Craig Ferguson Entertains at Stamford's Palace & Reader Reponse to 'Linda McMahon vs. The World'

Late, Late Show host Craig Ferguson did standup for a nearly sold-out, appreciative crowd at on Friday night in which his routines revolved around everything from alcoholism to the weirdness of Hollywood.

Joe Matarese, who appeared on Ferguson's show earlier last week, was the opening act. As a resident of Port Chester, NY, Matarese joked that he liked performing in Stamford because he had a short drive. He later polled the audience as to what was the "trashiest" part of CT to live in, some in the audience shouted "Greenwich", to which Matarese replied:

"Greenwich? Right...'Oh no, I've only got one sailboat instead of two...'"

Craig Ferguson was up next for his one-hour, one-night performance, and the fact that he wasn't in front of a televised audience didn't appear to de-energize him one bit. While raunchy at times, Ferguson was responsive with the crowd, and his routines were told in the form of stories and opinions. Ferguson's best routine was a story about meeting a sleeping homeless person in the bathroom after a Late Late Show taping, only to discover that his producers often paid him to be in the audience.

It was a good night for comedy. In ranking Ferguson among some of his late night colleagues and predecessors, Ferguson's blunt, energetic comedy style gives him an edge. Leno and Letterman are pretty good, but only Conan O'Brien has Triumph the Insult Comic Dog. YouTube it.

Johnny Carson is the default answer for the 'Greatest Host Ever' question, but I wouldn't know because I wasn't around for most of his reign.

Craig Ferguson's show wasn't the only noteworthy event this weekend; although I couldn't attend, Trinity Catholic High School held a food and wine tasting fundraiser to welcome Tony Pavia, TCHS's new principal.

Finally, in response to last week's '', one Patch reader wrote:

Your article shows you have one problem. You don't know the difference between an exploiter and exploitee. Ventura put himself at risk to make a buck...probably blindly ignorant of damage he was doing to himself at the time in exchange for money and fame (his fault none the less). McMahon on the other hand was 100% aware of damage and risk wrestlers were being exposed to (not to mention facilitating drug and steroid use) and took advantage of them, exploited them and threw them away when done. Now do you get the difference? She is pretty much subhuman.

I liked what this reader had to say, even if I didn't appreciate the way he said it.

I can't really think of the above situation in terms of exploiter and exploitee, because that would grant the exploitee some moral high ground when they don't deserve any. If you use appearance or performance-enhancing drugs in a sport, staged or otherwise, you're a cheater.

Have a great week, Stamford.

Do you have comments, questions, or feedback which you'd like to see on Stamford Patch? Reply via e-mail at Jamal.Powell@patch.com to appear in next week's Letter, or just leave a comment below!