If you only just recently got into late night TV, you may have missed some of the hosts of the past. We all know about Jay Leno and David Letterman, and you likely remember a lot of talk about James Cordon on The Late Late Show, but what about Cordon’s predecessor?
Craig Robinson hosted the CBS late show between 2005 and 2014. He tookover for Craig Kilborn on The Late Late Show, which aired straight after The Late Show, but has been off the air since 2023 when Cordon left. There were some calls for Ferguson to return, but don’t count on it!
Craig Ferguson isn’t interested in late night TV
While Ferguson was a favorite for many, he isn’t interested in coming back to late night TV, according to Variety. It’s not that he didn’t enjoy it at the time, but that his time on late night TV is in the past. He doesn’t feel like he needs to be the host of a talk show that late into the night (or early into the morning) anymore.
He even compared it to Shawshank, saying how you only do two days in there. It’s your first and last, and while he is very proud of the work he did, it would not be as “valuable” if he went back.
He also notes that he has moved on from that part of his life, as he likes to live in the present. Since leaving the late night show, he’s hosted the likes of Join or Die with Craig Ferguson and The Hustler. Now he’s hosting Scrabble on The CW, replacing Raven-Symoné, who hosted the first season, and it’s something that he’s looking forward to as a fan of the game as a kid.
What does Craig Ferguson think about the future of late night?
It doesn’t help that CBS is doing away with late night as a whole from May 2026. Not only did the network cancel Stephen Colbert’s contract, but CBS decided that it was time ot cut The Late Show completely. And After Midnight, which took over the Late Late Show slot ended up being scrapped after Taylor Tomlinson decided to pull out after two seasons to focus on stand-up.
Ferguson didn’t have many thoughts on the future of late night, sharing that he didn’t watch it before he hosted the show and he doesn’t think about it much now. Even when he was on late night TV, he didn’t watch it. He doesn’t feel like he can comment on it, but it’s clear that late night TV is changing.
So, don’t expect to see Ferguson back on late night TV, and respectfully, it’s completely his choice.