The field is totally opening up!
Craig Ferguson announced Monday night that he’ll be leaving the Late, Late Show at the end of this year. There is a lot of speculation that Ferguson was mistreated and completely overlooked, when CBS passed over him to replace David Letterman who will be retiring at the end of this year.
This after a 10-year run!
He was like a second string quarterback waiting his turn to take over the team.
Imagine if the Green Bay Packers overlooked Aaron Rogers after Brett Favre left the team?
Tragic!
CBS Blew It!
I think CBS completely blew it with this decision. They instead went with Stephen Colbert.
Colbert is very talented, but unproven and untested as a host in a non-satirical, non-character-based environment.
Ferguson is fresh, unique and extremely talented.
The execs who made this decision have ABSOLUTELY NO CONCEPT of the level of talent it takes to go off-script like Ferguson does and riff on a subject and get consistently great laughs. The guy is a genius.
*But Jerry, tell us how you really feel!*
He has an ability to detach from the show and actually make you feel like he’s in your living room; all the while still engaging the studio audience.
Who else does that?!
Answer: Nobody!
I don’t understand their reasoning for this decision. The only thing I can hypothesize on is that they are looking to target the 18-34 male demographic; the demo that is so coveted by advertisers and and already targeted by Comedy Central, Colbert’s current home.
But if that’s the case they blew it, as Ferguson and Colbert are virtually the same age!
Writing Positions Are Opening Up
But what does this mean for my readers, (all 3 of you)?
I know that some of you are really into looking to nail a job on a Late Night Show as a writer. This is a truly historic time with the shake-ups that are happening all around late night. Never in my life time have there been so many changes in the late night line up. in the same year.
With Colbert replacing Letterman and Ferguson leaving at the end of this year, new opportunities will be springing up all over the network.
Time to sharpen your pencils, freshen your pens and get your carpel tunnel wrist braces on and start re-typing and re-writing your Late Night TV submission packets.
Those of you who have taken my workshop on writing for late night know that you should be re-tooling your submission packet every 6 months and sending it in to the shows producers on a regular basis.
You should also be tweeting your daily jokes. Why? The Late Night with Seth Meyers people plucked an I.T. worker from Peoria, and put him on the staff for the show after reading his humorous tweets.
Now the Dude is earning a $4000 minimum weekly paycheck as a staff writer on the show. Hell Yes!
So even though I’m in disagreement about the network’s decision to overlook Ferguson, I am laser-beam focused on the new opportunities available for writers.
Get writing!
