Craig Ferguson Discovers A French Talk Show Is Imitating His Bits…So He Invites The Host On

video

by Jon Bershad | 1:37 pm, November 30th, 2010

» 14 comments

We’ve all had our eyes glued on Conan for newsworthy stories and, somehow, we overlooked that the most interesting story in late night was happening on The Late Late Show (this is point where my parents, diehard Craig Ferguson fans, call up to point out that the best jokes are happening over there too). Recently, Ferguson and his staff noticed that the host of a show in France called Ce soir avec Arthur (“Tonight with Arthur”) had been stealing bits and them. He even stole the main titles! Instead of going to war, Ferguson did something better: he invited the guy over!

The whole thing is too bizarre. In his monologue last Monday, Ferguson introduced his audience to Arthur (real name Jacques Essebag) by playing the opening titles side by side. Sure enough, everything from the locations of the shots down to the very length of them is identical. Ferguson yelled, “If you’re going to steal from a show, what about a good show like Lost or The Wire? Don’t steal fromthis show! That’s like taking pants from a hobo!” (this is the point where I call up my mom, diehard Lost fan, to point out that that show was kind of terrible 95% of the time)

The question then became how to respond. From the Associated Press:

“‘Our first reaction had been: You gotta be kidding me!’ said producer Michael Naidus on Monday. ‘But then, as with pretty much everything that happens to us on the show, we looked for the best way to make it funny and entertaining. And in this case, that didn’t seem to involve lawyers.’
Executive producer Peter Lassally added, ‘At one point Craig asked us, “How should I be feeling about this?” And we said, “You should be amused by this.”‘
‘Tonight With Arthur’ premiered in November on France’s Comedy! cable channel, but the host, whose real name is Jacques Essebag, is a 44-year-old veteran of numerous French radio and TV talk shows.
Over the weekend, he contacted Ferguson by phone.
‘Craig spoke to Arthur for a few minutes,’ Naidus said, “and quickly determined that the guy is a pretty big fan of “The Late Late Show.”‘
In a flash, Arthur was booked for a guest shot. On Sunday he flew to Los Angeles for Monday’s taping, in the process canceling the taping of his own show in Paris.
‘It didn’t seem worthwhile, or interesting, to make this a confrontational thing,’ said Naidus. ‘So the idea was for us to sort of give our blessing to him, in the form of comedy.’”

So, last night, as The Late Late Show opened, it was Essebag standing in the spotlight and giving the monologue. Soon, Ferguson runs in to accuse him of stealing. Essebag responds that his show is merely an homage. Thus begins a truly bizarre bit that continued through with multiple appearances by Essebag throughout the show, ending with the pair reenacting the final scene of Casablanca.

As Conan O’Brien learned last year, there’s nothing that can happen to a talk show host that he can’t use for the better. Of course, NBC trying to move your show back a half hour seems almost bland compared to a French guy stealing the whole thing. Hmmm, despite awesomeness like this, maybe my parents are right and I am watching the wrong show.

They’re not right about Lost though. Most of that show sucked.

Check out the clips of the initial monologue and last night’s confrontation from CBS below:

Craig Ferguson, Jacques Essebag, The Late Late Show

stoogedudes

As much as I love Conan, I gotta say, Craig Ferguson is simply the best host in late night television. If you don’t agree with that, Cheeky Monkeys, you can go back to Al Qaeda.

Every day that we have Craig Ferguson hosting his own show is truly a great day for America, everybody!

In your pants!
http://twitter.com/pewestlake Paul Westlake

Ferguson nailed it. Very funny. Jacques was great, too. Well done.
bamman

Ferguson is a welcome addition to America and he did it legally.
felixw

Very funny!
JoeRemi

You’re right about Lost, although it didn’t dawn on me until I saw two characters I’d never seen before sitting on a rock at the beginning of Season 6. I still had a glimmer of hope…until the Press Secretary from West wing showed up. That’s when it me: “They’re creating a new story that they’re going to answer the questions to, and ignore the first 5 seasons, aren’t they?”
http://twitter.com/SailRabbits Magister

@Jon: Your parents are right. Fallon gets a lot of press from the NYC-based media, but Ferguson is the funniest and most creative show in late night since Conan O’Brien.
http://twitter.com/SailRabbits Magister

ETA: I’ll also say that I’ve discovered over the years that Craig has a very devoted fanbase even among those who don’t watch him every night. He hasn’t yet achieved a Beckian level in size, but they are just as fervent with their support.
http://twitter.com/SailRabbits Magister

One more and then I’ll shut-up…

Based upon my my previous experience with a prior blog of my own, whenever you write about Ferguson, your Sitemeter will undoubtedly show a visitor from CBS Burbank. So, it’s been a while since I shutterede that old blog, but just for old times sake… Hey Craig! My wife and I still watch you and pretty regularly, you still cause us to look at each other and ask “WTF?”.

Keep up the good work.
notsofast

I guess the French show didn’t want to be funny either.
stoogedudes

To borrow from Just4thefax, fact: The French show many not have been funny, but Craig Ferguson’s show certainly was.
genius

Magister:
Totally agree with the fan base observation. We are more loyal to Craig than almost anything else. I saw his live stand up show over 2 years ago and I wouldn’t even leave my seat for a smoke or a drink. He played the same venue again this year and they had to add more seats because of the demand. If I could afford TiVo it would be the number one show every day, even the repeats are better than the first runs of the competition.
Take note of my homage to Craig by my avatar and user name.
And he does this stuff sober!!! Simply amazing.
Dem4Ever

French nationality law is historically based on the principles of jus soli, according to Ernest Renan’s definition, and/or the German’s definition of nationality formalized by Fichte. The 1993 reform (Méhaignerie Act) required children born in France of foreign parents to request French nationality at adulthood, rather than being automatically accorded citizenship. This “manifestation of will” requirement was subsequently abrogated by the Guigou Law of 1998 [1], but children born in France of foreign parents remain foreign until obtaining legal majority.

As in most other countries, but differing from the US, children born in France to tourists or short term visitors do not acquire French citizenship by virtue of birth in France: residency must be proven. As immigration became more and more of a political theme in the 1980s, albeit accompanied by a lower immigration rate (see Demographics in France), both left- and right-wing governments have issued several laws restricting more and more the possibilities of being naturalized.
newsbot

The “Casablanca” reenactment actually made a lot of sense – Essebag was actually BORN in Casablanca!
http://www.facebook.com/people/Joe-Palen/595609067 Joe Palen

I love the way this was handled with humor instead of lawyers.

(If only more of the world would behave that way.)