Ferguson announced that he was ending the show at the end of the year. The last episode aired on December 19, 2014. Afterwards, Late Late Show began a series of episodes with guest hosts; then the new permanent host James Corden began his iteration of the franchise on March 23, 2015. Show format The show often started with a cold opening which consisted of a short improvised monologue or commentary by Ferguson either as himself or involving his various puppets including Sid the Rabbit. Later openings of the show featured Ferguson talking or fighting with his "Gay Robot Skeleton" sidekick Geoff Peterson (voiced by Josh Robert Thompson), interacting with pantomime horse Secretariat, interrogating members of the studio audience, or presenting a musical number or a pre-taped sketch. The cold open was followed by the opening credits and a commercial break. Following the break and his introduction by announcer Shadoe Stevens, Ferguson began with "Welcome to Los Angeles, California, welcome to the Late Late Show. I am your host, TV's Craig Ferguson. It's a great day for America, everybody!" as he threw pieces of candy to the audience and hit the side of the camera repeatedly. He then went into a free-form, largely ad-libbed monologue. After another commercial break, Ferguson was often seated behind his desk, where he'd ask Geoff "WHAT TIME IS IT GEOFF PETERSON!?" Mail theme songs then played, usually with the phrase "Ass Mode" in them as well as robots. Then Craig read and responded to viewer emails and (starting in February 2010) tweets from his proclaimed "robot skeleton army". Generally, one or two celebrities were interviewed. Starting in 2008, Ferguson began each by dramatically ripping up note cards written for the interview, "signalling to the audience, and to the guest, that this conversation need not be rigidly managed". Sometimes, a stand-up comedian, cooking segment, or a musical guest performs, the latter of which was typically pre-taped. Ferguson had many running gags. These included themed weeks such as "Crab Week", "Magic Week", and "Shark Week"; and the long running "photo of Paul McCartney" joke, wherein Ferguson called for a photo of McCartney that was actually a photo of actress Angela Lansbury and vice versa. The show occasionally used variations of the latter gag featuring other pairs of look-alike celebrities, such as Cher being shown as Marilyn Manson. The show also used short skits such as "Dear Aquaman" (in