By Craig Ferguson
(Image Entertainment)
You may know him from his role as the boss on the Drew Carey show or from his Late, Late Show but Scottish comic actor Craig Ferguson opens himself up in a way few Americans have seen him in his new comedy DVD A Wee Bit o’ Revolution. The 80 minute performance (part of which aired on Comedy Central) was shot at Boston’s Wilbur Theatre in 2008 and is revealingly autobiographical.
The film begins with a montage of a speech he gave on Independence Day in Boston and the show quickly catches the audience off-guard in a positive way with an intimacy and raw edge that goes beyond anything Ferguson has done on television. Sure, there’s bad language which we haven’t heard him use, but there’s also deeply personal and hilarious stories about his first trip to America, his new American citizenship, his drug addiction, his stays in rehab, and his experience getting through it all and landing on television. There’s also some very funny topical stories like when he talks about meeting President George Bush after hosting the White House correspondent’s dinner, stating that “he’s the most unpopular president in the history of presidents, and that’s the one I get my photograph taken with!†then pondering how he’ll have to explain it to his son when he gets older saying “son, this was before the trial, we didn’t know!â€
His funniest material might be the closest to his heart when he talks about his deep, over-compensating patriotism and his offbeat mother who he describes as an “America-stalker†who posts “Photoshoped pictures of her and America on her Myspace page.†The jokes are told with an enormous energy, which seems to be endless and really give a fuller picture of the comic, making him seem endlessly more entertaining and interesting than the personalities he plays on television. The biggest weakness of the performance is when the comic drifts into more typical comedy fair such as Tom Cruise and dick jokes, which lose all their potency after such personal material. Ferguson also seems to almost imitate Chris Rock at times as well which is a little off-putting though when Craig falls into his own groove, it’s magic.
The DVD comes with some very entertaining extras including an interview that is very off-the-cuff and honest and his full speech from Faneuil Hall in Boston on Independence Day. If you’re a fan of the Late, Late show checking out the DVD is a no-brainer but even if you never cared about Craig Ferguson the performance may change your mind.
