The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson premiered on CBS in 2005.
Ferguson took over as host on January 3, 2005, succeeding Craig Kilborn. The program occupied CBS’s late-night slot after Late Show with David Letterman and developed a style built around improvisation, monologues, recurring characters, and informal celebrity interviews.
Ferguson’s version was notable for its conversational tone and unusual comedic devices, including the robot skeleton Geoff Peterson and a pantomime horse named Secretariat. Ferguson also frequently departed from conventional scripted talk-show routines.
The show’s title can create confusion because CBS’s Late Late Show began in 1995, a decade before Ferguson’s version. Ferguson hosted the program from 2005 until 2014, when James Corden became host. Corden’s edition premiered in 2015, retaining the same overall program title.