Talk show host Craig Ferguson knows how to get laughs the world over, but now the Scottish-born comedian says he wants to concentrate on making American audiences chuckle and he has just the plan to do so.
Never mind that the guy already has a nightly late night TV talk show, the “Late Late Show” host says he wants to show his commitment to American audiences by becoming an official U.S. citizen.
Ferguson recently announced that he got a perfect score on his citizenship test, taken late last week in Los Angeles. According to the late night chatter, he will officially be sworn in a few weeks from now.
“All of you people born here, if you had to take that test – well, Canada would be building a fence right now,” Ferguson quipped on his CBS show Monday.
Ferguson’s decision to become a full-fledged American citizen actually started as a joke last summer when the talk show host received a letter from the mayor of Ozark, Arkansas granting him “honorary citizenship” of the town for a bit the comedian did on his show regarding the city’s catfish.
Once he gained “honorary citizenship” in Ozark the funnyman started a campaign to get the designation elsewhere and now Ferguson is an honorary citizen of 16,109 communities nationwide.
Don’t look for U2 frontman Bono to follow Ferguson’s lead; he’s too busy traveling the world on a mission to fight poverty.
The rock star’s latest stop was Japan where he gave Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda an iPod before asking the leader to support the fight to help needy families in the poverty-stricken country of Africa.
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, both of which are major supporters of more aid for Africa, joined Bono in his meeting with Fukuda.
By the way, the special-edition red iPod Bono gave Fukuda is the same one that is sold throughout the world and whose proceeds go directly to the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in Africa. Last week, Bill Gates said the Red-branded products have generated $50 million for the fund in the last 18 months.