Former CBS late-night host Craig Ferguson believes leaving The Late Late Show a year before Donald Trump became president was the perfect time for him to say goodbye.
“I don’t know how I would have handled it. I’m glad I didn’t have to, to be honest,” Ferguson, 64, confided to host Matt Wilstein on Obsessed: The Podcast. “I’ve thought about it before. It’s kind of impossible to say.”
“I like to think I would somehow have managed to navigate through it, but I’m not sure I would have,” the Scottish comedian, who became a U.S. citizen in 2008 and currently hosts CNN’s American On Purpose docuseries, said.
Ferguson departed The Late Late Show in December 2014 after 10 seasons as host of the CBS show. The talk show host, who once described his show to the Daily Beast’s Kevin Fallon as “about as loose as you get on late-night television,” became known for going off-script in his interviews and delivering candid monologues to his audience.
Ferguson even admits he may have overstayed his welcome.
“Comedy, like everything else in life, really is about timing,” he said. “I actually was gonna leave like three years or something before I actually left, but you know, they throw a bit of money at you, you stay a little longer, and then it’s like, ‘All right, enough’s enough,’ but I really don’t know how I would have handled it.”
With so many late-night hosts pivoting their shows heavily toward political commentary after Trump became president—much to Trump’s ire—Ferguson doubts he would have followed suit and joined the close-knit fraternity of late-night hosts.
“I remember saying that at the time, ‘I’m not part of this,’” he said. “I used to say on the show, ‘This is not a late-night talk show. I’m not a late-night talk show host.’”
Though Ferguson concedes that it may be hard to understand, he doesn’t believe his show was “an archetype like the others.”
“It may have begun as that, but I don’t think it continued as that. And I don’t feel that my trajectory through that period gives me any insight into what’s either going on now or what went on before,” he added.
Instead of using late-night as a vehicle for political satire, Ferguson has launched a new CNN series aimed at uplifting Americans at a time when politics has turned comedy sour.
“I don’t know if mission is maybe too grand a word for it, but I think what I was trying to do was almost like a correction,” Ferguson said, explaining that American On Purpose began as an extension of a challenge he made to remove politics from his stand-up.
“Especially as we approach the birthday, there is a temptation to make all the notes minor keys,” he said in reference to America’s upcoming 250th anniversary. “Yeah, there’s plenty wrong, but that’s an oversubscribed market, and people are talking about that.”
“Let’s have a look at what’s right,” he continued. “Let’s celebrate the country a little bit without being jingoistic or corny, but realistic and joyful.”
Even as Ferguson actively avoids attacking Trump, he couldn’t help but take a subtle dig at the president’s chaotic 250th anniversary festivities, including the UFC fight on the White House lawn and an imperiled concert filled with once-relevant musicians.
“Well, to be fair, I am also a failed musician,” Ferguson quipped. “One of the unusual things about the United States of America, and what makes it unique in world and human history, is the fact that you can be as American as you want in many, many different ways.”
“You won’t see me complaining about Hulk Hogan or WrestleMania. I love all that,” he said. “But I also love many other slices of Americana that were worth celebrating and enjoying.”
American On Purpose airs each Saturday on CNN.
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