Craig Ferguson did something unusual on his show last night. He departed from his usual format and instead did a one-on-one discussion, at times quite serious, with British writer-actor-director Stephen Fry. Taped without a live audience, it was an hour of smart conversation between two smart men…and I'm curious as to how it will be received. Actually, I'm more curious as to why they did it. I can understand Ferguson thinking that this kind of chat would be a welcome novelty. The man already does a better job of talking with guests (as opposed to setting them up for pre-interviewed responses) than anyone else in or around the talk show world with the possible exception of Jon Stewart.
What I don't get is why Stephen Fry. I'm imagining a conversation where someone at the network says to Ferguson, "Craig baby, we're not wild about you abandoning a format that seems to be working well…but if you're serious about doing these one-on-ones, how about kicking them off with a guest most of America has heard of? Fry's a brilliant, fascinating fellow but there must be some 'name' who's worthy of an hour. How about booking one of them and then saving Fry for the second or third time you do one of these?" And then I'm imagining Ferguson saying, "I want to launch this idea with the smartest person I know. That's Steve Fry."
But that's all speculation on my part. All I know is I enjoyed it. I would hate for the ratings to be so low than Craig won't try it again. It's so nice to hear people on TV actually talking to each other.