He talks about his childhood in the planned city of Cumbernauld, near Glasgow, one that was full of fights, with Ferguson usually on the losing end. “Riding the Elephant” roams widely through Ferguson’s life. Hats off to you, Peter Capaldi, and please don’t curse at me like my beloved Malcolm Tucker.) (If I believe Wiki, the name was suggested by actor and friend Peter Capaldi, then the lead singer of Ferguson’s band Dreamboys. He also created a manic character named Bing Hitler, a name that always makes me laugh with its absurdity. After all, this is a guy who very publicly talked about his alcoholism on his show whose monologues were genuine monologues – personal storytelling adventures – not a list of strung-together jokes who called himself “TV’s Craig Ferguson,” sending himself up in a phrase who confessed sympathy for various celebrities – seeing them as people – while they were usually the butt of dark jokes everywhere else.

I should have known Ferguson was capable of so much more than I expected. Entertaining and jokey, yes – but oftentimes thoughtful, and occasionally transcendent. These books tend to be entertaining and jokey, but rather forgettable, a 250-page substitute for hanging around with your celebrity author. I didn’t expect much from “Riding the Elephant,” a collection of short essays by comedian/former talk show host/ Secretariat pal Craig Ferguson. Craig discusses his deep love for his native Scotland, examines his profound psychic change brought on by fatherhood, and looks at aging and mortality with a perspective that he was incapable of as a younger man. Each story is strung together in a colorful tapestry that ultimately reveals a complicated man who has learned to process-and even enjoy-the unusual trajectory of his life.Riding the Elephant: A Memoir of Altercations, Humiliations, Hallucinations, and Observations by Craig Ferguson In Riding the Elephant, there are some stories that are too graphic for television, too politically incorrect for social media, or too meditative for a stand-up comedy performance. The fact that he is neither dead nor in a locked facility (at the time of printing) is something of a miracle in itself. In Craig’s candid and revealing memoir, readers will get a look into the mind and recollections of the unique and twisted Scottish American who became a national hero for pioneering the world’s first TV robot skeleton sidekick and reviving two dudes in a horse suit dancing as a form of entertainment.

He has failed when he should have succeeded and succeeded when he should have failed.

From the comedian, actor, and former host of The Late Late Show comes an irreverent, lyrical memoir in essays featuring his signature wit.Ĭraig Ferguson has defied the odds his entire life.

Riding the elephant craig ferguson