Craig Ferguson is flying under the radar

PASADENA, Calif. — In the current round of battles in the never-ending late-night wars, Craig Ferguson has been sort of flying under the radar.

He drew pretty much even — sometimes slightly ahead — of Conan O'Brien during O'Brien's final months as host of "Late Night." As the novelty of Jimmy Fallon hosting "Late Night" has been wearing off, Ferguson's "Late Late Show" has pulled ahead of him, too.

And, while Jay Leno has gotten lots of headlines for his impending move to prime time, it's not something Ferguson aspires to.

"I don't think people are ready for cussing puppets at (9) o'clock," he joked.

But does he, like Letterman and O'Brien before him, have ambitions to move to an earlier time slot? Does he think about jumping to another network for piles of money?

"Let's talk about money. Say that money thing again. Make lots of money where?" Ferguson joked.

He does admit to having ambitions, but becoming the biggest thing in late-night television doesn't seem to be one of them.

"I don't want to be poor. I don't want to be rich to the extent that all I care about is keeping my job," Ferguson said. "I don't care enough about keeping my job right now. That's good. That makes me effective at what I do. I don't want to be frightened of getting fired.

"So, to that end, I suppose my ambitions are that I spend less than I earn because, look, the truth is we are all in a precarious business. … I don't want to have the ambition of a time slot or a number of dollars.

"Do I want to make a lot of money? (Expletive), yeah. But look, I've met a lot of rich people who are (expletives). I don't want to be that. Or any more of that than is necessary. So I hope to, I suppose, in some way try and maintain some, if I have any, type of integrity. I want to be able to look at myself in the mirror. That's my ambition."

He says he doesn't pay much attention to the ratings, and that he doesn't even particularly understand the ratings.

"It seemed to me (that) when Jay was (replaced as host of 'Tonight'), he was the leader in all numbers, and then they fired him," Ferguson said. "I don't want to get fired. So perhaps keeping your head down is what you should do with the numbers."

At the same time, he doesn't mind being mentioned as David Letterman's heir apparent.

"It's like I don't want to go to the party, but I want to be asked. You know what I mean?" he said.