Craig Ferguson!

I guess we didn't mention it before leaving, but our friend Carolyn from St Charles, IL, is visiting us for a week, and we're currently in Los Angeles after a couple days in San Diego. We seem to have Internet every other day or so, and of course have been busy so haven't blogged yet. But figured a shortie post tonight would do - we watched a taping of Craig Ferguson today!

Now we've not mentioned him before, but he is a favorite of ours, both of us trying to stay up till after 11:30 local time to watch him when we can. Originally from Scotland, he is now an American citizen, and is proud of his new country and it shows in his nightly monologues as he starts out with "It's a great day for America!" He is quite often provocative, often funny, but always entertaining. One of my favorite monologues, since the moment I heard it was about the then-upcoming election between McCain and Obama. It is on Youtube here - make sure you hear it to the end! Otherwise there are a gazillion clips there, so check them out.

When Melinda was planning the LA portion of the trip, she looked into Craig tickets and managed to get 3 for us, even finding lodging within walking distance to the CBS studios for the taping. It was quite interesting to witness it all - we got in line about 2pm, waited in line about an hour at the entrance, after going through security and metal detectors(for cellphone detection!) we waited another hour, then about an hour and a half for the taping. The studio seemed much smaller than on TV, and there was only room for 108 "show enhancers" (not audience members)There was a "warm-up" comedian to get us excited for our national TV debut, and then it was time for Craig. He looked just like he did on TV, even doing some of his puppet routines. We got to witness 2 totally different intro takes after the show ran long, and he had an interesting nervous habit rearranging the 20 pieces of candy on the floor managers stand during commercials. Guesting on the show was Oscar-nominee Colin Firth for his performance in "A Single Man", which we've not seen, though Melinda was a big fan of him from Bridget Jones and the BBC version of "Pride and Prejudice"(the ultimate Mr. Darcy, she says!). Amanda Righetti from the CBS show "The Mentalist" was also featured, but bumped when Firth ran long.

One of the highlights for me was running into Exec Producer Peter Lassally in the hall as we were being herded out. I would have liked to say hi, but temporarily forgot his name. After reading his bio in Wikipedia, I wish I'd been braver! All in all, a very fun afternoon and highly recommended if you pass through LA! Back to Tucson tomorrow and more updates!