Video Comedian Craig Ferguson explains why his stand-up tour skips Trump and all politics Craig Ferguson says he made a stylistic decision to build an entire show around comedy and personal stories rather than recycle familiar political frustration.
Scottish-American comedian and former host of CBS' "The Late Late Show" Craig Ferguson said Wednesday he avoids political humor by design in his new stand-up comedy tour, "Pants on Fire," describing the choice as both a creative challenge and a response to how exhausted he is by political discourse.
"So the reason why I don't [include politics in my show] — I'm sick of people that I agree with. Never mind people I don't agree with," Ferguson said on "The View."
He added that keeping politics out of the act lets audiences set their anger aside for a while and, afterward, "have it back."
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Craig Ferguson is seen at ABC Studios in New York City on April 29, 2026. (Raymond Hall/GC Images)
"I'm just like, let's take an hour and a half, I'll go on stage, I'll tell you a bunch of jokes and do some stuff and tell some stories, and at the end of it, all the stuff that you're angry about is still there," he joked. "You can have it back. I'm not taking it from you."
Co-host Joy Behar asked whether Ferguson's stand-up tour included a lot of material about President Donald Trump, given its title.
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Craig Ferguson arrives at the Universal Pictures and DreamWorks Animation premiere of "How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World" at Regency Village Theatre in Westwood, Calif., on Feb. 9, 2019. (Gregg DeGuire/Getty Images)
Ferguson said it did not, noting that the decision not to use political material was a "stylistic" one.
"It was a choice that I made for myself, like a stylistic choice, like, could I do it? Could I fill a whole show with no politics? And turns out, I can!"
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He said the choice was also practical, turning the answer into another joke by saying his new mustache comes with an obligation to stay likable.
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"The thing is, when you have a mustache ... you have a responsibility to be charming and because, you know, you’ve got to be charming if you have a mustache," he said, adding that it was one more reason not to risk alienating audience members over politics.
Max Bacall is an Associate Editor for the Flash/Media/Culture team at Fox News Digital.
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