With so much hype surrounding the return of Conan this past week to the latenight battlefield, I almost forgot how much I really, really enjoy The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. While Ferguson’s American television audience will be most familiar with his role as Drew Carey’s boss at Winford-Lauder in The Drew Carey Show, many may not be familiar with Ferguson’s early musical career where he was drummer in a punk band with fellow comedian, Peter Capaldi (Fortysomething, Torchwood, The Thick of It), followed by a move to musical theatre and the role of Brad Majors in the London production of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

If you are a British comedy fan, you’ve probably seen an early Ferguson appearance many times but, quite possibly, didn’t realize it was him. In the late 80’s, Ferguson had a memorable role as Dave Lister’s Mr. Confidence in the Red Dwarf “Confidence and Paranoia” episode. Understandably unrecognizable, Ferguson’s aptly named character is loud, outspoken, colorfully dressed and, well, confident. You get a pass for not recognizing Ferguson this time, but you should check out the entire episode. It’s early Craig Ferguson at its greatest.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZ7omNSt5T0