Q&A: Craig Ferguson talks podcast, joy, the art of listening ahead of Columbus show

For nine years, Craig Ferguson lit up late-night TV.

On CBS’ “The Late Late Show,” which he hosted from 2005 to 2014, the 61-year-old Scottish native won a loyal fan base with his silly but sincere persona. He engaged in jolly repartee with guests while also dealing with serious matters in his monologues, including the deaths of his parents and, famously, a plea for empathy for Britney Spears.

Since moving on from the show, the late-night landscape has been the poorer, but Ferguson continues to bring his unique perspective and sense of humor to other shows, including the game shows “Celebrity Name Game” and “The Hustler.” This year, he launched a new podcast on iHeart called “Joy, a Podcast” which features Ferguson doing deep dives on that subject with guests.

Ferguson — who Ohioans may also remember from his supporting role on the Cleveland-set sitcom “The Drew Carey Show” in the 1990s and early 2000s — will perform an evening of stand-up comedy on Wednesday at the Southern Theatre.

Ferguson recently spoke with The Dispatch by phone from New York. As a member of SAG-AFTRA, the actors’ union currently on strike, he was not able to speak about past television or film work for the companies that members are striking against. Ferguson did talk about many other topics, including what audiences can look forward to on Wednesday, the art of good conversation and — of course — the matter of joy.

The faces of Ferguson: Comedian Craig Ferguson in photos

Question: When we think of you, we think of comedy but also more serious moments. What can we expect from the show in Columbus?

Craig Ferguson: Well, I think almost certainly there will be nothing serious. Stand-up comedy is one way to go, but stand-up drama — I don’t know if I’m ready for that. ... I work in the way (similar to) when you tell a story at a dinner party or something. You know the story you’re going to tell, but ... depending on whoever is there, you maybe change it a little bit to suit them, or maybe you just leave it as is. Anyway, that’s how I approach doing stand-up. I know what I’m going to do, but I’m open to it not being what I do either.

Question: Your work is observational and human, but you sort of stay away from hot-button stuff, including politics.

Ferguson: That’s a stylistic choice. I used to talk about (politics) even just a little bit, but in the past five, six, seven years, I’m like, “Nah, you can get your politics from anywhere. You don’t need it from me.” ... It’s not that I don’t have political opinions — of course, I have political opinions, everyone does — but I don’t feel it’s necessary for me to talk about them. ... I now get irritated at the people I agree with. I want to talk about other things. I want to talk about things that make me laugh.

Question: You just launched “Joy, a Podcast.” What’s the premise?

Ferguson: We talk about joy, so I talk to individuals from any walk of life. In the first 20 episodes, it’s mostly people from show business, but that’s who I know. Over time, that will change. I want to talk to people about how they manifest or manufacture joy in their lives, what it looks like to them, what the lack of it is like, the times of in their lives when they felt it and the times in their life when they felt the lack of it. ... It’s a loose format, and in fact, forces each conversation to be intimate.

Question: What in your life today gives you joy?

Ferguson: Well, the answer is what it is for everybody, really, in that it varies. I suppose, if you really want to boil it down to a tea-towel, bite-size tweet, I think it’s probably being happy with what you have. But it’s far more complicated than that, otherwise there would be no point in me doing the podcast.

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Question: Did you have to learn being a good interviewer?

Ferguson: Being an interviewer is a skill that I never learned. I’m not a journalist. I don’t know how to go into a situation like you’re in now: “OK, I’m going to get Craig Ferguson to talk about this ...” The pressure is not on me to do that. I respect it as a skill, ... but it’s not one that I possess. But if I do possess a skill, it is that I have the ability to listen to what the person is across from me is saying, and if I can hear it, I can ask a question which pertains to what they’ve said before.

Question: The ability to listen and allow yourself to be uninhibited enough to digest what someone is saying and say something back to them is useful in real life, too.

Ferguson: I think it’s not something that was an innate thing for me. What happened is that, in my late 20s, I crashed very hard with alcohol. Because of that, I had to listen to people. It was imperative. If I was going to survive, I was going to have to listen to people who had found a way out of that. Becoming capable of listening for me really became a matter of life and death.

Question: Your dad worked in a post office and your mother as a teacher. What did they make of your show business career?

Ferguson: I think they were rather mystified by it, to be honest. They’ve both passed on now years ago. My mother, I think, was something of a frustrated artist. She was very creative and very artistic, and towards the end of her life, she did start doing paintings. I’ve got a couple of her paintings and watercolors she did when she was in a care home towards the end of her life, and they’re lovely. Although there is one painting she did — I’ve never seen a cute little bird look so angry in my life. Which I think was a clue to my mother!

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Question: I think this question is not off-limits: Why are the issues of the SAG-AFTRA strike important?

Ferguson: I am quite happy to talk about that. I do fully support the strikes (of SAG and the WGA [Writers Guild of America]). ... My personal stance and frustration about it is with the producers. I’ve produced movies, I’ve produced television shows, I’ve worked as a producer as well, and the overwhelming ethos of a producer is: “How do we make a deal?” That’s 100% what a producer is. . . And right now, I see these guys being terrible producers because they’re not going to the union and saying, “OK, how are we going to make this work?” And that, to me, is just someone who’s bad at the job.

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At a glance

Craig Ferguson will perform at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Southern Theatre, 21 E. Main St. Tickets cost $30 to $179. For more information, visit capa.com.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Former talk show host Craig Ferguson comes to Southern Theatre Aug. 30