Joy, a Podcast. Hosted by Craig FergusonJoy, a Podcast. Hosted by Craig Ferguson

Josh Robert Thompson

View descriptionShare
Published Feb 4, 2025, 11:00 AM

Joy, a Podcast. Hosted by Craig Ferguson

Storied late-night talk host Craig Ferguson brings his interview talents and singular world view to a discussion of the modern state of JOY, sitting d… 
88 clip(s)

Meet John Robert Thompson, an actor whose voice you've definitely heard before! Known for being my good friend Geoff Peterson on the Late Late Show, he's also been featured on Robot Chicken, Howard Stern, Family Guy, and more. EnJOY!

The Craig Ferguson Pants on Fire Tour is on sale now. It's a new show, it's new material, but I'm afraid it's still only me, Craig Ferguson on my own, standing on a stage telling comedy words. Come and see me, buy tickets, bring your loved ones, or don't come and see me. Don't buy tickets and don't bring your loved ones. I'm not your dad. You come or don't come, but you should at least know what's happening, and it is. The tour kicks off late September and goes through the end of the year and beyond. Tickets are available at the Craig Ferguson Show dot com slash tour. They're available at the Craig Ferguson show dot com slash tour or at your local outlet in your region. My name is Craig Ferguson. The name of this podcast is Joy. I talk to interest in people about what brings them happiness. On the podcast today is an artist who I can consider one of the best and most interesting that I've ever met. He was, of course the personality, the boys and the talent of Jeff.

Peterson on the Old Lately Show, but it's so much more than that.

Welcome to the world with my friend Josh Robert Compston enjoy.

First of all, let me apologize to you because I was meant to do your podcast, You're Spielberg podcast.

I have done it yet, that's all right? Are you still doing it?

We're doing it right after this, doing it at noon? Come on, hop on?

Do you know what I have to say?

By the way, as you get older, because I've seen you for a little while, you look more and more like John Cassavei's do you know that? I appreciate that. Thank you.

I've never heard that. I've never heard that except from you.

Really, yeah, no, you you do. It's a little bit like you know, you broke my heart?

You do. I knew it was you, Josh.

So listen your podcast is uh are doing spiel Well, that's you have to do that symbol.

That's not Elon musk man I'm trying to do. Come on, man, do you know I drink my own pea? You know that's that's good. It's actually good for you.

It says natural Skotti Shapple juice.

You can only drink your own piss. That's the thing. You can't drink someone else's piss. I guess that's the why would you get a disease?

Yeah?

I just did a I did a whole Well, i'll tell you about it. I did talk about urine recently. Okay, what happened. It's a lot going on over here, man, But we'll figure out the spiel thing.

Don't worry about it. We're just we book. You know. There's so much shit going on. Man. Well, I figured here's the thing.

Because your podcast is about doing your favorite Bielberg movie, I thought what we could do and my podcast is we could talk about a favorite movie that wasn't a Spielberg movie.

Yeah, okay, all right, So yours is obviously Ghostwriter. Yes, ghostwriter. I know the yours ghost Writer. I thought you were a big ghost Writer fan.

I can't you know, I can't tell you something about Ghostwriter. So I was.

I did a show, and then afterwards, at the meet and greet, this nice older lady was at the mean and greet, and she said, do you.

Know my son.

He's a he's an actor. He was in a movie called Ghostwriter. And I looked at I looked at her. She had a very specific with this woman, and I said, us Bentley's mom, and she.

Said, yeah, yes, I am. You know my son, and your son's a giant fucking movie star. He's like on Yellowstone. He's the devil in the Ghostwriter movies. And she was like, oh, I didn't know you knew him. I was like, Oh, with a mother like that, I'm surprised he's not a stand up comedian. Did you share your love of ghost rip?

I mean you were You were really the one that was pushing ghost Rider for years, you know, I think.

I was pretty much the only one. Although they didn't make ghost Rider too uh so they must have been the market for it. I don't think did Nicholas Cage come back for that one? Did you see that one?

Yeah?

I think that was the post I bought too many castles.

Yeah, I was gonna say, yeah, you got to pay off all the iguanas, the the Kimodo dragon.

You know.

My agent looked at h maybe he was thinking about buying his house in La and she told me that the candle sconces were plastic casts of his arm holding legs.

This is my arm over here, that's my arm. Uh. It's pretty cool. Yeah, you should get that man, I should like your arm.

I'd like your arm imparison ate and Nicholas Cage's arm.

You'll tell people, Wiscons, here is Josh Robert Tomon's arm, impersonating Nicholas Cage's arm.

Oh, I meant to tell you by the way.

You know how when we were doing Jeff Peterson on the Late Night Show, there were two Jeffs, traveling Jeff and regular studio Jeff.

I have both Jeffs. I have both Jeffs. Oh, it was a mystery.

Well, this is interesting you bring this up because this has been a source of great mystery for the last decade.

So, yeah, the show went off the air again. It's been a decade.

I knew you had the Jeff, you had the in studio Jeff, but the mystery was where is the other Jeff? Is he in storage? Is he traveling the world? But you you this whole time, you've had both of them.

I've had both Jeffs.

But I would like to offer you the gift of the Jeff of your choice, traveling Jeff that I will have a shipped to you.

So, so what you're saying is you would send me I can choose whichever Jeff. I want traveling Jeff and then you will ship. That should be somehow as long as it's one of the two Jeffs.

Traveling Jeff, traveling Jeff, Yeah, yeah, but I feel like it should. First of all, you're famous for your Halloween parade that you have in your house as a big pager.

Yeah put it, Yeah, big show. You're a major figure in the gay community in Los Angeles and a lot of people come to so good. Have you seen his Halloween? It's fantastic. You've got to come by and see it. Your Halloween is very good.

Though. You're saying Jeff Peterson could be the centerpiece of the newest Halloween display, is what you're thinking.

Well, you're famous for your Halloween display in Lost Science List. I don't look whether or not it's the centerpiece of the display.

I don't know. That's up to you.

I'm I'm just I'm just supplying what you do with the traveling Jeff once you get him.

There, that's up to you.

By the way, you can have either Jeff okay, but preferably traveling.

Jeff, but definitely traveling.

What you're saying is I could do a sad, lonely like puppet show. Just on the front lawn at Halloween. You want me to hide behind a bush and have the remote control and hey, hey there retreat.

Actually actually I wasn't suggested, not but as you bring it up, that sounds pretty good.

It sounds like it's a little it's a little sad. But you know, isn't that Josh Robert Thompson.

Hey, remember me TV's Jeff Peterson, help yourself to some candy?

Go ahead. I don't know. It could be TikTok gold.

I think it may be tikto Yeah, you know what I now from from the show?

I have something.

Uh, they at one point made a puppet head beautifully crafted of you. So I have a Craig Ferguson puppet head. It's you and puppet form.

Is it creepy? It's a little creepy.

But what I'm thinking is I could puppeteer your head while I'm puppeteering Jeff.

And then on the front lawn at Halloween. Hey, Josh, Hey Jeff, it's Halloween. Oh chiky monkey, Oh, chiky monkey, Josh? Or what's that? Do you know?

I will see this though, But I mean, it is a decade since the show went off the air, but because of the way things are now, people still think it's on the air.

There are people who genuinely believe it's still on the air. They do, and it might as well be.

I mean, there are people that have made, even recently, very thorough compilations of the entirety of the show, and in most cases, because of I guess they use AIS somehow they've upgraded the quality. It looks better than it ever looked when it was on television. But yes, there are people out there that have archives of our material, do you know.

I was thinking about this the AI though, because we did so much Jeff Peterson and TV's Craig Ferguson together, I think AI could probably start making new episodes of you and Me, and you and Me don't even have to be involved.

You know what, some guy just did that I don't remember his name, but he built a Jeff Peterson. He's some kind of a inventor or roboticist. I'm not sure what he does, but he built a working Jeff Peterson and sent me the video of it, and it looked amazing. And in the video Jeff starts talking and it's clearly my voice as Jeff Peterson. But Jeff is saying all kinds of things, not offensive things, but he's saying a lot of stuff that I never said. And the guy used AI to replicate Jeff's voice, and I wasn't sure how I felt about it. I was very complimented that he built this robot, but it was an odd thing to present to me.

I think, I don't know, it seemed a little strange.

Well, I don't know if I think about it. You know, if that is the state the AI is it now? So if anybody digs up any ship from the show and says, I can't believe they said that, and they try and cancel you, you can just say I say that I was a somebody.

I would never say that. No, that's that's not that's not Craig. That's a deep fake. No, that's somebody else.

It's a fake. No, no, no, no, that's.

Joyce and Robert Thompson with his puppet head. He used to do in the puppet head and then use the AIS.

That's Josh you know his big Halloween display. Yeah, he does this sad one man puppet show where he does Craig's puppet head. And by the way, uh, I just you know, I wanted to say this to you this Over the years, there have been so many people that have messaged me xt me, I don't know anyway TwixT TwixT TwixT yeah, about James Cordon, you know, wanting me saying the worst things about James Cordon, and I just ever engaged in it. I always thought it was really fascinating when when the version of the show that you did ended, I don't know why people assumed that either one of us would jump on the board with that I got.

I got the same thing.

The people would say, hey, you know, they would say mean things about James, who, in my limited interaction with him, this is a perfectly sweet.

Very nice man.

Yeah, and and they would always try and get say mean things about him to me, like I like I somehow didn't like him or was It's weird, isn't.

It like you were going to join in and go you know, yeah, you're right, you know what. Let me let me say because I went to a taping I went to I think the last week of the show. Very strange to go back to uh CBS studios, by the way, I mean, it was the same stage where we did our show.

Are they going to knock it? No? Are they? Or are they? I think so?

Are they turning it into a mall? Is that the legacy of Uh? Yeah, I think that might be it, which is fine right me.

But it was great. I mean, there was a great show. The writing was great.

I thought was very funny, and yeah, I just anyway, I just never understood it. I just never participated in that no reason too. It's very strange.

I think the kind of place I've come to with it, the show that we did in Late Night, I feel we're kind of like like Fish or The Grateful Dead. We're not for everybody, but for the people that we were for, we were really for them, you know, and I think that they get immensely loyal.

And for the people that don't get it, they're like, I don't get it. I'm like, that's all right, you don't have to get it. We have enough people who really really get it.

And whatever the hell we were doing back then, I still don't really understand, other than in fact it was it's a piece of magical improv this chemistry. That's what it is, and actually is the argument I use against AI when I'm discussing it's like, oh, okay, make me and George, Robert Thompson and AI and maybe they can't.

No, they can replicate the voices. But I was just thinking about this yesterday. The interactions that you and I had on that show is not something that you can plan for. And I only have that with a few people. You know, you're at the top of the list. There's a very small short list of people that I have that with. The other guy is a guy named Jeff Richards who is an astonishing comedian and impressionist, and he has a show called The Jeff Richards Show where he's never on his show. He can never make it to his own show, so he plays a celebrity filling in and a lot of times I'll go on as George Lucas. Oh, this is George Lucas, creator of Star Wars, and he'll be Dustin Hoffman. And the idea of Dustin Hoffman and George Lucas having a conversation for an hour is so appealing to me, and I think and I think it's that weirder, off center sense of humor that you and I both share, as well a little darker. We were doing stuff on the Late Late Show that I can't believe we were doing on television.

Yeah.

Oh, we would never get away with now because you know, people would see it. Like when we were doing it, it was going on late at night and then and then that was it. But now it's replicated on the internet, people would see it. Go ah, you can say that, people like, right, Oh, it wasn't as it was Ai.

Yeah.

Can I tell you this though, Well, when you're telling me about what's the name of the guy you show Jeff Richards, Jeff Jeff Richards.

When I heard that, I got it, I'm a little jealous. I feel like a little jealous.

No, man, you're number one. You're the first you see, You're you know, it's kind of like.

You hear that your ex is dating like a firefighter. I knew you were gonna. I was like, you know, should I even bring this up? I'm gonna. I'm gonna mention this. No, I'm a little jealous. It's good to you.

It's you, Jeffritch. I mean, there's a couple other guys if you want to say their names as well.

Oh sure, let's just tell me. Give me your whole list by don't you then? Who are they?

Well, listen, you know what you know, what you know, what's very special about what we did is that you couldn't see me. We talked about this before I came on the show before, but that's the magic trick.

Man, like you were improvising to nothing.

I mean, I was there, but you know you were looking at this skeleton robot thing, and so that's an even more difficult form of improv. That's a that's a real magic trick. And the fact that it worked with that, with that is is incredible to me.

I think that, you know, I mean, I hate to, you know, knock it back, but I think that's more about you than as about me. I think that the you kept throwing stuff to me that I couldn't resist, you know, like you would open the robots mouth and have a.

Harmonica sound come out. Sure, yeah, the mouth.

I mean things that there are things now even like you know, I'll be in the sh shower or something and I'll think about stuff that we did.

I'll step laughing again.

Do you remember that when we were doing that whole thing where you and the horse were going to get in a fight with each other and I had to take it up and yeah, yeah, yes, I mean, all done with body language and shouting.

I mean, I mean, it's really, it's true.

It's true because because Joe Bolter, who was at the front of the horse, had nothing. All he could do was say yes or no really with secretariat, and the mileage he got out of those two expressions was just gold. And then I would say, kick his ass, kick his ass man, and Jeff obviously couldn't move from the lectern. So I think we were having a good time. I think we were. It was like an in joke. Half the show was just in jokes. I felt it was just trying to make you laugh because I think towards the end, certainly the last year, you were just you know, it's enough already.

I think now, looking at the way that the business is now, I don't even know anyone really who works in that arena anymore. And you know, in kind of broadcast television and those kind of big corporate environments, it seems to be that.

Everything is like what we're doing now.

It seems like where comedy exists in that environment. You know, the talk shows, I mean are there. I guess they're still late night shows.

I never watched. They're still there. I guess.

But for me, they exist on the phone, you know. I mean that's where I see maybe thirty seconds of a late night show.

That's all I ever see, right, I would never watch one that started towards the end of our run. I mean that that. Yeah, I guess Allan. Allan was embracing YouTube and all that stuff. He he got on it right away. He got on a member of what it.

Was called Twitter before it was twigs and it was he got into playing the hashtag game.

Yeah.

I tried to play that hashtag game one so on Jimmy Filon's thing because the hashtag was my co worker is weird? And I put and he's a fucking robot skeleton.

But they never used it.

I thought it would have been good, but they were like, what, who what are you talking about?

Who's a robot skeleton? That doesn't make sense? Andrew swore, So it doesn't make sense, you know, man.

It's it's amazing how many people are finding the show now, which we talked about, you know, a little bit ago, but it's I mean, there's so many people just now finding it just now.

So it just goes on and on, man.

And that's ten years after it went off the air, so that I know that's really something special.

Man.

I mean, I think.

What's kind of interesting to me about it as well as I don't know about you, I think you went through this as well. For the first couple of years after we were done with it.

I kind of I didn't want to talk about it.

I was kind of like I was, you know, I was respectful to it, but I didn't really want to talk about it.

I didn't embrace it. I know.

I feel the complete opposite of that. I'm like, yes, I'm very proud of it. I'm so proud of what we did. I'm happy we did. Doesn't mean I want to do it again, but I'm very connected to it in a way that I wasn't for a little while.

Right, Yeah, I had the same thing.

I mean, I was a little I was a little uh angrier about things. But you know the thing. The thing about that is anger isn't sexy. That doesn't sell very well. It's not like if I if I had done cocaine or you know, if I had gone off on a bender and then came back. I think people would be like, oh, good for him, Josh is doing well. But if you go well, Josh isn't angry anymore. People go, yeah, so so what join the club? You know what I mean, it's not sexy, it doesn't sell, Craig, it's not a good promotion.

It's a good pop.

But I think that I think that if you don't get if you don't get angry, I don't know. I feel like, if you don't get angry, you can't do comedy. I mean the or comedy that I am interested in. I mean what I always loved about your comedy. No, it's just Jeff, but the other you know, the characters that you did on the show and the stuff they're they're filled with such an existential rage.

That I that I love that.

And I'm talking the same rage that fuels you know, South Park, the same rage. Have you seen a British comedian called Stuart Lee.

No, No, not familiar.

I have to see this guy the rage and this.

Is so awesome.

Like he would be angry at me being complimentary about his stand up Cad. I'm sure he would. It be like he'd be like fuck, you know, it would be awful, but it is. It's amazing stuff, and I think converting that kind of uh, it's almost despair. I think into comedy is what a lot of people they don't understand about it. I think comedians maybe understand it, and that's kind of behind the carton.

But audiences, I think, think, oh, that's funny. He's a funny guy.

I'm like, no, no, he's a funny guy.

But you know, you can't get people the The audience just wants you to entertain them and be funny or whatever it is that you do that is your particular talent. They're not really interested in how you get there. And that's what I found out, you know, And I think the big thing I learned was it's not about me.

You know.

I used to get really angry about look at these YouTubers.

This is years ago.

Look at look at the you know, Chewbacca mom or somebody going viral and getting all this stuff, and you know, I'm over here making this TV pilot that I spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on it, you know, and one day it just clicks and you realize it's not about me. It's not about me always sounded like such a hostile phrase whenever I heard people say, you know, it's not about you. John it's not about you. But it's actually very helpful to remember that because it frees you from that that upset, that anger. It's it's not about it has nothing to do with me. Someone else's success has zero too. I mean, you can be jealous, that's a normal thing. We've talked about that before. But sure, I just don't. It doesn't have anything to do with you. It's it's it's what a lovely idea, what a great thought.

I think, well, I think the the idea also is the Really, when it comes down to it, the only thing you've got control over is your attitude towards anything.

Really, I mean it.

You don't really have any control over the OtherSide world beyond a sand amount. You don't know how somebody's going to react, You don't. I love when right As would say to me, this joke is gonna kill and I'm like, you don't know that, You're just you just want me to try it.

You know, But I don't know. You don't know. I mean you can guess. Have you been doing any stand up? No?

No, recently, not at all, not at all. I made it decision that that's not the format for me. That's not where I need to be where a stand up Yeah, that's not I did it with you for for a number of years and uh yeah, and then that cured me of ever wanting to do it again, is what I'm saying.

I don't know, man, I feel like I feel like I yeah, you know, Joshi, I do you know? I love you and I and I feel like I feel like it is that you have great lakes of despair inside you that I think can be mined for gold in.

The world of stand up. Yeah.

But you know what, the stuff that excites me the most is the improv character stuff like like I don't We've talked about this before, but I think I've finally figured it out. Like like with impressions, I enjoy doing impressions. I don't consider myself an impressionist.

I don't.

I don't get up in the morning and think, like, what voice am I I'll learn today? And there are guys that are really good at that and that's what they live for. However, if I'm in the right company such as yourself, and I won't name the list of the five other guys, but no, I'm saying, you know, but if I'm around those guys, I mean in the right frame of mind, in the right company. I'll do it if it's if it's organic. But I don't like the you get up there and you you be fun. I just I don't know. My stuff is more.

I don't know.

I don't want to say performance art, but I like the improv aspect of things.

I like just being I get it.

I mean I for a long time, the hardest thing I've found was to start the show.

I always wanted, how do you go.

Up there and say good evening ladies and gentlemen. I'm going to know, try and say some things and hopefully it will make you laugh. And it took me a long time to know I can get up there and stay good evening ladies and gentlemen. I Am going to say some things and hopefully it will make you laugh. And that's that's all you really have to say. But right there was a sense of I don't know, I feel like you may have this. I kind of know you do. There's some kind of weird sense of shame or embarrassment or something that lives inside you as a performer. Yeah, yeah, you kind of you have to wrestle with a little bit. It's because when I see some people go up and just talk about how great they are.

I am in all of that level of confidence. I don't have it.

Yeah, yeah, no, I Well we're seeing something interesting happening though, too. Where a lot of these comedians that have podcasts, I find that their podcasts is more entertaining and interesting than their stand up and yeah, and they're very good at stand up, but I find that the longer format of a podcast gives some people the room to find those beats and present themselves in a different kind of way that I find more appealing. You know, there's there's a number there's a bunch of big comics that do their podcasts and then they use that as the platform to get you to go see obviously, go see the show. But I think you know that somehow that's more appealing to me listening to their to their podcast, it's just a different animals.

Do you like Joe Rogan and people like that? Is that who you listen to?

Yeah, Joe Rogan I think is interesting. You know, I find it entertaining, sometimes educational, you.

Know, I don't, I don't.

I don't swear by it, But like THEO Von I think is THEO Von is is a guy who is so unique in his voice. He's so I've watched him become more confident as a host, as a as a person, as a human being.

So we're you know, that's the other thing. You're you're watching people.

You're spending time with these people on a podcast in a way that you don't get to necessarily in stand up And I think, like with THEO Vaughn, it's been really nice to watch him grow over the years, and I think I think he's a fantastic host.

You know, I'm less familiar with Theo Vonne's work, Yeah, obviously aware of Joe Rogan, who kind of almost created it.

He created this thing.

It is like he created a new type of discussion, a new type of a way of dealing with things, which just fascinating to me. And I think he adopted it early and he investigated it and he went at it, and he he found and created a thing. It's so unusual and rare to see a person do that. I think it's it's fantastic.

Yeah, well, I like I like that he talks to you know, I just like that he talks to anybody.

That's that's h I mean, it's It's not as silly as when I used to watch the Morton Downy Junior Show. You know, in the eighties we had Heraldo and Morton Downey Junior Show.

A lot of that.

Stuff was staged, but but it it retains some of the essence of that in the sense that it takes chances.

You know, Joe can do whatever he wants.

It's his own format, and it speaks to what broadcasting used to be, you know, the USA coming from the public access local TV world as I do, which is what you're saying, right, and that's what our show was a we you joked about that the show was broadcast from CBS's basement, but we were essentially doing public access TV on network television, and I think the show was better for it. That's that's the free We had such freedom that we would never have now. I don't think we would ever have that freedom now.

I just don't know.

I think it's it's weird because there are so many whenever I rub up against the the executive world.

It used to be.

When you talk to executives and show business in Hollywood, they were people who were fans of show business.

They had things that they liked they had.

You know, I feel that there's less and less and less of that when I talk to executives now. There are people who worry about redsheets and algorithms and two screen interaction and all these things that they say now, and they worry about the business of being successful rather than being excited about what they're making.

Now. I think there's always been an element of that.

But I think it's kind of like tipped into this weird mintioning machine that.

I mean, there were always the factory. You know.

My mother of the car type show is that you just wrong through right there and try anything. But they don't try anything.

Now.

It's like when I see something new, I'm genuinely shocked. You know, I can tell you that even like you know, procedural like crime dramas you go and that's him, you know, that's who did it, that's you know, that's the guy and this is the thing, and all you're meant to think of this guy.

Maybe I'm just getting old.

There is that possibility I've seen too many things and it's time to stop it.

Doesn't it get to that.

I think it does get to that point where, yeah, all the themes you recognize, all the themes. There's only a few basic themes and plots and variations, variations, variations, you know. But but that's what that's why someone like Joe Rogan is important. You may not agree with what Joe Rogan is doing. You may, you know, you don't have to. That's not the point. That's that's impossible. That's a silly thing to strive for. You're never going to agree with what everything that somebody says. But it has to exist. The fact that Joe's show exists is important, and we don't need networks for that. I mean, then again, he made a you know, multi billion dollar deal with big network, but still.

Fair great to him though, I mean I would have to. I mean, absolutely the right thing to do.

You know.

It's like what people say, uh, you know, when amb is ever accused of sailing out, I'm thinking, have.

You ever met a performer in your life? Is the goal?

That's what you want to see on that on the poster is sold out?

You know, that's that's what you want sold out? Yeah.

Yeah, By the way, I will do impressions if it's with friends that I enjoy working with, or if they're paying me money. That's you see that's the thing. If I'm being paid, I'll do it. You know, if it's good money, i'll do it.

You see all these posh English actors who come from you know, very wealthy family saying, well, I wanted to see if the pop was something that.

I wanted to do.

This is how I know I want to do it.

It's like you how many that I'll do it? How many zeros are there? Yeah, I'll do it.

I mean even it's like, was it Michael Caine when they said have you seen without Jaws?

Thing that he did? Is? Have you ever even seen it?

He's like, no, but I've seen the house that it built and that's enough, you know.

I mean, it's true.

That's why Nicholas Cage has a sconces of his own arms, his own arms, his.

Bills, got to pay off the bills.

He did, He go by, he booked too many. He's probably gone bankrupt. You know, five or six times he seems like he's doing okay.

He seems like he'd be all right. He's having a resurgence. He is, but like it's it's all good stuff.

I don't know, it's it's a more sanitized I like like when Nicholas Cage did the sequel to Bad Lieutenant. You remember Bad Lieutenant with Harvey Kite.

I remember a sequel Bad Lieutenant as a sequel, Yeah.

Yeah, he did a he did Bad Lieutenant. Uh.

Port of Call, Port of Call, New Orleans. It's it's amazing.

Oh shit, it's worth I haven't seen it. I know the one you're talking about.

Yeah, because the first one was Harvey Kitel. Harvey Kittel was nude through most of the movie. You walking around dancing naked and doing all kinds of it's a it's a it's a fun two hours to spend.

With the family. You're going to really enjoy that one. But that's idea.

That's the film I miss I'm like Abel Ferrara directed that. I missed that early nineties. You know a lot of these films now, like A twenty four, they're fine, but they say they're taking these big swings and they're doing all these controversial things. Don't I don't get. Maybe it's because it's not shot on film anymore.

I don't know. I don't get that.

I missed that early nineties, late eighties, the seediness of film.

You know, those kind of movies that were taking chances. Did you see salt Burn? I did see Saltburn.

It's funny because no like spoiler, but you know when the guy with the big penis wins the day and gets the big castle. Yeah, as speaking of someone who's owned the castle, and like, you wait till the first heating bill comes in and we'll see how good you feel about that.

Mister big penis. I want to see the sequel to that. Mister big Penis pays his bills. Yeah's a mortgage.

Yeah, mister big Penis gets the heating bill, and then you know the roof has to be redone because it hasn't been done since fifteen twenty eight and all that.

It all gets old pretty.

Fast, coming soon from a twenty before the sequel to Saltburn, Mister big Penis pays the bills.

And in it he pays the bills, and he has to pay the bills by selling his big penis in installments.

He sells his big penis. I thought, okay, I thought, I mean he sells. Maybe he sells he rents out. What I'm saying is becomes a prostitute.

He becomes a maybe shoot, okay, that's good, but maybe the Sconces in his castle are castle Penis.

The Wisconsors are my penis or my penis?

Would you ever have a body part as a scone foot part of your body part could be a sconce?

I don't think. No, you don't think you're paying penis. No.

I think my penis could maybe be a candle holder Wollscones.

Yeah, No, I.

Think my Wollscones days are behind me. I think that i'd be more maybe a light, maybe a reading.

Light, yeah, a little little reading lad at the sight of the bad book. Maybe a book, a book light, maybe a small book light that you clamped to the to the back of the book. You clamp because look, man, I'm getting into my penis scance years. I'm about to turn fifty. I'm about to be the age that you were. You were maybe a year older than me when the show ended.

Yeah, yeah, I am fifty two, maybe some of that.

So I'm I'm going to turn fifty. So it's penis sconce time. This is my penis scnce era.

Man, are you worried about turn fifty? I hated turn fifty. It freaked me out.

I was now why why were why were you so Upseide. I just thought, oh my god, this is off.

I mean, look, the day after I turned fifty, I was like, fucking ridiculous, doesn't matter at all. But on the lead up to my fiftieth birthday, I was getting very tense. But I wouldn't let the kids talk about it, or answered like I don't want to talk about it, and they're like, yeah, we weare to get your present. I'm like, no, get back to work because the nobody mentioned a fucking thing.

I'm turning, get the fuck out away, the boating light, the penis. But I I feel like I wanted to.

But do you wantry you about? You wave again? Odu no man I. I I love it because I and I wish. I wish I had felt this way while we were doing the show. I wish I had this perspective ten years ago. But isn't that always the way? The way that I feel now is I don't want to say zen, but I I can't remember why any of the stuff that I thought was such a big fucking deal. I know it was a big I can't even figure it out, uh, I know. And it's a very peaceful place to be because I just make stuff for myself and if people like it, fine, If they don't, I really don't care. I don't mean that in a derogatory negative way. I just it's fine. Man, Like I don't know, you just sort of come into your own and as you get older, you you also like, what am I going to spend my time with. I used to say yes to everything because there was that desperation. I mean, the late after the show ended, I didn't have a lot of money. I was like, oh shit, I guess this is it for me. I guess it's over. So I'm gonna say yes to everything. And I have to say yes to everything. But now I don't because you know, you've only got so much time. Man, we got to be selective.

If you told me about the end of the show that that was one of the things that I had to come to terms with because I was the age you are now, which was when I was fifty years old. They were coming to me and saying, well, we can do another years and another set of numbers of money, and I realized that I was negotiating with a commodity that I didn't really have, which was time.

You know.

I was you know, well, it's only another year. It's only another two years, it's only another five years or whatever it was, and you go, but I but I don't know if I have that it would be And I felt like, you know, looking back on it now, I clearly I did have that time, but I didn't know, you know, and I and I didn't want to keep I didn't want to hate the show. I didn't want to get to a point where I hated it. You know, there were nice I think there are nice in any job where you think, oh, fuck this shit, I can't do this again.

But I didn't.

I really, I was so fucking rare that that I ever felt that when we were doing Late Night, but in the like maybe about a year or maybe eighteen months before we actually finished, that's when I was getting the closest to it, when I was like again with this again, And the only thing that made me laugh actually was the ship that we were doing, yeah, you know, and that was the only thing. And I feel like, now if i'd have known then, why, I know not they said, well, let's just cut everything and we'll just do you know, the Jaff and Craig Covidy art and that's what we'll do, right, you know, yeah, and that's what we should have done. You know, I think is just let me just do that, just do what we want. But they would have fired us.

You understand that, Well, yeah, sure we probably would have gone another's couple of months. At least you could have you could have squeezed a few more months out of that show. Yeah, but you know, you know when you know, like I, But I have also, as I've gotten older, realized that two things can be true. Like I used to have this attitude of I'm sick of doing impressions and that's it. I want to write. I want to be a writer, and I'm a filmmaker. That's what I do, so so I have to just fuck doing impressions and I'm done being a voice actor. But now it's like, no, dude, you can do both things. And by the way, what an credible job I have. I am so grateful. It's like my commute is twelve feet from the bedroom down to my studio, which is in my home, and everything I do is from home. So it's like I get up early in the morning and I write and I work on you know, some of these other projects that are really near and dear to my heart, the stuff that really gets me up in the morning and keeps me excited about creating, and then I do the other stuff. The other stuff's fine. It's not my first love. But I just don't say that publicly. I just you know, people enjoy that stuff, and that's great. They enjoy the silly things, and that's the right attitude.

I think that is right.

I mean, I think that sometimes I would do a show and something would come back stays afterwards and I didn't feel it was a good show, and they'd enjoy the show and they say I love the show, and you go, oh, I wasn't a.

Good one, and I felt like, you're robinam of that thing.

So now, no matter what, I'm like great, because I'm not the best judge of either.

I'm not the best.

Judge of of what I do, and and sometimes I think, I mean, look, I know you pretty well over the years.

You're kind of like that too.

You know, you're not the best judge of how it played out.

You know, it's like so true.

It's like true, man, you throw your thing out there and then stay out of the result. It's like you're you're not you know, being asked to judge it. You're being asked to judge it before it happens, after it happens.

It's somebody else's joke. It's true. Years ago, I did an indie film.

I was the star of a romantic comedy that a then friend of mine made, and you know, when when the film came out, I got I just I'm thinking about this now and I'm just getting douche chills.

Man, I feel like I just I can't.

I want to call the guy right after this and just go, hey, man, I was so.

Publicly rude about that film.

Now I think now about how much it takes to make a film and what an accomplishment it was, and just you know, yeah, and I just so cavalierly was like nad.

And you like that movie. That movie sucked as a piece of shit movie.

I just could not conceive of speaking that way now, And it's you know I did.

I've done exactly the same thing. I did exactly the same thing about a movie that I wrote and I directed and I started and I've bad messed that film for the last twenty years. And you know, and then the truth of the matter is it's an okay film. It's an okay film, and if you enjoy that film, that's great. I'm really glad you enjoy it. And I deeply regret exactly as you say, like like I'm such a I'm so great, I shouldn't have made that film.

What a dick, you know.

I mean, it's like I that's the film I made, and there is I hope you enjoy it.

See you next time. Yeah, you got it. You gotta do it. You gotta do it like George Lucas does it. You just have to.

You just quietly recut your film and then you go all right, No, this is the this is the film. I'm destroying all the other films and this is the only one that exists, which I which I admire. But yeah, dude, I mean it's a big accomplishment. I mean, you you made a film. I think it's a great film. But you were in a different who you were at that time when you made it, when you wrote it, when you.

Were talking about it. That's it's a whole different it's a whole different world from where you are now.

It is I and I think the idea, the kind of it is that thing you're talking about about the agent process.

But you just kind of go, why would I care? Why would I care about it? So I was talking to you know, the film critic Ao Scott.

And and he's given me some pretty tough reviews over three years. But I had him on this podcast and I was talking about that, and we were kind of laughing, like it doesn't matter. And also he had said when he was younger, when he saw a bad film or a film he didn't like, he would take it as a personal front, like he'd get angry. And he doesn't get that way anymore. Is there an earthquake you're happening?

I'm sorry, man, my camera's got a mind of its own.

I apologize it went. Is there a scary picture next to you?

No, no, don't don't worry about that, Craig. That's uh, that's the penis wall Scance. I really didn't want you to see that. Yeah, it's back there. But you were talking to Ao Scott. I'm so sorry. The camera was going great.

Well, just the fact that he was saying, when he's so a movie that he didn't like when he was young, he would consider it a personal affront.

And he can't understand why he felt that way. Now it seems so odd. Oh it's so true.

I when I worked at Blockbuster Video, I was a I was a manager at Blockbuster Video, and man, the ship that I it was like that movie High Fidelity, one of my favorite films with John Cusack. It's a brilliant film. I think the Nick Hornby novel. Yeah, it's a fantastic it's a it's a great, great film, folks. If you're listening, if you haven't seen it, please check it out. But I felt like that guy. I felt like Rob in that movie working at Blockbuster Video because I was just anybody's movie choice.

Any movie that they brought up to the front.

Desk, I would just go, oh, really, you're gonna You're gonna watch Armageddon?

You know, Armageddon's a piece of shit.

Oh the shit that I would talk on Michael Bay, who, by the way, I absolutely have so much admiration for. I think I own most of Michael Bay's films. There's no way I could do what Michael Bay does. Michael Bay is so fucking good at what he does. He is incredible. I would love to meet him. I'd love to hang out and watch him work. But at the time, when you're twenty twenty one and you're full of pisson vinegar. You know that's what you did. But now you get a YouTube channel and you do that instead. I guess that's how that works well.

And you know what, it makes me feel bad for the younger a little bit because there's documentary evidence of everything that. So if you go like like twenty five year old thirty five year old Craig Fergus and the bullshit that he's speaking.

It'd be pretty hard to find.

But there's some out there, I'm sure, But most of it wasn't recorded, you know, I wasn't speaking it into the ether that is going to live forever in digital form, and you know, I'm so glad I wasn't, you know, recording my stand up when.

I was twenty four, twenty five years old. God knows what I'm saying. Oh God, nothing is going to endear me to people, know, you know, I mean.

That's I was sure I was going to ask you that, because yeah, imagine if you if you had, if you were live streaming while you were drunkenly wandering the streets of.

Scott can you imagine?

Because I did, I'm saying it because I did, because I did, And you know, it was kind of a weird performance art.

Some of it was bullshit, a lot of it was real.

But and I think in a weird way for this new audience, in this new era of social media, in a very strange way, it endeared me to a lot of people.

It actually made me more vulnerable and real.

To a lot of people. But it's also something I would never do again. It also did fuck me up for quite a number of years. And you know, but you're right, it's forever. Someone out there still has those things. I'm sure, just waiting for the right moment. And you know what my response would be, Ah, what am I going to do? That was then I was an idiot?

What can I do?

Spend the rest of my life atoning for just being who I was?

I mean, look at you. It's to a zeveral of us though.

I mean, I mean, I've written books and I've gone back and I look what I wrote in the book and.

Go, Jesus Christ, right, like it's there now, it's in a book.

So you know, if someone reads that one hundred, one hundred and fifty years from that, I'll think, well, that's what he thought.

Well I thought it at the time.

I wrote the book, you know, six months later I didn't like that, you know, and then I was like, oh, that's wrong, but it was out.

There's nothing I could do but see that. That's interesting. That's interesting because my obsession years ago was to make sure that every single person that had that feeling about my work, every single person that took anything I said out of context, I was going to go ahead and reply to them and email them and message them and try to turn them back around to my And you will go fucking insane if you did.

You will. Yeah, you can't interact with people that way. I just don't think you can. I don't think it worked. No, And I think also, particularly if you're talking about like comments or things that people post on online, a.

Lot of that it's not really even about you.

It's about you know, I hate my life. I think his life is better than my life.

I'm annoyed at that.

Or I feel that his point of view is doesn't line up with my politics, and so I'm annoyed at that. You know. It's like, I don't think that it really works. It's not like being in a room with someone. It's kind of the way I feel about this podcast. Actually which is I feel like in the world of like talking to people for eleven or performative conversations, I think I'm as good as anyone who does it. But I think when it's done online like this, I'm as good as anyone who does it online like this, which is not as good as I can do it in the room.

I'd rather be like, I'd rather be in the room with you right now, talk always yeah, right, And.

I feel like that's something that's kind of lost a little bit on a lot of people. But the conversation that exists online even between we know each other pretty well, but even this conversation would be different if we were in the room.

It would be Yeah, I agree.

I have that same problem with the not a problem, but it's with the podcast that I'm doing now, the Spielberg Podcast, where we where we when we record the show, My co host Eric Vespy is in Austin, and uh we we do it obviously online, but there's no visual element, So not only do we not we don't see each other, So it's like talking out into the ether and I never have any visual cue of when someone's going to start. Then you add a guest in there and I often on the show still feel kind of lost, and it's and but but I don't beat myself up about it, which is what I would have done years ago. I just kind of go, yeah, this is just the format. It's like what you're saying, this is it. This is just the nature of this beast. If we were all together in a studio, be different, be completely different.

So I'm not gonna sweat it. I'm not gonna worry about It's like doing a talk show.

I do the Kelly Clarkson Show pretty I did it just this morning, and that's an amazing show to do.

It's so much fun. It's very easy.

I do her game show segments as the voice of God, who sounds a lot like Morgan Freeman.

Hey, Kelly, what's going on down there? Girl?

But they're in New York now. They move the show from LA to New York. Thankfully, I still get to do the show from here remotely. Again, the twelve foot commute, twelve foot from an outlet, you see.

But I just go right into my booth and do the show.

It's just kind of a thing where if a show doesn't go well, I only have five minutes to do it. I only have five We had an entire show, an episode, an hour. I only have five minutes within the context of someone else's talk show where they've got a lot of other things to get to and this is my moment to shine. But it's not about me, because sometimes you'll get a guest on who plays one of the games and it's about them. They're really cooking, they're really funny. And I know, now just to back off. That's from all the years, you know, doing the show that we did together. I just know intrinsically how to do that. I go, all right, I'm gonna let them have this. But I used to really beat myself up and go, fuck, man, I should have done this. I should have done that. I should have said that line. Fuck, it doesn't matter because there's another show tomorrow. That's what you that's what you said. I remember you saying it doesn't matter. There's another show tomorrow. No one's going to remember it doesn't matter onto the next, onder, the next That's really.

The adest and I still kind of feel that way as well, that there are people in my life and you are definitely one of them. Those five other guys. But I'm not going to tell you who they.

Are, Son of the therapy. Oh my god. But there are people in my life.

No matter what you do next, I'm interested. I'm interested and I want to see it because I know that it will be it will be unusual. And I'm not a big sports fan, but I used to watch Kenny dell Gleish when he played for Celtic for Scotland in when he played football or soccer, and he's one of those players that whenever he was in thirty feet or thirty yards from the goal, you would score every time. But something really exciting happened every time. And that's what I think it's about. It's like it's not always going to be a goal, but it's always going to be worth seeing. Yeah, And that I think is that's the mark of an artist. That's all right. You look at every Pocasso and go, oh they're all great. Come on, a lot of them are shit, but you know he gets there.

In the end. That's you think. You know what? Man?

I go even I go one step further with my photography and my music. You know, I like to do a lot of ambient electronic music.

Guys.

I grew up listening to Steve Roach Vangelis, Robert Rich Tangerine Dream.

But I do this stuff and I put it out into the world, but nobody knows some people will find it. I've built a tiny little audience of people on my Instagram, my other instagram, which is my music and my photography, and it's about one hundred followers. And this is not to downplay the many other thousands of followers I have for the other stuff. But somehow it means even more to me because it's like this secret, safe place I go to to do the stuff I really like to do, and it's not I don't even care if anybody sees it. And because I've been doing it now for the last couple of years, it's really gotten me into that headspace where now I'm ready to do some bigger things and.

I just really need that. I have to have that place to go to. It's very very important to me, keeps me kind of centered. You know, I would like to see that.

I will send it to you. Are you keeping it secret or can just just say it to me? Not? Well, I'll say it to you, know, yeah, well, or you don't want it to me, No, I'll say it to you.

The name of my band It's Just Me is called a Distant Sound of Trains, and the name of my Instagram is Distant Sound of Trains. My favorite noise as a little boy growing up was the distant.

Sound of trains. I know the exact Yeah, love it. You know the night and whistle at night. Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. It's the great The.

Sound travels, you know, the the error is different at night, and the sound travels further. And there was something haunting and the idea of like, there's somebody there in that train, you know, somebody manning that train. There's somebody, there's some person inside that in the distance.

I have a great story for you. You just reminded.

And I swore I was going to tell you and I forgot, and you just reminded me. So about like a couple of months ago, I was doing these live shows and I do these meet and greets after the show. Yeah, and these two guys come up after the show, very well dressed. I don't know if there were a couple of they were just buddies who were just like but they were both very handsome and very kind of like put together guys.

And they said, hey, we want to tell you about ourselves. I was like, okay, I said, we're both amtracked.

And whenever we drive past each other on Amtrak, we do this, we do the Jeff.

Peterson no way.

Yeah.

I was like that so awesome. Wow, isn't that great? That's amazing, man, I know that's amazing. That's really that's out there.

That's I mean that, that's the shit that I love that. That's and you know, you were, man, that's great. You were talking about right after the show ended, where you didn't want to talk about it.

Yeah, I don't want to talk about it totally normal.

I was like, Jeff Peterson, f U, I could have probably handled it a bit better. Sorry again, my apologies to those of you. But you know, anyway, there's a guy named Bob Runkle. It's a great name. Bob Runkle. Hey doing I'm Bob Runkle DJ Bob. He has a podcast. He's been doing it for close to twenty years. Bob is a lovely, lovely human being. He has cerebral palsy and he wanted to be a broadcaster his entire life and he's been he's been doing it. I've been fortunate enough to go on his show, and Bob was the one who turned me around on all of this. I mean, I appreciated that people loved the show and Jeff, but the way that Bob talked about it, it just affected me so deeply, and I realized, my god, there's all these people that got through terrible situations in their lives.

Break up your job line?

Yeah, man, like I and you go, oh, I Like, I was so focused on the two or three people that were criticizing me, and I realize, now, what a what a horrible insult that was really to all of these other people that were like, hey over here, dummy, we we we love what you do. But to hear that people do the Jeff Peterson you know, hand motion or say here come the play is and I mean all people, even careful Icarus used to bug this shit out of me because it was like it was like, no, don't you guys understand this was a very painful thing for me. And now I'm like, it's amazing. Some dude tweeted that to me that guy should be given royalties. I mean, it's like it's on T shirts. I have my own T shirts as well. I don't know if you guys. But it's a careful Icarus and balls and in your pants and all the stuff that we did here come the Players is like the greatest one though, Like I don't even I don't even know where this stuff came from, but it connected with people, and I think that's the thing that I always have to remember about. Yeah, what we did, that's the most important thing.

That's it. Yeah, I think that. I think that.

And we'll continue to do separating together shit that does that? Will we'll still be the Players.

Well, we'll sell our own respective T shirts. I mean, you can buy Craigs, you can buy mine. I mean you know, you know it's.

Them, and wear them different occasion. Yeah, just whatever you get.

Like, if you buy one of Craig shirts, don't like tag me in it and go, hey, I got your shirt, because you know, come on, man, that's not my shirt, you know what I mean.

And vice versa. If you buy one of my shirts here.

Say buy Joseph's shirts. They're the originals and they're they're the real one.

Listen, Yeah, thank you, thank you. Two guys on Amtrak trains in the night waving their arms on each other.

I just fucking loved that. Story though. It's the great. It says it all, man, that's very poetic. It does. And we've said it all. We're done, we're out of time. Get out of said man. I'll see you when I'm next to La. Did you survive all right? Did you get smoke inhalations into it? Yeah?

I had a lot of that, but thankfully, you know, in an area where not really affected Silverlake, not really in any danger over here from anger from a lot of other things. But yeah, it's a horrible thing, man, I have I don't know if you have any friends the oh yeah, lost their.

Houses and stuff. Yeah, yeah, more than one. I mean back.

Man, you know, it's just California's It's it's always something. There's always fires, there's always earthquakes, but this particular, but this particular one, the wrong right set of terrible circumstances. So yeah, man, but thankfully, I'm glad you're you're in Scotland though, right you were?

Were you not? Right now? I am?

Yeah, I'm in Scotland right now. I'm actually in the very furthest north you can go before it becomes Santa's House.

Oh right, that's right, very far north right, Now, tell them I said, Hi, I will do Evil Center and the next time I'm in LA, I'll get to see you.

Right.

Yeah, I'd love to man all right, and let's do that Hollywood. We're having a Hollywood moment here, folks. If you're listening right in the Hollywood moment.

We're having Hollywood.

But I will come and do the The spiel Podcast.

Please, we'd love to have you on THEE. I'd love to do it. I'd love to do it. Ask my name all Spielberg all the time.

Does Polar Guist count because he didn't direct Poor guyst I don't think, but does it does count?

I maintained that he did direct it? All due respect to Toby Hooper, we can get into that. I know you've you've met Spielberg. We don't have to talk about it now.

I can't talk about it, but you know, and sometimes I'll do my Steven Spielberger impression. I just put my fingers like this, and Craig is fantastic. I just think you're wonderful and everything you do is wonderful with your friend. Why don't we let's let's hang out, let's do lunch. Why not great?

Everything's great? Do you know when when he called me. You know when you'd that thing you wait.

When you're when you go to Hollywood and you think you know, I'm going to one day, Steven Spielberg is going to call me. I was in my car and I put on the voicemail and it was Steven Spielberg and it was I can't do the thing. But he said, Hi, Craig, is Steven Spielberg. I just want to talk to you about something. Can you give me a call back? And he left the number and I was like, oh my god. And I kept that voice for years. I would I kept that voice thing. I was like, this is that.

I think that's what I went to Hollywood for.

Just from the moment, yeah, you go, all right, I'm done.

Spielberg.

I got a great idea for a movie that's about penis shaped sponsors that come to life. I think it'd be great.

So weirdly that's what it was. But even he couldn't get that made.

Even I just I just can't figure out how to get the emotional connection. I mean, everything's there, it's not gonna work, Rag, It's just not for me.

It was Carol Burnett, my Spielberg was meeting Carol Burnette at.

The Late Late Show.

Man.

Those are the moments you live for, buddy, Sure really are had so many of them. All right, pal, I'll see you in a melia. Thanks for coming on the podcast and yet again convincing me of your dark, brooding, hilarious and offset or genius.

Thank you, buddy.

I promise you're still at the top of the list, and come by and participate in the Halloween pageant anytime you like.

I should.

We should do a live late late show on your lawn and so over.

Let's see, Let's see how many people show up.

You know what.

I feel like we could probably make that a little flashmoby.

I think we could get something going, funny dat. Let's let's talk about it. Let's folks are not promising anything. Calm down, we'll talk about it. Okay, we'll do it.

We'll do it, all right, all right, get out of here, all right, man,

In 1 playlist(s)

  1. Joy, a Podcast. Hosted by Craig Ferguson

    88 clip(s)

Joy, a Podcast. Hosted by Craig Ferguson

Storied late-night talk host Craig Ferguson brings his interview talents and singular world view to … 
Social links
Follow podcast
Recent clips
Browse 87 clip(s)