Heartwarming / The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson

• Craig eulogized his father in January 2006, then did the same thing for his mother in December 2008.
• Arguably, the whole interview with Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Themes of forgiveness and the human spirit run through this interview, one which Craig obviously didn't want to end. It earned Craig a Peabody Award.
• More or less every appearance from Betty White, as she and Craig go way back and it's incredibly obvious every time she appears that Craig adores her. On her last appearance before Craig ended his run, Craig presented her with a choir singing Betty's favorite song, "I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas." Plus a hippopotamus mascot. Betty's expression of pure joy at Craig's little surprise is utterly infectious.
• During the Paris week, Craig visited the Pont des Arts and talked about the couples-leaving-padlocks tradition, then found the padlock that Late Late Show executive producer Peter Lassally and his wife Alice left there 50 years ago.
• At the end of Larry King's one shot stint as Geoff, he and Craig talked at the end of the show. Larry, who has been (rather hilariously) parodied by Craig many times, assures him that he's an excellent host.
• After two weeks of absence, Geoff finally returns. He and Craig seem genuinely happy to see each other again.
• When Craig backed off of making jokes about Britney Spears (and, later, Charlie Sheen), partly due to the fact that he had been in a very similar position. With Britney, it was after she shaved her head; he specifically told the story of how he planned to kill himself shortly after Christmas when he was in the depths of his addiction.
• The 2011 interview with Wilford Brimley was full of many laughs, but three minutes into the interview, Wilford takes a look at everyone in the audience and says "Glad to see you all." The audience applauds in response. Aww...
• After the events surrounding the "The Dark Knight Rises" shooting in Aurora, Colorado on July 20, 2012, the show decided to pull Craig's monologue which was taped the night before, and heavily featured the movie. Instead, Craig opened the show at his desk, explained the situation, noted that the day was NOT a 'Great Day for America', and offered his condolences to the victims of the tragedy.
• On September 4, shortly after Michael Clarke Duncan passed away, Craig aired a never-before-seen clip of the two of them in Scotland as a tribute. Also a Crowning Moment of Funny.
• Craig broke many hearts when he announced that 2014 would be his last year hosting the show. However, he did add a personal note at the end of his announcement, acknowledging his fanatical audience, assuring fans it's not due to drama and that this is his own decision. And then, just for old time's sake, he asks for a picture of Paul McCartney. You know the gag.
  • Henry Winkler ends his interview segment by telling Craig how happy he was to be a frequent guest during Craig's tenure.
  • In fact, this was just one of the first of many such moments, with people like Larry King and LL Cool J expressing their disappointment and well-wishes.
  • Craig featuring James Corden in the cold open of his third-to-last show and giving his replacement a sincere endorsement.
• December 18th, 2014: In the cold open of the second last show ever, they Break the Fourth Wall and present Josh Robert Thompson, the voice of Geoff and... pretty much every other voice on the show, to a huge reception from the audience. Josh gets to say hello to his mother in the audience and get a Man Hug from Craig.
• December 19th, 2014: The final show of Craig's tenure is basically a Crowning Moment of Everything. Stating with, of course, the musical-opening-to-end-all-musical-openings set to "Bang Your Drum" by Dead Man Fall (featuring Geoff, Sid the Cussing Rabbit, Wavey the Waving Crocodile, Secretariat and way too many celebrity cameos to count, including a very pregnant Kristen Bell). And then, this poignant monologue:
  Craig: I said my goodbyes to the crew earlier on, and I can't thank them enough. And really, the people who made this show are you. You came to this show that was, let's be honest, a bit of a fixer-upper, and... and it kind of stayed that way. But it has, I think... what I hope we've done was... maybe art is a grand word, but what I was trying to do here, and what I think we've managed to do here, is make something that wasn't here before. So in that sense, maybe it is a piece of art. It didn't exist, and now it does. And now you'll be able to find it forever on YouTube. ...no, sorry! What I meant to say was the CBS website. The people that have come on this show and the people that have worked on this show has been fantastic. The reaction from people, and the guests, and the technicians - well, one technician - and the staff that work here at CBS has been great. And really, this show belongs to you. It belongs to you, and I hope you keep it, because I'm done with it. And I really mean this - I want to make this clear, as much for my own benefit as anybody's, that I'm not retiring. I'm stopping doing this. I'm not stopping doing "it." I'll still do it to you. I might do it a little bit earlier! I might do it in a different place!
  • Dead Man Fall was a relatively unknown Scottish band. Craig's final episode saw sales for "Bang Your Drum" spike, with its sales on iTunes surpassing big name pop singers. The band's reactions have been of pure joy and appreciation. That's right, Craig got to do a Colbert Bump on his way out. The song itself is a CMoH, a big ode to believing in yourself and never giving up at your dreams. Playing that over clips of Craig's run, and then Craig himself belting it while bringing out his frequent collaborators one last time certainly fits the heartwarming spirit.
  • Also during "Bang Your Drum", when Secretariat went out on stage to dance and Craig gave him a tip of the hat by singing "and your fake horse will come".
  • Craig's final guest, of all people, was Jay Leno. This caused a stir in the fanbase given Leno's reputation, but with the theme of life after retirement, it wound up being a poignant dialogue, capped off by Craig revealing, after years of potshots, that he genuinely respects Leno.