Give me an awkward pause any day, PLEASE!

I'm not impressed with Jay Leno and I thought Conan O'Brien was funny, sure, but I couldn't concern myself too much with the late night wars when my favorite late night host was conducting business as usual. Maybe my humor is a little low brow — okay, for CERTAIN it is a little low brow — but I have had more tear inducing laughter in the past year of Craig Ferguson than I ever had watching Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien combined.

I'm a couple of weeks behind on my recorded Craigs, so I haven't even seen the new Robot Skeleton sidekick yet. What I did just see, though, was John Cusack's awkward pause. I have never laughed so hard at people doing nothing than I do with Craig Ferguson's awkward pauses. This one was especially funny because John Cusack wanted to do it in the middle of the interview [gasp], not at the end. Kind of threw Craig for a loop there. I may have to rank this awkward pause right up there in the top four, along with those of Kristen Bell, Simon Helberg, and Adhir Kalyan. The shoe-tying bit was good with Cusack, but Simon Helberg did the almost-leg-cross followed by the awkward smile. Then again, the entire interview with Adhir Kalyan was hilarious, including the awkward pause at the end. Yeah, good stuff.

I Won't Miss You, Danny Gokey. Bye!

It’s been a long time coming, but he’s finally gone! I’ve gotta admit, though, that I was a little surprised. I’m thinking the Allison fans may have pulled together, not so much to vote for Kris Allen, but to NOT vote for Danny Gokey. Whatever, it works for me.
The judges tell the contestants to let their personalities shine through, but maybe that was a mistake for Danny Gokey. I soon tired of his personality and his seeming arrogance, and also of his late wife and his large, deeply religious family who always made joyful music together (gag). I grew tired of his boring song choices, his glasses, his jewelry, his singing, his screaming ... and finally, the way he was still there when Allison was not— Allison, who could sing circles around Danny; Allison, whose CDs I would buy. I guess it just snowballed until I didn’t like a single damn thing about him. Ironic, really, because after Hollywood week, he was one of the ones I liked best.

All of which is the opposite for Adam. With each passing week, I am more and more impressed by that guy— Adam, whose CDs I would also buy. He can do no wrong, in my opinion. Kris is also very good, and I like him — especially his kind of sexy bar band rock version of “Come Together”— but it’s sort of like baby blue vs. fire engine red, and fire engine red is almost always my first choice.

I am making an effort to wean myself off American Idol. We don't watch the elimination show anymore. We record everything, so we are usually watching Tuesday's show on Wednesday, and when it's over, we just go to Wikipedia and see who bought it.

We can also fast forward through the judges’ comments [“Dude! You can sing!” “Dude! You can REALLY sing!” “You can really sing, dude!”]. With four judges wasting singing time with inane comments, it’s tough to take. I used to think Paula was awful— well, no, Paula IS awful— but I didn’t know there was someone worse waiting in the wings. Note to Kara: Stop. Talking. Just. Stop. Talking.

I’m thinking that since the judges’ gushing favorite is gone, maybe we won’t have to listen to Randy, Kara, Paula and Simon next week. Maybe they won’t even be there! Is that too much to hope for?