Craig Ferguson’s ‘Late Late Show’ exit determined before David Letterman news hit

For those wondering whether or not there were some massive conspiracies in order when it came to whether or not Craig Ferguson is leaving “The Late Late Show” as a result of what happened with David Letterman and Stephen Colbert taking his gig (which is an easy assumption to make), we have an answer for you. As it turns out, Ferguson was planning on making this move for quite a long time.

On Monday night’s episode of the show, he proclaimed that first and foremost, this move was (per The Hollywood Reporter) in the works for more than two years, well before Dave even though about leaving his own show to retire:

“About two years ago, I had decided after eight years … that it was probably time for me to move on and do something else … And CBS came to me at that time and said, ‘Well, you could hang around and we’ll give you a fancy new studio and a podium for your gay robot skeleton and a stable for your horse and an invisible band behind a curtain. We’ll give you all the trappings of late‑night television.’ “

Craig also insisted that this is nothing like what happened between Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien, and that he is still very much on good terms with everyone over at CBS, and the people there are great and he plans to continue working with them on other things.

As another note, Craig told Variety that he understands now that everyone is going to think that his exit has something to do with Dave’s, and it has been hard to keep quiet about it. His original plan was to depart in the summer, but the network convinced him to stay on until the end of the year so they could find a suitable replacement.

Of course, we are going to miss Craig and his oddball show very much, but be sure to share what you think below! You can also sign up to get further TV updates via our CarterMatt Newsletter.

Photo: CBS