Two shouty Scots having a go at the world. There was ample room for both.

Bing Hitler wasn't too different from Craig Ferguson's usual stand up except that he wore glasses and didn't smile as much.

No idea why the plagiarism thing was mooted. Most of Bing's stuff was him shouting about stuff he hated or mistrusted, usually in a list. I'd suggest it had more in common with Lenny Henry's 'Mr Nicholford' than Sadowitz.

Someone came onto 'The People Vs..' and asked Jerry if he used to be Bing Hitler. He was immediately belled off.

It'd almost be worth tracking down Craig Ferguson just to ask him if he used to be Craig Ferguson. What happened there then? The usual plummet into drug-soaked obscurity after the first tantalising glimpse of stardom?

... and is "belled off" a euphemism I should be aware of? I mean, I know it was Channel 5...

I did hear that Craig F went off to live/work in America.

Shame, he was great...

Is he the bloke who had a special around 1993 and was a Scotch bloke with black hair and a big nose and did jokes about having a phobia about owls, and also sang cockney sing along songs? I remember really liking that show when I was little, then he disappeared, I saw him doing tiny bit roles on some cacky Joe Brande shows ages ago.

He also did the character of Roddy MacStew in the Warner Brothers cartoon series Freakazoid! around 1995, which I must say is one of the funniest kids cartoons I've ever seen, too bad I went over my tape of episodes years ago, Paul Rugg is great in a Jim Carrey type way.

>Is he the bloke who had a special around 1993 and was a Scotch bloke with black hair and a big nose and did jokes about having a phobia about owls?

Wasn't it an eagle? As per the phrase 'Fuck, an eagle...'

Part of a long (and hilarious) routine about two Scottish families appearing on 'Family Fortunes'. Also used the 'We asked a hundred people, name something green' / 'My green cardigan' exchange which also turned up in Royle Family.

There was a nice Craig Ferguson live show on C4 a few years back which featured sketch inserts of his 'family life' (with Peter Cook and June Whitfield as his parents). He also did a one-off pilot fot LWT I think. It was okay - much better than the BBC2 series.

'Sheep Song' is great.

Mark E.Smith appeared in a sketch in Sadowitz' 'The Pall Bearer's Review', describing him as a 'tenth rate Craig Ferguson imitator' (in character, obviously).

>Wasn't it an eagle? As per the phrase 'Fuck, an eagle...'

I'm sure it was owls, and they had a bloke come out in a big owl costume to frighten him, but I was only about 12 at the time so my memory may be wavering.

>He also did a one-off pilot fot LWT I think. It was okay - much better than the BBC2 series.

I don't remember him doing a series at all, must of missed it, I remember recording quite a long one off show, I don't remember what channel it was on or even the year (around `93 I think). I can barely remember anything from it other than him trying to moodily describe a black night by saying "The night was as black as a black cat in a coal celler wearing a black leather jacket and black boots and black sunglasses drinking guinnes without the `wee white bit on it, aye!"

And also standing at a podium dressed as a judge then exploding into a rendition of the cockney singalong "What a picture, stick it in the family album!"

He did do a routine about hating owls. It was part of "The Ferguson Theory", a series that was shown on BBC2 some time in 1993. Come to think of it, I've got that on tape somewhere...

Yes, that was it, `The Ferguson Theory', must of been an episode of the series I saw, but I remember it being quite long though so thought it was a special, and I must of missed all the other episodes. I would love to of seen the specials then, if the series was poor in comparison, as I remember the one I saw being quite good.

>>Wasn't it an eagle? As per the phrase 'Fuck, an eagle...'
>
>I'm sure it was owls, and they had a bloke come out in a big owl costume to frighten him, but I was only about 12 at the time so my memory may be wavering.

Ooh, old memory coming back. I saw him supporting Harry Enfield in about 1988, when Enfield was touring Stavros, Loadsamoney, Buggerall Money and Sir Harry Stocracy(!) and I've vague memories of a big owl on the stage. I think he was billed as Bing Hitler, but I also remember the ticket referring to "Graig" Ferguson.

I've got 3 albums, one as Bing Hitler but I've not listened to them for ages. They are excellent though.

> Also used the 'We asked a hundred people, name something green' / 'My green cardigan' exchange which also turned up in Royle Family.

I've seen Les Dennis tell that story as if it actually happened on the show (only the cardigan was pink). It also featured on that e-mail that did the rounds about four years ago of "Favourite Answers on Family Fortunes" ("Name something that makes you scream"; "A squirrel", etc). So did it really happen?

Craig Ferguson did indeed go to America. He was a regular character in 'The Drew Carey Show'. He also co-wrote and starred in the hairdressing film 'The Big Tease' and co-wrote the marijuana film 'Saving Grace' starring Brenda Blethyn.

>> Also used the 'We asked a hundred people, name something green' / 'My green cardigan' exchange which also turned up in Royle Family.
>
>I've seen Les Dennis tell that story as if it actually happened on the show (only the cardigan was pink). It also featured on that e-mail that did the rounds about four years ago of "Favourite Answers on Family Fortunes" ("Name something that makes you scream"; "A squirrel", etc). So did it really happen?

Bob Monkhouse (the show's original host) first revealed this in his (actually very good) 1994 autobiography Crying With Laughter, except the cardigan was actually given as the answer to "Name something blue", and he claims that the incident was never transmitted. Perhaps the out-take happened before ATV became Central, meaning that it was wiped. Possibly.