Craig Ferguson will, in a few hours, leave The Late Late Show at CBS as its third host leaving it to a myriad of guest hosts and, eventually, James Corden. Tom Snyder and Craig Kilborn came before him, but neither had the nine year run that Ferguson had. 

In one of the most rigid formats on television, the late night talk show, Ferguson managed to oscillate between the tropes of the form and also start making delightful cracks in the veneer of late night’s shiny suit and tie. Doing a monologue however he feels like doing, ripping up pre-interview questions, awkward pauses, having a robot sidekick and Secretariat, and other small things about Ferguson’s tenure at The Late Late Show made Ferguson absolutely stand out at 12:35AM. 

With the end of The Colbert Report and Ferguson leaving tonight, this is a pretty historic week in TV, especially in regards to comedy. The gravity of both Colbert and Ferguson leaving probably won’t be felt for a bit due to the focus on Sony and The Interview, but we’ll feel it when they’re both gone next week.

Hopefully, we won’t have to wait too long before he’s back as a free wheeling host of something. For now, you’ll just have to watch Craig Ferguson’s final episode at 12:35AM at CBS with Jay Leno as his guest.