Joy, a Podcast. Hosted by Craig Ferguson - 127 - Chatty McChatterson Chats About Everything

Episode Date: February 10, 2026

This week Craig reveals the reason he’s been on the road so much for the last few months. That’s because news this week broke that his new CNN TV show, American on Purpose will be premiering shortly on the network. It’s based on the NY Times Bestselling book of the same name that Craig wrote a few years back when he first became a citizen of the United States. It’s the 250th anniversary of the United States and the goal of the show is to celebrate the United States. Being proud of our great country while at the same time not taking a jingoistic approach about it. Working with the folks at CNN that worked with the late, great Anthony Bourdain. Have a question for Craig? Drop him an email at: ⁠⁠⁠[e-mail]⁠⁠⁠, send him a message on social media, or drop a comment below. _______________________________________________ Craig is also on the road. Dates and tickets can be found here ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.thecraigfergusonshow.com/tour ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠_________________________________________________ FIND CRAIG: Website - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.thecraigfergusonshow.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/craigyferg⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ TikTok - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@craigy_ferg⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ X - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.x.com/craigyferg⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Facebook - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/thecraigfergusonshow⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ABOUT THE JOY PODCAST: Storied late-night talk host Craig Ferguson brings his interview talents and singular world view to a discussion of the modern state of JOY, sitting down with notable guests from the worlds of entertainment, science, government, and more. How's our Joy doing? Bridled? On life support? Where do we find joy in a world that seems by any rational measure to be collapsing around us? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Hi, everyone. Welcome to the Joy podcast. My name is Craig Ferguson, and I am your host for this particular thing. this podcast, this thing that we, this cast that we call pod. And I will say this if I say nothing else. I'm getting a little sick of the term podcast. So what I'm going to call it now is, it feels like everybody's good at podcast.

I feel like a podcast now. I think you get a podcast. Like people said in the 1980s that you could get herpes from sharing a towel with someone. I don't share a lot of towels. but I think you could get a podcast from sharing a towel with someone. I think he might. Anyway, if you're wondering what a podcast is, this is, this one is slightly different from even it used to be.

Because as it began, it began like most of the podcasts where people talking to other people about bloody blah, blah, blah. But as time went on and circumstances developed, it became clear to me that my schedule and other people's schedules and the business of getting arranging to meet people and doing stuff became too much trouble because I'm on the road a lot and now I can tell you why because it was announced this week the show that I have been working on for the past six months is called American On Purpose

it's a television show and I'm doing it for the CNN television station and it's the name of if you know anything about me I wrote a book in 2000 called American on Purpose. And it was a New York Times bestseller, if you don't mind me saying so. And actually, even if you do mind me saying so,

it doesn't really matter because it still was a New York Times bestseller. So for the rest of my life, I can state it about myself, I am a New York Times bestselling author. And because I went to in the filming of American On Purpose, the TV show, I went to the Texas state rodeo So I could also say to people now as well This is not my first rodeo

Even if I'm at a rodeo But I digress I wrote a book called American Own Purpose In 2008 when I became a citizen And it was a very It was positive in its approach to the United States And it was a time at the end Of the Bush administration

And the beginning of the Obama administration And there was some contention And political divide in the country And so I had a time tried to strike a tone in the book which was non-political, which has been my drive for a long time, which was patriotic without being jingoistic, but was positive about what these United States are. I sometimes feel in times of great political strife, as in now, there's a lot of hyperbole, noise, and politics and stuff going on, a lot of very strong feelings about.

about things happening. And I think there is a temptation when things are like that. And they have been like that before in the history of the United States. People tend to start talking about throwing the baby out with the bathwater a little bit. So what I tried to do in the book American on purpose was strike a politically neutral tone, but at the same time celebrating the United States because I had become a citizen. and the 250th anniversary of the United States. I'm still an American.

America is still here. CNN asked me if we had discussed if I'd like to do a show. Some shows about how to mark that celebration. Some hour long shows. We made five of them so far.

So five hour long shows about the about the United States. But I said, well, I'll do it. But I don't want to do anything that's like, that's down on America. I don't want to go boo, America. But I also don't want to be a corny.

I'd like to strike the same tone as American on purpose. And so that's what we did. And we even called the show American on purpose. And that's what it's called. It'll go out on CNN. The, I think in May of this year, it'll start. It's across the 200. 50th anniversary celebrations of America

around about the 4th of July this year. And I think some of people have asked me that if there was any kind of polemic given that you know, the CNN have any kind of, there's none of that.

There's none of that. It's about this is my voice in this show. So it's not, there's no, there's no political, there's no current political stance on this show. I'm sure people have stuff to Whenever you do stuff that's outside of a, you know, kind of cookie bit of material,

sometimes people's tempers are inflamed. And then I remember what the great John Waters said to me once about tempers being inflamed. He said, honey, their tempers were inflamed before they ever heard about you, so don't worry about it. Well, I was like, oh, yeah, that's true. Anyway, I've been traveling the country. I've been walking the earth. recording these shows with some very talented people. Morgan Fallon is the show runner on the show.

He worked, of course, with the much-missed Anthony Bourdain. And I wanted to see if we could at least get a flavor of what Anthony Bourdain had done in his travelogues. Obviously, that was his voice and that was his thing. And this is not that. But it was It was important to me that we got involved with Or that we made the show with someone who knew what they were doing

Because I don't really I know what I want And that's a start What I want right now is a drink of this coffee So hold on a second Anyway, in the course of shooting this show I mean it's a it's travel all documentary stuff

you go everywhere and I've been to a lot of places weirdly enough we didn't shoot anything in Washington DC which I thought was quite a bit the government shutdown is going on and we were like well we can't nothing was open and we couldn't get to anything so if and when we make more of them we'll go there's plenty of places still to go and I suspect that when this show comes out

a lot of people say how can you do a thing about America and not go to area X or my region and the trouble is America, I don't know as you know, there's a very big country it's an enormous place of that and so

you can't do it in five hours you just can't five hours of television so far anyway that's the story of that

it was announced in the entertainment trade press last week so now I can talk to you about it if I want to if you have any questions

about it please don't hesitate to ask me about them, I'm happy to talk to you about it, happy to tell you what's going on. Obviously, I don't want to give away the whole show. You'll get to see it when you see it. And we're still working on it. I mean, I've shot it, but I haven't finished it. These things take a while.

So I will be working on it between now and the end of April, I think. But if you have any questions about what I'm doing, what the show is about, what you'd like to know, please don't give me a bit suggestions about where you'd like me to go because I'm not going anywhere right now because we finish that part of it. But I'm happy to allay your concerns or listen to your if you're angry about what I'm doing

I would say please hold your rage until you see the show because it's I think I think it's going to shot. I think it could be, could be great, could be good. Fingers crossed, could be good. Anyway, so today, I don't know if you can tell from my accent. I am in Charlotte, in the great state of North Carolina or South Carolina. It's in the Carolines. I think it's North Carolina. It's North Carolina.

It's near the border of South Carolina. Because Charleston is in the south, and Charlotte is in the North. Charlotte, North Carolina. And you could probably tell from my accent. I'm in Charlotte, North Carolina, because I've been here for a couple of days, and I've picked up the southern accent with my half-ed-ledy day. I always feel a great affiliation with people in the South, because I feel like people in the South,

when they travel outside of the South, they will consistently run into other people who are not from the South, who feel that they can do their accent better than them. and that is something that happens to you if you're Scottish. Sometimes if you travel around the world of you're Scottish, people will say, Oh, Scottish, you sound like Shrek, you sound like Shrek farty donkey. And that's hilarious.

I enjoy it very much indeed. It's a, I, I wonder, it's a thing that people say to me back in Scotland, they say, you know, they say, Craig, you've lost your accent. well they say a Scottish accident, obviously not in this weird mid-Atlantic twine that I seem to have developed. According to them,

I mean, I have to say, according to everyone else I talked to in America, people seem to think I still have a Scottish accent. I look forward to your quotes and letters and correspondence about that very thing. And actually, I haven't said that, I will get to these quotes and correspondence. Now, I just have to,

open my computer with the password. I better not say it out loud so you know it. Did I say it out loud? I don't think I did. Don't miss. Password. Password. That's my password. That's not my password.

I'm in, I mean, I'm just to say, I'm in Charlotte, North Carolina because I'm doing the comedy's own comedy club. I feel as a stand-up comedian, which is part of what I do for a living. and part of what I am as a person. You have to, I have to, I know it's not a manifesto for everyone else, but I have to play at least half a dozen club dates a year just to stay current. It's a bit like having a pilot's license or going to the gym. You know what I mean? It's like if you don't keep at it, you'll lose it.

And then you have to work your way back into it. So I feel like if you stay and you do a club, and there are clubs that I love. The Comedy Zone is a club that I love. the comedy works in Denver is a club that I love. The Cobbs Comedy Club in San Francisco.

Zanis in Chicago. Of course the great comedy seller in New York. There are great comedy clubs in America, and I've probably missed half a dozen as well. But I love doing it because I think if you if you're a stand-up, it's all right playing theater. It's lovely playing theaters

and I love doing it and it's great and it's a great privilege. But playing comedy clubs, getting the smell, of the chicken fingers and the noise of the crowd or the noise of the chicken fingers and the smell of the crowd depending on what club you're in it's important i feel that it keeps you it keeps your brain firing on the correct cylinders and so that's why i do anyway to your correspondence my dears because that's how we do this show now i used to have guests on this show but i think we can all agree look it's not like you're you're short a podcast that have guests there are plenty of

podcasts, up and down the worldwide internet of webs that you can get guests that I've been on tons of them myself this week because I've been promoting Scrabble which started last week. Scrabble, of course, is a game show which I also host and

it's a I've been promoted in New York this week. I did all the shows. I did all the going around New York talking to people. I think I did like half a dozen podcasts and I enjoy it. It's chatty. It's a nice chatty thing, but I feel like I don't have to add my voice

to the cacophony, the cacophony of interviewers. You know what I mean? I've done plenty of interviews. If you need to see me interviewing someone, you can look it up online. Or you can wait to see American on purpose because I interview a lot of people on that show, a lot of them. But I interview.

different types of people. Some of them very famous actually, but some of them not very famous. Some of them not famous. Some of them kind of trying to keep quiet about who they are. And I like that. I like talking to people in person.

And I like talking to people about them. But I'm not crazy, if I'm honest, talking to people about me. Isn't that something? That's something that I've learned about myself. I like doing interviews because you can keep the conversation focused on on the other person.

And that's, I think that's what I'm, in fact, I think I've just realized it in this moment. Why do I like doing interviews more than I like giving interviews? And the thing is, because I don't really like to talk about me. Now, a lot of times, if you're being interviewed by someone in particular, they don't really talk about you. They talk about themselves and then that's easy. Sometimes in the nature of television shows, especially fast ones, you know, you're not getting into an in-depth conversation in a three-minute segment on a TV show. That's not how it's done.

It's just about, you know, keeping it light, keeping it friendly. And that's also a fine form of entertainment is a different thing. But the podcast, when I do the podcast and people are interviewing me on the podcast, I'm all crazy about that. Not because anyone's mean or nasty. It's just because I prefer to keep the conversation focused on something else. Does that make me sneaky? Am I a sneaky person?

I don't think I'm a sneaky person. I'm genuinely more interested. I swear to God, in other people that I'm me. I said to my wife this week, actually, when I was doing all this publicity for a scrabble, she said, how's it going? I said, you know, it's fun, it's Greg, but I'm just sick of hearing myself talk,

which is ironic, given that I'm talking to you right now and there's nobody else here. but I'm not really talking to you about my... You know, I am talking about myself. My God, this episode is dripping with irony and hypocrisy. I feel such a fool. Let's get to your correspondence. All right.

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Great American comedian Dan Fox says Greg you've been open about the many gambles you've taken in your life Am I I suppose a little bit emigrating substance use That wasn't really a gamble

Well I suppose it was in a way Career choices Definitely gambled a lot in that What is your relationship If any to money gambling Oh, excellent question, Dan. Given that we know, we now know I apparently like to say that I don't like talking about myself, but apparently seem to love talking about myself.

Let's talk about it. So, money gambling is not something that appeals to me at all. I've never, ever been into it. This thing is a Scottish thing about, you know, so let me get this today. I give you money and you might give me some back, but you might not. doesn't not to say there are Scottish gamblers

of course there are I don't, it's never called to me I don't like it I don't like money you know what it is life's enough

of a fucking gamble am I right my homies it's enough of a fucking gamble I don't I don't know I think the odds are

why push it why push it no I don't I don't think there's a fast way to make money um I will confess

to dabble a little in the stock market, but that's only because I'm financially advised to do so. I'm not in it a lot of, I do it a little bit. To be honest, I don't, I'm not a mattress under the bed guy

either. I like to like if I have good money. Do you know what I like to do if I have good money? To buy art. Now, if you're actually visualising this show and not listening, if you're just listening, I was told this week, by the way, that most people consume this podcast audibly, which is great by me.

It's fine. I'm happy for you to do so. But sometimes if you want to see a visual of this, it is available on the face tube u.gov or something. And yeah, it's on YouTube. And if you can see behind me, if you have a visual of this, there's a very large image behind me. on the wall here.

Some of mixed media thing covered in plastic. I did not buy that. So if you're looking at it, said, well, do you like to buy art? What about that thing? That's in the visual thing I'm looking at behind you? I didn't buy that. I'm in a hotel. And this belongs to the hotel.

I'm in, I'll tell you what I'll tell I'm in, actually. You know, because that's the kind of guy I am. Because by the time you hear this, I won't be in it. I'm in the Rich Carlton in Charlotte. And it's a very nice hotel, I have to say. And they have this, they have lovely art on the walls, not to my taste. Because I like Barbizon paintings, which is sort of romantic, idealized, countryside-type paintings, usually from France, in the mid-1800s. I like French Impressionists, and I like 20th century masters.

All the old favorites, Shagal, Matisse. Well, Matisse says, I'm free to say, oh yeah, he is, I suppose. Picasso, all those. I like all of it. No, I don't own any of that, but I like them. Anyway, what I was talking about? No, I don't gamble. If I have any money lying around, I give it to Mrs. Ferguson, to me honest.

This is from Carpe Saul's cosplay. I suspect that's not a real name, but I'll look at it anyway. Craig, I need your help. All right, I'm here for you, Carpiesouls. I've been trying to get one of my partners to do a couple's cosplay with me. One of my partners? I've been trying to get him to be the Jessica Fletcher to my Sherlock Holmes. Please help me convince him this is a good idea.

You're my only hope. First of all, I don't know why I would be anyone's only hope kind of for anything. particularly in the world of cosplay. Am I somehow connected to cosplay and don't know about it? Because I feel the cosplay I cosplay is. I cosplay a man in his early 60s who's desperately trying to hang on to the last

bed vestiges of a body that can move from A to B and get off the toilet without a fucking piece of machinery. What cosplay is that? Can you cosplay as can you cosplay as me? Well, I mean, look at me.

I'm dressed rather anonymously. Well, if you can't look at me, I will describe what I'm wearing. I'm wearing a strapless, glittery ball gown. But it's discreet. Anyway, what I'm saying is, why would you ask me to help you the cosplay? Also, if you are in the cosplay, and you know, everybody's got the kink, and it's all good. I'm not judging.

Jessica Fletcher and Sherman Colmes together, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I want to help you, but I think that's like putting a werewolf on a spaceship. These are both things, but they don't belong together. You don't do the werewolf on the spaceship,

but I can see the reasoning for a vampire on a spaceship. You're in a casket, you travel through space. You know, it's like quite a lot of the time. But werewolf, You know, if you don't see the moon, I even know you're a werewolf. I mean, if you're thousands of light years from Earth's the Moon, do you turn into a werewolf if you see any moon? Or is it only Earth's the Moon?

Or is the circular discs? Or just anything that looks a bit like the moon? What I'm saying is, a werewolf doesn't belong in a spaceship, whether in fiction or otherwise, in cosplay. and Jessica Fletcher, from Murder She Wrote, played by the late great Angela Lansbury, who bore a striking resemblance to someone, I can't remember who it is.

Angela Lansley played Jessica Fletcher and Sherlock Holmes, the great detective of fiction, played by a bunch of different people in the TV and film adaptations, Basil Rathbone, Jeremy Brett, Benedict Cumberbatch, name but three who played Sherlock Holmes. I think Peter Cushing played Sherlock Holmes once. Christopher Lee

might have done it. Played Sherlock Holmes. Oh, the greatest Sherlock Holmes film of all. What am I saying? Michael Kane and Ben Kingsley. That, to me, is the... Oh, well, wait. There was... Billy Wilder did the private life of Sherlock Holmes,

which was awesome and great. I can't remember who played Sherlock Holmes in that, but it's a very, very good friend. film. The Michael Kane, Ben Kingsley one, I can't remember the name of it, but you can Google it, I'm sure. Where Michael Kane plays Sherlock Holmes, Ben Kingsley

plays Dr Watson, but as it turns out Ben Kingsley is really the genius, and Sherlock Holmes is just a stooge. It's a nice take on it, and very, they're both hilarious in the movie. That is a great movie. In fact, if you're asking me, why not do, if you're doing Cosby, do different

Sherlock Holmeses? Do all the different Sherlock Combs. Jeremy Bennett Cumberbatch, Basil Rathbone, Peter Cushing, Michael Caine, the one I can't remember from Billy Wilders, the private life of Sherlock Combs. It's a great movie, I wish I could remember

the actor in it. He would play Sherlock Combs. He was fantastic. Anyway, I'm sure one of you guys will figure it out. This is from, let's see, David Myers from Nashville, Tennessee. sea. Now I don't know David, but I do know Nashville, and I will say this. I am in Nashville

next week. What day is it today? Today is, well, today for you is Tuesday, but today for me right now is Saturday. Saturday, I'm in Charlotte, I mean, I think next Friday. Next Friday I'm in Nashville. So, come along, why don't you, David? And we'll have a chat. David, in Nashville, Tennessee, because I'm doing stand-up in Nashville. I love Nashville. By the way, they've got... It's just a great town. Anyway, David

says, I'm currently reading Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain and wondered if you'd ever crossed pants with Anthony. Do you know, this is an interesting thing. I didn't once, I never once met

Anthony Bourdain. It is a source of some sadness to me. Because we have mutual friends and mutual acquaintances and we and also working now with Morgan

who directed a lot of the parts unknown with Anthony Morgan who is directing American on purpose which is the show I'm doing for CNN you know there are there are threads that they're and I was a huge

fan of Anthony Bourdain and what he didn't. I think he almost created a news genre of television. I mean, I know there were travel logs and stuff before, but he was so good at it. It was all like, David Bowie

didn't invent music, but he invented a, he created a whole new to me, feel like a stream, and I think Tony Bourdain was almost in that category. There was a whole kind of thing and energy, a virene, a

that he put together on those shows, which I'm in great admiration of. But I never met. And I remember once having dinner with a television executive a couple of years ago. Actually, it was quite a few years ago because it was before Anthony Bourdain died. And he said, if you ever met Tony Bourdain?

And I said, no, he said, you should meet. He said, you two are like you're made. And I was saying, you know, we should. and we never did. So that's a source of some sadness to me, but his legacy is remarkable, and he did a pretty cool thing with that show. You know what I did do this week, though.

As part of the publicity for Scrabble, as in New York City, and I got asked to do the show, beat Bobby Flay Bobby, of course, is a cornerstone of American culinary genius and it's a different type of show

Pete Bobby Flay, but I did it I'd never done it before. I had such a nice time. The idea of cooking like that because I don't cook anything. My wife cooks everything. she's very good at it and likes to do it so

I just don't get asked to do that which is great and sometimes wonder would I be good at cooking and then I think well you know I think that ship has sailed sometimes but probably not actually you could probably still do cooking it's not like

well you know I'd quite like to be a professional soccer player but now that I'm 63 pirate perhaps no it's not the time to start pursuing that as a career but could I start I'll learn to cook yeah I probably could

and I think I might like to because I think I need to broaden my horizons a little bit the um you know one thing about going around the country talking to different people from wildly different walks of life you really get a sense of I got a sense of how limited

you know your world can get when you're in show business a little bit you can really uh you can really just spend your whole life talking to people who are also in show business Luckily, no one in my family isn't show. Well, that's not true, actually.

They're all in show business in various times. Do you know what? I'm really, I'm struggling with verisimilitude in this episode, given the fact that I said I didn't like to talk about myself, then I talked about myself for half an hour. The, I'll be saying I didn't, I don't have any tattoos next. But at least I was honest about wearing a ball gown while I was doing this show. finally

this is from Carrie Howard from Castro Valley California who says my mother's maiden name was Kerr and that side of the family

says they are Scottish Irish yeah that would make sense Kerr's a Scottish name I think Do you think we could be related If so What's up because You know

I don't know if we're related Carrie Howard Or Kerr from Scotland. Not all Scottish people are related to other Scottish people. We could be related though. We could be. I'm not saying we're not.

But we'll never know. Because I'll tell you why. I would never do any of those swab test DNA, find your family things. Because that creeps me out, the idea of that your DNA is in a database that can be breached by, you know, aliens and stuff.

I think about it. those things. I don't want. I don't want my... You know what? I don't know if I want to know either. Is it important? I guess for health reasons it could be. You know, you could find that about genetic, you know,

anomalies and that kind of thing, things to look out for. But... I... I think I'd rather know. But I'm something of a ludic. I think that that's... What happens is you get a bit older, I think to myself.

You know what I like books? You know what I like movies, but old ones are my way. You know, kind of like... Anyway, this has been the weekly update from The Joy Podcast. I have a joyful week of my brothers and sisters. And I will talk to you again next week. Take it easy.