Josh Robert Thompson

Josh Robert Thompson, a comedic genius who, amongst other things, was the voice and personality behind Geoff Peterson, “the greatest side kick in late night television history.” Listen to two good friends catch up and reminisce about the “Late Late Show” days, and much, much more! EnJOY!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This week, the Craig Ferguson Fancy Rascal Tour continues in Joliet,
Illinois and Columbus, Ohio. I will also be performing alongside
Jay Leno and Arsenio Hall as parts of The Kings
of Late Night Dates and Pittsburgh, PA and Cincinnati, Ohio.
Tickets available at the Craig Ferguson show dot com slash tour.

(00:23):
My name is Craig Ferguson. This podcast is called Joy.
It's not Rocket science. I talk to people I like
about their pursuit of happiness. Here's Josh Robert Thompson, a
comedic genius who, amongst other things, was the voice and
personality behind Jeff Peterson, the greatest sidekick in late night

(00:46):
television history.

Speaker 2 (00:48):
Enjoy. Yeah, I feel all right? Oh yeah, I feel good.
See now here's it.

Speaker 3 (00:55):
Now.

Speaker 1 (00:55):
You put the headphones on, but you leave it off
one you do?

Speaker 2 (00:59):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (00:59):
Is that a real thing? Or is that just to
mess with people that don't do voice all the time?

Speaker 2 (01:05):
I think you do it. Yeah. It freaks me out
when it feels like I'm trapped. If I got both
ears covered? What do you if you get sinus infection?
Do you get closer? Phobic. It can't work, man, I
get lost. Do that.

Speaker 1 (01:20):
Look I seriously though, because you're like a top voiceover guy.
I don't know if I'm a top voice. You are
a top voiceover guy. You're around, You're the voice. Like,
if I ever need a voiceover, I like, I wouldn't
even call anyone else.

Speaker 2 (01:31):
I don't like go to pet Boys, You go to Pepe.
I got guys milling around out in front of pet Boys.
You can get a pretty cheap voiceover. I think in
front of Home Depot there are guys waiting in trucks.
Those guys are great. Wow, some great voice.

Speaker 1 (01:46):
That's the way I think. I mean, I want to
go into things in a minute. But just as we're
talking about voiceover, do you remember that thing that routine
Chris Rock the Oscars when he was mean about voiceovers.

Speaker 2 (01:57):
Did you oh about when he said all you gotta
do is go in and talk like yourself. Yeah, I
mean it's it's a little that's listen, that's kind of
the way it's going. Now.

Speaker 1 (02:06):
You know all the celebrities, celebrity train your dragon guys.

Speaker 2 (02:12):
That ahole.

Speaker 1 (02:15):
He just walked a little bit about it would make
Myers stud Shrek. I was like, he's not even Scottish,
and I'm like, well waitnut, he's not even an uber either.

Speaker 2 (02:23):
He must have been deeply hurt by that could have
been yours man.

Speaker 1 (02:27):
Yeah, Craig Ferguson what you can call it, Shadow Stevens
is another voice Shadow Steven legendary.

Speaker 2 (02:36):
He's done this podcast, has he? Yeah?

Speaker 1 (02:38):
He talked about the time when he was psychotic with cocaine. Yes,
and he was in his cabin and topanga with shotguns,
listening to imaginary people trying to get in through the door.

Speaker 2 (02:52):
Is that a thing you've done because I don't. I
don't see that. Well I did do that, only I
did it live on various streaming platforms about twenty sixteen
twenty seventeen.

Speaker 1 (03:02):
You kind of went, yeah, yeah, you did do a
little bit. What happened there? You know you were you
were like spilling your guts in audio form? Yeah, well
and video as well. Oh really yeah, I would either
I would have.

Speaker 2 (03:13):
A good I'm glad they're gone, but I'm sure someone
will find them to share them with you. Oh. I was, uh,
you know, I was was. I became pretty angry man
after the after the show ended, I didn't know what.
I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't know
what I was supposed to do next.

Speaker 1 (03:29):
Yeah, I understand that, you know, I understand that because
it's it's terrifying when a job like that.

Speaker 2 (03:35):
I wasn't prepared. I didn't know what. I don't know
how you do these things? How does I was on
the show for probably eight years, is almost the entire run.

Speaker 1 (03:42):
Well, to my mind, you made the show. It was
like the show I had me in it. And then
when you turned up and brought not just the role Ball,
I mean like Jeff was kind of like the when
you made that thing come alive. Yeah, made Jeff go.
And I think of you as Jeff.

Speaker 2 (03:58):
I don't.

Speaker 1 (03:58):
I don't think as Jeff being a separate entity. You know,
it's like you are. You're the guy who plays Jeff.
You're like, yeah, when that happened, that to me, that's
when the show became the show. It's nice to say
that's the truth. And but before that, you were doing Robert.

Speaker 2 (04:16):
It started with Schwarzenegger, right, Craig, how are you check
in with me at the Capitol And they put these
this appliance on my face to make me kind of
look like Arnold. I would do like two hours of makeup,
completely unnecessary makeup for like a five minute sketch that
we would do. They put me in a muscle suit,

(04:38):
and I know it.

Speaker 1 (04:39):
Was there was at let's check in with Arnold because
he was the governor at the time.

Speaker 2 (04:44):
Yeah, that's right. And it was this guy, Trent Coottner.
Shout out to Trent. He was a great makeup artist,
but he was color blind, okay, And he told me
in the middle of the told me in the middle
of the makeup. It's like, I hope this is right, right,
I'm colorblind, But that's how we you know. It was
Joe Strazzulo, one of the writers from your show I

(05:05):
Loved You, a great writer who found me on Public
Access TV. I was doing my Preacher character, that's right, yeah,
and he was getting high and watching TV and so
it was.

Speaker 1 (05:15):
A wild write all that because when you started, I
said you should do stand up.

Speaker 2 (05:20):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (05:20):
And then the first time you did stand up was
opening for me at Radio City Music.

Speaker 2 (05:24):
That was my fourth gig.

Speaker 1 (05:26):
That's right, you said, Josh, you do stand up right again?

Speaker 2 (05:31):
I do the voice.

Speaker 1 (05:32):
I think you can do it pretty much. I think
you can do a pretty Josh, she could do stand
up right? Sure I can't. Yeah, you bet I can,
mister Ferguson, no problem. Where do we start? And the
first gig was what the Venetian in Vegas?

Speaker 2 (05:45):
That was your first gig. That's a hard gig. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (05:48):
Beautiful room, man, Yeah, it's a beautiful room, and it's
a great place to play. But the Vegas, yeah, is
a difficult People think Vegas is easy.

Speaker 2 (05:56):
It's actually one of the worst places to play. It
is because a lot of the people that are there
don't really want to be there. That you're just that's
just part of the Oh you can eat what's.

Speaker 4 (06:05):
Going on there? Is? What show?

Speaker 2 (06:07):
Let's go see that? I've never seen it? Who's there?

Speaker 4 (06:09):
A gay from How to Train Your Dragon? I like
his worky, Yeah, I enjoy his voice work. He wasn't
Shrek disappointingly. He talks funny. Yeah, My wife and I
love his comedy.

Speaker 1 (06:21):
So listen, let's talk about Cleveland, Josh. Yeah, let's talk
about Let's talk a little bit about Cleveland, Josh. Because
when we're talking about you know how you got a
little angry after the show. Yeah, man, So that didn't start.
Then that started back when you were when you were
in Cleveland, when that's usually how it started. It starts

(06:42):
with the usually starts to talk to a lot of people.
And I've noticed the common denominator. Yeah, but if you're angry,
it's usually because you're in Cleveland. That's usually why I've
been there angry a couple of times, you see. So,
were you have the vintage growing up watching the Drew
carry Show.

Speaker 2 (06:59):
Yeah, watched the Drew Cary I remember seeing Drew Carey
do his first i think his first TV stand up
on the Tonight Show. Tonight Show.

Speaker 1 (07:06):
That's right, and you everybody, when you were a kid,
you knew he was a Cleveland.

Speaker 2 (07:10):
And it was sitting there in the living room watching
that on TV, thinking, how how can I get in
the How can I get there? How can I So
that that was that was one of the ways. That
was one of the things that started you off. So
he was sort of a little Jackie Robinson for you
a little bit, yeah kind of yeah, all right? Yeah,
So how did it go with me? And how did
were you in theater? Were a lot of theater? I

(07:30):
was at the Cleveland Playhouse, I mean, you know, legendary
theater company in Cleveland.

Speaker 1 (07:36):
You know, why did you get into that? Because you're like,
you're from a You're a blue collar kid, right.

Speaker 2 (07:40):
No, I mean my mom's an artist, painter. Oh you know,
she's a she went to art school, very artistic background.
Oh I didn't. I didn't know that. And my my
biological father, whom I never met, was also an incredible painter.
You know, I've I've since seen photographs of his art
shows and is he no longer was no longer with us.

(08:02):
He passed away. He passed away in nineteen ninety from AIDS.
You know he was he was gay. Wow, that was
a whole part of my life that I discovered, you know,
later on after he passed, my mother told me everything
about my father. So he was a gay man. But
he left and moved to San Francisco. He moved to
the Bay Area and became a very prominent artist in

(08:24):
the Bay Area. And seeing these photos of his art
shows and seeing him standing next to his paintings, it
was mind blowing. But my favorite photo of him because
he had a tough childhood, you know, right, you got
to imagine growing up in his time and being gay,
even in nineteen ninety. When my mother told me that information,

(08:46):
I was going to Catholic school and I'm living in Cleveland,
I'm in the Midwest. I first thought was, am I
gay is going to be? You know? Is there going
to be something wrong with me? You know, it was
it was not talked about, you know. But there's a
photo of him that I have. That side of the
family has since given me a lot of photos of him,

(09:07):
and there's a great photo of him at I think
Hamburger Mary's in San Francisco, maybe the original Hamburger Mary's,
I don't know, but he's gathered with all of his friends.
There's all these guys and I assume his his boyfriend
or partner with him, and he looks so happy. Yeah,
and it's it's a fucking great photo because he finally,

(09:29):
after all the pain that he went through, you know,
he finally found his people. That's a hard journey. Yeah.
And then he died of aates diabates. Yeah. God, I mean,
people forget that. I mean that shit just went. It
was so terrifying. Forest Fire, Yeah, I remember when the
new one Rock Hudson.

Speaker 1 (09:47):
Yeah, I remember that when Freddy Mercury and that Freddy
and then it was like what is this?

Speaker 2 (09:51):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (09:51):
What is the people just fucking I remember when I
was twenty one, I was in New York and I
danced with the American Mordern danced there because I thought
maybe a dancer.

Speaker 2 (10:01):
Oh yeah, I can see that.

Speaker 1 (10:03):
It was like it was me and like twenty five
game man, which I was fantastic because I was from Scotland.
I was twenty one, I was cute and I was
straight and married to at the time, to we Scottish girl,
so they kind of adopted.

Speaker 2 (10:17):
Yeah, but I went back four years later, like half,
maybe more than a.

Speaker 1 (10:21):
Half of the guys were gone, They're gone, yeah crazy,
and you were out there hello, yeah go. Actually it
was it was contemporary modern dance. Oh so, so just
there was a lot of pretending there was a window.
There wasn't a window.

Speaker 2 (10:37):
There was from the ground. Wasn't a rope you know,
Oh oh there's a flower. I'm a tree. I'm a tree. Yeah.
Don't cut me, don't cut.

Speaker 1 (10:44):
Me, don't cut me, cut me. Oh you've cut me?
Oh no, yeah, there's a lot of that.

Speaker 2 (10:48):
Call me.

Speaker 1 (10:49):
So, so you grew up in Cleveland, So did you
have a stepdad.

Speaker 2 (10:53):
Yeah, my step dad. My stepdad is my dad? Rights
who you think of? Yeah, because he was there, proud.
He came into the picture around the time I was
I want to say, three or four, right, And then
they got married when I was like five years old.
Were you at the wedding? I was, that's cool, a
little guy, little tuxedo. And then I took I took
his last name Thompson, right, probably around eighty five eighty six.

(11:15):
We went down to the courthouse and you know, he
adopted me basically. That's that's and I remember, that's quite
a lovely story. Yeah, I remember crying. I remember I didn't.
I didn't quite understand what it meant, right because I
was very young. But I remember crying in front of
the courthouse because I now had a new name, like
and I had a real father, and it was, you know,

(11:37):
became a real boy. I became a real boy. I
was Wooden prior to that. Yeah, I understand what happened
was I was a wood boy. I was by this
this Italian gentleman, Tom Hanks. Yeah you were Tom. I'm
Trampellal So wait, thank you? So wait though, is he

(11:58):
still around your is? Yeah?

Speaker 4 (12:00):
Right?

Speaker 2 (12:00):
Okay. So and your mom's still a right, Yeah, you're
very lucky. That's great. Yeah, we are. Yeah, my mom,
I mean they've since divorced. My mom's been remarried now
for close to fifteen years. They both live here. You know,
we all moved here to Los Angeles. Yeah, in like
ninety five from Cleveland. Why did you move from Cleveland? Well,

(12:23):
it was very angry. We had to get away from
the anger in the Cleveland still hometime your hometown. Yeah,
I go back and visit, you know, I visit my
my best well, my best friend, Matt Lodi passed away
bout a year and a half ago. Thanks by the way,
you we sort of talked about doing a little fundraiser.
Went really well, and he was just the nicest guy
in the world. But his family I still stay in

(12:45):
touch with, and a lot of my family still live
in Cleveland. You know.

Speaker 1 (12:48):
So you come out here and what you want it
to be? Do you you wanted to just be an actor?
You want to be I want to be a director.

Speaker 2 (12:54):
Okay. I started out making movies. I started out making
you know, monster movies. In my backyard. I still think
of that's that's still something that you're going to do
right a horror movie, there's no question. Yeah, writing and
directing is what I did when I was a kid.
In fact, my mom was my camera person for my
horror movies, my monster movies. That's kind of great.

Speaker 4 (13:14):
You know.

Speaker 2 (13:14):
I took her to see The Fableman's Last November and
we were both just, you know, weeping through the entire
movie because that was like she kept turning to me, go, this,
this is you, this is us, I said, remember you
know this she used to you know, she'd she'd hold
the camera and like it'd be a chase scene in
one of my movies, and she'd be running with the
camera and her doctor Shull's flip flops can be heard

(13:37):
in the background and the camera is going like this.
But God bless her, but she but she took a
real interest in my creative endeavors. She fostered that.

Speaker 1 (13:47):
All right, So when did the Because I always think
people who do voices the way you do voices that.

Speaker 2 (13:52):
Kind of uncanny, like, like you can do that.

Speaker 1 (13:55):
Yeah, I think that's a musician's skill. I think that
that's the ear of a musician. That do you think
that's right? I think that's I think that's true. Yeah,
I mean I think for me it was spending a
lot of time alone. I'm an only child, right, so
growing up in Cleveland, an only child who doesn't like sports,
you kind of don't have many other options, and you

(14:17):
get and you have that kind of thing of I'm
adopted and I might be gay.

Speaker 2 (14:21):
Yeah, and being a latch key kid, which was you
know you basically you come home from school and your
parents aren't home from work yet. Yeah. And I had
an actual skeleton key because the house we lived in
was probably built in like nineteen oh one. It was
a two story house and we lived upstairs in in Cleveland,
and downstairs was the landlord. This this sweet old woman

(14:44):
named Missus van Duser.

Speaker 1 (14:47):
I think this is a good horror movie right here,
Missus von but we have she's sweet. But then you
start smelling cadavers. That's right, right, got it?

Speaker 2 (14:57):
Which I were you? This is true? Did you? I
feel like you?

Speaker 1 (15:02):
And then you guys moved to San Francisco. That's right,
to get to try and find your dad, who's sadly
you know, that's the sick.

Speaker 2 (15:08):
Yeah. But the cadavers follow you, that's they follow me?

Speaker 1 (15:12):
Yeah, Yeah, Cadavers Across America.

Speaker 2 (15:14):
That's the name of the that's the name of the movie.
It's not a bad it's not about cadavers across America.

Speaker 5 (15:21):
Shadow the Night on ABC Cadavers Josh Robert Thompson was
a boy who lived in Cleveland and had a skeleton key.

Speaker 2 (15:31):
That's the weird thing.

Speaker 1 (15:32):
You had a skeleton key, and then because the skeleton
blooms large in your future.

Speaker 2 (15:37):
That's true. Well, I was a wooden boy, then I
became a real boy. Then I became a skeleton, and
you became a skeleton.

Speaker 1 (15:42):
The skeleton thing is very interesting for those people who
don't know, which I don't know. There's not many, but
there are some. Yeah, yeah, the people who don't know that.
When I talked to grant Emahara God Rest Rest in Peace,
who is the robot builder on the MythBusters, and we
were it came from. Actually, even before that, I had
watched ghost Rider. M h Na Nicholas Cake and I

(16:09):
had watched ghost Rider. I remember talking about the show
the next day saying that is American entertainment. A skeleton
who rides a motorcycle who's on fire. If you can
make a better movie than that I don't think you can.

Speaker 2 (16:21):
So that's where it started. That's where it started.

Speaker 1 (16:24):
Yeah, And in fact, until Top Gun Maverick, there was
no better movie than Ghost Rider in my opinion's true.

Speaker 2 (16:29):
I'm just saying, I'm a ghost, I'm on a bike,
and I'm on fire. I'm on fire.

Speaker 1 (16:37):
But the then and I was talking about it, great
it was. And then Joe the Prop remember Joe the
Props guy, Joe Props, Joe Prop. Joe perhaps Joe Props
put a skeleton and he puts some like colored paper.

Speaker 2 (16:51):
That was it. Yep, And I went, oh, that's great.

Speaker 1 (16:54):
And then I said that and the idea of Jeff
Peterson the robot skeleton sidekick kind of came from that.

Speaker 2 (16:58):
But then there was a Robots Skelton Army. Wasn't there
a story that you told?

Speaker 1 (17:03):
Oh, that's right. I used to annoy mylogue without myla
that was it.

Speaker 2 (17:06):
He was little at.

Speaker 1 (17:07):
The time, and I said I was gonna start a
robot skeleton army and take over the world.

Speaker 2 (17:12):
Yes, and he was very aggurate, you know, a little
kids guy. No, you can't do that, that happens. Yeah,
I'm gonna I'm gonna do it. So it was kind
of like Terminator almost because all of that kind of stuff.
Because the Twitter made the rule, Grant made the robot.
Grand made the animated robot. But you guys had a
bet though, before that happened, before Jeff became real and materialized,

(17:34):
there was some bet between the two of you that
you would get Grant followers. That's right, he did.

Speaker 1 (17:41):
You can if you get me one hundred thousand Twitter follows,
I'll build you a rule.

Speaker 2 (17:44):
Right.

Speaker 1 (17:45):
I think it took like an hour, right, Twitter was
Twitter was a different place. It was, man, Remember when
Twitter was like people were funny, creative and sweet and
wanted to be friends with each other.

Speaker 2 (17:57):
Yeah, I mean, I don't know if you go on it,
I don't, not nearly as much as I ever did before. No,
it's just people are so many. Yeah, it's mean. Yeah,
I don't need it. Why are you so mean? I
became sort of ensnared in that for a while, speaking
of that anger, you know. Yeah, the the thing about

(18:18):
Twitter and the platforms that I was live streaming on
is it was this. It was like having a bunch
of enablers in the palm of your hand, right, instant enablers, Right,
you just whatever problem you have, you will have a
group of people that will agree with you and always
be on your side, even if you're the most fucked
up person. That's what I kind of got involved with

(18:40):
for a little while because I had a low opinion
of myself and I felt this is what I deserve.

Speaker 1 (18:45):
And you know, the weird thing was, I think you
always kind of suffered from that bit because I remember
when we started messing around, the first thing we started
doing with a Rulebop with Jeff Pearson, it was pre recorded.

Speaker 2 (18:57):
Bet that's right.

Speaker 1 (18:59):
You would say, you know, we prerecorded you going you're
the man Craig that Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (19:03):
You're the man in your pants rolls. That was Tom Straw,
by the way, right, phrases right, and he Tom's a
really good writer and he's a fabulous guy.

Speaker 1 (19:13):
And he was part of the creation of the creative
team put together Piers Yep, he was very much involved
in it, and he would fire off the phrases yep.
They would interject when I was talking. He would just
fire the men. And then when we started Jeff went
live became santient.

Speaker 2 (19:30):
Was on the trip to Vegas, right. Why what happened
was we were shooting Vegas. We were doing a really
funny parody of the Hangover. That's where you and Jeff
are driving back from Vegas in like a fifty red
fifty seven Chevy. That's right, Yeah, trying to remember what
the hell happened. Jeff is wearing he's dressed like a bride,
and you got married. I married Jeff Peterson the Skeleton.

(19:53):
And I remember there was a part where we were
on the Vegas Strip in this fifty seven Chevy. What
do you call like a camera truck, Yeah, the low loader, right,
you know, it's always traffic. Yeah, And we were sitting
there and all these people started coming over to the
car to talk to you, which is fine. They're all

(20:14):
very nice people. But it was a really long day
and I remember I had it. So I'm I'm lying
in the back of the fifty seven Chevy. I have
to lie down so no one can see me. I'm
puppeteering Jeff for the first time. I'm puppeteering. That's right,
because it's not just the voice.

Speaker 1 (20:29):
You were operating, the eye, everything mouth and right, and
the arm and right, and I so.

Speaker 2 (20:34):
I'm crouched like you know, I'm lying like this and
I got the thing and I got the headset, and
then I have a blanket on top of me, and
sitting on me. Sitting on me was Brad Lace, who
was the Little Purse, a little great actor who was
playing the lepreca He was always on the show. He
was dressed as a Leprechaun. Yeah, I don't know that

(20:56):
we can, but you know, I mean it was who's
gonna play it? Brad put on a leprecha on outfit.
So but I remember hearing you in the earpiece starting
to get you know, it's irritated. Perhaps you had a

(21:17):
lapel Mike, you put it up to your mouth and
you said, guess the fuck out of here, right now,
get us hold the fuck out of here.

Speaker 6 (21:23):
Man.

Speaker 2 (21:23):
We're done, man, We're done. Goal And I said, and
I don't I can hear everyone in the truck going,
all right, we gotta go, we gotta go, we gotta go.
Come on, come on, get those cars out of there.
And I started as Jeff, I turned Chef's head to
you and I said something like, oh is the late

(21:44):
night talk show was getting tired? Did he need a nab?
And that's what I remember. Started fucking dying laugh it's
always the like your pirate to make me laugh is unmatched.
No one can make me laugh like you. That's what
brings me joy. By the way, it's one of the
things I wanted to say, was making you laugh was
one of my favorite things because what Jeff Peterson represented,

(22:07):
I think was your subconscious It was it was what
you were actually thinking about the show. And I could
say it because it wasn't me.

Speaker 1 (22:17):
It was this, it was it was Yeah, the idea
that puppets get away with stuff, that's true.

Speaker 2 (22:23):
I think.

Speaker 1 (22:24):
Also what happened is that I liked that Jeff was
emblematic of my creative failure on it. Yeah, that's right,
that's right, because I wanted to put a sidekick in.
It was a parody of sidekick because it was a
robot that would do whatever I wanted, and then when
you gave him life, it became, to my mind still

(22:44):
the best sidekick in the history of late night television.
Really nice hands done and completely negated my parody and
my kind of puffy, kind of whiny stomp against the
genre and created and did a bear which I love.

Speaker 2 (23:02):
That I got it wrong. Well, I don't know if
I ever you know, properly thanked you for letting me
be a part of that. I mean for asking me
to be that character. I think, thank you for that. Well,
you welcome it. Offhand. One day you said, because you
were doing the voice originally, very briefly, it was like
a dollar. You are the man and you and you

(23:24):
know this about yourself. You notoriously got very tired of
all those machines and things. Sound machine, shocking, it's too much. Yeah,
I'm shocking with We're done with this. You had a
sound machine that made like a bull here right now. Yes,
find another way, find another way. That's my favorite phrase.

(23:44):
My two favorite phrases of yours are and I'll never
forget these. Hey, if you're earlier on time, if you're
on time, you're late, And find another way another way.

Speaker 1 (23:54):
That was when Jeff Arnold was rolling with us and
you had to sinus infection and Jeff.

Speaker 2 (23:58):
Ke going harm and I said to him, what the
what the hell you do it?

Speaker 3 (24:05):
Right?

Speaker 1 (24:06):
He said, I'm clearing my sinuses. Yeah, And I said,
find another way?

Speaker 2 (24:12):
Right before a show. Maybe I don't know where. We
were Vancouver and we were in Canada. You were trying
to get just catch some quicksease, find another way man.
You said it from the other room.

Speaker 1 (24:24):
What I Craig Ferguson will be hitting the road again
this summer and fall, bringing the Fancy Rascal Tour to
your region. For tickets and full list of tour dates,
go to my website, the Craig Ferguson Show dot com
slash tour.

Speaker 2 (24:43):
Come see me live or don't.

Speaker 1 (24:51):
The thing is though that when Jeff began, right, So
Jeff is is now you're operating the puppet?

Speaker 2 (24:58):
Yeah, and you're you had a screen right or were
you just looking at me? Both? So you're behind the bleachers,
you've got a screen looking at it and stand. I
stood the whole time, and I was on one side
of the bleachers where the audience sat, you know, and
you had how did you operate it? Like an iPad
or like it was remote controls? Actually a remote control unit.

(25:18):
Grant showed me how to use the whole thing. I
could move the one arm, swivel, the head blank, the
eyes make them and by the way, it wasn't voice activated.
The mouth the only way the mouth moved. You'll enjoy this, ladies.
If I press this little button there was a little switch. Yeah,
and every time I talk, I had to do this.
Do you still do that? I do it even now.

Speaker 1 (25:40):
Yeah, so when you're talking, you move your fingers like
that when you're having sex with your girlfriend.

Speaker 2 (25:47):
I love what's going on in your pants? Can we
do in your pants tonight? Come on?

Speaker 4 (25:56):
Man?

Speaker 2 (25:56):
Oh my god? Yeah, there was a you know. But
despite all that, I had this real chip on my show,
and it was a chip on my shoulder, but I
had this I wanted to come out from behind the wall.
I was so focused, I think, on people knowing that
it was me back there. I understand that. You know.

Speaker 1 (26:14):
I felt very much that feeling ten years earlier when
I was on the Drew carry Show. Oh yeah, I
felt exactly the same with your describement. I felt when
I was doing mister Wick, right, and I totally understand
it totally related.

Speaker 2 (26:27):
To even because all right, because you're mister Wick and
you're doing this British doing the English acting, and you're
someone else, and I'm being someone else and I'm not
getting to do what I think is funny. I have
to do you, you know right, funny right?

Speaker 1 (26:43):
I felt, I know exactly what you mean, and I
had a lot of anger about it as well.

Speaker 2 (26:48):
It's and it's hard to put it because and.

Speaker 1 (26:50):
The one hand, you're grateful for the work, right absolutely,
and you're working in an environment where you get to
shine creative. Yeah, I mean I got to do that
with Drew. You really going to do it with Jack?

Speaker 2 (27:01):
Oh?

Speaker 1 (27:01):
Yeah, I mean you created See that's why I think.
I remember there were nights when I would talk to
the producers after the show and I would say, I
hope we're paying this guy and I goddamn genius, and
they would.

Speaker 2 (27:15):
Say, oh, yeah, we're paying it. I don't know if
they were paying. Yeah, but it's okay toward the Edinburg,
you know, for a while. Yeah, he'll be fine. Yeah,
it's all right, Craig. This every every night.

Speaker 6 (27:26):
Every night, producers will walk by me and go, so listen,
Craig is in a terrible mood. The audience has been
waiting outside for four hours in the sun. So it's
all on. You have a good show.

Speaker 2 (27:40):
And then right away.

Speaker 5 (27:40):
But Craig, it's the Late Light Show brought to you
by Anison, And I'm like, oh god, you.

Speaker 2 (27:47):
Know it was really uh what is it? Baptism by fire? Yeah,
because it did incorporate everything up to that point that
I loved because I had been doing public Access TV
for almost ten years before that, and Jim Henson was
an idol of mine. Johnny Carson Show. I used to
do the Johnny Carson Show in my basement in Cleveland.

(28:07):
I used to build I built the set out of
cardboard boxes. That's very right, exactly, except I had real guests.
My little cousins would be my guests, right. And I
put a bald skull cap on and I used Barbersol
white Barbasol shaving cream to make the hair. God d
any of these exists? Oh I have it all? Oh wow?

(28:28):
Oh yeah, yeah, I really quite like it's really I'd
love to show you. My first guest is my cousin Bobby.
This is interesting, now you you didn't eat your lunch
yesterday and tell me about that, you know, And but
it incorporated everything. It was late my love of late
night TV and puppets. I mean, you couldn't ask for
a better job.

Speaker 1 (28:49):
Descript So the frustration must have been pretty intense then,
because you're getting to do all of the stuff creative.

Speaker 2 (28:55):
Yeah, but no one's as no one knows it's you
that And I think at the time when I was
doing the show, all through my time on the Late
Late Show, I was involved in a series of relationships.

Speaker 1 (29:07):
I do remember that there was some scuttle about has
Joshi he.

Speaker 2 (29:12):
Broke up or they're back together? That's right? Yeah, yeah,
yeah yeah. And I got to be honest with you.
Here's the truth.

Speaker 1 (29:20):
When I knew you were in emotional pain because I
knew you were having good for some breakouts, I would
say to Michael the producer, he's having a really hard
time with the girlfriend.

Speaker 2 (29:29):
I'm like, it's gonna be really fucking funny today. End.

Speaker 1 (29:33):
And oh my god, when you were angry and upset, yeah, hilarious,
right right, Oh.

Speaker 2 (29:40):
Shut up, man, what the house wrong with you? Know
what I was? I bid you adieu and all that stuff.
Oh yeah, my god. It used to make me laugh
so much. You're right, and that's why. And that's funny
because you did know and there were a lot of
times when Jeff was legitimately in a bad mood and
it was hilarious coming through this robot.

Speaker 1 (29:58):
So you're channeling this this existential rage difficulty coming through
the post.

Speaker 2 (30:04):
But do you see how brilliant? Yeah? I mean, you
have to That's why I think.

Speaker 1 (30:09):
Is important for me, and I talked about that with
you know, with people I work with now, and like,
I don't think Joshie understands what he did. I don't
you really did something that is unique to my mind
that you took. You were writing on the hoof, you
were like this all improvised that I don't think people
really understand it.

Speaker 2 (30:30):
Yeah, that was the I think again, and it's I'm
so glad you're bringing this up because aside from me
not being known, like people didn't know it was me
back there, I think it was that it was it
was all improvised and people didn't know that. But what
I realized only recently, it took me a long time
to get to this place. What I realized is it
doesn't fucking matter if they know or not. No, we know,

(30:53):
we were there, we know, and it was a magic trick.
I mean it was because because it was you said,
it was the purest form of improv that's what you
once called it, what we did. Because you could not
see me. It wasn't like we could play off each
other's facial cues. You couldn't see me at all. You
were working with this emotionless robot.

Speaker 1 (31:14):
But I was working with you, right, and I totally
trusted you, like I knew whatever I threw you that
it was going to be there was going to be something.

Speaker 2 (31:24):
But that was big for you. I was talking to
Mark Summers about this and I said it, I'm so
grateful that you took a chance on me, because that's
a big deal. You have the Late Late Show with
Craig Ferguson, you are hosting that show, and you decide
to bring in this other weird element. It was a gamble.
I think we built that trust before Jeff, because we

(31:46):
would do this Larry King's sketch. We would sit across
the sash and by the way, Brad Lace played Arnold's
son who popped up from under the table. Jesus, oh God,
that we probably shouldn't call me. Do you talk to him?
I don't talk to him. Brad Leace is a great actor.

(32:09):
He was he was game for all of that and
a joy. Yeah, and he was great to work with you.
I just I just think it's funny that it was, Hey,
this is my son, Larry, Look here's my little boy,
and then he pops up wearing the same exact suit
I have on how you doing?

Speaker 3 (32:24):
They were like.

Speaker 2 (32:27):
That was weird because I became friends with Larry Carey.
Oh you did.

Speaker 1 (32:30):
Yeah, I knew that that impassination, which was vicious because
I couldn't really do him.

Speaker 2 (32:36):
But that's what's funny. Yeah, you did this out of
control brisket eating monster.

Speaker 1 (32:45):
I mean that's the thing that I wonder sometimes, Like
you do voices, you can do anybody, right, I mean,
you know you can do a lot.

Speaker 2 (32:52):
Yeah. Right.

Speaker 1 (32:53):
So sometimes when I've done like jokes about people or
impressions of people, and then I meet them and I'm
like kind of because yeah, I've been kind of mean.

Speaker 2 (33:05):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (33:05):
I try not to do that kind of thing anymore,
because you do run into people.

Speaker 2 (33:08):
Do you have you had? Because I remember you met
Morgan Freeman again thanks to you. You insisted. He said,
do you want to meet the guy that did your voice? Well, yeah, sir,
I would. And here and I'm behind the wall in
my little safe spot with the robot, you know, and
here comes Morgan Freeman making a bline for me. Yeah, well,
nice to meet you. That's a that's you're white. Oh shit,

(33:31):
you're white. He's a very classy guy.

Speaker 1 (33:33):
Morgan absolutely, yeah, and very kind of smart, funny.

Speaker 2 (33:37):
Great interviews. Yeah, I had with him on there. We
had some of that though, that that was the kind
of I remember.

Speaker 1 (33:42):
The one time I thought, the only time I thought
I don't think we should have Jeff tonight is when
Archbishop Desmond.

Speaker 2 (33:49):
So well, well, I was like, I don't know, yeah,
it's appropriate.

Speaker 1 (33:54):
Well Desmond, yeah, I think it would have been a
in your pants You're right exactly.

Speaker 2 (34:01):
He probably would have laught, he would have last been fine.

Speaker 1 (34:05):
But I think that it's kind of like when you
have somebody on that means a great deal to people.
This is one thing I learned about Late Night, not
just Desmond Tooto, who means a great deal with human race,
but even if it's just someone who's like on a
popular sitcom or one of the vampires for the Twilight
Things or something like that. Like if you if you
joke with these people and don't treat them with respect,

(34:28):
befitting you know, Austrian Emperor of the seventeen hundreds.

Speaker 2 (34:33):
Their fans go fucking christ I do.

Speaker 1 (34:35):
Yeah, yeah, like like you're somehow dis and I'm like,
I'm not Disney. They're just a fucking actor and we're
dicking around and have them crank.

Speaker 2 (34:42):
That wasn't right what you did. Yeah, it's like, you know,
you have to be more respectful. And it's a fucking
late night show.

Speaker 1 (34:47):
There's a talking there's a guy hiding behind the seats
making a skeleton talk.

Speaker 2 (34:52):
He's rowing the show. Yeah, I mean it's people got mad, remember, well,
that's why I got. That was the other reason I got.
I took it very per Look, I didn't have this.
I wasn't equipped to know how to deal with it.
I didn't I'd never been on a show like this before. Yeah,
this was my first big gig and it was. It
was an odd little rockie very like nothing ever before.

(35:13):
And there was a petition going around, started by you know,
a group of very uh Brzellis fans, very excited people,
your fans, who wanted they did. Jeff gone, oh no,
I do, Rember. Now, what happened was and that's fine.
That was it was. I was deeply hurt by it.
Now I wouldn't give a shit, but at the time

(35:33):
I took it very personally. That's that's unfortunate because they
shouldn't have done. But Michael Maatis said he tweeted. He
responded to the group and said, we're looking at it.
We'll take it under consideration. And for about two weeks, man,
I was sweating bullets, thinking my job's over. No, well, nobody, see,
nobody came to me.

Speaker 1 (35:53):
And one of the things that I didn't understand for
a long time as well, for a very long time.
I don't think if I ever really fully understood it
until the show was over.

Speaker 2 (36:02):
If your name is on the show, you're.

Speaker 1 (36:05):
In charge, you're the boss.

Speaker 2 (36:07):
Yeah, I didn't know people would call you. They'd say,
how's your boss? Yeah, I go, he's not my boss,
he's my friend. Yeah, colleague, we're together. I don't I
never thought of you. I never thought of that either.

Speaker 1 (36:19):
I never thought like I wasn't involved in the hr
of you know, anything like that.

Speaker 5 (36:24):
See.

Speaker 2 (36:24):
I always got here after every show. I would have
a meeting, like in the control room with someone from standards,
and they would.

Speaker 6 (36:32):
Say, okay, so when if Craig says vagina, you can't
say vagina.

Speaker 2 (36:39):
Back, that's right, it's vagina, tonny. So what started happening
was they would get in my head and it would
frustrate you because you would set it up and I would.
I would knock it out, you would, you know. But
there were a lot of times when I would hold back.
And I remember one night you looked at Jeff me
and you were like, what's wrong with you? Man? It
wasn't like it was real. It was like, what the

(37:00):
fuck are you doing? Where's the come on? I had
people in my head and it's just a late night,
fucking talk show. Let's just get fun. Stupid, stupid show
late at night. That's all it was. Yeah, not a
big deal. But I think the other thing that aba
was we went to Comic Con. Took Jeff to Comic
Con twice, to the CBS booth, and as you know,

(37:20):
that's where everybody goes first when they go to comic Con.
People want to get that sweet n cis marriage. It's
the bullbloodscare is going to be here. But they would
have Jeff set up and I'd be hidden away, puppeteering Jeff,
and people lined up all around to talk to talk
to Jeff. And I said to Michael Natis, I said,

(37:43):
you know, do you think I could go out there
and meet everybody? No? No, no, I think you'd stay
in the booth. I said, Okay, but it's comic con,
you know, this is yeah, people, I want to know
who's doing Okay, no problem, listen, I'm happy to do it,
no worries. Great, and we went back a second year.
Happened again, two years in a row, and that always

(38:05):
left a bad feeling, that left a bad taste in
my mouth? So how did you get how did you
get past it? Then? So the show ended. I couldn't
take anymore. You left.

Speaker 1 (38:22):
Well here I want to tell you why, because I
don't think people really understand why I left. People still
say to me, why would you leave? Yeah, people still
say to me, Craig, where's Jeff? And I will say,
fucking your mom, that's where Jeff. People say, where's Craig?
I say, I don't say. Probably best if you know.
But the what happened is for me. I don't know
if it makes everybody crazy, who does it? But it

(38:42):
made me a little crazy, Like I would walk on
you walk on a building every day.

Speaker 2 (38:47):
Your picture is everywhere.

Speaker 1 (38:49):
There's the pictures of me all around and on the
station ary there's my name is written on all the
envelopes and bits of paper, and my name, there's my name,
my name, my face, my face and one hundred and
fifty people and all to do in all days kissing
your ass, and it made me insane.

Speaker 2 (39:07):
Yeah, I could. I felt like I couldn't trust anyone.
I felt like I like, I just I was.

Speaker 1 (39:13):
I was so uncomfortable in my skin. I just kind
of paranoid, and I, like you, I was like, I gotta,
I can't process this.

Speaker 2 (39:22):
I don't know what to do. And that's why I left.

Speaker 1 (39:25):
I mean, look, I didn't like leaving the money, but
there comes a point, right, you know, I.

Speaker 2 (39:29):
Have an appreciation I have. I have an appreciation now
for that. I see now like, oh wow, yeah, that
must have been really weird for you. It was weird
because you had a lot of cooks in the kitchen
as well, you know, being pointed in a lot of
different directions.

Speaker 1 (39:44):
Because there it's Hollywood, and there's a lot of people
around that have agenda yea and are looking to protect themselves, right,
you know, it's just the way it is.

Speaker 2 (39:51):
And the network and the nature of TV as it
was then. You know, we were part of I think
the Golden Age, the end of the gold An Age.
I agree. Now it's much more controlled now.

Speaker 1 (40:04):
We actually I think the late night show that we
did existed in a very odd little normally because we
were in a time period that was protected by David Letterman,
who had absolutely zero interest in what we were doing.
It was funny because I saw Dave a couple of
days ago, and you know, it came up and I said,
I can't thank you enough for, you know, providing the opportunity.

Speaker 2 (40:25):
He said, let's be honest, I had very little to do.

Speaker 1 (40:28):
Yeah, right, Like, yeah, you're right, but he created the
environment in which it could exist, yes, and that I
don't think would happen now because the media places itself
with the mob, whether on Twitter or Instagram or you know,
it's like that thing if you're not reverential to an
actor on Glee, then suddenly your house should be burned up, right,

(40:50):
you know, it's.

Speaker 2 (40:51):
Like, what the fuck are you talking about? And also
we weren't trying to be offensive, right, we were just
we were but we were free. We really were free. Yeah,
for the most part. Yeah, except saying Vagina second time,
right to do whatever. I mean, really, I think towards
the end, I don't know about you, but I was
rolling in there. Would come in about a half hour

(41:13):
before showtime. Yeah, half hour was that was If I
was early, it was half hour. We'd roll up and
do it.

Speaker 1 (41:18):
But it was still making me create the only thing
that was something I heard Kemmel say and I agree
with it. If it was just the hour every day
of doing the show, yeah, I could do it for it, right,
But it's not the hour.

Speaker 2 (41:28):
It's not. It's all the other stuff. Yeah. Yeah, but
it was the most fun that I've ever had. I mean,
it was an amazing crew, and it's a very bizarre
job description, being the you know, talking robot sidekick, among
other things. I mean, there was also a lot of
other you know. I was making the phone ring on
your desk, that's right, the phone going off. It was

(41:50):
the serage from Oh how does the Serge? Yeah, and
the flies and the celebrity flies, and then we had
Alfredo Sauce and the band the Ins, and then the
great Dana de Lorenzo originally did the voice of Sandra
the Rhino, and then she was bath. She was bed.

(42:11):
She's a fantastic actress, isn't she great. She's gone on
to do so many guy friends. Yeah, she did the
Walking Dead? Is that what?

Speaker 3 (42:19):
No?

Speaker 2 (42:19):
She did versus Evil with Bruce Campne n something with
dead people to worked with a dead skeleton scale. But
I had to apologize to her. I mean, we're good
friends now, but when she became Beth the CBS executive,
you know, I was sitting back there behind that wall,

(42:39):
you know, wanting to come out from behind the wall,
and you see her getting see. I became that guy
for a while where I couldn't be happy for other
people's success. I would see people like on Instagram, friends
of mine and colleagues that would book a gig or something,
and my first thought would be them, why did they

(43:02):
get that? I think that makes you a human being?
I don't think. Yeah, I think that that happens sometimes,
but how did you get past it? I realized that
it's actually good for all of us? It actually I
actually somehow it inspired me to see people that I know.
I was like, oh shit, oh they did it. Oh
so we it's possible, Yeah, it's actually possible. A friend

(43:25):
of mine that I went to college with, I went
to cal State Fullerton and I got my degree in
you know, TV radio and film communications degree and uh,
this guy named Omeed Abtahi Ohmed I met in the
in two thousand and I was directing. It was for
my TV production course and it was for the final

(43:47):
and I had written an episode of Doctor Who, Oh Wow,
and it was called anti Matters of the Heart and
the doctor falls in love with his companion. Now Doctor
Who hadn't come back yet, the resurgence hadn't happened yet.
It was only one TV movie, and I think the
show had ended in like eighty six with so Semester

(44:08):
McCoy right, it was done. It was dead in the water.
So I did Doctor Who and I cast this guy
Ohmed as the doctor and he had just switched majors
and he thought he'd give acting a try, and he
was fucking great. It was really good. The whole production
was a disaster because it was a beginning production course.
Because I was already in public access for years, I

(44:30):
was ahead of the game. So my instructor, my professor, said, hey,
for the parameters of this class, it was great. Don't
be hard on yourself. You're just trying to do stuff
that they can't pull off. Then I worked with Omit
again and did a zombie film on campus and made
omed my.

Speaker 1 (44:48):
Star right Head zombie Head Zombie did the Zombie. I'm
sorry to say track you just a little bit, but
you know I love zombie. Yeah, did the zombies river
dance in your movie?

Speaker 2 (44:58):
They should have.

Speaker 1 (44:58):
I'm still waying to see Zombie River Dance, Zombie River
Dance movie.

Speaker 2 (45:02):
I think it's going to come.

Speaker 5 (45:03):
You remember the sensation from the nineties, Now they're back.
It's zombie river.

Speaker 2 (45:09):
Zombie river Dance. I'm telling you that's the way to
go because during the show. Yeah, so last week I'm
watching The Mandalorian on Disney Plus. Right, I don't well,
don't worry about all but John Favreau doing an unbelievable job.
I like John very much. He's really done. He's doing
great things for Star Wars and the entire episode stars

(45:33):
oh Meade ob Tig and I could not have been
more fucking overjoyed. That's great. I tweeted it out to
him and I said, dude, you were great back then
with the zombie river Dance. But remember the Zombie river Dance.
His character's name is doctor Pershing. He's Persian, but doctor,

(45:56):
and he's a He said to me, that's not the
first time I played a doctor. So he remembered that,
and I said it was just nice to choose to
feel joy and to feel proud for someone. It's much
harder now. Was that a choice? Though? Were you in
such pain that you thought I have to change not
for that? No, this, this was.

Speaker 1 (46:17):
No, I don't mean that. I mean I'm talking about
the period after oh yeah show. Oh I knew because
I had a rough time after the show for a year.

Speaker 2 (46:24):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (46:24):
I wasn't angry. I was just rudderless. I just didn't
know where to go. Yeah, so I toured like crazy
and I made a lot of television shows. Maybe I
shouldn't have made and stuff like that. But I didn't
know what to do. You know, I really didn't know
what to do. Things were changing.

Speaker 2 (46:39):
It's interesting to hear because I didn't know who who
am I?

Speaker 4 (46:43):
What?

Speaker 2 (46:43):
What am I? Now? Right? Like? Oh, you were a
robot behind the But but you know how show business
they don't care what you did yesterday. No, what are
you fucking doing now? What are you doing now? What
are you doing right now? I don't know.

Speaker 1 (46:55):
It seemed to me that, like, because I never said
to be a late night talk shows right for me,
it was like a job, like being a realtor. Right,
It's like I I, you know, it's nobody wants to
be a fucking realtor.

Speaker 2 (47:06):
Yeah, but then you go, well, you know, it's a
decent job.

Speaker 1 (47:11):
And you make pretty good money and you get your
photograph on bus stop. Sure that's the best part. I
think that, Okay, I'll do it. But there was a
lot of guys and still there are a lot of
people people who watch.

Speaker 2 (47:24):
Late night TV, people who are you know, who are
doing late.

Speaker 1 (47:27):
Night TV, who think it's some kind of fucking high
r and they get mad if you don't right right.
I felt uncomfortable with that whole thing too.

Speaker 2 (47:37):
Yeah, well I had to make my piece with the
voice stuff like impressions are fun, yeah, right, and I
can do them. And you pointed out once very wisely.
I think it was before one show we were doing.
We were on tour doing stand up, and you said,
I was sort of like, I don't want to do
impressions anymore, and you said, well, you know, don't write
it off entirely, because it is a good sort of

(48:00):
magic trick. It is a cool it's a great tool
to have in your great tool if you've got it.
But what I realized is for me, it's not who
I am. It doesn't define who I am. It's probably
like maybe number six of my things that I really
want to do. But what I made my peace with
and figured out is it's a great way to make

(48:21):
a living. There are certainly way worse things you could do.
It's a lot of fun, and it affords me the
time then to work on the things that I really love,
like making films and writing.

Speaker 7 (48:33):
I've been writing a lot, and I feel like because
the horror and the kind of but it's not like
horror in this sense that is unpleasant to look at horror.

Speaker 1 (48:43):
For me, You're kind of ethos has always to me
being sort of hammer horror, like hammer. Yeah, you know,
the kind of schlock is not fair. It's more kind
of like Artie Busty.

Speaker 2 (48:57):
In many ways, got the Hammer, the Hammer Lady, Yeah,
Hammer Glamour, Carline Monroe, Caroline Monroe.

Speaker 1 (49:04):
Yeah, oh my god, geez, that was a thing for me.

Speaker 2 (49:08):
Those were great. Yeah, Hammer horror was I had seen
the Universal movies and I always love those.

Speaker 1 (49:14):
The Cylindreth, those kind of things from the fifties and yeah, well.

Speaker 2 (49:17):
Well you know, the Class Dracula, wolf Man, all the
Universal Yeah, early, wow, what's this and then but when
I first saw Hammer, you know, because I grew in Cleveland,
I grew up watching all the late night horror shows,
the late night monster movie show Viral was Cleveland. Viral
was syndicated, all right, so that was everywhere. We had
I think like six or seven horror hosts at one time.

(49:40):
We had Gulardi, who was Ernie Anderson because Drew Carrie
had a loved Gulardi was Ernie Anderson, father of Paul
Thomas Anderson, the great director. Wow, Ernie Anderson.

Speaker 1 (49:52):
That didn't keep the Glardy thing. Yeah, well, actually Skip
Glaris a great He's in the Bibi River Dance. I think, oh,
it's featuring skiptical Arnie.

Speaker 2 (50:06):
How do you do? And everybody, Hey did he do?

Speaker 5 (50:09):
Hi?

Speaker 2 (50:09):
Touch me? Lucky Charm and Brad Leace. I'm sorry if
you're out there. Yeah, yeah, But Gulardi was my my parents'
era in the sixties. And then Ernie Anderson left Cleveland,
as you do, and became the voice of ABC for
many many years. Tonight on an all New love Boat,
or you know a little man on.

Speaker 5 (50:29):
America's Funniest Home Videos, dog who ship the bed, or
baby who vomited on mummy.

Speaker 2 (50:35):
Right. So in fact, Paul Thomas Anderson's company I think
is Gulardi Films Limited or something there. It is there.
It is talk. Yeah, yeah, dog doesn't ship. The dog
would have to work on kind of like a dog.
Don't just shs anywhere. This is what people do. Yeah,

(50:58):
that's right, it's on the show. Craig could such an
unusual video if you had a video camera and that
dog was going to take a ship. You know, it
starts shivering, the tails starts have a little dumpy thing.
So what are you gonna do. You're gonna film it?
Go get off the bed, Get off the bed if
you want money and prizes. I don't know, man, I
don't think people would. I would never like if you

(51:19):
saw a dog. Yeah, if you saw a dog about
to take a ship.

Speaker 1 (51:22):
If you do have a dog, no, you have a cat,
two cats, two cats, and you got rats.

Speaker 2 (51:26):
I don't have rats anymore. Oh you gotta go no
because I happened. Doesn't admit it. I admit it either
the rats or mean yeah I do.

Speaker 4 (51:40):
No.

Speaker 2 (51:40):
You know what happened is this is really a sad story.
But some kids used to sell them at Petco and uh,
some kid got bit.

Speaker 1 (51:49):
Oh no, rad baite fever.

Speaker 3 (51:55):
Oh no, horrible, that's a horrible My first question was
what was I kid doing those rats?

Speaker 2 (52:01):
No, that's all. That's an awful story. America is funny
of some who will win the.

Speaker 5 (52:09):
Baby who vomited on mommy or kid who got bit
and died of rat bite fever.

Speaker 2 (52:14):
That I think that could be how terrible Zombie River dies.
That's how it starts. That's how it starts.

Speaker 1 (52:19):
Yeah, somebody gets bit by an Irish rat and the
rat sings.

Speaker 2 (52:23):
It's a rat puppet, that's right.

Speaker 6 (52:25):
Eve.

Speaker 2 (52:26):
Oh, I'm still keep who's that putting your finger in
the cage? Why, I'm hungry, that's for sure. I see
in my head it's a big, giant cage that we
build on stage. It's a massive cage. And then this
guy dressed as a rat with makeup on right, and
he's sitting alone in the corner and there's maybe moonlight
behind him.

Speaker 1 (52:45):
Oh nice, Like then the David Boy, like the video
for that song where the he's in the mantle of
you know the what I mean?

Speaker 2 (52:53):
Later later on, Yeah, yeah, was that Lazarus. Yeah, I
was weird. Man, Oh I love that man. Ballsy is
that to do that album as You're dying? He knew
he was dying and it was about that too.

Speaker 1 (53:04):
Yeah, and he was and he was like doing the
video with the coins on his eyes and all that.

Speaker 2 (53:08):
My favorite.

Speaker 1 (53:09):
Do you know he liked our show? Apparently I heard
that really another source. Yeah, I used to watch the
show because rememberly shit. I know, because remember I did
this thing when David Boy turned sixty. I did a
sketch where like I did my boy impression and I
was wearing a jumper and yes, I'd been to the store.

Speaker 2 (53:27):
Like I just went for a newspaper making a shape. Yeah, smoothie.

Speaker 1 (53:37):
I did that, And apparently that got to him and
he started watching the show.

Speaker 2 (53:40):
Oh he It's interesting because I found about I found
him when I found his album Outside. He did an
album in ninety five called Outside. Yeah, that's late. That's
where I came in. Wow, like same with a lot
like Depeche Mode. I came in like nineteen. That happened
to me with John Klee.

Speaker 1 (53:56):
Okay, I had for some reason during the eighties missed
all John Cale's work with Brian you know, and all
that kind of stuff. And then it came to it
very recently, and I'm looking at the back catalog. There's
that album that John Kyle and Brian YOUO did a
Wrong Way Up. That's one of the greatest.

Speaker 2 (54:10):
It's brilliant. It's unbelievably good.

Speaker 1 (54:12):
Love Brian, you know, yeah, yeah, oh wow, he's now
see Brian, you know, is a great example of Jeff Peterson.

Speaker 2 (54:19):
That's interesting.

Speaker 1 (54:20):
You know, it's like way, it's like, you create this
whole thing and then you move on and some guy
goes out and goes, oh, I did it, but I
didn't do it, you know, right. I'm glad that you
got to a place a piece with it because I never,
and I swear I never underestimated what you were doing.
I knew what was going on. I knew how good

(54:42):
you were, you were and are and remain. You know,
I was never in any doubt or your talent or
your contribution.

Speaker 2 (54:49):
Never.

Speaker 1 (54:49):
I mean, I wouldn't change the title of the show
to with Lately with Greig Version and Jeff Peters, although
how do we still been doing it? I would have
done that. Wow, I would have done that.

Speaker 2 (55:00):
I could have done like five more years of that show.
But I wasn't in your position. We were hitting some
kind of stride. I think maybe we could have done more. Yeah,
we could, but the world.

Speaker 1 (55:11):
Could not have taken five more years that the world changed,
that became very political, right, and everything got super sensitive,
and a lot of the stuff we were doing there
was no mean spirit in it, but people would have
read it a mean spirit in it at all, and
it would have been, you know, it was that whole
people getting into fractions of you. You have to you know,

(55:32):
follow to a certain line ideologically, and I don't think.

Speaker 2 (55:35):
We were really doing any of that.

Speaker 1 (55:37):
And however, that being said, I'm not ruling out at
this point you and I ever putting that together again,
what do you think I would love.

Speaker 2 (55:47):
It, dude. I think we should have worked with you.
It would be so great, man, bring in some way
in some form.

Speaker 1 (55:53):
That's how I feel, And I think that what we
should do is somehow go from this podcast to the
next stage, which is I've still got the robots.

Speaker 2 (56:04):
Yeah, I've got there, Jeffs. Where are they? Yeah? Why
don't you have one? Yeah? I'm like, I don't know, man,
I've got both of them because there were two. There
was the one in the studio. Studio Jeffs and then
on the road Jeff traveling Jeff or Paris, Jeff Paris,
Jeff because he was when we went to Paris. We
took that one. Yeah, we did Paris. We did Scotland, Scotland. Yeah,
we New Orleans, New Orleans. Where that was New Orleans

(56:25):
was that was that was where I was what happened.
That was where I had a little bit too much
to drink one night. Yeah, and uh and I have
a photo of it that Tim Manson Ellie took our director. Yeah,
this is a great director. I love him so much,
such a sweet guy. He's directed like you know, fifty

(56:46):
don want to do James Cordons. Ye stayed there. Oh yeah,
he's done. He's a very loyal guy as well. He's
done more episodes. I think he really, yeah, he really,
Uh yeah, he's there. He's making right for you. Well
he he took a picture of me at the bar
talking to a young lady who seemed to take quite

(57:08):
a bit of interest in me. Oh that's nice. I
didn't realize, uh she was. Things were, things were not
all they seem. Yeah, that could happened. Thankfully that didn't happen.
But but the next year didn't it didn't happen. So

(57:29):
I pass out in my hotel room after I've given
her three hundred dollars, and the next day I have
to do a voiceover session because they need some lines
of dialogue from Jeff, and I can't even get out
of bed. I've had a lot of absinthe. Wow, I
need no like a blackhair drunk. For years I had

(57:49):
absce once I was like even you couldn't. Yeah, I
was on the whole Heroin Heroin.

Speaker 1 (57:55):
Maybe I should have done that Heroin's It's so much
cleaner out that was. That's like, that's like getting by
the yeah, boom, you're done.

Speaker 2 (58:05):
I had a hard time getting through that next day.
But but I never it never got to the point
where I never showed up to our show. I don't
remember anything. I think on tour. We were on tour
towards the end, I was going through a horrible breakup,
so I probably wasn't funny at that point.

Speaker 1 (58:21):
Yeah, I mean once you that's when you were we
were on the tour bus and you were being R
two D two Yes, the little kind of New York.

Speaker 2 (58:27):
Right in that video. Yeah, I'm doing like a denial face,
but a mark too D two and you're being Obi
wan Kenobi quiet, now yeah a too what So meanwhile
I'm doing would you like a babe?

Speaker 1 (58:47):
You guys will go, hey, Josh, come on man, stop
crying for a minute and do the sketch.

Speaker 2 (58:53):
So you're looking at if you see that video, folks,
you're seeing a guy that's just dying.

Speaker 1 (58:56):
But you know, it's I think well of people are
doing people who are not inside the world of comedy.
It's all that Tears of the Clowns. Yeah, but it's
a little more complicated. It is if you're in an agony.
Like whenever I heard like one of the writers was like, oh,
you know, he's getting a divorce, I'd be like, oh really,
I'm like my eyebrows go up, and I'd be like,
let's look at what he's sitting in the show, because

(59:17):
you know, it's like, you know, writer, yeah, make him
head right, yeah, because he's like, apparently it's it's a
very contentious as a custody battle.

Speaker 2 (59:25):
I'm like, oh, wow.

Speaker 1 (59:26):
Cold, yeah, it's immediately it's true. It's true, and I
think that's quite interesting. Towards the end of Late or Show, Yeah,
the last couple of years, I think that's when I
was the most uncomfortable doing it, and without a shadow
of it, doubt, that's when the shows were best.

Speaker 2 (59:45):
And it sounds like you were in the same place. Absolutely, yeah, absolutely, man,
that's so weird. I was. Yeah, I was doing crazy shit,
you know. Yeah. My sort of cure all was I
started drinking a lot. Yeah, but I've tried that. Yeah,
you're familiar with that. Yeah, it doesn't work. My face,
It all went to my face. I like this round

(01:00:08):
like a Charlie Brown, Wow, like real puffy. I think it's.

Speaker 3 (01:00:13):
For me.

Speaker 2 (01:00:14):
Well, I didn't know. I wasn't thinking about it. It's
just like I'm fine, you know. It's that, it's that
feeling of this is my time now, this is what
you do, this is I guess, this is what's done.
I'm gonna have a good fucking time. Yeah, and you
are having a good time. Not really, you having a
good time now. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, I mean I'm still
trying to figure out what I'm gonna do.

Speaker 3 (01:00:34):
That's okay, it's am I, but not sixty years yeah, josh, Yeah,
I'm still trying to figure that ship, but not from
a place of the voice in my head doesn't say,
you better fucking figure it out right now.

Speaker 2 (01:00:44):
It's like we'll see. Yeah, let's make something to make
Like creating, just to create something is where I derive.
I think the most joy. Yeah, like I do. I
make music. Maybe no one will ever hear it, but
it's more it's for me. Yeah, it's still music, it's
still I enjoy it. I enjoy writing. I love Halloween.

(01:01:06):
My girlfriend Nilani, I've been with her for three years now, right,
That's really what turned me around was meeting her.

Speaker 1 (01:01:13):
That was a big deal. Yeah, that's what saved me
as well was Megan. Oh yeah, late night. I was
like if I if we hadn't been together, I had
crashed in thing eighteen months.

Speaker 2 (01:01:22):
Then yeah, you think so totally.

Speaker 1 (01:01:24):
Yeah, i'd a fucking taken a tamper tantrum or something.

Speaker 2 (01:01:27):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (01:01:28):
But you know, the thing was why we were doing
the show because you know, you know, Megan, I was
going home every night.

Speaker 2 (01:01:34):
I had kids, and yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:01:35):
It was like so there was that paranoid Hollywood craziness,
but then you know, yeah I was safe.

Speaker 2 (01:01:41):
Yea, it was straight home. And of course the kids
were young, so it's like.

Speaker 1 (01:01:44):
Daddy way Yeah, and there was no fucking no showbiz
in it was like the kids, Now, kids would ship.

Speaker 2 (01:01:53):
In your back. Yeah that you want to get on tape?

Speaker 1 (01:01:56):
Yeah, well I think I probably have that, but you
saved that for her wedding video when they're you know,
they're going, you know, the reception afterwards, the embarrassing remember
this part.

Speaker 2 (01:02:07):
Remember this kid who shipped the bear? And now you're
a doctor. It's true, man, because I go home now.
You know, we have the place that I live in.
I've lived there for probably eleven years now. In the landlord.
Like the people that run it, they're such lovely people.
It's this older couple and you know, I fix everything
around the house and it's just it's just And she's

(01:02:30):
made it a real home, you know she and and
also she's an exceptional artist. She's an animator, she's a
she's a director, she's a painter. That's perfect for you.
So weird. You have to be in that environment all
the time. You must have that, you know, something similar.
And so at Halloween every year, you know, I love Halloween,
I love horror movies and all that. But we do

(01:02:50):
a massive display in the front yard. And this year,
this last year, I bought an old tube TV I
found on a zenith, a nineteen eighty eight bake wood
panel six. A beast put it in the front window.
It's like bay window with Frankenstein's Monster. I have this

(01:03:12):
big animatronic Frankenstein Monster looks like he's holding the TV.
And all of October I would play old black and
white horror movies on this tube TV. Wow, and we
set up a big grave yard this year. It was
so amazing. There were kids that would come by and
tell me that they grew up watching that display. Oh

(01:03:35):
that's cool and that means the world. Yeah, that's really that.
To create something like that with someone you love is
such a wild experience. And to not ever not to
not feel like, well is this going to go wrong?
You know, because I used to always feel like, well,
this is going to go off the fucking rails any
minute now, the other shoe will drop. Sure I've had

(01:03:56):
good expression.

Speaker 1 (01:03:57):
Yeah, because if you already have one shoes, it's like
filming the dog shitting on the bed. Pick up the
you have your one shoe off, Yeah, once you off,
once you on, Craig, the one shoe is on, but
you're probably ready to take it. It's like when you're
lying on the couch. Yeah, and you're trying to wiggle
that last shoe off your toe.

Speaker 2 (01:04:17):
What do you mean the last show? I many shoes?

Speaker 1 (01:04:19):
You got maybe three, some of us three late I don't.
I don't even know you anymore, man, Yes, you do.
No remember me, I don't. We're out of time. That's it.

Speaker 2 (01:04:32):
Therapy. Yeah, it was good. What for me? Good? That ship?
Short of well, let me just say thank you for
having me on the show. Well, thanks for thinking me man, really,
thanks for you know, thinking to me on the Late
Late Show. I mean that was one of the best
gigs I ever had in my life, working with you
and right, and thanks to the fans, because I want
to say one of the things that really does bring

(01:04:53):
me joy now is hearing all their stories of their
memories of watching the show. Some people watching the show
back when they were in junior high, high school.

Speaker 1 (01:05:03):
Have you noticed the whole new generation if you watching
the show as well. That's the weirdest thing to me,
is like I do stand up now and there are
people there who can have been more than ten years
that's right when that thing was going out, and they're like,
where's Jaff and you know and they you know.

Speaker 2 (01:05:17):
I don't know. I guess it's during the lockdown during
the pandemic. Everybody found the show on YouTube, Oh is
that what it? And this whole new generation came in. Man,
it's crazy, it's really amazing. So thank you again. Man,
it's really good talking to you. Well, it's really good
to API. Let's yeah, well, all right, good

Speaker 5 (01:05:37):
Night everybody that that's our show.