The Time Larry King Became Craig Ferguson's Robot Sidekick on The Late Late Show

The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson was a unique experience, and one that the late Larry King apparently loved.

Ferguson deconstructed the late night talk show format, eschewing a sidekick until he hit upon the idea to have an animatronic robot skeleton named Geoff Peterson who talked like George Takei for sidekick-style banter. However, there was a short period where Geoff's usual voice, Josh Robert Thompson, was not available, so there was a week of "guest Geoffs." On November 10, 2010, King jumped at the chance, although he apparently assumed that he was going to be the actual guest host, not the guest robot sidekick.

"Of all the things I've done in this business, this is really the weirdest," King said once he inhabited Geoff Peterson.

"This is either the worst or best idea I've ever had in my f***king life!," Ferguson said once King got rolling.

The resulting cavalcade of comedy gold, with King just going off on loud tangents and trying to take over interviews, made for fantastic late-night television silliness. Ferguson would later recall that this episode was probably the one night of his Late Late Show run when he laughed the absolute hardest. 

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Andy Hunsaker has a head full of sitcom gags and nerd-genre lore, and can be followed @AndyHunsaker if you're into that sort of thing.