One-off at the Edinburgh Fringe

Craig Ferguson is to perform his first UK stand-up show in more than 25 years.

The comic is to perform a one-off show at the Edinburgh Playhouse during the Fringe – the festival that gave him his big break and led to his US chat show.

He stood down from The Late Late Show after a decade in 2014 to return to stand-up and other projects, handing over to James Corden.

Ferguson returned to the Fringe in 2017 for a version of his radio show, but this year’s offering – Hobo Fabulous – is his first stand-up gig at the Fringe since leaving the UK.

He said: ‘What the world needs now more than ever is an ageing, unhinged vagrant travelling from place to place ranting nonsense into a microphone.’

Ferguson began his career on the British comedy circuit as spoof folk singer Bing Hitler after a short-lived time in a 1980s punk band called the Dreamboys alongside future Dr Who Peter Capaldi. 

He moved to Los Angeles in 1994, after his soon-to-be agent Rick Siegel saw him at the Fringe. In 1996 he landed a major part on the Drew Carey Show, and when that finished in  2004 he took over from Craig Kilborn on the Late Late Show.

Ferguson’s new book, Riding the Elephant: A Memoir of Altercations, Observations and Humiliations, will be published on May 7.

Tickets for the Edinburgh show go on sale at 10am today, priced £23 to £30.

Here is our review of his Netfix stand-up special The New Deal Tour, from the recording in Montreal in 2017.

Published: 26 Apr 2019