Brace yourself for yet another late-night shake-up. In the past six months, we've seen Jimmy Fallon take over for Jay Leno, Seth Meyers step in for Fallon, and Stephen Colbert tapped as the replacement for David Letterman, who is retiring from the Late Show after more than 30 years. And, now there's news that Late Late Show host Craig Ferguson is leaving CBS as well. (Jimmy Kimmel, don't even think about going anywhere.)
The Scottish comedian made the announcement during last night's broadcast, joking that it was a "conscious uncoupling." He will leave the show at year's end, allowing CBS time to find a replacement.
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"CBS and I are not getting divorced, we are ‘consciously uncoupling,’ but we will still spend holidays together and share custody of the fake horse and robot skeleton, both of whom we love very much," quipped Ferguson, who has hosted the program since taking over for Craig Kilborn in January 2005.
“I’ll go and do something else, probably, I’m thinking, carpentry, but I haven’t made my mind up yet," he added. You can watch his announcement in the video below.
The Drew Carey Show alum's contract with CBS was due to expire this summer, but we can't help but wonder if the network's decision to offer Letterman's slot to Colbert rather than promote Ferguson caused a rift. At any rate, we'll miss that Scottish burr.
Now comes the big question: Who will replace Ferguson? Chelsea Handler was reportedly in talks with CBS, but she denied those rumors during an appearance on Ellen earlier this month. "I would never be on a regular network," Handler claimed. "I would never do that to my fans or to myself or to the network."
We agree it wouldn't be much fun to see a watered-down Handler battling with network censors, but we would love to see a woman or person of color get the spot. Arsenio Hall? George Lopez? Or, to keep the Craig theme going, Craig Robinson? Who would you like to see?
(Deadline)