"I never thought in my life about being a talk show host. It's not something that you think is going to happen to a Scotsman coming to America."
So says Craig Ferguson, the affable Scot now behind the desk of The Late Late Show (weeknights at 12:35 a.m. on CBS and OMNI1).
Best known for his stint as the bizarre boss on The Drew Carey Show, Ferguson took over from Craig Kilborn after a two month, on-air talent search. Over 25 people tried out for the show, including Michael Ian Black.
Ferguson was in Vancouver, on the set of ABC's life as we know it (he played Kelly Osbourne's dad), when he got the call that he'd won the gig.
They wanted him to start right away. Ferguson had to jump in his car and drive back to L.A. It took two nights. "The night before I started this job, I slept in my car," he told The Sun at the CBS press tour party.
Late Late Show executive producer Peter Lassally, the legendary TV executive who has worked with both Johnny Carson and David Letterman, says Ferguson has three qualities that are really important for a talk show host: "He's smart, he's funny and he's very likable.
"Beyond that, he knows how to be himself," said Lassally.
That seemed to be true on the press tour, when he chatted up reporters one night and used bits of the same conversation later on his show. This week, he mentioned he'd chatted up a Vancouver critic but failed to get her phone number.
Tonight is his 20th show, and Ferguson realizes he has a long way to go. "The thing is, most people that came in and did the job can do the job for one or two nights," he said. "I spoke to David Letterman (whose Worldwide Pants produces the series) and he told me he had done 5,000 shows.
"Just the amount of shows you have to do," he said, "it's a big machine."
Good guests help, he said. "Most of the people are really interesting. That's why they're on a talk show." Having Regis Philbin on earlier this week was a thrill. "He's a master of just riffing on TV," said Ferguson.
Beyond the usual parade of celebrities, Ferguson has so far had tsunami survivors, car makers and an anthropologist. "We're trying to get back to an old-fashioned talk show where you'll have an interesting mix of guests as opposed to actors and actresses every night," said executive producer Todd Yasui.
Guests seem to like him, too. Mark Harmon, also on press tour earlier this week to promote CBS's NCIS, told critics that Ferguson was a good listener. Yasui said Late Late Show bookings have become a little easier since Ferguson took over.
A single dad, Ferguson has been working in the U.S. for 10 years and plans to go through his citizenship process on air.
"I think of it as home," he said of America. He once played drums in what he calls a "low-end punk band" called James King And The Lone Wolves.
Born in Glasgow, he said reaction to his success back home in Scotland has been mute.
"My mother's very excited," he said. "I think probably okay."
