:25 PM on October 6, 2010 [68 favorites]

As if my man-crush on Craig Ferguson were not already well off the charts...
posted by nightchrome at 10:26 PM on October 6, 2010 [1 favorite]

Rhaomi, that is above and beyond the call of MeFi. Thankies!
posted by oneswellfoop at 10:30 PM on October 6, 2010

Anybody see that episode of Mythbusters where Jamie Hyneman is in a workshop using Medieval techniques to make a sword, smashing a huge sledgehammer against glowing hot metal, shirtless?

Fucking ripped.
posted by Corduroy at 10:30 PM on October 6, 2010 [5 favorites]

A thousand thank-yous for finding new links to replace broken ones, Rhaomi! That post was my go-to bad mood fixer-upper for quite a while. It's just not possible to watch their version of MMMBop and still be sad afterward.
posted by bewilderbeast at 10:32 PM on October 6, 2010 [2 favorites]

You might also want to swap the link in the FPP with this HD one from CBS's YouTube account -- no ads (at least not when I found it there), plus I think a lot of the recent clips on the CBS site proper expire after a couple of weeks (that's what happened to the official version of the "calling out a Mefite" link in my old post, hence the strikethrough).
posted by Rhaomi at 10:34 PM on October 6, 2010

hmm-mmm-mm
hmm-mm-mm-mmm
posted by LobsterMitten at 10:53 PM on October 6, 2010 [1 favorite]

Adam's rocking out in a super cool space age astronaut suit, while Jamie stands there all too cool for school.

This is art.
posted by Spatch at 11:04 PM on October 6, 2010 [3 favorites]

The man can do no wrong.
posted by tzikeh at 11:12 PM on October 6, 2010

I like how even though Jamie was being all stoic, he couldn't help but almost sing along for one refrain.
posted by flaterik at 11:16 PM on October 6, 2010 [1 favorite]

oh, thank you for this - I love Craig Ferguson's monologues, and this lip syncing is over the top!!
posted by seawallrunner at 11:22 PM on October 6, 2010

Thanks Rhaomi, I think you just helped a friend of mind recover from his root canal that much faster. Excellent.
posted by cftarnas at 11:34 PM on October 6, 2010

If only they'd put Jamie in a Flock of Seagulls wig.
posted by bwg at 11:35 PM on October 6, 2010

Due to an association with some folks at KROQ Radio when it was playing that song EVERY TWO HOURS, I was totally burned out on it for the last 27 years. And that clip TOTALLY undid the burnout. Craig Ferguson is the maser of Space, Time and Pop Culture? MYTH CONFIRMED!
posted by oneswellfoop at 11:37 PM on October 6, 2010 [4 favorites]

Ugg, "friend of mine", time for sleep. (And thanks swift too!)
posted by cftarnas at 11:49 PM on October 6, 2010

Love Ferguson, love Adam, love Jamie, love this video ond FPP. Thanks, swift.
posted by Zed at 12:21 AM on October 7, 2010

Thanks! I like the puppets.
posted by wuwei at 12:27 AM on October 7, 2010

I'm getting too old for this shit.
posted by ouke at 12:46 AM on October 7, 2010

I enjoy the head nod exchanged between the puppet and Jamie at the end.
posted by beardlace at 12:59 AM on October 7, 2010 [2 favorites]

My brain just melted in my skull. I just... wow. Did I just see that?

I love how Jamie can just stand there, and look totally just ... walrusy. And then nod to a puppet.
posted by strixus at 1:15 AM on October 7, 2010 [3 favorites]

The video you have requested is either unavailable or is being blocked by an ad blocker installed in your browser.

Of for fucks sake...
posted by ninazer0 at 1:15 AM on October 7, 2010

strixus: "I love how Jamie can just stand there, and look totally just ... walrusy."

Jamie is the Walrus ... goo goo g'joob.
posted by bwg at 1:31 AM on October 7, 2010

I'm going to use this as an opportunity to express what a phenomenal and underrated band Modern English were. Their first full-length, Mesh & Lace, is a seminal early 4AD release that blended Joy Division's hard-edged gloom with an as yet unheard of sound heavy with phased synths and guitars that (much) later would be called shoegaze. Their second album, After the Snow, picked up where Mesh left off, albeit with a slightly more pop bend. Allmusic calls it "a perfect pop moment". Judge for yourself.

And damn if they don't really get the credit they deserve, probably because a little song called I Melt With You (and what an absolutely lovely song it it, containing some of the finest production to hit the 80's singles charts) became a surprise hit, thus diminishing their cool-factor by a pretty big fucking margin. They're now lumped in with the seemingly endless crop of 1980's flash-in-the-pans and on-hit-wonders, earshit like Tommy Tutone, Dexy's Midnight Runners, and Frankie Goes to Hollywood. Oh well. THe future's open wide. Oh hell.

Anyhoo, here's 4AD15: Gathering Dust. Enjoy.
posted by item at 2:17 AM on October 7, 2010 [4 favorites]

christ, that comment of mine above this is an ugly fucking grammar sore. yuck.
posted by item at 2:32 AM on October 7, 2010

I still find it utterly bizarre that a random Glaswegian bloke is, like, this huge thing in American TV.
posted by Happy Dave at 2:59 AM on October 7, 2010

You had me at "Craig Ferguson and the Mythbusters."
posted by Aizkolari at 3:17 AM on October 7, 2010 [2 favorites]

Obvious viral video is obvious.


But dammit, I loved that so much!!!!!
posted by GavinR at 3:25 AM on October 7, 2010

The involvement of the Mythbusters sent me to the link hoping there would be some actual melting happening, like molten steel or napalm on pykrete or something.

Still, unsurprisingly awesome. I particularly loved that Adam had clearly blown off the choreography rehearsals, forcing the backup, er, "dancers" to try and synchronize with his enthusiastically joyous spacesuit flailings.
posted by AzraelBrown at 3:52 AM on October 7, 2010 [2 favorites]

I'm inclined to agree with one of the comments on the clip: "I don't quite get Craig Ferguson, but the Mythbusters rock."
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:04 AM on October 7, 2010

I DVR CraigyFerg every night and just popped on the Tue night installment a few minutes ago. Stunning! The return of musical numbers! Bondage boy Chris! Naval uniforms! Large lip-synch guy! Wavy Rancheros ("I'll stop the world and what-a-do")! The Mythbusters! MeFi's own asavage! The singing premiere of Sid the Cussing Bunny! Spacesuits! The re-purposing of the splendid "Mmm-bop" wig into an "I Ran"-tastic coif. I missed lip synch woman, but oh well.

And then I came right here because I knew someone had to have posted this [cough] melting pot of MeFi's Favorite Things. Had they done a Lady GaGa number, we all probably would have had fatal joy aneurysms.
posted by FelliniBlank at 4:14 AM on October 7, 2010

How nice of them to shill for M&Ms like that. har har

All kidding (and bitterness) aside, that was fun.
posted by NoMich at 4:43 AM on October 7, 2010

I wonder if this was sparked by Ferguson's on-screen musings a few days ago about what it would sound like if Sean Connery put out an album of 80s covers. You could tell he was amusing himself singing Stop the World in his Sean Connery voice...

Whether or no, this was great.
posted by mmahaffie at 5:22 AM on October 7, 2010

Like the spacesuit.
posted by SPUTNIK at 5:30 AM on October 7, 2010

Craig Ferguson and the Mythbusters want to ___________

I can't think of any way to complete that sentence which would not result in something snazzy.
posted by ook at 5:38 AM on October 7, 2010 [1 favorite]

...resurrect Hitler.
...kill all humans, baby.
...summon Cthulhu.
...poop on you.
...eat your flesh.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 6:11 AM on October 7, 2010 [3 favorites]

Craig Ferguson and the Mythbusters want to ___________

I can't think of any way to complete that sentence which would not result in something snazzy.

...resurrect Hitler.
...kill all humans, baby.
...summon Cthulhu.
...poop on you.
...eat your flesh.

Still.
posted by grubi at 6:26 AM on October 7, 2010 [4 favorites]

ROU_Xenophobe: As long as it's those three guys, I'm still not seeing a problem.
posted by NoMich at 6:26 AM on October 7, 2010

Nice to see Metafilter's very own asavage taking his spacesuit out for a run again.

The video was fantabulous.
posted by ZeusHumms at 6:29 AM on October 7, 2010

Yeah, I'm saying. That'd be a snazzy flesh-eating tentacular zombie Hitler with bowel control issues.
posted by ook at 6:46 AM on October 7, 2010 [1 favorite]

I love how Jamie can just stand there, and look totally just ... walrusy.

There are some awkward bits in the first season of Mythbusters when Jamie seems to be trying too hard to be entertaining. It got better when he relaxed and let himself be stoic and... walrusy. The chemistry arising from that mixed with Adam's overgrown 5-year-old excitement is much more fun.
posted by Zed at 6:47 AM on October 7, 2010 [1 favorite]

No, it... okay, the (noneuclidean, transdimensional) SS uniform it would have would be kinda snazzy, but still... Hitler! Poop! *waves hands frantically* RUGOSE!
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 7:37 AM on October 7, 2010 [1 favorite]

Myth: It's possible to stop the world and melt with you.

Status: Confirmed
posted by Horselover Fat at 8:17 AM on October 7, 2010 [2 favorites]

For some reason, I can't get Patrick Bateman's voice out of my head while reading item's post.

And I love Modern English.
posted by Mountain Goatse at 8:20 AM on October 7, 2010

...Adam's overgrown 5-year-old excitement...

That, plus spacesuit, plus stoic Jamie bow-exchange with a rabbit puppet, adds up to something completely, inexplicably amazing. I wanted to get out there and jam in a spacesuit too.

fun++
posted by ashirys at 8:22 AM on October 7, 2010

Basically what you are suggesting is that Craig Ferguson and the Mythbusters want to resurrect Hitler so that they can kill all humans. This would in turn summon Cthulhu so that the great eldritch one might poop on you and finally eat your flesh... baby?

Because, I'm pretty okay with that, actually.
posted by quin at 9:00 AM on October 7, 2010

I would be quite happy to dance with Adam and Jamie. But perhaps I should save this thought for some fanfic or something.
posted by hippybear at 9:03 AM on October 7, 2010

Wow, for the last 25 years I've thought it was "Confusion open wide".
posted by dfan at 9:12 AM on October 7, 2010 [1 favorite]

For a hot second I thought Jamie was in his underwear playing the guitar and Adam was in blackface, and I did not know if I was allowed to like this. Then they walked into frame, and I was reminded that not everyone on my TV is going to be Adam or Jamie.
posted by Turkey Glue at 9:39 AM on October 7, 2010 [5 favorites]

...not everyone on my TV is going to be Adam or Jamie.

I'd like to introduce you to the Fregoli delusion
posted by bodaciousllama at 11:03 AM on October 7, 2010

And then I came right here because I knew someone had to have posted this [cough] melting pot of MeFi's Favorite Things. Had they done a Lady GaGa number, we all probably would have had fatal joy aneurysms.

Holy hell Craig needs to do a Gaga number.
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 11:50 AM on October 7, 2010 [1 favorite]

"Craig Ferguson & the Mythbusters" sounds like a 60's garage band or something.

Rhaomi, would you mind if I wikified this updated list, for easier updates going forward?
posted by Pronoiac at 12:03 PM on October 7, 2010 [1 favorite]

To add to Rhaomi's list, this particular puppet intro always makes me laugh, mostly because of how far off the rails it goes.
posted by Katrel at 12:27 PM on October 7, 2010

Feel free, Pronoiac -- you already did a great job with the Cartoon Network, British comedy, and US campaign video posts.
posted by Rhaomi at 1:00 PM on October 7, 2010

There's nothing quite like introducing a member of the original to the craig version. He was amazed and amused. Amuzed?
posted by nomisxid at 2:27 PM on October 7, 2010

Rhaomi, you rock. Thank you so much for the new links!
posted by jenfullmoon at 2:34 PM on October 7, 2010

I really have to thank you bewilderbeast for putting me on to Craig. I've been watching the show religiously since and always find it a blast. Finger crossed that someday they'll do a lady gaga cover.
posted by Allan Gordon at 4:42 PM on October 7, 2010

It was Rhaomi who curated that collection of links, not me, so thank him! (Unless you mean you've been watching the show religiously since I linked his thread last night, I guess.)
posted by bewilderbeast at 6:22 PM on October 7, 2010

That was a thing of beauty.
posted by homunculus at 7:54 PM on October 7, 2010

Anybody see that episode of Mythbusters where Jamie Hyneman is in a workshop using Medieval techniques to make a sword, smashing a huge sledgehammer against glowing hot metal, shirtless?

Why, no, I haven't, but, ummmm, I'd like to...
posted by dnash at 9:06 PM on October 7, 2010 [1 favorite]

I woke up with this in my head. The bunny contributes so much. Someone needs to create a device, probably some kind of helmet with speakers, that allows whatever song is looping in your brain to be projected out for everyone around you to hear.
posted by homunculus at 8:21 AM on October 8, 2010

Rhaomi: Feel free, Pronoiac -- you already did a great job with the Cartoon Network, British comedy, and US campaign video posts.

I've wikified you before, & I'll wikify you again!

Craig Ferguson's Musical Openings.
posted by Pronoiac at 11:59 AM on October 8, 2010

Recent videos on MeFi and elsewhere have led me to ask the following question: "Why the hell have I not been watching Craig Ferguson and Jimmy Fallon like, every day?"

I have no satisfactory answer.
posted by kostia at 6:59 PM on October 10, 2010

Yay! I suggested the public library get the audiobook of Ferguson's American on Purpose, read by Ferguson himself, and they've ordered it, and I've got it on hold.
posted by Zed at 8:48 AM on October 11, 2010