First drumming for Scottish punk band The Bastards from Hell, and later performing monologues as the provocatively named Bing Hitler, Craig Ferguson is a performer not afraid to zig when others are zagging. Out of the crucible of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Ferguson emerged white-hot in the vanguard of “alternative” comedy in the U.K. He survived his decade-long bad-boy bacchanalia to emerge sober but still sharp as Mr. Wick on The Drew Carey Show, and now, as a global comic conscience, is able to simultaneously embrace and embarrass America five nights a week as the host of the Late Late Show.

Craig Ferguson’s conversation with Paul Provenza is in the book.