Hard to tell on this one, really. The audience were such that it’s hard to gauge how good Ferguson actually was, or what my impression of the whole thing was. We’ll start with them - I was surrounded by chippers-in, of all varieties: the “oh no!“s and “no way!“s; the repeating the punchline; the filling in the gap of the implied punchline lest anyone not understand they got it. And, in the least snobby way possible, laughing in the wrong way. My memory of Ferguson’s late night show was one of gleeful absurdism, earnestness, and empathy - think of his discussion of therapy, his interview with Desmond Tutu, his monologue going against the grain of talk show hosts making jabs at Britney Spear’s mental health. This is not the level the audience is engaging on, and so it’s hard to tell whether, in the absence of that, if Ferguson himself is operating on that level. Jokes that might be read a different way seem harsher in the light of that laughter. Is he playing with the idea of “you can’t say anything these days”, or is he steering into it? Beyond that, it’s a subtly structured show, with some off-the-cuff callbacks added in, and performed with great bonhomie. He does make it seem effortless. Still. A lot to ponder.