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In light of the recent New York Times documentary Framed by Britney Spears, an old late-night track did the rounds on Twitter. This is Craig Ferguson on his CBS Let Let Show in 2007 he delivered a monologue to his studio audience. In the track, Ferguson sees a trend in the comedy after which we have all been identified as ‘hitting’ since, but which in 2007 was still the dominant tone in the mainstream of humor and celebrity stories. ‘I had similar feelings when I watched America’s Funniest Home Videos. You will laugh at the child who falls over, and then you will, Wait a minute, put down the damn camera and help your child!” The audience laughs; he continues. “I think wash kind of hold the camera, and people fall apart. People are dying. The Anna Nicole Smith, she died. The audience laughs again. “No, it’s not a joke. It stops being funny. The clip is from February 20, 2007, four days after Britney Spears shaved her head amid a very public collapse. Ferguson further says that he believes that comedy should be about “the Trumps” rather than the defenseless and suffering:
I’m starting to feel uncomfortable mocking these people. For me, comedy should have a sentiment of joy. It has to be about artists attacking the powerful people. Attack on the politicians, and the Trumps, and the blowhards. Go after them. We must not attack the defenseless people. This is quite a mea culpa; it’s just for me. I think my goal was a bit off recently. I want to change that a little bit. So tonight, no joke Britney Spears.
This clip comes from a larger monologue in which Ferguson speaks candidly about his own struggle with alcoholism and sobriety. You can see the full thing below.